In 2027 will I be writing 'Shortly there will be an election, in which Labour will increase its majo

boulay said:

…

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

Carnyx said:

Selebian said:

RandallFlagg said:

Tate launches the BRUV party. Starmer must be quaking in his boots.
https://www.votebruv.co.uk/bruv_2.pdf
I mean look at these policies... they'll be even more appealing than the Absolute Boy's was.
"Knife Crime Epidemic: Zero Tolerance, Maximum
Deterrence
6
Last year, there were 50,000 knife crime offences in Englan
and Wales. That’s 137 every single day. Mothers burying sons.
Fathers burying daughters. Lives stolen. Futures destroyed. And
what’s the punishment? A slap on the wrist? A few years in jail?
No. The punishment will be seen by every Briton, every day.
Introducing BBC Punishment—a 24/7 live broadcast of knife
crime offenders serving solitary confinement. No redempt
arcs. No second chances. Just the cold, hard reality of a life
wasted in a concrete cell.
Imagine a 15-year-old boy, tempted to pick up a blade, turning
on the TV and seeing a man grow old and die alone. That’s not
cruelty—it’s deterrence. And it will save lives."

Spoof? Or real? I honestly can't tell any more.

It looks like a spoof, but then Tate looks like a character from Little Britain or a Sacha Baron Cohen creation.

If it's real, then with that tortuous backronym he could have a great future naming scientific studies

And biological taxa.

To me, Tate seems to be a contestant of some kind of low rent spinoff of Big Brother, who’s climbed through the screen.

A horrible character, written by a bad writer.

He comes from reality tv, I believe. Tate, Trump, Hopkins ... the sector is something of a far right academy.

Is Farage's successor right now on our screens in something or other? The way things are going you wouldn't rule it out.

Keep an eye on Winkelman - behind that fringe is a dark authoritarian mind waiting to unleash her perfectly timed and choreographed goosesteppers.

Lol, yes. Although to be more serious, I'd say Love Island is a likelier breeding ground for radicalisation.

Andy_Cooke said:

david_herdson said:

WhisperingOracle said:

Morning, PB Campers.

I see that.Musk is now calling Davey a "snivelling cretin" for criticising him. He really is a real-life Bond villain.

(One of) the (many) odd thing(s) about Musk is that apparently he has an open mind to technical solutions and is willing to listen when people push back - hence why his projects do tend to work, despite their seemingly outrageous ambition and targets - and yet when it comes to politics, he shows all the tolerance of criticism as any other autocrat.

Now, perhaps that can be reconciled in that technical solutions either work or don't work, and in any case, everyone there is working towards the same (his) end. Any cat to catch a mouse, and all that.

But whatever, he doesn't have much idea about how to win over the public, or how to finesse through policy.

He is going to come badly undone and it will be spectacular. And joyous.

It seems that he has changed over time even in the technical solutions front. As well as the ugliness and unsellability (in the EU and UK) of Cybertruck, reportedly the issues with Starship Flight 1 (the concrete underneath disintegrating and causing serious damage to the vehicle as well as to the launch site and environmental ructions) were foreseen by his civil engineers. They warned him that it really needed some sort of flame mitigation system, and he ended up firing them.

The bit about the flame mitigation system is not correct.

SpaceX were already fabricating the deluge system they now use. As noted by the various watchers at Boca Chica.

A combination of permitting confusion (the various regulating agencies couldn’t work out how their permits would interact) and an analysis that the concrete would hold up for the initial flight led them to go with that.

Should have had lunch in Madrid, instead I am sledgehammering my wall to avoid a bill of £lots for the car. Fun

MaxPB said:

Pulpstar said:

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

ZuckMAGAberg.

Community notes are objectively better than censorship. A really great way to stop misinformation without sending people down the conspiracy route.

Community notes is the one extremely good innovation on the platform since Musk took over. I don't know who's idea it was, but well done them.

Everything else: the rebrand, the paid for ticks, the "for you" feed, and the proliferation of bots and spam, all make it a less enjoyable experience. It's still a good platform though. I continue to use it, though less than before.

TimS said:

MaxPB said:

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.

Foxy said:

WhisperingOracle said:

I remember reading somewhere that Errol took the young Elon to school in a Rolls-Royce, in the period when apartheid was breaking down.

