In the decades before the National Health Service (NHS), healthcare in Britain was guided by very different ideas. Most of the country’s hospitals were grim Victorian centres for the destitute, derived from workhouse infirmaries established under the Poor Law. An 1834 statute regarded poverty as a moral failing that should be punished with hard labour. […]
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75 years after the creation of the NHS, there is no scarcity of praise for the greatest social achievement in Britain’s history – but readers of the mainstream press today will find precious little mention of its socialist roots. Aneurin Bevan, the minister responsible for its creation and former editor of this magazine, suffered from […]
We live in hope… Langston Hughes Let America be America again.Let it be the dream it used to be.Let it be the pioneer on the plainSeeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—Let it be that great strong land of loveWhere never kings connive nor tyrants schemeThat any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where LibertyIs crowned with no false patriotic wreath,But opportunity is real, and life is free,Equality is in the air we breathe. (There’s never been equality for me,Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”) Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.I am the red man driven from the land,I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid planOf dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope,Tangled in that ancient endless chainOf profit, power, gain, of grab the land!Of grab the gold!
5 Ιουλίου 2023. 8 χρόνια από το Δημοψήφισμα. 2 εβδομάδες από τις κοινοβουλευτικές εκλογές που τιμώρησαν συνολικά την Αριστερά κι έβαλαν την εκλογική ταφόπλακα στην Ελληνική Άνοιξη και στο ΟΧΙ που εκείνη γέννησε την 5η Ιουλίου του 2015. Η σημερινή επέτειος, που βρίσκει θριαμβευτές τους ορκισμένους αντίπαλους του ΟΧΙ, είναι η στιγμή να απαντήσουμε, εμείς […]
The post Ήταν αυταπάτη το ΟΧΙ; Η στρατηγική, οι προοπτικές και το κόστος της Ελληνικής Άνοιξης υπό τη σκιά του Grexit appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
A report by the Commons' Public Accounts Committee found that the UK Health Security Agency had no auditable accounts
Looks like it. Law professor Steve Vladek takes a look at the actual record. It’s not good. The effective end of the Supreme Court’s term on Friday touched off what has become an annual tradition: hot takes summarizing the justices’ work over the preceding nine months based upon data aggregated from the justices’ decisions. These accounts typically focus on surprising-sounding results (50% of the decisions were unanimous!) in service of pushing back against the most obvious summary of the current court: that it is sharply divided between the six justices appointed by Republican presidents and the three justices appointed by Democrats. You can spin the data however you want, but the reality is actually simple. The conservative majority is pushing American law decisively to the right. Statisticians call this phenomenon the “tyranny of averages” — the fact that averaging a data set tells us nothing about the size, distribution or skew of the data. But these kinds of “judge the Supreme Court by its data” assessments are even worse than just ordinary statistical errors.
Alert the media Somebody’s regretting betting on the wrong horse: A top spokesperson for Ron DeSantis’ super PAC is sounding a decidedly dour note on the Florida governor’s presidential prospects, saying his campaign is facing an “uphill battle” and is trailing badly in the key nominating states. Steve Cortes, who previously supported Donald Trump, also heaped praise on the former president, calling him a “runaway frontrunner” and “maestro” of the debate. “Right now in national polling we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” Cortes said in a Twitter spaces event that was recorded on Sunday night. “I believe in being blunt and honest. It’s an uphill battle but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner.” Calling the DeSantis campaign the “clear underdog,” he added: “In the first four states which matter tremendously, polls are a lot tighter, we are still clearly down. We’re down double digits, we have work to do.” DeSantis said the opposite last week.
Australia’s leading racist, Pauline Hanson, has spoken to colleagues of how proud she was to have completed her anti-voice essay and only used 15 different racial slurs. ”Pauline was very proud to have used only 15 different racial slurs in... Read More ›
… that we know of The Washington Post: Among many striking things about the July 2021 audio of Donald Trump seeming to discuss a classified document with guests is how casual it all was. In real time, the now-indicted former president seems to recognize that what he’s doing is not kosher, requesting that it be off the record and drawing an aide to comment with an apparently uneasy laugh, “Yeah, now we have a problem.” It’s as if those involved were familiar with the dance of Trump being cavalier with sensitive information. Which, even before this latest entry, is indeed what his full record demonstrates. Appearing on MSNBC over the weekend, former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said she personally witnessed the way Trump shared information at Mar-a-Lago during his presidency. Asked whether it was plausible that Trump was actually showing off classified documents in July 2021 — Trump has suggested it was mere “bravado” — Grisham said: “The short answer is yes. I watched him show documents to people at Mar-a-Lago on the dining room patio.
