Robert Zara

After doing the Azed crossword competition for around 40 years, I have finally won a prize - in the very last competition before Azed retires! Just when I was getting the hang of it!

I hate him already!

Luckily the gig was not sold out, so there were plenty of spare seats. Surprisingly, in a hall with a capacity of 10,000 people, there were no big screens and sight lines in the hall were poor, so I can’t be sure if I actually did see Dylan. Sound quality was excellent.

Just back from the Bob Dylan gig at Coventry BS arena. The venue imposed a strict ban on mobile phones, while encouraging people to download their tickets. Printouts did not include block numbers. One man and a laptop was the only way to find your block. People were still queuing as the gig began

There are 200 (!) candidates for seven places on the National Trust’s Council. Is it time to raise the threshold for nominations?

Humanists may find that the answer to 15 across in the magazine is not one they might expect to find in a Humanist magazine.

I see that the same people are running the new company, including Unbound’s cofounder @johnmitchinson.bsky.social
I pledged for your next book but haven’t heard anything from Mr Mitchinson or his new company

Is this true, @johnmitchinson.bsky.social ? What will happen to the money I paid you as a pledge against the publication of Tom’s book?

Government is dodging scrutiny on national security The Cabinet Office have refused a request from the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy to take evidence from National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell

Congratulations to @mattwestern.bsky.social for being elected as chairman of this influential committee and on taking a principled stance in the face of governmental resistance open.substack.com/pub/theideas...

YouTube video by Steve Rosenberg Myfanwy - 'The greatest love song ever written" - cello and piano

For St David’s Day we present our latest Channel 4 News/BBC News long-distance musical collaboration. Ciaran Jenkins (cello) is in Glasgow and I’m in Moscow (on the piano). Together we play Myfanwy. @c4ciaran.bsky.social

Judge condemns West Northamptonshire Council over missing boy

This article by the respected journalist Louise Tickle raises concerns about the local authority’s actions, but could do with some editing by a lawyer to clarify exactly what happened: www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/02/21/j...

I know it’s Friday in half term but this is appalling!

Really? That rule applies to appeals and says nothing about any entitlement to information.

I’m afraid that particular passage must have been lost in the final edit! To be fair, journalists were not our primary target audience but we do refer to the principle of open justice.

What a depressing experience! I hope you have lodged a formal complaint to the court in question. And congratulations on finding the relevant paragraph in Rule 5 of the CPR.

Thank you for that very positive feedback!

Many thanks for those kind words! Still waiting for my author’s copies to arrive!

Much!

It’s certainly a useful tool for calculating the effects of compound interest, but I don’t think that a mortgage, where repayment of interest (and sometimes capital as well) is usually required on a monthly basis is a particularly relevant example.

Companies House failed to spot a £100 trillion fake company We've created an automated search tool that crawls Companies House data to find companies with fraudulent accounts.

This investigation reveals a shocking state of affairs. Is the Business & Trade Select Committee going to act? @mattwestern.bsky.social ?https://open.substack.com/pub/taxpolicyassociates/p/companies-house-failed-to-spot-a?r=8x3n0

The ornately decorated ceiling with a central chandelier

The beautiful ceiling of Wyndham’s Theatre in London

It’s happened to me once: I’ve played on 1,052 occasions so that gives you an idea of the odds

alphaguess: a word game Guess the word of the day. Guesses reveal where the word is positioned alphabetically. Everyone plays the same word each day.

An all-time record this morning:

🧩 Puzzle #547

🤔 7 guesses

⏱️ 36s

🔗 alphaguess.com

Happy Birthday, Richard!

This submission by the Sentencing Council to the Gauke Sentencing Review is well worth reading by anyone interested in the issues. It is evidence-based and clearly explains the factors behind sentence inflation and the increase in the prison population: www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/u...

This independent endorsement is very much appreciated!

I agree and would only add that they have consistently misspelled Joshua Rozenberg’s name!

Profiles in Discourage Labour's punting of social care reflects a bigger problem of indecision

A great analysis of the background to the social care crisis and of the Government’s timidity open.substack.com/pub/benansel...

Tom Cox on Substack Today I received a message from the new CEO of my publishers to say that they will not be able to give me a date when they can pay me the money they owe me until after the end of January. That’s when ...

People like me who've somehow mistakenly been “allowed in” to this exclusive world, which is still dominated by clans and cliques and dynasties of people born into Russell Group affluence, shudder to think about the hours we’ve frittered away chasing money owed to us... substack.com/@tomcox/note...

Looking for a new opportunity in 2025?

I’m recruiting for a Parliamentary Assistant to work with me down in Westminster and help raise the issues that matter, nationally and locally.

🕒 Deadline is 9am this Monday - 6th January

https://buff.ly/41Jp9pk