Categories
How was this sausage made? – politicalbetting.com
How was this sausage made? – politicalbetting.com
What was the one development without which the Post Office scandal could not have happened? In a bitter irony, tinkering with a law enacted following a serious miscarriage of justice – the Confait case – the Inquiry report (yes, another one!) is here) enabled what is now the worst miscarriage of justice in English history. The law is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (“PACE”); the tinkering is to S.69 – its removal and replacement by – well, nothing.
1
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
This is in top tier of scandals involving the justice system in the history of the UK
As discussed here before it’s the anonymity and geographically dispersed nature of the victims that makes it so.
I am on my second rooftop Martini and it amused me to lurch from reasonable if quirky argumentation to pointless overdone sweary abuse
That said, these twee little internet exaggerations do annoy me - “you owe me a new laptop” - no he doesn’t - “ROFLMAO” - no that didn’t happen - etc
They are very much a tic of the midwit Left
It’s not “twelve years a slave” is it?
This is up there with the Rotherham abuses and Jimmy Savile, systemic failures over a long period of time rather than a reaction to a single event.
Yes, the varied nature of those involved played a huge part - they were of all races, ages, genders, and locations across the country, with nothing linking them together in the mind of the public.
The second Martini was right, as is so often the case. In vino veritas.
Farrell can be an annoying player but all sympathy to him if something nasty has happened. He gets far too much criticism as it is. Often from me. So now I feel guilty
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-shortage-occupations/skilled-worker-visa-shortage-occupations
I suppose the idea is to incentivize the hiring foreigners so that vital jobs aren't left unfilled.
Bravo!
I suggest we adopt these as special PB neologisms which mark us out
To my mind they are as good as
Lagershed
Rogerdamus (invented by @seant I believe)
BAXTERED (also @seant)
And
OGH (no idea)
From now on I shall use both liberally
The problem arises with any action, communication etc relying on a system outside of the one communicating and the recipient - which in the modern world is more or less everything apart from personal conversation and paper with writing on it (what are they? a young person might ask).
Let us say that a minor criminal case depends upon: An email, a text message and the absence of any record of a transaction in a branch of Sainsbury's on the Saturday before Christmas (his alibi).
The prosecutor is to prove all this. The defendant remains mostly mute, denies everything, asserts the email and text message never existed and that the absence of record of a particular transaction in Sainsbury's is due to computer unreliability.
The task of proving every stage of these everyday matters would be burdensome in a murder case let alone some minor matter.
So what is to be done, Cyclefree, when reliance of systems no individual understands in universal, and how shall the law be framed?
In the US there is a well known case, Judd vs Citibank, in which it was ruled that it's not reasonable for the burden of proof about a computer system to be on an individual. In that case, there was a phantom withdrawal from a bank account, and Citibank thought the burden on proof should be on the account holder to prove that their systems were buggy. Given that the account holder was a little old lady who knew nothing of computers, it was obvious to the Judge that this was unreasonable. Sadly this state of affairs does not hold in the UK.
Thankfully none of those shallow types on here.
I dread to think what scandals I'm lukewarm on are actually way worse than I think.
The pilot just said “we are literally sitting here waiting for a screw” and AMALCUMB at that.
Edit1: I’m sure one of the hosties will oblige the pilot, if he asks nicely?
Edit2: Genuinely don’t worry if you’re in any way nervous. The pilot and the engineer do know what they’re doing!
Or perhaps it is on the plane, but not in the right location? If anyone finds it, I guess they'll be able to say they once had a screw on a plane.
“Almost half of the population is unemployed and living in poverty. Nationwide, the jobless rate stands at 32.9%. Around 18 million people rely on some form of social aid, which makes the number of beneficiaries twice as many as registered taxpayers.
