Alan Beattie

At what point do calls for another Scottish #indyref become a thing?

(Joke, joke.)

I suspect they'll be quite adaptable to the market. Bild is fairly RW and the CEO's own views are well known but they've kept Politico on an even keel. If the Tel's business model is frothing then they'll froth.

Surprised they've not expired by now anyway.

Right, so they can be taught differently in the same school without creating secondary moderns, from which no one used to go to university (in the days of lower univ entrance generally obvs) because they were of massively lower quality than grammars. Comps are not. This honestly isn't v difficult.

This is a real video from the official White House account on a war that is currently killing people. I don’t know how the US is going to come back from this.
The post was “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. 🇺🇸 🔥”

You're part of the biometric informatics elite? Might have known.

Yebbut people voted for another mad thing Farage was touting.

Apart from all the evidence, plus the existence of streaming in comps.

I’d not even thought of that but Christ you’re right, aren’t you.

*end up

Easier when you have a smallish number of grammars in a small area where parents can move around to get a comp education. Not when it’s national. Going back to grammars would be a terrible idea.

Yes. Also private/grammar pupils end of with newspaper columns so there’s a disproportionate number of them bladdering on about how great grammars are.

There’s no such thing as “comprehensive/secondary modern”. Comps are a non-selective system. A selective system produces poor schools for the non-selected, that’s the point of them.

Yeah good point. Or maybe it’s a sign of determination and fortitude. Either way it’s nuts.

IKWYM but there does seem to be an extreme aversion to taxes even among people who will barely notice paying them. Otherwise hedgies wouldn’t fight like hell to keep the tax treatment for carried interest.

These headlines should always read “New secondary moderns set to return”, since that’s where most kids will go under that system.

I had this experience a few years ago. He’s not always wrong.

Becoming standard I think over last few years, partly reflecting the rise of the women's game.

"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

— Donald Rumsfeld on the Iraq War (7 Feb 2003).

There's one who actually provides reading lists in the form of URLs. Absolute respect for his/her game.

Another splendid reader comment for my Bluesky bio, following the earlier “sinecured oaf”.

This is a good point actually. If you’re referring to someone as “Harry Maguire”then the default expectation is that is his name, and if it’s not the footballer commonly but apparently erroneously known as “Harry Maguire” then it must be another Harry Maguire whose name is actually Harry Maguire.

China mulls telling Secretary Bessent where to go.

Only Harry Maguire played football for England.

Your regular reminder that the UK is in fact a high trust society and anyone who implies it isn’t is either selling you a pup or has bought one.

Reupping for the US. Your president isn't very good, you know. A word to the wise.

The importance of a second mention 🫶

Movie title, very simply: AVOIDANCE.