The Critical Commentator

 A Scottish government memo obtained by the Guardian reveals that "it is almost certain" draft laws had been secretly changed to secure the Queen's approval. Under an arcane mechanism known as Queen's consent, the monarch is routinely given advance sight of proposed laws that could affect her personal property and public powers. ...The Queen's representatives have previously refused to say how many times she requested alterations to legislation as part of this procedure...But the newly obtained internal memo, prepared in response to a parliamentary question on the use of crown consent, contains the first explicit admission that the procedure may be used to change legislation to address the Queen's concerns. Balmoral, Autumn Joseph Denovan Adam ( 1841-1896) Photo Credit: Glasgow Life Museums [CC BY-NC-ND] ...The admissions come after a series of reports in the Guardian revealing how the Queen used her privileged access to influence ministers to change UK legisl...

Despair Eric Harald Macbeth Robertson (1887-1941) Photo Credit: Glasgow Life Museums  [CC BY-NC-ND] ...On Saturday, the Times reported claims that Boris Johnson had tried to hire his now wife as his chief of staff [a salary of £100,00]  when he was foreign secretary. But almost as soon as the article hit the printers, it was withdrawn, without explanation or clarification. The piece, written by veteran lobby journalist Simon Walters appeared on page five of some early print copies of Saturday's Times newspaper but was dropped for later editions. It does not appear that the article was ever published on the Times' website. ...Walters told the Guardian: "I stand by the story. I went to all the relevant people over two days. Nobody offered me an on the record denial and Downing St didn't deny it off the record either." Times journalists were baffled by the decision to withdraw the story, with multiple sources suggesting there had been a high level intervention to rem...

Education Edward Alfred Briscoe Drury  (1856-1944) Photo Credit: William Morris Gallery [CC BY-NC]  Sir, We welcome the work of the Times Education Commission and urge the government to look seriously at its recommendations. The pandemic has created a reset movement and it is imperative that education is put back at the top of the political agenda to boost productivity and make a reality of the levelling-up agenda. The commission has highlighted the importance of taking a serious long-term approach to education, from the early years through school, to further and higher education and lifelong learning, to better prepare young people for the challenges they face. The changing world of work, stalled social mobility, the growing mental health crisis and new technology means that reform is more important than ever to capitalise on all the country's talent. Sir Tony Blair, Sir John Major, the former education secretaries Justine Greening, Baroness Morgan of Cotes, Ed Balls, Alan Jo...

The Maniac George Dawe (1781-1829) Photo Credit: The Royal College of Physicians, London [CC BY-NC-ND] My name is Hannah Evans and I'm addicted to the gym. Yes there might be worse vices, but this is the world of fitness with a capital F - and a hefty price tag: glitzy members-only gyms that cost many hundreds of pounds a month; pay (a lot)-as-you-go high-intensity interval training (HIIT) classes with disco lights and banging music at £25 a single session; luxury activewear brands with clothing that is "sweat-licking" and "waist cinching"; complicated gadgets that track heart rate, sleep, recovery and a dozen other measureables that I don't quite understand. But I buy into it all. Anything that promises to make me a better, fitter, more optimised version of myself I will fly to like a Lycra-clad, dumbbell-wielding moth to a flame. And I'm not alone. Millennials (the demographic aged 25 to 40) are the biggest spenders on fitness, splashing out on average...

Welsh Peasant Girl with Child  Paul Falconer Poole (1807 - 1879) Photo Credit: Bury Art Museum  [CC BY-NC-ND] ... in  an inquiry into body image, the Health and Social Care Commons Select Committee was boggling at the power of  social media. Eighty per cent of their poll of  social media users had told them the way they look was damaging their mental health, and 71% said their body image had led to them enjoying life less. Giving evidence to the committee, their "lived experience witness" Kim Booker, a woman who lives with body dysmorphic disorder, said she used to take magazines to hairdressers, showing them the style she wanted. "Now, you go through Instagram and you take that picture in to [aestheticians] and say, 'I want my face to look like this.'" So familiar had she become with her Instagram face, "When the video flipped off to my natural face, I got a bit of a shock. I hated what I saw, because you get used to the filtered version of yourself....