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- Make no mistake: the Tory right is to blame
Make no mistake: the Tory right is to blame
đ§ Hearing water | đ Gamestop | đ Thousand-year-old gossip
In the headlines
Schools in England will be banned from teaching children they can change gender and from delivering any form of sex education to under nines. Head teachers have called the review âpolitically motivatedâ, and have pointed out that sex education typically only starts at age 10. A manhunt is under way after a French drug trafficker was broken out of a prison convoy by armed accomplices yesterday. Mohamed Amra, thought to have gang ties in Marseille, was returning to jail after a court hearing in Normandy when gunmen rammed the van he was in and opened fire, killing two officers. The first official portrait of King Charles as monarch has been unveiled at Buckingham Palace. Artist Jonathan Yeo explained the ethereal red background was inspired by the uniform of the Welsh Guards, while the endangered monarch butterfly above his right shoulder signifies the Kingâs metamorphosis from prince to sovereign.
Jonathan Yeo
Comment
Finnbarr Webster/Getty
Make no mistake: the Tory right is to blame
If the Tories are smashed at the coming election, says Janan Ganesh in FT, it will be the fault of the Conservative right, âand almost no one elseâ. Just look at the polls: every major bump for Labour emanates from a scandal on the Tory right. Partygate, presided over by Boris Johnson, âwhom the right adoredâ. Liz Truss, chosen by the right, sinking the pound with her mad mini-Budget. And Brexit, the rightâs ultimate project, which just one voter in three now thinks was a good idea. Itâs utterly ludicrous that Conservative right-wingers still talk as though Sunak âreceived and then squandered a plum inheritanceâ from them. âExcuse me, what?â
Sunak is unpopular with voters, true, âbut the Tories could replace him with David Attenborough and still inspire hatredâ. They have simply made too big a mess. After Brexit, they could have gone in a âDominic Cummings-ish directionâ by deregulating and rethinking the state from first principles. But to âquit the single market and embrace big-government conservatismâ; to have trade barriers with Europe and a high tax burden â well, âit might just be quicker to burn mounds of cash in Trafalgar Squareâ. If, as some argue, the Tories are losing because the Rwanda scheme is dragging, why is Britain about to elect a Labour government that promises to scrap it? The Tories must âfinger the correct culprits for their defeat, then stigmatise themâ. Charitable sorts love to argue against the âblame gameâ. These people should be admired for their sweet natures and ignored. âThere is no progress without the rigorous assignment of blameâ.
Noted
A side-by-side comparison of cold (left) and hot water being poured.
It turns out most people can tell the difference between cold and hot water being poured based on the sound alone, says The New York Times. Cold water tends to âsound brighter and splashier, while hot water sounds duller and frothierâ. Chinese researcher Xiaotian Bi has found out why: hot water traps bigger bubbles, producing lower-frequency sounds, whereas cold water traps smaller ones, which make a slightly sharper snap when popped. See if you can tell the difference by listening here.
Inside politics
Politicians may love to bang on about their roots, but it turns out most voters simply arenât paying attention, says The Independent. New data from More in Common shows that only 11% of people know Keir Starmerâs father was a toolmaker, while 18% know Sunakâs father was a GP, despite both politicians bringing it up constantly. Only 8% of people think the Labour leader had a working-class upbringing.
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On the money
X/@TheRoaringKitty
Shares in GameStop are rocketing again, three years after it became the original âmeme stockâ. In January 2021, amateur traders made a huge (and slightly tongue-in-cheek) bet on the struggling chain of US video game shops, causing its share price to surge and Wall Street firms to make heavy losses. One of the original ringleaders Keith Gill â known online as âRoaring Kittyâ â broke a three-year silence on X last weekend, posting a wordless meme (pictured) of a gamer âleaning forward in a chair, as if gearing up for actionâ, says BBC News. His followers duly started buying up the stock, boosting GameStopâs share price by 70% on Monday alone.
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Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP/Getty
Russian elites are more anti-Western than ever
When terrorists attacked a Moscow concert hall in March, few were surprised that a branch of Islamic State claimed responsibility, says Tatiana Stanovaya in Foreign Affairs. But contrary to all evidence, Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine, âand by extension the Westâ. For the most part, Russians simply accepted this, even those who also accepted IS involvement. Itâs an odd thought, but Russian elites often âblur the distinctions between Islamist terrorists, Ukrainians and Americansâ, viewing them as components of a world system defined by its hostility to Russia. And it reveals how war has made Russians more anti-Western than ever, âbinding them to Putin as their sole assurance of survivalâ.
Many Western observers assumed âwar fatigue, resource shortages, and intelligence failuresâ would lead to internal conflicts and disillusionment with Putin. âThat has demonstrably not happened.â Instead, the war has become an end in itself, creating career and business opportunities and boosting the economy. When Emmanuel Macron suggested recently that Nato might deploy ground troops, senior figures in Moscow were far from unhappy. âHow does Europe not understand this?â one Moscow policymaker asks me. âThe prospect of engaging Nato soldiers is far more motivating than confronting Ukrainians.â Thereâs even a thought in Kremlin circles that the deployment of Western soldiers to Ukraine would work in Russiaâs favour, as the inevitable casualties would weaken the resolve of Moscowâs enemies. Only total military defeat or a prolonged financial crisis could do anything to shake Putinâs grip. âWestern leaders face the unenviable task of determining how to engage with a Russia that has grown increasingly self-confident, bold, and radical.â
Music
For all the fanfare around U2âs residency at the new Las Vegas Sphere, âit all ended with a bit of a whimperâ, says Popbitch. Reviews were underwhelming, with the consensus being that the band âwerenât up to their usual slick standardâ. Industry types have an inkling as to why: right from the off, Bono was âdetermined to spend the absolute bare minimum of time in Vegasâ. Heâd jet in for appearances then head straight back off. The reason? Heâs convinced the desert air is âbad for his throatâ. He might have saved his voice, but it came âat the expense of the rest of the showâ.
Zeitgeist
I read a really âmagnificentâ bit of news this week, says Ella Risbridger in the FT. The King has snubbed his younger son by making his older son the chief of the younger sonâs former regiment, âin a row about the younger sonâs inability to hold his tongue about the skeletons in the family cupboardâ. Itâs like gossip âfrom a thousand years agoâ. Pick any point in the last 10 centuries and youâll find the younger sons of kings scheming against their fathers, âand the fathers scheming right back at themâ.
Snapshot
Snapshot answer
Itâs a photorealistic mural of a boat, which was commissioned by a California mariner after local authorities forced him to put up a fence to conceal his vessel. Municipal rules demanded a six-foot barrier, but âsaid nothing about how the fence should be decoratedâ, says NBC News â so in a âlight-hearted jibe at officialdomâ, Etienne Constable hired a local artist to create a mural that made it look as though the fence wasnât there.
Quoted
âIf people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.â
American novelist Anne Lamott