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I think a new Beveridge Report is needed and I am a bit surprised that none of the opposition party MPs have suggested it. The original report was commissioned on the widespread view that things couldn't go back to the way they were after WW2. We need...
Electric scooters are often bad. They should be part of a city's overall transit plan. It is that they have been dumped on the streets for profit, with not a care about the obvious consequences. And in this day when every other person is a borderline...
There are still electric scooters dropped around European cities They are avoided like the plague by everybody Why are they still allowed to be dropped onto the streets? If you want to hire them you have to touch them To make a business many people will...
The problem is that humans crave - desperately crave - emotionally reassuring narratives. Simple stories of good vs evil. Heroes and villains. Oppressors and oppressed. A model of the world that tells us that We are responsible for the good things in...
Theatres are falling thick and fast, with no funding, more worryingly, no answers from the government. It is baffling that pubs, cinemas, and restaurants can re-open, and yet theatres still have no timetable and no answers. Theatres don't have drunk people...
Unfortunately wildlife has almost disappeared as a result of a combination of pollution, environmental damage and yes - EMF radiation from phones and all manner of things. Please everyone look at the data relating to EMF and wildlife. No sparrows, no...
Hugely sad and a great loss. His enthusiasm and love for his job shone through the radio show just a minute. He could have easily retired years ago but the fact that he kept going was a testament to his huge talent and dedication to the BBC He made everything...
There's heavy snow on the ground here and it will be months before the first hint of spring, so I'm forcing some hyacinth bulbs inside in anticipation. Plants are so remarkable. By the second day the tips had turned green and they had sprouted an amazing...
The faster you deal with a health crisis, the greater the short-term economic costs, but then the greater the long-term benefits too. social distancing —asking people to stay away from one another. This has meant closing schools, restaurants, and bars....
There is some evidence that ingestion of sugar may, may influence the ratio of types of cholesterol produced, but, cholesterol is produced by all animal cells, not just by the liver. Cholesterol is not an evil compound.. it’s found in every cell, the...
There is nothing more soul destroying that someone who carries out one sided conversations. If they are a colleague, there are techniques you can use to make them share air space,or at least pretend to listen, because the relative formality of the workplace...
Cat thefts Round our way there have been several instances recently of cats mysteriously vanishing, sparking disputes and recriminations between neighbours. However, police now have reason to believe that the pets are being spirited away concealed in...
Polish coronavirus tests: cheaper but equally good Polish coronavirus tests have already been registered by the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products. Tests produced in Poland are to be cheaper, which is...
How many kinds of sweet flowers grow In an English country garden? We'll tell you now of some that we know Those we miss you'll surely pardon Daffodils, heart's ease and flox Meadowsweet and lady smocks Gentian, lupine and tall hollihocks Roses, foxgloves,...
Build the alternative, ban the car. We can have car free town and city centres throughout the country if we do one thing and that is to stop thinking walking and cycling will replace the car. Take Bristol as an example. For years Bristol city councils...
Former French PM Francois Fillon has been sentenced to five years in jail, with three of them suspended, and a hefty fine for paying his wife hundreds of thousands of euro from public funds for a minor job she was assigned. Fillon was found guilty of...
Ultimately, everything comes down to happiness and suffering. The utilitarians were right. If you ask someone “why ought you to do this?”, they will almost always eventually reach the point of saying “because it increases happiness or reduces suffering”....
A Day in the Garden Following the clouds by Listen to leaves blown Pondering on insects Lying in the garden Gently sipping tea Listening to radio Bidding the time Happy o’ content. Ladybirds fly by Buds all around Colour pallette Bestowed here. Early...
Many 1960s buildings are really great but feel intimidating because at street level they were designed to interact with cars and not people. An example is the National Theatre, which when refurbished removed car access and is now an inviting building....
Taking back control Taking back control from a succession of Conservative governments which have no mandate in Scotland is a prize worthy of a great deal of sacrifice. Especiallly when so many of the world's most successful countries have similar populations...
There was a Scottish soldier that had been in Dunkirk in 1940 and was one of the soldiers left behind after the evacuation. He was captured by the Germans and after a fair bit of toing and froing he ended up on a farm on the Baltic where he spent nearly...
Gardening in Winter Soon the days will get longer and the sun will shine and we'll all emerge from our hibernation and be out again digging, or not digging, encouraging growth and sharing triumphs and possibly failures My garden is still water logged...
A few years ago in Germany you could buy 12 bottles of beer in a crate for 8 euros. Once you’d drunk the beer you handed back the crate and empty bottles and got 3 euros back - the bottles were washed and reused. A far better approach to recycling than...
Infanticide and cannibalism are common throughout the animal kingdom, as a means of population control but these multiple seal deaths, recorded around the whole of the North Atlantic coastlines, primarily in Canada, suggest something more sinister.........
One day last year we had no Foxgloves, the next day we did. Like the Triffids, as one got to about 5ft tall - and at the start I thought to remove them, but the bees were all over them and at the end of the Summer last year we had about 10 of them. They...
