Tiggy

Aka Tricia. Retired statistician. A writer, poet, singer, tutor, disabilty advisor, and more . Physically disabled and neurodivergent (including being dyslexic).
I love reading, especially #Asimov, #Pratchett. Still looking for a decent 'writes as well as #GeorgetteHeyer' author.
I do varied voluntary work, mainly education or disability related but I run a death cafe too
Trustee of a disability charity.
#filker
#disabled
#Bahai
#Poet
#writer
#SafeguardingAdviser
#Statistician
#SchoolSpeaker

Some of my work: https://triciawilliamswriter.wordpress.com/

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npub13yxwany6c0uu8ep0lxv8xpgq5n0ryh5m42rhx72fdy9n6su7c0hsxz487u

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tiggy_at_mastodonapp.uk@momostr.pink

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nos.lol

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Published at

2026-07-17T12:15:04Z

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Last Notes

2026-03-28 08:51:34 UTC

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I've had temporary issues with several of my repeat prescriptions already. It's been more of a problem since Brexit as EU suppliers favour EU member states when there is a shortage.
Given I can only order 4 weeks supply at a time, having even worse supply problems could seriously limit my ability to do volunteer work or just leave the house.
Even worse for people with more serious health conditions or who manage to hold a job because of their drugs.

2026-03-26 09:18:43 UTC

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Even where employers supply the data, it needs collating, cleaning and analysing. Because of the 'prefer not to say', it would need weighting.
Unfortunately even without the 'prefer not to say', administrative/employer data is often a mess.

2026-03-26 08:20:21 UTC

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It will require more government statisticians, which recent governments have been reluctant to employ, instead cutting budgets.
And a reality check that if you don't invest in collecting the data we can't give it to you today, or tomorrow. Often reframed as civil servants reject change or are too slow.

2026-03-24 07:28:03 UTC

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The impact of late payment rules when Labour came into power in the late 1990s was that big business could enforce the rules on their small buyers but small suppliers were forced to agree to new contracts that made things worse.
So only big businesses, who still held all the power, benefitted.
The small firms minister ignored all the advice and rushed to implement it.
I doubt this will do any better.

2026-03-07 12:35:07 UTC

"I never expected to find my news from strangers on a federated social network that half the internet has never heard of. I never expected a lot of things. But there's something quietly beautiful about a place where people just... share what they know."
https://matduggan.com/boy-i-was-wrong-about-the-fediverse/

2026-02-21 12:44:32 UTC

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Looks interesting, once I found it (title just Coincidence in my library catalogue), but they don't have a copy.
Will look elsewhere.

2026-02-20 10:14:47 UTC

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Given the long waiting lists for assessment this will mean they will probably start secondary school with no support.
We used to see many pupils turning up with no formal statement or funding because primary schools managed it with support staff. It could take over a year for that support to be put in place in secondary schools.
Then as budget pressures increased primaries put through EHCP applications.
Now all of them will be in that position. A saving on SEND sending at the cost of the pupils being able to engage with education.
But also a cost on the overstretched assessment service, which doesn't have enough specialists already.
And more permanent exclusions as we fail our most vulnerable children.
#SEND

2026-02-11 20:23:19 UTC

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Letting go of the belief they should control everything, mainly by wielding a big stick when the departments need money, will be hard to give up.
It will, however, mean that education, health, etc, get even less attention and money.
It infuriated me when we were all being forced to cut work and staff that they had teams in HMT replicating work other departments did.
I once briefed a Treasury Minister, who passed it on to her own 'experts', who then contacted me to ask me to explain the basics of the topic, ie my area of expertise, so they could decide whether to advise her to do what I'd asked her to do.
I was stunned by the number of staff they had doing our jobs, badly.
Another time a Select Committee asked me why HMT had issued a report about my work area with an analysis that we'd clearly said in a methodology book should not be done with that data. They'd not bothered to consult us.

2026-02-10 12:38:05 UTC

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I was heavily criticised for my management style, by more senior bosses.
Also, I discovered they thought I didn't trust my own judgement because I preferred to consult before making decisions, That is an intregral part of my style as a Baha'i, so I was shocked others had seen it as a weakness.
And, of course, I was sympathetic to others' health issues, another weakness.
No wonder I didn't thrive there.