Meanwhile, he seemed to be harbouring lots of hostility to his father. I see the roots of all sorts of problems here, Dr Freud would say.

I think this sums it up, from an old friend of mine:

The super-wealthy are mostly fascist because they need to tell themselves a story about how talent and genes made them rich, when it was really inheritance and exploitation.

This is why they are queuing up to fund Farage.

https://bsky.app/profile/ruthholliday.bsky.social/post/3ldnr7ssvwh24

Let's hope the Online Safety Bill improves the standard of Internet discourse. It's a bit of a blunt instrument, but there is undeniably a massive problem of politically driven misinformation.

If not then perhaps the internet and social media deserve to die.

If that were true we could suggest that most doctors are fascist as they need to tell a story about how talent and genes made them rich/supremely superior, when it was really inheritance and good fortune (and the school that they were lucky enough to go to).

Eabhal said:

TimS said:

MaxPB said:

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.

Haven't been mega Tesla queues at Tebay since they upgraded the chargers. Went from 8x V2 stalls to 12x V3 stalls - a 100% increase in capacity thanks to higher charging speeds.

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

Meanwhile, Trump sucks up to Putin.

Nigel_Foremain said:

Foxy said:

WhisperingOracle said:

I remember reading somewhere that Errol took the young Elon to school in a Rolls-Royce, in the period when apartheid was breaking down.

Meanwhile, he seemed to be harbouring lots of hostility to his father. I see the roots of all sorts of problems here, Dr Freud would say.

I think this sums it up, from an old friend of mine:

The super-wealthy are mostly fascist because they need to tell themselves a story about how talent and genes made them rich, when it was really inheritance and exploitation.

This is why they are queuing up to fund Farage.

https://bsky.app/profile/ruthholliday.bsky.social/post/3ldnr7ssvwh24

Let's hope the Online Safety Bill improves the standard of Internet discourse. It's a bit of a blunt instrument, but there is undeniably a massive problem of politically driven misinformation.

If not then perhaps the internet and social media deserve to die.

If that were true we could suggest that most doctors are fascist as they need to tell a story about how talent and genes made them rich/supremely superior, when it was really inheritance and good fortune (and the school that they were lucky enough to go to).

Leaving aside your attempted trolling, isn't it the case that the mega-rich almost all have a streak of megalomania and ruthlessness, usually by necessity, and are going to be emotionally inclined towards social Darwinism and strong man theory.

Nigel_Foremain said:

Foxy said:

WhisperingOracle said:

I remember reading somewhere that Errol took the young Elon to school in a Rolls-Royce, in the period when apartheid was breaking down.

Meanwhile, he seemed to be harbouring lots of hostility to his father. I see the roots of all sorts of problems here, Dr Freud would say.

I think this sums it up, from an old friend of mine:

The super-wealthy are mostly fascist because they need to tell themselves a story about how talent and genes made them rich, when it was really inheritance and exploitation.

This is why they are queuing up to fund Farage.

https://bsky.app/profile/ruthholliday.bsky.social/post/3ldnr7ssvwh24

Let's hope the Online Safety Bill improves the standard of Internet discourse. It's a bit of a blunt instrument, but there is undeniably a massive problem of politically driven misinformation.

If not then perhaps the internet and social media deserve to die.

If that were true we could suggest that most doctors are fascist as they need to tell a story about how talent and genes made them rich/supremely superior, when it was really inheritance and good fortune (and the school that they were lucky enough to go to).

Doctors aren't fascist, they mostly vote Labour after the massive payrise the Labour government has given NHS GPs.

The public sector rich vote Labour or LD mostly, the private sector rich vote Tory or LD mostly, it is only really super rich entrepreneurs who backed Leave and Trump who vote Reform

RochdalePioneers said:

Eabhal said:

TimS said:

MaxPB said:

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.

Haven't been mega Tesla queues at Tebay since they upgraded the chargers. Went from 8x V2 stalls to 12x V3 stalls - a 100% increase in capacity thanks to higher charging speeds.

It was Christmas I suppose.

Nigel_Foremain said:

Foxy said:

WhisperingOracle said:

I remember reading somewhere that Errol took the young Elon to school in a Rolls-Royce, in the period when apartheid was breaking down.

