The Department for Education this week found itself on the wrong end of a social-media pile-on. In a well-intentioned video promoting free breakfast clubs back in October, parents were asked what they’d do with an extra 30 minutes in the morning. It went viral this week. Even among supporters of the scheme, many questioned the messaging because it made an easy target for opponents.
Continue reading “Needing a Break Doesn’t Make You a Bad Parent”What He Meant vs What You Heard
When World War II veteran Alec Penstone appeared on Good Morning Britain (YouTube), he said this:
“The sacrifice wasn’t worth the result that is now.”
Presenter Adil Ray asked the question we all wanted to know, “What do you mean by that, though?”
Alec replied:
“What we fought for was our freedom – but now it’s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it.”
And that’s where the questions ended: two stark sentences, no context, and a vacuum the internet immediately filled with its own assumptions.
Continue reading “What He Meant vs What You Heard”Don’t Solve the Housing Crisis by Creating Another Crisis
Waltham Forest Council is facing a £23 million overspend on temporary accommodation. Aa crisis that’s forcing a rethink of how and where people are housed. The council now plans to prioritise “good homes over location,” meaning more families could be moved out of the borough altogether. Sounds sensible, right?
Continue reading “Don’t Solve the Housing Crisis by Creating Another Crisis”Are We Being Lied To About Immigration?
Spoiler: Yes
A couple of weeks back I saw someone on social media claiming that everyone agrees immigration is the biggest issue among the UK public.
Continue reading “Are We Being Lied To About Immigration?”Who told Labour they own the left?
A recent clip from The Times Radio’s politics show How to Win an Election caught my attention.
It showed how little mainstream commentators actually understand the Green Party. They spoke as if the Greens had “moved on” from the environment, as if climate and social justice aren’t still central to every interview they do, when the questions aren’t derailed into personality gossip or tabloid distractions.
Then, when the panel talked about the Greens “going after Labour votes,” the tone said it all: half dismissive, half warning, as though those votes already belonged to Labour by divine right.
Continue reading “Who told Labour they own the left?”So, You Think Greens Don’t Represent the Working Class?
With the Green Party growing rapidly under Zack Polanski, I’m seeing the usual opposition comments about them. No attempts to actually debate policies – instead they go for personal attacks. They don’t represent the working class. That the left-wing views come from university indoctrination, and the tired cliché that as you get older, you naturally drift right.
None of that fits my story.
Continue reading “So, You Think Greens Don’t Represent the Working Class?”The real reason London doesn’t feel like it used to
An article in a local newspaper this week:
Families ‘priced out of London’ as birth rate falls 20%
London Assembly hears that sharp fall in number of children in capital’s primary schools is prompting closures that are likely to continue
walthamforestecho.co.uk
UK reaches new record high for homeless deaths in 2024
UK deaths of 1,611 homeless people in 2024 is record high
Most are linked to suicide or drugs, with spice and nitazenes increasingly deadly.
www.bbc.co.uk
BBC headline: “UK deaths of 1,611 homeless people in 2024 is record high.”
If you were to read that headline alone, you’d probably think homeless = rough sleeping. But most of those 1,611 people weren’t sleeping on pavements. They died in “temporary accommodation.” The roof was there. The support wasn’t.
That should stop us in our tracks. If people are still dying in record numbers after being “housed,” then the problem isn’t rough sleeping. It’s far deeper than that.
Continue reading “UK reaches new record high for homeless deaths in 2024”Renewables have overtaken coal as the largest source of electricity
Big news: renewables have now overtaken coal as the world’s largest source of electricity:
Renewables overtake coal as world’s biggest source of electricity
Developing countries lead the historic clean energy charge but the US and EU rely more on fossil fuels than before, a think tank study shows.
www.bbc.co.uk
Family history research made me unpatriotic
Not because I hate my country, but because it reminds me how arbitrary borders really are. I’m not just talking about DNA results that show ancient connections to Germanic Europe or Scandinavia, but more recent than that.
The more I trace my family tree, the clearer it becomes: borders are stories, not walls. I have close relatives stretching from Britain to Canada and Australia, and – judging by recent DNA matches – even second cousins with Chinese ancestry. It’s not nationality that connects me to others; it’s humanity.
Of course, I’ll celebrate the fun stuff. I’ll cheer for England in the big tournaments like anyone else. But when pride turns into obsession – when people start calling others enemies or traitors just for being from somewhere else, or because you dare to treat immigrants as fellow humans just trying to live their lives – that’s when it crosses the line.