This from the Guardian in October 2024. Children are being “plunged into poverty”, a charity says, because of a lack of support for kinship carers – relatives or family friends who step in to look after children after a crisis. Kinship carers, who are often grandparents, are twice as likely as other adults to rely... Continue Reading →
Let’s get the cliches out of the way first. Those reviewing a circus are contractually obliged to say it was “fun for the whole family” and also “fun for children of all ages.” I went to Pinder's Circus tonight with my wife and her cousin. We are all decrepit and it was ... a very... Continue Reading →
I love the Financial Times. There, I said it. Why? Because Noam Chomsky told me to. Or, more accurately, Chomsky pointed out that the business press is for the people who actually run the show, and they need/demand accurate information. If you want to peak over their shoulders, it ain't cheap, but it is there.... Continue Reading →
Solicited advice sheet Author: Marc Hudson Date 29 Sept 2024 Situation Members of [group] have a face-to-face (and online?) meeting with the newly elected Labour MP for the area on [date] They have pre-sent [x] questions of information [xxxx] has approached me (Marc Hudson) for perspectives/advice Mission MH to provide pre-meeting advice/perspectives, primarily via this... Continue Reading →
Deny the passengers, who want to get on. That’s a reference to a fun (ymmv) Elton John song from a few years back (40, to be precise). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB86UzewPdo All will be revealed soon, fwiw. This post comes from a prompt, nudge, suggestion from someone. In response to an old Conversation article under the title “We’ve... Continue Reading →
Why? As part of the “How Do We Honour The Soup Throwers?” thing #CollectiveCourage (Trying to put yourself under SOME discipline. Ha. Ha.) Because I need to help other people kick me in the ass so I my start-to-finish-in-a-timely-or-indeed-any-manner ratio improves. What’s an Andon Board anyhow? An Andon board is a visual display that shows... Continue Reading →
If you're a long-term reader (waves at all three of them) you'll know about "the smugosphere". It is Smugosphere [sməɡ ō sfir]: 1. “the protective fog of (unjustified) self-congratulation and complacency that surrounds any ‘community’ of people claiming to be making the world a better place, but which lacks commonly accepted and utilised measures of success... Continue Reading →
First, the cartoon. The cartoonist is Banx, who for my money is one of the best in the UK. His work appears in (at least) the Financial Times and Private Eye (these two are indispensable for understanding what is going on in the UK, as is the Morning Star. None of the three should be... Continue Reading →
Warning: inane banal statements about British politics ahead. Reader discretion (and evasion) recommended. Keir Starmer is facing the first attack on his world-famous integrity and consistency as Prime Minister. It turns out he has been accepting freebies for him and his wife. Because the money isn't enough, or because he's been doing it for ages... Continue Reading →
If you want to have a tolerably accurate picture of what is going on in the UK, well, it's a big job but I would start with a) Private Eye (fortnightly investigative journalism/satire/snark) b) the Financial Times (business newspaper, but not knuckle-dragging ideologues - try Times or Telegraph or the Hate Mail for that) and... Continue Reading →
