The Joy of Six 1063

"We cannot, under any circumstances, repeat the catastrophic mistakes of Thatcher and the Conservatives where whole communities in Wales were destroyed by the closing of industries with no plan to replace them and no plans to reskill the workers who lost their jobs." Jane Dodds is calling on the Welsh government to consider extending its current basic income pilot to workers employed in heavy industries who will be impacted by the transition to a net-zero carbon economy.

Alastair Driver says the government must not water down its funding for Environmental Land Management schemes: "There is absolutely not a 'food crisis' here in the UK. There is, however, a biodiversity crisis and a climate emergency. If we do not take action to tackle them, to use our land for the wider public good, we certainly risk creating a food security crisis for future generations."

Maja Korica offers her manifesto for a more humane academia.

A Twitter thread from Nathan Williams suggests that many who refer to Karl Popper's "Paradox of Tolerance" do not understand his philosophy.

"It might be an overstatement to say that Britain was 'reborn' through a hippy festival in a Somerset field, but in terms of the counterculture realising an 'alternative', the festival has undoubtedly become part of Britain’s cultural make-up. It is now ubiquitous, placing the once rebellious artform of rock music central to mainstream culture." Ben Finlay celebrates the countercultural roots of the Glastonbury Festival.

David Mitchell on why he finds the north coast of Ireland depressing: "With so many abandoned houses, hotels, residential homes and guest houses, the north coast really should be a Hollywood for crime TV ('Protestant noir'?) and low-budget horror movies."