The Mirror Crack'd

A few days ago it was British airports being shut down by an air traffic control technical error and today we hear that at least one hundred and fifty-six schools will not be able to reopen, fully or at all, to students on Monday after the summer break due to fears their concrete roofs might suffer sudden catastrophic collapse. These incidents are merely the latest in a catalogue of debacles in British public life, from physical infrastructure collapse and IT systems failures through industrial action, courts and ports backlogs, food and housing shortages, an epochal cost-of-living crisis and a comprehensive public services implosion as a result of the 40% cut in funding imposed by central government on local authorities. (And breathe...!) A form of lightweight concrete, RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) was used in schools, colleges and other building construction from the 1950s until the mid-1990s. However, it is different from traditional concrete; quicker and easier to

Quickie comment: Grant Shitts has just been given his fifth Cabinet position in 12 months in a mini-reshuffle by Rishi Sunak. Having previously distinguished himself ( sic ) as transport secretary, home secretary, business secretary and energy secretary he is now defence secretary. What could possibly go wrong? Reviewing the record of Shitts' successes in his former roles from his beseiged bunker in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky must be contemplating surrender.

The recent exposure of industrial-scale thefts of artefacts from the British Museum's collections has left that institution's already dented reputation in tatters, and its country's along with it. Mired in controversy over its obstinate refusal to return the Parthenon Sculptures, Benin Bronzes and other dubiously acquired cultural objects to their countries of origin, the Museum now has to explain how some two thousand objects entrusted to its care were stolen from the stores and sold, without anyone apparently noticing until some of them turned up for sale on eBay. There might have been some sympathy (these things do happen in the best-regulated institutions) had the Museum not so arrogantly trumpeted its superior safeguarding of such treasures over that which their countries of origin could provide. That claim now seems hollow and, indeed, hubristic; doing nothing to aid the Museum's belated attempts to retrieve its own stolen items. As British Foreign Secretary, Jam

It's a curious quirk of human psychology that even the most hard-nosed sceptics amongst us are sometimes willing to overlook, or even go along with, a barefaced whopper if it's delivered with a certain charm and panache.  No one exemplified this phenomenon better than Boris Johnson, who, as Prime Minister, mastered the roguish twinkle even as he lied his socks off. And it's not like many of us actually believed him at the time, though a significant number was willing to suspend disbelief just so long as he was telling them something they desperately wanted to hear - such as 'take back control' or '£350m per week for the NHS'.  As Abraham Lincoln wisely observed, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time". The problem for Johnson (and us) was that he never knew when to stop trying. Sadly, he was temperamentally incapable of doing so, though he seems

Any self-respecting independent island nation ought to be able to secure its own borders, right? Well, patently not if that nation happens to be the UK under a clapped-out, morally bankrupt Conservative government. When you've just wilfully severed almost fifty years of co-operative links with your nearest continental neighbours and totally fucked up your immigration system, no wonder thousands of desperate migrants are willing to risk the dangerous Channel crossing in small boats from the French coast to gain access. They cannot and will not wait forever in unsafe and insanitary encampments,  within sight of the White Cliffs of Dover on a clear day, without chancing their luck. No wonder, either, that the French authorities for their part seem unable or unwilling to do much to prevent them. Short of blasting these boats out of the water (something I suspect many xenophobic Brexiteers, including Tory MPs, would enthusiastically welcome) the only realistic response from the UK is to