It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Excellent idea. Maybe those few people without smartphones could apply for a special debit card however?
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Parking should be done by Contactless which can be done by a phone. There's no excuse for the apps, its just nonsense.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
And in the cases where the person wasn't even found guilty, they were still named and shamed. Do you support that? And what about cases where it's been overturned, their life is still ruined and people know who they are.
I would be perfectly content not knowing the identity of this woman.
Yes. Justice must be done and seen to be done.
It is a necessary safeguard against far worse tyrannies.
Secret courts, that can imprison people in secret, with nobody knowing who or why - that is a total perversion and miscarriage of justice.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
I think you're just trying to wind people up with questions like this. But I'm also going to annoy right-wing populists by saying I think that a lot of people who are currently in jail should probably be in mental health facilities instead.
No I am not trying to wind people up, I was curious if there was a historical reason for why we name criminals so publicly and what the reasons were for it.
Court proceedings are public events*, so that the public can see that justice is being done fairly and reasonably.
(*There are a few exceptions, mostly involving children or the vulnerable, or extreme cases of national security)
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Parking should be done by Contactless which can be done by a phone. There's no excuse for the apps, its just nonsense.
A lot can, tbf - seems to be more and more common.
The MO here seems to be fining the shit out of people who make mistakes though, and it's a lot easier to do that with a confusing app.
Instead of red tape for pointless cash machines how about doing something about tuition fees which most people will now never pay off and will still be paying into their 50s?
The Tories must go. Their priorities are helping the over 70s not anyone that actually works.
Cash machines are not pointless. They're vital. And cash represents freedom.
Unless your wallet gets nicked, in which case it represents an irretrievable loss, as my son has just discovered this morning while on holiday. At least he was able to use his phone to lock his card before it could be used; there's no locking cash though.
On the other hand, if you lose your phone, you can use cash to pay for everything while you get a new one and get everything set up again (which, as I discovered takes a few days) and it's much easier to get hold of more cash if needed than another phone.
My wallet lives in a cupboard at home, like my passport. I don't take it out unless I expect to need it, and its there for emergency backup then if I do. All I ever use is my phone.
But replacing a phone can be a lot easier than replacing either your cash or your cards in your wallet.
A few weeks ago while out I dropped my phone, normally nowadays they just bounced but it landed on a rock and smashed the screen. When I got home, I took an old phone out of the cupboard, charged it, then started using it. Got my Samsung Pay and Curve apps which is what I use for payment switched over, and was all done within minutes. No waiting for a replacement card to be delivered.
Yes, that's what I do too. The wallet stays at home as an emergency backup. God knows what my lad was doing, out on the piss with both his phone and his wallet. He's normally got more sense than that!
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
I don't agree with that necessarily, name and shame away.
But I will be uncomfortable with the tabloid expose of her pre- criminality lifestyle choices. Salacious press coverage will also incite nutters to make her parent's life hell, and be of no benefit to the families of her victims.
I recall the case of the media naming the alleged murderer of Joanna Yeates. Which they got wrong, basically ruined the person's life.
How is that allowed? What is the defence for such a thing?
This is post conviction. The teacher from Clifton College should not have been vilified by the press as a person of interest, and he sued their arses.
Quite right too.
There mat be an argument for anonymity pre conviction for some crimes, though private justice proceedings come with issues too, bur post? No.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
Why should anyone have anonymity for life for such heinous crimes
The parents who must be in utter despair and pain should be the focus of our care, not Letby
But the vile feeding frenzy that we will see in the Sunday RedTops will not benefit the parents of the victims.
Lucy Letby has been found guilty by her peers and she should receive the full letter of the law. I am nonetheless not looking forward to the tawdry journalistic w***fest to come.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Leave that to the market. A Darwinian struggle is underway, and will have done its job before government worked out any way sensibly to legislate. The competent nine year olds will win out, probably.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Don't you think it's a weakness to have only one way of doing things instead of lots of ways?
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Don't you think it's a weakness to have only one way of doing things instead of lots of ways?
There are lots of ways.
I use Samsung Pay.
Others use Apple Pay.
Some use Google Pay.
You can choose to use your phone, or your watch too. Your choice.
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
I said they should have done this for the King Charles coins and notes. That would reduce the pain of switching from one to the other.
Too late now. Will have to wait for William V.
There's no way the RF would let KCIII be linked with a similar measure today as it would really confuse the elderly royalist generation and they'd blame him for the next 20 years' inflation. Don't know if you were here for decimalisation, but my parents' generation and the one above blamed that for triggering inflation (on the grounds it let shops and traders rip off the public).
I was imagining that you could win them over by the warm glow of satisfaction of knowing that a single Pound Sterling would be worth a lot more than any single unit of another currency. Eleven Euros, Twelve Dollars, etc. Rule Britannia! and all that.
Why did briefcases go out of fashion for business people?
They were replaced by go-bags which can be carried. Briefcases were for the days when info was on paper. They were big enough for a pad of paper, pens, ruler, rubber, calculator
Then laptops came in, and big manbags were the vogue, big enuf for a chunky pre-Lenovo ThinkPad, adapter, mice, disc drives, etc
Then laptops got thin and sipped electricity like a little mouse, so you could throw a laptop into a go-bag and go to school, uni or work, doing work on the train[1] at need
[1] If you were posh and travelled on nice trains by first class during the daytime when its less crowded. If you are not posh and travel on cattle-truck class on craptrains at night when evil fuckers abound, it is less possible. I hate trains.
What's a Go Bag? I'm a backpack man, myself.
They kept using the phrase in NCIS and I picked it up. They kept on flying to various parts of Southern California the world and having adventures you'd never forget. Since my life consists of catching trains to various absolute fucking ratholes parts in the UK and having adventures I try very hard to forget, I thought I'd adopt the term to add a little romance to my life. An affectation, but mine own,
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
Interesting compass test. Doubt my answers would surprise anyone.
M W P Y H B
Though I am also a strong environmentalist so could have gone E, if the alternative had been a climate change denialist I would have unequivocally gone E. I want to see the end of petrol cars, and a transition to clean electric instead - but I am not anti-car, I'm just anti-pollution which is completely different. So E/P is the only one I could have gone either with.
Not much love for the N option on here then. Seems to be universal Ys. I smell a rat.
I can't think of a local development that I've ever opposed.
Now, maybe I've lived in such woebegone areas that no-one has wanted to develop in them, or nuking the area from orbit would be too good for it, but I think it's possible that NIMBYs are an example of very vocal groups that receive disproportionate attention compared to their size.
I think they are the majority in general, but there's a soft edge to that who are against but won't fight that hard or care too much once it happens. It's why councils are nervous as small numbers can decide seats, whereas governments should show more balls and foresight as the benefits down the line will outweigh the noisiest.
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
I said they should have done this for the King Charles coins and notes. That would reduce the pain of switching from one to the other.
Too late now. Will have to wait for William V.
There's no way the RF would let KCIII be linked with a similar measure today as it would really confuse the elderly royalist generation and they'd blame him for the next 20 years' inflation. Don't know if you were here for decimalisation, but my parents' generation and the one above blamed that for triggering inflation (on the grounds it let shops and traders rip off the public).
