As an aside, this morning I am reminded once again how far ahead in content and quality France 24 is compared to any of the UK news offerings. Sky with the self inflated Kay Burley is unwatchable, BBC Breakfast is turgid and GB news is just weird. France 24 cover more topics in more detail and from a far more international perspective in 10 minutes than any UK news channel does in half a day.
I think the comparator for France 24 has to be BBC World Service, surely?
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
This is one of the tragedies of Brexit. The EU would be a lot better with the UK as an enthusiastic member. Both sides have lost a lot from the rupture.
I remember being told at a pharmaceutical conference in 2017 (I think) that cutting ourselves adrift from Europe would have adverse pharmaceutical consequences.
It had very serious consequences in 2020.
When we first to develop a vaccine and inoculate our population.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
All I can see there is people asking for help. Not answers, and definitely not answers saying you can’t.
I’m not disbelieving you, just asking for better evidence. I’d like to think, of course, that the EU would sort itself out with respect to A.I. Of course, if we’d still been members we might have been able to help.
I read the plot summary of James Joyce's Ulysses on Wiki last night and I thought it sounded deranged.
I've little to no interest in reading the rambling monologues of three individuals who happen to bumble around Dublin on one day in 1904, even if it does contain a handful of great quotes.
It's one book I'm confident I'll never read, and I don't think my life will be any the worse for it.
Ulysses is hard going and not for everyone. I would, however, recommend Dubliners, which has some of the most sublimely beautiful prose you’ll ever encounter.
Sounds boring. I'm not particularly interested in fiction anyway, unless it's a very good Thriller, so it having some passages of sublimely beautiful prose doesn't attract me.
It's a bit like The Deerhunter, which people banged on for years was one of the best films ever made and a "must see", whereas I thought it awfully tedious and that the director had disappeared up his own arse.
It all gets a bit Emperors New Clothes where everyone knows they are expected to like it and appreciate it, so all say they do lest they come across like a philistine.
Citizen Kane isn’t all that great…
I decided to watch some classics that I had never seen. Citizen Kane was one and I was very disappointed. Nothing special in my opinion. Another was the Godfather and I thought that brilliant.
But what about Kane compared to other films of its time?
If you look at 1941, absolutely... How Green was my Valley ? Not for nothing is is seen to be so influential for directorial technique.
But just a year later: Casablanca; Now Voyager; Saboteur and quite a number of others which stand the test of time.
"How Green was my Valley" sounds like it could be worked into a Header article as one of TSE's Double Entendre Puns.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
This is one of the tragedies of Brexit. The EU would be a lot better with the UK as an enthusiastic member. Both sides have lost a lot from the rupture.
Yes, it’s arguable that the UK - with a decent sized A.I. industry, might have stopped these EU laws if we were in the EU. But the emphasis is on “might”
France also has good A.I. companies and those companies, plus Macron, lobbied against the latest laws. The laws passed, anyway
It’s interesting talking to Remainery AI people on this. The cognitive dissonance is intense. Before they know the reason why they can’t access Claude they rage against these regulations. When told that they come from Brussels and the UK is exempt and Brits have better access they go quiet. Then eventually they revert to “well thank God Brussels is protecting us from dangerous tech”
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
All I can see there is people asking for help. Not answers, and definitely not answers saying you can’t.
I’m not disbelieving you, just asking for better evidence. I’d like to think, of course, that the EU would sort itself out with respect to A.I. Of course, if we’d still been members we might have been able to help.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
All I can see there is people asking for help. Not answers, and definitely not answers saying you can’t.
I’m not disbelieving you, just asking for better evidence. I’d like to think, of course, that the EU would sort itself out with respect to A.I. Of course, if we’d still been members we might have been able to help.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
All I can see there is people asking for help. Not answers, and definitely not answers saying you can’t.
I’m not disbelieving you, just asking for better evidence. I’d like to think, of course, that the EU would sort itself out with respect to A.I. Of course, if we’d still been members we might have been able to help.
Once the machines take over it will all be sorted and it won't matter where we are.
I did say I hoped Gething and Skates would move away from Drakeford more extreme policies and this new today is sensible and seems to have been a response to Welsh Labour candidates expressing concern about the policy
If this had been done in the beginning it would have been widely supported and is a lesson I listening
Major U-turn on 20mph speed limits signalled for Wales
So anyway the AI cloned my voice and that late-night phone call asking for a few grand to free me from the dungeon where the bad people are holding me - that wasn't me! Pure coincidence the cash ended up in my bank account...
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
"AI" is actually good at *some* things.
For coding, it can do small bits of work. It can't do more - I've just completed a review of the state of the art.
The reason for this is that coding is both a bit creative and requires exactness. So the "AI"s will give you yards of code which are mashed together from Stack Overflow (Gemini actually gives you references to what it has cribbed from). The yards of code are kinda related to what you want. But aren't.
Recipes are not so exact and also simpler, structurally. An inexact recipe is still probably quite good.
I did say I hoped Gething and Skates would move away from Drakeford more extreme policies and this new today is sensible and seems to have been a response to Welsh Labour candidates expressing concern about the policy
If this had been done in the beginning it would have been widely supported and is a lesson I listening
Major U-turn on 20mph speed limits signalled for Wales
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
I did say I hoped Gething and Skates would move away from Drakeford more extreme policies and this new today is sensible and seems to have been a response to Welsh Labour candidates expressing concern about the policy
If this had been done in the beginning it would have been widely supported and is a lesson I listening
Major U-turn on 20mph speed limits signalled for Wales
"She laughs a lot during the two hour lunch - although many across the UK and in her party do not see the funny side."
