The data shows that the people now a few years into their career are $8k a year better off than high school grads. Given that some of those careers will be earning silly amounts of money (doctors, lawyers, financial analysts using graduate level math), the outcome for those in more ordinary careers is likely to be marginal or negative overall.

Add in the fact that kids are making the decision to go or not on the basis of predictions of how things will be in the jobs market in five years time, the case for going to college, especially for the unmotivated and not particularly talented, looks somewhat tenuous. As someone who was machined into university because I was very good at Chemistry at high school but rapidly losing interest, I'm especially sceptical of kids going on to college because 'it's the obvious thing to do'.

The only ones in public service are those who've climbed up the ranks of the government.

Wow, sometimes the majority is right. I can only assume that you don't if you aren't captivated by the horrible experience of the father in this as well as by the terrifying influence of the manosphere that legitimated the boy's attack, at least in his mind. The third episode - the psychological examination is especially tear jerking.

Also Netflix. Reminiscent at times of 'The West Wing' - which is also back on Netflix and worth binging - 'The Diplomat' is a brilliant mixture of high drama and some brilliant comic moments.

Superb Netflix drama looking at how a 13yo boy ends up killing a female classmate. The performances are amazing; the kid got an Emmy etc. etc.

'It stood head and shoulders above every other programme made this year. The No 1 TV show of 2025 is, of course, the drama about 13-year-old Jamie Miller, accused of murdering a female classmate after being radicalised online. Stephen Graham, who starred in and co-wrote Adolescence with Jack Thorne is essentially the best actor we have, but there wasn’t a single duff performance from any of the other cast – be it the warm, weary humanity of Ashley Walters as the investigating police officer, Erin Doherty’s masterful turn as a psychologist or Owen Cooper, who blew Graham off the screen in his first ever TV performance, and who might just be the find of the decade. Add in the fact that every episode was filmed in a single shot, with footage including the camera literally taking off and flying through the sky, and it’s hard not to think that by every metric, Adolescence was genuinely excellent. It might just be perfect TV.'

https://www.theguardian.com/tv...

DO NOT MISS IT!!!

It might be an extreme one: unvaxxed Billy bursts into immuno-compromised Johnnie's otherwise sterile hospital room without a facemask because he's his best friend. Johnnie dies of measles and Billy had it at the time. Once the story started to roll, it would send the message.

Ideally an unvaccinated kid should not be allowed to attend public schools unless there is an overwhelming medical reason (known allergy in the child) for not being vaccinated. That particular boat seems to have left, so perhaps we need to see some cases where the parents of a child who is in the chain that leads to damage or death in another child is sued for the damages. This would only be just...

The African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa has caused massive corruption across the economy. As such it is a warning against 'socialism' - state owned monopolies are horrible, and such 'state ownership' is the policy of the ANC.

So you are arguing that 'unofficial churches' are not a religion? Really?

No - the state does not have the right to decide what is legitimate in religion.

Chinese Constitution:

'Article 36 Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief.

No State organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion.

The State protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the State.

Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.'

There is no requirement for religions to be 'official'.

http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/en...

Really? Some really reliable sources here. Or am I to assume you work for the MSS?

https://www.theguardian.com/wo...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/1...

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/12...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/a...

Having left the programming game some years ago, I have to admit that I may have had some bad habits - but the issue was never raised. So I plead ignorance rather than anything else.

There is clearly a need to address the issue; the problem is that there is no incentive on ANYONE to do so supplier side. Without that, people with bad habits like me will remain in blissful ignorance and continue to be a problem. My main interest these days is in economics; the basic rule there is that without incentives nothing happens - aka a 'market failure', We have a classic example here. The only solution to market failures is collective action, by governments or something similar 'guild of programmers / software engineers'. Sadly there seems to be no prospect of such a development in the foreseeable future.

You're right, of course, but that would require the emergence of a professional body able to impose standards and discipline those who fail to respect them. Although attempts to creates such a body have been made, we live in a culture that isn't good at recognising the need for such bodies and where any restraint of trade is shouted down.

Actually that's not true; there is a remarkable range of training requirements imposed by state legislators on workers to 'protect the public' / 'enable those who've got the skills to charge more'. Programmers have not played that game so far and it is hard to see it happening; can you imagine California enforcing such a standard in Silicon Valley? The big boys would all up sticks and leave - if they hadn't prevented the passage of the legislation in the first place.

The reality is, however, a programmer does what works to get their project out the door. If, because they have bad habits, it contains bloatware, noone has any incentive to do anything about it.

Ultimately someone has got to pay to train programmers to do it right. If projects are going out of the door on time, there is zero incentive for an employer to pay for that training. So it won't happen. So we will keep getting bloatware. Sad but true...

The purpose of an employee is to achieve what his employer wants. If he does that, he gets paid.

The purpose of an employer is get the system out the door as quickly as possible. Wasting time reducing bloatware is an extra cost that doesn't have a market value, so will be not be done.

Given this outworking of our economic system, bloatware is inevitable...