Mailwatch(ed) Forum

London Library system is odd and I’m sure it’s mainly down to what has been outsourced where.

Kingston you can lend from Merton but not Richmond or Wandsworth. I don’t know about Richmond but Wandsworth is out sourced to “better”.

kreuzberger wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2024 7:02 pm I am genuinely lost.

Abers and I were refering to Trigger's Broom.

That's a very old joke that my grandfather used to tell about an old wood axe of his back in the 'sixties. Antique, pre-Victorian, he used to claim.

Ship of Theseus?

Killer Whale wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 9:45 am That's a very old joke that my grandfather used to tell about an old wood axe of his back in the 'sixties. Antique, pre-Victorian, he used to claim.

The Hellenes had the Ship of Theseus.

The Americans had Washington's Axe.

The Nelson Mandela estate has Trigger's Broom.

From Bluesky.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies
‪@theifs.bsky.social‬
NEW: Most deprived English councils to see spending power increase 2.4 times more than most affluent

David Phillips and Kate Ogden respond to the 2025-26 English Local Government Finance Settlement, published today.

Read the full briefing:

https://ifs.org.uk/articles/2025-26-eng ... -explained

This is what you can do when you're not chucking money at wealthy pensioners. Not that the money will do anything more than stop things falling over and breaking completely.

Oh no academies will have to abide by national pay scales how terrible

Yep, this sounds good.

Is Colville objecting to his academy mates losing their monopoly on new schools?

Basically it's attacking academies as it includes things like ending automatic academy orders and letting councils opening schools.

Why would think tank director Robert Colville object to this.

Some extra money has been found for hospices. Whether that means they're covered for the NI rise, I don't know. But it does seem like the budget wasn't as competently done as it should have been. I think the thing to do, in hindsight, was to have a one off fiscal event to get bail out money into the services where it was most needed, and fund some of the manifesto stuff. And then hold a proper budget in Spring next year. They're doing the spending review in early summer.

The Guardian-

Starmer faces grilling over economy, public services and foreign policy – UK politics live

Or "Starmer attends Liaison Committee".

Nasty Bridget philipson has cancelled Latin.

Latin oboletur est!

I've been engaging with a WASPI online. Lots of talk about justice. I said that I thought it was justice to spend £10bn (if available now) on poverty reduction across all age groups. She's started talking about "handouts" being bad.

"Women of a certain Aga" - they really grind my gears.

Yeah. Bloody range cookers.

They've got some allies BTL on the Guardian. Then again anyone who sticks it to Starmer is hero there. Maybe one day WASPIs, Mick Lynch and Rejoiners will form a government of national unity.

Peter Mandelson to be announced as UK’s next US ambassador
Keir Starmer on the cusp of appointing Labour grandee to key post at start of Trump presidency

I can only hope this is an attempt at testing the water. Please no. Put a professional diplomat in there, not somebody who last did a proper public role 14 years ago. Failing that, put David Milliband in.