Muted Enthusiasm

‘God help us all’: Readers react to Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK

The Telegraph revealed on Wednesday evening that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were planning to move back to Britain.

Has Meghan given up the absurdly expensive jam business? 

Will Harry carry on suing people?

So many questions. 

Meanwhile there is a thunderstorm rumbling around our little patch of Derbyshire. It may be an omen.

Missiles and Hairstyles

North Korea launches about 10 short-range ballistic missiles

North Korea launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the waters off the country’s east coast on Thursday, South Korea’s military said on Thursday.

This comes just a day after Pyongyang dismissed US scaling back a major military exercise with South Korea.

The missiles were launched towards waters off North Korea’s east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said...

North Korea has frequently reacted to joint US-South Korea military drills with weapons tests and strong rhetoric. Pyongyang views the exercises as preparations for an attack and says they justify strengthening its nuclear capabilities. Washington and Seoul maintain that the training is purely defensive.


"Pyongyang views the exercises as preparations for an attack" - or possibly not. Aggressive military display towards South Korea has been a key element of North Korean foreign policy since the days of
Kim Jong Il. Military activity in the South gives North Korea an opportunity to emphasise that policy to its own citizens by setting off a few photo op missiles. 

A constant and conspicuously aggressive military posture towards South Korea seems intended to justify the extremely harsh treatment handed out to North Korean citizens whenever they are detected showing an overt interest in South Korean lifestyles, freedoms and prosperity. Music, films, hairstyles are all double plus ungood.

Toxic Dumps

Andy Burnham vows to clear-up 'toxic dumps' in new drive to tackle illegal waste

Andy Burnham has announced a crackdown on the criminal gangs profiting from illegal waste.

The prime minister intends to empower more police officers to seize cash, cars and houses from criminals profiting from the illegal waste sites.

Fines will be extended from their current maximum of £300 up to £5,000 and those responsible could face tougher sanctions like prosecution and imprisonment.

AI-powered drones will also be used to detect illegal activity as it happens.

Andrew Barnum certainly has a showman's way with words. 'Toxic dumps' for example, the words are bound to kick off a few thoughts about certain areas of the UK which are not what they could be in these feckless times. Places we wouldn't include in a morning stroll, areas where decent coffee shops are notably thin on the ground.

Apart from this, what will those AI-powered crackdown drones discover and which areas will their operators use them to cover? Their use does suggest a certain amount of existing knowledge about likely locations. 

Avoiding the obvious - except when not in office

PM vows to help households through 'really hard' times as inflation jumps higher

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to do what he can to help Britons through “really hard” times as cost pressures mount after figures showed inflation surging to a four-month high and forecasts for more pain ahead.

Tories say households could save £540 a year by scrapping net zero

The Conservatives have said that households could save about £540 a year after 2030 if net zero regulations are scrapped with a commitment to make energy as cheap as possible.

Unlocking the Blockages

Andy Burnham to lead UK growth from No 10 North in major power shift

Andy Burnham has outlined plans for the new No 10 North to assume control over economic growth from the Treasury, framing the shift as a move to divest power from Whitehall.

According to the Prime minister, the Treasury will maintain its focus on overseeing public finances, whereas the regional 10 Downing Street office in Manchester will lead economic expansion.

Speaking in an interview with The Times, he stated that chancellor John Healey completely backs the decision, characterising it as part of a "huge transfer of power".

“And particularly having No 10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider Whitehall system.”

There is a whiff of something unpleasant when Burnham speaks of "maximum power to unlock the blockages." Maybe it's the whiff of responsibility being flushed away. 

Manchester says it's our responsibility.

No it isn't it's No.10.

Not us mate, that's Treasury. 

Growth will of course be the the Labour version of growth, government "investment" which turns out to be spending on projects best forgotten before the photo ops, not after. The unpleasant whiff this time is our money being flushed away, but we're familiar with that one.

Divide and rule - there's a whiff of that too.

Burnham says he is not embarrassed

Burnham says he is not embarrassed about exchange with Trump aide impersonator

Andy Burnham has said he is not embarrassed by the exchange of messages he had with someone pretending to be Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

The prime minister was in contact with an unknown person who pretended to be top White House aide Susie Wiles, but he grew suspicious after several messages and reported the incident.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, he insisted he had handled the incident properly.

No doubt most people will be inclined to believe him. Burnham may have given away some slightly confidential information about bus fares, but nothing too damaging.

If he passed on his personal views about Louise Haigh's Emergency Alerts debacle, then that could be embarrassing, but Louise is embarrassing anyway so again the damage will be limited.