Meanwhile, crime has proliferated. The once flourishing central business district is an eyesore where derelict buildings are hijacked by criminal syndicates, forcing out major commercial operations from the area. For more petty criminals, in vogue are cables and metals that can be stolen from electricity substations and sold on the black market. Others just try to connect to the grid illegally.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-06-16/south-africa-s-crime-chaos-and-corruption-make-it-look-like-a-failed-state
On the other hand, they have a really good, well-integrated rugby team
At least you will die in Biz class? Albeit sober, which seems a waste of champagne
In 2022-23 the UK endured about 660 homicides
In the 2nd quarter of 2023 - ie in just 3 months - South Africa endured 7,000 murders, and 13,000 sexual assaults - those are the ones recorded by police
“The police also recorded 6 009 hijackings, 6 045 robberies at residential properties and 4 910 robberies at non-residential premises.”
https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/parliament/crime-stats-close-to-7000-south-africans-murdered-in-three-months-13-000-sexually-assaulted-20231117
This is a major state on the brink of failure, yet how often is it mentioned?
No major news service, that I can recall, is offering the fairly relevant info that SA is on the brink of total collapse into criminal anarchy, with widespread power cuts, business chaos, crumbling infra, water shortages, and so on. Yet the briefest search of Google news shows this is the case
It is going the same way as Zimbabwe, as the Afrikaaner racists predicted
But yes, it's interesting how seldom it's mentioned. Is it because we have mentally placed SA in a box marked 'third world' and just expect it to be terrible? Or is it because we all tacitly agreed that apartheid was so bad that whatever replaced it had to work and we just don't want to know that it didn't?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iiny1GrfhYM
“South Africa's Slow, Inevitable March Towards Collapse” 3M views.
Oh dear oh dear. Let's see where this one goes. I'm intrigued and at the same time a little anxious.
Who would play the role that Germany did in Yugoslavia when they unilaterally recognised the independence of Slovenia and Croatia?
Then the white South African manager of a posh hotel in Cambodia sat me down - two weeks ago - and told me the truth over drinks. He was nearly in tears. He isn’t some gloating Boer, he is clearly a Saffer patriot - with lots of family there. But he says they are ALL intending to leave, he never wants to go back. He says every single person he knows has either personal or direct second hand (ie close family or friend) experience of truly horrible violent crime
Thing is, was there any other option? Was there any way of ending apartheid without handing power to an organisation which seems both corrupt and criminal? Was failure just baked in to post-apartheid South Africa?
They told me to call back at 20/1.
26 Nov 2023
The days and times you’re most at risk of being hijacked in South Africa
https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/731043/the-days-and-times-youre-most-likely-to-be-hijacked-in-south-africa/
That is apocalyptic stuff
In SA two things have to be distinguished: The fundamental decency of One Person One Vote, and a legal infrastructure not built around segregation and inferiority; secondly, what populations and voters and politicos do with these things once they have them.
It’s sad though as it’s my most visited country after France (which doesn’t really count for many reasons) and is one of the most beautiful countries on earth.
And even if every Post Office victim is properly compensated (which seems unlikely) that problem remains unaddressed, and is likely to lead to further miscarriages.
For the first time, Labour leads the SNP in our Westminster VI poll.
Scotland Westminster VI (26-27 November):
Labour 36% (+4)
SNP 34% (+2)
Conservative 17% (-6)
Lib Dem 6% (-2)
Reform 3% (+1)
Green 2% (–)
Other 0% (-1)
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1729908084368130108
Scotland Independence Referendum Voting Intention (26-27 November):
No 48% (-2)
Yes 46% (+1)
Don't Know 6% (+1)
Changes +/- 29-30 October
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1729909413023027607
Several things have changed. Less respect for authority, migration leading to less societal trust, the influence of violent media, esp from the USA?
However it’s important to note that Britain was much more violent in the more distant past. Victorian Britain could be pretty brutal and medieval England had a notably high homicide rate compared to now - the murder rate was 60 times higher then, than now
https://www.popsci.com/science/england-medieval-murder-map/
We were peripherally debating the Fuel Duty Freeze this morning. From the Treasury Select Committee this afternoon:
Q: Will you put up fuel duty next year? Your plans assume it will go up, but if it gets frozen again, as usually happens, then you have lost half of your fiscal headroom.
Hunt says this will be announced next year.
Q: Isn’t it a mistake to make plans on the basis of tax rises that will never happen?
