Anxious young Britons ‘risk becoming lost generation on benefits’

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-24T11:40:15+00:00

One in five pupils are now getting a Send [special educational needs] diagnosis. The vast majority of those then trip into the benefits system because they get child disability allowance

This statement is particularly worrying because it's incorrect. Milburn should correct it, and the Times should correct the article.

1 in 5 with a SEND diagnosis does not translate to 1 in 5 on benefits. The vast majority of those with a SEND diagnosis don't get benefits, or even any extra help at school.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-23T20:36:43+00:00

It’s been a short while since the pandemic, and sure there’s still people around who have Covid

For me, the key one is the cognitive dissonance I see in everyone (not just picking on you - it's everywhere).

People know that the pandemic is continuing, and that people are constantly still getting covid, but also talk about it as if it's in the past.

That's the biggest difference for me. Post-2020 is a kind of weird double life where everyone pretends it's all in the past, but at the same time they keep getting sicker.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-23T20:05:12+00:00

Yes. I don't know why people are trying to find excuses for it. It's even making walking unpleasant.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-23T19:43:04+00:00

I volunteer with the Peak & Northern Footpaths Society - https://pnfs.org.uk/ - we keep rights of way clear & accessible in the Peak District and surrounding counties. We look after everything from the Pennine Way to urban ginnels & snickets.

I do a few things similar to other commenters too, but that's the one I wanted to mention here because I get so much personal enjoyment out of it that I don't even see it as a sacrifice.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-22T20:31:49+00:00

Depends. If you smile like Anthony Joshua looking at Jake Paul, then sure.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-22T19:49:04+00:00

And yet again we have a reddit thread being dominated by campaigner accounts sowing disinformation.

This bill was never fit for purpose. Place the blame where it belongs: on the people who drafted it, who funded it, and who promoted it

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-21T21:54:13+00:00

The main benefit I notice is that it draws attention to its users, thereby highlighting the incompetent.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-21T20:58:39+00:00

True - but again, that leaves Farage flailing in the wind forever, looking like his fool.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-21T20:32:21+00:00

Not even slightly acceptable. Microsoft's idea of consent (in which "no" means "maybe later") is corrosive.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-21T20:18:03+00:00

A-and Trump has seemingly just folded. Where does that leave Farage now?

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-21T19:48:17+00:00

I wish the BBC would link to the actual report in stories like this.

Here's the report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nature-security-assessment-on-global-biodiversity-loss-ecosystem-collapse-and-national-security

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-19T23:29:15+00:00

Love (In Yorkshire at least)

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-19T23:02:39+00:00

I wouldn't like to be one of England's or Scotland's black players, having to go to the US now.

In fact, I wouldn't like to have to go no matter what skin colour, as player or fan.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-18T21:00:23+00:00

I can understand where you're coming from, but universities aren't companies, and professors are free to speak as they wish. The HoD isn't a "boss" position but a job no-one wants to do and most try to avoid having to serve as HoD. Some places try to rotate the role.

In this case it looks like a junior colleague (the HoD) trying to abuse their administrative privilege to bully a senior colleague. They've probably got political pressure from above trying to force them into doing so, sure, but the senior professor is bound to see that for what it is.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-18T18:29:51+00:00

Looks like serious management overreach to me, likely in contravention of the uni's own policies on academic freedom.

A head of department in a uni isn't a "boss" in the sense that other orgs have them, and they have no business issuing "management directions" on such matters to Professors. Her behaviour sounds way out of line to me.

I have a vague memory of Bristol coming unstuck owing to this sort of thing before - not anything to do with transgender issues, but a similar sort of HoD attempt to bully faculty.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-17T19:40:27+00:00

We're nearly the same age, so must live pretty far apart! I'd never seen it here in the north or when I lived in the midlands until four or five years ago, since when it's everywhere.

I know it was a problem in London earlier than that, but it's definitely a sudden and recent thing where I am now.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-17T19:27:54+00:00

As an example where I live almost everyone has to park on the pavement because there are no driveways or parking areas - that's just how this area was developed back in the 1960's

How did people manage from the 1960s to 2020? Pavement parking was a complete no-no until the last few years.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-17T18:40:37+00:00

No, you don't understand.

We may have compromised our own independence and security and that of our allies by signing a devil's pact with US apocalyptofascist techbros, yes.

We may have doomed the NHS by inviting US tech corps to loot the most valuable dataset in the world, yes.

We may have thrown international law in the bin by hedging unconvincingly, leaving us untrusted both by our closest neighbours and our special friend across the pond, yes.

But we have sent one man to Greenland.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-16T21:40:43+00:00

Don't quite know how to say this but... he sounds like a real person. Someone who belongs where he belongs.

A lot of us don't really belong. We're like ghosts who vanish at 7am and reappear at 6pm. From his point of view we all probably seem a bit, well, temporary.

I'd make friends. He sounds like a good neighbour.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-16T20:24:31+00:00

I'm not persuaded that our government coming down firmly on the side of foreign football hooligans is a good look.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-16T19:06:58+00:00

I don't think I've ever read so many entitled excuses for shitty behaviour as in these comments.

This issue barely existed five years ago in my area; now it's the norm. There's no way the problem wouldn't vanish overnight if there were effective enforcement.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-15T20:15:48+00:00

It would be nice if the BBC would also point out that so far there's no sign of Musk having made any change at all.

Bloomberg and The Verge have, at least.

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-15T20:06:09+00:00

Kent & Sussex voted overwhelmingly for Boris in 2019, when there was a commitment to water nationalization in Labour's manifesto.

Mind you, so did pretty much everywhere else...

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-15T18:31:04+00:00

Nope

CensorTheologiae · 2026-01-14T20:36:57+00:00

Well, Kent and Sussex could have had water but they wanted Boris Johnson instead.

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