Notices by Emeritus Prof Christopher May (chrismayla6@zirk.us)

The latest on the NHS crisis; in its twilight months NHS England looks to be forcing fiscal adjustments that are causing a removal of NHS services:

'The survey of 160 senior figures from 114 trusts found that:

47% were cutting services &another 43% were considering doing so;
37% were cutting clinical posts & a further 40% may follow suit;
26% were closing some services & 55% more may do so'!

More preparation for Streeting's semi-privatisation?

#NHS #Health
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/09/nhs-hospitals-england-cuts-financial-reset

This meme (circulating on LinkedIn) on the corruption of pubic debate both made me smile & frown at the same time.... it seems to sum up something about the current state of the world.

#SocialMedia #media #science

The model of privatisation of health preferred by the private sector is unlikely to be the full spectrum preferred by ideologues but rather the current (highly profitable) model of cherry picking off the standardised, non-critical, low risk (established) procedures which can butters 'super-profits' - and a key example of that model is outsourced NHS eye care.

This is not the future, this draining of money form the NHS into private profits is already here!

#health #NHS
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/04/profits-from-nhs-england-eye-care-outsourcing-same-as-100-pfi-contracts-research-finds

More Tom Gauld humour for your Bank Holiday Monday (or normal Monday elsewhere).... enjoy

h/t Nicky Mee/LinkedIn @tomgauld.bsky.social

As Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie says:

'The last thing we need is the dangerous populism of a Reform Party that would gladly decimate public services, trash our environment & only act in the interests of its wealthy friends and donors'!

And again, he makes a point that has been made often in the wake if the elections;

If you're elected on a platform of change but then often (if not always) double down on Tory policies, you cannot expect to retain votes.

#politics #Greens

Here's a great analysis of the Runcorn by-election from @CherylMorgan which seeks to correct various misapprehensions about why Reform won, whose votes they gained, and why Labour (and the media) are drawing the wrong conclusions.

And its admirably concise for a busy Saturday morning.

#politics #runcorn

h/t @Naich

https://www.cheryl-morgan.com/lies-damned-lies-and-the-british-press/

The Greens have (so far) made a net gain of 33 local councillors, which is not bad news, but *is* dwarfed by ReformUK's 489 seat gain.

The Q. is can the Greens make a convincing case to fed-up Labour voters that sitting on your hands in a General Election is a less viable option than voting for the Green Party?

And of course, one has to wonder how things might look if the attention lavished by the media on Reform & Farage had instead been directed towards the Greens?

#politics

Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer points out:

There are places 'where the greed of short term let operators & buy-to-let landlords has destroyed any chance of local young people ever owning their own home.

Given the damage they’ve done to the housing market, there's absolutely no need for short term let operators to continue receiving massive tax breaks. Instead, they should pay a bit more in tax to fund the extra affordable housing... to solve the crisis they helped to cause'

#housing #politics

Carole Cadwalladr bid 'fuckity bye' the The Observer as it start its new life as part of Tortoise Media (having been essentially given away by the Guardian).

As yet we can't be sure how the new owners will effect the well established (left-ish) newspaper, but to say Cadwalladr is unimpressed is an understatement.

#media #news #politics

https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/fuckity-bye

What if when we find a civilisation in a distant galaxy its just as troubled as ours?

Rebecca Hendin (Guardian) poses (in cartoon form) a central existential question about the quest for extraterrestrial life....

#space #scifi

More evidence that we are heading back to the C19th as schools report that poor children are under-nourished & have resulting physical underdevelopment. Schools are (again) stepping in where other social services have failed to recognise (or do not have the resources to resolve) the problem(s) of the poor.

This was a key issue in late C19th politics (then tied to military recruitment) & drove much social policy in early C20th. How are we back here???

#Children #poverty
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/17/a-third-of-uk-school-staff-report-physical-underdevelopment-in-poor-students

How much tax does Big Tech avoid paying?

the Fair Tax Foundation has looked at average tax rates paid by US corporations & the effective tax rates paid the 'Silicon Six' & has concluded they've paid around $278bn less than they should have over the last decade.

So if you wondered how the big tech moguls become so rich, the answer in part is we've been subsidising them....

[I would be very surprised if the European tax situation varies much from the US]

#tax #BigTech
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/silicon-six-accused-of-avoiding-almost-278bn-in-us-corporation-taxes-over-10-years

The UK's University business model is now pretty stark.... fees from non-UK students, and drawing down reserves (and income from investments) are the only two things left to cross-subsidise the rest of universities' activities (research & the teaching UK students, both of which are 'loss-making').

This model cannot go on forever - international students are in a post-Brexit deciine reserves are by their character, limited!

The crisis in higher education is going to get deeper!

#universities

You'll recall the case of the Polish women denied the right to remain in the UK because she filled out the wrong (an online version rather than a paper form), well now the Home Office has relented.

Interestingly, the Home Office (no doubt instructed to be more business like) now seems to respond well to cases that are high-lighted by the media... just like commercial firms responding to consumer page complaints!

If only they could just be humane!

#politics #HomeOffice
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/11/polish-woman-stay-uk-home-office-u-turn-deportation

The reality behind Yves Klein' Leap Into the Void (1960) - the before and after, for this famous bit of performance art....

What happened on the day & the famous picture of Yves Klein's leap.

[from The Guardian Saturday Magazine's feature on pictures that deceive - there are much more serious examples, but I always liked the simplicity of Klein's 'deception']

#art

For those of you interested in the gender pay gap (which I'm assuming is most of you/us), here is the data for the countries of the EU.

For comparison in the UK (expressed differently) the GPG is around 13% which, would make it in these terms around 87% of male pay (the UK figure is the median pay rate for both genders).

To say this is a problem that still requires work would be an understatement

#sexism #inequality
#economics

@tomgauld.bsky.social on moving fast & breaking things...

#technology

Trump has now rescinded many of the Tariffs imposed on Monday (while leaving them in place for China & countries that retaliated quickly & seeing the general 10% tariff).

Which leaves this looking more like a gift to investors who buy on the dips, given the immediate revival of share prices on the news of the step back from trade war.

Whether or not he (re)introduces tariffs, its likely that countries will be more wary about how Trump is managing the US's international relations.

#politics

What will be the consequences of the sudden imposition of tariffs by the Tangerine Tyrant?

In this piece for @NWBylines (and building on some of my posts over the last few days) I suggest we may see:

the consolidation of regional trading blocs & the sidelining of the USA;

the shift to a new reserve currency (likely the €);

and an acceleration of reshoring & localisation of supply chains....

#politics #economics

https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/economy/trumps-tariffs-and-the-acceleration-of-structural-change/

Many of us will agree with Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer when she says:

'It’s a fantasy to believe that our long-term economic prosperity can be left in the hands of whether or not we are in Trump’s favour on any one given day. As such, we must prioritise securing a Customs Union agreement with the EU so that we regain the strength of being part of a larger bloc'!

Will Keir Starmer listen or keep on obstructing talks with 'concerns' about 'free movement' remains to be seen.

#economics