tomo,
Very welcome. I thought of it myself, but I bet it's far from original. I remember the pride and disappointment in my spoof of the Marxist slogan:

From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

It was over a century late to claim originality. Apparently cynics existed even in Marx's time, and he had the above thrown back at him very early in response to his version. Googling today, I see that it has become popular to associate the above with capitalism. Seems to me it's universal.

You in the U.K. do seem to be particularly well supplied with imbeciles in political office. We've got a grim crop here too, but, well... I suppose Starmer is of the school of management where you aim to surround yourself with less gifted people so you'll look good by contrast. That's setting the ministerial bar pretty low.

Anyhow, did enjoy Lammy's mangled metaphor of "a rat with its tail between its legs". I can imagine how pleased you must be to be hearing all he has to say.

tomo,
I hadn't previously listened to a whole Joe Rogan show. As well as the machismo on hunting and the like, there was a bit of "new age" stuff about people being spiritually interconnected, which seemed a bit weird (miles better than wokishness though).

Anyhow, I can see how he might be troubled if there's a gaggle of frustrated Democrats sticking pins in voodoo dolls labelled "Rogan". He can try them with logic — that Kamala had been invited, etc. — but doesn't he know that the unfairest thing in the world is a level playing field.

On toxoplasma, I wouldn't be surprised if its uncanny symptoms were an inspiration for Douglas Adams's Babel fish, and the logical disproof of the existence of God.

I'll need more of a hint on Rayner's weekend exploits. Googling turns up plenty about housing, but I don't see anything likely to earn her a university gong. Maybe there's been a breakthrough, and they finally have a Doctor of Hypocrisy?

The Conversation is certainly a beacon. Like a lighthouse, it's one to steer away from.

Quite enjoyed Brendan O'Neill's latest with Josh Szeps. I hadn't heard of him, but he was an ABC radio presenter who resigned on air (before he was pushed), making his views known while he was at it (best part: I’m a gay guy, but I hate Mardi Gras).

Anyhow, I don't suppose I'd agree with him on much politically, but strongly concur about the lack civil conversation with people you disagree with politically. IOW: the sort of conversation completely missing from The Conversation.

tomo,
Thanks for the link to the Rogan/Rowe show. Bit irritated with it though. Quite early on, Mike Rowe mentioned that his show had been cancelled due to his political views and "we can get into that later if you like" (or something like that). That kept me listening but they never came back to it. Googling afterwards didn't turn up much — apparently his Dirty Jobs Facebook gig was cancelled, but not much clarity on reasons.

Show was too much about Rogan and not enough about Rowe for my tastes.

Nitpick: it's toxoplasma gondii, not gandii.

I see that Labour has changed its mind and now won't be snuffing out the university freedom of speech act.

I guess that's a step in the right direction, but I can't feel any great enthusiasm for the idea of a director of free speech within the Office for Students. I suppose the problem hasn't yet been invented that didn't involve a liberal sprinkling of bureaucrats in the remedy.

tomo,
For me, the ol' basic physics works well enough to explain the steep angle.

Mach seems a pretty useless measure for describing missiles. Mach 10 at 10000m is a good deal slower than Mach 10 at sea level. Add that to the mentions of "up to" and I'm pretty confident the speed of the missile is a pretty complex function of where it is in its journey. Mach 10 at sea level is around 2 miles per second. Doubtful the streaks in the video are that fast...

Was surprised that Brendan O'Neill voiced no dissent in his interview with Kevin Yuill on euthanasia. It's certainly a serious problem that the bureaucratic state is using these laws to "streamline" social security (still *disgusted* at that Canadian veteran's story), but that's no reason to stick your head in the sand about the real problems in medicine, law and death. The guest had nothing on this, and all Brendan could manage was the old nod and a wink to the doctor.

Did have to grind my teeth at one point in particular when Yuill described Nitschke's suicide device as a "miniature gas chamber". He didn't mention that the gas is nitrogen not Zyklon-B (cyanide).