That cover art is lush 😁

Straight over to a former Bank of England person who calls anything which isn't their economic theory "la la land" economics. We will never get out of this neoliberal/financial capital hell hole as long as no political journalist is willing to even go back to Keynes.

This chat has made me want to scream since Thatcher started this narrative rot. Fast forward to 2025 and when Zack Polanski wants to discuss another way of approaching a national budget the BBC's political editor says no, the viewers aren't interested in that geeky stuff.

Celtic generally - it's also always been "big" in Scotland. The trick or treating and pumpkins being the Americanised versions of guising and tumshies (Turnip/swede lanterns).

100% - every, single year.

and the initial roll out in Scotland was targeted at cervical cancer, but now to the other HPV related cancers too. It's a great one.

It's now offered to all S1 pupils in Scotland, not just girls.

I come back to this study every time:
"no cervical cancer cases have been detected in fully vaccinated women following the human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation at age 12-13 since the programme started in Scotland in 2008."

publichealthscotland.scot/news/2024/ja...

It was always "a big thing" when I grew up in lowland Scotland in the 1970s. Slightly different emphasis - you had to do a party piece to get a treat and we carved turnips for lanterns - but definitely observed widely and enthusiastically.

The question is do you really want out of Slough House?

Not my experience with regards to the British identity even for those not in favour of independent Scotland and Wales, but no point arguing about experiences.

I don't see why it can't just be called what it is, your identity card. At the end of the day the name isn't the issue.

Anecdotally I have been told on several occasions over the past two decades by English colleagues that I am, as a Scot, "welcome to also be British". I know what they mean, but it's part of the reason why so many while identifying as both British and Scots/Welsh don't see the British as unifying.

I am not commenting on whether it should or shouldn't - just that British is currently *not* a unifying national identity, which is why the proposed name is getting much pushback. which is beyond describing it as "naff".

Whether it's justified or not, the conflation of England with Britain on a very regular basis outwith Scotland and Wales, means this seems to exclude rather than include those whose patriotic sympathies lie elsewhere in the union.

I am seeing a lot of criticism from Scots and Welsh too on the name. A lot.

I've pointed this out many times on comments on London based political podcasts when they use examples from everywhere else that use forms of PR. The reply is always "but not Westminster". As if all the other elections just haven't given us enough experience. Personal ongoing bugbear.