Meanwhile, he seemed to be harbouring lots of hostility to his father. I see the roots of all sorts of problems here, Dr Freud would say.

I think this sums it up, from an old friend of mine:

The super-wealthy are mostly fascist because they need to tell themselves a story about how talent and genes made them rich, when it was really inheritance and exploitation.

This is why they are queuing up to fund Farage.

https://bsky.app/profile/ruthholliday.bsky.social/post/3ldnr7ssvwh24

Let's hope the Online Safety Bill improves the standard of Internet discourse. It's a bit of a blunt instrument, but there is undeniably a massive problem of politically driven misinformation.

If not then perhaps the internet and social media deserve to die.

If that were true we could suggest that most doctors are fascist as they need to tell a story about how talent and genes made them rich/supremely superior, when it was really inheritance and good fortune (and the school that they were lucky enough to go to).

To an extent, though it shows as arrogance and entitlement.

The difference is that the super-rich inflict their arrogance and entitlement on everyone because of their financial clout, the rest of us only get to annoy our immediate contacts, and robust interpersonal feedback tends to downgrade that arrogance and entitlement.

Pulpstar said:

kinabalu said:

Malmesbury said:

Carnyx said:

Selebian said:

RandallFlagg said:

Tate launches the BRUV party. Starmer must be quaking in his boots.
https://www.votebruv.co.uk/bruv_2.pdf
I mean look at these policies... they'll be even more appealing than the Absolute Boy's was.
"Knife Crime Epidemic: Zero Tolerance, Maximum
Deterrence
6
Last year, there were 50,000 knife crime offences in Englan
and Wales. That’s 137 every single day. Mothers burying sons.
Fathers burying daughters. Lives stolen. Futures destroyed. And
what’s the punishment? A slap on the wrist? A few years in jail?
No. The punishment will be seen by every Briton, every day.
Introducing BBC Punishment—a 24/7 live broadcast of knife
crime offenders serving solitary confinement. No redempt
arcs. No second chances. Just the cold, hard reality of a life
wasted in a concrete cell.
Imagine a 15-year-old boy, tempted to pick up a blade, turning
on the TV and seeing a man grow old and die alone. That’s not
cruelty—it’s deterrence. And it will save lives."

Spoof? Or real? I honestly can't tell any more.

It looks like a spoof, but then Tate looks like a character from Little Britain or a Sacha Baron Cohen creation.

If it's real, then with that tortuous backronym he could have a great future naming scientific studies

And biological taxa.

To me, Tate seems to be a contestant of some kind of low rent spinoff of Big Brother, who’s climbed through the screen.

A horrible character, written by a bad writer.

He comes from reality tv, I believe. Tate, Trump, Hopkins ... the sector is something of a far right academy.

Is Farage's successor right now on our screens in something or other? The way things are going you wouldn't rule it out.

Just looked up Lowe, 7 years older than Farage so it won't be him. Too short at 30-1 next PM imo.

Also Bozza at 16-1 ! A preposterous price lol.

So now I'm -£128 Farage, Bozza or Lowe against +£67.51 anyone else

Looks a solid start for a book, that.

Downside with that market though - if Lab win again under SKS it could be yonks until it settles.

bondegezou said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

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

https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/EEEPB 03 2007 BBA.pdf

MaxPB said:

kinabalu said:

TimS said:

MaxPB said:

Pulpstar said:

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

ZuckMAGAberg.

Community notes are objectively better than censorship. A really great way to stop misinformation without sending people down the conspiracy route.

Community notes is the one extremely good innovation on the platform since Musk took over. I don't know who's idea it was, but well done them.

Everything else: the rebrand, the paid for ticks, the "for you" feed, and the proliferation of bots and spam, all make it a less enjoyable experience. It's still a good platform though. I continue to use it, though less than before.

Does Musk himself ever get community noted?

Yes, a lot. He can't delete them either which sometimes makes them very funny.

Ah OK. Well I'll stick an entry in his credit ledger then. There's plenty of space there.

Eabhal said:

TimS said:

MaxPB said:

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.

Racial slurs are now also routine in many parts of twitter, particularly anti-,black and antisemitic ones. I can even see these starting to gain a foothold among posters from places like India, for instance.

WhisperingOracle said:

Racial slurs are now also routine in many parts of twitter, particularly anti-,black and antisemitic ones. I can even see these starting to gain a foothold among posters from places like India, for instance.

