Can’t you send it back and say ‘oi resubmit this in a proper format or you get a zero’

There’s a very good Peter Hennessy book (‘The Secret State’) on this. I vaguely remember a detail about the PMs car belatedly starting to carry loose change in case he was out and about at the time of an attack and needed to use a phone box to order the retaliation. (May have garbled that)

I’m not sure. There are lots of policy issues that arise from people’s short term preferences- eg single use plastics. But as per the article policy can shape those preferences in pursuit of a better long term outcome, if we think it’s important enough.

Shh not now Hayden, not while the transfer window’s open!

Completely agree that this is concerning. But couldn’t a human author have made up all these citations in the same way? Doesn’t the problem come from the fact that 1) the peer review process hasn’t spotted it and 2) when the problems are identified the journal doesn’t immediately take it down?

Birdsong. Deafening, not drowned out by engine noise. Wonderful.

It’s definitely not just about income/wealth. It has a strong cultural dimension. A middle class person is probably a graduate, perhaps a professional or a manager, shops at Waitrose, reads a broadsheet newspaper, might be on Bluesky! A working class tradesperson might earn double their salary.

I liked him but cheerio Rob, hope you get relegated with Wolves. Mowbray for a period to stabilise things would be my best best, or Brendan Rogers. Please god not Russell Martin or Steven Gerrard

It was a thing when I was a kid 30 years ago, but much rarer than now. I don’t think anyone in my class of 42 kids (the 90s!) did it, whereas most of my kids’ classes are.

I’m really sorry. That’s truly dreadful.

Where is this please?

That and the really poor quality of the forward passes by the boro midfield

Top sociological fact: the biggest predictor of a couple having three kids is if the first two are the same gender

You can check the sources on eg Our World in Data if you’re unsure but ‘the super rich’ are sufficiently few in number I doubt they move the aggregate stats much. Housing wealth will be included. At some point though you have to accept the evidence you’re looking at

The graph they show in the thread shows that UK wealth inequality is average by international standards.

I agree that the nastiness is what makes it work. I think David Walliams has tried a similar trick recently (with commercial success, as far as I can tell). They’re definitely nasty, but in general I’m not at all a fan.

They’re obviously dated in places (and some of them do have big chunks that don’t work - eg James and the Giant Peach drags horribly towards the end). But I honestly think he’s second to none in how he writes for children. The language is just so alive for them in a way v few others manage.

‘If it could be done someone else would already have done it’ is both a bad attitude to have in government and very often true