In a 2018 post on my three encounters with Glyn Worsnip, I wrote: Move on to the summer of 1978 when I was about to go to university. My mother and I won BBC East's quiz Joint Account, a show that is so obscure it is not on the BBC Genome site. It's still not appeared on Genome, but I now have two pieces of evidence that Joint Account existed. The first is that it's mention in the Independent's obituary of Worsnip. The second is this photograph of him, which someone sold on the French Amazon site a few years ...
There is a truth universally acknowledged that if you want to go through the motions of consulting people, but you don't really want to encourage them to respond to you, you slip out a consultation, say, in the second week in December when nobody is really thinking about the issue in hand and close it on 3rd January. I'm minded of the consultation process for the destruction of earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass as outlined by the brilliant Douglas Adams in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." But the plans were on display..." "On display? I eventually ...
Failure brings some benefits. UK growth and productivity performance over the past 15 years has been *so* dire that an economy, formerly facing the challenges of being at the Frontier, is instead in the catch-up space. Politically, this is a nightmare – people's expectations of what the economy should provide for them have continued to rise as before, opening a large gap with the grimmer reality. But for the analysis of what we need to do for growth, it actually makes the job easier. It is not the only method, but a good starting point for the growth strategy is ...
"Starmer was attempting a card trick that mainstream political parties across the West have tried to play in recent years - defeat the hard-right by borrowing their talking points and framing, and then somehow prove that you are better able to deal with this problem than they are."Matt Carr has no confidence in Keir Starmer's attempt to meet the Reform challenge to Labour. "Syrians are under no illusion that the future will be hard, complicated and may end up being disappointing and even dangerous. Please can we all do them the courtesy of wishing them well, and offering support if ...
The city in question is Inverness and the story has won the Telegraph our Headline of the Day Award. After their meeting, one of the judges remarked that the obvious response to this advance is the rewilding of the Great Glen. Introduce apex predators that will prey on the wild boar and the problem will vanish.
As in many parts of the world, history is very much a political weapon in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is difficult to assess conflicts in Syria (and the British/Western interest) for this reason, especially for politicians unversed in the labyrinthine machinations of post-Sykes-Picot Syria and the Levant. Every phrase uttered is 'controversial'. There is much to be understood about the ancient past of the area, especially in relation to territorial claims and counter-claims made by different ethnic and religious factions today (..of widely-varying historical or archaeological solidity). These claims fog up the search for 'academic' historical understanding. The Eastern Med ...
Today marks the final day of the 2024 West End Christmas Fortnight. Here's the events taking place today : 10am to 4pm - DJCAD Design and Craft Pop-Up Shop - Pick up a unique Christmas present this year made by DJCAD graduates, or shop a range of art materials ideal for gifting or getting creative and making your own festive cards or decorations. Taking place in Duncan of Jordanstone's College of Art and Design's Matthew Building. 3.45pm - Knitter Knatter - at Blackness Library - aimed at primary age pupils - no booking necessary! 7.30pm - Lydian Singers Christmas Concert ...
Yesterday, Lib Dem justice spokesperson Josh Babarinde has introduced a new Bill which would create specific offences relating to domestic abuse. People convicted under these offences would not be eligible for early release schemes. On the last day of the annual 10 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, Josh appeared on Good Morning Britain to say why this was important: He said after he tabled the Bill, which has the backing of Women's Aid: Domestic abuse has a devastating impact on survivors, and the law is leaving too many of them without protection. It's only right ...
The Independent reports that the CEO of EveryYouth, a network of 12 youth homelessness charities, has written to Angela Rayner to warn they will lose £1.73million due to employer national insurance increases. He has warned of hundreds of possible job losses among youth homelessness charities due to the employer national insurance hike in the latest Budget: Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn statement that the rate of employer national insurance would rise from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent in April next year. The secondary threshold, meaning the level at which employers start paying the tax on each ...
