Phil’s, ahem, strong views on the Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill have gotten a lot of attention. You can argue that he’s wrong on the merits or the politics (I don’t believe he is), but you can’t say he’s inconsistent: I have been consistently outraged about disregard for fiscal sanity across administrations, much
Month: November 2021
This Brownstone Institute essay by Vinay Prasad asks “For Whom Do the Covid ‘Fact-Checkers’ really Work?” They certainly don’t work for the good of the public. Key paragraph: “So here is what blows my mind: We are living in a world where the CDC director can say something that is false, made-up and no institution
PA Media There are more delegates at COP26 associated with the fossil fuel industry than from any single country, analysis shared with the BBC shows. Campaigners led by Global Witness assessed the participant list published by the UN at the start of this meeting. They found that 503 people with links to fossil fuel interests
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer has accused the PM of “corrupt and contemptible” behaviour in trying to “protect” Tory MP Owen Paterson, after he was found to have broken lobbying rules. Sir Keir told the BBC the government
Getty Images People should get their Covid booster jabs as part of a “national mission” to avoid restrictions over Christmas, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said. So far almost 10 million people in the UK have had a top-up jab, which Mr Javid said was a “phenomenal achievement”. But around 30% of over-80s and 40%
PA Media Former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major has criticised the government’s handling of Owen Paterson’s case as shameful and wrong. In a BBC interview, he said the actions of Boris Johnson’s government had trashed Parliament’s reputation at home and abroad, and were “un-Conservative”. This week, the government tried to block the suspension of
Getty Images People living in England will be able to book their coronavirus booster jabs a month in advance under government plans to speed up their rollout. Currently, people cannot book their top-up vaccines until six months have elapsed since their second dose. But from Monday, those aged 50 and over, plus those most at
For most of my 60s, I got only five or six hours of sleep per night, no matter what I did. Meditation, reading, pharmaceutical sleeping aids, the whole shebang – none of it seemed to work. I lived with resting exhaustion and frustration until I discovered Relaxium through a TV commercial. Here are seven reasons
Two further Yorkshire board members have joined chairman Roger Hutton in resigning over the club’s response to racism experienced by Azeem Rafiq. Hutton “apologised unreservedly” to Rafiq, 30, when he quit his role on Friday. Hanif Malik and Stephen Willis stepped down from the board following an emergency meeting later that day. Lord Kamlesh Patel
On Monday morning, Meta — the company formerly known as Facebook — announced that it would be shutting down “the Face Recognition system on Facebook,” a technology that has been raising privacy alarms since it debuted. In a blog post, the company described the move as “one of the biggest shifts in facial recognition usage
PA Media Labour, the Lib Dems and the Green Party are discussing standing aside and backing an independent “anti-sleaze” candidate in the by-election prompted by Tory MP Owen Paterson’s resignation. Talks were held on Thursday after he confirmed he was standing down in North Shropshire, which has been an ultra-safe seat for the Conservatives. Mr
For most of my 60s, I got only five or six hours of sleep per night, no matter what I did. Meditation, reading, pharmaceutical sleeping aids, the whole shebang – none of it seemed to work. I lived with resting exhaustion and frustration until I discovered Relaxium through a TV commercial. Here are seven reasons
The government will rethink its plans to overhaul the policing of MPs’ conduct after a furious backlash. On Wednesday, No 10 backed a shake-up of the standards watchdog and blocked the suspension of one of its own former ministers, Owen Paterson. But it led to accusations of sleaze, with Labour saying the Tories just wanted
Getty Images The human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine is cutting cases of cervical cancer by nearly 90%, the first real-world data shows. Cancer Research UK described the findings as “historic”, and said it showed the vaccine was saving lives. Nearly all cervical cancers are caused by viruses, and the hope is vaccination could almost eliminate
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. “Very high” coronavirus rates in the UK at present mean there are hard months to come, England’s deputy chief medical officer has warned. Prof Jonathan Van-Tam told the BBC it was a concern that Covid levels were
Reuters US President Joe Biden has criticised the leaders of China and Russia for not turning up to the COP26 climate summit. In a speech on Tuesday night, Mr Biden said climate was “a gigantic issue” and China “walked away” – adding it was the “same thing with Russia and Putin”. Neither Russian President Vladimir