Dignity

Dignity is what drives me, Starmer says in Commons grilling on welfare cuts

Sir Keir Starmer suggested ministerial language on welfare reform has sometimes been misguided and insisted “dignity” is what drives his politics as he defended Government plans to slash the benefits bill.


Dignity? Of course it is "Sir" Keir, but did you buy the trousers you are wearing today, trousers suited to your stature?

“It has been well said, without dignity there can be no stature,” Charlie assured him.

Earl Derr Biggers - The Black Camel (1929)

Banners

New report shows it’s largely officials and organizations demanding books be banned - not parents

A new report reveals the vast majority of those demanding book bans are organizations or officials — not individual parents.

Seventy-two percent of demands to censor books in schools have come from organizations that include elected officials, board members and administrators, according to the American Library Association.

Parents only accounted for 16 percent of book ban demands, while individual library users made up five percent.

Mr Potter - the last lone man

Probably no one in the Five Towns takes a conscious pride in the antiquity of the potter’s craft, nor in its unique and intimate relation to human life, alike civilised and uncivilised. Man hardened clay into a bowl before he spun flax and made a garment, and the last lone man will want an earthen vessel after he has abandoned his ruined house for a cave, and his woven rags for an animal’s skin. This supremacy of the most ancient of crafts is in the secret nature of things, and cannot be explained.

Arnold Bennett - Anna of the Five Towns (1902)

Starmer ‘ignored’

Starmer ‘ignored’ calls to investigate MP accused of bullying

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of ignoring repeated calls to investigate a Labour MP accused of bullying and harassment.

When he was still leader of the opposition, Sir Keir was warned in writing that Dan Norris had been accused of bullying and harassment in June last year. Mr Norris would go on to win Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg’s seat at the general election.

We could shorten that headline and make it into a much more general way of banging out media stories, because Starmer is good at ignoring. The basic headline would be -

Starmer ‘ignored’ calls to investigate

Then add whatever he has been ignoring lately. Almost anything topical will do, from the incompetence of Rachel from Accounts to Ed Miliband's deficiencies to the activities of the social media police.

The digital afterlife

 

The situation gradually developing

The situation gradually developing was something of a dilemma to a man better acquainted with ideas than facts, with the trimming of words than with the shaping of events.

John Galsworthy – Fraternity (1909)

Starmer promises 'bold changes' to rules over electric cars in wake of Trump's tariffs

The prime minister confirms a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars but announces changes to regulations to help firms transition.

Sir Keir said: "I am determined to back British brilliance.

"Now more than ever UK businesses and working people need a government that steps up, not stands aside.

"That means action, not words."

Deprived

Lurching back to the previous post, this is what Wikipedia says about Bridget Phillipson.

She grew up in a deprived part of Washington, in a council house with no upstairs heating.

What a coincidence! I grew up in a council house with no upstairs heating, but we had an open coal fire downstairs. Oddly enough, this is where the coincidence fizzles out, because we never considered ourselves to be deprived.

Deprived of what? We had no fridge, freezer, phone etc, but we had a roof over our heads and never at any time do I remember feeling deprived. We had a wireless in a wooden case, would Bridget count that as posh?

Of course the real deprivation of modern times is the lack of rational, principled politicians providing hard-nosed government oversight.