Birdsong. Deafening, not drowned out by engine noise. Wonderful.

It’s definitely not just about income/wealth. It has a strong cultural dimension. A middle class person is probably a graduate, perhaps a professional or a manager, shops at Waitrose, reads a broadsheet newspaper, might be on Bluesky! A working class tradesperson might earn double their salary.

I liked him but cheerio Rob, hope you get relegated with Wolves. Mowbray for a period to stabilise things would be my best best, or Brendan Rogers. Please god not Russell Martin or Steven Gerrard

It was a thing when I was a kid 30 years ago, but much rarer than now. I don’t think anyone in my class of 42 kids (the 90s!) did it, whereas most of my kids’ classes are.

I’m really sorry. That’s truly dreadful.

Where is this please?

That and the really poor quality of the forward passes by the boro midfield

Top sociological fact: the biggest predictor of a couple having three kids is if the first two are the same gender

You can check the sources on eg Our World in Data if you’re unsure but ‘the super rich’ are sufficiently few in number I doubt they move the aggregate stats much. Housing wealth will be included. At some point though you have to accept the evidence you’re looking at

The graph they show in the thread shows that UK wealth inequality is average by international standards.

I agree that the nastiness is what makes it work. I think David Walliams has tried a similar trick recently (with commercial success, as far as I can tell). They’re definitely nasty, but in general I’m not at all a fan.

They’re obviously dated in places (and some of them do have big chunks that don’t work - eg James and the Giant Peach drags horribly towards the end). But I honestly think he’s second to none in how he writes for children. The language is just so alive for them in a way v few others manage.

‘If it could be done someone else would already have done it’ is both a bad attitude to have in government and very often true

Interesting (and gloomy!) thanks. Is this all downstream of 20 years of rubbish economic growth?

Agree. A world in which the average person experiences the loss of (possibly multiple) children is so much worse than today it’s hard to imagine

Was very quiet at the start of last season but traffic gradually picked up and is ok now

It’s very much not a plot driven thing. The vibe of it is completely unique and bewitching. But no pressure if you don’t think you’d fancy it! Life is short.

There’s so much I don’t understand. Not the most important bit but…Neil Hamilton?!

‘Cringe’, like ‘problematic’, is increasingly commonly used to denote ‘I think you should be embarrassed about your preference/opinion and want to slap you down accordingly, but am wholly unwilling to explain, let alone defend, my dismissiveness.’