Crone and Matriarch. Humankind exists because mothers birth babies. How we relate to each other matters and Love matters most.
UK
Joined November 2011
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Rachel, a Thinker retweeted
22 years ago today, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (pictured) was cycling to work in Amsterdam. He never made it because he was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan Muslim man, who was offended by Van Gogh having dared to make a short film that criticised the treatment of women in Islam.
Bouyeri shot him multiple times, slit his throat, then pinned a 5 page jihadist manifesto to his chest. The manifesto was primarily a direct death threat against Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the scriptwriter of the short film (‘Submission’). It called her a heretic and an ‘unbelieving fundamentalist’ who would be ‘smashed against the hard diamond of Islam.’ It also threatened Dutch politicians, labelling them under the control of a ‘Jewish cabal’, and called for the death of ‘unbelievers.’
To this day, Ayaan Hirsi Ali still faces persistent death threats and requires ongoing security protection.
Throughout this period, rather than standing resolutely with her (and others like her) against the ideology that threatened her life and claimed Theo’s, swathes of the liberal establishment, and almost all so called ‘anti-racist’ and ‘feminist’ progressives, labelled her an ‘Islamophobe’ and, in essence, echoed the censorious dogma espoused by the jihadists.
This crime, though not the first, was a harbinger of what was to come. It is not receiving much attention today, but it should.
(P.s. Apologies, I accidentally deleted the first version of this post).
Rachel, a Thinker retweeted
Honest view at this point: Based crypto whales should purchase the telegraph & spectator, fill them with mainstay X commentators, and call it a day
Far better ROI when compared to dumping cash into the vapourware of British political parties – probably a sensible investment in influence after the North Korean binance heist proved the increasing fallibility of hosted wallets
I was hoping to be able to announce this in my own time – but the media rumour mill is swirling, I'm being contacted by various reporters and others, and I don't like denying the truth, so ...
I wrote my first "Economic Agenda" column in The Sunday Telegraph 27 years ago, under the editorship of Dominic Lawson – filling-in occasionally during the late-1990s, before being given my own weekly slot from 2003.
Since then, while I've been heavily involved in television, and am perhaps better known as a broadcaster, penning "Economic Agenda" for The Sunday Telegraph each week has been the backbone of my journalistic life.
On Thursday, the @Telegraph rang to tell me my column is being scrapped.
I was asked, and have agreed, to write "Economic Agenda" until the end of November, as per my contract. After that, my Sunday Telegraph column will be no more.
Why this decision has been made, and whether or not my columns were any good, is for others to judge.
All I will say is that, as the first person in my family to attend university, sustaining a weekly column in a leading national newspaper for a quarter of a century has been a source of enormous pride for myself and my family.
Lots of people have been asking me about the future of "Planet Normal" - the hugely-popular Telegraph podcast which I co-created and co-present with the brilliant @AllisonPearson
"Planet Normal" has, over the last 330 weekly episodes, also become a major part of my professional life and my broader identity.
With Allison reportedly leaving the Telegraph as well, there is a lot of speculation about whether or not the podcast will continue to impart "news and views from beyond the bubble" with our usual blend of sharp analysis, humour and occasional outrage !
Well, I am delighted to confirm that Co-Pilot Pearson and myself are deeply committed to our joint podcast – and, above all, to our beloved listeners.
We will, as and when notice periods allow, continue our voyages through space every Thursday – perhaps to "Planet Normal", or maybe to another part of the solar system – so we can "gaze down each week at the madness of Planet Earth", as we have done since the Spring of 2020.
So citizens of Planet Normal, stand ready ! The "rocket-of-right-thinking", the "flying refuge of reasoned views", will soon be launched once again 🚀🪐👨🏭👱♀️🎙️📺
I poured my heart and soul into "Economic Agenda" and "Planet Normal". The Telegraph's decision to scrap them is obviously a huge personal blow. But I will always be grateful for the opportunities the paper has given me.
Above all, I would like to thank the illustrious list of successive Telegraph business editors I've worked with since the late-1990s, many of whom have become and remain good friends - including @Peston @RobertsDan @larmitstead @neilbenet @benjaminmarlow @cg_williams @kamalahmednews @MarkKleinmanSky @jamesrquinn (sorry if I've forgotten anyone, it's been a long time!)
On Friday, even though I almost always write my column from elsewhere, and despite being extremely disappointed by the paper's decision, I decided to go into the Telegraph and write today's column sitting in the newsroom.
I am glad I did - as being at the heart of the paper at such a difficult time allowed for lots of conversations, with everyone from junior production staff to senior reporters and executives, which reminded me that journalism, despite being an industry at the whim of seemingly endless and often brutal commercial and technological upheaval, is not only hugely important to our country, but full of talented, decent people.
See picture below, having just filed my piece, as I was heading out the door ...
Rachel, a Thinker retweeted
I AM HEARTBROKEN AGAIN. HOW MANY MORE TEARS MUST I SHED BEFORE THE WORLD HEARS OUR CRY?
I am writing these words with a heart that is bleeding. Days ago, I stood beside a mass grave in Plateau State, Nigeria, weeping over the lifeless bodies of members of my congregation whose dreams, hopes, and futures were brutally cut short. I cried until I had no more strength. I thought those tears would be enough for one lifetime.
But today, I am heartbroken again.
