Helpfully saying ‘It’s down there’ when someone accidentally drops something at their own feet. Deeply impressed on me at a formative age by avid reading of the Willans and Searle classic Down with Skool. Induces perplexed irritation every time.

🙋‍♂️

Complete with death rattle!

What’s a ‘CD’?

She’s a very curious case, and spectacle is the word. This latest prank draws us all in as gawkers. I’m beginning to feel that we’re heading towards ‘mocking the afflicted’ territory.

(Though I recognise that for many, her legacy is only too painfully relevant).

This is funny and all (and certainly well-earned), but am I alone in feeling she is best ignored at this point? I’d rather her conceit wasn’t indulged in her quest for continued relevance. Better to land well-aimed reminders of the Tory economic record in current debate where it matters.

I’ve been with my body for 59 years now, but I seem to know it less & less, like a relationship growing gradually more distant. So many things have to be assigned to the ‘no obvious reason’ category.

You might enjoy this aural accompaniment to it.

open.spotify.com/track/4kJv4X...

Well, you might have a view on this. Trying to rebuild (build, if I’m honest) my foundations in economics. Unfinished business from botched 3rd yr UG History of Econ Thought module. This is beautifully written, seamlessly blending social/mercantile/philosophical history. Love the Penguin cover too!

Right up my street! Added to my list- thanks.

No, there’s something slightly sneery about it - bracketed with chain hotels/coffee and basic beer. Something that says ‘this is what the ordinary people do’.

Twerp-baiting - should be an Olympic sport!

Healthcare is also experienced/observed vicariously in a v meaningful way through family connections (e.g. taking parents through long episodes of care or absence of it). So the average person perhaps ‘feels’ a multiple of the personal impact.

The perfect metaphor for ultra-nationalist insularity - peering balefully outwards while the world flows around their blighted fortress.

Mark Francois ‘glistening with unhealthy prominence like a giant bead of sweat on Westminster’s fevered brow.’ Perfect!

I’m not sure I would be so circumspect!

See also the Green Eggs and Ham Hypothesis: Theodore Seuss Geisel’s response to a publisher’s challenge to write a children’s story using the same 50 words or less. Worked out quite well!