I was imagining that you could win them over by the warm glow of satisfaction of knowing that a single Pound Sterling would be worth a lot more than any single unit of another currency. Eleven Euros, Twelve Dollars, etc. Rule Britannia! and all that.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
And in the cases where the person wasn't even found guilty, they were still named and shamed. Do you support that? And what about cases where it's been overturned, their life is still ruined and people know who they are.
I would be perfectly content not knowing the identity of this woman.
There is a much better case for keeping defendants names anonymous until conviction.
It is particularly egregious for some people accused - and then acquitted of sexual crimes - and where the victim gets anonymity but the accused does not. If you are found not guilty, it seems harsh that your name was dragged through the mud.
The LibDems proposed this in their 2010 manifesto, and the coalition *almost* did it, but there was a massive outcry and it got shelved.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
I don't agree with that necessarily, name and shame away.
But I will be uncomfortable with the tabloid expose of her pre- criminality lifestyle choices. Salacious press coverage will also incite nutters to make her parent's life hell, and be of no benefit to the families of her victims.
I recall the case of the media naming the alleged murderer of Joanna Yeates. Which they got wrong, basically ruined the person's life.
How is that allowed? What is the defence for such a thing?
This is post conviction. The teacher from Clifton College should not have been vilified by the press as a person of interest, and he sued their arses.
Quite right too.
There mat be an argument for anonymity pre conviction for some crimes, though private justice proceedings come with issues too, bur post? No.
Plus the media monstered the poor Mr Chips long before the actual trial, of someone else completely. Lots of £££ to the poor chap and to HMtQ in the way of fines for contempt (as it could have messed up- the investigation).
'It was held that the media were quick to jump to conclusions regarding Jefferies's arrest. Being a retired English teacher who lived alone, whose physical appearance and "eccentrically unkempt white hair," made him stand out, led people to believe that he looked the type.'
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Don't you think it's a weakness to have only one way of doing things instead of lots of ways?
There are lots of ways.
I use Samsung Pay.
Others use Apple Pay.
Some use Google Pay.
Your choice.
It's sometimes the case that what looks like a lot of different systems on the front end are all routing through the same single point of failure on the back end, whether that is phone apps, debit cards, or whatever.
That's not necessarily an argument for duplicating effort, or keeping an entire parallel payment system just in case, but just that it sometimes isn't obvious how independent a set of different options are until they fail.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Let's move driving licenses to our phones too. It's ridiculous that Brits need to carry a small plastic card. (And do you still need the piece of paper?)
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
And in the cases where the person wasn't even found guilty, they were still named and shamed. Do you support that? And what about cases where it's been overturned, their life is still ruined and people know who they are.
I would be perfectly content not knowing the identity of this woman.
There is a much better case for keeping defendants names anonymous until conviction.
It is particularly egregious for some people accused - and then acquitted of sexual crimes - and where the victim gets anonymity but the accused does not. If you are found not guilty, it seems harsh that your name was dragged through the mud.
The LibDems proposed this in their 2010 manifesto, and the coalition *almost* did it, but there was a massive outcry and it got shelved.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
And in the cases where the person wasn't even found guilty, they were still named and shamed. Do you support that? And what about cases where it's been overturned, their life is still ruined and people know who they are.
I would be perfectly content not knowing the identity of this woman.
There is a much better case for keeping defendants names anonymous until conviction.
It is particularly egregious for some people accused - and then acquitted of sexual crimes - and where the victim gets anonymity but the accused does not. If you are found not guilty, it seems harsh that your name was dragged through the mud.
The LibDems proposed this in their 2010 manifesto, and the coalition *almost* did it, but there was a massive outcry and it got shelved.
Part of the benefit of not having anonymity is that when someone is brave enough to confront an abuser, or get the evidence etc, then that can encourage other victims to step forward.
This has happened for many cases. See Weinstein as a prime example, he was getting away with his abuse for decades, then it came out and once some brave women stepped forward others felt empowered to do the same.
Same happened with Rolf Harris too.
Sometimes it goes too far and people pile in on innocent people, but that's why we have a public judicial system too, so that if people are innocent they can be seen to be acquitted. But if they are guilty, then them being seen to be convicted serves justice and can allow other victims satisfaction or the ability to come forward too.
There's no easy answers here, but public justice has worked better than secret justice ever has, which is inevitably abused.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Let's move driving licenses to our phones too. It's ridiculous that Brits need to carry a small plastic card. (And do you still need the piece of paper?)
No paper, but you do need a code from the DVLA which allows users to access your driving history to hire a car.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
And in the cases where the person wasn't even found guilty, they were still named and shamed. Do you support that? And what about cases where it's been overturned, their life is still ruined and people know who they are.
I would be perfectly content not knowing the identity of this woman.
There is a much better case for keeping defendants names anonymous until conviction.
It is particularly egregious for some people accused - and then acquitted of sexual crimes - and where the victim gets anonymity but the accused does not. If you are found not guilty, it seems harsh that your name was dragged through the mud.
The LibDems proposed this in their 2010 manifesto, and the coalition *almost* did it, but there was a massive outcry and it got shelved.
Part of the benefit of not having anonymity is that when someone is brave enough to confront an abuser, or get the evidence etc, then that can encourage other victims to step forward.
This has happened for many cases. See Weinstein as a prime example, he was getting away with his abuse for decades, then it came out and once some brave women stepped forward others felt empowered to do the same.
Same happened with Rolf Harris too.
Sometimes it goes too far and people pile in on innocent people, but that's why we have a public judicial system too, so that if people are innocent they can be seen to be acquitted. But if they are guilty, then them being seen to be convicted serves justice and can allow other victims satisfaction or the ability to come forward too.
There's no easy answers here, but public justice has worked better than secret justice ever has, which is inevitably abused.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Don't you think it's a weakness to have only one way of doing things instead of lots of ways?
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Let's move driving licenses to our phones too. It's ridiculous that Brits need to carry a small plastic card. (And do you still need the piece of paper?)
You don't still need the bit of paper, they abolished that effing madness years ago. But agree that Driving Licences should be on Apple Wallet. Makes total sense.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Don't you think it's a weakness to have only one way of doing things instead of lots of ways?
There are lots of ways.
I use Samsung Pay.
Others use Apple Pay.
Some use Google Pay.
Your choice.
It's sometimes the case that what looks like a lot of different systems on the front end are all routing through the same single point of failure on the back end, whether that is phone apps, debit cards, or whatever.
That's not necessarily an argument for duplicating effort, or keeping an entire parallel payment system just in case, but just that it sometimes isn't obvious how independent a set of different options are until they fail.
I know, my tongue was firmly, if metaphorically, in my cheek when I wrote that.
Like suggesting 5p, 10p and 20p coins as alternative methods of payment.
Or HSBC, Barclays or Lloyds cards as alternatives.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
That could really take off. You could extend it to other forms of anti-social behaviour and we could have millions of people going around photographing the evidence and issuing micro-fines for things like littering.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Someone else opined recently that they objected to ID cards, until they realised their phone has all the relevant data now anyway
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
And in the cases where the person wasn't even found guilty, they were still named and shamed. Do you support that? And what about cases where it's been overturned, their life is still ruined and people know who they are.
I would be perfectly content not knowing the identity of this woman.
