swedishskoda

As so often when reading the morning newspaper, I'm not sure whether to chuckle or cry. But here's a pic from Walsgrave hospital, Coventry, 1966. A time when nurses still had time for a break. When Margaret Bl**dy Thatcher was a relatively anonymous MP. When no one had ever heard of "strategic management consultants" or "new public management". []

The Right Honourable [Honourable???] Ms. Suella Braverman today advocated scepticism towards "elites...who think they know best what is in the public’s interest, even when that public is quite certain that they need something different from what those experts are proposing." Pot, kettle, black?

First touch of winter 😀

Guess he'll be allowed back to cabinet after six days or so...

Inflation can be calculated in more ways than one, but here's consumer price inflation in France, the UK, and Sweden 😰 : https://www.inflation.eu/en/inflation-rates/france/current-cpi-inflation-france.aspx https://www.inflation.eu/en/inflation-rates/great-britain/current-cpi-inflation-great-britain.aspx https://www.inflation.eu/en/inflation-rates/sweden/current-cpi-inflation-sweden.aspx

The Edenbridge Bonfire Society has prepared an effigy for Nov 5th:

Not so much a chuckle but rather a broad smile: SWMBO's 3rd grandchild (a girl) arrived late yesterday evening Mother and child are well, as they say, and so is the proud father (SWMBO's son).

The mayor in a small Swedish town (population 17,000) was given a 27 percent pay rise (to £100K). Here the deputy mayor is asked by a TV reporter if the money couldn't be used for something more useful - the rise alone equals a cleaner's salary: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lron96iggRk After an eloqent silence (count the seconds), he comes up with the brilliant answer: "It's always a matter of prioritization"

EasyPeasy. Personally, I loathe them all - and that includes their Swedish counterparts that I have to live with since our election last month. Granted, there are a exceptions. One can find the odd Tory member showing integrity and capability of intelligent reasoning. Dominic Grieve comes to mind. But he's also a good example of what having such qualities might do to your political career.

There are alarming rumours that Suella de Vil might come back as home secretary...

Agree - it's in a way a historic moment. But obviously he's not willing to give other people the same chances as his parents had, advocating a cap on the number of refugees accepted, as well as supporting Priti Patel's Rwanda plan.

Can't stand tofu, not particularly woke (I'm here after all), but I confess: I do read the Guardian. And a few lines in an article today about what people put in their "blackout boxes" made me chuckle. Good advice: “A tobacco tin and a bottle of Jameson,” Kent-based thatcher Benny Rance rejoins. “That’s me sorted for a couple of hours, at least.”