Actually, this is becoming the political equivalent of a Victorian freak show. I'm genuinely worried. Someone needs to make it end.
The book promotion shite will be over very shortly and then she will be back to being ignored except in the outer reaches of planet whacko National Populist Conservatively Challenged or whatever they are called this week.
So anyway the AI cloned my voice and that late-night phone call asking for a few grand to free me from the dungeon where the bad people are holding me - that wasn't me! Pure coincidence the cash ended up in my bank account...
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
"AI" is actually good at *some* things.
For coding, it can do small bits of work. It can't do more - I've just completed a review of the state of the art.
The reason for this is that coding is both a bit creative and requires exactness. So the "AI"s will give you yards of code which are mashed together from Stack Overflow (Gemini actually gives you references to what it has cribbed from). The yards of code are kinda related to what you want. But aren't.
Recipes are not so exact and also simpler, structurally. An inexact recipe is still probably quite good.
They are superb editors of words; better than human
But I’ve vowed not to talk about A.I. too much and anyway I have to go do some work. I will be liaising with Claude. I’ll leave with one thought: this is as bad as the tech will ever get. It’s only going to improve and already it is as good as humans at most cognitive tasks and far far better at some. This graph is actually outdated - AI has leapt further ahead since
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
Otherwise I’m travelling at the moment and, like the 2/3rds of other Brits travelling abroad this year, conscious once more of the ceaseless disaster called Brexit.
I do love the ultra generalised whine - it really does suggest you cannot think of anything specific to complain about.
I'm not a regular foreign traveller. I've been abroad once since Brexit, last year; my wife's been three times (this year, last year and the year before). All three times to the EU. The constant rumblings on here and elsewhere had led me to expect it to be frustrating. But on no occasion was it any more difficult than pre-Brexit. My argument has always been that foreign travel is not really a regular event for most people, and that having to queue for a bit for that once-every-year-or-two event isn't really the metric on which Brexit should be judged. But my limited experience has been that it has had no impact whatsoever. I'm sure some people have had horrorshows. But that was also true before Brexit.
I travel a reasonable bit for business (academic conferences* and meetings that clearly must be done in person )
It varies hugely by airport/country. Some it's bugger all difference, others you can be stood in the non-EU lane waiting for one or two people when the EU lane is open, staffed and with no one waiting. Probably comes down to the bosses' and workers' attitude to Brexit and the Brits (or the wider EU/not EU split, not UK/Brexit-specific).
*online conferences do really suck, generally, unless very short - too long staring at a screen and none of the useful making of contacts and getting together to knock an idea together that later becomes a grant application or collaboration. On the other hand, I'm travelling four hours each way next month to give a ten minute presentation and there's probably little else of interest for me at the conference, so I'd much rather do that online if possible.
I believe Eurostar has fewer trains, fewer passengers, longer queues and check-in times, and higher prices, because of Brexit. Can anyone confirm?
As with all Brexit issues Scott can confirm it is most definitely the fault of Brexit and the StillWater/TurboTubbs duo can confirm it is most definitely not the fault of Brexit. These insights are always very educational and balanced.
Fewer trains and fewer passengers strike me as symptomatic of a reduction in business travel with tech alternatives having improved. Longer queues and check-in times almost certainly Brexit related - but one of my wife's trips abroad was on Eurostar, where contrary to what she had been warned, she queued for about 10 minutes. I last went on Eurostar back in 1999 so I can't say how it compares with any accuracy! Higher prices - well, that's true of everything.
General rule of thumb is that if you're going to go to Europe it's the French border where they're most likely to be playing silly buggers. This was also true before Brexit but Brexit has given them more opportunities.
Passenger numbers seem to be back to pre-pandemic levels:
"Eurostar transported 18.6 million passengers in 2023, a 22% increase over 2022 and marking a return to pre-pandemic passenger levels.
The rail operator, created through the 2022 merger of Eurostar and Thalys, credits strong demand on routes connecting London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Belgian cities for growth.
“Eurostar demonstrated its capability to grow in 2023. Our journey to 30 million passengers by 2030 continues in 2024,” said Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave."
If they think they can go from 18.6 million journeys now to 30 million in 2030, presumably they are confident border procedures and/or space for them will improve.
(Edit: or they are lumping in the new Thayls routes into that 30m...)
I always like this sort of merger. Eurostar and Thalys merged to form.... Eurostar. We can see who wears the trousers in that marriage.
Why mention this? Well because it now appears, according to the French Ministry of Culture, that the manuscript actually belonged to the publisher. And that publisher happens to be my great-great-great grandfather. The French government wants to acquire it and needs the permission of his heirs. There are quite a few of us, of course.
So I will be having an interesting conversation this afternoon with the French government's representative.
The publisher was born in Italy, moved to France and then went with Ferdinand de Lesseps to Egypt at the time of the building of the Suez Canal. He died there and is buried in Egypt. I have a beautiful drawing of his daughter (my grandmother's grandmother) when she was an old lady in my bedroom. A fine looking woman.
I need to write all these family stories down. We have so many of them.
So anyway the AI cloned my voice and that late-night phone call asking for a few grand to free me from the dungeon where the bad people are holding me - that wasn't me! Pure coincidence the cash ended up in my bank account...
Resting in your account?
That was the phrase that immediately came to mind when I woke up this morning to the Mark Menzies news.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
"AI" is actually good at *some* things.
For coding, it can do small bits of work. It can't do more - I've just completed a review of the state of the art.
