I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
"Britain, Little Britain."
Little Britain came later when that culture was already in decline.
BBC story about a proposed new solar farm not too far from us (broadly in favour, although there is a nature reserve adjacent, so interested in any impact on that - although chances are the solar panels would be better for adjacent biodiversity than modern farmland anyway!).
But the interesting bit is how they can report "The company wants to build a 30MW solar farm along with a BESS capable of storing up to 10KW of electricity". Anyone with understanding of the topic would know that 10kW is wrong (not storage, but power, and a tiny value - one Tesla Powerwall domestic battery - must either be MWh for storage or MW for power).
The actual application talks about “10MW” of BESS.
No mention of 10KW.
Should really state the MWh - which speaks to the size of the BESS.
10MWh would be three shipping containers, for example.
Our client, Quintas Cleantech is seeking to develop a solar farm and a battery energy storage system (BESS) across approximately 55ha of land with the solar generating a maximum capacity of 30MW and the battery storage capacity of 10MW
So the BBC report is out by a factor of a thousand, but still I haven't come across capacity being measured in watts before.
It’s either a misprint for MWh (makes sense) or they are giving peak output of the battery. Why?
I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
Heh. Yes the Brass Eye paedophile special would draw a tad more flak than it did back then….
As would Sutcliffe the Musical.
Actually plenty of it would be off limits, same with The Day Today.
Who Dares Wins did a parody of Allo Allo! but set in a Belfast bar with the parties being the IRA and UDA instead of French and Germans. It was intentionally very uncomfortable viewing when the jokes were about current conflict and not 40 odd year old conflict.
I think they got into trouble for a number of their sketches.
I'm told that Sony pre-sold their initial allocation of the electric car within a few hours of reservations going live. I'll be interested to see how much of the premium market they manage to carve out for EVs, the prices are pretty high at $89k and $102k. Delivery for the cheaper model is now all the way out to 2027 already, the first ones are expected at the end of this year.
It's interesting to me that Japan's fightback in EVs will probably come from this initiative rather than from Nissan who were early runners with the Leaf.
If my source is right and the initial allocation is all reserved already it also shows how big the market for a premium brand EV is and what Jaguar could have achieved without the completely braindead rebrand.
There was an interesting article a few days ago (sorry, I don't remember where I saw it) about why the UK EV market has slowed down so dramatically after several years of repeatedly beating expectations. They had surveyed a large number of car buyers and owners.
It seems the answer is in charging cost and convenience, more than range anxiety and vehicle price (which had been the usual explanation). While home charging has continued to fall in price for those with the right tariff, public charging points have become massively expensive in line with the overall rise in electricity prices while fuel costs have declined. So if you rely on public charging it's no longer cheaper to run an electric car than a diesel or petrol one.
Another example of how our wholesale electricity market really needs to be restructured so that people can access cheap marginal prices more easily.
Isn't it the lack of charging points, rather than the underlying market price of electricity, that is the issue? Service station economics.
At Tebay the Teslas were lined up waiting as if it were a Calmac ferry. They could have charged them a fortune.
Some friends visited over Christmas from Netherlands with a shiny new electric Hyundai. Had a few dramas with chargers on the way, but mainly due to the necessary apps being, in some cases, unavailable to non-UK phones in the app store or not being able to register a payment card with a Dutch address. Range was fine.
Public charging does seem like a bit of an unholy mess at the moment, in some places.
The difference between the Tesla and non-Tesla experience is stark.
Done trips across Europe in Teslas - the charging is simply park, plug, coffee.
The non-Tesla experience is always worse.
There is a need, simply, to standardise charging.
Something also needs to be done about removing subsidies for chargers with low availability (always broken)
My Rivian has an amazing mapping function that shows chargers, including speed and number of free (working) stalls.
It also has access to the Tesla charging network (which also shows up on the map).
It makes the electric car charging on the road experience almost completely painless.
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
Home. Nearly had an expensive with the car when it decided to slide sideways onto the corner of my oil bund. Driveway is steep at the top with a turn as you come in. Bund on the downhill inside corner.
