Royal Ascot Day 1: So many questions, too many answers

A jolly lunch with the singing trainer, a Royal Ascot preview, a couple of sherbets with chums, a column written, a lunch party planned and ordered, and I’ve only been back in the country 36 hours. There is no time left for perusing the meaning of life. I have no time to rail against the inanities of this Government, (why am I using a capital “G”?), or the extraordinary daily incompetence of swathes of organisations and bodies that once worked well, but now lumber sideways or backwards and call it progress.

One tiny note you might not have had in your in tray this AM, comes today from Daniel Herring, Head of Fiscal and Economic Policy at the CPS: “A situation whereby the government spends nearly two-thirds of the average salary, per adult, providing public services is not sustainable. Not only will the cost of public services be 13% higher than pre-pandemic by the end of the decade, for little discernible improvement in quality or outcome, but the trajectory is set to continue.”

This note follows the news that Reeves’ well-known economic skill-sets, that were honed when she was leader of the Bank of Toy Town, will increase spending to £24095 per adult, £1955 of which is debt interest. Welfare spending for working-age adults and children has ballooned 11% above pre-Covid levels to £2,757 per adult, while health spending is heading to a record £4,056 per adult by 2028/29 – a 22% surge.

Part of that lunatic health spend, is down to the anti-gambling lobby which has this past year ramped up their campaigns by sticking the NHS into the vanguard of their war against the punter. “Building the public’s understanding of the risks associated with gambling-related harm is crucial to preventing harm before it occurs. Population level campaigns could be used to raise awareness of gambling-related harm.” When an issue is medicalised then, as we have seen with the ever-expanding definitions of mental health issues, it becomes almost impossible to counter. The public health industry brooks no opposition. That is the real and very, very costly problem now in our society.

That aside, I have gathered these tiny indicators together. Essentially, I get endless emails, many of which are Rumsfeldian in their known unknowns and unknown unknowns … in other words, the stats will often be right, but when is a mystery. They are merely guidance. Some of them are Golden Rules I follow and some are guides to horses to swerve. I hope they help you.

1. There have been 65 races run over 1m6f+ at Royal Ascot since 2010...

   39 of them (60%) were won by either Willie Mullins, Aidan O'Brien or John (& Thady) Gosden...