Map of NATO Expansion From 1949 to 2024

Graphic - Top 10 monthly media activities adults 15to24 vs 75plus in 2024

 

VOD = Video on Demand

Source of graphic above - Ofcom's Media Nations UK 2025 document published 30 July 2025

#Infographic - a short history of social media - by google search volumes - worldwide monthly 2004-2024

All things must pass... except perhaps Reddit?

(by @chartrdaily) pic.twitter.com/B1Jp2xn6Vc

— Information is Beautiful (@infobeautiful) February 11, 2025

50min clip - 2024’s annual review, with Ian Hislop

2min 43sec clip - The Budget: Who are "Working People"?

2min clip - Is there a £22 billion black hole in the economy?

2024 - Top 10 Emerging Technologies

Full wef report is here

A brave civil servant telling it like it is - maybe something that more of our politicans could aspire to

 

Obviously the right will see the clip above as a woke anti brexit liberal elite blob attack on their tremendously successful delivery record since Brexit.

Whereas I see it as a remarkable brave civil servant telling it like it is. 

As a reminder to all politicians, that is what public service is about. Speaking truth to power.

Some of the politicians still seem to get that.  But some of them behave as though public service is pimarily a route to increasing their own wealth.

Speaking truth to power is what public service is about.  Even if it means you don't get that promotion, or that honour, or that seat in the Lords, or that Executive Director/Consultant post in the private sector. 

And the right and the left don't really want to talk about Brexit because - you know - its water under the bridge and so what. 

For the right - they don't want to admit their lack of delivering the "take back control" opportunities. 

For the left - they don't want to talk about Brexit because - with a 48% to 52% ish split on the Brexit vote, they can't get beyond their fear of the electoral maths to be able to say the whole Brexit thing was a con. 

And on immigration neither the left or the right seem able to engage in a sensible debate.

.  

Some politicians tell us to fear immigrants as the cause for most of our unhappiness.

Yet the stranger, the immigant, has always being part of what made our economy and democracy and country strong - for centuries and centuries. 

Given that we have an ageing population, the sensible debate on immigration is - given our care services and other resourcing needs -  how much immigration do we need to fill the gaps - and can our communities live with the consequencies of that level of immigration?

Neither do any of the parties want to talk about the reality that - if you choose to not believe in ridiculous UK economy growth forecasts, or the same moronic forecasts on how we'll get the tax dodgers - then the reality is we're all in for a for a bit of a financial shock when the election is over.

On the no more taxes front - to get you ready for the fiscal reality that will eventually play out after the election  ...

- either we can't afford to have everything we want - so according to our individual economic wealth we'll be able to ride that storm out (look at the increasingly no. of people who can afford it, having operations in the private health sector) OR for the 1 in 6 of us who have effectively no or little savings - we'll be stuffed ...

- and/or somebody will have to get taxed more (according to the right and the left thats not income tax, national insurance or pensioners paying tax) so that leaves only a few options (apart from not increasing tax thresholds so inflation moves more and more of us ionto higher tax brackets)

- I've concluded that the current 2024 election topics of debate between the parties appear to be pitched at such a basic pureile level that the only thing they indicate is how low the talent level in our politicians has sunk, or how low their ambition to have an honest and thoughtful public debate has fallen.

Some Fullfact.org fact checkng of politicians claims since a UK general election was announced

I've taken Fullfact.org ‘s corrections to factually incorrect or partial statements from UK political parties, and amended the original text in the claims by politicians so the text corrects/clarifies what was claimed.

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

Labour Party

On 23/5/24, claimed “seven and a half million cases people are on waiting lists, about some 6.3 million people”

On 27/5/24 Sir Keir Starmer’s made his first major campaign speech  The claims he made are in black font, the strikethrough and red font corrects/clarifies his claims

On the governments approach to Rwanda he claimed “it’s cost £600 million, (Includes some future costs)” and that the “Prime Minister has spent forecast spend is £600 million”. But part of this figure appears to refer to future costs, rather than the amount that has already been spent.

That the “chaos” under the Conservatives was “hitting every working family to the tune of £5,000, compared to a hypothetical scenario”.

Repeated a claim “that the UK army is the smallest it has been since the Napoleonic Wars size is comparable to the period shortly after the Napoleonic wars. “

Claimed that taxes are "were higher in 2022/23 than at any time over the last 70 years since the war".

 

Conservative Party

23/5/24, during an interview Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed the text in black font, the red font corrects/clarifies his claims.

 “the economy is growing faster than almost any other major country including the United States if you look at the latest quarterly GDP growth for G7 countries, but the UK has seen comparatively slower growth since the pandemic than most other G7 countries, including the US.”.

On LBC on 24/5/24 energy secretary Claire Coutinho claimed that “Labour did not complete build any [nuclear power stations] in their time in government and neither have any been finished since the Conservatives came into office in 2010”.

In a 24/5/24 post on X Rishi Sunak claimed: “Since I became Prime Minister, net migration has fallen by 10%, but it is four times higher than in 2019, when our manifesto said we’d bring’ ‘overall numbers’ down.”

In a 26/5/24 TV interview, Home secretary James Cleverly was asked about figures showing a 7% increase in knife crime. In response, he claimed the text in black font.“If you took Labour-run London out of the equation, that figure would be down up for year ending December 2023 in England & Wales.” The strikethrough and red font correct/clarify his claim.

27/5/24 online election adverts claimed the text in black font, the red font clarifies the claim  “small boat crossings are coming down” and “small boats [are] down 36% (comparing 2023 to 2022) but as at 26/5/24 are up 38% compared to the same period last year”.

On 28/5/24, during TV and radio interviews, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride repeated the following claim in black font, that the government having reduced National Insurance contributions by one third, “is worth a tax cut of £900 to an average earner, but once all tax changes since 2021 are factored in, the saving is some £340 in 2024/25.  Below average earners will actually be worse off.”  (the red font corrects/clarifies his claim)

1min 28sec @NASA clip - Dreamed of this

text from youtube "The next frontier isn’t just for the next generation – it’s for this generation.

With our Artemis program, we will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. Then, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars. We go, as Artemis.

Learn more here: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis/ "

2min 8sec @NASA clip - space is hard

text from youtube "Space travel is hard and unforgiving, but we have never been more ready to meet the unknown.

Team members from NASA’s #Artemis program share the risks and rewards of this next era of exploration. Artemis will push the boundaries of human exploration and send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, preparing for missions to Mars and beyond."

3min 31sec @NASA clip - Powering Our Return to the Moon

Text from youtube "NASA announces the first partnership of its kind with MAXAR Technologies to power the future lunar orbiting station."

4min @NASA clip - We are going to the #Moon, to stay, by 2024. And this is how.

Text from youtube "We are going to the Moon, to stay, by 2024. And this is how.

Special thanks to William Shatner for lending his voice to this project."