Notices by Emeritus Prof. Christopher May (chrismayla6@mastodon.me.uk)

Its becoming clear (but was also pretty predictable) that early release of prisoners to reduce pressure in the prison system, merely transfers capacity pressures to the probation system;

of course, with still insufficient work on rehabilitation & education *within* prisons, and a probation system already failing to work properly, in the long-term such actions may well just increase recidivism & worsen the prison crisis...

We need a better strategy!

#prisons #politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39e3y1y2zjo

My favourite paintings, No.11

Catharina van Hemessen. Self Portrait (1548)

This is the first (known) self portrait of an artist at an easel, and is likely a political statement by Catharina van Hemessen, asserting her right to be seen as an artist in C16th, when such employment was very much not regarded as suitable for a woman. Looking out at us across the centuries she requires our respect, not least for establshing the default artists' pose for a self-portrait.

#art #TodaysPainting

As an anonymous teacher points out in a letter to the Guardian, how would those parents taking their children out of school for a (cheaper) term-time holiday feel if the teachers (who also have families) also decided to take a holiday during term-time...

the real problem, of course, is the manner in which travel companies take advantage of the concentration of demand in school holidays.

Another issue for Andy Burnham on his tour of the country (or maybe not)?

#schools #holidays #politics

We often focus on the 'supply' of gig-economy jobs, looking to regulate & limit employers ability to avoid offering secure or stable work to contracted workers, but we should look at the 'demand' for such work.

Many forced into gig-economy work are doing so because there are insufficient alternatives; if the UK economy was more healthy (doing better) we might see fewer workers prepared to accept such work, and thereby employers forced to offer better conditions!

#workers #GigEconomy #politics

When WHO Africa director Dr Mohamed Janabi says of the latest Ebola outbreak in the DRC that 'We are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us', noting that the outbreak precede its recognition by at least three months, we should be worried about how this might play out....

The Q, is whether this will now break out of the African continent (which is not to downplay the deaths & damage wrought in the DRC & neighbouring states)?

#ebola #DRC #health #Africa #politics

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ydx7m8gzeo

Thames Water is now such a basket case that it needed (it claims) to pay its new finance director a £1m bonus to *join* the firm as a 'necessary incentive'.... so, if it cannot get senior managers to join without bribing them, perhaps customers should stop paying their bills as a 'necessary incentive' for TW to actually do the job its customers thought they were paying their bills for.... clearly financial incentives 'work'!

#ThamesWater #water #sewage #politics

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d841yexe0o

Can you believe the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office is complaining about a 'hardline' approach to post-Brexit residency rules by Sweden; have they no idea what the Home Office is doing with EU citizens?

Its a classic case of the UK's diplomatic problem; a skewed politics that looks like hypocrisy to anyone outside the UK's entitled political class who think the UK should just be allowed to act as it sees fit.

But the Guardian makes *this* link!

#politics #Brexit
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/10/british-widow-78-told-to-leave-sweden-under-brexit-rules-after-living-there-for-21-years

One would think that given the UK's high levels of recidivism, reducing the prison population would focus on repeat offenders, specifically:

youth work to try & reduce the number of young people embarking on a 'life of crime' (from which few escape);

rehabilitation & education in prison to help the convicted change their post-release opportunities.

But, the political 'logic' remains build more prisons, underfund youth work & cut prison education staff.

#crime #prisons #politics

I get so bored of saying this, but even the FT who should know better, has a chart today titled: 'UK House Price has Flatlined'....

Read my lips: RISING HOUSE PRICES ARE ASSET PRICE INFLATION!!!

I dream of the day I no longer need to regularly post this statement!

#housing #inflation #politics #economics

What's behind the accelerating trend for older technologies; from the revival of vinyl to the spread of smartphone refuseniks (with a dumbphone; confession, I have one)?

Chine Mcdonald (FT) thinks its partly a nostalgia for a quieter, slower time (of analogue technologies), but also it is a rejection of the increasingly dominant narrates of a future shaped by AI & its associated technologies - that is the future any of us just don't want.

Its a revolt into analogue.

#AI #politics #analogue

The BBC's defence of the case against it brought by the Tangerine Tyrant is a great example of how a bully's bluster and hyperbolic threats can unwind rather seriously once exposed to the legal process... in this case the BBC's discovery process for defending their claim has backed Trump & his lawyers into a corner.

