Posts by WH
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Oops - I just missed the edit deadline.
It's a strange moment and some very unusual decisions are being made.
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send him to Coven Tree…
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The ABC and The Conversation report that a group of witches are participating in a mass spell against Donald Trump. There’s a short video of one of the ceremonies at the Independent.
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I didn’t take to the Harry Potter series but do remember seeing T-Bag, The Craft and Charmed on TV.
I also found this classic episode of the Smurfs and have been trying to find a plausible way to mention the immolation scene from The Ninth Gate, which I take to be metaphor or a warning of some kind (NSFW).
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
While I'm firmly against wizards and the like I hope he's going well on a personal level. I understand he's a holder of the QSM.
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Let’s keep him away from the new one.
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I don’t oppose a phased increase in the retirement age provided it’s linked to renewed contributions to the Cullen Fund and other intelligent efforts to improve the long term well-being of the population. The point Russell, Andrew Little and Paul Krugman have made about those needing income assistance in the years before retirement (such as farmers and manual labourers) is an important one I think.
I hope we’ll use the next twenty years to reduce rates of smoking and obesity, to increase rates of exercise and other forms of community participation and that we’ll explore farsighted and enlightened means of reducing the cost of the health and social care we’ll need to provide to our people.
Plans for reductions in spending of this kind tend to underline existing inter-generational inequalities in education and housing. One can only hope that changes of this sort aren’t motivated by a desire to create headroom for tax cuts.
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The BMJ article James Freeman’s article refers to is worth reading too.
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Thanks for that link – I have a slightly irrational susceptibility to U Thant quotes.
With all their genius and all their skill they ran out of foresight
Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality.
I understand that a sequel is being released in July.
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Ross Douthat writes:
For some time now it has felt as though God or the muse of History or some mischief-making demiurge has been placing thumbs upon the scales of Western politics, with an eye toward achieving the most disruptive and unlikely seeming outcomes.
From the shock of Brexit through the rise of Donald Trump (and I would go further back and include Pope Benedict’s resignation and Pope Francis’s ascent), events have seemed scripted to confound the experts, and whatever stars have needed to align for crazy things to happen have moved smartly into the required position.
On a different note, the campaign theme Labour probably won’t be using:
