@_WCCA is now part of the GND family! Check out this short podcast to find out who they are. New monthly episodes from them coming soon... piped.video/qKGuFugr3Xk

The Jason Arday scandal/fiasco/tragedy is a prime example of "pluralistic ignorance." No sapient being could believe his ziggurat of whoppers, but each may have privately thought that everyone else believed them. This happens when the expression of an idea is stigmatized or punished, as obviously happened here: anyone expressing common-sense incredulity was tarred as a racist, ableist, and abettor of suicide (not to mention threatened by a barracuda law firm and questioned by the police). For more on pluralistic ignorance and other extraordinary popular delusions, see When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life (preorder paperback here; out in a few weeks). amazon.com/When-Everyone-Kno… nytimes.com/2026/08/15/world…

These days many British Jews see Zack Polanski as a traitor to his origins, not a disciple of Jewish ideas. Our profile explores how he has embraced the anti-Israel fervour that has swept the new left economist.com/1843/2026/08/1…

Too many people feel like modern life is designed to catch them out. It should be just as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to start it. And if something is advertised as half price, it should actually be half price. So I'm taking action. We’re taking every opportunity to get the cost of living down. It’s about fixing the every day hassles that cost people time, money and patience. These two are just the start. theguardian.com/commentisfre…

Firefighter James Rodgers speaking alongside Zack Polanski, on the need to address climate change "When people talk about climate change, they often talk about the year 2050. I’m a firefighter. I want to talk about now, because for firefighters, climate change isn’t a prediction, it’s a shift we’re already working. Climate change is the fire call to multiple back gardens alight, children’s clothing burning on the washing line." "Climate change is the acrid smell as you effect entry into a flat because someone has succumbed to heat stroke and hasn’t been checked on in weeks. Climate change is the sound of people in floods of tears when they’re stuck in a lift 20 floors up in 30-degree heat." "Climate change is the taste of dust in your dry mouth watching a fire sweep uncontrollably across a park you used to play football in as a child in your summer holidays. Climate change is this becoming a day-to-day reality." "This week I’ve spoken to my colleagues from all over the United Kingdom and they have said no one wants to admit it, but the heat is getting to all of us. We’re getting shorter with each other and we’re finishing jobs feeling like we’ve done a full day’s work even before lunch." "Another said, my station gets very hot inside and there isn’t a place I can find relief from the heat whilst at work. It leaves me having more headaches and brain fog, less able to do my job after 24 years in the job. Another firefighter said to me, when are we finally going to get the workwear designed for this climate?" "Everyone who works in the fire brigade is feeling the exhaustion. We expect the fires, we expect the floods, we expect the road traffic collisions. What we didn’t expect was for the extreme heat itself to become the emergency." "Not just for the public, for the people responding to it too. Climate change is rapidly changing the conditions in which every part of our job happens. Make no mistake, we will turn up. Don’t fear the sound of our sirens – it’s the sound of help on its way." "We will keep responding, we will keep adapting. The question isn’t whether us firefighters will do our job, the question is whether the rest of us are willing to do ours. The climate crisis is stretching the fire service long before it makes headlines." "And whilst the same debates continue to happen, whilst fossil fuels are exploited from the earth for the profit of the few, our jobs are getting harder, days longer, resources thinner and incidents more severe." "Major fires can start with a single spark. Every solution starts with a decision to act. Every action that cuts emissions, protects our green spaces, teaches our children to care, supports resilience or helps a vulnerable neighbour matters." "Our future isn’t decided by one big decision, but millions of small ones. And the longer we wait, the harder it becomes for communities, for governments and, yes, for firefighters too. Because the climate crisis isn’t coming." "It’s calling 999."

Today we are renewing our Civic University Agreement, to deepen local partnerships and reaffirm our long-term commitment to Lewisham's people, communities and economy.