Emily Benn

Dr Pratima DasGupta Bowes, 1923-2018

The £100,000 tax trap is pushing increasing numbers of GPs to work part-time. Now only 19% of GPs work full time, with the figure declining to 11% for the under 40s Unlike many salaried employees, GP partners & many sessional GPs have considerable control over their hours, making labour supply relatively flexible. Unsurprisingly they choose to work less to avoid paying tax of 60% or more. The 60% rate at £100K is an inefficient policy that restricts the availability of medical care. It falls on workers who have scarce professional skills, can often choose their hours & are in occupations with significant shortages. Removing the tax penalty at £100k would result in some 400 additional full-time-equivalent GPs & around 2m additional GP appointments a year.

“This is our power, our house.“ Tomorrow, vote hope.

Mary Lindell, one of the few women parachuted into France for MI9, ran escape lines under the alias Marie-Claire. Despite arrest and concentration camp imprisonment, she continued organising routes for downed airmen. Her resilience helped save hundreds of Allied lives and exemplified MI9’s daring operations. Have you heard of her before?

Today marks ten years since Jo was killed. We remember Jo as a mother, sister, daughter, wife, friend, campaigner and public servant. We remember her courage, her compassion, and her belief that we have more in common than that which divides us. 1/2

Free advice: Avoid @247homerescue - take your money somewhere else It has consistently been unable to meet its own published guidelines for assistance; and forget it if you need help urgent over a weekend

I am, like most British Jews, growing really frustrated with this vague talk about “division and unity and hate.” We have a very specific problem here. An IRGC cut out is recruiting disaffected Islamist-radicalised men, many long known to the police and negligently left ambling about, to a conduct a targeted intifada against the London Jewish community. And both our counter intelligence and counter terror forces are failing to intercept them. I don’t need a mass London rally of well wishers or cultural luminaires to post their wishes — nice as that is — I need an actual security strategy to clamp down on this so my community can go about our lives in peace as is our absolute minimum right. And I need politicians to call the problem for what it is — not good vibes.

Am I just supposed to be chill and relaxed about this kind of thing as my community — in a very small area of London — is now repeatedly under attack?

Well, I never. Thank you @TheRestHistory and @holland_tom for enlightening me about Dandan and his unfortunate incident with a wasp

India’s High Comm to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, is, sadly, leaving London to become India’s Ambassador to China. He will be fondly remembered & much missed. A transformative leader who leaves behind countless friends & much stronger India-UK ties. London’s loss is Beijing’s gain.

Is there a section on the coalition government’s calamitous defence cuts?

The new build estates on the outskirts of Cambridge are truly shocking. Is it any wonder that people there hate the thought of expanding the city when this is what they can expect will be built?

@ClassicFM Hasn't anyone noticed that the music played at no 17 in the Hall of Fame wasn't the Mozart Clarinet concerto as listed, but the quintet? Totally different piece.

@HSBC_UK I had to reinstall my app, and am waiting for you to verify my ID so I can regain access. Your website says you’ll notify me within 24 hours - it’s now well over 36. When can I please expect a response? I urgently need access

Today the @DailyMail published the findings of my two-year investigation "The Brass Pass" into the hidden epidemic of domestic abuse suffered by military wives and girlfriends. A dossier of 52 cases reveals torture by Army men against their wives.

So let me get this straight: 1. Petty activism against a Palestinian-owned cafe is bad (agreed!) 2. But *violent* activism against a cafe that people associate (wrongly!) with Israel is justified and understandable Update your rule book accordingly

@TheSimonEvans Funnily enough the article also mentions Costa, which is also subject to banal BDS boycotts because of its distant corporate ownership. But there's no mention made of that because, hmmm, maybe (Jews) the real complaint (Jews) is something else (Jews)...

5 February 1945 Special Operations Executive agents Violette Szabo, Denise Bloch and Lilian Rolfe are executed at Ravensbruck concentration camp.

39 years ago this month Inspector Morse was first broadcast. Many in the TV industry doubted that the two-hour format (100 minutes running time) would work. Others thought it was too cerebral and slow moving. The series proved a huge success, both in the UK and globally. 1/

@Wise @karlkue @Wise, that security cheque excuse is standard, but the 5-day script when you promised 10 minutes? That's not on.

In his memoirs 'The Long Road Home', Gideon Behrendt wrote about his part in demilitarising the German forces: ‘We didn’t have to fight the enemies anymore but now had to disarm them, sort them out and separate them according to the following categories: Wehrmacht: solders and other ranks; Wehrmacht: officers and senior officers; SS-Personnel: other ranks; and finally SS-Officers and senior officers. It felt like cleaning up a shop or business after closing hours, after the customers had gone but the staff had to work on. Each of the above groups had to be registered and be sent to the appropriate POW camp. The initial groups were the first to be Denazified and released to become civilians once more. As each of the men stood before me for questioning and I filled the required forms as per instructions, the same question persistently haunted my thought: ‘Did this man without a face actually kill any of my people?’ The more I heard and learned about the Final Solution for the Jews, the extermination camps, the gas chambers and the Nazi obsession for killing, Jews in particular, the more my soul was torn and tormented. And yet, here I was looking at the same men who had until recently been very proud members of the ‘Master-race’, with raised arms in Nazi-salute, shouting “Sieg - Heil - Sieg - Heil – Sieg – Heil” at the top of their voices. Now they stood before me silent, their heads bowed - defeated. My heart ached and if possible I might have cried out in pain, but I was duty-bound to treat them ‘fairly’, as ‘gentlemen soldiers’, as a losing team after a football match, not as creatures that had destroyed cities and subjugated whole nations, not as murderers of innocent men, women and children.’ (end).