Another Professor

From four years ago.

 

Weather Change Shock

Heavy rain brings flood threat as 'shock' temperature drop set to hit

Flooding could hit parts of the country this week as heavy rain is forecast to hit drought-stricken land, but temperatures could take a “shock” drop later in the week.

According to the Met Office, certain areas will see the “first meaningful rain for a long time” following weeks of heatwaves and dry weather, which has left many parts of the country facing water shortages and have seen several restrictions introduced.

Here in our little patch of Derbyshire, we are shockingly unshocked by this welcome change in the weather. We've noticed that British weather can be changeable so we're coping. 

A short walk followed by a stroll to Sainsbury's then coffee and chocolate may help too. 

Fear of reprisal

Scottish Labour must be able to disagree with UK party without fear of reprisal

The two candidates running to become the next leader of Scottish Labour have been urged to demand answers on whether Anas Sarwar's split with Keir Starmer damaged the party's Holyrood election campaign.

Just For Scotland has written to Joe Fagan and Michael Marra to seek clarity from the UK party following reports it tried to scupper Sarwar's campaign to become first minister after he called for Starmer to quit in February.


As reprisal is a fundamental political tactic and always has been, this request is delightfully ironic. Good grief, without reprisal directed at political enemies simply for being political enemies, the Labour Party as we know it would disappear into the mephitic mists of history. 

Governments also promote fear of reprisal as a general behavioural manipulation tool within the voting population. Censorship too, this unlovely feature of life has its reprisal aspect. Anything from vocal political dissent on sensitive issues to ridicule or parody may be caught in the reprisal net. 

"Politically correct" has come to mean safe from official reprisal.

That’s how it always is

Vigil to be held for Jason Arday as fundraiser reaches £130,000

Prof Arday resigned from his post as professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge last week after allegations of plagiarism were made against him. He was found dead at a home in Battersea on Friday.

A vigil for the professor, organised by the group Stand Up To Racism, will be held on the steps of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, central London, at 6pm on Monday.


That’s how it always is with these Schilleresque noble hearts; till the last moment every goose is a swan with them, till the last moment, they hope for the best and will see nothing wrong, and although they have an inkling of the other side of the picture, yet they won’t face the truth till they are forced to; the very thought of it makes them shiver; they thrust the truth away with both hands, until the man they deck out in false colours puts a fool’s cap on them with his own hands.

Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment (1866)

The cost of living and reasons to be sceptical

Shimeon Lee has a topical TPA piece on defects in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “cost of living tracker.”


A closer look at "JRF's cost of living tracker"

Active users of X may have seen a viral clip last week of LBC host Nick Ferrari pushing back on the claim that 7 million households supposedly cannot afford a 50p toothbrush. The figure comes from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “cost of living tracker” which claims that 7.4 million low income families are going without essentials in 2026.

This has been uncritically repeated by outlets like the BBC who featured a 77 year old woman claiming she cannot even afford to turn on her oven - more dramatic than anything actually measured in the JRF survey. The same woman has appeared in many similar articles before, making outlandish claims like only having seven hot meals a year. Stories and reports like these are used to build the case for ever more government spending, with the JRF calling for the universal credit standard allowance to rise by as much as 68 per cent, for example.

Yet there is reason to be sceptical. In the BBC article, the same woman who cannot afford to use her oven reported spending £50 a week on petrol - enough to drive 300 miles. Exactly why a pensioner is driving the equivalent of London to Newcastle every week is unclear, especially considering she couldn’t afford a car in 2024.


No surprises but the whole piece is well worth reading.


Ultimately, the problem with measuring hardship in this way is that going without some things does not necessarily mean lacking the money for it. People make different choices about how to allocate their resources. In the same 2023 JRF survey, 15 per cent of those who were “going without essentials” also said they did not intend to reduce socialising due to cost, with 15 per cent also economically inactive. More welfare should not be the default answer, and when extraordinary claims and common sense contradict, common sense should prevail.

PM urged to stick to the spirit of made up numbers

PM urged to stick to spirit of Labour manifesto and reject Jackdaw and Rosebank

The plea to Andy Burnham comes from campaigners at Stop Climate Chaos Scotland.

Andy Burnham has been urged to “stick to the spirit of Labour’s manifesto commitment” and refuse consent for the controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields.

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) – a campaign group made up of more than 70 different organisations with around one million supporters – insisted the new Prime Minister must block the proposed new developments in the North Sea.

It told the Prime Minister that the lifetime carbon emissions from the two proposed developments could result in up to 65,495 excess heat deaths by the end of this century – adding this would be equivalent to the entire population of the city of Inverness.

