Cover Page, 28 May 2020, Issue 235 Welcome to our latest edition. We hope you enjoy its articles, features and puzzles. This issue introduces a new longer type of occasional article called FORUM intended to enable a number of different writers to make a brief comment about a single topical theme. This week’s FORUM article… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Cover page
Issue: 235: New Normal
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Timing New Normal
28 May 2020 Timing New Normal Bin the Scots? By John Watson The slogan “the New Normal” has taken over from its predecessor “Brexit means Brexit” as a source of bemusement to the public. What does it mean? No, I understand that the word “normal” refers to some status quo which society will duly adopt. … Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Timing New Normal
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Cummings and Goings
28 May 2020 Cummings and Goings Twittering is for Birds by J.R. Thomas Now, concerning this fellow Cummings. This column has two strong opinions on Mr Cummings. The trouble is that those opinions are in sharp conflict with each other. We need the likes of Dom, British politics needs him, however sullen and abrupt and… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Cummings and Goings
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Libya
28 May 2020 Libya is not Syria. By Neil Tidmarsh This week, the civil war in Libya showed signs of escalating out of control. The Turkish-backed forces of the Tripoli-based GNA (Government of National Accord) recaptured the al-Watiya airbase from the Russian-backed forces of the Benghazi/Tobruk-based LNA (Libyan National Army). Defeated LNA fighters withdrew from… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Libya
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Scrap the 2m Rule
28 May 2020 Scrap the Two-Metre Rule Now! By Richard Pooley Returning to south-west England last Wednesday after ten weeks in south-west France has been a discombobulating experience. As my Senegalese taxi driver (masked, separated from me by a plastic screen) took me from the Gare d’Austerlitz to the Gare du Nord, Parisians were behaving… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Scrap the 2m Rule
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Big Is Not Beautiful
28 May 2020 Big Is Not Beautiful Huge is harmful. By Lynda Goetz Fat is not just a feminist issue, to twist the words of Susie Orbach. It has historically always been a political and cultural issue. For centuries and in many different societies, carrying excessive weight showed that one had the wherewithal to eat… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Big Is Not Beautiful
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Accentuate Negative
28 May 2020 Accentuate The Negative The costs of saving. by Frank O’Nomics Is interest on savings a thing of the past? After centuries of positive returns, the Bank of England is contemplating setting interest rates at a negative level, while sections of the government bond market that are already there. This presents the strange… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Accentuate Negative
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Do It Yourself
28 May 2020 Do It Yourself Corona statistics. By Robert Kilconner “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah… reinfection factor… blah, blah, blah, blah.” We had a dog once. His name was Patch and he used to lie on the floor during the news and the weather forecast. I don’t know which party he supported. He… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Do It Yourself
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Diary of a Corbynista
28 May 2020 Diary of a Corbynista Child Care Special by Don Urquhart 21 May A friend commended to me Kipling’s poem about Tommy Atkins: I will think on this while out clapping tonight. The last verse goes: For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!” But it’s “Saviour of… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Diary of a Corbynista
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: New Normal
28 May 2020 The New Normal What Does it All Mean? by Shawsheet This issue introduces a new type of occasional article called Focus intended to enable a number of different writers (and hopefully readers) to make a brief comment about a given topical theme. When you have read their comments test yourself on the… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: New Normal
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: The Ugly Duckling
28 May 2020 View from the Cotswolds The Ugly Duckling By Paul Branch The sideshow that is Dominic Cummings is continuing apace as I write this. Either he stays or he’s history. Having listened to his press conference, I still don’t understand why he did it, or why he thought he could do it, but… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: The Ugly Duckling
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Work After Covid-19
28 May 2020 Work after Covid-19 Opportunities for transformation. By Mike Hampson The 2020 Corona pandemic has been one of the most globally impacting events in many of our lifetimes. From the first signs of the illness in late 2019 the virus has swept across the globe and had a devastating effect on individuals, families,… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Work After Covid-19
Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Social Distancing
28 May 2020 Social Distancing in Cumbria Week 10 by Vic Leader This week included the third public holiday weekend in Lockdown, which has been eased. We are allowed to travel but subject to Social Distancing and to limited interaction with people with whom we have not been in Lockdown. An important factor for me… Continue reading Issue 235: 2020 05 28: Social Distancing
