Similarly, the notion 'because they're a woman/gay/BlacklMuslim they understand and will respond to injustice' is brainless cope

I have long felt (especially but not only recently) retired ppl could play a much bigger role in conveying their knowledge and mentoring younger people, or rather that the excellent work many of them are doing already should be better recognised and expanded. Huge potential social & economic gains

But yes, I agree that's the model. It does require good / effective civic education and training for representatives to understand and challenge expertise

That point is tricky. The danger is that expertise subverts democratic decision making, that the representatives are duped by an unrepresentative elite (see eg Yes Minister?)

I see the argument. Two counters: 1. there is even less scope/prospect (or no prospect?) for reforming the Commons. Whereas HoL reform is a live, open question . 2. Representatives can get expert advice; there are various (incl non representative) ways to tap into expertise in law/policymaking

You'd get around 20 people earning over £100k, and 380 earning less than that. Even if the proposal is dismissed, it does usefully reveal some important questions about what democratic representation does and what it should mean

And by randomising, more or less making the upper chamber representative of the population (if you toss a coin 400 times there is a 99% chance you'd get btw 174 and 226 heads; ie a 99% chance the chamber would be 44-56% women)

Subsidised pub creches with free scotch eggs for the under 5s?

Making it make sense: Epstein wasn't a global mastermind. He did not orchestrate a vast conspiracy that led us to today.

He was a very rich man with connections to other very rich men. The shared culture of these men is that they have a right to dominate and abuse others without consequence.

A slightly over-stated reading of the Epstein correspondences: the orthodox perspective of the global elite is more closely aligned to the views of Steve Bannon than to the views of Gordon Brown

A link to some of the families involved in the building of New Delhi. Khushwant Singh was among the last to recall this period well, and I agree with him and this piece that their legacy is insufficiently recognised: www.theweek.in/theweek/cove...

IME many Indians (and Pakistanis, Bangladeshis) do often feel mildly favourably to Britain, and that we could in fact build on this heritage better if we were more open about the negatives as well as the positives. Tho I sense many younger people dont really know or feel the link at all...

There is still quite a lot of built heritage, as well as wider influences across South Asia. While in Delhi, I stayed in a Lutyens bungalow during my doctoral research, one of the first houses purpose-built with electricity in the country & the owner shared original plans/photos from 1920s

This piece captures the sense of the site fairly well

'I am a mixed martial arts [MMA] athlete and I practice here every day,” said 22-year-old Abhay Kumar, standing next to what is considered the world’s tallest statue of George V'

www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/...

Coronation Park is a fascinating place, holding the statue of George V that used to form part of that memorialisation, as well as many others

It was back in the day when he signed joint letters with what to my eyes look like mostly a bunch of nerds [sic] www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemoc...

Wowsers look at what happened to posts on Twitter/X about London crime after monetisation of posts was introduced…
economist.com/britain/2026...