More anti Islam ones albeit there are some militant Islamist tweeters too

HYUFD said:

bondegezou said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

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

https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/EEEPB 03 2007 BBA.pdf

I get 30 days + public holidays, so not all UK are on 20 days.

RochdalePioneers said:

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

There certainly is, I got a weeks ban for referring to a woman, on a Chronicle article, as "trash" for racially abusing a neighbour. IT was a couple of years back.

malcolmg said:

HYUFD said:

bondegezou said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

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

https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/EEEPB 03 2007 BBA.pdf

I get 30 days + public holidays, so not all UK are on 20 days.

Same here. Least I've ever had is 25 plus public holidays, I think. Best was 35 plus public holidays.

ETA: I was never quite sure that the 35 days plus public holidays wasn't just some administrative cock-up in the new leave booking system. I never felt it necessary to check

MaxPB said:

RochdalePioneers said:

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.

"...content that encourages people to commit illegal acts..."

I'm not sure that's compatible with free speech. How else do you get to change the law?

Malmesbury said:

MaxPB said:

williamglenn said:

MaxPB said:

Pulpstar said:

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

ZuckMAGAberg.

Community notes are objectively better than censorship. A really great way to stop misinformation without sending people down the conspiracy route.

His comments bracketing Europe with Latin America and China as places with draconian laws won't go down well with the establishment here. You can see why Clegg was no longer a good fit for them.

Indeed. I did say just a few days ago that Zuck would be very likely to go over to the dark side sooner rather than later. It's been coming for a while, you can tell from his public statements over the past year that he's also fed up of people having to censor everything they say because some blue haired weirdo will press the report button 1000 times.

In a way he is right. {Ed - Suckerberg… Right???!}

Both China and increasingly, EU (and other) countries are demanding censorship online. A chunk of what they want to censor is the same things. A further chunk is content not conforming to a set of social-political rules, to managed by the state.

We should be clear on what we are asking for. Saying “It isn’t censorship to censor bad stuff” is simply self deluding.

Personally, I would be looking at algorithmically recommended content…

It's wacky. I typically go to check on Ash Sarkar or Owen Jones and then I get steered to the latest from Elon Musk. Ah ha, I think, saving me from the dreaded echo chamber, excellent. But then I test that by going first to somebody grim like Neil Oliver, to see if it then points me to Owen Jones or Sarkar or ilk, but no, it's Musk again.

Taz said:

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.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/royal-college-chief-deeply-sorry-for-accidentally-following-tommy-robinson-on-x/ar-AA1x6rBo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=814d57ea634b4b2ebd1c5da0d4c068ba&ei=11

Hmmmm. I follow all the local anti-cycling campaigners so I have my rebuttals and data ready for an effective deputation. Know thine enemy.

Eabhal said:

Taz said:

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.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/royal-college-chief-deeply-sorry-for-accidentally-following-tommy-robinson-on-x/ar-AA1x6rBo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=814d57ea634b4b2ebd1c5da0d4c068ba&ei=11

Hmmmm. I follow all the local anti-cycling campaigners so I have my rebuttals and data ready for an effective deputation. Know thine enemy.

I presume that numbers of police and anti-racism campaigners also follow Yarxley-Lennon.

If nothing else to get the advance notice of the next crime he is going to commit.

WhisperingOracle said:

Malmesbury said:

MaxPB said:

williamglenn said:

MaxPB said:

Pulpstar said:

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

ZuckMAGAberg.

Community notes are objectively better than censorship. A really great way to stop misinformation without sending people down the conspiracy route.

His comments bracketing Europe with Latin America and China as places with draconian laws won't go down well with the establishment here. You can see why Clegg was no longer a good fit for them.

Indeed. I did say just a few days ago that Zuck would be very likely to go over to the dark side sooner rather than later. It's been coming for a while, you can tell from his public statements over the past year that he's also fed up of people having to censor everything they say because some blue haired weirdo will press the report button 1000 times.

In a way he is right. {Ed - Suckerberg… Right???!}

Both China and increasingly, EU (and other) countries are demanding censorship online. A chunk of what they want to censor is the same things. A further chunk is content not conforming to a set of social-political rules, to managed by the state.