Car came to rest touching the corner on the FR wheel cover and the very edge of the black plastic wheel arch. Couldn't get traction forward. Couldn't go backward without ripping the bumper off.
Chocked the car. Outer layer of blocks on the bund falling out - due for repointing in the summer. So out comes the sledgehammer and with a bit of careful banging managed to remove the corner it was wedged on. Chocked so no further sliding. Can then straighten the wheel and roll it backwards for a semi-controlled slide away from the danger point. Fun fun fun...
Have you got winter tyres (not studded) on? They work remarkably well (except on sheet ice).
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
It means he won't take anything the EU does as representing any kind of "best practice" to be rolled out in the US. The Brussels effect is dead, if it ever existed.
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
He's committed to shifting Meta's moderation team out of California into Texas. Zuck has kissed the ring.
I'm told that Sony pre-sold their initial allocation of the electric car within a few hours of reservations going live. I'll be interested to see how much of the premium market they manage to carve out for EVs, the prices are pretty high at $89k and $102k. Delivery for the cheaper model is now all the way out to 2027 already, the first ones are expected at the end of this year.
It's interesting to me that Japan's fightback in EVs will probably come from this initiative rather than from Nissan who were early runners with the Leaf.
If my source is right and the initial allocation is all reserved already it also shows how big the market for a premium brand EV is and what Jaguar could have achieved without the completely braindead rebrand.
There was an interesting article a few days ago (sorry, I don't remember where I saw it) about why the UK EV market has slowed down so dramatically after several years of repeatedly beating expectations. They had surveyed a large number of car buyers and owners.
It seems the answer is in charging cost and convenience, more than range anxiety and vehicle price (which had been the usual explanation). While home charging has continued to fall in price for those with the right tariff, public charging points have become massively expensive in line with the overall rise in electricity prices while fuel costs have declined. So if you rely on public charging it's no longer cheaper to run an electric car than a diesel or petrol one.
Another example of how our wholesale electricity market really needs to be restructured so that people can access cheap marginal prices more easily.
Isn't it the lack of charging points, rather than the underlying market price of electricity, that is the issue? Service station economics.
At Tebay the Teslas were lined up waiting as if it were a Calmac ferry. They could have charged them a fortune.
Some friends visited over Christmas from Netherlands with a shiny new electric Hyundai. Had a few dramas with chargers on the way, but mainly due to the necessary apps being, in some cases, unavailable to non-UK phones in the app store or not being able to register a payment card with a Dutch address. Range was fine.
Public charging does seem like a bit of an unholy mess at the moment, in some places.
The difference between the Tesla and non-Tesla experience is stark.
Done trips across Europe in Teslas - the charging is simply park, plug, coffee.
The non-Tesla experience is always worse.
There is a need, simply, to standardise charging.
Something also needs to be done about removing subsidies for chargers with low availability (always broken)
My Rivian has an amazing mapping function that shows chargers, including speed and number of free (working) stalls.
It also has access to the Tesla charging network (which also shows up on the map).
It makes the electric car charging on the road experience almost completely painless.
Did you reserve the Afeela? It actually looks pretty amazing, some of my old colleagues have had a hands on at the Sony booth in Vegas and they all say it's lightyears ahead of what other brands are offering.
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
He's committed to shifting Meta's moderation team out of California into Texas. Zuck has kissed the ring.
What would we say Musk has done to the ring based on that image?
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
He's committed to shifting Meta's moderation team out of California into Texas. Zuck has kissed the ring.
What would we say Musk has done to the ring based on that image?
It's the wrong metaphor anyway. It's more of a cultural vibe shift. Reactionary liberalism has run out of steam.
BBC story about a proposed new solar farm not too far from us (broadly in favour, although there is a nature reserve adjacent, so interested in any impact on that - although chances are the solar panels would be better for adjacent biodiversity than modern farmland anyway!).
