Last week, I opined in these pages that intergenerational fairness should be a liberal priority. A commenter rightly challenged my suggestion that pensions be linked to CPI: poverty is measured relative to median earnings, not inflation. CPI-linking would let pensioners fall below the poverty line even as their purchasing power held steady — precisely what happened after 1980. The correction clarified my thinking. If relative poverty matters — and it does — then benefits should track earnings, not just prices. The triple lock gets this right for pensioners. We should extend the same logic to everyone else. * * * ...
We will be fighting for the young people of our country if we demand that the government declare this year a national emergency to provide thousands of new houses, especially affordable homes, before the next General Election. The house price-to-earnings ratio shows that in 2024-25 a home cost roughly 8 to 9 times the average individual wage to buy, compared to about 5 to 6 times twenty years ago. With private rents additionally being so high now, it is small wonder that, even if they are working full-time, many young people in Britain are these days remaining in their parental ...
As we speak, for the 15th consecutive day, Iranians are protesting the Islamic Republic and its tyrannical leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran was once a society that embraced egalitarianism, was open to working with the West, and boasted natural resources that made countries like Japan reliant on partnerships to secure national energy security. The Pahlavi dynasty, albeit an absolute monarchy, oversaw this modernisation against a backdrop of press repression and the use of secret police to suppress opposition against its rule. While some claimed victory over the Monarchy following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the reality of what this theocratic regime has ...
"Governments and taxpayers fund universities not because they are efficient 'businesses', but because they are essential public institutions. They generate research that underpins economic growth and cultural life. They educate professionals on whom society depends. They are meant to be spaces where difficult questions can be asked and discussed. They are fundamental institutions in a democratic society." Monica Franco-Santos fears that in trying to 'fix' universities, we are quietly unmaking them. Emma John reminds us that England has ruthlessly privatised cricket, while Australia still embraces it with constant public displays of affection: "In the parks and pubs, cricket remains the ...
The Eastern Daily Press wins our prestigious Headline of the Day Award. I have been asked by the judges to emphasise that they are sure the hurdy-gurdy player in question is nothing the like the vengeful ghost of a Gypsy child. While I'm at it, the headline comes via Yahoo! because the Press has changed it to something more prosaic since the story went up. And the music in the video, which is the very recording used in Lost Hearts, is not of a hurdy-gurdy at all. It's a variety of zither from the Vosges region of France. Reader's voice: ...
Following on from my previous posts about political parties being funded through cryptocurrencies, the Guardian reports that Downing Street has been urged to ban such donations by seven senior Labour MPs who chair parliamentary committees. The paper says that the committee chairs - Liam Byrne, Emily Thornberry, Tan Dhesi, Florence Eshalomi, Andy Slaughter, Chi Onwurah and Matt Western - called on the government to introduce a full ban in the forthcoming elections bill amid concern that cryptocurrency could be used by foreign states to influence politics: Government sources told the Guardian last year that ministers are looking at ways to ...
This has been a bleak and unsettling week - not simply because of the events themselves, but because of how quickly tragedy, technology and geopolitics are being distorted to serve power and grievance. From the exploitation of a young woman's unnecessary death in the United States to bad-faith claims of censorship and terrifying rhetoric about Greenland, the common thread is a growing contempt for restraint, truth, and international law. For liberals, this is precisely the moment to insist on clarity, proportion, and principle. The Renee Nicole Good Incident: Tragedy Turned Into a Culture War Weapon The killing of Renee Nicole ...
Sun 11th
13:26
Dixon Unity School in Leeds adjusts uniform policy to allow students to wear coats outdoors during c...
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Yorkshire Evening Post (or "Eenie Po!" as the newspaper sellers used to shout in York) wins our Headline of the Day Award. One of the crustier judges was heard to remark: "You mark my words, Colonel, this is a very slippery slope. Allow the children to wear coats in winter, and before you know it you're abolishing the school leopard."
The two best bands to emerge from Leicester in the Sixties were Family and Gypsy. Family are the more celebrated today, but I've been told by someone who was on the scene in those days that there was a view in Leicester that Gypsy were the better band live. We've already hear Gypsy on this blog under their earlier name Legay. Changes Coming was released as a single in August 1971 and the band appeared on Top of the Pops. But the song was then removed from BBC playlists because some suit decided it was too political, with the result ...
Back in 2008 when I first joined, Twitter was a lifeline for me. I had Glandular Fever which knocked me out for months and it was incredibly isolating. But here was a community of people I could communicate with in real time, many of whom became friends in real life. There was the Formula 1 crowd. My life was made when then Brawn driver Rubens Barrichello replied to me. Of course there were the growing community of Lib Dems – and Jo Swinson was quickly recognised for her authentic use of the platform not just as a broadcast mechanism, but ...
The Independent reports that rebel Kingston upon Hull MP, Karl Turner, is absolutely confident that the plan to scrap jury trials will be defeated. Turner told the paper that MPs would be "going stark raving mad" if the Tories had proposed the much-criticised plans and called for a meeting with the prime minister: "We are absolutely seething with the government, with the prime minister and with David Lammy and I've said to the prime minister I want to see him face to face on this single issue and I expect him to instruct Lammy to stop and think again," told ...
USA – Minneapolis The shooting of young mother Renee Good this week in Minneapolis has further exposed the divisions in a fractured American society and President Trump's determination to exacerbate rather than heal them. Anyone who watches one of the many videos—or reads the eyewitness accounts—can only conclude that Ms Good was murdered by an ICE agent. She was clearly driving away from a confrontation with the agents who were in Minneapolis as part of a politically motivated round-up of ethnic Somalis. As she was turning away from the armed agents, one of them fired through the car window and ...
I was interested to read in Peter Lidsky's book of the known behaviour of parasites in extending the life (if not the quality of life) of their hosts from time to time and I thought I would read up on this. I do recommend buying Peter's Book Aging: Why Does Evolution Kill. I have given the link to Amazon. I have, therefore, asked three LLMs to produce a summary of this behaviour and I copy