Over the last decade, several UK cities and boroughs have faced financial collapse , a rare and unusually devastating occurrence in modern developed economies where entire municipalities—rather than individual businesses—cease to meet their obligations and basic services falter. Birmingham City Council declared bankruptcy in September 2023 with a £760 million deficit, halting some adult social care payments and delaying school building repairs. Thurrock Borough Council issued a Section 114 notice in December 2022 after £655 million losses in risky solar projects, forcing cuts to library hours, street maintenance, and youth programs. Woking Borough Council went bankrupt in June 2023, burdened by £2.4 billion in commercial loans, leading to unpaid invoices to contractors and suspension of local grant programs. Nottingham City Council followed in November 2023 with a £1.1 billion deficit from failed property investments, leaving staff unpaid temporarily and prompting severe ratio...
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How We Stopped Caring About “Selling Out”
.... Once upon a time, the deal was simple: You start small. You hustle. You scrape by on commercials, on bit parts, on late nights waiting tables. Those jobs were the ground floor — the space for the hungry, the unknown, the ones still chasing the dream. But now? The giants come stomping back down the staircase. Not content with the penthouses and the spotlights, they reach for the crumbs too. They take the ads, the cameos, the scraps — the very scraps they once left behind. It’s not ambition. It’s gluttony. It’s the greed of wanting every stage, every paycheck, every flicker of attention. They eat from both ends of the table — the feast and the leftovers — and leave nothing for the ones still starving. This isn’t just unfair. It’s a betrayal. The ladder was meant to be climbed — not ripped away once you’re on top. And so the newcomers wait in the shadows, staring at doors that no longer open, jobs that no longer exist, opportunities swallowed by the same people who ...
What the Hell is Red Meat – or Purple Meat, for that Matter?
What the Hell is Red Meat – or Purple Meat, for that Matter? Scholz Journal, Rewritten and corrected by AI When people say red meat , they usually mean beef, lamb, or pork. But why “red”? The answer lies in myoglobin — a protein in muscle that stores oxygen for use during activity. More myoglobin means darker meat. My doctor told me to eat more red meat. Call me a philistine, but I had to admit — I wasn’t exactly sure what counted as red meat . On the plate, if my steak looked like a stoplight — bright and glowing red — I’d be worried, not reassured. Why do some animals have more myoglobin than others? It’s evolutionary biology. Myoglobin works like a tiny oxygen tank inside the muscle. Animals that use their muscles for long, steady effort need more oxygen on demand, so they pack those muscles with myoglobin. Cows and sheep spend much of their lives standing, walking, or chewing. Their muscles are built for endurance. High myoglobin lets them keep moving for hours witho...