The notion of 'climate chaos' may be typical activist twaddle, but more serious would be  government policies based on such a ludicrous number as the excess heat death claim. In that case we would be marching towards chaos, not evading it.

Not that we are actively marching away from chaos. Drifting towards it perhaps - too quickly.

Razz Washing Powder

 

That Finger-Wagging Alert

Yesterday we didn't receive the national alert on our phones because we have it switched off. We have no intention of doing anything which could start a wildfire anyway.

But they know that.

 

Khan challenges Burnham - don't back away from twaddle

Khan issues challenge to Burnham not to back away from net-zero goals

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said green investment was needed to ‘get our planet back on track’.

Andy Burnham has been warned not to “slow down on net zero” by London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who argued the heatwave and wildfires showed the need for action on climate change.

The Prime Minister has acknowledged the devastation caused by the extreme weather is due to climate change but has faced criticism over his stance on North Sea oil and gas and potentially watering-down targets for the take-up of electric vehicles.

Which suggests that climate twaddle is still fashionable among the slimy, belly-wriggling invertebrates, the miserable, snivelling, dribbling, dithering, palsied pulse-less lot that make up politics today.*

* Adapted from D H. Lawrence.

Europe made food abundant. Then Brussels decided to produce less

Richard Schenk has an interesting Brussels Signal piece on EU meddling with the production of what was once abundant in Europe - food. 

Well worth reading for Schenk's key point - the consequences of equating progress with producing less. It ties in with the the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

Europe made food abundant. Then Brussels decided to produce less

The Common Agricultural Policy emerged from a Europe that remembered war scarcity. Europe created abundance so successfully that it eventually forgot why producing food mattered.

Farmers even became targets of resentment, supposedly bathing in EU subsidies. Yet agricultural support declined substantially relative to the European economy. Common Agricultural Policy spending fell from 0.54 per cent of EU GDP in the 1990s to 0.36 per cent in 2023, according to the Commission’s own figures.

Environmental protection is not the problem. Farmers have an obvious interest in fertile soil, reliable water and a functioning natural environment.

The problem begins when environmental ambitions become detached from producing food, or become entangled with a degrowth philosophy in which producing less is itself treated as progress.

The world looks different now

Amazon turning to Natural gas power plant for AI data center – To emit more CO2 ‘than any other power plant in the country’

Amazon is investing in a large-scale natural-gas-burning power plant as part of a huge data center in Texas, the company confirmed on Friday, a facility that could become the largest single source of climate pollution in the United States...

“The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,” said Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokeswoman. Still, “our commitment hasn’t changed,” she said.

Hmm  - there is not much difference here the UK.

MPs fear one key issue could end new PM's honeymoon period

The "Burnham bounce" has largely been driven by Green voters coming back to the fold. Labour MPs warn that spells trouble if more oil and gas is approved following a summer of extreme weather...

Climate conscious Labour MPs are concerned there is a lack of urgency from the government as the UK battles extreme heatwaves, drought and wildfires.

Three Versions of Happiness

From prolix

Can Happiness Be Bad for Your Health?

• You finally got the thing you wanted. So why does part of you feel worse, not better?
• Positive experiences are not psychologically positive for everyone.
• Research suggests that good fortune may be associated with poorer health among people with low self-esteem.
• Experiences that contradict our self-image can themselves become psychologically unsettling.

To pithy

“What would you call the highest happiness, Lewie?” he asked.

“The sense of competence,” was the answer, given without hesitation.

John Buchan - The Half-Hearted (1900)

To pragmatic

Only the fool and the very young expect happiness. The wise merely hope to be interested, at least not to be bored, in their passage through this world.

Arnold Bennett - Sacred and Profane Love (1905)

A very fast JCB

World land speed record for a hydrogen powered vehicle - and a JCB presumably.

Hammer blow reform

'A hammer blow to young people': Businesses fume at proposed zero hours reforms

According to the government's own impact assessment, the direct cost to UK employers could be between £350m and £2.9bn per year.

Retailers have warned that a ban on zero-hours contracts risks inflicting a "hammer blow to young people's job prospects" after the government's own analysis found the move could cost businesses billions of pounds a year.

Something we regularly see in mainstream media is the use of the word 'reform' for government measures which could more neutrally be described as 'change'. 

It's one of those casual language biases which governments favour for obvious reasons, it is an easy way to bias their announcements. Media outfits don't have to go along with the word 'reform' in these contexts, but they usually do. 

As is the case here, the reaction of opponents is usually reported and it may be effective, but that word 'reform' is in there too, with its suggestion of benign authority handing down a carefully considered and beneficial measure. 

