This week in the Lords: 27-30 April (maybe) -"wishin' and hopin'..."Fortunately, it's not the hope that will kill you, especially in the upper chamber, but there is a high degree of uncertainty in terms of the week ahead. Labour would doubtless love to prorogue on Tuesday, leaving the Lords to do so on Wednesday and avoiding the need to expose Sir Keir Starmer to another painful set of Prime Minister's Questions, but there are still disputes between the two chambers on some key issues. The Liberal Democrats have vowed to keep voting down the Government's proposals in the Pension Schemes Bill allowing ministers to dictate where pension funds allocate their ... (more) |
Our health system is cutting healthy life expectancy. Why isn't everyone furious?The Health Foundation published a report yesterday that should stop all Lib Dems in our tracks. Healthy life expectancy in the UK has fallen by over two years over the past decade. The average person can now expect to live in good health only until they are just under 61. We are ranked 20th out of 21 comparable wealthy nations. Only the United States is worse. In more than nine out of ten areas of the country, people cannot expect to be healthy enough to work until the state pension age of 66 or 67. In one in ten areas, ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1510Charlie Young, Carole Cadwalladr and Ian Tucker have discovered "a 'revolving door' that has led to dozens of highly experienced UK government officials, former ministers, intelligence service chiefs and members of the House of Lords taking up key roles in the controversial Silicon Valley surveillance tech company co-founded by Peter Thiel, the libertarian friend and ally of Donald Trump." "There is no need for the UK to replace its warheads. A Holbrook's maximum yield is ninety kilotons of TNT-equivalent, about six times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. But the US Navy wants a new warhead in the ... (more) |
Post-growth ecological liberalism: A regenerative care economy within planetary limitsWhether our economies can absolutely decouple from environmental harm at the scale required to mitigate the worst consequences of the socio-ecological crisis is a central debate in sustainability academia. Whilst green growthers and techno-optimists consider these achievable, ecological economists and post-growthers like myself are much more sceptical. There are many peer-reviewed articles on both sides, with the post-growth movement gaining significant gravitas in economic and policy circles. A global survey of 789 climate policy researchers revealed increased scepticism towards green growth approaches. Following these findings, a vision for how an ecological, post-growth liberal society could work is increasingly necessary. Our ... (more) |
Welcome to my day: 27 April 2026 - waiting for a train...Good morning, gentle reader, and I trust that you had an enjoyable weekend, not forgetting that, for some, perhaps many, of you, it wasn't particularly restful. We're in the end stage of election campaigns across Britain, with postal votes hitting doormats last week. That said, for the gallant trio of Liberal Democrat parliamentarians running the London Marathon yesterday, they'll be hoping for a short week and a seat on the train back to their constituencies. Their times, for those of you who might be interested, were as follows: Helen Morgan – 4:20:22 Tom Gordon – 4:29:13 Wendy Chamberlain – 5:07:49 ... (more) |
Climate change versus economic growth, a dilemma?The Guardian reports that the government department responsible for a decarbonised economy powered by clean, renewable energy is at odds with that intention of making the UK an AI. superpower, with those responsible for the two visions not agreeing on their numbers. They say that the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) thinks AI datacentres will consume 6GW of electricity by 2030, while the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) appears to think they will use less than a tenth of that: Tim Squirrell, the head of strategy for the NGO Foxglove, said: "The government's cluelessness over ... (more) |
Bridgnorth's New Market Hall is on the Victorian Society's list of endangered buildingsThe Victorian Society has named its list of the Top Ten Endangered Buildings for 2026, reports Herald Wales. Perhaps the most striking structure included is the Tees Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough, but my eye was also struck by the presence of Bridgnorth's New Market Hall. The revised Shropshire Pevsner is honest about it: Of 1855-6, the magnum opus of a local man, Robert Griffiths of Quatford. In the grossest Italianate with an angle tower with typical Victorian-Italian roof. The material is yellow brick, blue brick and red brick. For Pevsner the whole seemed artless and tasteless, though not over decorated. Yet ... (more) |
The Dam Busters' training was a spectator sport for Great EastonEyebrook Reservoir Dam: John Fielding Being a well-prepared visitor, I brought the Harborough District Council leaflet about Great Easton with me yesterday. And here's an interesting snippet from it about a nearby reservoir: For several months in 1943 up to a dozen Lancaster bombers regularly used Eyebrook Reservoir as a training ground prior to setting off on the famous Ruhr "Dam Busters Raid". Initially the low flying night flights caused considerable disturbance to the surrounding villages. However local residents, who recognised their sleep would be interrupted, regularly congregated around the lakeside to witness the spectacular rehearsals. Discover Rutland says: Practice ... (more) |
Maybe Europe is winning after all?Today when I should have been enjoying the non-monetary benefits of Wimbledon Common I was instead getting depressed by The Economist, which I listen to as I walk. It isn't difficult to be depressed: the world is full of shitty news. But the particular theme that got me this week was the way Europe had regulated itself into "American vassalage". Thanks to a longstanding habit of stifling its companies with rules, red-tape and risk-aversion, the Old Continent is now utterly reliant on the New for its high-end digital services, its energy, even its payment systems. The UK and Europeans are ... (more) |
String Driven Thing: It's a GameSomeone posted a track by String Driven Thing on Bluesky the other day and I wondered why I knew the name. And then I remembered this. It's a Game was covered by the Bay City Rollers in 1977 and provided them with their last top 20 hit. But I already knew the song, so this original version by String Driven Thing must have received airplay in 1973, even though it didn't make the charts. String Driven Thing began as a folk trio, but were encouraged by their record company to adopt the folk rock sound that you hear on It's ... (more) |