So I’m finally reading my new Elizabeth George, and she’s describing the horrific cuts to the UK police force as a result of austerity. It’s a fucking disgrace, that’s what it is. If this is what’s done to the police force, then I shudder to think about the devastation inflicted on education.

George is a fanatic of investigation, and always researches her books very carefully. I don’t believe she’s inventing this.

This is what I mean when I talk about the dismantling of the nation-state. And it’s downright criminal.

What is the etiquette on kids’ tablet usage in public? I’m waiting for Klara at her dance lesson, and there are two little boys in the waiting room who have their tablets blasting at an infernal pitch. I’ve been working since 7 am today, and this is my only half-hour in the day to veg out quietly in the waiting room. The din is driving me nuts. The boys’ parents don’t seem to think there’s anything wrong with this.

It’s a very small room, and there’s nowhere else to go.

P.S. One of the tablets is screaming “Jesus is alive!!! Jesus is coming!!!” every 15 seconds. This is freeping torture.

Former “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon made it official on Monday — she will take on Gov. Cuomo in September’s Democratic primary.

This isn’t true, is it? It’s got to be a gag, right?

Russia’s Foreign Minister about the treatment Russia is receiving from the US:

“It’s colossal pressure! It’s colossal blackmail! Nobody can tolerate such a disgusting behavior!”

The repetition of the word “colossal” is very Freudian and especially pleasing.

I love everything about the American higher ed. Except for this kind of thing. I already heard enough of this earnest, fiery crap back in the USSR. I don’t want to hear it again.

In 2015, when 32 people burned to death in Romania, hundreds of thousands of people came out into the streets to protest against corruption that caused the tragedy. It

Yesterday, 300 children burned to death in Russia because of exactly the same kind of corruption. Nobody has come out to protest so far. I’m still hoping people will wake up but for now nobody seems to care.