But the interesting bit is how they can report "The company wants to build a 30MW solar farm along with a BESS capable of storing up to 10KW of electricity". Anyone with understanding of the topic would know that 10kW is wrong (not storage, but power, and a tiny value - one Tesla Powerwall domestic battery - must either be MWh for storage or MW for power).
The actual application talks about “10MW” of BESS.
No mention of 10KW.
Should really state the MWh - which speaks to the size of the BESS.
10MWh would be three shipping containers, for example.
Our client, Quintas Cleantech is seeking to develop a solar farm and a battery energy storage system (BESS) across approximately 55ha of land with the solar generating a maximum capacity of 30MW and the battery storage capacity of 10MW
So the BBC report is out by a factor of a thousand, but still I haven't come across capacity being measured in watts before.
There are plans for a 400MW battery storage site a stone's throw away from where I was born in South Derbyshire.
I'm not against it, but I'm slightly surprised they won't use the Willington Power Station site, which is now a brownfield site. (There have been various plans for a CCGT at Willington, but they've never occurred.)
Sorry, again - Do you mean 400 MW peak capacity potential throughput or 400 MWh capacity ?
The document only mentions '400MW'. Nothing about MWh.
I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
Heh. Yes the Brass Eye paedophile special would draw a tad more flak than it did back then….
As would Sutcliffe the Musical.
Actually plenty of it would be off limits, same with The Day Today.
Who Dares Wins did a parody of Allo Allo! but set in a Belfast bar with the parties being the IRA and UDA instead of French and Germans. It was intentionally very uncomfortable viewing when the jokes were about current conflict and not 40 odd year old conflict.
I think they got into trouble for a number of their sketches.
Now that's a series I never really watched and should have.
That sounds like something extraordinary given the time it was made.
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
He's committed to shifting Meta's moderation team out of California into Texas. Zuck has kissed the ring.
What would we say Musk has done to the ring based on that image?
It's the wrong metaphor anyway. It's more of a cultural vibe shift. Reactionary liberalism has run out of steam.
Perhaps. In which case we need to really treasure this Labour government of ours.
The chief executive of the UK’s speech and language therapists’ professional body has apologised after “accidentally” following Tommy Robinson on X.
Steve Jamieson, the chief of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), said he was “deeply sorry for the hurt, upset, distress, fear and anger that this caused members, colleagues and staff”, after it was revealed he was following the jailed political activist, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, in August 2024.
The RCSLT’s board of trustees ordered a formal investigation, including appointing a barrister, which found Mr Jamieson’s personal account was following Robinson on X, and “on the balance of probabilities it was deemed that this was an accidental follow”, of which Mr Jamieson was unaware.
Hang on. The man’s job was at risk not because of something he said or did in a platform, but because of who else he chose to follow (or accidentally followed in this case) on it?
What a world. There’s a million reasons you might follow someone you think is a prick. You might have a whole feed of them.
It's bizarre. I know of a historian, Alex Mann, who spends quite a bit of time following Holocaust deniers, simply because he wants to see what arguments they're coming up with (and he debunks them thoroughly).
There seems this idea that so long as you ignore the bad thing, the bad thing is not happening.
I think Zuck is saying what Trump wants to hear without actually committing himself too much. When he talks of relying on the US administration to fight "censorship laws", that means he WON'T be fighting those laws. He'll follow laws, just as X did in Brazil after their spat.
He's committed to shifting Meta's moderation team out of California into Texas. Zuck has kissed the ring.
What would we say Musk has done to the ring based on that image?
It's the wrong metaphor anyway. It's more of a cultural vibe shift. Reactionary liberalism has run out of steam.
Perhaps. In which case we need to really treasure this Labour government of ours.
I'm afraid Starmer went over to the dark side some time ago, what with his threats to deport Bangladeshis, talk of an unwanted experiment in open borders and constantly wrapping himself in the flag.
BBC story about a proposed new solar farm not too far from us (broadly in favour, although there is a nature reserve adjacent, so interested in any impact on that - although chances are the solar panels would be better for adjacent biodiversity than modern farmland anyway!).