The reason for this is that coding is both a bit creative and requires exactness. So the "AI"s will give you yards of code which are mashed together from Stack Overflow (Gemini actually gives you references to what it has cribbed from). The yards of code are kinda related to what you want. But aren't.
Recipes are not so exact and also simpler, structurally. An inexact recipe is still probably quite good.
They are superb editors of words; better than human
But I’ve vowed not to talk about A.I. too much and anyway I have to go do some work. I will be liaising with Claude. I’ll leave with one thought: this is as bad as the tech will ever get. It’s only going to improve and already it is as good as humans at most cognitive tasks and far far better at some. This graph is actually outdated - AI has leapt further ahead since
This is from in house lawyer of an organisation which acted as prosecutor in these cases. How can there not be a duty to disclose, which covers material stuff you're deliberately remaining in ignorance of ?
..,'We didn't have a duty to disclose error data' The inquiry continues to discuss the known error logs, or 'KELs'.
Jason Beer KC, who is questioning Rodric Williams, says it appears the Post Office's suggested approach from its lawyers - "either from you or communicated through you" - is that "we shouldn't look at documents that might contain adverse material, because we might have to disclose them".
"Instead lets wait until the litigation is over and our duties of disclosure have ceased to arise?" Beer asks.
Williams later says: "I'm saying it's a way to mitigate the risk".
Beer questions this, exclaiming, "Risk of what?"
Williams went on to say: "Once the litigation concluded, we didn't have a duty to disclose..."
Barr responded: "That's why you have to discharge the duty in the litigation... before it's concluded".
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
In a vaguely related post, in my job as an accountant, starting 1st October 2024, the SME limits are rising by 50% (turnover from £10.2m to £15 for small for instance). The EU recently raised theirs, but only by 25%. Brexit benefit all round and less work for me! Hurrah!
Just need to get rid of audits for SMEs now................ And deferred tax.
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
No.
Some jurisdictions have a rule that a contract taken out by some method (e.g online) must be cancellable by the same method. Shame we don't.
(Actually, the trick here is this: contact your new provider and port the number. By law, your old contract will automatically be cancelled when the number is ported.)
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
'Drug shortages are a “new normal” in the UK and are being exacerbated by Brexit, a report by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank has warned. A dramatic recent spike in the number of drugs that are unavailable has created serious problems for doctors, pharmacists, the NHS and patients, it found.
The number of warnings drug companies have issued about impending supply problems for certain products has more than doubled from 648 in 2020 to 1,634 last year.'
Those drug shortages about which we were warned but Brexiters pooh-poohed them more than Thames Water?
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
Life hack:
The best way to interact with most big companies these days is through Twix. You post a "hey, I can't cancel my subscription, WTF?!" and @ them in the tweet.
Their UK-based brand reputation people pick up the tweet and deal with your problem, usually through a ticket system meaning it's all handled internally by the company.
I learned this with a company I won't name, after waiting four hours with the same 30 second hold music looping after I selected the "I want to cancel my account" option over the phone and decided it was the only way to get through to the bastards. It worked.
LibDems heading towards 5th place. Well done Davey.
I keep forgetting he exists - he is fucking useless. They'd be better off having her with the teeth or maybe the actual Leila Khaled as leader.
and yet those figures make the Lib Dems the 3rd largest party with 44 seats compared to the tories on 56.
Sometimes Davey reminds me of Clement Davies, Lib leader in the 1950’s. He was offered a Coalition cabinet post after the 1951 election, but refused it.
Where then, one asks, is today’s Jo Grimond “When in doubt, march towards the sound of gunfire!”?
This is from in house lawyer of an organisation which acted as prosecutor in these cases. How can there not be a duty to disclose, which covers material stuff you're deliberately remaining in ignorance of ?
..,'We didn't have a duty to disclose error data' The inquiry continues to discuss the known error logs, or 'KELs'.
Jason Beer KC, who is questioning Rodric Williams, says it appears the Post Office's suggested approach from its lawyers - "either from you or communicated through you" - is that "we shouldn't look at documents that might contain adverse material, because we might have to disclose them".
"Instead lets wait until the litigation is over and our duties of disclosure have ceased to arise?" Beer asks.
Williams later says: "I'm saying it's a way to mitigate the risk".
Beer questions this, exclaiming, "Risk of what?"
Williams went on to say: "Once the litigation concluded, we didn't have a duty to disclose..."
Barr responded: "That's why you have to discharge the duty in the litigation... before it's concluded".
Williams said "that work was being undertaken"...
In the Canadian case of Boucher Justice Rand said:
"It cannot be over-emphasised that the purpose of a criminal prosecution is not to obtain a conviction, it is to lay before a jury what the Crown considers to be credible evidence relevant to what is alleged to be a crime. Counsel have a duty to to see that all available legal proof of the facts is presented: it should be done firmly and pressed to its legitimate strength , but it must be done fairly. The role of the prosecutor excludes any notion of winning or losing; his function is a matter of public duty than which in civil life there can be none charged with greater personal responsibility. It is to be efficiently performed with an ingrained sense of the dignity, the seriousness and the justice of judicial proceedings."
This has been adopted by both the English and Scottish Courts as the duties of a prosecutor. It's what I tell myself when the jury comes back with a verdict of acquittal More seriously, it was the duty incumbent on anyone responsible for a prosecution and we should never, ever lose sight of it.
The comments on books reminds me of the time someone pretentiously said something like: "You can only fully understand the bible if you read it in its original Latin."
A comment that was wrong on so many levels...
Exactly: you need to hear the original Latin audiobook if you want to understand it properly.
