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8 June 2026
I loved reading this article (How Europe revived a city Britain had written off), it took me back to those long, long meetings! I was the Equal Opportunities and Social Inclusion Cross Cutting Theme Champion for the Merseyside Objective One programme (an example of the short snappy language used in Objective One).
I was not an elected official, or a member of the business community or even a part of the voluntary/community sector. I can’t even remember how I ended up there but I felt it was important to be there and that that my role was to represent Equal Opportunities and Social Inclusion.
The paperwork for the meetings was intimidating and would be the size of a large telephone directory. I would go through them and identify specific issues and I always tried to ask a few relevant questions. I learnt a lot through this process including how to use big jewellery as a vehicle for gentle sabotage.
Every meeting I would also count the number of women and men and then write it on the back of my name card, which I would then turn around as a fraction. I think the first one was 3/53 and I don’t think it got very much more representative.
I think we could have been braver but looking back we actually did do a good job – all the different sectors would eventually find a way of coming together on solutions.
The political ramifications seemed very complex to me and the decisions were often not in harmony with national or local government priorities – but the money helped.
I have good memories of those days and it was great to revisit them through Flo Clucas’s article. The importance of the Objective One funding can never be underestimated – it saved my beloved city. Liverpool!
Tricia Jenkins
13 May 2026
We all need to check our biases
Jim Price’s article The right-wing press: power without responsibility made some good points and I have some sympathy for Keir Starmer and Labour for the attacks they are facing. Indeed, at times it feels like our politicians are just puppets acting at the whim of the rich and powerful, too scared about losing power to counteract the far-right manipulation of public understanding.
When Keir Starmer made his first speech as Prime Minister, he stated his government would restore the principles of service and respect, that his politics would be a force for good and make Britain a better place for our children. Given the corruption, the imposition of austerity, the contempt for the rules, the lies, and the greed of the previous Conservative governments, we might have assumed that Keir Starmer was promising to address these issues with his legal background helping him to understand where the real injustice lay.
Sadly, if possibly maliciously reported, his premiership started with accusations of accepting freebies followed by the decision to cut access to the winter fuel payment. Instead of righting wrongs and restoring propriety in public affairs he was then portrayed as just as bad as the others leaving him on the back foot right from the start.
My sympathy is, however, limited because Starmer’s Labour party was quite happy to put up with politically motivated attacks and smears while the venom was aimed at another party (the SNP). Labour joined in the spreading of rumours and misinformation or, at best, failed to challenge it.
I would like to see all journalists writing about the dangers of the right-wing press lies to publicly acknowledge (and apologise for their part in) the treatment of SNP figures, in particular, Nicola Sturgeon. Ever since she was dubbed Britain’s most dangerous woman by Michael Gove, she was subjected to constant negativity in the media, culminating in a blue forensic tent and live feeds following an accusation by a disgruntled Alec Salmond supporter about party funds. Party funds, not crypto donations or oligarch bribes or private company donations, party funds donated in small amounts by party supporters who were never asked if they objected to how the money had been spent.
The subsequent investigation lasted over three years to inflict maximum damage on both Ms Sturgeon and the SNP – where were the fair-minded journalists and politicians then? How did Conservative and Reform election campaign funding discrepancies get waved through by both the electoral commission and the British press?
The minute journalists turn a blind eye to a personal attack on any politician or public figure without making sure they have all the facts and context, is the minute they slide down the same slippery and eventually corrupt slope, emboldening the right-wing press and other malign forces to use the same tactics again and again.
I am pleased that the Bylines Network is at least offering some challenge, but they also need to challenge themselves on bias and omission no matter how innocent their intentions. Thankfully, the fight back against the far-right lies is building. Just today, I read Katie Hopkins’ forced public apology to Zarah Sultana, the news that Nigel Farage’s crypto donation is to be investigated and that Ofcom is finally investigating GB News.
We all need to take care that we don’t just accept the current political chaos as normal or true, we all need to add our voices to those standing up for truth and decency and play our part in stopping the rot.
B Robb
1 December 2025
The fiction of a ceasefire
On 22 November 2025, Israel carried out another airstrike on Gaza, killing more than 20 people and injuring dozens.
Tell me, what kind of “ceasefire” conducts extrajudicial killings?
Can you define a “ceasefire” for me? Because from here, it looks like a sky full of Israeli jets and the ground littered with Palestinian bodies. Should the orphans be grateful their parents were killed during a “ceasefire” and not a “war”?
The ceasefire appears to be a diplomatic fiction, maintained for political cover while military operations continue. They offer the gestures of peace with one hand, while the other guides a missile to its target.
In Gaza, what disgusts me is that the imbalance of power is the entire point. It is not a fight for victory, but a demonstration of total domination over a trapped and helpless population. On one side: a state military with sovereign borders, an air force, and international backing. On the other: a non-state actor embedded within, and reliant upon, a civilian population of over 2 million with no functional sovereignty and no exit.
