Just got saved from a work fuck up by the process requiring somebody check what gets submitted to minimise the effects of human error. Wonder if there's a broad lesson here?

This post an exhibit in my argument for the return of paternalism by default. Comment shouldn't be free, opinions shouldn't be treated with respect. Only opinions backed by authority matter. And newspaper opinion sections should have a high barrier to entry.

Yes.

I know it probably isn't but in my head this is painted maroon.

This is quite shockingly racist and I don't know why this is getting a pass from the media. If Goodwin were still gainfully employed in a proper workplace, this is the kind of shit that gets you hauled up in front of HR and issued with a formal warning.

One of those nights where I slept soundly and awoke feeling more tired than I was when I went to bed.

Well, a big chunk of those dividend holders are contractors who lack any employment rights and have been whacked with a tax their rights protected PAYE colleagues don't. I'm not saying contracting doesn't pay well, but it's going to pay less well, and that's going to have implications.

Charging less for plug in hybrid drivers than full fat EV drivers seems also bad. Why tax the more polluting vehicle less?

I know Hodges is a genuinely stupid man, but surely even he isn't dim enough to forget Truss's budget?

Oh, just noticed the budget hits contractors/business owners harder than PAYE salaried people from a tax perspective. Hmmm.

I have some scaffolders round putting up scaffolding and they're being so fucking loud about it so I apologise to the town for the clanging and the loud, guttural noises that anthropologists would struggle to categorise as a language even though it has a communicative purpose.

In most walks of life withholding information to do someone a favour/maintain a relationship is considered to be a negative act. This really is one of the weirder journalism/publishing/politics things that doesn't apply anywhere else.

Excellent example of how clever clogs cryptography is not a good tool for most purposes www.bbc.com/news/article...

Lauren not a Limmy fan then?

Ahh, love an AI investment strategy which bangs on about science and tech when wider government policy is intended to reduce research capacity by punishing immigrants and underfunding HE and institutions.

Because our sky broadband was down for most of last night the hot water didn't come on because the scheduler for the controller uses a remote server and this is fucking shit.

Science lovers! Are you going to try and convince some child in your life that science is fun and worthwhile this Christmas? You could buy them one of dozens of commercially available "science kits" OR you could MAKE YOUR OWN to accompany a copy of "Mr Shaha's Recipes for Wonder":

Amazing how much trouble you can cause at work for other people when you ask for a definition for a technical term. I love it.

Also, and quite importantly, this isnt about money, if it was they'd price cap it rather than base it on manufacturers. Vauxhall can cost more than BMW for example, it depends on the spec...

Without discounting the experience of those men willing to talk about their experiences with prostate cancer, be very cynical about this push for general screening from the charities involved. There is not good evidence that the benefits offset the risks.

OMG. The Guardian have confused Kenneth Clark, presenter of the 1969 series 'Civilisation' with Tory ex-MP & former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke in their review of the new BBC series 'Civilisations:Rise & Fall'

This piece is as appallingly framed as every says. Kennedy is the end product of using the legal system to define scientific reality. Kennedy is an ambulance chasing lawyer and quack. Somebody who knows how to use the power of the courts rather than experimentation to insist science is wrong.

Birmingham pals! Very proud that the launch event for The Cost of Trust is on 12th Feb, 7pm, Waterstones Bham. £6 entry or £23 with a hardback. Do come. www.waterstones.com/events/debor...

This is the jockeying for position for when He gets incapacitated, isn't it?

Any Urdu readers out there who can tell me the source document of the prose in these illustrations?

Can he make your boobs bigger? Yes!

The Green Party in Scotland, however, was part of a government that did nothing about those issues when it had the power to act.

Chomsky has always been a wrong 'un.

Well this came at a fortuitous time as I bought 2kg of mussels today.

An opinion that I hold that goes ever stronger is that we need more paternalism in society. People need to be told what is good for them, not guided and offered choices. Told. Take the debate out the public realm. You will have your vaccine. You will use a midwife. You will listen to your doctor.

I would have thought the Telegraph was far too unhinged for the Mail. The Mail is despicable in many ways, but it doesn't have a default editorial position of conspiracy theorising.

Even if Ukraine accept this deal Putin is going to invade a European country and definitely invade Ukraine, and the USA will continue to betray its allies.

So the thing about the lab leak is we have enough data to very much put it at the lower end of the probability scale and anybody in authority arguing otherwise is either misinformed, ignorant or mendacious.

So Trump will allow Putin to destroy Ukraine just to distract people from his relationship with Epstein?

I was in Barcelona recently, a city not without problems with inequality, but the streets were clean, indeed they are washed daily, the pavements are in good condition and cafes and restaurants were generally better quality than the UK, and cheaper than the UK. I know Barcelona is rich, but still.

To be honest, this should lead to a full scale state investigation into Reform. How many other traitors are there? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This is racist logic. Society is racist because there are too many minorities.

🤔

This will increase child poverty by insane amounts. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Ffs

Oh that's no age.

In many respects this is insane because they haven't actually done anything remotely comparable to Johnson or Truss.

What the sector needs is, in this order, higher pay, guaranteed pay progression, fewer working hours,l and permanent contracts.

Part of my job is laughing at the ludicrous ad hoc definitions for things scientists come up with for some poor sap to spend a significant portion of time and energy fixing. Another part of my job is to be that poor sap.

Anyway it's -2 outside, some idiot turned off the underfloor heating in the kitchen, we have no central heating and we've been badly let down by a heat pump installer. Oh and the roof is coming off next week. Going to be a cold few weeks...

Once this weaponised lying spreads to the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry is going to be so fucked in the USA. The collapse of evidence based regulatory processes benefits no one.

I don't think it was intended but this article contains one of the most damning indictments of Grauniad BTL commentators. "Beautiful message that a lot of people aren’t trudging wide-eyed and brain-dead through this increasingly soulless, corporate-heavy… modern world" to an AI generated article.

There are deaths of autocrats and aspiring autocrats that would improve the world. May they come soon.

New lamp.

Quite funny that this table is no way reflects any underlying statistical measures of on pitch performances (other than goals).