There is a much better case for keeping defendants names anonymous until conviction.
It is particularly egregious for some people accused - and then acquitted of sexual crimes - and where the victim gets anonymity but the accused does not. If you are found not guilty, it seems harsh that your name was dragged through the mud.
The LibDems proposed this in their 2010 manifesto, and the coalition *almost* did it, but there was a massive outcry and it got shelved.
Part of the benefit of not having anonymity is that when someone is brave enough to confront an abuser, or get the evidence etc, then that can encourage other victims to step forward.
This has happened for many cases. See Weinstein as a prime example, he was getting away with his abuse for decades, then it came out and once some brave women stepped forward others felt empowered to do the same.
Same happened with Rolf Harris too.
Sometimes it goes too far and people pile in on innocent people, but that's why we have a public judicial system too, so that if people are innocent they can be seen to be acquitted. But if they are guilty, then them being seen to be convicted serves justice and can allow other victims satisfaction or the ability to come forward too.
There's no easy answers here, but public justice has worked better than secret justice ever has, which is inevitably abused.
That is absolutely correct. Reporting the facts of the case is perfectly fine, and as you say, beneficial for the pursueal of other crimes they may have committed. Nonetheless, the gutter press making up tawdry, fanciful and salacious stories regarding the convicted, their friends and family is of no value to any victims.
You don't still need the bit of paper, they abolished that effing madness years ago. But agree that Driving Licences should be on Apple Wallet. Makes total sense.
So it will be mandatory to have an iPhone to drive? Good news for Apple.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Someone else opined recently that they objected to ID cards, until they realised their phone has all the relevant data now anyway
For the umpteenth time, the primary threat with ID cards isn't the card itself, its the database.
A bunch of segregated and firewalled databases are far better, and far safer, than a unified database that links everything.
Just look at what's happening with the NI database leak. Then scale that up.
That is why ID cards are a dystopian threat and must be opposed vehemently.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
Why should anyone have anonymity for life for such heinous crimes
The parents who must be in utter despair and pain should be the focus of our care, not Letby
But the vile feeding frenzy that we will see in the Sunday RedTops will not benefit the parents of the victims.
Lucy Letby has been found guilty by her peers and she should receive the full letter of the law. I am nonetheless not looking forward to the tawdry journalistic w***fest to come.
Wouldn't like to be the registrar who was her FB friend. Already the DM has dubbed him the married man she "had an affair" with. Despite zero evidence for that assertion even in quotation marks.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Let's move driving licenses to our phones too. It's ridiculous that Brits need to carry a small plastic card. (And do you still need the piece of paper?)
Driving licenses should be able to be put onto Apple/Android wallet for sure
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
No. Sterling is not only by far the oldest currency in the world, with a direct, unrevalued lineage back to when it developed around the 9th century but is also the largest unit of account of any currency in the world as it is (I think - if not the largest, then very close to being).
I'd accept the end of that line in favour of the Euro but not for a purposeless revaluation.
You don't still need the bit of paper, they abolished that effing madness years ago. But agree that Driving Licences should be on Apple Wallet. Makes total sense.
So it will be mandatory to have an iPhone to drive? Good news for Apple.
Driving licences should be able to be held on Apple Wallet (and any equivalent on other OSs). The technology exists now. Plus passports, including days spent in Schengen so I don’t have to queue up and get stamped. We have our health records on an app now, which is helpful. Birth certificate, marriage certificate, will, donor card, etc etc. All perfectly feasible right now.
You don't still need the bit of paper, they abolished that effing madness years ago. But agree that Driving Licences should be on Apple Wallet. Makes total sense.
So it will be mandatory to have an iPhone to drive? Good news for Apple.
No, but allowing my driving licence to be stored on my phone as well as on plastic would allow me to show it to the police if so requested without having to present it at the station x days later.
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
No. Sterling is not only by far the oldest currency in the world, with a direct, unrevalued lineage back to when it developed around the 9th century but is also the largest unit of account of any currency in the world as it is (I think - if not the largest, then very close to being).
I'd accept the end of that line in favour of the Euro but not for a purposeless revaluation.
Its fifth. Behind Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Jordan.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
It's an important principle of justice that it is open and public. Generally speaking this protects those facing prosecution from the state using illegitimate means to prosecute and convict them.
If we weren't allowed to talk about the Lucy Letby case because it might identify her then it would be a lot easier for the state to persecute people and wrongfully imprison them.
On balance I think that it should be up to the defendant to choose to identify themselves before conviction - that would prevent the use of oppressive state secrecy while protecting individuals who are subsequently found not guilty.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
Why should anyone have anonymity for life for such heinous crimes
The parents who must be in utter despair and pain should be the focus of our care, not Letby
But the vile feeding frenzy that we will see in the Sunday RedTops will not benefit the parents of the victims.
Lucy Letby has been found guilty by her peers and she should receive the full letter of the law. I am nonetheless not looking forward to the tawdry journalistic w***fest to come.
I've never really understood the mindset of people who like to gorge on stories like this. I've read one news story about the verdicts and already feel the dreadful weight of what she did weighing on my mind. I really struggle with any story about harm to children. No doubt the tabloids know what sells, but it certainly has a distasteful voyeuristic quality to it, like people slowing down at the scene of a road accident.
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
No. Sterling is not only by far the oldest currency in the world, with a direct, unrevalued lineage back to when it developed around the 9th century but is also the largest unit of account of any currency in the world as it is (I think - if not the largest, then very close to being).
I'd accept the end of that line in favour of the Euro but not for a purposeless revaluation.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Someone else opined recently that they objected to ID cards, until they realised their phone has all the relevant data now anyway
For the umpteenth time, the primary threat with ID cards isn't the card itself, its the database.
A bunch of segregated and firewalled databases are far better, and far safer, than a unified database that links everything.
Just look at what's happening with the NI database leak. Then scale that up.
That is why ID cards are a dystopian threat and must be opposed vehemently.
An ID card that acts as a statement of who you are and your right to work would solve a lot of problems - for a lot of people. I've seen a lot of reports of people not getting jobs because they don't have a passport so it's too much hassle to confirm they right to work and the company moves on to the next candidate.
It was the attaching of the ID card to 5000 different datasets and databases that was and is a problem.
Wealthy oil nation lays groundwork for ‘eye-popping’ climate fund The United Arab Emirates has drawn a backlash from climate advocates for its role hosting the global climate talks, but the massive fund it’s considering would help countries green their economies.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/18/united-arab-emirates-eye-popping-climate-fund-00111736 ...The fund would help fill a financial chasm to shift nations’ energy economies off fossil fuels, with the aim of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Experts have said the effort will require trillions of dollars in spending to avoid catastrophic, irreversible effects of climate change.
In Washington, Republicans in Congress have vowed to block any U.S. effort to fulfill President Joe Biden’s promise to contribute $11 billion annually to international climate finance efforts...
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
No. Sterling is not only by far the oldest currency in the world, with a direct, unrevalued lineage back to when it developed around the 9th century but is also the largest unit of account of any currency in the world as it is (I think - if not the largest, then very close to being).
I'd accept the end of that line in favour of the Euro but not for a purposeless revaluation.
