From the BBC website's article on this year's A-level results (yes, I know - we're always first with the news here): Twin sisters Tania and Mahua Bhaduri from West Malling, Kent, both got five grade As. But unlike her sister, Tania has not got a university place. Their father, Dr Bim Bhaduri, said his daughter … Continue reading The system isn’t the problem
Banditry
I've got a new piece on the Sharpener, which I appear to have annexed (if anyone, especially Sharpener contributors, fancies contributing to the Sharpener, then by all means go ahead). It's about the latest bizarre Youth Gone Feral moral panic, and how we really shouldn't worry about That Sort Of Thing. Also, if anyone tries … Continue reading Booze and weddings
From the Observer: Of 377 National Health Service and private hospitals surveyed in England, 173 - 46 per cent - were found to have poor cleanliness in their kitchens, or canteens or cafes used by staff, patients and visitors. Nine of the 377 were private hospitals, of which six were found to have at least … Continue reading NHS food ‘OK, considering’
From a piece on feminist attitudes to pornography: Also, we always tend to worry about blue-collar dudes knocking one off over Zoo in factory toilets. What about the way people like Sade might be taught in lecture theatres, for instance? To my shame, my first thoughts on reading this paragraph were: 1) how the hell … Continue reading Possibly I think about bad 80s pop too much
Do you remember the Terrible Story of Lawless British Youth from last year, of the Evil Callous Teens who squished bowling alley technician Ferdinand Dela Cruz to death by chucking a ball at the machine he was working on, triggering the mechanism? Some months later following an inquest, it turns out that the poor bloke … Continue reading How journalism works (part n of n^x)
As part of a mildly annoying meme, Larry Teabag has asked me to list eight facts about myself: 1) I once failed to eat a kilo of corned beef for a bet, coming in with a time of 65 seconds; 2) I'm the sixth person in my immediate family to be called 'John Oliver Band', … Continue reading Me me meme
Everyone rants all the time about the Tube being rubbish. It's practically a qualification for living in London, with instant deportation as a punishment for those who fail to join in. Which is fine: there are problems with the Tube, and it's not as good as the public transport systems in East Asia (although I'd … Continue reading Tubular rant
From Poland, an excellent piece of life imitating art.
It's not especially surprising to see a BBC article that looks at the start of a potential major positive in a country's economic position, and then gets the consequences utterly wrong (this isn't particularly having a go at the BBC for being leftie - the Times, Telegraph and Daily Wail are equally economically illiterate at … Continue reading Indians and drugs
Apologies for absence; I've been working insane hours on a pharmaceutical industry project, which is now over. Interesting tangentially related statistic #1: a patented cancer drug takes seven years to bring from the start of human trials to market, and has a 9% chance of actually reaching market. Even after successful Phase II trials (which … Continue reading Booze, work, outrage