Miracle

Cambridge’s diversity poster boy faces questions over ‘miracle’ 600-mile run

The Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row is facing questions over claims he has made about his athletic prowess and charity fundraising.

Prof Jason Arday says he once ran 600 miles in six days for charity, 300 miles in three days, and 30 marathons in 35 days, partly with a broken leg.

But experts in ultra-distance running have cast doubt on his claims, expressing surprise that he is not known in the ultra-distance community despite achievements that would put him among the world's top athletes.

Prof Arday also claims to have been a professional footballer and snooker player, and to have raised £5.5m for more than 70 charities.

The mess we're in

Carers should be best paid in society, not the worst, says Burnham

Carers should be the best paid people in society, not the worst, Andy Burnham has said as he set out plans for sweeping reform of the social care system.

The prime minister said that social care in England was as unfair as American healthcare as he reflected on the many people forced to whittle down their pensions and savings to care for family members due to the current system...

The prime minister - who teared up as he spoke about his father who is currently receiving care for Alzheimer’s - said it was a “major dereliction of public duty” that politicians had failed for decades to resolve the crisis in social care.


By gum, Burnham is certainly distancing himself from Starmer the uncaring automaton. Taking it too far in my view, bringing in his unfortunate father and talking about a "major dereliction of public duty”. Somewhat distasteful I reckon, but he is a politician.

We may go on to ask what a "public duty" is, but it would be unwise to expect a coherent response other than more words embedded in an economically and socially incoherent ideology.

The mess we're in runs deeper than this.

Burnham calls the Uniparty together

Burnham to hold cross-party talks on fixing crisis in adult social care

Andy Burnham will hold a cross-party meeting to discuss tackling the crisis in adult social care, as he pledged to “put everything I’ve got” into fixing the system.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats accepted the Prime Minister’s invitation “to build that spirit of collaboration from the start”, however, Nigel Farage hit out at Mr Burnham for ignoring Reform UK.

Mr Burnham said governments have, for decades, failed to tackle reform of social care in England, seeing it as “too risky, too difficult, and too complicated”.

Not only has Burnham called the Uniparty together, he has defined it - as Nigel Farage points out. Farage is probably right about a plan to increase taxes too, Burnham is trying to share responsibility with the rest of the Uniparty. 


Mr Farage criticised the Prime Minister for not extending an invite to his party, which “led over 300 national opinion polls and represents thousands of councillors and millions of Britons across the country”.

He claimed it is “uniparty in action”, adding: “It’s now clear that Burnham is conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment to foist further tax rises on the country.”

As trust in the Church of England collapses

Rev Fergus Butler-Gallie has a very interesting Critic piece on the corrosive effect of managerialism within the Church of England. 

Missionaries, not management consultants

As trust in the Church of England collapses, its leaders are prescribing more of the very managerialism that created the problem

The dust is only just beginning to settle from General Synod. I know it might sound preposterous to talk about the Church of England’s parliament in terms redolent of a gunfight in the Old West: gunfights in the Old West were often conducted in a friendlier spirit.

There were the usual vicious fights about sex, as bishops said one thing and then voted in a completely different way. There was an exceptionally unedifying scrap over a report into the State of Israel, which has possibly done serious harm to interfaith relationships. There was even a bit of rancour about Net Zero. A full house for 2026 Britain!

It is often said that the Church doesn’t represent the nation any more. Au contraire: this Synod showed it was the perfect mirror to the badly governed, divided and petty nation which it seeks to serve.

The whole piece is well worth reading even for long-time outsiders - the problem is severe enough to be clearly visible from the outside. 

The lack of trust in this, the institution par excellence of the nation ought to be a matter of national concern. The Church of England is in a bad state and it is increasingly clear that it cannot be trusted to appoint the leaders or engender the culture required to get itself out of that mess. That isn’t just an internal Church problem but, once again, shows that the Church’s problems are the nation’s too.

I find it difficult to really understand what happened behind the scenes

New Schuman roundabout is 'worst' possible outcome, says architect

The symbolic EU plaza has become a barren concrete lagoon, after three years of building work

  

Plan                                          Outcome

The man who redesigned the iconic Schuman roundabout, at the heart of the European quarter, has delivered a scathing verdict on the final result.

“We ended up really with the square that nobody wanted,” said Francis De Wolf, the leading Belgian architect on the project, told Euractiv...

“Now it’s too late in a way,” he said. It’s very unrealistic to imagine the canopy can still be built, he said, as it would require extensive building work to attach the foundations to the tunnels beneath the roundabout. “You’d have to break open the whole square again.”

De Wolf is baffled about how the project turned out so badly. “I’m not a politician … and I find it difficult to really understand what happened behind the scenes.”

One for Ed and Miatta

What’s behind North Korea’s coal industry push?

From miner housing to carbon neutrality, North Korea's coal strategy carries implications well beyond its borders

North Korea held the second plenary session of the ninth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea from June 20 to 22. According to Rodong Sinmun, the party’s official newspaper, the meeting’s purpose was to review North Korea’s progress on 2026 party and state policies. These policies stem from strategic tasks set by the Ninth Party Congress and the new five year plan. The party also said it aimed to discuss and resolve pressing issues needed to put socialist construction on a stable, sustained path of development.

The second agenda item at the plenary session was titled “On Boosting the Coal Industry and Transforming Coal Mining Towns Nationwide.” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said overcoming the coal sector’s remaining backwardness is an urgent task for the successful completion of the new five year plan.

What we need to counteract this horrific development is a determined visit to North Korea by a large delegation of UK climate protesters with their placards, soup and orange powder. This should attract Kim's attention and make him think again.

None of them would come back of course, a few people may see this as a disadvantage.


On March 15 this year, Kim visited the Chonsong Youth Coal Mine, part of the Sunchon Youth Coal Mining Complex in South Pyongan province, where he voted in Supreme People’s Assembly elections and met with miners. “For people to live, grain farming must go well,” he said. “For the state to live, coal farming must go well. Coal has been and remains the heart of our industry and the engine of our self-reliant economic development.”

Something to do with leopards and spots

Ed Miliband indicates development and climate will be at heart of UK foreign policy

Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is to indicate he will put the climate crisis and overseas development at the heart of UK international relations by taking up the country’s seat on the board at the World Bank.

The position, which is usually delegated to a junior minister, means Miliband will play an active role in shaping the changes to the World Bank that developing countries have called for, and ensuring the climate remains a core focus for overseas aid.

Miliband, who was energy and net zero secretary under Keir Starmer, will say: “International development is not an add-on to British foreign policy – it is central to it. By taking on the role of UK governor to the World Bank, I want to send an unambiguous signal that this government is serious about its global leadership on development and climate.”

The position is usually delegated to a junior minister? Didn't take Ed long to spot the opportunity and hop into the new role and the headlines. We may assume that he will have known about this move before accepting the role of Foreign Secretary and presumably hopes to pull Miatta Fahnbulleh's sustainability strings too, from a globalist position.

Maybe Burnham doesn't care about Ed's machinations and sees this move as a lone voice from a mysterious global outfit most voters don't understand. 

Yet in spite of his heavy focus on Manchester and repeated guff about the cost of living, Burnham is likely to be another globalist Prime Minister. No doubt we'll soon see how things pan out for Mad Ed.