One Maltese lira is two quid
Malta exchanged the Lira for the Euro in 2008, as did Cyprus, which also had a unit of more value than the Pound Sterling.
Could be a critical moment for the Ukraine offensive. Get past this and there may well not be much stopping Ukraine reaching the Sea of Azov.
Staromlynivka ‼️
It seems that the battle for Staromlynivka has started. This is a very key point for the Russians and the Ukrainians. Please refer to previous tweets for more context. The Russians have understood it and they are calling on Shoigu to send reserves that he does not have... They cast the battle as decisive on the southern front.
It is possible that some Ukrainian units have completely bypassed Zavitne Bazhannya. ZB is very vulnerable because surrounded by the Mokri river north and east with the main road leading to Staromlynivka. Ukrainian artillery is reported already in the suburbs. https://twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1692569512602693779?s=20
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
Interesting compass test. Doubt my answers would surprise anyone.
M W P Y H B
Though I am also a strong environmentalist so could have gone E, if the alternative had been a climate change denialist I would have unequivocally gone E. I want to see the end of petrol cars, and a transition to clean electric instead - but I am not anti-car, I'm just anti-pollution which is completely different. So E/P is the only one I could have gone either with.
I liked this because I think it's useful to think about politics in different ways, but Myer-Briggs is a really bad model to use. Also I don't think you'd find many woke petrolheads ...
Last 10 Republican primary polls before Trump's 1 Aug indictment: average Trump score 56% 11 polls between 1 Aug and Georgia indictment: average Trump score 55% 2 polls since Georgia indictment: average Trump score 54%
I wondered if this would tell us anything. No, not really! Maybe we can extrapolate he drops 1pp per indictment...
I am in the process of being triggered about having to remind people how useless, institutionally, the NHS is.
Please take as read 20 posts on the matter, while I spare both me writing them or you reading them.
How many institutions wouldn't respond as this hospital did, in worrying more about how it would look than about the necessity to call in the police to conduct an investigation?
The NHS is a particularly egregious example, because their entire function is a caring one, and we interact with them when we are at our most vulnerable, but the failing seems to be almost universal.
Not defending Lucy Letby (if she did what she was convicted of, she deserves a full life tariff) but why were the Managers of Chester Hospital not lined up next to her for sentencing on specific serious charges relating to the seven deaths?
When my Mother died of neglect in the midst of the Princess of Wales Hospital scandal, I followed the subsequent court case with interest. As I recall two imported nurses were given prison sentences, whilst the Managers who oversaw the culture behind the fiasco retained their positions. Now that really was a perfect example of scapegoating the lowest common denominators.The Managers should have gone down for neglect caused by dereliction of duty alongside the nurses. If I had mowed my mother down in my car whilst texting on my mobile phone, I would quite rightly expect a hefty custodial sentence. Those Managers who were texting on their mobile phones, or casually whiling away their day as my Mother, with cancer and mild dementia whiled away several hours on the cold bathroom floor of a private room, anticipating her own imminent demise, should have been as equally culpable as the Filipino nurse.
The big fish always slip through the net, Mexican.
I think the saying was originally applied to leading Nazis slipping off to South America but it applies in a wide range of contexts, including the one you describe.
NU10K
The senior management involved may leave their jobs. With a payoff for the hurt and distress that have occurred. To them.
They will get better, higher paid jobs. Probably in a patient welfare/safeguarding charity/quango.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Someone else opined recently that they objected to ID cards, until they realised their phone has all the relevant data now anyway
For the umpteenth time, the primary threat with ID cards isn't the card itself, its the database.
A bunch of segregated and firewalled databases are far better, and far safer, than a unified database that links everything.
Just look at what's happening with the NI database leak. Then scale that up.
That is why ID cards are a dystopian threat and must be opposed vehemently.
An ID card that acts as a statement of who you are and your right to work would solve a lot of problems - for a lot of people. I've seen a lot of reports of people not getting jobs because they don't have a passport so it's too much hassle to confirm they right to work and the company moves on to the next candidate.
It was the attaching of the ID card to 5000 different datasets and databases that was and is a problem.
Yes, if there was a guarantee both that you do not have to carry the card while out, and that the card could not be linked to any other database then that would solve a lot of worries.
Lucy Letby deserves to spend the rest of her life in jail but I'm not sure I like this slightly crowing release of footage of the cops knicking her at home.
All feels rather voyeuristic.
Agree 100%.
I'm not having a good day.
I have found myself agreeing with and "liking" posts by Casino and AndyJS.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Phoning the police about your neighbours smoking weed = ?
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
I don't accept the first choice, as it's a false dichotomy. The answer (obviously) lies somewhere between the two, but what's important isn't where, by how well the economy is arranged irrespective of the precise mix between state and market.
The biggest problem with the political management of the UK economy is that we've been unnecessarily obsessed with S vs M, and utterly ignored the consequences of the damage we've done as we've shifted back and forth between the two.
Baxtered I still get to Labour on 300 seats with that - just.
So Corbyn would still be PM. He'd need LDs/SNP/SDLP though.
Although the Cons are only 30 seats behind on 270 seats and with an election campaign and targeting could possibly flip that (particularly since a mid-term poll).
I reckon if it was Corbyn v. Sunak the latter would still come ahead on seats on the day.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
Just must be seen to be delivered, and to be fair.
Imagine if people could be prosecuted and imprisoned, with no public record or information as to who was imprisoned and why?
Why should anyone have anonymity for life for such heinous crimes
The parents who must be in utter despair and pain should be the focus of our care, not Letby
But the vile feeding frenzy that we will see in the Sunday RedTops will not benefit the parents of the victims.
Lucy Letby has been found guilty by her peers and she should receive the full letter of the law. I am nonetheless not looking forward to the tawdry journalistic w***fest to come.
I've never really understood the mindset of people who like to gorge on stories like this. I've read one news story about the verdicts and already feel the dreadful weight of what she did weighing on my mind. I really struggle with any story about harm to children. No doubt the tabloids know what sells, but it certainly has a distasteful voyeuristic quality to it, like people slowing down at the scene of a road accident.
The crime genre is one of if not the most prevalent in all of fiction, we obviously like sordid tales. Ones of this level of awfulness are rarer, and consequently the number fascinated by the minutiae will be fewer, but the draw of the horrific is still there.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Let's move driving licenses to our phones too. It's ridiculous that Brits need to carry a small plastic card. (And do you still need the piece of paper?)
I'm the opposite to you.
I hate using my phone for everything and try and ignore it/switch it off when I can.
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
Good fun!
I am SWENHR but I I'd say the NY axis as specified is a problem for me: "Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure"? No. Should we build more houses and infrastructure? Definitely Yes.
I am also rather middling on S&M (ooh, er!), just a bit more S than M.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Phoning the police about your neighbours' smoking weed = ?
Doesn't affect me. But I am affected when vandalised walls fall down and vandalised pavements trip me up (as almost happened yesterday morning, incidentally).
The dichotomy is worse because in practice the parking thing would be a matter of reporting to thelocal authority parking warden anyway.
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
I don't accept the first choice, as it's a false dichotomy. The answer (obviously) lies somewhere between the two, but what's important isn't where, by how well the economy is arranged irrespective of the precise mix between state and market.