There is also a language bias problem with attempts to abolish 'reforms'. It is not easy to present the proposed abolition of a 'reform' as a reform.


But modern Tories have only the dullness of defending situations that they had not the excitement of creating. Revolutionists make a reform, Conservatives only conserve the reform. They never reform the reform, which is often very much wanted.

G K Chesterton - What's Wrong with the World (1910)

Other people’s money - the attraction never fades

The interface between government, politics and numerous institutions is lubricated by other people's money and maintained by those who chase after it. 

We know this, we've always known it, our ancestors probably knew it too.

  

Mr Carter was still secretary to the hospital where Reardon had once earned his twenty shillings a week, but by voyaging in the seas of charitable enterprise he had come upon supplementary sources of income; for instance, he held the post of secretary to the Barclay Trust, a charity whose moderate funds were largely devoted to the support of gentlemen engaged in administering it.

George Gissing - New Grub Street (1891)

The UN’s Green Climate Fund Ran Short Of Other People’s Money

The UN’s climate funds spent a July dialogue asking for more money. The best thing America did was stop sending it.

On July 14, the UN’s Adaptation Committee put fund managers, negotiators, and development bankers on a video call to work through a problem that clearly has them rattled. The money is drying up.

The Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, and the Adaptation Fund all sent people to explain how developing countries can tap them for cash. What they mostly did was ask for more. The reason they are running short, though, is news that ought to please anyone who pays U.S. taxes. In February 2025, the United States rescinded roughly $4 billion in outstanding pledges to the Green Climate Fund. We were the first country to do it. This spring, the United Kingdom followed, halving its pledge from £1.6 billion to about £815 million...

Where does the money go? The funds prefer to answer that in their own vocabulary. Ask what they finance, and you get “readiness,” “institutional capacity,” “capacity building,” “accreditation support,” “project preparation,” and “locally led adaptation.” Some of it does buy physical things, water systems and farms and flood defenses. A good deal of it, though, pays to build and staff the offices that write the grant applications in the first place.

Forget Joe - and some other stuff

As we know, The Babylon Bee is very good at hitting lots of nails on the head as well as being amusing enough to keep the optimism alive. Here's another example.

 
Democrats Announce You Aren't Allowed To Remember What They Did A Few Years Ago

U.S. — The Democratic Party announced on Tuesday that U.S. citizens were not allowed to remember all those things the party said and did just a few years ago...

At publishing time, Democrats had also added that no one was allowed to remember the existence of anyone named "Joe Biden."


As always, the whole piece is well worth a read and a chuckle, but here in the UK, are we likely to be reminded of the name "Professor Jason Arday" after a week or two?

The News Cycle says - "Who?"

Report

Do you have anything to report for your Earth Sector, Observer Gnorbis? The region known as UK I believe is your current area of investigation?

There are still a number of mysteries to untangle here, Controller. For example, Leader Burnham is the current political leader of Earth's UK region and he visited Ilkeston yesterday…

What is an Ilkeston?

It is the name they give to a certain town, Controller.

So, Observer Gnorbis, as political leader of the moment, this Burnham must have some important tasks to complete in Ilkeston, something you should know about, something of social and political importance.

Unfortunately not Controller, nothing of immediate social or political importance from what I can gather. It seems to be more performance than leadership.

Come now, Gnorbis, we sent you on those training years under the distinguished sociologist Professor Arday at the even more distinguished Cambridge University. Surely this equipped you with numerous social and therefore political insights sufficient to complement your role as an Earth Observer?

Unfortunately not, Controller. I have recently completed a report on the matter which explains a certain amount of confusion in my attempts to grasp sociological and political matters in my Observational Remit.

Oh… that in itself may be interesting Gnorbis. So Professor Arday is not likely to improve our somewhat lamentable understanding of why humans behave as they do?

Not at all. Controller. This may be why I cannot make much sense of Leader Burnham’s visit to Ilkeston. It is supposedly to do with listening, yet Leader Burnham has only poorly developed and highly selective modes of listening – in a political and sociological sense.

What is Leader Burnham listening to Gnorbis?

I do not know, Controller. His own voice mostly.

Oh. When is Leader Burnham due to be replaced?

Soon I hope, Controller. In his own way, Leader Burnham is as sociologically confusing as Professor Arday. It is all in my report, Controller.

A series of “everyday fixes”

Burnham must live up to Labour promise and slash energy bills by £300 – SNP

Andy Burnham must live up to Labour’s promise to slash energy bills by £300, the SNP has said, as the Prime Minister begins his cost-of-living tour of the UK.