Hello everyone. Been a bit under the weather the last couple of weeks and done some long walks round Norwich to try and clear the fog. Some local observations for what they are worth. Norwich City has council (a third) and police jobsworth for Norfolk elections. Extremely low engagement is my main take away thus far. The Greens have a fairly good number of placards out but not approaching some years. The former occasional LDs are nowhere to be seen and, as usual, nobody is brave enough to advertise being a Tory (I've seen over the years more UKIP, Reform and Change UK placards than Tory here. The main story though is the very noticeable drop off in Labour placards. There are some but maybe a quarter of the usual (back of fag packet guesstimate). Labour lost the council over Gaza so perhaps Green gains to be anticipated here. For the PCC, my understanding is the daftly named incumbent Tory Orpen Smellie is reasonably well thought of but Norfolk County has no councils up so I suspect the relatively high turnout in the more 'progressive super friends' city will see him ejected, likely for Labour but it should be close. One contact from Greens and one adorned with Union Jack that got binned without reading I assume was from Labour. Nowt from Ed or Rishi. Get the feeling everyone has had enough. I know I have.
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never have been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
I'm not going to speak to the economic side of things, but on democracy:
1. Should changes be more than 50% in a referendum? 2. What constitutes a 'change'? Does it need to be significant? Define significant? 3. What if 'changes' are small, but occur over (say) 41 years. Leaving might be significant but the inching away at things to get where we were wasn't (this was Jean Monnet's plan - eek away at rights and powers slowly over decades until its too late to reverse anything). Is it right to have a vote to leave at all, if joining didn't require one? (And it didn't - the 1975 vote was confirmatory only) 4. Should idiot Remainers called David Cameron be allowed to hold these votes in order to win in 2015? Or put more bluntly, should referendums be allowed to be promised if you only want to do so in order to win another vote? 5. If you did raise the bar (to say 66%) what would it mean to Scottish independence? 6. If you did raise the bar, and a vote was held on a matter, and the 'change' side 'lost' by 60:40, how long do you think you'd be able to hold the government together (measured in minutes please) before they were forced to resign and call a General Election?
The comments on books reminds me of the time someone pretentiously said something like: "You can only fully understand the bible if you read it in its original Latin."
A comment that was wrong on so many levels...
Exactly: you need to hear the original Latin audiobook if you want to understand it properly.
I did say I hoped Gething and Skates would move away from Drakeford more extreme policies and this new today is sensible and seems to have been a response to Welsh Labour candidates expressing concern about the policy
If this had been done in the beginning it would have been widely supported and is a lesson I listening
Major U-turn on 20mph speed limits signalled for Wales
Is it? I don't see any need for change, and I trust they will wait for speed and casualty stats before jerking any knees. Councils already have ample opportunities to make exceptions.
The minister told the Senedd (Welsh Parliament): “There is a growing consensus in this debate that 20mph is right around schools, hospital and nurseries. I really strongly feel across the chamber there is support for 20mph in those areas where it is appropriate, especially where children and the elderly are at risk.
Where exactly in residential areas are children and elderly NOT at risk?
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
Cameron should never have been allowed near the campaign, either. Should have followed Wilson’s example and stayed above it. Someone at Rose’s level but with considerably more political nous would have been better.
The comments on books reminds me of the time someone pretentiously said something like: "You can only fully understand the bible if you read it in its original Latin."
A comment that was wrong on so many levels...
Exactly: you need to hear the original Latin audiobook if you want to understand it properly.
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
Life hack:
The best way to interact with most big companies these days is through Twix. You post a "hey, I can't cancel my subscription, WTF?!" and @ them in the tweet.
Their UK-based brand reputation people pick up the tweet and deal with your problem, usually through a ticket system meaning it's all handled internally by the company.
I learned this with a company I won't name, after waiting four hours with the same 30 second hold music looping after I selected the "I want to cancel my account" option over the phone and decided it was the only way to get through to the bastards. It worked.
Review sites can also be effective. Was having trouble with Cazoo for a promised fix on a car (identified at collection) and got the automated email asking for a review (may have been on Trustpilot, I forget. Very clearly and calmly set out the history of issues in the review and - after several days of getting fobbed off by customer services before - we within an hour had been given a named contact with a direct line and email who got us sorted immediately.
Lowest government approval by PM (Gallup/MORI): Attlee 31% Churchill (51-55) 40% Eden 34% Macmillan: 30% Douglas-Home 36% Wilson (64-70) 17% Heath 22% Wilson (74-76) 27% Callaghan 17% Thatcher 16% Major 8% Blair 22% Brown 16% Cameron 24% May 8% Johnson 14% Truss 11% Sunak 10%
We don't like our politicians much and it is getting worse as time goes by. Is it us, them or a bit of both?
You'd need max as well I think. Or a box-and-whiskers plot
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
But I think Clarkson is so revered by that demographic that he'd have caused far more to reassess their views on EU membership than reject him as a heretic - if Clarkson is keen can it really be that bad? We'll never know, but he would certainly have neutralized, if not gained supremacy over, the Boris effect.
This is from in house lawyer of an organisation which acted as prosecutor in these cases. How can there not be a duty to disclose, which covers material stuff you're deliberately remaining in ignorance of ?
..,'We didn't have a duty to disclose error data' The inquiry continues to discuss the known error logs, or 'KELs'.
Jason Beer KC, who is questioning Rodric Williams, says it appears the Post Office's suggested approach from its lawyers - "either from you or communicated through you" - is that "we shouldn't look at documents that might contain adverse material, because we might have to disclose them".
"Instead lets wait until the litigation is over and our duties of disclosure have ceased to arise?" Beer asks.