But the interesting bit is how they can report "The company wants to build a 30MW solar farm along with a BESS capable of storing up to 10KW of electricity". Anyone with understanding of the topic would know that 10kW is wrong (not storage, but power, and a tiny value - one Tesla Powerwall domestic battery - must either be MWh for storage or MW for power).
The actual application talks about “10MW” of BESS.
No mention of 10KW.
Should really state the MWh - which speaks to the size of the BESS.
10MWh would be three shipping containers, for example.
Our client, Quintas Cleantech is seeking to develop a solar farm and a battery energy storage system (BESS) across approximately 55ha of land with the solar generating a maximum capacity of 30MW and the battery storage capacity of 10MW
So the BBC report is out by a factor of a thousand, but still I haven't come across capacity being measured in watts before.
It’s either a misprint for MWh (makes sense) or they are giving peak output of the battery. Why?
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
Heh. Yes the Brass Eye paedophile special would draw a tad more flak than it did back then….
As would Sutcliffe the Musical.
Actually plenty of it would be off limits, same with The Day Today.
Who Dares Wins did a parody of Allo Allo! but set in a Belfast bar with the parties being the IRA and UDA instead of French and Germans. It was intentionally very uncomfortable viewing when the jokes were about current conflict and not 40 odd year old conflict.
I think they got into trouble for a number of their sketches.
Allo Allo was a parody of the Secret Army (and lot of fun) but it was from the 1980's. There were surely a lot of people around in France who would not have found it quite as funny. at just 30-40 years from the events of things like Malmedy and Oradour-sur-Glane.
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
This football thing is and always has been bonkers. The idea that it’s a matter for the police if I am a nasty person and try to upset you by saying things I know will make you cry could only be thought up by a particular kind of person.
The Zuck realises that to compete he needs to remove moderation from Facebook. Hadn't realised there was any - its already a fact free for all
It's not about removing moderation so much as removing censorship of people's opinions. There is still going to be moderation of illegal content or content that encourages people to commit illegal acts or suicide but you won't get censored for saying variations of "orange man good" or "Kamala bad" as you would have in 2016-2022.
"A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot set a record for shooting down enemy missiles during one of Russia's massive attacks on Ukraine. He destroyed 6 Russian cruise missiles in one combat flight."
I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
"Britain, Little Britain."
Little Britain came later when that culture was already in decline.
No, it came from the noughties. Radio show in 2000, and the TV series 2003-2006.
Casino said above: "I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too".
Off-topic: Do any of our academics have a view on MDPI nowadays? Specifically 'Journal of Clinical Medicine'. Are they still seen as junk publishers? I've been sent a review request for a paper that is in my field and which is making, from the abstract, some extravagant claims - it seems a run of the mill analysis claiming rather more. I don't want to waste my time if the journal is going to just rubber stamp it anyway.
(I don't generally review for journals I don't know nowadays, but this article is very much in my area, so considering it).
I'd review it as normal, but accept that they might ignore your review...
Laughably I received an invitation to review a paper on the 23rd December with a 7 day expected response. I did not review said paper... I know that journals like to get reviewers moving and not everyone celebrates Christmas but still...
Nice. We got sent some article proofs on the 24th. Just people clearing their desks, I guess.
I'll maybe have a look at the review if I have time. The authors look legit and the abstract reads ok, probably just a bit of a nothing paper that they can't get any of the proper journals to publish.
It's also because Americans don't have holidays! Lots of Americans expect to work between Xmas and New Year.
Americans only get 10 days of paid annual leave on average, the lowest in the OECD. Even the Japanese get 10 days of paid annual leave and 8 days of paid holiday.
Brits get 20 days of paid annual leave, the French get the most paid annual leave at 30 days unsurprisingly with the Portuguese and Spanish getting the most paid holiday time and the most overall paid annual leave and paid holidays at 25 days
The figure for the UK in this briefing paper from 2007 is outdated. Someone working 5 days a week gets 28 days holiday per year. Most employers that only offer the statutory minimum express this as 20 days plus bank holidays.
