Author Archives: Jim Stewart

I was struck today by the thought that so many churches need to have “a confession” as part of their services. Some churches even have special little boxes where you can confess. At the same time I see people in … Continue reading →

An interesting set of complaints about the film Music for failing to cast an autistic person to play an autistic person. I remember similar comments about a straight man being cast to play a gay man. The arguments for and … Continue reading →

New results from ONS today show a negative growth rate for the North West. So far we have not seen the effects of the lockdown or the city wide testing, this is the effect of Tier 3. All the indications … Continue reading →

BBC Radio 1 have announced that they will not be playing the original version of The Fairytale of New York anymore, because some people are offended by the language. A bit odd that a couple of lines that involve people … Continue reading →

Scotland has recently removed the defence against smacking children. This means parents can be prosecuted for it. So do parents now resort to using the naughty step? Early bed? No screen time? I’ve always wondered why the voices calling for … Continue reading →

I remember staying in a school hall during the sponsored bike ride across the USA in 1996. They had some booklets in the classroom called “The flag code”. I read through one and was astounded by some of the things … Continue reading →

The EU is facing budget problems. They have a fund planned for COVID recovery, but in the EU budgets can be vetoed. And the far right wing countries are blocking the budget. The budget was being tied to the need … Continue reading →

Despite the election in the USA the trade war with other countries continues. In the last week a number of new tariffs came in to effect on agricultural products. In other news the honey harvest in Europe is down 40%. … Continue reading →

The Yorkshire Ripper is dead – and instead of his photo on the front page we see the photo of the victims. People are making an effort not to glorify the killer but to remember the victims. Recently the BBC … Continue reading →

I’m glad Dominic Cummings didn’t get pushed out for something as trivial as a drive to Barnard castle. I’m glad it ended with a realisation that political advisors should never have the power he had, that the civil service can … Continue reading →