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  A new Covid sub-variant responsible for a surge of infections in India is giving rise to concerns that it could also lead to a significant rise in hospitalisations and deaths in the UK this autumn. Research indicates that the new variant, named Arcturus, could be significantly more infectious than previous sub-variants in the Omicron series, which are still predominant throughout Europe and the USA. Also known as Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16, Arcturus was first identified in January and has been monitored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 22 March, which upgraded it to a “ variant of interest ” in mid-April. WHO reports suggest that Arcturus doesn’t so far appear to be producing symptoms any more severe than the prevalent Omicron variants.   It has only one additional mutation in the spike protein, but lab investigations so far have confirmed it does exhibit increased infectivity over the other Omicron B variants, as well as the potential for increased pathogenicity.

  I’ve often wondered what might have happened to the UK’s fortunes if David Cameron hadn’t decided to hold a referendum on EU membership in June 2016. Given his obvious desire to see us stay in EU, and the adverse public opinion on immigration and its effect on jobs in particular at the time, I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering why on earth he did…. The Background Although he had promised a referendum in the 2015 manifesto, to be held some time during the lifetime of the parliament, Cameron had plenty of wriggle room and could easily have ‘kept his powder dry’ until much later in the parliamentary term, which he had already fixed at a full 5 years. Although the precise reasons why he went so early in the parliament aren’t 100% clear, I suspect a large part of the impetus was his failure to gain significant concessions on free movement from Brussels by early 2016. A detailed examination of the issues thought to have led to his decision can be viewed here . Some commentato

  ASDA recently joined the other majors and the discounters in reducing the price of milk and there has been much hype in the media about this.  However what has not yet been extensively reported is an important policy change on price reductions which, I suspect, they were hoping to introduce ‘by stealth’ while consumer focus was diverted elsewhere. This move will have a far greater effect on some of the prices we pay than a few pence off the price of a ‘pinta’ – read on to find out why… Some Background I recently revised an article which was first published last autumn on supermarket food. This was a time when the cost-of-living crisis was beginning to hit us all hard. The article was primarily aimed at highlighting food waste and what we could do to reduce it, thereby saving ourselves money and helping protect the environment. What emerged at the time was that many people were already finding it necessary to use food banks to feed their families adequately, and those that were

 Blog first published November 2022. Updated April 2023. Introduction The high-handed (and possibly even illegal) take-down of the popular and much-loved Z-Library e-publication site in November by the US Government prompted me at the time to take a look at publishing and copyright in the days of the internet, and ask the question as to whether the current copyright and publishing systems are really fit for purpose. With the return of z-library to the 'airwaves' it's obvious that the publishing model will need to change. Here are some ideas as to how. First a bit of background.... Publishing Systems and the Internet Currently, authors receive at best only a small up-front advance on their books and publications from their publisher. And this only occurs once the publisher has decided the book has a reasonable chance of success. Once the book has cleared all its editing, revision & compilation 'hurdles' it's then published in both printed and e-book format

I first published this blog in November 2022 at a time when we were nearing the 50,000 mark for small-boat illegal channel migrants arriving in UK. Although many of the arguments are still valid, I've revised the content to reflect the current change in 'mood music' with the EU and the more robust home office stance announced this week, in the hope that some of the suggestions may prove useful in the negotiations. ***** This is a particularly controversial topic, and has been foremost in our minds in UK since Putin’s Ukraine invasion and its migratory aftermath.  There are no hard and fast solutions to what is now effectively a global problem, but I'll attempt to provide some suggestions, and will focus primarily on our own issues with controlling illegal migration to the UK. The many crises and disasters occurring in other parts of the world are continuing to drive further migration ‘waves’ and will continue to do so over the coming years as resources become exhaust