Downing Street said Mr Burnham will be in “listening mode” as he visits Britain’s nations and regions.

No 10 said he will announce a series of “everyday fixes” to reduce household costs, promising to “pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living”.

A series of “everyday fixes” eh? Strange choice of words.

It would be interesting if we could find out if anyone ever believed the claim about a £300 reduction in energy bills. Apart from the voices in Ed Miliband's head, were they the same type of people who apparently believed in the startling abilities of Jason Arday as he climbed the academic ladder? 

It doesn't really matter though, Team Burnham is treating us to political twaddle of an even lower grade than Keir Starmer's turbocharged, laser-focussed Plan for Change. 

The bar is low, but so far it still seems too high for Team Burnham.

The Rot Goes Far Deeper Than Starmer

 

Books or Nails

A local bookshop closed down about a year ago. It didn’t stay empty for long before opening again as –

Nails, Head, Spa, Brows & Lashes Studio

I reckon that says something about the modern world.

One For The Listening Prime Minster

National Audit Office -


The impact of fraud and error on public funds 2023-24

Fraud and error cost the taxpayer billions of pounds each year – but most of the potential loss goes undetected. Based on the Public Sector Fraud Authority’s (PSFA) methodology, we estimate that fraud and error cost the taxpayer £55 billion to £81 billion in 2023-24. Only a fraction of this is detected and known about – enabling investigation and recovery.

Double Glazing

While we're on the subject of new-build houses, here's a video on double glazing.

Disguising the new-build tax take

Alan Hibben has a very interesting CAPX piece on the hidden regulatory costs of new-build houses in England. Interesting because it is yet another example of the remarkably furtive and opaque nature of taxation.

But they like it like that


Your new home comes with a hidden tax bill

• The buyer of a £450,000 new-build in England is paying £65,500 in public-policy costs
• Disguising the true tax take has become a political art form in modern Britain
• Buyers of new homes need to be shown where their money is going

When a household pays £450,000 for a new home in England, a striking share of that price is not paying for bricks, mortar or even land. It is paying for planning obligations, biodiversity rules, regulatory overhead and delay-driven finance costs – none of which is itemised for the family that ultimately bears the cost. Stamp duty adds to the burden, although that at least is visible on the completion statement; the rest is simply buried in the price. This opacity is not accidental. It is a core feature of modern British government, where disguising the true tax take has become a political art form.

The result is a system in which the buyer of a modest new home is quietly funding affordable housing, local roads, biodiversity credits, planning bureaucracy and the cost of navigating a slow, discretionary planning system. Yet the buyer is never shown the bill. Britain needs legislated transparency for every new-build sale, so households can finally see where their money is going.


The whole piece is well worth reading, even for those who have no intention of buying a new-build house.

A simple reform: show buyers the bill

If the British state wishes to fund affordable housing, local roads, habitat creation and planning administration through new development, it can do so. But it should do so honestly. A standardised ‘new home cost statement’ attached to every new-build sale would show the estimated per-home incidence of planning obligations, biodiversity obligations, major planning and regulatory fees and SDLT.

Burnham in 'distancing himself from Starmer mode'

Burnham in ‘listening mode’ as he launches month-long tour of UK

• Andy Burnham is embarking on a national tour throughout August to engage with the public on the cost of living crisis and gather input for his 10-year plan.
• The prime minister aims to be in “listening mode” to understand how the government can improve people's lives and address everyday financial pressures.
• Mr Burnham has already introduced measures such as cutting VAT on energy bills, reducing business rates for venues, and capping bus fares at £2.
• He is expected to unveil further cost-of-living measures to provide “breathing space” for families.
• Opposition parties, including the Conservatives and Reform UK, have challenged Burnham on the funding for his pledges and criticised his announcements as “tinkering”.

Again Burnham is busy distancing himself from Keir Starmer who was notorious for not being a 'listener' so Team Burnham decides their man has to become a 'listener'. 

Opposition parties call it 'tinkering', which it is, but something has to carry the 'listening' narrative and at the moment tinkering with little effect does that.

There will be lots of 'listening' photo ops too, they are the main point of it. 

  

Obvious isn't enough

A surprisingly interesting gov.uk report on the bureaucratic moves which have to be made before Aldi and Lidl can be formally classed as 'Large Grocery Retailers' under rules set out in the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010.

Aldi and Lidl should be subject to the same rules as major supermarkets

• CMA proposes to prevent Aldi and Lidl from blocking rival supermarkets opening close to their stores
• Provisional decisions find that Aldi, Lidl GB and Lidl NI are ‘Large Grocery Retailers’
• CMA is seeking views before making a final decision

Following a review, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally decided that Aldi, Lidl GB and Lidl NI should be subject to rules set out in the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010, which already apply to the UK’s biggest supermarket chains.

