This week it was reported that at least ten UK councils are giving homeless people one-way train tickets to another town where they become another council’s responsibility. This is further proof of the failings of the welfare state. While £3.5 billion is lost to fraud and error and legitimate claimants openly boost about buying ponies, […]

This week Syria’s unlikely World Cup dream ended in Sydney. They finished sixth in the Asian qualifiers, which produced four finalists and one play off contender from 46 teams. South America also has four finalists and one team in the play-offs, from ten teams. Disproportionate representation in the finals from South America and Europe (13 qualifiers, from 52 […]

This week I started rereading Melvyn Fairclough’s The Ripper and the Royals, as part of ongoing research into the identity of Jack the Ripper’s final victim. It takes me back to a time when conspiracy theories were popular and non-fiction books were distinguished from novels. Fairclough has since disowned the theory that a group of aristocrats, led […]

Scotland has begun another review of its unique “Not Proven” verdict. This has the same legal meaning as “Not Guilty” but perceptions differ. Some believe that “Not Guilty” demonstrates innocence but it is only a presumption of innocence not a definite conclusion. The jury does not assess innocence. They are charged with deciding whether the prosecution have proved […]

Never trust an organisation that has a complaints team. If it has decided to allocate resources to handling complaints then it expects a high volume of complaints about its products or service. Instead of dealing with the reasons why customers complain it has opted to tackle the aftermath. I once worked for a complaints team. […]

This week John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, suggested that it was time to cut the numbers in the House of Lords. Currently there are 798 members, compared with 650 MPs in the Commons. They are unelected owing their posts to patronage, birthright and the Church of England. Bercow wants to reduce to 400, […]

This week marked the 30th anniversary of Sylvester McCoy’s first appearance as Doctor Who. It was a difficult time for the show. Three years earlier the BBC bowed to public pressure and turned cancellation plans into an eighteen-month suspension. They halved the number of episodes and after a dismal Season 23, sacked the sixth Doctor Colin Baker […]

This week I came across an online debate which asked whether racist language in historical novels, notably Huckleberry Finn, should be removed. Most people are appalled by such language, but should we erase the past because it does not conform with our values? The councillors who voted to remove the statue of Robert E Lee in Charlottesville […]

32 teams are participating in the group stage of this season’s Champions League. Half are not champions. To help  rich clubs get richer, UEFA rewards second, third, fourth and fifth placed clubs whilst denying access to those who have won their domestic championships. They argue that the runners up in a big league will always be […]