The UK-EU trade agreement has now been put up on the government website, all 1,246 pages of it. That is 486,549 words. It is marginally longer than Lord of the Rings. Its prose is still more turgid and some of it might as well be written in Elvish. The government is giving the agreement one day’s debate on 30 December. That means that an MP who did nothing other than read the agreement from cover to cover would be able to give well…
Across 1 Scandal of former Labour minister caught eating a roll (10) 6 Cut government without delay (4) 9 An election is awfully near. Stick around (7) 10 Ban traffic light signals after relocating A+E (7) 12 Reportedly a US statesman’s political tactic (10) 13 Large government tender (3) 15 Ignoring revolution, Pinochet is respected? (6) 16 Rabble-rousing party excited by end of rally (8) 18 Important Russian note Kim Philby initially sent (8) 20 Vision of Labour grandee (6)…
Charles Hawtrey died an untimely death. The Carry On actor, famed for playing eccentric and effete characters, was in real life a cantankerous alcoholic so devoted to the pursuit of gay sex that he moved to a naval town to be close to the sailors. When he was advised by doctors that he needed to have both legs amputated if he was going to live, he refused, deciding that he would rather die with his boots on. The attitude of many Remainers…
Gambling doesn’t exactly have a good reputation. Most Christian denominations are very chary of it (my mother’s church had only recently relaxed the ban on church tombolas when we moved to the area in 1978). It is haram for Muslims. Even among agnostics and atheists few would regard it as a laudable activity. Some of these moral objections come from the greed that the lure of large prizes can provoke. Some comes out of the potential impact on losers. We all have…
When you bet on football, by and large you know whether you’ve won or lost. There are rules. There’s a referee. You can argue about whether a goal should have been given but you can’t argue about whether it was given. There is little room for interpretation most of the time. Betting on politics is not always so straightforward. The refereeing is more complicated. Even when dealing with something as granular as vote-counting, the participants can and do sometimes argue…
Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a ma … I’m an interesting and important character. I don’t exist, will never exist, yet I lurk in the minds of millions and am discussed and written about constantly. Most fear me, some worship, only the hardiest, most detached souls are indifferent. Am I the Devil? No. As I say, I don’t exist. The Devil might. And He is not trading at a ridiculously short price in the current betting markets. Who…