I feel so sorry for this cohort of students, but equally I know that if I were once again in a position that involved hiring people then I would look askance at anyone with qualifications received over the last few years.

Lockdown has cast a long shadow over education

This year’s A-level students have paid a heavy price for our overreaction to Covid.

Three and half years since the virus appeared, exam results are still not a reliable guide to the academic performance of our young people. Grades no longer reflect how hard a student worked, but rather which year they took their exams in. Endless lockdowns and the push to keep schools closed for as long as possible have all but destroyed academic standards. We abandoned education during the pandemic. And now a whole generation of students is paying the price.

FFS, August.

What is this? Clothes drier? Food drier? Storage? (Appalachia, c1800s)

Someone who had been to the Maui morgue, looking for family members, reporting that it was full of the sound of ringing mobile phones :’(

OMG UK gardeners saying we’ve had a bad summer because June was a bit warm. No, it’s because it’s rained all throughout July and early August.

Does anyone know more about this? It’s astonishing if true and generally applicable.

The Spectator

Testosterone transformed my life. Why won't GPs prescribe it?

Last summer, I became a participant in a covert drugs deal. I have never considered doing anything illegal, but I was desperate. This is how it hap...

Even so, within a week, I noticed a formidable transformation. I felt more alert, less stressed, more flexible, less prone to dithering. I slept more deeply. Finally, I felt like myself again and I began to wonder why on earth the NHS doesn’t offer testosterone to all women taking HRT. […] Instead of a prescription, however, I received a lecture on how short the NHS is of funds and how money must be allocated to those who need it most. I was told I would have to be seen by a menopause specialist if I wanted testosterone – and there was at least a two-year waiting list. In an attempt to lighten the mood, towards the end of my appointment the GP said: ‘We don’t want you suddenly turning into a man do we?’ Then she seemed to check herself and said quite seriously: ‘Of course, if anyone does want to become a man that’s absolutely OK and we can definitely have a conversation about hormones for that.’

The Spectator

The truth about 'gender-affirming care'

Destransitioner Chloe Cole’s testimony to the US Congress was harrowing, but she is not alone in undergoing a procedure she regrets

Calvin Klein has featured models with lifestyle mastectomy scars. Dr Martens released a ‘queer joy’ DM boot illustrated with a ‘trans man’ with mutilated breasts. Celebrities have promoted breast-binding, a slightly less life-impacting way for girls to hide their apparently shameful breasts. So this is one of the great divides of our time, then – between those of us who believe teenage girls should be left alone to experience all the flourishing and challenges that come with coming of age, and those who believe that if a girl doesn’t like her breasts, then a man in a white coat should surgically remove them.

This is pretty damning: interviewing two young Japanese women and asking if there is anything that would convince them to get married.