It's deliberate. Who owns the national debt? The wealthy (though pension funds and investments). And they become wealthier by doing so. Especially so, because these investments are taxed at a lower rate than taxes on earnings.

Honest question (I can't seem to find the answer anywhere) what is Starmer's rationale for not rejoining the EU?

It's a quote from the epilogue of "A Drop of Corruption" by Robert Jackson Bennett

"There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science."

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
   No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
   And the nation that plays it is lost!" - Kipling

I cannot find an historical example where appeasement has done anything other than create a delay (I'd like anyone to prove me wrong - I've gone back to Danegeld - nothing). So why do people still think appeasement is a valid option?

"The building at the site of the explosion was being used by a printing business called ESP Smile, the BBC confirmed by verifying video footage of the aftermath."

... and so they'll increase the funding to the probation service to cope with the extra work, won't they? Won't they?

“The three most powerful men in the world are a walking version of the dark triad: Trump is a textbook narcissist, Putin is a cold psychopath, and Xi Jinping came to rule China by being a master Machiavellian manipulator.”

This would only stop a child who is as technically illiterate as the government.