Today's thing that wrong with the country

Today's (2nd Jan 2026) thing that's wrong with the country is Labour backing down - again. I'm coining a new acronym - LACO. Labour Always Chickens Out.

"Ministers are poised to allow homes in England to be built without carbon-cutting technology in what experts have said is a climbdown after pressure from housebuilders." from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/02/ministers-may-cut-green-tech-mandate-from-new-homes-regulations-in-england

Back in the old days - which I'm old enough to remember - Margaret Thatcher's Tories formed a strategy for getting unpopular measures accepted. They had a swathe of tame think tanks which would propose something even more unpopular, then when the government announced its less unpopular proposals, those opposed breathed a sigh of relief rather than propely fighting in.

Starmer's doing the exact opposite. He's almost peerless at losing support by announcing good things, then chickening out.

Today's (1st Jan 2026) thing that's wrong with the country comes courtesy of the Guardian. "Banatvala, who was Ofcom’s founding director of standards, said the regulator was under “intense pressure to act”."

This is after GB News promoted and reinforced a number of lies by Donald Trump, including that climate change is a hoax and London having areas where the police "don't even want to go", as well as the old sharia law lie.

Given how egregious these lies are and that GB News didn't just air them, they reinforced them, Ofcom shouldn't beed to be under intense pressure to get in there and do something, it should be banging down Gb News's doors. But Ofcom chooses not to. Ofcom chooses to be toothless, and our democracy is suffering because of it.