Headlines highlight geopolitical schemes, while the phrase “civilian casualties” becomes a repetitive, desensitizing afterthought. For many, seeing a headline about civilian deaths now triggers a reflex to scroll further, not to learn more. The “comments section” on reports of civilian casualties is often filled with justification and whataboutism, not grief or solidarity.
Did they sign a peace treaty or a bombing permit? Because you can’t have “partial” peace when it comes to bombs. The 22 November strike is just the latest example of the world watching politics while Gaza bleeds. The international response mechanism to violence in Gaza appears path-dependent, following established political scripts that prioritise process over protection, and dialogue over decisive action to safeguard civilian lives.
Is “peace process” just a feel-good term for “waiting for the next ceasefire violation”? Are we waiting for a “perfect solution” while perfectly fine with the current imperfection of dead children? Because my conscience screams that the cost of a false peace is always paid by those who never signed the treaty.
Yumna Zahid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan
6 August 2025
We need a wealth tax not a “Britannia Card” – a reply
Julia Davies article about taxation of the wealthy was of particular interest for the light she shone on the source of much of the media coverage of fleeing millionaires. However, it was disappointing that she continued by calling for a “wealth tax” when the alternative of working within the existing tax framework and capturing a greater proportion of the income earned from existing wealth is a much more practical solution.
It is concerning that there is such a push for a wealth tax when some of the people doing the pushing must know how difficult it would be to implement. Firstly, how do you define wealth?
Do you include pension entitlements? If a definition could be agreed on, how do you track down and value assets?
If you include financial instruments whose trading value varies, those people deemed wealthy one day may not be the next. For example, the value of collector assets such as fine art and other valuables can be difficult to establish. Whilst the value of a Van Gogh or Turner painting at least won’t decrease, the value of more contemporary art, like gold, can fluctuate over time according to supply and demand.
The job of ascertaining the value of assets such as these is one which HMRC is not equipped, staffed nor funded to do.
There are options that are easier to implement such as equating the tax and national insurance on capital gains and investment income with that on income from labour. As the tax system is currently organized, if you are a higher rate taxpayer and earn an extra pound from employment you will get additional spending power of between 50p and 58p after income tax and national insurance. A similar higher rate payer who earns an extra pound profit from selling an asset will get 76p of additional spending power after capital gains tax. Why should the tax charged on income resulting from trading assets or charging rent on property be at a lower rate than that charged on income earned from employment? Do we really want to incentivise and value earning from existing assets rather than working to create new ones?
Other options could be to abolish higher rate relief on pension contributions or to charge national insurance on private pensions.
These changes can be implemented within existing tax frameworks. We need a more nuanced discussion of how to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share, one which recognises that the idea of a wealth tax, simple as it sounds, is far from straightforward.
Further discussion and ideas can be found at https://taxingwealth.uk/.
Ros Wain
14 October 2024
Why we turned down a free holiday
Dear Auntie Caroline,
Firstly, many thanks for your recent communication and the accompanying images. These are really informative and helpful. We really enjoyed seeing those giant orange pumpkins you have carved recently (what a weird festival that is!). Although not as weird as that politician in America you mentioned who seems to be modeling himself with a giant pumpkin head. Really weird! And what are his supporters doing, walking around with what looks like sanitary products glued to their ears? To be honest, we have come to the conclusion you live on a very strange planet!
Your invitation to visit you on Planet Earth again was very nice. We know we haven’t been very often since that accident back in 1947. That was such a shame but we gather they are still trying to say it was ‘a weather balloon.’ Honestly, who are they trying to kid? They know full well we have been coming since great Uncle Viracocha made those giant carvings in the Peruvian landscape and showed them how to build pyramids.
However, we are not sure we will be coming on holiday to see you any time soon. We know it used to be a really beautiful place to visit with such a diversity of plants, animals and landscapes but all we seem to observe these days is environmental destruction and war. For goodness sake, when are they going to grow up? It’s the only planet they’ve got to live on and their efforts to find a new place have so far been pretty pathetic to be honest. They don’t even seem capable of caring for their present home although we all used to regard it as an almost perfect little gem.
It doesn’t help that so much of the food now seems to be ‘fast’. What is all that about? What ever happened to gentle loving care and sharing ones resources? So half of the population seem to be starving while the other half are throwing food away. I blame your cousin Mac. It all seems to have changed so much since he started. And don’t get me started on the water! I mean, what the hell is going on? No one can survive there without it being clean and why oh why aren’t they looking after the bees and insects we gave them? Sometimes we really do despair! It truly is a mad, mad world.
So, thanks again for the kind invitation to come for an all expenses paid holiday but it’s quite a long way to travel and as a holiday destination it seems to be a bit of a troubled place. Also, freebie holidays and gifts aren’t getting a good press at the moment, so if you don’t mind, we’ll just have to say thanks but no thanks on this occasion.
Qapla,
Zog