Williams later says: "I'm saying it's a way to mitigate the risk".
Beer questions this, exclaiming, "Risk of what?"
Williams went on to say: "Once the litigation concluded, we didn't have a duty to disclose..."
Barr responded: "That's why you have to discharge the duty in the litigation... before it's concluded".
Williams said "that work was being undertaken"...
In the Canadian case of Boucher Justice Rand said:
"It cannot be over-emphasised that the purpose of a criminal prosecution is not to obtain a conviction, it is to lay before a jury what the Crown considers to be credible evidence relevant to what is alleged to be a crime. Counsel have a duty to to see that all available legal proof of the facts is presented: it should be done firmly and pressed to its legitimate strength , but it must be done fairly. The role of the prosecutor excludes any notion of winning or losing; his function is a matter of public duty than which in civil life there can be none charged with greater personal responsibility. It is to be efficiently performed with an ingrained sense of the dignity, the seriousness and the justice of judicial proceedings."
This has been adopted by both the English and Scottish Courts as the duties of a prosecutor. It's what I tell myself when the jury comes back with a verdict of acquittal More seriously, it was the duty incumbent on anyone responsible for a prosecution and we should never, ever lose sight of it.
They didn't lose sight of it; rather, took direct aim and pissed all over it.
At first glance 5% seems a surprisingly high figure for the percentage of 2019 SNP voters who've since died, but on reflection it probably shouldn't be.
Attempted to cancel a mobile phone contract this morning.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
Life hack:
The best way to interact with most big companies these days is through Twix. You post a "hey, I can't cancel my subscription, WTF?!" and @ them in the tweet.
Their UK-based brand reputation people pick up the tweet and deal with your problem, usually through a ticket system meaning it's all handled internally by the company.
I learned this with a company I won't name, after waiting four hours with the same 30 second hold music looping after I selected the "I want to cancel my account" option over the phone and decided it was the only way to get through to the bastards. It worked.
Review sites can also be effective. Was having trouble with Cazoo for a promised fix on a car (identified at collection) and got the automated email asking for a review (may have been on Trustpilot, I forget. Very clearly and calmly set out the history of issues in the review and - after several days of getting fobbed off by customer services before - we within an hour had been given a named contact with a direct line and email who got us sorted immediately.
Yep. Very much the case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. Far too many companies these days seem to base their entire business model on people being too meek to complain.
The combo for actually getting your voice heard seems to be a) putting it in writing and b) making it as public as possible.
At first glance 5% seems a surprisingly high figure for the percentage of 2019 SNP voters who've since died, but on reflection it probably shouldn't be.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
@Leon, if you want to drop your load about AI, would you like to send me PMs? I try to keep up with the events of the world by reading people's links, but that's transitory. My job occasionally involves checking output produced by publically-available AIs (and their mistakes!) so I need to keep track.
At first glance 5% seems a surprisingly high figure for the percentage of 2019 SNP voters who've since died, but on reflection it probably shouldn't be.
This is from in house lawyer of an organisation which acted as prosecutor in these cases. How can there not be a duty to disclose, which covers material stuff you're deliberately remaining in ignorance of ?
..,'We didn't have a duty to disclose error data' The inquiry continues to discuss the known error logs, or 'KELs'.
Jason Beer KC, who is questioning Rodric Williams, says it appears the Post Office's suggested approach from its lawyers - "either from you or communicated through you" - is that "we shouldn't look at documents that might contain adverse material, because we might have to disclose them".
"Instead lets wait until the litigation is over and our duties of disclosure have ceased to arise?" Beer asks.
Williams later says: "I'm saying it's a way to mitigate the risk".
Beer questions this, exclaiming, "Risk of what?"
Williams went on to say: "Once the litigation concluded, we didn't have a duty to disclose..."
Barr responded: "That's why you have to discharge the duty in the litigation... before it's concluded".
Williams said "that work was being undertaken"...
IANAL but I thought plausible deniability doesn't work that way for disclosure, does it?
WTAF though, mitigating risk of disclosure? Disclosure is not a risk, its the right thing to do!
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never have been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Alastair Campbell says that not running the back office end of the Remain campaign is his biggest regret.
I think he could have won it. He would at least have assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the Leave campaign dispassionately as a professional, and built the Remain campaign ruthlessly on them.
The comments on books reminds me of the time someone pretentiously said something like: "You can only fully understand the bible if you read it in its original Latin."
A comment that was wrong on so many levels...
Exactly: you need to hear the original Latin audiobook if you want to understand it properly.
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
Cameron should never have been allowed near the campaign, either. Should have followed Wilson’s example and stayed above it. Someone at Rose’s level but with considerably more political nous would have been better.
Wasn't it Rose who said we we should Remain because Leave risked allowing people's wages to rise? He's not a daft man but he, er, lacks the common touch. (Apologies if it was someone else!)
At first glance 5% seems a surprisingly high figure for the percentage of 2019 SNP voters who've since died, but on reflection it probably shouldn't be.
— the age at which British voters become more likely to choose the Conservative Party over Labour has soared from 39 at the last election to **70 years-old**
— working age voters have turned their backs on the Tories
I read the plot summary of James Joyce's Ulysses on Wiki last night and I thought it sounded deranged.
I've little to no interest in reading the rambling monologues of three individuals who happen to bumble around Dublin on one day in 1904, even if it does contain a handful of great quotes.
It's one book I'm confident I'll never read, and I don't think my life will be any the worse for it.
Ulysses is hard going and not for everyone. I would, however, recommend Dubliners, which has some of the most sublimely beautiful prose you’ll ever encounter.