Four more innocent people have been killed near my church. Four more families have been thrown into mourning. Four more homes have been filled with unbearable silence. Four more people who woke up with hopes and dreams will never return to their loved ones.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS?
How many more graves must we stand beside? How many more mothers must cry over their children? How many more children must grow up asking why their fathers and mothers never came home?
And who knows whether I am next?
Who can guarantee that tomorrow I will not be the one lying in a grave while my congregation gathers to mourn me? Who will stand beside my family if the next attack takes my life?
I am a shepherd. My responsibility is to protect, pray for, comfort, and lead my flock. But what happens when the shepherd is constantly forced to bury the very people he was called to care for?
My beloved, I am tired of burying my people. I am tired of seeing innocent blood spilled. I am tired of watching children become orphans and women become widows. Must our children inherit nothing but stories of killings, mass graves, and broken families?
OUR ONLY OPTION LEFT IS TO FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL.
We cannot simply fold our hands and watch our families, communities, and future disappear. If we do not stand together, protect innocent lives, and demand urgent action, we fear that one day there may be no one left to tell our story.
Are we going to wait until an entire generation is wiped out before the world decides that our lives matter?
I am therefore making another desperate appeal to the United States Government and the American people.
Please, hear our cry. Please, help us. We are not asking for sympathy alone; we are asking for meaningful intervention to protect innocent lives, strengthen security, support displaced families, and bring those responsible for these killings to justice.
How many more innocent Nigerians must die before the international community acts with urgency?
To the world, I ask: If these were your children, your parents, your brothers, or your sisters, would silence still be an option?
I am not asking the world to remember us only when another mass grave is discovered. I am asking the world to help us while there are still lives to save.
I WILL KEEP RAISING MY VOICE. I WILL KEEP SPEAKING FOR MY PEOPLE. I WILL KEEP CRYING OUT FOR JUSTICE.
Our lives matter. Our children matter. Our future matters.
May God remember Plateau State. May God comfort every grieving family. May He protect those who are still alive and give us the strength to see another day.
Because honestly, I do not know how many more funerals this broken heart can endure.
— Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo
Sometimes the great ideas we have don’t quite work out but as I’ve said elsewhere this week some things just end up being very funny
This is not the only area in which particular citizens are very much more knowledgeable and capable than ministers and civil servants.
as someone who works in the software industry in britain, i can't believe there are contracts and estimates like this.
it seems getting these government contracts is incredibly lucrative in the uk, because the amounts are absolutely insane. £1.7bn to £4.4bn for hmrc's customer system? pre ai that's a crazy number. post ai it's still crazy.
for a fraction of the cost you could hire britain's top 50 engineers and pay them £300k a year. over 15 years that's £225m. it would cost less and be way better than what will come out of this.
put the rest into an ai lab and you'd have one of the best funded in europe. but no, it's an hmrc crm system lol.
This is a conversation about the everyday bowls used to catch the product of a vomiting child and because we are where we are, it’s not funny, it’s surgically inappropriate.
Wanting affordable reliable electricity. energy isn’t climate denial, it’s questioning the wisdom of govt policies and the cost of delivering them. It’s politics but politicians don’t want to engage in that dirty business so just shout the context-appropriate insult.
Businesses famously buy products at no cost and their only outgoing is staff salaries.
Rachel, a Thinker retweeted
One free slot on the solar roofing course tomorrow after a late drop out (always disappointing when it happens).
If of interest drop a comment/message and I will get you booked on.
Free lunch as well!
This ‘breathing space’ thing everyone on govt thinks is great is grating on me.
Breathing space is when you are offered time without harassment in order to try to find a resolution before the sword of Damocles falls.
These cosseted fools have no understanding of the world.
Apparently this copy was rejected on the ground of being ‘too honest’
Abolishing the words standing and charges in relation to gas supply services and transferring the cost of the charge, previously known as standing, to the unit rate.
Today, this Labour government is abolishing standing charges on gas bills.
@JohnHealey_MP and I are making energy bills fairer.
Tackling affordability is my first priority and I'll keep doing all I can to protect people from unaffordable bills.
This man has too much influence on govt and has made himself richer at the expense of the country.
CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased.
It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH.
The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer.
This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well.
As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills).
About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off.
Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower.
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That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today.
Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.
Feminism brought us here,
A hard look at Britain’s data suggests so. But it is hardly an epidemic economist.com/britain/2026/1…
A very specific figure. Obviously every last penny will be accounted for, addiction issues will be resolved and homes will be found where those who want to have them can have them. Others may want a weathertight shed in a field, so give them that.
Today we’re doubling down on our commitment to tackle rough sleeping with an extra £432 million to help people off the streets.
With businesses, charities, and communities, @andyburnham and I will work together to end rough sleeping.
Rachel, a Thinker retweeted
Massacre of Christians leaves more than 40 dead in Ethiopia trib.al/uGZmqXr
Has everyone memory-holed the past??? Islam and Russia spent a more than decade showing who they are and what they want. From the fatwa on Salman Rushdie to the bombings, beheadings and stabbings and the horrific murder of Alexander Litvinenko and many others by simpler ‘falls’.
Merging of Valuation Office with HMRC and looking to fill 20 positions. £32k.
Graduate Valuation Surveyor @HMRCgovuk in Southampton
Info/apply: ow.ly/kRWM50ZSx5c
#HampshireJobs #CivilServiceJobs