2026-02-07 11:41:41 UTC

Marmalade
I am slowly cooking the oranges, a few at a time, as my last huge pan died last year. Not worth buying another that I only need in Jan/Feb.
Some are so large I can only get 3 in my biggest pan.
And on looking at the title of this post - there must be a song in there?

2026-02-05 11:20:14 UTC

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Until recently I was a panel member for school admission appeals. A lot of our caseload involved children with SEND whose current school was not meeting their needs. And too often the school they wanted was stating they had no capacity. On one hand these children had legal rights, but with no way to get the environment or teaching they need to succeed.
We have been disadvantaging them, and for too many reducing any chance of future employment. The latter is a major longer term cost but government isn't designed to pay now to save later, particularly HMT.
Short term savings by moving the goalposts, with huge personal, family and unemployment costs for decades.
#SEND

2026-01-28 10:05:13 UTC

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I argued every year for ages that govt must not go fully digital for key services. I was publishing local and regional data, so could prove it would disadvantage rural communities, those on benefits and the elderly, so would breach equality law.
Then I retired.
And HMT care more about saving money and govts want fewer civil servants.
First, at least, the job centres installed a phone and a few terminals for users. Then they forgot why they needed them and got rid of them all.
Meanwhile, the media screams about asylum seekers and the unemployed having smart phones. And people who can't cope are abandoned.

2026-01-18 20:18:42 UTC

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The college was great, intensive courses and they expected long hours, but better than any training I got after.
Problem was the training budgets were cut every year as part of spending reviews to cut waste. A brilliant 9 day course was finally reduced to 3 days before it was cancelled (Parliament, Government and the Civil service - for fast streamers and private sector senior management entries).
In the end I only got training on how to write the latest version of performance reviews and new IT. So I ended up with a need to prove I'd done x hours CPD per year to get a new job or promotion but no money or time for courses.
And part of my unpaid overtime was a result of me running my own courses for my staff so they didn't suffer.

2026-01-13 13:23:52 UTC

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Of course taking the time series back much longer shows we had net emigration for years.
A reason why any policy to deport more immigrants risks huge pressures if countries with Brits then retaliate and send them all back.
How far back do we go?
In the USA there is an argument to send anyone who is not First Nation home. Maybe not serious but to point out that those in power are fairly recent immigrants.

2026-01-06 18:24:33 UTC

In 2025 I spent £90 a week on care.
I spent over £2000 on mobility aids, including repairs/servicing, though the year for my mobility scooters, plus an unknown amount charging my scooters.
I spent at least an extra £15 a week on fuel in the cooler months compared with years when I was more active.
Not sure about taxis in total, but between £15-30 a month.
Plus the costs of ready meals and prepared veg packs for my bad weeks, when I have very little ability to do all that low budget cooking poorer people *should* do.
This is all money that goes to other people from my bank, mostly businesses.
My disability benefit? The amount the government contributes towards the extra costs of being disabled.
From April 2025 it was £73.90 a week.
Yet somehow the media and politicians convince people we get loads of extra money. And everytime the media stories increase, it heralds new cuts for disabled people; it's about scapegoating and cuts to our income.
#DisabilityHate #UNCriticisesUK

2025-12-23 10:56:21 UTC

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It has become a major issue with teenage boys who consume porn. Too many think it is normal. So I expect to see an increase in girls with brain damage.

2025-12-07 20:49:09 UTC

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Things don't get better do they? You'd think it would be harder to lose us now, but no.
In the days before computers a hospital lost my entire file. Years of opthamology clinic visits. And it turned out my GP didn't even know the diagnosis or that I'd had annual clinic appointments for 8 years.
I'd left school, then moved house, so I'd called them to ask if I could get a new consultant, if not could they change my appointment to a later one.
They said he'd prefer to see me, so promised to write to me with a new appointment.
Nothing happened.
I called them back.
And there was no record I'd ever been.
Some years later I attempted to explain this to my GP and asked for a referral.
The clinic, or the GP, thought I'd had a squint, which I didn't, so they ignored my explanation and discharged me.
I've never tried again.
In my mid 30s I found a brilliant optician who did loads of (free) tests and talked me through the diagnosis and what it meant. So I now knew its name.

