Happy Friday!

I’m spending this one in the office, so this was complied yesterday. It feels like the news is moving pretty fast and I have no idea of outcome of the local elections so who knows if any of these will be current (except for the one about Crossrail)…

Woman who rides bus to stay warm is tip of pensioner poverty iceberg

Boris Johnson has lost the Tories’ respect – so why has he not lost their support? There’s something missing in all of this. It’s the concern for the country. I grew up under a Tory govt and a Thatcherite one to boot, but I have never seen so many politicians, mostly Tory but somae on the left, so invested in themselves, rather than their constituents or the country. Boris Johnson is objectively bad for the country and for the body politic, but they don’t actually care because it’s not awful for them. I feel especially in light of the legislation they have managed to push through that they are actively working to return us to the 1800’s when it didn’t matter if people that weren’t them starved. I said a couple of years ago that I hadn’t been this despairing of state of the country since 1992 but it’s actually got worse in the interim. 

Britons should buy value brands to cope with living cost crisis, says minister. It’s almost beyond parody at this point…

Through the Trumpian looking glass, forcing women to die from illegal abortions is ‘pro-life’. I’m pro-choice and this is horrendous for women in the US, especially in poor or ‘red’ states.

The dire health consequences of denying abortions, explained

How to Win the Abortion Argument

The case against SCOTUS. I feel that the US and the UK, I don’t know enough about other Western democracies. The slide into autocracy feels like it could be like Hemingway’s description of bankruptcy, ‘Gradually, then suddenly’

Crossrail: much-delayed Elizabeth line to open on 24 May. But you still have to change at Paddington and Bond Street won’t be open. So sort of open and 3 and a half year overdue. And Ealing Broadway Station still isn’t finished, there are stairs fenced of and it looks like a building site. It’ll be interesting to see how many people who currently change on to the Central Line at Ealing Broadway, decide to go into Paddington and thus make my Central Line commute less crowded.