The Critical Commentator

Rob Davies, Chair of Ospreys RFC, explains their financial situation. Arenig, North Wales , James Dickson Innes (1887-1914) Photo Credit:Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] The Ospreys are adequately funded for the foreseeable future and will continue to seek a more equitable distribution model which, at the moment, is weighted towards subjective criterion capable of improper manipulation, rather than an objective formula based on impartially quantifiable metrics and success. (South Wales Argus, printed in Private Eye, 1493)                                                                  Media The Question James Torrance (1859-1916) Photo Credit: City of Edinburgh Council [CC BY-NC-ND] It is the pet peeve of the regular Today programme listener: how often its presenters interrupt the guests they are in...

                                                      For Sale: We are delighted to present for sale the former home of former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at the very reasonable price of £350 million. This immaculate Islington residence is (like its owner) semi-detached and includes a wealth of desirable features (unlike its owner). Key Features: Master bedroom barely slept in Spare room, well used. Doghouse, very well used. All locks recently changed, by Mrs Johnson. Access to the house is via the front door or, more commonly, via the drainpipe. Walk in wardrobe, contents to be found on street. Multi-media facility on pavement outside. Local Area This charming home is situated on a quiet residential road, now that he’s left and would suit any growing family on the verge of break-up due to the father’s feckless behaviour, vault...

                                                Fishing Quotas Fishing Boats at Douelan , Henry Moret (1856-1913) Photo Credit: Manchester Art Gallery [CC BY-NC-ND] …When you hear the word fisherman, what picture comes to mind? Someone who looks like Captain Birdseye: white beard, twinkly eyes, sitting on a little red boat chugging merrily across a sparkling sea. If so, your image of the industry might need updating. An investigation by Greenpeace last year revealed that 29% of the UK’s fishing quota is owned by five families, all of whom feature on the Sunday Times Rich List. A single Dutch multinational, operating a vast fishing ship, holds a further 24% of the English quota. The smallest boats – less than 10 metres long – comprise 79% of the fleet, but are entitled to catch just 2% of the fish. (George Monbiot, The Guardian, 2019)     ...

                          The Milken Global Conference is the brainchild of Michael Milken, the junk-bond billionaire who, after serving two years in prison for securities fraud in the 1990s, rebranded himself as a respected financier, philanthropist and convenor of people. Every year the confab of billionaires, politicians and Holywood A-listers has a different theme… In fact, three themes emerged last week. One was concern about how technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, is upending the world as we know it. The second was the sharp societal divisions…The third was the next recession. The Coming Storm ,  Archibald Knox (1864-1933) Photo Credit: Manx National Heritage [CC BY-NC] While stock markets hit new records, the Masters of the Universe are fretting that the storm clouds are gathering. Debt for companies, households and governments has reached levels not seen since 2008. …...

                              Planet Child ITV Walberswick, Children Paddling , Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942) Photo Credit: The Fitzwilliam Museum [CC BY-NC-ND] The premise for Planet Child was sound. Overprotective parents make their kids less safe by hampering the development of their skills for managing risk. So why not get some kids aged seven and under and see if they can catch a bus in London and get off at the London Eye armed with just a map (and undercover chaperones lurking nearby)? …The twin doctors Xand and Chris van Tulleken made good points about how young children in other countries are trusted to do far more. Three quarters of our children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates, we were told. (The Times, 2019) A challenge far less testing than the Japanese boy’s daily solo commute in Tokyo. What was also interesting was how anxious and frightened the British parents were...

                                              Sport In 1973 the Yale professor Harold Bloom proposed his theory of the Anxiety of Influence, positing an Oedipal relationship between writers and their literary forbears. John Milton, for instance, he argued could truly excel as a poet only after he had symbolically murdered his great idol Edmund Spenser. William Blake, likewise, had to cast off Milton. A similar dynamic can be seen in football, perhaps most strikingly in the case of (Tottenham manager) Mauricio Pochettino. (Jonathan Wilson, The Guardian, in Private Eye 1495) “Know what I mean ‘Arry?” TV The Lady of Shalott , John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] What a good article by Sean O’Grady on Love Island (I, 30 May). For Love Island read “sex island”, inhabited by a group of unnatural-looking humans whose bodie...

                                       The Royals Harmony , Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853-1928) Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] Sir, I approve of the names of the first-born of the Duke and Duchess…Archie with its duosyllabic affability and informality, followed by the trisyllabic Harrison suggestive of reserve and the occasional Holywood gala, ending with the hyphenated quinquesyllabic Mountbatten-Windsor, exuding tradition, nobility and grandeur. This is surely one for the musicologists.   (A. F. Kellner, The Times, in Private Eye, No 1497)                                                                                              ...

                                              People Morning (The Benevolent Sportsman) , George Morland (1763-1804) Photo Credit: The Fitzwilliam Museum [CC BY-NC-ND] On how much Bill Gates should pay in taxes Question from habituallinestepper1 : “What do you think you, personally, should be paying in taxes each year?” Gates: “I think our system can be a lot more progressive (that is richer people paying a higher share). “A key element is making capital gains taxation more like ordinary income (some have suggested making them the same) and having an estate tax more like we had in the past (55% above $3.5M). “European countries collect a lot more taxes but through consumption taxes, but those are not progressive. “If people want the government to do more it needs to be funded and I see us needing to improve our education and health services. “So ...