2025-12-03 11:11:02 UTC

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Unfortunately it really has become more common.
I heard about boys insisting on certain activities to protect themselves from aids, etc some years ago. Now they see so many posts and porn about strangling they think that is normal.
And AI and nudity apps encourages them all to circulate porn in schools - including revenge porn about underage girls.
Hearing admission appeals and exclusion appeals mean I've heard some of the worst of it.

2025-11-30 15:28:20 UTC

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I'd happily recommend your posts.

2025-11-19 11:24:04 UTC

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When I was a senior manager I needed something small changed. Neither the person I directly managed or the person under them in that team was in, so I spoke directly to the male who could make the change.
He refused because I wasn't his manager ( who was male).
Three levels above him but no respect or recognition of my role.
He was applying for a job in the police at that time, and got it. I hoped he would get enough training to pretend he respected women but doubt it.
#MisogynisticPolice

2025-11-09 17:57:30 UTC

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Or as a women, or from minority group of any sort, don't let them make decisions without you. Drag yourself out of your sick bed if you are the only person invited from your group.
Yesterday at the rail event, I showed the rail team some of my collection of train company scooter permits. (I only had 7 with me ...)
They had no idea mobility scooter users have to apply to each company, except one I know, for a permit to travel with our essential aids. And last time I checked there were at least two still completely banning scooters.
If I want to go to a new place with a different train company, I have to check weeks in advance to be able to get a permit.
My intervention yesterday may change this for thousands of users once the new GB rail company takes over all the private companies.

2025-11-06 09:51:05 UTC

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I remember living in a very small town that had one primary school and one secondary.
We had really good data about birth numbers in the area. Yet when we went through what used to be a predictable fall then rise in birth rates the LA closed part of the rpimary schoo, then part of the secondary.
Meanwhile, we had so many 2 to 3 year-olds that we had to put in extra playgroup (before nurseries took over) provision. We could all see that the primary school was about to be overloaded, and the nearest school was in a town miles away (and facing the same issue).
But politicians usually take the short term view when budgeting.

2025-10-21 13:34:07 UTC

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My surgery keeps texting me offering the weight loss jab.
I am overweight according to the BMI measure, but my BP is low and my
cholesterol ratios are fine. And I don't need any more saggy skin.
And I'm old enough not to care about trying to look like a skinny model.

2025-10-18 16:17:46 UTC

"If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit you can no longer join our Club or pick up a Penguin, as the lunchbox favourites have reduced the amount of cocoa in their recipe so much they are now only “chocolate flavour”."
No longer a favourite British snack, creme eggs cut the quality of the chocolate soon after a USA company took over Cadburys.
Now trad chocolate biscuits are no longer chocolate covered.
Yes cocoa prices rose, but not as much as the end product prices. More profit less quality.

2025-10-14 10:22:58 UTC

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Sad to know things still haven't improved enough.
My one experience was accompanying a relative to find the abuser's family and friends blocking the entrance to the court. We got in, but then one of the court staff hid me in a side room after I was threatened. It seemed like a long time before extra security staff arrived.
In spite of the paperwork detailing the abuse and the abuser's recent criminal record, they'd not been warned we'd need extra security.

2025-09-30 13:14:27 UTC

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I am sorry.
Did it bring any helpful advice or medication?
Some of mine are now medicated, some I try to learn to live with.

2025-09-30 09:34:35 UTC

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It makes me so thankful for the ophthalmologist who referred me and the brilliant neurologist who diagnosed 5 conditions in one visit.
I didn’t have the more serious condition they thought I might have but I did have very low folate levels and therefore peripheral neuropathy that 6 or 7 GPs had missed (even though 3 of them commented my red blood cells were too big).
So permanent damage to my feet and hands. Without the eye issue that resulted in referrals it would have been so much worse.

2025-09-28 09:21:26 UTC

I got a photo of Benji for #Caturday but couldn't post last night.
So here it is.
For a small cat he is very long.
https://files.mastodonapp.uk/media_attachments/files/115/281/179/937/885/716/original/70d005b8f98a4c28.jpeg

2025-09-19 10:58:30 UTC

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I know people who can work from home but who could not travel into an office and then be productive. But I also know people who've been forced to try to work, at the expense of their long term health, because of unfair PIP decisions. Many of them have mental health issues that were dismissed.
The govt chose to ignore every critical report from the UN and Human rights groups.

