Mark Andrews: Pundit's vile comments, sex, cats and ales, and why there will be no handouts over mortgage misery
As I write, I've just learned that the five people missing on the submarine in the Atlantic have perished.
Probably like many people, I had been checking for updates round the clock, desperately hoping for some positive news.
'Many people' obviously excludes Ash Sarkar, the ghastly political commentator whose biggest concern appeared to be not the welfare of the poor souls trapped beneath the sea, but how much tax they were paying.
"If the super-rich can spend £250,000 on vanity jaunts 2.4 miles beneath the ocean then they're not being taxed enough," she observed, with great compassion.
She added that there would have been less public sympathy were they not wealthy.
"Migrants are 'meant' to die at sea, billionaires aren't," she added.
Now I know click-hungry contrarians such as Miss Sarkar hate the idea of consensus, but no right-thinking person wants anybody to die at sea - migrants or billionaires. People might differ on how to stop people drowning, such as deterring them from making their way across the English Channel in flimsy, dangerous boats. But no normal person is so fixated with political ideology that they want people to die.
Miss Sarkar has plenty of form for offensive comments. In 2017 she proudly declared herself to be on 'Team Hate'. She called for the national anthem to be replaced by a 'grime banger', whatever that is – Boris Johnson's filthy old Toyota, maybe?
More recently, she wrote in The Guardian that the Royal Family was a 'cartel of some very weird people'.
As opposed to normal, kind-hearted and tolerant individuals like herself, obviously.
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Rishi Sunak has ruled out support for mortgage holders hit by rising interest rates.
Now no cabinet minister will tell you this, but the whole point of the rate rise is to drive down prices by squeezing disposable incomes. Putting money back into people's pockets would defeat the object of this.
What the Government could, and should, do, though, is raise interest rates offered by National Savings. This would painlessly damp down demand by encouraging people to save rather than spend.
It would also put pressure on banks which have been very quick to hike up mortgages, but much slower to pass on the increases to savers.
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Another weird week in the world of identitarian gender politics.
First we had stories about schoolchildren claiming to identify as cats and horses. Then brewing giant Greene King released a survey saying only 28 per cent of employees think their company was sufficiently supportive of sexual minorities.
Obviously, employers should treat everybody fairly. But beyond that, what they are meant to do? Encourage staff to wear animal outfits?
Either way, I'd love to see Mick Lynch pick up that gauntlet.