The biggest problem with the political management of the UK economy is that we've been unnecessarily obsessed with S vs M, and utterly ignored the consequences of the damage we've done as we've shifted back and forth between the two.
Question for PB: should people like Letby not be afforded anonymity for life?
And indeed, why are the names of criminals publicly available, what good does it serve?
How would you apply this approach to Donald Trump and his current travails? Would we better served if we didn't know Trump had been indicted for trying to overturn the election?
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
I don't accept the first choice, as it's a false dichotomy. The answer (obviously) lies somewhere between the two, but what's important isn't where, by how well the economy is arranged irrespective of the precise mix between state and market.
The biggest problem with the political management of the UK economy is that we've been unnecessarily obsessed with S vs M, and utterly ignored the consequences of the damage we've done as we've shifted back and forth between the two.
That's one of my core political beliefs.
"That's one of my core political beliefs" = S&M
Long a tradition of the ENglish upper classes. Spot of the old flage, what? Beaten into them at Eton, Harrow, Greyfriars, etc.
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
Interesting compass test. Doubt my answers would surprise anyone.
M W P Y H B
Though I am also a strong environmentalist so could have gone E, if the alternative had been a climate change denialist I would have unequivocally gone E. I want to see the end of petrol cars, and a transition to clean electric instead - but I am not anti-car, I'm just anti-pollution which is completely different. So E/P is the only one I could have gone either with.
Not much love for the N option on here then. Seems to be universal Ys. I smell a rat.
I can't think of a local development that I've ever opposed.
Now, maybe I've lived in such woebegone areas that no-one has wanted to develop in them, or nuking the area from orbit would be too good for it, but I think it's possible that NIMBYs are an example of very vocal groups that receive disproportionate attention compared to their size.
Yes I don't doubt you. More a general point. Eg from my NW3 locale, the remarkable number of people gung ho for upgrades to national infrastructure but virulently anti HS2. And no, not because of some rigorous detached objection to the vfm calcs or a differing view on where transport is going in the 21st century, but because of the impact on where we live. People usually find a way to badge their own nimbyism as something else.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Phoning the police about your neighbours smoking weed = ?
Not necessarily. Remember that the Lib Dems said that they would not form any government with Corbyn. It's possible that they'd still vote down a minority Tory government and so enable Corbyn to form a Labour one but it's not certain. Even if they did, without LD and SNP votes, Labour probably wouldn't be able to get a King's Speech through.
The most likely result would be a second election in short order afterwards, probably against a new Tory leader and certainly against a Lib Dem party happy to sweep up disillusioned centre-left voters.
Baxtered I still get to Labour on 300 seats with that - just.
So Corbyn would still be PM. He'd need LDs/SNP/SDLP though.
Although the Cons are only 30 seats behind on 270 seats and with an election campaign and targeting could possibly flip that (particularly since a mid-term poll).
I reckon if it was Corbyn v. Sunak the latter would still come ahead on seats on the day.
There's that thing with supermarkets needing you to use a £1 coin to liberate a trolley which you get back when you return it. For years I found this annoying (since I'm not a carrier) but just recently I had a bright idea. The bright idea hinges on the fact that if I'm doing a big shop requiring a trolley I'm always in the car so what I now do is ... dig this ... I keep a £1 coin in the car! I don't even think of it as 'cash' it's just the circular piece of metal that gets me a shopping trolley.
3 As at A level. Degree from Imperial College London. Chartered Accountant. Licenced Dealer of Securities.
You can purchase a device that lives on your keyring and liberates the trolley without depositing the coin...
Ah ha. Well if that costs 99p or less I'm in. But I'd keep it in the car rather than carry it on my person.
When we bought a car from Arnold Clarke, the fob on the keyring could be used for supermarket trollies.
Nice. So leaving the 'forgot my coin so can't get a trolley' drama to others.
Could be a critical moment for the Ukraine offensive. Get past this and there may well not be much stopping Ukraine reaching the Sea of Azov.
Staromlynivka ‼️
It seems that the battle for Staromlynivka has started. This is a very key point for the Russians and the Ukrainians. Please refer to previous tweets for more context. The Russians have understood it and they are calling on Shoigu to send reserves that he does not have... They cast the battle as decisive on the southern front.
It is possible that some Ukrainian units have completely bypassed Zavitne Bazhannya. ZB is very vulnerable because surrounded by the Mokri river north and east with the main road leading to Staromlynivka. Ukrainian artillery is reported already in the suburbs. https://twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1692569512602693779?s=20
Would seem that the US has concluded that if they want Ukraine to push Russia further back they will actually have to make the transfer of F-16 jets happen.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Sorry but when did I say I'd do that?
I wouldn't phone the Police for any petty crime. People taking drugs, or anything similar.
I have called the Police before, but only because of violence. If there is a threat of violence then I think it's reasonable to call to prevent that, not to report every petty thing.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Phoning the police about your neighbours' smoking weed = ?
Doesn't affect me. But I am affected when vandalised walls fall down and vandalised pavements trip me up (as almost happened yesterday morning, incidentally).
The dichotomy is worse because in practice the parking thing would be a matter of reporting to thelocal authority parking warden anyway.
Well of course no one is worried about how *you* might misuse such a system. But *other* people, you know, *those* people.
Not necessarily. Remember that the Lib Dems said that they would not form any government with Corbyn. It's possible that they'd still vote down a minority Tory government and so enable Corbyn to form a Labour one but it's not certain. Even if they did, without LD and SNP votes, Labour probably wouldn't be able to get a King's Speech through.
The most likely result would be a second election in short order afterwards, probably against a new Tory leader and certainly against a Lib Dem party happy to sweep up disillusioned centre-left voters.
Or people would think Corbyn won and should be given a chance, and punish the LibDems for triggering a new election.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Sorry but when did I say I'd do that?
I wouldn't phone the Police for any petty crime. People taking drugs, or anything similar.
I have called the Police before, but only because of violence. If there is a threat of violence then I think it's reasonable to call to prevent that, not to report every petty thing.
1. Insurance company rules, remember. 2. Actual vandalism of one's garden and garden wall, or the neighbours' garden etc, by intruders sure qualifies.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Let's move driving licenses to our phones too. It's ridiculous that Brits need to carry a small plastic card. (And do you still need the piece of paper?)
I'm the opposite to you.
I hate using my phone for everything and try and ignore it/switch it off when I can.
Still use wallet for everything I can.
Indeed. I'd much rather carry a thin light plastic card than a large heavy phone, If I'm out, I don't usually want anyone to call me, and everything else can wait.
I think that's sensible. I'm 1.2 miles from the nearest cashpoint, and exactly 3 miles from a second if that one is out of service. Should be feasible for the whole of England, perhaps some tricky cases in the Scottish Highlands.
Have you any idea of how many additional ATM's that would mean in rural Northumberland? I was living 1.5 miles from the nearest shop let alone ATM. That was 4 plus. And I was in the relatively well populated Tyne Valley.
Well banks can now be fined by the FCA if they don't provide a branch or ATM within 3 miles in rural areas
How does that work? They can simply say "not me, chum, some other bank can do it".
Some rural areas, you'd almost be lucky to have a *commercial building* to put an ATM in.