Hunt insists that the freeze in the fuel duty rise is a temporary measure, not a permanent one.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2023/nov/29/theresa-may-criticise-rishi-sunak-oil-gas-licences-north-sea-green-policy-covid-inquiry-uk-politics-latest?page=with:block-65675b1e8f087816ab20acfc#block-65675b1e8f087816ab20acfc
Hmmm. Half his fiscal headroom.
confirmation that another Russian general, Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, was killed in Ukraine: in fighting on the Dnipro's left bank, in Kherson. He's at least the 10th general to have been killed in the war. (?). Unconfirmed reports say he may have stepped on a land mine.
https://twitter.com/Mike_Eckel/status/1729894945912168720
Which suggests the disparity is not as bad as the raw figures suggest, due to population growth & reclassification of what counts as a homicide.
IIRC in particular, back in the 60s a multiple murder counted as a single “event” for statistical purposes, but in 1997 that changed so that every single death was counted individually. After correction for these effects & population growth it seems that the murder rate has roughly doubled since the 1960s.
Which is a little surprising, given the availability of guns & the much poorer quality of emergency medical care between the two periods. It does seem that society has become more violent based on this data.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1729908895479431596
Poor Guyana.
(Venezuela claims a vast portion of Guyana, in which a *lot* of oil has recently been found. Venezuela was due to hold a referendum on Sunday to reinforce their claim (in Venezuela, of course...)
Basically, it's an authoritarian regime trying to grab oil-rich lands.
The credibility of Hunt's fiscal plans depends upon the assumption that the winner of the next election will engage in serious austerity - particularly as far as departmental sending is concerned.
He's basically putting off the tough choices for the next government to make.
Nikolay Vasev (42), senior vice-president of Russia’s leading bank “Sber” dies of heart attack.
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1729135949215576121
Count Binface
@CountBinface
Vote Count Binface and all shops that play Christmas music before December will be closed down and turned into public libraries
Bill to ban leaseholds doesn’t ban leaseholds, ministers admit
https://twitter.com/RhonddaBryant/status/1729880146960961716
If it was in the bill they would surely have had time for the obligatory u-turn before implementation. Now, it could go either way.
Not great, but it's a good start.
Leasehold houses may still be legally allowed to be sold, but after the huge amount of publicity in the last five years around "fleecehold" and unfair service charges, who would be mad enough to buy one?
A difficulty with your line of argument is that the very things you use to explain higher crime now compared with (say) 1910 fall apart when you set the baseline as 1300. Why did they have much higher rates of violent crime than today - was there less respect for authority in a feudal society? Was there a lot of migration or did people tend not to migrate more than a hundred yards from their place of birth? Were the monasteries churning out a lot of violent media (I suppose the Bible is a bit gory in places but still)?
I'm being a bit flippant, of course, but it does illustrate the problem of picking two arbitrary dates and looking for differences to explain the difference in a measured statistic. If you change one of the dates, your cherry-picked explanations often fall apart.
Lessons? I don't know apart from the obvious one of don't go for apartheid if you want a free and prosperous country. It won't just preclude that while it's in place it could also be a devil to shrug off once it's lifted.
One of my Co workers is looking at a house on a new build estate which has a £101 a year ground rent for a shared space. Personally,I’d avoid like the plague.
That said, it is a bit like litter. In litter free places, it is much harder to litter as it seems and feels and IS so much more conspicuous. If everyone litters, who cares, chuck it anywhere; same for crime
I firmly believe in the broken windows theory. Clamp down on petty things like litter, graffiti, vandalism, social annoyance, and eventually you impact the bigger things like violent crime and corruption
I also reckon that, in the end, high crime societies heading for collapse will choose the El Salvador approach. Build huge prisons, lock up anyone remotely dodgy, fuck human rights. It’s not pretty but it seems to work and it is better than murderous anarchy
As most people who live here tend to drive south on holiday there are few flights to holiday destinations.
The result is an incredibly efficient and pleasant airport out of season. I landed at 6.25 and was on a shuttle to car hire by 6.40. E-gates with a stamper after, who gave my passport a cursory look.
Considering the entrenched interests against any kind of reform at all (many of them Tory donors), it's a win for Gove, and makes me think better of him.