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
This football thing is and always has been bonkers. The idea that it’s a matter for the police if I am a nasty person and try to upset you by saying things I know will make you cry could only be thought up by a particular kind of person.
Yes and no. I think most would agree that some chanting about the Holocaust would be beyond the pale, so its not a stretch to say that no, chanting about Hillsborough or Munich is banned. However we ought not to have the right to not be upset by someone.
I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
"Britain, Little Britain."
Little Britain came later when that culture was already in decline.
No, it came from the noughties. Radio show in 2000, and the TV series 2003-2006.
Casino said above: "I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too".
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
This football thing is and always has been bonkers. The idea that it’s a matter for the police if I am a nasty person and try to upset you by saying things I know will make you cry could only be thought up by a particular kind of person.
Yes and no. I think most would agree that some chanting about the Holocaust would be beyond the pale, so its not a stretch to say that no, chanting about Hillsborough or Munich is banned. However we ought not to have the right to not be upset by someone.
Banned, fine. But not a matter for the police. Not criminal.
I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too.
If I think about satirical TV comedies like Drop the Dead Donkey, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye and The Office - that had no limits - they'd simply be censored to death today, unless they were focused on the 'right' political targets.
"Britain, Little Britain."
Little Britain came later when that culture was already in decline.
No, it came from the noughties. Radio show in 2000, and the TV series 2003-2006.
Casino said above: "I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too".
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
This football thing is and always has been bonkers. The idea that it’s a matter for the police if I am a nasty person and try to upset you by saying things I know will make you cry could only be thought up by a particular kind of person.
Yes and no. I think most would agree that some chanting about the Holocaust would be beyond the pale, so its not a stretch to say that no, chanting about Hillsborough or Munich is banned. However we ought not to have the right to not be upset by someone.
Banned, fine. But not a matter for the police. Not criminal.
The chief executive of the UK’s speech and language therapists’ professional body has apologised after “accidentally” following Tommy Robinson on X.
Steve Jamieson, the chief of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), said he was “deeply sorry for the hurt, upset, distress, fear and anger that this caused members, colleagues and staff”, after it was revealed he was following the jailed political activist, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, in August 2024.
The RCSLT’s board of trustees ordered a formal investigation, including appointing a barrister, which found Mr Jamieson’s personal account was following Robinson on X, and “on the balance of probabilities it was deemed that this was an accidental follow”, of which Mr Jamieson was unaware.
Hang on. The man’s job was at risk not because of something he said or did in a platform, but because of who else he chose to follow (or accidentally followed in this case) on it?
What a world. There’s a million reasons you might follow someone you think is a prick. You might have a whole feed of them.
It's bizarre. I know of a historian, Alex Mann, who spends quite a bit of time following Holocaust deniers, simply because he wants to see what arguments they're coming up with (and he debunks them thoroughly).
There seems this idea that so long as you ignore the bad thing, the bad thing is not happening.
Sounds like the inverse of cancel culture. Or do I mean a side-effect?
I’m not sure now the left will cope with a right wing TwiX, Instagram, and Facebook
It leaves Google as the last woke outlier and they are crumbling
If they just become right-wing bunkers then it's the right that will be at more risk.
That's already happened on Facebook. People on there are absolutely baffled when the council finds overwhelming support for a new cycle lane in *checks notes* the most left-wing and car-less constituency in Scotland.
The Facebook thing is major news. That’s the vibeshiff of which I was a-falkin
America is moving to more free speech just as Europe and the UK seek to crush it. They will leave us in the dust
Algorithmically prioritised speech really isn't free speech, though. It's fine to argue that there should be no constraints on the most wealthy and powerful having enormous influence in determining what most folk get to see am- but it's not really the same thing.
You're basically adopting the logic of the Citizens United decision.
But it's probably still somewhat better than the maximalist version of the OSB.