Nope the FCA can now fine any bank which shuts a branch in a market town or suburb or fails to provide an ATM in them either, no excuse
So does the fine go to the people who are the last to close an ATM in an area then?
This could lead to a rush not to be the last institution with an ATM in the area, and face being trapped doing so indefinitely.
No it goes to banks who sut branches too and who fail to provide ATMs in the area even if they don't have one now
That doesn't make sense. All bank branches have ATMs anyway so "shut a branch and don't have an ATM" is an emopty set.
I’ve been into a bank branch that didn’t have an ATM. Rare, but they occur.
Ah, thanks. I did wonder, but couldn't think of any. But, most of the time, most places, that'll apply. So the problem remains (and also whether FCA will even fine the bank more than 51p in cash).
Well, one was a Coutts office (meeting a friend that worked there). They had a counter for Coutts customers, but no machine.
Mind you, the funniest was a cash machine at Citi in Canary Wharf. That only dispensed £50 notes. I thought it symbolic of something - hubris? Idiocy? Still not entirely clear.
Especially odd seeing as £50 notes are hard to actually spend anywhere without someone pulling out an eye loupe.
True fact - until I moved to London aged 23 I had never seen a £50 note in real life (even though I'd done quite a bit of retail work).
You are right that most people do not see them. Friends gave someone a framed Turing £50 note for an IT worker's 50th birthday. They'd not realised the Turing notes were in general circulation; they thought it was a short-lived special like Peter Rabbit 50p pieces, so bought one on ebay at a large premium.
What's the deal with special 50p pieces which, if you look at them on eBay, vary in asking prices from 51p to £10,000.
Almost the entire purpose of the Royal Mint is to flog overpriced "special" coins to gullible collectors. https://www.royalmint.com/
Their other purpose is to bang out pennies and tuppences as if it was still 1971. Or even 1871.
The halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation in December 1984. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator we can see that half a penny in 1984 would today be worth just over 1.5p so there's a good case for withdrawing both the smallest denomination coins from circulation.
Incidentally, the halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation not long after the £1 coin was introduced (1983), which by inflation from then would now be worth the equivalent of £3.22 - so perhaps time to replace the £5 note with a coin?
If the £50 note was also withdrawn, as frequently considered to cut down on criminal use of it, that would leave Britain with only two denominations of banknote. Possibly the fewest denominations of banknote of any currency, and yet perhaps also the greatest variety of different banknotes because of all the Scottish variations...
We don't need to replace the £5 with a coin, which would be of much bigger value than the largest coins in most (all?) other countries - particularly at a time when cash is going out of fashion anyway.
But we should withdraw pennies and twopences from circulation.
I'd go for 5p too. They are so tiny.
Or we could re-baseline the value of the pound 10:1
Sets us up to manage inflation for the next century.
No. Sterling is not only by far the oldest currency in the world, with a direct, unrevalued lineage back to when it developed around the 9th century but is also the largest unit of account of any currency in the world as it is (I think - if not the largest, then very close to being).
I'd accept the end of that line in favour of the Euro but not for a purposeless revaluation.
I wasn't entirely serious but Sterling has been redenominated and devalued before.
Joining the Euro was and is a terrible idea that would have economic and political downsides as well as upsides and, as a decision that could only be taken once, makes no sense for the UK with only <50% of our trade being European - particularly in today's world of highly digitised currency.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Phoning the police about your neighbours smoking weed = ?
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
Interesting compass test. Doubt my answers would surprise anyone.
M W P Y H B
Though I am also a strong environmentalist so could have gone E, if the alternative had been a climate change denialist I would have unequivocally gone E. I want to see the end of petrol cars, and a transition to clean electric instead - but I am not anti-car, I'm just anti-pollution which is completely different. So E/P is the only one I could have gone either with.
I liked this because I think it's useful to think about politics in different ways, but Myer-Briggs is a really bad model to use. Also I don't think you'd find many woke petrolheads ...
Baxtered I still get to Labour on 300 seats with that - just.
So Corbyn would still be PM. He'd need LDs/SNP/SDLP though.
Although the Cons are only 30 seats behind on 270 seats and with an election campaign and targeting could possibly flip that (particularly since a mid-term poll).
I reckon if it was Corbyn v. Sunak the latter would still come ahead on seats on the day.
But the comparison should be Corbyn versus Truss.
Well, we can make any comparison we like but I don't think that's what that poll was intended to measure.
If Starmer got ejected tomorrow for Corbyn then I think that's what would happen. Probably a very weak Con minority.
Could be a critical moment for the Ukraine offensive. Get past this and there may well not be much stopping Ukraine reaching the Sea of Azov.
Staromlynivka ‼️
It seems that the battle for Staromlynivka has started. This is a very key point for the Russians and the Ukrainians. Please refer to previous tweets for more context. The Russians have understood it and they are calling on Shoigu to send reserves that he does not have... They cast the battle as decisive on the southern front.
It is possible that some Ukrainian units have completely bypassed Zavitne Bazhannya. ZB is very vulnerable because surrounded by the Mokri river north and east with the main road leading to Staromlynivka. Ukrainian artillery is reported already in the suburbs. https://twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1692569512602693779?s=20
Would seem that the US has concluded that if they want Ukraine to push Russia further back they will actually have to make the transfer of F-16 jets happen.
Should have happened many months ago. Quite how they expected Ukraine to conduct a NATO-style offensive without air support, I have no idea.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Sorry but when did I say I'd do that?
I wouldn't phone the Police for any petty crime. People taking drugs, or anything similar.
I have called the Police before, but only because of violence. If there is a threat of violence then I think it's reasonable to call to prevent that, not to report every petty thing.
1. Insurance company rules, remember. 2. Actual vandalism of one's garden and garden wall, or the neighbours' garden etc, by intruders sure qualifies.
If there's actual vandalism then yes sure, people can report that. If they want to, but that's not what we were talking about.
This isn't a driving issue, I would not support an app that could be used to report every petty thing to the police. Even if it excluded driving things, and was only other petty things, I'd still deplore that.
Such petty curtain twitching and Police State behaviour is not to be welcomed in a free society.
You don't still need the bit of paper, they abolished that effing madness years ago. But agree that Driving Licences should be on Apple Wallet. Makes total sense.
So it will be mandatory to have an iPhone to drive? Good news for Apple.
Driving licences should be able to be held on Apple Wallet (and any equivalent on other OSs). The technology exists now. Plus passports, including days spent in Schengen so I don’t have to queue up and get stamped. We have our health records on an app now, which is helpful. Birth certificate, marriage certificate, will, donor card, etc etc. All perfectly feasible right now.
what if you don't want Apple/Samsung/Google to have access to your financial info?
A new improved political compass, in the binary letter-combo style of Myers Briggs. Covering the 6 principal faultlines in British politics and ideology (or at least on PB):
Like Myers-Briggs, a forced preference - you have to fall on one side or other rather than claiming to be in the centre or that it depends.
1. Economics, which instead of left vs right I would define as socialised vs market. The extremes on each side being freewheeling market fundamentalism and communism, but in Britain more a case of believing in more or less state intervention in the economy:
S = socialised M = market
2. Social and identity politics: traditionalist/authoritarian vs liberal. Are you woke or anti-woke? Should we topple statues of slavers? Do we need a lavatory tsar and so on.