The Order is designed to stop ‘Large Grocery Retailers’ (LGRs) from using land agreements to make it harder for rival supermarkets to open nearby – in particular through the use of restrictive covenants and exclusivity arrangements. The rules ensure supermarkets compete freely – and ultimately ensure shoppers have more choice about where to buy, and how much to pay for, their groceries.

Cambridge had been hoping to just wait out the news cycle

 

Aftermath

The aftermath of the Jason Arday debacle could be interesting. Progressives seem to be even more vocal than usual but not profoundly surprised at such a conspicuous failure of DEI. The ideology stands firm. Of course there may be a new resolve to foresee what DEI clearly does not allow them to foresee – not overtly.

More generally, modern progressives cannot or will not navigate their way out of ideological debacles or even ideological insanity. A time is upon us when a progressive Establishment cannot navigate the state by avoiding even the most obvious debacles which happen to be missing from their ideological radar. The debacles duly arrive, Jason Arday is one of them.

The general progressive Establishment answer is not to upgrade the radar, but to dump the mounting consequences of ideological failure onto the backs of those who do what needs doing and keep the show on the road.

It isn't going to work.

Across the River

A video which illustrates the fascinating absurdity of North Korea rather well, a monumental pyramid of absurdity with an absurd, waddling despot perched on the top.

One step at a time

Digital driving licence ‘ready for rollout’

An annual report published by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency claims that, following initial early tests, the new virtual document is primed to deploy to millions of people

Some 18 months after first being promised, a new digital driving licence is “ready for rollout”, according to government documents.

As part of a wider suite of virtual credentials being created by various Whitehall agencies – including a new digital veterans’ card, and planned electronic versions of the likes of National Insurance cards and marriage and death certificates – ministers stated in January 2025 that an initial version of a digital driving licence would be available by the end of that year. Government intends that citizens will be able to store all these formal documents in a newly created GOV.UK Wallet – that will operate in much the same way as similar platforms from Apple and Google...

Other new online services created in FY26 include “a new digital portal with the ability, for the first time, to deal with over 1,000 medical conditions” that need to be declared by drivers.

I'm incompetent, Beth, is the actual answer

Jess Phillips: I hated being in government

The former minister spoke to Sky's Electoral Dysfunction about what it was like being inside government and why it's not on track to hit one of its key targets.

Asked by Sky's political editor, Beth Rigby, whether she would ever go back into government, Ms Phillips said she wouldn't.

"I don't think I'm suited to it, Beth, is the actual answer... I won't go back in and do more of the same. So no is the answer," she said.

If you lie on your CV, do you have to give your wages back?

 

I wouldn’t like to fall into your clutches

French Greens leader calls for ban on X during elections

Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the French Greens and 2027 presidential candidate, has called for the possibility of banning the social network X during election periods if foreign interference is detected.

In an interview with Libération, Tondelier described X as a “source of fake news” with a “rigged algorithm” that exerts a more structural and daily impact on disinformation than discrete foreign influence operations.

She argued that the platform, owned by Elon Musk, should be treated as a content editor rather than a neutral intermediary.


I wouldn’t like to fall into your clutches, my friend, altogether: or to give your benevolence a chance to condemn me.

D. H. Lawrence - Kangaroo (1923)

Ed on peculiar relationships

Ed Miliband blanks reporter asking him about previous comments calling Trump ‘racist’

In 2016, Miliband had been searing in his criticism of Trump during his first term as president.

He said: “The idea that we share values with a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper beggars belief.”

In following years, Miliband also said Trump had “lowered the bar for idiocy” and called out his “peculiar relationship with Russia and most of all with the truth.”

As Matthews asked Miliband about these comments, the foreign secretary gave the journalist no response.


As it's Ed Miliband we must expect some peculiar relationships with language, particularly his own words. He's an ambitious professional politician who may yet have his eye on No.10, but this was the language of progressive media with clicks to harvest. He may well wallow in the language privately, but airing it in public certainly "lowered the bar for idiocy".


In this stupid world most people never consider that a thing is good to be done unless it is done by their own set.

George Eliot - Middlemarch (1871-72)

Ed has never offered us any reason to think he is aware of a world beyond the narrow language of his his own set, yet we are invited to suppose he is a professional politician, currently filling the role of UK Foreign Secretary, one of the Great Offices of State.

He could try politics, but which party?

