In the news

Sitting next to the guy from Leon

Ha, beat me to it!

No pinte de vin over in Paris though.

So a confirmed racist states kicking someone in the head deserves a medal, so by that logic throwing a milkshake at a faschist deserves a knighthood.

all the athletes in the opening ceremony are gaily floating past an
implied underwater nipple pinch shared between Gabrielle d'Estrées and
one of her sisters (c. 1594). So French.

Random thing I know about art - it was a way of indicating the pinchee was pregnant.

It's hard to be religiously upset about a Bacchanalia though if your a god botherer.

Proposals to slap a wealth tax on the world’s super-rich could yield $250bn (£200bn) a year to tackle the climate crisis and address poverty and inequality, but would affect only a small number of billionaire families, Brazil’s climate chief has said.

Ministers from the G20 group of the world’s biggest developed and emerging economies are meeting in Rio de Janeiro this weekend, where Brazil’s proposal for a 2% wealth tax on those with assets worth more than $1bn is near the top of the agenda.

Only about 100 families around the world would be affected by the proposed 2% levy, she added. The world’s richest 1% have added $42tn to their wealth in the past decade, roughly 36 times more than the bottom half of the world’s population did.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/28/brazil-radical-plan-tax-global-super-rich-tackle-climate-crisis

On sport and private education:

https://x.com/bazhsw8183/status/1817471001468297374

This feels like such a no-brainer. No government wants to explicitly come out against it, but the US doesn't sound too supportive.

Hopefully they can build on their experience negotiating the minimum corporate tax rate and put something in place.

Today marks the last ever Monday print edition of the Evening
Standard, before the other days are phased out over the coming two
months. The atmosphere at the paper seems bleak. Big job cuts and a
sense that the paper has been woefully mismanaged by Lebedev and
editors/execs

https://x.com/josiahmortimer/status/1817840245410353599

If you are cynical you would ask why is Musk giving Trump $50m a month in campaign funding

It's an interesting idea but I wonder how it would work without everybody being on board.

To be fair to Musk, that isn't his only reason. He also enjoys flirting with the white supremacy, battling the great replacement, Christianity must win out narrative.

Is there a way to read without signing up to X?

Far from his only motivation but a cheap investment, bet the ROI on that trump funding has the potential to be far more lucrative than buying twitter

Well if it works like the global minimum corporate tax rate scheme, they will be left with some interesting countries to domicile in

Green are members, grey non signatories, red have withdrawn

It'd be hilarious if that happened and he and x domiciled elsewhere and then faced a perma-battle of never being able to carry out any normal banking transactions.

David Wilkie definitely visited the state primary my Mum taught at though, she never got over it.

Really?

Edit looking up who knows as musk contradicts himself.

Cowardly little turd does cowardly little turd things...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/tommy-robinson-arrest-warrant-high-court-b2587612.html

Assuming that it’s the case that “successful sports people are more likely to visit fee-paying schools than state schools” (and I don’t see any data supporting this), then why is that the case?

It’s not like, dunno, football, fishing or swimming are the preserve of the ultra wealthy. Horsey stuff, maybe rowing, some racquet sports, then yes.

But in general terms the barrier wouldn’t seem to be “successful sports people are too posh to visit state schools”.

then why is that the case?

My guesses would be:

• schedule sports sessions 4-6 times per week
  
• large well equipped sports facilities
  
• ex-International sports people as coaches (I would be shocked if there was a single sports orientated private school that didn't have at least one person who'd played or coached in a national team)
  
• scholarships to talented kids
  
• contacts and understanding the youth County team and trials structure
  

Running through Chatgpt's list quite a lot of these look like they'd benefit from specialist facilities and coaching:

Archery
Artistic Gymnastics
Artistic Swimming
Athletics (Track and Field)
Badminton
Baseball/Softball
Basketball
Beach Volleyball
Boxing
Breaking (Breaking Dance)
Canoe/Kayak (Slalom)
Canoe/Kayak (Sprint)
Cycling (BMX Freestyle)
Cycling (BMX Racing)
Cycling (Mountain Bike)
Cycling (Road)
Cycling (Track)
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Football (Soccer)
Golf
Handball
Hockey (Field Hockey)
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Rowing
Rugby Sevens
Sailing
Shooting
Skateboarding
Sport Climbing
Surfing
Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Trampoline Gymnastics
Triathlon
Volleyball
Water Polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling
This list includes both individual and team sports featured in the Olympics.

swimming

Does your average state school have a swimming pool in the grounds?

Anecdote alert but my eldest swims with a club who utilise various local pools, mainly council leisure centres one the club rents from a private school on Saturday morning. Full size 25m indoor pool available to the kids year round. The school has a swim team, they enter competitions, and clearly foster the competitive environment. There's posters up with quotes from kids about how they're going to qualify for this competition or set that time etc. Compare to the school my kid goes to to and it's worlds away.

Hardly surprising that places like that will churn out great swimmers really.