People marvel at the idiocy of these Nobel awards, but there’s method in the madness, since in the end they train people to accept without demur or protest absurdity as part and parcel of the human condition, which they should accept as representing the considered opinion of rational men, albeit Norwegian. It’s a twist on the Alger myth, inspiring to youth: you too can get to murder Filipinos, or Palestinians, or  Vietnamese or Afghans  and still  win a Peace Prize. That’s the audacity of hope at full stretch. More

A report released on December 27 from hud.gov dropped an extremely startling new statistic. In the last year the number of homeless individuals in America shot up an astounding 18%, bringing the number of Americans without a home to 770,000. Of course, this number is probably a distinct underestimation as it is difficult to properly include the souls out there without reliable housing, or of course those who are still sheltered, but barely existing on a shoestring, juggling numerous jobs and falling behind daily. More

In April 2019, Jimmy Carter told his church congregation in Georgia that President Trump had called him for advice about China. Carter said he told Trump that China was economically overtaking the United States as the world’s largest and most dynamic economy because the United States had spent decades wasting trillions of dollars to fight endless wars, while China had instead focused on economic development and lifted hundreds of millions of its people out of extreme poverty. “China has not wasted a single penny on war,” Carter said, “and that’s why they’re ahead of us, in almost every way.” More

In the English countryside, dogs are let off leads. Pharmacy queues are well informed. Green-winged teals are recorded on birdwatching sites. Civil servants are criticised for working from home. Old amphitheatres are muddy. There are many Graham Greene novels in the Oxfam shop. More