Sounds boring. I'm not particularly interested in fiction anyway, unless it's a very good Thriller, so it having some passages of sublimely beautiful prose doesn't attract me.
It's a bit like The Deerhunter, which people banged on for years was one of the best films ever made and a "must see", whereas I thought it awfully tedious and that the director had disappeared up his own arse.
It all gets a bit Emperors New Clothes where everyone knows they are expected to like it and appreciate it, so all say they do lest they come across like a philistine.
Citizen Kane isn’t all that great…
I decided to watch some classics that I had never seen. Citizen Kane was one and I was very disappointed. Nothing special in my opinion. Another was the Godfather and I thought that brilliant.
Try "The Great Dictator". Although my knowledge may be faulty (I was ill), I was impressed
"Alien" hasn't aged a day in 46 years
If you ever see "Apocalypse Now", ignore the "Final Cut" version like the plague.
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
Cameron should never have been allowed near the campaign, either. Should have followed Wilson’s example and stayed above it. Someone at Rose’s level but with considerably more political nous would have been better.
Wasn't it Rose who said we we should Remain because Leave risked allowing people's wages to rise? He's not a daft man but he, er, lacks the common touch. (Apologies if it was someone else!)
Yes, Day 1 of the campaign and to a room full of remain-supporting business leaders. He had no idea how politics worked, and didn’t think his words would be heard outside that room and that audience. Then repeated the comments at a select committee hearing shortly afterwards, claiming he was misquoted, but ended up doubling down. Then tried giving an interview to the Grauniad, and saying the same thing again.
At first glance 5% seems a surprisingly high figure for the percentage of 2019 SNP voters who've since died, but on reflection it probably shouldn't be.
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
Cameron should never have been allowed near the campaign, either. Should have followed Wilson’s example and stayed above it. Someone at Rose’s level but with considerably more political nous would have been better.
Wasn't it Rose who said we we should Remain because Leave risked allowing people's wages to rise? He's not a daft man but he, er, lacks the common touch. (Apologies if it was someone else!)
From a business perspective, having a soaring wage bill isn't great. Indeed, it's probably not that great on a broader economic level, hence wage controls in the 1970s. But Leave were able to spin it as a tremendous gaff: leave the EU and you'll get a pay rise. That's politics, I guess.
So anyway the AI cloned my voice and that late-night phone call asking for a few grand to free me from the dungeon where the bad people are holding me - that wasn't me! Pure coincidence the cash ended up in my bank account...
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Clarkson is far too clever for that. A major part of his fanbase is Gammony Leavers, he is kinda their patron saint. He scorns Wokeness etc. Does he want to alienate them?
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
But I think Clarkson is so revered by that demographic that he'd have caused far more to reassess their views on EU membership than reject him as a heretic - if Clarkson is keen can it really be that bad? We'll never know, but he would certainly have neutralized, if not gained supremacy over, the Boris effect.
With wearying inevitability the shrunken, increasingly beleaguered rump of Brexit true believers stir themselves into action into deny Brexit is making things worse for Britain.
Today it’s access to medicines - a global problem uniquely enhanced and intensified by Brexit. Add it to the ever-growing pile of problems that are clearly made worse thanks to the fantastical lies of the wreckers and their insane project of self-immolation and ideological fervour.
Absolutism will reign. Pearls will be clutched. Stark reality will be denied. Expert research and opinion blithely dismissed.
The reckoning is coming. The omertà will break. The Tories will receive their kicking. Brexit, to paraphrase Carlin, will be shaken off like a dog shakes off a bad case of fleas. Tick tock.
I mean, us bitter Remoaners might at least shut the fuck up if there were any real Brexit benefits that have improved the lives of normal people you could shove in our faces. But there aren’t any, other than some arcane gibbering about sovereignty. Everything is just worse, thanks to the lunatics and their lies.
Actually, there really really are. And quite tangible ones. eg Claude 3 Opus is the best A.I. in existence. It is barely usable in the EU - almost certainly because of restrictive EU laws. It is no problem to use in the UK
If you work in a cognitive job you should be looking at Claude 3 Opus
Not only is this a big, tangible Brexit benefit, it is one which Leavers predicted - Brexit would free us of damaging, restrictive EU laws
I wholly accept that Brexit has not delivered the sunlit uplands Leave campaigners promised (nor has it delivered the hellscape that Remainers threatened). We are in a pickle but we were in the pickling jar long before 2016, the GFC was when it went wrong and no one knows how to fix it
But to revert to your main point. Brexit may be a pile of shite, but yes there are Brexit benefits
I do a fair bit of home brewing. I have been asking it for recipes for banana, raisin and ginger wine. I am quite impressed with the outcome.
What is good is you don't get all the effing pop up ads you get when you normally go on these sites.
This is a real thing and a real issue. For anyone in particular cognitive jobs it’s potentially a massive issue: these AIs are so incredibly useful
Note to Moderator: this is not a post about AI per se, this is to evidence a real Brexit benefit
The EU has shot itself in both legs on A.I., and the UK has a real chance to gain a competitive advantage. However my bet is that Starmer will fuck it all up by signing up for EU laws and we will end up in an even worse position. Subject to asinine EU regulations but with zero influence on their formation
@Leon, if you want to drop your load about AI, would you like to send me PMs? I try to keep up with the events of the world by reading people's links, but that's transitory. My job occasionally involves checking output produced by publically-available AIs (and their mistakes!) so I need to keep track.
