Quarantine content

If you are in isolation, here are some things that might you pass the time. I hope to add more links over time.

Virtual tours of museums.

A restful tour of London traffic in 1970.

An invisible glass Rube Goldberg (Heath Robinson) machine.

H20 - Just Add Water. This is an Australian TV series, available on YouTube, about teenage girls who turn into mermaids. It seems to be thoroughly wholesome (I have so far spotted just one joke about 'your body going through changes', although I have not been 100% engrossed in it) and suitable, I would say, for tweenage girls.

The Kid Should See This. I am sure I have recommended this before, but now is a good time to look at it again. Expertly curated links to things of a generally improving or at least inoffensive nature, but almost interesting and engaging, and not just for children.

Honest Trailers. What the trailer for a film should say, if it were honest. Generally not for children, but often funny.

Kurzgesagt. Educational science videos. Interesting.

Herbert Hoover, amazing guy.

Get a Japanese loo.

How JD Vance joined the resistance (i.e. became a Catholic).

What is Tory Socialism?

Not corrupted by commerce? Are priests more blase about God than amateur religionists?

The Big Bad Sister?

Do you remember Brexit? "Recent political contests across Europe and North America have been propelled by a wave of populist, anti-immigrant resentment, and it was widely expected that these populist victories would further fan the flames of xenophobia. This article reports the results of an experiment around the Brexit referendum, designed to test how populist victories shape anti-immigrant attitudes. The study finds that anti-immigrant attitudes actually softened after the Brexit referendum, among both Leave and Remain supporters, and these effects persisted for several months. How could a right-wing, populist victory soften anti-immigrant attitudes? The authors use causal mediation analysis to understand this ‘populist paradox’." This was "widely accepted" only among the most bubble-inhabiting Remainiac classes. To everyone who voted Leave or thought it reasonable that someone might do so then there is no paradox to explain. But if you really want to read more then here it is.

The China Question.

Why is Germany so good at making cars? "The combination of legal quasi-immunity, specialist technical know-how in several pockets of mechanic and chemical engineering, and wage policies that reduced Germany's real exchange rate inside the eurozone, have been behind what is often described as a second economic miracle." More here.

Ireland and England: a long but sensible piece. A couple of quotations, which don't really tell you what it is about, but which I liked anyway: "London (not Paris or Berlin) is the metropolis of Ireland. And London, metropolis or not, is in England. ... There must be many Irish in Britain who love their lives in Britain; if so, it is a love that dare not speak its name." For those of us who wish England and Ireland just to get on in a sensible way - or even more warmly and closely than that - this is cheering and bittersweet by turns. 

A judgment from the future?

I don't know how to explain this. Perhaps it is proof that the universe is really a simulation and this is one of the little glitches in the matrix that people spot from time to time, a bit like the Mandela Effect. All I can do is tell you what happened to me.

So. I was looking through the BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) website for the most recent cases in England and Wales and I found one dated 2050, namely Taylor v St Mark's Healthcare Trust [2050] EWHC 1893 (KB). It's not on the website any more so I can't give you the link now and you'll just have to take my word for it. I clicked on the link (of course!) and downloaded the case to see what the law will look like in 30 years time. In the event, it was a bit of a disappointment: the case is a pretty anodyne one that simply illustrates that the law will continue to develop in predictable ways. Nonetheless, as it may possibly be of wider interest I've cut and pasted it below and so those who can't wait 30 years for the story can read it now.

There is no such thing as bad publicity

That is an advert in the TLS itself. (Seen here.)