Society
Brexit ‘benefits’ beginning to be pointed out…
There is remarkable agreement on the Brexit disadvantages – if not disasters – from both commerce and also the FT, who say: The UK is lagging behind the rest of the G7 in terms of trade recovery after the pandemic; business investment, seen by Johnson and Sunak as the panacea to a poor growth rate,... Read more
RMT’s media lessons
I’m rather impressed with RMT’s media approach. First its leader gets asked on Sky News what he will do when agency workers are recruited (if only they could find any) to take his members’ jobs. And he says picket the premises. Sky news was obviously hinting at violence and so he gets asked how he... Read more
Priti Patel’s immigration policy – back to the future
This is spot on: Even her constituency has been subject to the blue plaque treatment…... Read more
Food: a sudden lack of willpower – or simply a commercial advantage?
An interesting article in the FT (archived by the way – so the link is certainly live – and this is the way I shall link to the FT in future – indeed have been doing for some time…) says: “People then think that being obese is their fault,” Edson [co-founder of NHS-backed weight loss... Read more
Billionaires B*tch
This is a contribution on Double Down News, from ex Mail journalist, Peter Oborne, who used to work for Johnson. The piece does, I fear, emphasise many of the governmental problems already highlighted in these pages, but he is able to point out, as himself an old-fashioned Conservative, how his party has been transformed –... Read more
The tears of the world are a constant quantity…
…..Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors. These memorable words are from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and are not, I suggest, true – they are after all, given to Pozzo, who to me is a sort of controlling self-satisfied capitalist who, lest we forget,... Read more
European Court of Human Rights
This is from 2016 but bears repeating if you haven’t seen it before – what was decidedly comedic now turns out to be a straight prophesy: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was set up in 1949. It is completely separate and has nothing to do with the EU. It was actually set up... Read more
Demolition of the Health Secretary…
Many will not be fans of Wes Streeting , considering him in much the same vein as Jess Phillips. Nonetheless I consider this is a pretty good demolition job of the Health Secretary: He has had an interesting life and it seems to me that we have to take what talent (and I suggest that... Read more
Real rail and bus resurrection?
A couple of FT articles seem to hint at this – but I very much fear that they are unlikely to show anywhere near the whole picture, which is unfortunate as their gentle optimism is absolutely vital for transport taking its significant part in the green agenda… One piece on the‘ resurrection of rail?’ seems... Read more
Plants may not be the panacea that they are sometimes supposed to be
At least according to the Evening Standard’s report on the recent decision by the Advertising Standards Authority. No longer, it seems, can a plant burger be automatically presumed to be better than a real one. Admittedly the ruling was largely about Tesco’s failure to properly marshall evidence that their ‘Plant Chef’ range was good for... Read more