Headlines - the decline continues

UK households with air fryers face £126 charges from April

According to comparison site Go Compare, the average air fryer uses anything between 800 watts and 2,000 watts per hour to heat up and cook food. An average air fryer would cost 39p to run for an hour right now, or £141.50 per year if run for one hour per day.

But with the new prices from April, the cost will drop to £126.06 per year, after the cost per hour decreases to 35p. Overall, it's a decrease of £15.44 per year from April, when prices drop.

And more good news is that, generally, it's still cheaper to run an air fryer than an oven.

My underlining.

Although there are so many dodgy headlines out there in Media Land that we develop an eye for the more entertaining attempts to grab our attention. I reckon it's a job I could do, for example -

Mum Gail says her toilet is haunted by the ghost of a nineteenth century milkman

Rare tropical fish discovered in sock drawer

Keir Starmer to make vitally important announcement on AI

I'm not sure about the stories below the headlines, but maybe I could leave that to AI.

Little Tich - Big Boot Dance (1900)

 

Where do we go from here?

  
 

Where do we go from here?

Blair sparks row with Starmer after claiming UK ‘should have backed Trump from the beginning’ in Iran

He reportedly added: “If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security ... you had better show up”.

Sir Tony’s comments were made in private on the understanding that he would not be quoted, but they have since appeared in the Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Time


It's isn't so much a question of disagreement between those two, as a question of having to pay attention to national political actors who should never have been on the stage. Yet this is only part of what we are reduced to. 

Starmer will presumably be replaced at some point by...

That's not something to dwell on either.

But no surprise

John Prescott's son joins Greens

David Prescott decision to join the Greens comes as the party overtakes Labour for the first time in the polls.

Karl Turner, who succeeded John Prescott as the Labour MP for Hull East in the 2010 general election, told Sky News the defection was "hugely disappointing" but "no surprise."

He added: "I suspect John Prescott would be furious if he was around today.

"But his anger would be aimed at the Labour Party for allowing progressive voters to leave Labour and go to what they see as a left-wing, more progressive alternative to the party he worked all of his adult life to elect into government, to change the lives of the many, not the few, for the better."

Politicians eh? They play strange language games where words such as 'progressive' seem to mean no more than progressively totalitarian, benefitting the few, not the many.

Interesting times unfortunately.

Lawyers and Politics

Leading scientists accuse European Commissioner of ‘misleading statements’ on smoke-free nicotine products

A coalition of 23 leading European experts in medicine, toxicology, epidemiology and addiction science has accused European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi of disseminating “false and misleading” information about the risks posed by smoke-free nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco.

In an open letter dated February 25, 2026 and addressed to EC President Ursula von der Leyen, the signatories claim Várhelyi’s repeated assertions such products carry health risks “comparable to or even bigger than smoking itself” are “scientifically untenable” and could distort upcoming European Union legislation on tobacco taxation and product regulation.

“We write to you to correct dangerous, false, and misleading statements about novel smoke-free tobacco and nicotine products made by Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi,” the letter states...

They stress that these products are not “safe” or “harmless” but beyond any reasonable doubt far less harmful than cigarettes.

Olivér Várhelyi is a lawyer by profession, but he's convinced -


Most starkly, in a December 2025 interview with Euractiv, when asked if he was convinced that alternative tobacco products are as harmful as traditional cigarettes, Várhelyi replied: “Yes, I am. Absolutely. One hundred per cent.”

But we already know about lawyers and politics.

Curiously amateurish

I’ve watched a number of Public Accounts Committee videos of Rupert Lowe questioning civil servants about spending. A notable aspect is the civil servant’s language where generalities, vague excuses and virtuous aspirations are used to evade damaging criticism.

The language also seems intended to evade what from a departmental perspective are high risk details. These are details which could presumably point to incompetence, waste and even theft or fraud. Otherwise, why the evasion? Perhaps because evasive language is also used internally as an alternative to confronting lax standards.

It can be uncomfortable to watch. Curiously amateurish too.

Sinclair C5 HTX (Hybrid Turbine eXperimental)