I posted this video on YouTube this morning. In it I argue that whilst the first-past-the-post electoral system is a massive obstacle to democracy in the UK, but corporate donations are almost as significant. The time when corporate donors can buy power in the UK should be over, for good. The audio version is here: This is the transcript: Politics in the UK should not be for sale. I would have thought that's glaringly obvious to anyone who believes in the democratic process and yet we all know that there is a massive influence on politics and politicians in the UK as a consequence of corpora ..read more

This is my YouTube short of the day - based on my frustration that schools teach maths that is irrelevant to 99.8% of the population and ignore budgeting and tax: The transcript is: Do we really need to learn trigonometry at school? It's a question I've been asking since I was about 17 when I was asked to calculate the surface area of a slice through a cone. Why did I need to know how to do it then? No idea. Have I ever used it since? Never. Was I taught about anything useful, like how to calculate VAT? No. Did I ever get taught about how to calculate my tax affairs? No. Was I ever taught how ..read more

Keir Starmer’s descent into the cesspit of right wing economics is continuing. The Guardian has reported that: Keir Starmer has said he will lead from the centre ground if elected prime minister and declared wealth creation to be his “number one mission”. His claim that supported this suggestion was that: As a nation, broadly speaking we’re a pretty reasonable, tolerant bunch but we are in the centre ground of politics. People don’t like the extremes of the right or the left. They are reasonably tolerant. They want themselves, their families and the country to improve and make progress. Ap ..read more

There was always some hope that during this election campaign Keir Starmer might reveal what he really believed so that we might understand what a Labour government with him as leader might look like before we were expected to vote for it. The good news is that we now know. The bad news is that what we now know is that his priority is bullying anyone who disagrees with him, most especially if they are a woman of colour who might have something considerably more useful to say on racism than his Zionist worldview permits. If they also happen to think Labour should be left of centre, heaven help ..read more

This is my YouTube short this morning: My suggestion is that everyone thinks that there is too much testing in schools, at cost to the quality of education that schools can and do provide. I suggest it is time to let our politicians know. The transcript is: Everyone thinks that there is too much testing in schools these days. Children are tested when they arrive in schools. Again at 7. Again at 11. Again at 14. Again at 16. And finally at 18. When they're allowed to leave, they might have yet more tests. Does that make sense? Do we need that much testing? Will children develop without it? Mig ..read more

I shared this video on YouTube this morning. In it, I ask what I think is an important question. Do we really need more iPhones? Or do we actually need more health and social care, education, and so much else that generates remarkably little carbon? Sometime soon, we are going to have to decide. The transcript is: How many iPhones does the world need? Now that might sound like an odd opening to a video, but it's a really important question because well, I bet that if you have an iPhone or a Samsung or whatever else it might be - I don't really care which brand we're talking about here - you d ..read more

I have been discussing accounting education at a conference at the University of Leeds for the last couple of days, and will be today as well. This LinkedIn post from yesterday by my Accounting Streams colleague, Prof Susan Smith, features a photo taken by me when she was presenting our ideas yesterday: The Accounting Streams project aims to publish a new foundation year according textbook by the end of this year. The book will encourage critical thinking rather than rote learning. Most especially, it will be interactive and even playful. The aim is to inspire students. The fact that it will ..read more

This is my YouTube short this morning: You can watch it here. The transcript is: The NHS is being dumbed down. What I mean is that people who are fully qualified in some areas, like paramedics, are seeing people in surgeries. GP surgeries where they're not fully qualified and physician associates who can do some tasks in hospitals are doing quite inappropriate things, like surgery. This is a potential disaster in the making because if you are seen by or treated by a person who is not fully aware of all the issues that might arise as a consequence of the complaint you present with, they could ..read more

I have another YouTube video out this morning. In this one, I argue that Wes Streeting thinks the NHS is riddled with obedient compliance that lets wrongdoing happen. He’s right, except that he’s wrong to say this is an NHS problem. It’s a problem of a class-ridden society where everyone is told they may not question their ‘elders and betters’. He won’t solve anything by trying to change the NHS. He needs to start by getting rid of the monarchy as the symbol of a hopelessly outdated class system. The audio version is here: The transcript is as follows: Wes Streeting is wrong. He has said tha ..read more

The conviction of Donald Trump in New York should not have been a surprise. Others had already been found guilty of related offences. The fact that the person who ordered the actions of those who have already served time in prison was guilty of similar offences to those for which they had been punished should not have been unexpected, barring three things. The first is Trump‘s willingness to use threats to bully and intimidate. Throughout this trial, he has maligned the judge and the prosecutors. It took considerable courage for ordinary American citizens to accept the task as a juror in this ..read more