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With M.D.: "Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has been fined £1.6m over the deaths of three babies, following a prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission. The trust pleaded guilty to six offences connected to the deaths of Adele O'Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson and Quinn Parker within 14 weeks of each other in 2021. In each case, there were appalling failures in maternity and obstetric care. The trust is already at the centre of the NHS's largest ever maternity investigation…"
With Bio-Waste Spreader: "Farmers are still protesting the government's imposition of a 20 percent inheritance tax charge (IHT) on farmland, a tax hardly any of them will have to pay, provided they get good tax advice. But pressure is now coming, even from Labour backbenchers, for the government to 'compromise'. So is there any merit in chancellor Rachel Reeves watering down her proposals?…"
With Dr B Ching: "Paying train firm directors top dollar doesn't guarantee decent services, Merseyside passengers have discovered. Merseyrail Electrics, owned by Transport UK Group and outsourcing giant Serco, doesn't even run all local trains in the Liverpool city region, yet in the year to 6 January 2024 its directors received a combined £796,000 pay and pension contributions – including the highest-paid director's £350,000 remuneration…"
With Remote Controller: "Last Thursday, during episode 7,067 of EastEnders, someone concernedly told Phil Mitchell: 'You look tired.' Well, to adopt the idiom of Albert Square, that ain't surprising, you muppet! The tubby Londoner played by Steve McFadden has had five failed marriages between multiple affairs with lovers including ex-wives and his sister-in-law; survived shooting, stabbing, strangling; kidnapped several neighbours and family members; been implicated in around a dozen murders or manslaughters…"
With Old Sparky: "'Drax subsidies halved' ran the headlines on the government's new extension of subsidies for Yorkshire power generator Drax, the world's biggest tree-burner whose current gargantuan, unmerited bungs run out in 2027. But energy secretary Ed Miliband has let it be known he wanted to pull the plug: so why not 'subsidies to end'? Drax is Britain's biggest power plant…"
With Lunchtime O'Boulez: "Are the arts in Wales in crisis (see Eye 1642)? Not according to culture minister Jack Sargeant, who rebuffed the suggestion when it was put to him by the Welsh Senedd's culture committee in early February. 'I wouldn't describe it as a crisis myself,' he said. The evidence summarised here in the last issue – including the closures of Cardiff's main concert hall, Cardiff University's music faculty and the Royal Welsh College of Music's junior department…"
With Slicker: "Newspapers and media critics talk a lot about the power of the press. When scandals go unreported, those same critics point their fingers at failures by the supposedly all-powerful media. But less often do either highlight failures by the public, regulators or politicians to respond effectively to media warnings of a future scandal in the making. The Post Office is a good example. Between 1983 and 1986, Private Eye consistently raised questions about the accounts of Polly Peck International..."
Letter from Toronto
From Our Own Correspondent: "Canadians like to boast that we have the longest undefended border in the world. At 5,525 miles it's certainly the longest, but not undefended. There will soon be troops at our southern tip and there are already customs officers and armed police, even though it's impossible to secure anything as long as this. Thing is, it hasn't been much of an issue since Canadian gangsters drove booze into the US during the prohibition era…"