We should be clear on what we are asking for. Saying “It isn’t censorship to censor bad stuff” is simply self deluding.

Personally, I would be looking at algorithmically recommended content…

Where would you class Nazi-era antisemitic cartoons and posters ? That's an example of what's not being moderated on Twitter at the moment, and why it's turning in a very dangerous sewer.

Genuine naivete here: if you use Twitter to exchange thoughts with the people you select as friends, why does it matter that some people are using it to exchange unpleasant opinions? How will you ever come across them, any more than you're likely to run into a neo-Nazi group having a meeting? I ever run into anything disturbing on Twitter - sometimes something I disagree with or find boring, but that's OK. Does normal use entail reading everything that's recently been posted on a given subject?

TimS said:

Driver said:

RandallFlagg said:

Tate launches the BRUV party. Starmer must be quaking in his boots.
https://www.votebruv.co.uk/bruv_2.pdf
I mean look at these policies... they'll be even more appealing than the Absolute Boy's was.
"Knife Crime Epidemic: Zero Tolerance, Maximum
Deterrence
6
Last year, there were 50,000 knife crime offences in Englan
and Wales. That’s 137 every single day. Mothers burying sons.
Fathers burying daughters. Lives stolen. Futures destroyed. And
what’s the punishment? A slap on the wrist? A few years in jail?
No. The punishment will be seen by every Briton, every day.
Introducing BBC Punishment—a 24/7 live broadcast of knife
crime offenders serving solitary confinement. No redempt
arcs. No second chances. Just the cold, hard reality of a life
wasted in a concrete cell.
Imagine a 15-year-old boy, tempted to pick up a blade, turning
on the TV and seeing a man grow old and die alone. That’s not
cruelty—it’s deterrence. And it will save lives."

Poe's Law...

I wonder what Tate's policies are on punishment for sex offenders.

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=cut+their+goolies+off&cvid=49289b3e78aa456a9da5cf8f572df990&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQ6QcY_FXSAQg3MzI4ajBqMagCALACAA&PC=U531&ru=/search?q=cut+their+goolies+off&cvid=49289b3e78aa456a9da5cf8f572df990&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQ6QcY_FXSAQg3MzI4ajBqMagCALACAA&FORM=ANAB01&PC=U531&mmscn=vwrc&mid=A6232920B85534E956C7A6232920B85534E956C7&FORM=WRVORC

WhisperingOracle said:

Malmesbury said:

MaxPB said:

williamglenn said:

MaxPB said:

Pulpstar said:

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

ZuckMAGAberg.

Community notes are objectively better than censorship. A really great way to stop misinformation without sending people down the conspiracy route.

His comments bracketing Europe with Latin America and China as places with draconian laws won't go down well with the establishment here. You can see why Clegg was no longer a good fit for them.

Indeed. I did say just a few days ago that Zuck would be very likely to go over to the dark side sooner rather than later. It's been coming for a while, you can tell from his public statements over the past year that he's also fed up of people having to censor everything they say because some blue haired weirdo will press the report button 1000 times.

In a way he is right. {Ed - Suckerberg… Right???!}

Both China and increasingly, EU (and other) countries are demanding censorship online. A chunk of what they want to censor is the same things. A further chunk is content not conforming to a set of social-political rules, to managed by the state.

We should be clear on what we are asking for. Saying “It isn’t censorship to censor bad stuff” is simply self deluding.

Personally, I would be looking at algorithmically recommended content…

Where would you class Nazi-era antisemitic cartoons and posters ? That's an example of what's not being moderated on Twitter at the moment, and why it's turning in a very dangerous sewer.

And regardless of content (yes it is getting to be a cesspit) there's the matter of the sole owner's overbearing influence and presence. Musk is systematically turning X into a propaganda tool for himself and the far right causes and politicians he favours. The old Twitter may have been quite 'left friendly' but it was never anything like this. It's extremely disconcerting.

IanB2 said:

HYUFD said:

bondegezou said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

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

https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/EEEPB 03 2007 BBA.pdf

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

biggles said:

Taz said:

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.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/royal-college-chief-deeply-sorry-for-accidentally-following-tommy-robinson-on-x/ar-AA1x6rBo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=814d57ea634b4b2ebd1c5da0d4c068ba&ei=11

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.

The problem is the meaning of “follow” - to many it signifies approval.