The Facebook thing is major news. That’s the vibeshiff of which I was a-falkin
America is moving to more free speech just as Europe and the UK seek to crush it. They will leave us in the dust
I think the real point will be that in 2024, if the U.S. wants to allow a much broader range of debate than other western nations have, then other western nations will all end up using VPNs and consuming the American offering.
You don’t kill the debate, you kill the local media, together with any hope of sifting wheat from chaff. We will all end up on some sub-forum of a U.S. political blog. Except we won’t be able to discuss betting because the Americans don’t like that sort of thing.
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
This football thing is and always has been bonkers. The idea that it’s a matter for the police if I am a nasty person and try to upset you by saying things I know will make you cry could only be thought up by a particular kind of person.
Yes and no. I think most would agree that some chanting about the Holocaust would be beyond the pale, so its not a stretch to say that no, chanting about Hillsborough or Munich is banned. However we ought not to have the right to not be upset by someone.
Banned, fine. But not a matter for the police. Not criminal.
So if its banned what is the sanction?
You get banned from football. The police don’t care that you chanted “are you pushing at the back” at Liverpool, but Man United kicks you out because Man United thinks it’s sick. Over time, the chants stop.
UK 30yr govt bond rates just hit another 26-year high. So they're again at the highest level since 1998. Now up to 5.23%.
It's ridiculous for him to be pushing the narrative that Labour are responsible for a 26 year high, when the rate has increased nearly 5% over the last few years, and is only 0.1% higher than it was in late 2023.
Proportionally the rises we've seen, despite all the extra tax and borrowing commitments under Labour, are pretty small.
I’m not sure now the left will cope with a right wing TwiX, Instagram, and Facebook
It leaves Google as the last woke outlier and they are crumbling
They made $26 billion profit in their last quarterly report, up from about $20 billion a year earlier. Google Cloud in particular grew about 35%, and that used to be seen as the weak spot in the Alphabet empire.
Off-topic: Do any of our academics have a view on MDPI nowadays? Specifically 'Journal of Clinical Medicine'. Are they still seen as junk publishers? I've been sent a review request for a paper that is in my field and which is making, from the abstract, some extravagant claims - it seems a run of the mill analysis claiming rather more. I don't want to waste my time if the journal is going to just rubber stamp it anyway.
(I don't generally review for journals I don't know nowadays, but this article is very much in my area, so considering it).
I'd review it as normal, but accept that they might ignore your review...
Laughably I received an invitation to review a paper on the 23rd December with a 7 day expected response. I did not review said paper... I know that journals like to get reviewers moving and not everyone celebrates Christmas but still...
Nice. We got sent some article proofs on the 24th. Just people clearing their desks, I guess.
I'll maybe have a look at the review if I have time. The authors look legit and the abstract reads ok, probably just a bit of a nothing paper that they can't get any of the proper journals to publish.
It's also because Americans don't have holidays! Lots of Americans expect to work between Xmas and New Year.
Americans only get 10 days of paid annual leave on average, the lowest in the OECD. Even the Japanese get 10 days of paid annual leave and 8 days of paid holiday.
Brits get 20 days of paid annual leave, the French get the most paid annual leave at 30 days unsurprisingly with the Portuguese and Spanish getting the most paid holiday time and the most overall paid annual leave and paid holidays at 25 days
The lack of paid sick leave means most Americans save their paid holidays to cover illness.
Hoping they can also afford private health insurance if they need medical treatment as they have no universal healthcare either unlike other OECD nations
Americans typically have health cover as part of their remuneration from their employer.
The American government pays more on health through Medicare and Medicaid than the British government spends on the NHS.
Many Americans do not realise Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are the same thing so vote against the policy they depend on.
Madrid trip abandoned and refunded. No sign of my 06:00 flight to Amsterdam actually leaving, no seats left on remaining connections from AMS. And it’s blizzarding as I start the trek home.
Would like to thanks my friends at KLM though. I got 90 minutes of relaxation on their plane, a coffee brought to my seat, and when I got off a £9 voucher which I spent in Costa. All for the princely sum of £0 after the refund 😂
So £6 an hour excluding all the travel time.