Here's @davidallengreen clearly setting out the details. It's giving to make you smile....

#Trump #RuleOfLaw #politics

https://theemptycity.com/blog/2026/08/why-trumps-lawsuit-against-the-bbc-is-not-going-well-for-him/

How serious is the drought that is currently being experienced across Britain (for the most part)?

well, here is a Met Office map that pretty graphically shows the problem.

If this is the future we will be needing to be thinking a lot more carefully about water management & (likely) nationalise the industry as the private utilities have demonstrated a lack of serious intent to actually manage the water courses, being only interested in *draining* the system of cash

#water #drought #politics

And so the Tangerine Tyrant's 'slush fund' that was part of a much derided settlement on the treatment of the President's tax affairs, has finally officially been withdrawn.... to allow Todd Blanche to gain the support for his nomination as Attorney General (he's 'acting' at the moment) from two hold-out Senators.

However, its unlikely this marks the end of Trump's attempts to 'compensate' his supporters prosecuted for the January 6th invasion of Congress!

#USPol
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/03/blanche-formally-rescinds-trumps-18bn-anti-weaponization-fund-ahead-of-nomination-hearing

A dispatch from cynics corner:

I see petrol retailers are mobilising the defence of high prices, and implying a need to cover the costs of thefts of petrol from forecourts..... of course, they'll admit thefts rise with the petrol price, but will use these losses to justify retaining higher prices for longer - especially now the Chancellor has been warning firms about price-gouging during the oil crisis wrought by the US attacks on Iran.

#politics #petrol #politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8mrrlkjppo

With the exception of self-identified ReformUK supporters the majority of people in the UK believe that the recent heatwaves across the country are caused by climate change....

This suggests, that there is potential majority to organise behind a more forthright strategy for a Green Transition; a Green Keynesianism which would see investment(s) to both help ameliorate the effects of climate change & build British 'leadership' in Green Tech.

I'm hoping, but not expecting it.

#GreenTransition

The plot thickens on the Fascist Frog's donations directly & indirectly from George Cottrell, while police investigations continue.

There will come a point, as I have already suggested, when the Frog declares he cannot possibly take part in an by-election among such negative publicity & (he will say erroneous) claims about his & ReformUK's financing... and pull out of the Clacton by-election, leaving him free to take up his new job in the USA.

#NigelFarage #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/29/george-cottrell-transferred-2m-mother-beforer-reform-uk-donations

Three big central banks, the US Fed, the ECB & the UK's Bank Of England have all kept interest rates where they were, while waiting to assess the inflationary pressures that stem from the continuing US attacks on Iran (and Iran's response).

However, in all cases higher rates are far from impossible before the ned of the year... even if its now clear that really this is a policy for another age (and not sure it really worked even then).

Central banks need a new 'tool'.

#economics
h/t FT

And so we find ourselves where we knew we'd end up... the Home Office using AI-generated slop (a document that doesn't;t exist) to refuse an asylum claim.

AI & its associated technologies are having clear & consequential effects, yet they no doubt will allow Home Office officials to escape censure for lying & misrepresentation;

'it was the machine what done it, M'lud'.

Court's will need to be more sceptical of HO claims from now on!

#HomeOffice #refugees #politics

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/28/home-office-used-ai-hallucinated-information-to-refuse-asylum-claim-judge-suggests

Having succeeded in getting protestors to be sentenced under terrorism guidance having only been convicted of criminal damage once, prosecutors are trying to pull this off for a second time - this time for five (more) Palestine Action protestors who vandalised a Barclays Bank branch & were convicted of criminal damage.

The Rule of Law in the UK is being dismantled through the manipulation of sentencing rules.

Andy Burnham needs to stop this, now!

#politics #protests #PalestineAction
h/t FT

Given all the interest in Palantir, its likely a good time to post this map of their UK network of contracts, as researched & prepared by the Nerve six months ago....

The Nerve's full story is here:

https://www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-technologies-uk-government-contracts-size-nuclear-deterrent-atomic-peter-thiel-louis-mosley

with links to their ongoing investigation(s) into Palantir's contracts with the UK public sector.

#palantir #politics #NHS