W = woke A = anti-woke
3. Green politics: are you an eco-warrior who wants us all on our bikes, stopping drilling in the North Sea and installing heat pumps, or are you a petrolhead who upholds everyone's right to keep 3 gas guzzlers in the cul-de-sac, thinks LTNs are the spawn of the devil, and wonders if the climate crisis stuff isn't just a tad overwrought.
E = eco-warrior P = petrolhead
4. Nimby vs Yimby. Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure, or protect what remains of our green and pleasant land?
N = nimby Y = yimby
5. Russia and Ukraine: are you a hawk or a dove? Do you despair of keyboard toy soldiers bloodthirstily escalating until the last Ukrainian / global thermonuclear war, and understand Russia's historical concerns on NATO expansion and the rights of Russian speakers in Donbas? Or do you see Putin as a fascist thug who must be defeated to avoid greater problems down the line?
D = dove H = hawk
6. Brexit or remain. In or out?
B = Brexit R = remain [rejoin]
As of today I am MWEYHR, although a couple of those are marginal (S/M and N/Y).
I don't accept the first choice, as it's a false dichotomy. The answer (obviously) lies somewhere between the two, but what's important isn't where, by how well the economy is arranged irrespective of the precise mix between state and market.
The biggest problem with the political management of the UK economy is that we've been unnecessarily obsessed with S vs M, and utterly ignored the consequences of the damage we've done as we've shifted back and forth between the two.
That's one of my core political beliefs.
Yes I will sign up to XWEYHR. X indicates that I refuse to sign up to the social vs market dichotomy. It just depends too much on the situation at hand. In fact although I am on the left I would rather live in ultra capitalism than ultra communism, since I reckon I would have a higher probability of starving under the latter, as an empirical observation.
Javier Milei seems to have real momentum in Argentina. He also has some serious people around him as well like Diana Mondino who was the Managing Director for Latin America at S&P and has been an effective performer on TV.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Phoning the police about your neighbours' smoking weed = ?
Doesn't affect me. But I am affected when vandalised walls fall down and vandalised pavements trip me up (as almost happened yesterday morning, incidentally).
The dichotomy is worse because in practice the parking thing would be a matter of reporting to thelocal authority parking warden anyway.
Well of course no one is worried about how *you* might misuse such a system. But *other* people, you know, *those* people.
I was being mischievous. But it's low level offending and nasty for other people right up front. And if LAs are not funded to enforce properly, or rather made to spend their limited money on social care instead, what's to happen?
As it is illegal to obstruct the pavement*, it's already policy to ask the public to phone in problem vehicles and get the police to look at them.
*In Scotland: not sure about rUK. Soon to be made flat out illegal to park on the pavement/footway if so required by the LA.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Someone else opined recently that they objected to ID cards, until they realised their phone has all the relevant data now anyway
For the umpteenth time, the primary threat with ID cards isn't the card itself, its the database.
A bunch of segregated and firewalled databases are far better, and far safer, than a unified database that links everything.
Just look at what's happening with the NI database leak. Then scale that up.
That is why ID cards are a dystopian threat and must be opposed vehemently.
An ID card that acts as a statement of who you are and your right to work would solve a lot of problems - for a lot of people. I've seen a lot of reports of people not getting jobs because they don't have a passport so it's too much hassle to confirm they right to work and the company moves on to the next candidate.
It was the attaching of the ID card to 5000 different datasets and databases that was and is a problem.
Yes, if there was a guarantee both that you do not have to carry the card while out, and that the card could not be linked to any other database then that would solve a lot of worries.
It's time to withdraw not just 1ps and 2ps from circulation, but credit/debit cards too.
We all use our phone for everything. They are fundamentally more secure (you need a PIN/fingerprint/face scan) to pay for anything. And we carry them with anyway.
Let's start a campaign to get phones accepted anywhere a credit/debit card is. Cash machines. Shops. Public transport. Parking machines*. Etc.
The environmental savings would be enormous. No more little bits of plastic. And we'd no longer need to carry a wallet in addition to our phones for the once in a blue moon occasion when we need our Halifax Cash Card.
* I would, however, ban those stupid parking apps, each of which appears to have been written by an incompetent nine year old.
Here's a left-field idea to solve the parking app problem: have the government create a single national parking app. They could make it illegal for anyone outside the system to issue fines.
I had a brilliant idea for an app a few years ago:
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
I support your wife's message.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
I disagree, it'd be great for sorting out pavement parking, and who could complain except the drivers who make life a misery?
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
I would.
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Phoning the police about neds vandalising the wall = good.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
Sorry but when did I say I'd do that?
I wouldn't phone the Police for any petty crime. People taking drugs, or anything similar.
I have called the Police before, but only because of violence. If there is a threat of violence then I think it's reasonable to call to prevent that, not to report every petty thing.
1. Insurance company rules, remember. 2. Actual vandalism of one's garden and garden wall, or the neighbours' garden etc, by intruders sure qualifies.
If there's actual vandalism then yes sure, people can report that. If they want to, but that's not what we were talking about.
This isn't a driving issue, I would not support an app that could be used to report every petty thing to the police. Even if it excluded driving things, and was only other petty things, I'd still deplore that.
Such petty curtain twitching and Police State behaviour is not to be welcomed in a free society.
I've only once done anything like this. I reported someone for discussing postal vote results on an online forum (not here!) before the count (after I had said on the online forum that they were breaking the law and should remove their comments and they kept on going).
O wise council of PB, did I make the right choice?
Comments
A lot more to come here, I think. This made for quite shocking reading.
It is a necessary safeguard against far worse tyrannies.
Secret courts, that can imprison people in secret, with nobody knowing who or why - that is a total perversion and miscarriage of justice.
(*There are a few exceptions, mostly involving children or the vulnerable, or extreme cases of national security)
The MO here seems to be fining the shit out of people who make mistakes though, and it's a lot easier to do that with a confusing app.
There mat be an argument for anonymity pre conviction for some crimes, though private justice proceedings come with issues too, bur post? No.
Lucy Letby has been found guilty by her peers and she should receive the full letter of the law. I am nonetheless not looking forward to the tawdry journalistic w***fest to come.
A Darwinian struggle is underway, and will have done its job before government worked out any way sensibly to legislate. The competent nine year olds will win out, probably.
I use Samsung Pay.
Others use Apple Pay.
Some use Google Pay.
You can choose to use your phone, or your watch too. Your choice.
Southern Californiathe world and having adventures you'd never forget. Since my life consists of catching trains to variousabsolute fucking ratholesparts in the UK and having adventures I try very hard to forget, I thought I'd adopt the term to add a little romance to my life. An affectation, but mine own,It is particularly egregious for some people accused - and then acquitted of sexual crimes - and where the victim gets anonymity but the accused does not. If you are found not guilty, it seems harsh that your name was dragged through the mud.
The LibDems proposed this in their 2010 manifesto, and the coalition *almost* did it, but there was a massive outcry and it got shelved.
'It was held that the media were quick to jump to conclusions regarding Jefferies's arrest. Being a retired English teacher who lived alone, whose physical appearance and "eccentrically unkempt white hair," made him stand out, led people to believe that he looked the type.'