2025-09-05 09:25:31 UTC

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I know that one issue why Switzerland can't join is the cost of compliance. When I worked there I was shocked by the H&S gaps and by the long hours I was expected to work (without overtime payments).
Less wealthy countries get financial, and other help to bring them up to the expected level to comply with EU laws.
So, while it would help with border security and improve some parts of the citizens lives, would the cost of fully implementing laws not already in place* be too much?
*They are already aligned in some areas, but I'm not sure about labour laws, etc.

2025-09-02 07:10:02 UTC

So they need to relabel it, as it will no longer independent.
"Under the new rules, Shabana Mahmood will have veto powers over any new sentencing guidance issued by the independent public body, the Justice Department said."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn848g3ll09o

2025-08-26 15:54:01 UTC

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I have concerns about them using HMRC data (I worked for both ONS and HMRC, and at one time published the sub-national labour market data).
I'd also want more clarity about the population data they used. Generally, their information about sources is poor.
But while the poor LFS has suffered from the general decline in trust in government, and therefore falling response rates, so have other sources, and admin data quality was always an issue - both from the black and grey markets and poor record keeping.
And HMRC suffers more than most.
Is there better quality data? Probably not at the moment.
Are the sources comparable? No.

2025-08-26 12:28:40 UTC

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I should check their methods when I have time.
I'm often distrustful, after talking to an analyst who happy told me he knew they were double counting. Numbers that the Labour party (in opposition) preferred to the official data and that they then used to create a harmful law.

2025-08-19 17:59:00 UTC

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My own experiences are very mixed, but a lot of the issues were system flaws that could be fixed if ...
I have both depended on other patients and helped other patients every time I've been an inpatient for too many years.
The last bad experience involved the private company's inability to understand or provide suitable food for a diet-controlled diabetic. I'd asked twice about dietary needs and been assured they could cater for me before I was admitted, but no.
I could have just eaten the high carb meals, but sending my blood glucose shooting up post op would have seriously increased the risk of infection. (I appeared to be the only person that knew this.) So breakfast was coffee and lunch was a bowl of lukewarm unseasoned boiled cauliflower. Dinner was provided by a nurse, who gave me the cheese from two cheese sandwiches. Breakfast the next day was coffee. No lunch. Then I went home late afternoon.

2025-07-05 11:57:41 UTC

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Ironic that very few older people rented homes allow pets.
I tried to find sheltered housing that would allow me to keep my cat but they all said no.
A reason so many decline so fast once in sheltered and care homes?

2025-06-12 17:24:42 UTC

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They don't seem to have taken into account the increase in people seeking employment, or just extra hours, and the increase in productivity.
And the impact on GDP.
Eg, with more support I wouldn't have taken early retirement on health grounds. I planned to work for at least 4 more years. Paying £1,000+ in taxes every month.
I know lots of others who'd prefer to be working, but without appropriate treatment they can't.
So often analysts miss the whole picture, only considering part of the impact of policies.

2025-05-12 11:07:33 UTC

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National Safeguarding Advisor for vulnerable adults. For the Baha'i community.

2025-05-12 09:00:25 UTC

Just heard that I got the voluntary job I applied for a few months ago - the delay was good because that meant I had time to help a friend.
Now off to learn a new role in retirement!
#Volunteering

2025-03-19 11:42:50 UTC

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I have been trying to manage down my books because at some point a friend who doesn't read science fiction, fantasy, crime, etc. will have to dispose of them.
I started with what, to most of my other friends, is a modest library of about 1,500 books. So far I've got rid of less than 50, and bought at least 10 new ones.
I daren't go into bookshops just to wander around when travelling.
#Books

2025-03-02 11:07:40 UTC

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Tony. Why do aggressive to the Prof? Who I believe is British and therefore doesn't vote in the USA.

