Breaking news: human jellyfish considers having a backbone.

What strikes me is how a so-called “independent regulator” seems to collaborate with these water companies and make HUGE pay rises seem normal and inevitble.

HMRC claim that only 5% of UK don't pay their taxes.

That 5% is worth £36 billion a year!

I've got my suspicions about who that 5% are. Damn you you single-parent, new trainer-wearing, work-shy benefit claimants! Damn you!

Britain’s benefits system is rated as the meanest in Western world, according to OECD. And yet there’s a misconception in UK that those on benefits live the life of Riley.

You are on to something.

If you are careful and observant, you''ll notice that things that we think "only happen here" seem to happen across Western countries at the same time.

It only seems to take someone like capitalist edgelord, Tim Gurner to reveal things are often coordinated.

The Betamax revival.

Videophiles will be able to see the superior picture quality in the revival of the old tapes. Sales of Betamax cassettes will quickly outsell 4K discs. I'm looking forward to the self-styled Youtuber movie connoisseurs stroking their chins and enthusing about the "new" betamax releases of Scorsese's Gangs of New York in 333 x 486 resolution.

I remember that a former Labour leader warned this would happen and was roundly ridiculed in the media. Funny how lots of the things he warned about have come to pass.

as cost of living pressures ease

Like the rest of the media, The Guardian is helping to make out that - as inflation supposedly falls - food and energy prices will fall. That's not what's happening - or will happen. Prices will continue to rise, just not so sharply.

I can't see how "cost of living pressures" will go away without deliberate price cuts. AND THAT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE UK.

At some point cars became a symbol of individualism. The number of people (men, really) I've worked with who insist on "buying" a new car every year was astonishing. Cars got bigger and bigger and flashier and flashier. All on finance though. Seemed like a weird, maschocistic addiction to me. Almost like they'd been brainwashed into car consumption.

What we actually need is a completely free at point of use public transport system. Break the weird car addition and help deal with the climate crisis.

It's the word "benefit" that needs to be fought against. It's "social security" a means of supporting us all when we are vulnerable and need help, not something extra that can be dispensed with.

Depends whether the "starving artist" chooses this as a life and prioritises their art over material wealth. Many would. After a period when more people from poorer backgrounds could become artists, writers and performers, we're seeing a return to a very narrow social class monopolising the arts. Just look at how many current well-known actors come from upper-class and privileged backgrounds.

What we do need to be honest about is how the UK has allowed people working checkouts at supermarkets (and across most jobs really) to be paid so little that they may be "starving" and still live with parents.

I wonder from time to time how many “charities” there are that exist whose biggest outgoing is the wage of the person who set up the “charity”.