America is being run by fucking idiots with no knowledge or understanding of history

Israeli soldiers punished over vandalism of Jesus statue in Lebanon Two soldiers will be removed from combat duty and receive 30 days of military detention, Israel's military says.

Can’t help think this Israeli soldier has received more condemnation and a harsher punishment for vandalising a statue of Jesus than he would had he treated a Palestinian Arab in the same manner

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

More funding needed for food standards boost - caterers But the government says switching to more fruit, vegetables and fibre won’t cost more

Catering experts say more funding is key to the successful roll-out of an 'ambitious' government overhaul of school food standards.

From financial pressures to monitoring compliance, we examine some of the challenges that could be in store...

schoolsweek.co.uk/we-need-more...

UAE officials reportedly warned they may be forced to use yuan or other currencies if they run low on dollars amid the Iran war | Fortune Any pivot away from the dollar by a top oil producer would represent a major threat to the currency’s supremacy.

UAE threatening Americas petrodollar dominance

This war of choice is getting messier by the day

I expect China to offer v favourable deals on reconstruction and rebuilding infrastructure, but it will come at a price... and that price will be in Yuan

fortune.com/2026/04/20/u...

The JC has published an op ed by Nigel Farage rallying against Jew-hatred.

This is a man who sang antisemitic songs, and supposedly said “Hitler was right”, “Gas them” during school days

news.sky.com/story/nigel-...

theguardian.com/politics/202...

thejc.com/opinion/jews...

No one in the gulf will want anything to do with America going forward

There expensive weapons aren’t up to the job

The Chinese will offer to rebuild oil infrastructure far quicker and cheaper than any US linked company

US bases are making countries targets

American standing has collapsed

This dementia ridden divkhead and the fucking idiots that surround him are going to start WW3

All You Fascists YouTube video by Billy Bragg - Topic

youtu.be/SFPL97m2dsw

Can someone take Trumps phone off him until then?

I can’t imagine the Iranians have agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic … except their own ships

Trump seems to be adding extra conditions on the fly

How can we have serious negotiations when one side bases decisions on market opportunities and puts it out via social media

Going to claim credit for 50% of the headline

Delighted for Simo

I mean I, as a middle aged man, would find it difficult to be in a relationship, or even a close friendship, with some who thought Trump was great because it would tell me a lot about their character!

Iran won't accept Hormuz being open for everyone else but not for them

That's just a stupid pretence from trump

Iran will ignore the us blockade

Are the US navy going to open fire during the ceasefire?

It's also not really a ceasefire

Iran will ignore this nonsense and it's ports and ships will do and much as they can in the next week or so

I'm kind of thinking this is not how either ceasefires or negotiations work

Just been asked (again) what I think the government should do on school meals

Here’s a quick list

Scrap Universal Infant FSM to free up £600m, it’s not making a difference

Re introduce the small school grant to help schools who don’t have economies of scale

Increase per meal funding

Breakfast clubs are great, but will need the funding levels tweaking, especially with regards to SEND pupils and sites with limited capacity, may need to look at variable funding

New standards are great, but ministers pretending healthy food isn’t more expensive is just delusional and has to stop

To ensure the figures work, restore the survey of school meal costs, so ministers aren’t in the dark or worse, relying on campaign groups for information

Introduce proper automatic registration for FSM (not this bodge done by LAs, even though it has the best intentions)

Trail community eligibility

I’m seeing lots of discourse on school meals funding, with people making comparisons between the different levels of funding around the home nations

Many of these seem to be missing the vital point; that meals are being subsided in all these places

The grant from government does NOT equal the cost

DfE can play with the algorithms all they like, change to daily take up data, but ultimately it won’t make any difference if ministers ignore the reality & keep pretending that the £2.61 funding is sufficient

A meal costing £4.50 will still cost £4.50, no matter what the snake oil salesman say

This is the important bit

All that subsidy still comes out of the education budget

The cost of providing a £4.50 meal is still the cost of providing a £4.50 meal, regardless of which funding pot is used

It’s just that English schools are forced to siphon off money from teaching & learning budgets

Where it gets really interesting going forward is the idea that somehow some magical change in the allocation formula might bring about increased per meal funding figure without any increased cost to the Treasury

Of course I t’s utter nonsense

Take a small rural school with poor transport links, no economies of scale & equipment designed for home use, the production costs of their meals are likely to be inexcess of £4.50 per day

In Wales & Scotland it has no detrimental impact on the schools

English schools are forced to subsidise meals

So in England, it mainly falls on individual schools or Academy Trusts to subsidise any shortfall in funding

There is no one else to cover any increase in costs

Either DfE or schools have to find the extra

At the current funding rate of £2.61 pmpd that leaves many schools hugely out of pocket

In England, we have a diversified and fragmented education system, with academies running many schools and private contract caterers providing a significant proportion of meals

A dwindling number of councils still provide school catering as many cash strapped LAs refuse to run up losses

So for example, Welsh schools currently receive £3.20 per pupil per meal

But for many rural areas, meal costs are significantly higher

As Welsh schools are run by councils, it is these local authorities who are the ones responsible for absorbing additional costs

Scotland is similar but £3.30 pmpd

Thought I might share with
@bphillipsonmp.bsky.social @sharonhodgsonmp.bsky.social