I find that regularly reading the Spectator keeps me up to speed on Things AI. They have a journalist who seems pathologically obsessed with it, but it does mean he is well-informed
— the age at which British voters become more likely to choose the Conservative Party over Labour has soared from 39 at the last election to **70 years-old**
— working age voters have turned their backs on the Tories
It's what happens when you fuck over people with mortgages with no benefit to show for it. I think some people may at least swallow the idea of their house not being worth as much if it was to tackle the ridiculously inflated housing prices, but for weirdo libertarian policies that weren't even enacted; just the mere suggestion of them sending the market scattering? Yeah, no one is gonna look at that and be forgiving.
A Conservative peer laid into the government last night, saying the Tories had triggered their own “demise” by going ahead with Brexit.
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
He seems to be forgetting his own part in Remain's downfall.
In fairness to Rose, he did say later he never had the skills to front the Remain campaign so should never have been appointed. I think Remain missed a big trick by not getting Jeremy Clarkson to do it.
Alastair Campbell says that not running the back office end of the Remain campaign is his biggest regret.
I think he could have won it. He would at least have assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the Leave campaign dispassionately as a professional, and built the Remain campaign ruthlessly on them.
Campbell v Cummings would have been epic for those of us who enjoy politics as sport!
Comments
Not used it since Covid/Brexit
I assume you aren't in Economy.
Well, I'm convinced...
Almost as compelling as What/Three/Words
Not answers, and definitely not answers saying you can’t.
I’m not disbelieving you, just asking for better evidence.
I’d like to think, of course, that the EU would sort itself out with respect to A.I. Of course, if we’d still been members we might have been able to help.
France also has good A.I. companies and those companies, plus Macron, lobbied against the latest laws. The laws passed, anyway
It’s interesting talking to Remainery AI people on this. The cognitive dissonance is intense. Before they know the reason why they can’t access Claude they rage against these regulations. When told that they come from Brussels and the UK is exempt and Brits have better access they go quiet. Then eventually they revert to “well thank God Brussels is protecting us from dangerous tech”
🙄
I intend to eat oysters until I probably die of oyster poisoning. On the French taxpayer’s ecu
@PickardJE
·
5s
the least successful prime minister in history has lunch with the FT, aka the “deep state”
https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1780930641070080296
"She laughs a lot during the two hour lunch - although many across the UK and in her party do not see the funny side."
If this had been done in the beginning it would have been widely supported and is a lesson I listening
Major U-turn on 20mph speed limits signalled for Wales
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/major-u-turn-20mph-speed-29017088#ICID=Android_DailyPostNewsApp_AppShare
For coding, it can do small bits of work. It can't do more - I've just completed a review of the state of the art.
The reason for this is that coding is both a bit creative and requires exactness. So the "AI"s will give you yards of code which are mashed together from Stack Overflow (Gemini actually gives you references to what it has cribbed from). The yards of code are kinda related to what you want. But aren't.
Recipes are not so exact and also simpler, structurally. An inexact recipe is still probably quite good.
Can I be promised that the forthcoming AI revolution will make this a damn lot easier than trying to speak to a foreign call centre over some crappy VOIP line?
But I’ve vowed not to talk about A.I. too much and anyway I have to go do some work. I will be liaising with Claude. I’ll leave with one thought: this is as bad as the tech will ever get. It’s only going to improve and already it is as good as humans at most cognitive tasks and far far better at some. This graph is actually outdated - AI has leapt further ahead since
Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (16-17 Apr)
Con: 21% (+2 from 10-11 Apr)
Lab: 44% (-1)
Reform UK: 14% (-1)
Lib Dem: 8% (=)
Green: 8% (+1)
SNP: 3% (=)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/10/legal-battle-over-manuscript-kept-under-lock-and-key-since-1836
Why mention this? Well because it now appears, according to the French Ministry of Culture, that the manuscript actually belonged to the publisher. And that publisher happens to be my great-great-great grandfather. The French government wants to acquire it and needs the permission of his heirs. There are quite a few of us, of course.
So I will be having an interesting conversation this afternoon with the French government's representative.
The publisher was born in Italy, moved to France and then went with Ferdinand de Lesseps to Egypt at the time of the building of the Suez Canal. He died there and is buried in Egypt. I have a beautiful drawing of his daughter (my grandmother's grandmother) when she was an old lady in my bedroom. A fine looking woman.
I need to write all these family stories down. We have so many of them.
How can there not be a duty to disclose, which covers material stuff you're deliberately
remaining in ignorance of ?
..,'We didn't have a duty to disclose error data'
The inquiry continues to discuss the known error logs, or 'KELs'.
Jason Beer KC, who is questioning Rodric Williams, says it appears the Post Office's suggested approach from its lawyers - "either from you or communicated through you" - is that "we shouldn't look at documents that might contain adverse material, because we might have to disclose them".
"Instead lets wait until the litigation is over and our duties of disclosure have ceased to arise?" Beer asks.
Williams later says: "I'm saying it's a way to mitigate the risk".
Beer questions this, exclaiming, "Risk of what?"
Williams went on to say: "Once the litigation concluded, we didn't have a duty to disclose..."
Barr responded: "That's why you have to discharge the duty in the litigation... before it's concluded".
Williams said "that work was being undertaken"...
Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (16-17 Apr)
Con: 21% (+2 from 10-11 Apr)
Lab: 44% (-1)
Reform UK: 14% (-1)
Lib Dem: 8% (=)
Green: 8% (+1)
SNP: 3% (=)
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49185-voting-intention-con-21-lab-44-16-17-apr-2024
https://x.com/YouGov/status/1780934501100613853
Just need to get rid of audits for SMEs now................
And deferred tax.
