I agree. I do some voluntary work at Bristol prison, and on average it’s the seventh custodial sentence for each of them. That’s the vicious circle that needs breaking, and I’d guess that reducing educational inequality would be a good start.

Compelling analysis - what do you think the chances are of Starmer reading it, let alone acting on it?

Yup

“Make Orwell Fiction Again” - not original, but apt.

Correct.

Don’t bring a YouTube video to a gunfight.

I thought the court was ruling on potential embezzlement, not the rights or wrongs of populism?

The end of contract law in the US, as well?

👍

I was referring to the announced abolition of NHS England.

I wholeheartedly believe that we need a fair benefits system in the U.K. as a safety net for those people that need it.

I’m not sure you can classify cutting unnecessary bureaucracy as austerity.

I think the unproductive bureaucratic activities just got cut….

Cutting management layers out is a good idea as long as you get rid of the unproductive bureaucratic activities as well.

No, it starts tomorrow (1st-4th March)!

What’s to stop a President commissioning a criminal act by one of his cronies on the basis that it will be pardoned later?

Interestingly, on retirement I did a part-time MSc (Research) in visual neuroscience. I found that whereas I could hold 50+ papers in my head when I did my PhD in the 1980’s, I struggle to hold 10 now. I kept finding fascinating new papers that it turned out I’d read a few months earlier.

As a retired OA, I’d certainly agree the my “limited remaining lifespan” does rather hang over me!

👍

“ If you have a gardener and a library, you have everything you need” Joe, 2024