Новости за 19.07.2015

No one likes being held responsible for their childish indiscretions, so it is no surprise that the Queen is reported to feel “furious” that video footage has surfaced from around 1933, which shows her prancing round the gardens at Balmoral, aged six, with her mother, the then Duchess of York, giving a Nazi salute at the apparent behest of her uncle, the future Edward VIII.

The revelation that some schools have been playing the system by paying present or former Ofsted inspectors to prepare them for inspections will do nothing to restore confidence in the way that schools are rated. It is astonishing that such an egregious conflict of interest on the part of some Ofsted staffers has been tolerated for this long. Not before time, Ofsted says that from September onwards inspectors will no longer be able to take on outside work with consultancy firms paid to ensure that schools get the right grades. Читать дальше...

Slowly but surely, Britain is being dragged back into wider military intervention in the Middle East.

Slowly but surely, Britain is being dragged back into wider military intervention in the Middle East.

As a species we rely heavily on stories. Plausible narratives help us make sense of an often complex and inherently uncertain world.

The images of an Egyptian gunboat exploding off the coast of Sinai last week were a warning to our Western politicians. Yes, we support Egypt. We love Egypt. We continue to send our tourists to Egypt. Because we support President Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – despite the fact that his government has locked up more than 40,000 mostly political prisoners, more than 20,000 of them supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, hundreds of whom have been sentenced to death. The Egyptian regime continues... Читать дальше...

What an example of tireless endeavour that nice Jeremy Hunt sets as he campaigns to force health service employees to work at weekends. After irritating some NHS staff into tweeting pictures of themselves in weekend action under the hashtag #I’matworkJeremy, the Health Secretary took to Twitter himself with pictorial proof that he leads from the front.

A senior Cabinet minister claimed last week that the reason the Government urged British nationals to get out of Tunisia was that another terrorist attack was “imminent”. This contradicts his colleague, the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, who has stated: “We do not have any information suggesting a specific or imminent threat.” The security agencies and the French authorities – who have better intelligence on their former colony than us – also say they have no knowledge of a “specific and imminent” threat. Читать дальше...

Improved media reporting has been one of the factors in reducing the taboo around mental illness. The same is true of suicide, in which a disturbed mind is almost always part of the backdrop.

When it comes to bullying, we’re told to lead by example. But just this week a vitriolic witch-hunt against a 16-year-old girl has proved that we’re not setting a particularly good one ourselves.

Riots are breaking out in Athens and forest fires burn around the Greek capital as the anger of the people spills over. The country’s creditors have confirmed they will insist on even harsher austerity measures, despite a no vote in a national referendum on exactly that proposal.

Jeremy Hunt has quickly established himself as a formidable opponent for doctors. He believes he is winning his battle against the NHS, just as MPs patted themselves on the back with an 11% pay rise.

Andrew Tyrie (“Less dogma, more common sense”, 12 July) says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to “restore its reputation as a provider of independent advice”. The IMF does not dispense independent advice but it is the enforcer of last resort for the dominant neo-liberal (Reagan/Thatcher) economics of the rich world.

In bed with me doner

My name is Bryony Kimmings, I am a performance artist from London. I met Tim in June 2013. I had been hidden away in a massive country house in the Yorkshire Dales for weeks, desperately making a show for Edinburgh. Walks, healthy food and long days of writing, going a little stir-crazy.

The massacre at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo provoked international outrage and made the slogan Je Suis Charlie a cri de coeur for proponents of free speech.

SPORTY

How old is Larry Farrant: 65? Sixty, even? Such evidence as can be assembled from the fragments of detail which Larry occasionally vouchsafes about his past life or the vista he presents to the world is, alas, inconclusive.

I hadn't expected the dads' race at my daughter's school sports day to be a rite of passage. But it was. Which is probably why it's taken a couple of weeks to sink in. Let me explain.