Of size, and governance, revisited
Back in 2007 — almost twenty years ago — I wrote a rant about the extraordinary size of 'local' government regions in Scotland. Today, I'm doing it again. I'm doing it again because our Scottish National Party government, whose ineptitude and incompetence knows no bounds, are now proposing that existing councils could be merged. So let's compare the sizes of local government divisions across the EU, and add Scotland and our near-neighbour nations, Iceland and Norway.
Note that I've sorted this data by number of inhabitants. Note also, however, that I haven't added England. England is, uniquely, even worse than Scotland. But do we really aspire to be more like England?
Exploration of what happened on 26th June this year
Exploration of what happened on 26th June this year
Back in June this year, the Meteorological Office posted a blog post that really alarmed me. Since then, I've published a series of blog posts:
Analysis of 2026 heatwaves UK
Edited 13th August to add: This essay is misleading and alarmist. It was written in good faith, but I have since researched and done the maths to more fully explore the probable wet bulb temperatures given the Met Office's scenario, and my assumptions were wrong. This work is documented here.
A note on isobar charts linked from this essay: these are screen-shotted from digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk, which is where the Met Office serves historical data. I have chosen the isobar charts from midday of each day discussed, for comparability.
Extreme Heat
Edited 13th August to add: This essay is misleading and alarmist. It was written in good faith, but I have since researched and done the maths to more fully explore the probable wet bulb temperatures given the Met Office's scenario, and my assumptions were wrong. This work is documented here.
Helping Gaza
The crisis in Gaza has been ongoing since 1947, if not before. That's (at least) 78 years; a lifetime. More than a lifetime, for people who live under continual oppression and attack.
Why is there a crisis in Gaza? Initially because Zionist terrorists drove Palestinians out from further north in Palestine in a bloodthirsty orgy of ruthless ethnic cleansing. There really is no pretty way to say this. The claim that the truly atrocious treatment of Jews by the Nazis and other regimes in Europe led to the the truly atrocious treatment of the people of Palestine by Zionists may have some explanatory force, but it has no justificatory force: evil may lead to evil, but does not excuse evil.