I wonder how many PBers would qualify ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joanna_Yeates#Media_controversy
That's not necessarily an argument for duplicating effort, or keeping an entire parallel payment system just in case, but just that it sometimes isn't obvious how independent a set of different options are until they fail.
It would turn anyone with the app into a parking warden, and you would get a percentage of the fines you generated.
Illegal parking would largely be eliminated overnight. Councils would save a fortune as they wouldn't need enforcement staff.
But my wife threatened to leave me if I implemented it.
This has happened for many cases. See Weinstein as a prime example, he was getting away with his abuse for decades, then it came out and once some brave women stepped forward others felt empowered to do the same.
Same happened with Rolf Harris too.
Sometimes it goes too far and people pile in on innocent people, but that's why we have a public judicial system too, so that if people are innocent they can be seen to be acquitted. But if they are guilty, then them being seen to be convicted serves justice and can allow other victims satisfaction or the ability to come forward too.
There's no easy answers here, but public justice has worked better than secret justice ever has, which is inevitably abused.
Like suggesting 5p, 10p and 20p coins as alternative methods of payment.
Or HSBC, Barclays or Lloyds cards as alternatives.
My goodness that sounds horrific, like the worst attitudes of Covid lockdowns, people set against each other.
The scary thing is it would take off too. People love to curtain twitch and have a go at others.
A bunch of segregated and firewalled databases are far better, and far safer, than a unified database that links everything.
Just look at what's happening with the NI database leak. Then scale that up.
That is why ID cards are a dystopian threat and must be opposed vehemently.
People ring up and complain already anyway, so this is just doing for that what the apps for reporting blocked drans etc do already.
Already the DM has dubbed him the married man she "had an affair" with.
Despite zero evidence for that assertion even in quotation marks.
I'd accept the end of that line in favour of the Euro but not for a purposeless revaluation.
US hails ‘new era’ of Asia Pacific relations as Biden welcomes Japan and South Korea leaders to Camp David
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/aug/18/trump-trial-january-6-biden-summit-us-elections-live-updates
It was the attaching of the ID card to 5000 different datasets and databases that was and is a problem.
The United Arab Emirates has drawn a backlash from climate advocates for its role hosting the global climate talks, but the massive fund it’s considering would help countries green their economies.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/18/united-arab-emirates-eye-popping-climate-fund-00111736
...The fund would help fill a financial chasm to shift nations’ energy economies off fossil fuels, with the aim of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Experts have said the effort will require trillions of dollars in spending to avoid catastrophic, irreversible effects of climate change.
In Washington, Republicans in Congress have vowed to block any U.S. effort to fulfill President Joe Biden’s promise to contribute $11 billion annually to international climate finance efforts...
Staromlynivka ‼️
It seems that the battle for Staromlynivka has started. This is a very key point for the Russians and the Ukrainians. Please refer to previous tweets for more context.
The Russians have understood it and they are calling on Shoigu to send reserves that he does not have... They cast the battle as decisive on the southern front.
It is possible that some Ukrainian units have completely bypassed Zavitne Bazhannya. ZB is very vulnerable because surrounded by the Mokri river north and east with the main road leading to Staromlynivka. Ukrainian artillery is reported already in the suburbs.
https://twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1692569512602693779?s=20
I never park illegally, so that's not my problem. No objections to that.
I object to an attitude where people should be reporting on each other for everything.
Without wanting to Godwin, getting people to report their families and neighbours is straight out of the Nazi playbook.
Last 10 Republican primary polls before Trump's 1 Aug indictment: average Trump score 56%
11 polls between 1 Aug and Georgia indictment: average Trump score 55%
2 polls since Georgia indictment: average Trump score 54%
I wondered if this would tell us anything. No, not really! Maybe we can extrapolate he drops 1pp per indictment...
The senior management involved may leave their jobs. With a payoff for the hurt and distress that have occurred. To them.
They will get better, higher paid jobs. Probably in a patient welfare/safeguarding charity/quango.
Because of their expertise.
But we all know the agenda of the Civil Service.
Phoning the police about middle aged males vandalising the pavement and putting mothers and families at risk = bad?
Doesn't compute.
So Corbyn would still be PM. He'd need LDs/SNP/SDLP though.
The answer (obviously) lies somewhere between the two, but what's important isn't where, by how well the economy is arranged irrespective of the precise mix between state and market.
The biggest problem with the political management of the UK economy is that we've been unnecessarily obsessed with S vs M, and utterly ignored the consequences of the damage we've done as we've shifted back and forth between the two.
That's one of my core political beliefs.
I reckon if it was Corbyn v. Sunak the latter would still come ahead on seats on the day.
I hate using my phone for everything and try and ignore it/switch it off when I can.
Still use wallet for everything I can.
I am SWENHR but I I'd say the NY axis as specified is a problem for me: "Should we concrete over the green belt and build build build because the country needs infrastructure"? No. Should we build more houses and infrastructure? Definitely Yes.
I am also rather middling on S&M (ooh, er!), just a bit more S than M.
The dichotomy is worse because in practice the parking thing would be a matter of reporting to thelocal authority parking warden anyway.
18 Aug: Lab +16
11 Aug: Lab +24
4 Aug: Lab +22
28 July: Lab +23
21 July : Lab +22
The most likely result would be a second election in short order afterwards, probably against a new Tory leader and certainly against a Lib Dem party happy to sweep up disillusioned centre-left voters.
1. US intelligence thinks Ukraine will fail to reach Melitopol in this counteroffensive.
https://kyivindependent.com/washington-post-us-intelligence-thinks-ukraine-will-fail-to-reach-counteroffensives-key-goal/
2. US confirms it will approve F-16 transfer when Ukrainian pilot training is complete.
https://kyivindependent.com/white-house-t/
Would seem that the US has concluded that if they want Ukraine to push Russia further back they will actually have to make the transfer of F-16 jets happen.
I wouldn't phone the Police for any petty crime. People taking drugs, or anything similar.
I have called the Police before, but only because of violence. If there is a threat of violence then I think it's reasonable to call to prevent that, not to report every petty thing.
2. Actual vandalism of one's garden and garden wall, or the neighbours' garden etc, by intruders sure qualifies.
Joining the Euro was and is a terrible idea that would have economic and political downsides as well as upsides and, as a decision that could only be taken once, makes no sense for the UK with only <50% of our trade being European - particularly in today's world of highly digitised currency.
If Starmer got ejected tomorrow for Corbyn then I think that's what would happen. Probably a very weak Con minority.
Little to do, so I have checked by sixpences, and the 58 of them are maybe worth about 29 stamps.
Unless the 1948 one is worth a little more.
This isn't a driving issue, I would not support an app that could be used to report every petty thing to the police. Even if it excluded driving things, and was only other petty things, I'd still deplore that.
Such petty curtain twitching and Police State behaviour is not to be welcomed in a free society.
As it is illegal to obstruct the pavement*, it's already policy to ask the public to phone in problem vehicles and get the police to look at them.
*In Scotland: not sure about rUK. Soon to be made flat out illegal to park on the pavement/footway if so required by the LA.
But what does that to do with ID cards?
O wise council of PB, did I make the right choice?