Very interesting piece this. Demonstrates the pervasive influence of "shitstalgia" while also highlighting that its some among the 60 pluses who need a social media ban and much more than the kids.

Same thing happened with Mercy in Norwich on Prince of Wales Road.

It's fair to say that road is not for the faint-hearted (it's one of the places papers used to go as reliable place for photos for a "Binge drink Britain" headline). Very naive to buy a property there and be surprised by the noise.

The Parliament of Estonia is orders of magnitude smarter than whoever is in the Parliament of Canada (including Mark Carney).

"Europe should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says" […]

We had about four leaflets through addressed to me (who voted Green at the last general election and typically votes tactically for Green, Labour or Lib Dem) from Reform. Despite it being entirely a local election they only really mentioned national issues.

The False Hypocrisy of Existing Within a Flawed System Endless chains of gotchas are a way to dismiss the argument, not a valid argument

Done another post - thearmchairphilosopher.co.uk/blog/the-fal...

This is key to political understanding: austerity causes a rise in support for the far right.
BTW, austerity is *not over*, unless you accept the meaningless official definition. A meaningful definition is "a decline in public services caused by a shortfall in funding". catherinedevries.eu/NHS.pdf

Suffice to say I am morally opposed to the existence of Bitcoin and think possession of it should be illegal.

Haven't the foggiest.

When Angela Rayner underpaid £40,000 stamp duty on her flat, Richard Tice said it was "morally completely indefensible” and she should immediately resign if she had “any moral decency”.

Now we learn he personally made £91,000 in excess payments by failing to pay the tax his company legally owed

I can't even find the words to express how spectacularly dumb and damaging this administration is, not just for US science and healthcare but for the world. Innovations like mRNA vaccines - for pathogens, cancer, autoimmune diseases etc - benefit all of humanity.

Good

Deconstructing the Skydiving Christian Baby This downright bizarre philosophical claim has been doing the rounds the last few years. Let's treat it with the seriousness it really doesn't deserve...

Been working on a side project blog and finally got the first post ready - thearmchairphilosopher.co.uk/blog/deconst...

Flyer for the Greens in Waveney Valley

Just had this through the door and feels genuinely inspiring. The Reform ones went straight in the bin.

At long bloody last. Sooner the insanity of Brexit is consigned to the past the better.

Liz Truss Appointed by Trump to Dismantle the 'Deep Space Blob' “The President is a big fan of the Prime Minister's YouTube channel,” the White House Press Secretary told reporters

I saw this earlier - bylinetimes.com/2026/04/01/l...

We would set up cheques on a payment system, have one or more others authorise them, and then send them to be printed overnight and sent straight out.

BACS support landed in around 2002 I think and largely pivoted to that.

I think it's nearly 20 years since I last wrote a cheque.

In the context of a big company that pays out regularly, giving someone a chequebook for the company is a potential nightmare. Too easy to write a big fat cheque to yourself.

I used to work for a life insurer in the Noughties and once had a customer complain that she hadn't received her cheque. When told there was a five day backlog for claims she replied "It only takes seconds to write a cheque".

We didn't write ANY cheques.

I'm a late Xennial and I do this.

Certainly to me as someone without a degree, it seems to me that mainstream economics' main reason to exist is to provide a post-hoc justification for the shitty policies someone wanted to enact.

How can this go on for another 3 years?

Our Story - Rethinking Economics

Presumably that would have been before the impact of this event really filtered through academia - rethinkeconomics.org/about/our-st...

I'm curious about this too. From what I have seen of it, it feels like standard accepted economic models are incapable of explaining things like ubuntu, for instance, and dismiss them as irrational, when in fact they basically reflect normal human behaviour.

This is why I unapologetically tell the economics students to change their major to something respectable.

Good god, that Telegraph article is one of the most bizarre things I have ever read.

For several months, people have been wondering why Reform hasn't declared any crypto donations, despite Nigel Farage saying they'd received some

Now @theobserveruk.bsky.social can reveal why...

Nigel Farage condemned over call to ban public prayer for Muslims in the UK Reform party leader criticised for making comments after event held in London’s Trafalgar Square this week Muslim leaders have condemned Nigel Farage’s call to ban public prayer by Muslims in the UK as bigoted and warned of a “growing tide of hate” after the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, questioned whether the events fitted “within the norms of British culture”. Farage was speaking at the launch of Reform UK’s manifesto for the forthcoming Scottish parliament elections when he made the remarks. Continue reading...

Nigel Farage condemned over call to ban public prayer for Muslims in the UK

That never stopped his friends in America going after Native Americans.

Should ban cryptocurrency donations too.