Happy Friday!

So the country is excited by the Women’s World Cup Final, however, Spain are a good team so there will be no counting of chickens but it’s a massive achievement to be in the final.

The country is still a mess and I need to say this one thing, inflation going down to 6.8% doesn’t mean that prices will come down, it just means that they are going up more slowly and the factors that have caused inflation to go down are entirely independent from anything the Government has done (although it could be worse, we could be in Russia)

Here are some links…

Russia’s central bank to hold extraordinary meeting after rouble falls to 16-month low. This got a day on the news cycle here and nothing in Russia. Chickens are coming home to roost..

Private equity has its sights on the NHS – and with it our faith in public services altogether

How Australian and UK newspapers reacted to the Matildas’ defeat in the Women’s World Cup semi-final. I’m fascinated by the difference in how this is being reported in Australia and the UK. I think for the Australians the World Cup has been for them what the Euros were for us, it’s really put women’s football on the map. However, the way England played was not cruel, the Lionesses were doing what they needed to do to win, I think (and I would wouldn’t I?) that they played better in that match than they had in most of the tournament and won. They didn’t cheat, they knew where the Matildas were weak and they targeted it, the same way the Australian cricket team took the English one apart this summer. I’ll be really happy if we win on Sunday but it won’t change the fact that the UK is in a mess and it’s not a reflection on the national character.

Death masks help recreate face of Bonnie Prince Charlie. I read somewhere that sanitation and eradication of so many disfiguring diseases (smallpox, measles etc) means that we have a very different idea of what constitutes attractiveness. This is a case in point, he was considered attractive, hence ‘the bonnie’ but I don’t think by modern standards he is. It’s interesting…

‘This way of farming is really sexy’: the rise of regenerative agriculture

Britain’s ‘house of food’ sits on shaky foundations. To fix it, curb the big supermarkets. It’s not just the supermarkets, it’s also about our expectation that certain crops should be available all year round. Courgettes, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are not crops that can be stored all year like potatoes and carrots and they don’t grow in January!