I’ll pay you £5 an hour cash in hand for stuff (sorry @Anabobazina )
A man from the United States was one of eight people detained after tragedy chanting at Sunday's Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United, police have said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czen7g2x47yo
Arrests for upsetting people are not new, but no-one cared when it was only football supporters.
Loving the locations of these fans (Tennessee and Nottingham). It's not specified if they are United fans chanting about Hillsborough or Liverpool fans about Munich, but in either case its good to see fans supporting their home town clubs...
This football thing is and always has been bonkers. The idea that it’s a matter for the police if I am a nasty person and try to upset you by saying things I know will make you cry could only be thought up by a particular kind of person.
Yes and no. I think most would agree that some chanting about the Holocaust would be beyond the pale, so its not a stretch to say that no, chanting about Hillsborough or Munich is banned. However we ought not to have the right to not be upset by someone.
Banned, fine. But not a matter for the police. Not criminal.
So if its banned what is the sanction?
Well the clubs are free to deal with it how they choose. They can let or bar whoever they like into their jolly hatefests. But it shouldn't be a criminal matter. I am just as defensive about the free speech of utter bellends as I am about the free speech of people I agree with.
Comments
This is what happens when you don't have any physics teachers.
I think they got into trouble for a number of their sketches.
It also has access to the Tesla charging network (which also shows up on the map).
It makes the electric car charging on the road experience almost completely painless.
https://innova.co.uk/app/uploads/2023/11/Innova-New-Template-ESS-Stenson-Lane-Boards-final-1.pdf
edit:
And apparently a second at Twyford, a short distance away. Is the Trent Valley going to become a BESS valley, as it was once the power valley?
That sounds like something extraordinary given the time it was made.
There seems this idea that so long as you ignore the bad thing, the bad thing is not happening.
UK 30yr govt bond rates just hit another 26-year high. So they're again at the highest level since 1998. Now up to 5.23%.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ukrainian-f-16-pilot-sets-record-for-shooting-down-missiles-in-one-flight/ar-AA1x6EX0
Four with missiles, two with cannon. Claims by fighter pilots are notoriously inflated (*), but he must have at least got a few.
(*) Is this still the case nowadays with cameras on everything and missiles (presumably) being tracked from the ground?
Casino said above: "I think the nineties and noughties were peak free-speech too".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Britain_(TV_series)
In my view the 90s were a high point and by the noughties we were running on cultural fumes.
America is moving to more free speech just as Europe and the UK seek to crush it. They will leave us in the dust
It leaves Google as the last woke outlier and they are crumbling
You'd be wrong of course. I remember other times when it lead their front page.
There was also a woman in IT we called Joy, due to her personality being very alike that of the Joy character from DtDD.
Good evening, everybody.
That's already happened on Facebook. People on there are absolutely baffled when the council finds overwhelming support for a new cycle lane in *checks notes* the most left-wing and car-less constituency in Scotland.
It's fine to argue that there should be no constraints on the most wealthy and powerful having enormous influence in determining what most folk get to see am- but it's not really the same thing.
You're basically adopting the logic of the Citizens United decision.
But it's probably still somewhat better than the maximalist version of the OSB.
You don’t kill the debate, you kill the local media, together with any hope of sifting wheat from chaff. We will all end up on some sub-forum of a U.S. political blog. Except we won’t be able to discuss betting because the Americans don’t like that sort of thing.
That’s how we should manage this stuff.
A huge amount of damage will be done in that time.
Proportionally the rises we've seen, despite all the extra tax and borrowing commitments under Labour, are pretty small.
NEW THREAD
Makes a change from advocating drinking Cif.
That's some crumbling we could all do with.
The American government pays more on health through Medicare and Medicaid than the British government spends on the NHS.
Many Americans do not realise Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are the same thing so vote against the policy they depend on.
I’ll pay you £5 an hour cash in hand for stuff (sorry @Anabobazina )
I am just as defensive about the free speech of utter bellends as I am about the free speech of people I agree with.