 11 May, 2021 In the headlines The government has promised a "skills revolution" in today's Queen's Speech, announcing plans to make student loans available to all adults at any point in their lives. The violence in Israel is escalating after Palestinian militants fired rockets towards Jerusalem and the Israelis launched retaliatory airstrikes against military targets in the Gaza Strip. At least 24 Palestinians have been killed and 31 Israelis injured. Seven children and a teacher have died in a shooting at a school in the Russian city of Kazan. A 19-year-old man has been arrested.
Comment of the day The poisonous legacy of Israel's PM  Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in 2017. AFP Photo The problem with "narcissistic, anti-democratic, ethno-nationalist, arsonist would-be kings" is that they don't care much about the rule of law, says David Rothkopf in Haaretz. Both Israel's Netanyahu and America's Trump have shown that when it comes to elections, "they know better than the people". Okay, Netanyahu has yet to incite an insurrection and encourage his followers to occupy the Knesset, as Trump did on Capitol Hill, but "who knows what is next". His attempt to rig the criminal trial against him by appointing a key ally as his justice minister (Netanyahu stands accused of corruption, including bribery and fraud) is "pretty darned Trumpian" in its corruption and "intergalactic levels of chutzpah". Both pose an enduring threat to their countries by leaving behind a legacy of empowered extremists. In Trump's case it's Republican members waging war on his behalf. For Netanyahu – who seems to have lost the election, but is so far refusing to budge – it's right-wing parties that will playing an outsized role in the next Israeli government whether he manages to cling on or not. Netanyahu, like Trump, has empowered "extra-parliamentary far-right street gangs" who take their marching orders from the top, and has weakened the country's international standing by eroding trust in democracy and promoting division and racism at home. He and Trump are "outstandingly odious", but Putin, Modi, Xi, Bolsonaro and Erdogan all fit the same profile. Taken together, these shameless populists are a serious threat to the planet. Why it matters Read the full article here.
Culture wars are central to politics Liberal-left columnists have started referring to the culture wars as a "contrived" distraction from the substance of politics, says Dominic Sandbrook on the website Engelsberg Ideas. "This is nonsense." The culture wars "cut to the heart of real, living disagreements about history, identity, nationhood and belonging". Those who disagree say politics should be about class conflict and economic inequality, dealing in cold facts and figures. But this is a "colossal misunderstanding of what politics is". Look at the bloody rows around Christ's divinity in the late Roman empire, or the origins of the Republican party in the US, founded by anti-slavery northern Protestants. In Britain, the two great factions of Whigs and Tories emerged in the 1670s, when there was a "white-hot political debate" about whether the crown could pass from Charles II to the Catholic James, Duke of York. It was "a classic culture war". Those on the left don't understand why anybody cares about flags or statues. They'd be delighted to strip museums of their artefacts and send schoolchildren around National Trust properties "in sackcloth and ashes". Nor do they want a debate, because they fear they'll lose. And lose they would, because polling shows most people like Rule, Britannia! and think Churchill was a hero. These conflicts will always be with us: they are about basic human impulses. "So don't be afraid of the culture war. Bring it on." Read the full article here.
Noted The bodies of about 750 New Yorkers are stored in refrigerated trucks in Brooklyn, more than a year after they died of Covid. The city's medical authorities say that in most cases, the families of the deceased can't be located or they can't afford a funeral.
Tomorrow's world  Royal Mail is trialling parcel deliveries by drone, flying PPE, Covid testing kit and other post 70 miles from Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly. A twin-engined drone will land at the airport on St Mary's, then a smaller drone will hop between the islands, dropping off parcels as required. Royal Mail says this is the first time a UK parcel carrier has delivered post to an island on an autonomous flight.
Life Melinda Gates called in the lawyers in 2019, around the time her husband's "numerous" meetings with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were first reported, says the Daily Beast. The two men started meeting up in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl in Florida, and on one occasion the Microsoft co-founder stayed "late into the night" at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse, The New York Times reported. Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but his association with Epstein still "haunts" Melinda, according to friends of the couple. Gates has since said he "regrets ever meeting with Epstein".
Snapshot 
On the way out In a year or two we may no longer hear the familiar summer sound of willow on leather echoing from village cricket grounds. A new study shows that bamboo cricket bats have a larger "sweet spot" than traditional willow ones, meaning players can hit the ball further. They transfer energy from user to ball 19% more efficiently than willow bats. They may also be more sustainable, given the shortage of willow trees and the abundance of bamboo.
Snapshot answer It's Bran Castle, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, the Transylvanian fortress thought to have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula: it's associated with Vlad Dracula, the medieval Romanian ruler whose reputation for cruelty earned him the nickname Vlad the Impaler. Medics with fang stickers are offering visitors a free Covid vaccination in a drive to get more Romanians jabbed. Anyone can turn up without an appointment – and enjoy free entry to the castle's exhibit of torture instruments.
Quoted "There are three stages in scientific discovery. First people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important; finally they credit the wrong person." That's it. You're done. Been forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here to receive it every day. Click here to register for full access to our app and website Download our app in the App Store Follow us on Instagram
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May 11, 2021
The poisonous legacy of Israel’s PM
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