University of Cambridge professor resigns amid plagiarism allegations

• Professor Jason Arday has resigned as a professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge following an investigation into his qualifications and honorary appointments.
• The university's inquiry began after 'new information' emerged, with media reports alleging plagiarism in his PhD thesis and other research.
• Questions were also raised about other claims made by Professor Arday, including running 600 miles in six days and raising £5.5m for charity.
• In a letter to colleagues, Professor Arday stated that the 'relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary' had taken a profound toll on him, leading him to step away.
• Both the University of Cambridge and Jesus College are conducting separate, ongoing investigations into the matters surrounding Professor Arday.

COP33 hits an iceberg

 

India to Climate Cartel: Count Us Out! – ‘Explicit rejection of global net zero movement…has walked away from its bid to host UN’s COP33’

The narrative of a rapidly degrading Indian environment due to energy consumption is demonstrably false.

By Vijay Jayaraj

Excerpt: Sometimes a story gets buried not because editors conspire against it, but because the news cycle has room for only one crisis at a time. This year the big news has been the Iran war. But even accounting for competing headlines, the silence around a genuinely consequential development is telling.

And that is the story of India’s explicit rejection of the global net zero movement. India has walked away from its bid to host the COP33 UN climate conference, and the world’s climate press has treated it as a footnote rather than the signal it is.

Why more cells won’t fix the prisons crisis

Former Staffordshire police officer William Tittensor has an interesting CAPX piece on the state of UK prisons. Well worth reading. 

I have no personal experience of prisons, thought I'd add that, but perhaps it is also worth adding that many major public institutions seen to exist in a permanent state of crisis.


Why more cells won’t fix the prisons crisis

• Since 1986 the prison population has more than doubled, and the average sentence has increased from 11 to 20 months
• Prisoners participating in educational programmes are 7.5 percentage points less likely to reoffend
• Many prison workshops fail to provide any formal qualifications at all, limiting employment opportunities on release

Britain’s prisons are at breaking point. This month, 85,840 people are currently detained across prisons in England and Wales, with the estate operating at over 96% capacity. In 2023, 66% of prisons were operating above their original design capacity...

Prison’s purpose should be to ensure that those leaving custody are equipped to lead a law-abiding life, facilitating their re-integration into the social and economic fabric of society. The evidence, however, presents a grim picture. In the UK, almost 40% of offenders will reoffend within two years of being released from custody. We perform poorly compared to our European counterparts; the Netherlands and Austria enjoy a reoffending rate of less than 25%, while Norway’s is just 17.6%.

The Fata Morgana of Liberty

Three quotes on that elusive state we call 'liberty'.

Most people have no more definite idea of liberty than that it consists in being compelled by law to do as they like.

Ambrose Bierce - The Fiend's Delight (1872)

In fact, the more I think upon it the more I am convinced that the most important thing in any social system is the protection of the individual—personal liberty: freedom of contract: right to enjoy in safety what his ability, his enterprise, and his dexterity may gain for him.'

Walter Besant - The Ivory Gate (1892)

And this is the Fata Morgana of Liberty, or Freedom. She may lead you very definitely away from to-day's prison. But she also very definitely leads you towards some other prison. Liberty is a changing of prisons, to people who seek only liberty.

D. H. Lawrence and M. L. Skinner - The Boy in the Bush (1924)

Every World Land Speed Record Car (1898–2026)

 

Ensuring the government functions normally

Burnham heading on holiday two weeks after becoming prime minister

• Prime minister Andy Burnham is taking an overseas holiday after just over two weeks in office, having assumed the role on 20 July.
• Despite his absence from Downing Street, officials state he will remain in direct contact and continue meetings, ensuring the government functions normally.
• During his initial fortnight, Mr Burnham made numerous policy announcements, including pledges to remove VAT from electricity bills, end rough sleeping, and reinstate a £2 bus fare cap.
• He also initiated cross-party talks on social care, vowed to tackle small boat crossings, cut business rates for pubs, and established No 10 North.

Not much is it? Even if we search around for reasons to be positive, it's still not much. 

It's also worth mentioning that we don't want a government that functions 'normally', piddling around with trivial adjustments, petty restrictions and empty promises. We know the promises are empty because they always are - that's just one of the problems.

Maybe when Mr Burnham returns from his hols we'll see bets being taken on who could be the next Labour Prime Minister. 

Greek Irony

Wind farm cables triggered huge wildfire in Greece

The blaze began on Friday morning near Agios Vasileios in the Boeotia region at a site known as Mavro Spithari.