@kinabalu
(Actually, the trick here is this: contact your new provider and port the number. By law, your old contract will automatically be cancelled when the number is ported.)
Stuart Rose, current chairman of Asda and previously chairman of the official Remain campaign, said the decision to leave the EU when 48% of voters wanted to stay in the trading bloc was a “big mistake”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Lord Rose said: “We are the architects of our own demise.
“Our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe.
“Well, you would say, ‘you’re an old moaning Remoaner, Remainer,’ but of course, I am.
“But if you look at the stats no one has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do.
“And, you know, by setting the barrier so low at a 50% majority, most of those people – dare I say it – the one or two per cent who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died, because they are mostly older people.”
He said neither business leaders nor young people were happy with the result.
“So we made a big mistake,” Lord Rose continued. “Everything we’ve done since then, apart from the one big factor which no one could have predicted – Covid – has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit.”
https://apple.news/ASK3GuMMORkaueA0OdUAMUg
'Drug shortages are a “new normal” in the UK and are being exacerbated by Brexit, a report by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank has warned. A dramatic recent spike in the number of drugs that are unavailable has created serious problems for doctors, pharmacists, the NHS and patients, it found.
The number of warnings drug companies have issued about impending supply problems for certain products has more than doubled from 648 in 2020 to 1,634 last year.'
Those drug shortages about which we were warned but Brexiters pooh-poohed them more than Thames Water?
The best way to interact with most big companies these days is through Twix. You post a "hey, I can't cancel my subscription, WTF?!" and @ them in the tweet.
Their UK-based brand reputation people pick up the tweet and deal with your problem, usually through a ticket system meaning it's all handled internally by the company.
I learned this with a company I won't name, after waiting four hours with the same 30 second hold music looping after I selected the "I want to cancel my account" option over the phone and decided it was the only way to get through to the bastards. It worked.
Where then, one asks, is today’s Jo Grimond “When in doubt, march towards the sound of gunfire!”?
"It cannot be over-emphasised that the purpose of a criminal prosecution is not to obtain a conviction, it is to lay before a jury what the Crown considers to be credible evidence relevant to what is alleged to be a crime. Counsel have a duty to to see that all available legal proof of the facts is presented: it should be done firmly and pressed to its legitimate strength , but it must be done fairly. The role of the prosecutor excludes any notion of winning or losing; his function is a matter of public duty than which in civil life there can be none charged with greater personal responsibility. It is to be efficiently performed with an ingrained sense of the dignity, the seriousness and the justice of judicial proceedings."
This has been adopted by both the English and Scottish Courts as the duties of a prosecutor. It's what I tell myself when the jury comes back with a verdict of acquittal
One contact from Greens and one adorned with Union Jack that got binned without reading I assume was from Labour. Nowt from Ed or Rishi.
Get the feeling everyone has had enough. I know I have.
The mere fact he was a Remainer was enough of a shock. You can bet your Remaining Arse Cameron tried to get him to do more than he did, and Clarkson sensibly refused
No technology in existence could create city’s record rainfall, meteorologist says, after cloud seeding blamed"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/18/university-of-reading-denies-causing-dubai-flooding/
1. Should changes be more than 50% in a referendum?
2. What constitutes a 'change'? Does it need to be significant? Define significant?
3. What if 'changes' are small, but occur over (say) 41 years. Leaving might be significant but the inching away at things to get where we were wasn't (this was Jean Monnet's plan - eek away at rights and powers slowly over decades until its too late to reverse anything). Is it right to have a vote to leave at all, if joining didn't require one? (And it didn't - the 1975 vote was confirmatory only)
4. Should idiot Remainers called David Cameron be allowed to hold these votes in order to win in 2015? Or put more bluntly, should referendums be allowed to be promised if you only want to do so in order to win another vote?
5. If you did raise the bar (to say 66%) what would it mean to Scottish independence?
6. If you did raise the bar, and a vote was held on a matter, and the 'change' side 'lost' by 60:40, how long do you think you'd be able to hold the government together (measured in minutes please) before they were forced to resign and call a General Election?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.free.audiobook.bible.offline.jesus.god.latin&hl=en&gl=US
Edit: I am not endorsing this website. Esp, as this Bible appears to have ads in it.
The minister told the Senedd (Welsh Parliament): “There is a growing consensus in this debate that 20mph is right around schools, hospital and nurseries. I really strongly feel across the chamber there is support for 20mph in those areas where it is appropriate, especially where children and the elderly are at risk.
Where exactly in residential areas are children and elderly NOT at risk?
Someone at Rose’s level but with considerably more political nous would have been better.
When do we get his version of "Will no one will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"
The combo for actually getting your voice heard seems to be a) putting it in writing and b) making it as public as possible.
WTAF though, mitigating risk of disclosure? Disclosure is not a risk, its the right thing to do!
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1780754202198675576
I think he could have won it. He would at least have assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the Leave campaign dispassionately as a professional, and built the Remain campaign ruthlessly on them.
Exclusive @JLPartnersPolls
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— the age at which British voters become more likely to choose the Conservative Party over Labour has soared from 39 at the last election to **70 years-old**
— working age voters have turned their backs on the Tories
"Alien" hasn't aged a day in 46 years
If you ever see "Apocalypse Now", ignore the "Final Cut" version like the plague.
He told the Guardian: “I would say this, wouldn’t I, but I was misquoted. I was asked a straight economic question … which is if labour goes down in availability, what happens to the cost of labour and the answer is simple economics, the cost of labour goes up.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/14/lord-stuart-rose-misquoted-post-eu-brexit-wage-increases
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