2025-02-28 15:49:58 UTC

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We choose who to follow, no algorithm imposing posts on us.
I like a mix of politics, health, writing, photos, and cats

2025-02-06 00:43:31 UTC

One key point from this. Apart from the intention to backdate it.
If someone arrives as asylum seeker they aren't permitted to work until thelr claim is granted. At that point they have a few weeks to find somewhere to live. Unlikely to get a job in time their usually end up on benefits even if they are desperate to work.
Previously the notice to move from govt funded shared accommodation was just 4 weeks during which time they could finally look for a job and must find somewhere to live and apply for benefits to tide them over.
So few if any legal immigrants who get permission to remain would be allowed to apply to become citizens under her plans. Unlike her own family.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c863eywwny2o
#CruelPolitics

2025-01-20 12:33:49 UTC

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I was told I needed to stay in two nights because of other conditions and the fact I live alone. But on admission it changed to one night.
I did finally stay in two, because the amblulance failed to collect me the day after the op.
So I became a bed blocker.
Then no care available, with a long delay to be reassessed, so I used my small savings to pay for my 3 day a week home help to do extra days for a week.
People on a basic pension would have really stuggled.
#SocialCareIsBroken

2025-01-20 10:47:20 UTC

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My experiences are that you generally get good care when very seriously ill but as you start to recover the staff are too busy with the next crisis.
Each time I've been an inpatient it got worse.
Too few staff, too many temp agency staff who don't have time to read patient notes, but also burn out as some staff have no energy to care.
It didn't get any better last year as politicians focused on a non existent issue of 'balancing the books' as if they were running a household.

2025-01-19 11:17:50 UTC

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I graduated in the early 90s recession. High graduate unemployment just after student loans were introduced and signing on in holidays stopped.
In my year of 120 psychology/biology students 2 had secured a grant for post grad study and 1 got a job.
I was shortlisted for 1 job which was withdrawn.
In the following months I applied for about 240 posts, got 5 interviews and 1 job offer.
Which is why I became a statistician instead of a researcher.

2025-01-19 09:21:33 UTC

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I found myself offering lots of knowledge on a zero waste site. For a while as a child I lived on a farm with no electricity, gas or sewage, and my mother lived through WW2 and rationing.
Recently I told my much younger home help that it is possible to change a broken plug, and how to do it.
But she identified a plant someone gave me, using her phone, in less than a minute.
Exchanging skills and knowledge is fun.
#Skills

2025-01-02 09:44:07 UTC

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More often it is the political special advisers placed in departments or non career civil servants placed in top positions who object. And in my experience the same people leak stuff to their favourite media.
My teams were involved in 2 serious leak enquiries both of which abruptly stopped when it emerged that 1 an MP and 2 a SPAD had intentionally leaked data.
I lost count of the times ministers, business leaders placed in power and SPADs tried to stop us publishing statistics.

2024-12-23 15:28:12 UTC

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On mainly all male teams and usually with a male boss I hated that the plum jobs and updates were sometimes discussed in the toilet breaks, in the male toilets. Or during football games within all male teams.
I'd take a shared video meeting anytime.

2024-12-21 16:31:29 UTC

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news link - I don't want to read youtube comments so I found this:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/21/elderly-activist-to-spend-christmas-in-prison-because-tag-does-not-fit

2024-12-18 08:06:05 UTC

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In my area they are taking this very seriously.
The police and the Mayor/Crime commissioner have had several meetings with key groups.
The police in the ground say they've never been involved in anything as bad before. I doubt they'll think climate protesters are the main enemy.

2024-11-26 12:42:14 UTC

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Section 8 - an issue for me:
"(2)
Before issuing a code under his section the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State thinks appropriate."
hmmmm

2024-09-29 09:19:22 UTC

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We gave up so many advantages based on lies and false history. Our media and politicians argued again EU laws we had mainly written ourselves.
If we were ever trusted to rejoin there would be no veto, no extra votes, no rebates.
Just cap in hand begging.
I worked on trade statistics just before all that, even helped draft laws about it. I tried to spread the facts, but people wanted the false future.
#Brexit

2024-09-22 16:59:21 UTC

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Fiscal prudence? Austerity measures wrecked our economy for years last time. Not sure how much is their ignorance and how much media pressure.
If only we taught logical thinking, real economics, 20C history and large dataset analyses in schools it would help move them away from ridiculous austerity plans.

2024-08-02 09:28:33 UTC

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One thing from previous experience is the Departments cut staff, but not the work.