The Joy of Six 1163

"Liz Truss almost wrecked the British economy in her 49 days as prime minister, and is now working on a book, Ten Years to Save the West, to be published in April next year. Margaret Thatcher was initially reluctant to join the international speaker circuit following her 10 revolutionary years in power. But the shortest-serving politician in British history recently pocketed some £90,000 for a five-day trip to Taiwan during which she delivered a speech about the importance of standing up to Chinese aggression." Adrian Wooldridge says we are living in an age of political shamelessness.

Ruth Bright argues that the NHS "must address misogyny and listen to women. In the obstetric context, at minimum women’s dignity, continence and future birth chances are at stake. At most their very lives and even the lives of their babies are on the line."

"Good Ofsted scores are not fairly spread but are far more likely for suburban, girls-only, selective schools with no long-term poor pupils, for example. Perhaps 70 per cent of the variation in Ofsted grades can be explained by these factors." Stephen Gorard is sceptical about the value of these grades.

Roy Eidelson is interviewed by Democracy Now! about the American Psychological Association’s complicity in post-9/11 torture programmes and the struggle to reform the psychology. 

"Videotaped drama is a form of television that (soaps apart) we don’t see anymore. Once, of course, it was the dominant way of programme-making and remained so for decades." Archive Television Musings on what technical change meant for actors and viewers.

Now! Then! A Yorkshire Almanac for 2023 looks at the invention of the legend of John Bartendale, the York man who survived hanging.