They can’t say they weren’t warned. Shortly before coming to office Anthony Albanese said, ‘I’ve been underestimated my whole life’. It was a significant personal reflection during a hectic election campaign, one that spoke to Albanese’s resolve, his self-belief, and a subtle barb at the failure of others to recognise his political determination and tactical Continue reading »
Widodo visit: Indonesia’s approach to regional security needs to be more than than fence-sitting. The visit to Australia this week of President Joko Widodo of Indonesia – known as Jokowi – should give us pause to reflect on how we and Indonesia stand with each other and what the future holds. Truth be told, our Continue reading »
Russia’s failed attempt to make Ukraine into a buffer state is only helping China’s statecraft on its own western borders. If the author of the Art of War, Sun Tzu, was marking President Xi’s statecraft from some lofty place in heaven, he may well give Xi a special distinction. For Sun Tzu, the best way Continue reading »
Most Australians have little idea how frequently miscarriages of justice in the form of wrongful convictions occur in Australia. This lack of knowledge should be no surprise; not even our criminal justice system tracks such data let alone researches the possibility of wrongful convictions. In the absence of data, most people, including many in the Continue reading »
Elite sport has the potential to uplift, inspire and connect individuals and groups in a way that is unrivalled in our culture. It can represent the soaring ambition and capabilities of our species, as well as our innate capacities for collaboration and compassion. Sport can be an unmatched training ground for developing character and creating Continue reading »
There’s growing awareness public dental programs are unable to meet the demand for services. Private dental care is increasingly unaffordable, and millions of Australians go without the treatment they need. The potentially avoidable costs to the health-care system and to people’s quality of life has led to increased pressure for a Medicare-style universal insurance scheme Continue reading »
Why hasn’t the devastation of almost an entire people been called out for what it is? Where’s the outrage of what is happening in Jenin, Palestinian Territory? One of Australia’s foremost newspapers had an article today on whether it’s best to drink soy, almond or oat milk. Really? Who could have imagined that in 2023 Continue reading »
At its core, climate change is a form of genocide. If Bangladesh sinks – when Bangladesh sinks – it won’t be an abstract environmental loss, but the last breath of a people that started dying the minute the British landed on Indian soil. Developed countries created this climate disaster. Now they need to fix it. Continue reading »
A bunch of white guys who founded a country: For the July Fourth holiday, I have some fare that’s lighter than the doom and gloom about today’s politics that I usually dish up: a little tour some of the statuary art in the U.S. Capitol Building. Each state submits two statues to be on display; they are strategically placed throughout the Capitol. Some of my favorites include Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I and California’s Junípero Serra. There are also a handful of statues on permanent display that are not part of the Statuary Hall collection. But today is all about the American Revolution, so here are some of the Founding Fathers, including many lesser known ones, all photographed by my Bulwark colleague Hannah Yoest. Roger Sherman, Connecticut Caesar Rodney, Delaware Charles Carroll, Maryland Samuel Adams, Massachusetts John Stark, New Hampshire Richard Stockton, New Jersey Robert Livingston, New York John P.G. “Peter” Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania Nathanael Greene, Rhode Island Ethan Allen, Vermont George Washington, Virginia Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson
On this Independence Day Republicans around the nation are high-fiving their success in depriving their fellow citizens of their liberty. They are so happy and proud to be Americans. This piece by Jill Lawrence spells out what they are celebrating today: Despite the promises of America’s founding documents, on Independence Day 2023, justice, the “general welfare,” “equal protection of the laws” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are all at risk. The Supreme Court, conservative governors and gerrymandered state legislatures are racing to shrink fundamental rights and freedoms, enabled and empowered by structural inequities built into the Constitution. The result is that tens of millions of Americans are being deprived of rights that other Americans have. On Independence Day 2023, justice, the “general welfare,” “equal protection of the laws” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are all at risk.
One of the most interesting dimensions of our contemporary crisis of democracy discourse and literature is its moralism. If you listen to the talking heads on MSNBC or read more sophisticated academic treatments of the topic, you’ll find a frequent claim that mainstream Republican leaders who are not Trump—people like McConnell or McCarthy—are cowards or careerists. Unlike the Greenes and Gaetzes of the party, goes the argument, these men are not ideologically opposed to democracy. They’re just insufficiently committed to democracy. That’s the problem. If they were ideologically principled, if they were honorable, if they were dedicated, out of conviction, to democracy, these leaders would take on the authoritarians in their midst. In the past, the argument continues, Republican leaders […]
Ionized air and wires may take headphones to the next level.
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It messes with your head This may piss off some. Ever since North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham, former Democrat, switched parties and handed Republicans a supermajority in the state House of Representatives (and an abortion ban) after proclaiming herself an “unwavering advocate for abortion rights.” The stunning shift has not led me to the angry conclusion that she was a fraud waiting to happen. There was something of conspiracy theory to the narrative that she was a Trojan candidate. With her history as a progressive, it did not wash. And it’s a bad look for the left. Fully vaccinated and boosted, Cotham had had Covid three times, ending up in the emergency room straining to breathe during her third bout. Doctors worried about blood clots. In February 2022, WSOC Charlotte reported: Her kitchen island is covered in pills and medical devices to treat lingering and long-lasting symptoms of COVID-19. Cotham says she has to use inhalers and drink three liters of water a day. She has IV drips brought to her house every Wednesday.