- Prince Harry
Has Prince Harry got what he wanted after tabloid apology?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2l0kzypgz4o
Should we be grateful to Prince Harry for pursuing the Sun?
Should there be some way for ordinary people to seek legal redress against well financed institutions?
Or will that lead to an increase in frivolous litigation?
Should the case be investigated by police again?
- Southport
Failure to prevent Southport 'leaps off the page'- PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/czxk1rqygg7o
UK ministers pledge to overhaul terror laws amid Southport murders outcry
How red flags over Southport killer were repeatedly missed
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78w7nlwz9po
Could calling attacks like Southport 'terrorism' help to prevent them?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62enpv2870o
I had anti-government views, so they treated me for schizophrenia'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr46npx1e73o
The EU wants to scan every message sent in Europe. Will that really make us safer?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/24/eu-digital-surveillance-child-protection
How would calling this horrific incident a “Terrorist attack” make any difference?
Is the legal definition of terrorism in need of updating?
The UK government defines terrorism as the use or threat of violence or damage to property to advance a political, religious, racial, or ideological cause. The definition also includes actions that threaten the public's health and safety or disrupt electronic systems.
How should we deal with people like the offender in this case?
How should we balance the general principles of freedom with the need to prevent such crimes as happened in Southport. (See the link to the case of the man in China, and the possible move by the EU to undermine the principles of privacy in communications.)
- Birth control pill.
Why are some women rejecting what some see as the greatest liberating agent for women?
Something big is happening in the world of contraception. It’s going backwards
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/15/contraception-apps-women-birth-control
Number of abortions in England and Wales hits record levels
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/24/number-abortions-england-wales-record-levels
Is this part of the growing distrust of conventional medicine? Or is something else going on? Why do some women rely on an app on their phone rather than more certain methods?
The latest figures from 2022 show a 17% increase over 2021. But that was still during the pandemic with all the uncertainty surrounding that time. There were over 251,377 abortions in 2022, the highest figure since the Abortion act.
- Labour party contradictions
Reeves says growth eclipses net zero as Heathrow runway decision looms
PM vows to curb 'Nimby' legal blocks on infrastructure
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3l9jdy2q1o
Labour MPs ordered to sink landmark climate and environment bill
Growth trumps all? How will the Labour government contain the more radicle and greener parts of the Labour Party?
- Lower speed limit – lower insurance bills.
UK’s 20mph speed limits ‘are cutting car insurance costs’
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jan/18/uk-20mph-speed-limits-car-insurance-costs-premiums
Will this sell people the idea that the 20 Mph limit is good after all? Confused.com has found a 16% fall in insurance costs.
- Men getting Bigger.
Men have grown twice as much as women over past century, study shows
Is this due to better nutrition or sexual selection?
Men around the world have gained height and weight twice as fast as women over the past century, driving greater differences between the sexes.
“The sexy and formidable male body: men’s height and weight are condition-dependent, sexually selected traits”, the scientists speculate that women’s sexual preferences may have fuelled a trend for taller, more muscular men…”
“Michael Wilson, professor of ecology, evolution and behaviour at the University of Minnesota, said the faster increase in male height and weight was “striking”. He said it was consistent with a long-standing idea that females are “the more ecologically constrained” sex because of the demands of reproduction, particularly in mammals where pregnancy and nursing are “energetically expensive”.
“Investment in greater body size by males appears to be sensitive to nutritional conditions,” he said. “When men grow up with more energy-dense food, they grow bigger bodies, to a greater extent than women.”
- Decadent society
Orgies, vampires and jewel-laden tortoises: it’s time we buried the myths of decadence in art
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jan/21/orgies-vampires-tortoises-myths-decadence-art
Do we pay too much attention to problems in society? Is that because we are too close and do not have a proper perspective on the whole of society? Every age seems to have critics that claim their society is decadent and declining. Yet when we look back at that age, we often consider it to have been a