With Bio-Waste Spreader: "The government announced a deal with the EU to ease red tape on food trade at the same time as it has achieved a post-Brexit trade deal with the US that includes some food products. Given the very different food production standards in the EU and US, is one deal set to conflict with the other? It's understandable that the government should seek to ease bureaucratic barriers for UK food destined for the EU. Since Brexit, British food and drink exports to the EU have plummeted…"
With M.D.: "Very senior managers at the worst-performing NHS trusts and integrated care boards will not receive annual pay rises from this year, the government has announced. This seems like a blunt tool that could make the toughest jobs even less attractive. If a trust is underperforming because of pisspoor management, replace or retrain the managers. If a trust is underperforming because of chronic understaffing…"
With Dr B Ching: "Although Great British Railways is meant to be the network's ‘directing mind' from 2027, will government ministers give up the gift of announcing rail upgrades when it suits them politically? Network Rail (NR) used to be given money every five years for programmes of operating, maintenance and renewal activities (OMR) and upgrades, or ‘enhancements' in industry-speak. But in 2018, the then transport secretary Chris Grayling decided all future enhancements would go into a secretive ‘pipeline'…"
With Remote Controller: "In the 98 years since John Logie Baird successfully transmitted a television signal between London and Glasgow, the industry in Britain has graduated from niche novelty through nightly addiction to a take-or-leave medium overshadowed by a feeling that the most interesting stuff is on other devices or streaming. Four simultaneous media controversies, though, remind us that veteran terrestrial networks can still cause a fuss…"
With Old Sparky: "Why has energy secretary Ed Miliband's favourite new government agency gone coy? The National Energy System Operator (NESO), set up in October, started with a bang (Eye 1638), delivering an ‘independent' verdict on the feasibility of Miliband's plans for net zero carbon emissions and lower energy bills in 196 densely technical pages and an enormous ‘data workbook' spreadsheet. Miliband called NESO's work a ‘rebuke' to his critics and justification of his policy. But…"
With Lunchtime O'Boulez: "A gaping absence on the music scene is Cardiff Singer of the World, the BBC's flagship competition that ought to be preparing for its 2025 run next month but isn't thanks to the continued closure of its home, St David's Hall. It closed in 2023 after the concrete used in its construction was condemned as unsafe, endangering the roof. Since then, the lack of haste in sorting out the building has been scandalous…"
With Slicker: "Britain, with France and Canada, would be right to be concerned about being on the ‘wrong side of history' over Gaza – but not as Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed last week. They would not want to be accused of repeating the mistake of doing nothing to stop the mass killings as in Rwanda and Bosnia. Time and delay are on Netanyahu's side – as with Vladimir Putin in Ukraine…"
Letter from Jerusalem
From Our Own Correspondent: "Poised to launch another devastating assault on Gaza, or perhaps agree another ceasefire, the thing that actually causes Israel's Supreme Leader to lose sleep is an investigation into influence-peddling by some of his closest aides. While working for Benjamin Netanyahu, Jonathan Urich, the PM's spin-doctor for the past decade, and Eli Feldstein, who despite failed security vetting became Netanyahu's spokesman on military affairs when war began in October 2023, turn out to have been moonlighting for Qatar…"