Greek authorities have arrested two people after investigators concluded that sparks from electricity cables linked to a private wind farm ignited a major wildfire that has been burning for three days west of Athens...

A similar incident involving the same network occurred only weeks earlier, about 100 metres from the current ignition point, burning around 60 acres before being contained.

Straitjacket

Education secretary vows to undo Gove’s ‘straitjacket’ school reforms

Education Secretary Lucy Powell says schools are stuck in a “straitjacket” of academic prioritisation, hindering children’s potential.

She has announced a review into whether teaching adequately prepares pupils for their futures, signalling a move to undo reforms implemented by Michael Gove.

Writing in The Times, Ms Powell said: “The one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t suit all children. For some it’s become a straitjacket. A straitjacket that has left too many being branded a failure — again and again — instead of being able to realise their potential.”

She intends to take a “fresh look at what we are teaching our children and whether we are equipping them for their lives ahead” as part of efforts to reverse Mr Gove’s education policies.


We have a review of course, but we we also have Michael Gove as the Tory to blame. To go with that we have a "one-size-fits-all approach" as the approach to blame even though this has been the Fabian dealing-with-the-plebs approach for over a century.

We also have the Freudian slip, a "straitjacket." That's another clue that more money will be needed, from you, via increased taxes, for the new straitjacket.

Oh yes - we also have a "fresh look at what we are teaching our children and whether we are equipping them for their lives ahead”, but that's just the usual sinister hint about taking a firmer grip on the approved political background to schooling.

Has 'laser-focused' been downgraded?

Mahmood ‘laser-like focused’ on securing UK’s border

The Home Secretary was touring the National Crime Agency’s offices in Stratford, east London.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “laser-like focused” and will do “whatever it takes” to secure the country’s border, as she toured the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) offices in Stratford, east London.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday afternoon, Ms Mahmood said: “I think the most important thing that people need to hear from their Home Secretary is that I’m doing whatever it takes to secure our border.

“And that is what I’ve been absolutely laser-like focused on from the moment I became the Home Secretary, taking all of the measures that I know are needed in order to secure our border.”

As we know, under the Starmer regime, 'laser-focused' was the zippy metaphor for Ministerial determination to make something happen. 

It would be disappointing to find that 'laser-like focused' is the poor relation of 'laser-focused', akin to something such as pork-like sausages, milk-like coffee additive or meat-like pie filling.

Gosh - a Rachel Reeves script

John Healey vows to protect the public from price gouging

• Chancellor John Healey announced he will be closely monitoring for price gouging at petrol pumps and in supermarkets, as the war in Iran continues to affect prices.
• Healey conceded that the government ”can’t completely stop the squeeze” on families and businesses but signalled readiness to intervene against unfair price rises.

Reeves reveals plan to protect public from unfair Iran war price hikes

A crackdown on companies profiteering from the Iran war at the expense of millions of Brits is among cost-of-living plans announced by Rachel Reeves today.

The Chancellor vowed that the Government would guard against unfair price rises amid fears over surging oil and fuel costs sparked by Donald Trump’s conflict in the Middle East.

The Fabian Society's Goal

 

A headline and one of the comments

The unabashed socialist filling Andy Burnham’s mayoral shoes

There are only two really famous people from Burnage in Manchester, neither of them politicians. The suburb is the birthplace of Oasis’s Gallagher brothers, who put Manchester on the map in the mid-1990s, back when Andy Burnham was just another face in the crowd at the Hacienda.

Thirty years on, however, another Burnage resident is in the spotlight. Step forward, Bev Craig, the local Labour councillor who has replaced Burnham as Manchester’s mayor after his departure to Downing Street.



Scott Davies

Complete waste of time all these Mayoral offices, just another layer of useless government to add to the layer upon layer of district councils, local councils, city councils, county councils, PCCs, quangos, the civil service the government itself, committees.....all of it utterly useless. Just look at the state of the country. 

I use public transport in Greater Manchester and like public transport in the rest of the UK its a total shambles. I end up walking half the time or have to take a taxi.

It is a strange desire to seek Power

   

Men in Great Place are thrice Servants: Servants of the Sovereign or State; Servants of Fame; and Servants of Business. So as they have no Freedom, either in their Persons, nor in their Actions, nor in their Times. It is a strange desire to seek Power, and to lose Liberty; or to seek Power over others, and to lose Power over a Mans self. The Rising unto Place is laborious; and by Pains men come to greater Pains: and it is sometimes base; and by Indignities men come to Dignities. The Standing is Slippery, and the Regress is either a Downfall or at least an Eclipse, which is a melancholy thing. 

Sir Francis Bacon – Essays – Holt edition 1701