All it takes for evil to thrive is for mediocre world leaders to say “I’d rather not say”

Again, we learn that most people can make sensible decisions regardless of their level of income or wealth. Trouble is, many politicians base their careers on the myth of the irresponsible poor

I write a newspaper column about Scottish history, historians and heritage. I’m keen to feature more Early Career Researchers. Their work might not otherwise be publicised to a wide audience. Do you know anyone who might like to be in the column?

Shocking stats on wealth inequality. https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2025/dec/10/just-0001-hold-three-times-the-wealth-of-poorest-half-of-humanity-report-finds

A receipt to be kept.

If you still have a Twitter account, today is a great day to delete it.

‘The ward felt like a prison. What had I let them do?’: how my daughter was crushed by a health service meant to help her

‘You Britons go to the pub, we go to the swimming pool!’: the European health habits worth adopting Some great and important lessons here, though a shameful reflection on the UK when Icelanders can pay £25 a year for pool access! @theguardian.com #brexit #costoflivingcrisis

For the last century many people have imagined what an American dictator might look like but none that I know of predicted that his approach would be to repeatedly say “Hello I would like to be a dictator.”

NEW from me: Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent. That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀

English universities can raise tuition fees if they meet ‘tough’ standards, says Phillipson

Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon

Carpool karaoke's gone shite

French PM Lecornu has just explained his resignation: political parties all behave as if they have a majority in parliament; their intransigence and egotism is making it impossible. #France

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

As a point of information, in Spain a separate digital health ID card has all my health & prescriptions data: it is used by me whenever I go to the pharmacy for a prescribed medicine, or the clinic to see the GP, or to the hospital for an appointment. Why on earth does the UK not do the same? 🤷‍♂️

I have a sinking feeling they’ll do exactly this

Everyone, from big business CEOs to small business owners to highly paid professionals and lowly paid service staff, has urged the Chancellor to tax someone else. From the new Private Eye, out now.

"The big orange elephant in the room that we're all tiptoeing around is the fact that Mandelson was chosen for that position, to be the interface with President Trump, not despite his questionable connections and his rather ephemeral morals, but because of them. Because he shares them with Trump."

Highlighted by the brilliant @hannahfearn.bsky.social on @ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social - this is shameful. A single person needs to earn £30,500 a year to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living in Britain in 2025. A couple with 2 children needs to earn £74,000 a year between them.

This was inevitably going to happen, wasn’t it? Close the hotels and the lEgiTiMaTe cOnCeRns become about asylum seekers living in actual houses. Because it was never about the hotels, as such. While the BBC listens attentively, nods vigorously and puts it at the top of its website.

I HAVE EXCITING NEWS There's an emergency Midnight Mass episode on Rayner's resignation and the reshuffle that followed that will be appearing on your app in a few hours. AND Sunday School as normal in two days. A xx

Suspect the precedent of having breached the ministerial code, despite having acted with integrity, might be problematic for more than just Angela Rayner

It reduces emergency admissions, unnecessary investigations and mortality rates, and raises patient satisfaction. Maybe that’s where the government should be putting its money. ‘MD’ on the NHS summer of discontent, only in the new Private Eye, out now. 🧵2/2

How it's going

‘I had her right in front of me. And now she’s gone’: how one mother lost her daughter to mental illness

The headline here should say: "Number of private schools increases by 35 - showing fears of an exodus to be unfounded". (The increase is mentioned way down the article.) www.thetimes.com/article/19ef...

And an additional "BRAVO!" to @quietriotpod.bsky.social listeners who added a big bump to that graph.

I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better

little library gallows humor for ya :'D

i dno, maybe time to let it go

There’s a Hindi phrase (usually said by dads) for when someone leaves the lights on that translates to “Is it Diwali again?” A French version is “We’re not in Versailles!” But my favourite version, by far, is the Serbian “Was your grandpa Nikola Tesla?”

I've not been so excited about a film in years. Gunn really truly gets it: what's radical about this character, the ideas embedded in the character www.thetimes.com/culture/film...

With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.

Nostalgia is a powerful drug but Old Twitter’s thing of crowding every single institution / religious order / goth band on the same chaotic platform was a fun once-in-human-development moment before it led to the breakdown of society.

Fascinating piece on (another) unseen health timebomb, which also helps explain a lot about both pressures on A&E and arguably on sickness benefits www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

“We essentially nearly started World War 3 because Trump got fomo” is THE summary of 2025 @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com

I know your time is precious and all that, but I can assure you that this is worth 100 hours of doomscrolling.

The @uofglasgow.bsky.social knows how to put together a top goodie bag

I agree there is no other obvious short-term solution. However this will undermine all the work done over three decades to find a form of assessment that actually recognises attainment and potential over a random test of personality type.

Something broke the journalists and now they can’t write anything that isn’t ‘What does this mean for Reform at the next election?’

Oooh, you mean it's OK to leave, realise it's a mistake, then rejoin? 😉

"Old fashioned print media is in decline everywhere but in the mind of the nation’s political class. The result is that our leaders are getting a very warped sense of what the average voter thinks, reads and cares about."

Have to marvel at the ongoing capacity for Labour to govern in the interests of a British working class it thinks exists rather than in the interests of the one that does.

Thames Water face a record penalty of £122.7m – a fine not to be sniffed at, and hard to swallow

"University: A Good Idea". Excellent piece by @patporter76.bsky.social, reasserting the humanist idea of the university as a place to think, grow and argue; not as a consumer experience providing employable skills. thecritic.co.uk/university-a...