Casino_Royale said:

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….

Won't help Reeves, but this is probably why 10 yr gilts are up above the 98? previous high.

zerohedge
@zerohedge
*TRADERS NO LONGER FULLY PRICE IN FED RATE CUT BEFORE JULY

My 3.79 fix lined up for next March looking better by the minute

Selebian said:

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.

biggles said:

Malmesbury said:

biggles said:

Taz said:

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.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/royal-college-chief-deeply-sorry-for-accidentally-following-tommy-robinson-on-x/ar-AA1x6rBo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=814d57ea634b4b2ebd1c5da0d4c068ba&ei=11

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.

The problem is the meaning of “follow” - to many it signifies approval.

I mean, Christ, when I was on Twitter I think I followed the French government!

That’s the kind of thing that gets you banned on PB.

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

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.

Pulpstar said:

Won't help Reeves, but this is probably why 10 yr gilts are up above the 98? previous high.

zerohedge
@zerohedge
*TRADERS NO LONGER FULLY PRICE IN FED RATE CUT BEFORE JULY

My 3.79 fix lined up for next March looking better by the minute

As of today:

1 GBP = 1.2508 USD
1 GBP = 1.2034 EUR

What will these values be in Dec 2025?

Going well latest:

YouGov@YouGov
·
1h
Labour starts 2025 with its lowest government approval rating to date

Approve: 16% (-1 from 28-30 Dec 2024)
Disapprove: 63% (+1)
Net: -47 (-2)

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

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.

10MW for power delivery seems reasonable. Probably want more capacity than 10MWh though? I guess cost is the limit there - plenty of space to bang a few shipping containers in.

biggles said:

Taz said:

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.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/royal-college-chief-deeply-sorry-for-accidentally-following-tommy-robinson-on-x/ar-AA1x6rBo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=814d57ea634b4b2ebd1c5da0d4c068ba&ei=11

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.

Could be keeping tabs on the enemy.

Malmesbury said:

williamglenn said:

biggles said:

Malmesbury said:

biggles said:

Taz said:

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.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/royal-college-chief-deeply-sorry-for-accidentally-following-tommy-robinson-on-x/ar-AA1x6rBo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=814d57ea634b4b2ebd1c5da0d4c068ba&ei=11

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.

The problem is the meaning of “follow” - to many it signifies approval.

I mean, Christ, when I was on Twitter I think I followed the French government!

Sedition is even worse.

No.

Sedition or honest treason is one thing.

Approving of the French….

Pass the sword…

biggles said:

Casino_Royale said:

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….

There are far too many special interest groups now, and policies to fall foul of.

As a result, everything is much more predictable, and less funny.

You can still get edgy comedy, but no longer on the BBC or Channel 4.

WhisperingOracle said:

NickPalmer said:

WhisperingOracle said:

Malmesbury said:

MaxPB said:

williamglenn said:

MaxPB said:

Pulpstar said:

williamglenn said:

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will replace their censorship policies with X-style community notes and will work with Trump to combat foreign governments who want to impose censorship.

https://x.com/esaagar/status/1876612227807236310

ZuckMAGAberg.

Community notes are objectively better than censorship. A really great way to stop misinformation without sending people down the conspiracy route.

His comments bracketing Europe with Latin America and China as places with draconian laws won't go down well with the establishment here. You can see why Clegg was no longer a good fit for them.

Indeed. I did say just a few days ago that Zuck would be very likely to go over to the dark side sooner rather than later. It's been coming for a while, you can tell from his public statements over the past year that he's also fed up of people having to censor everything they say because some blue haired weirdo will press the report button 1000 times.

In a way he is right. {Ed - Suckerberg… Right???!}

Both China and increasingly, EU (and other) countries are demanding censorship online. A chunk of what they want to censor is the same things. A further chunk is content not conforming to a set of social-political rules, to managed by the state.

We should be clear on what we are asking for. Saying “It isn’t censorship to censor bad stuff” is simply self deluding.

Personally, I would be looking at algorithmically recommended content…

Where would you class Nazi-era antisemitic cartoons and posters ? That's an example of what's not being moderated on Twitter at the moment, and why it's turning in a very dangerous sewer.

Genuine naivete here: if you use Twitter to exchange thoughts with the people you select as friends, why does it matter that some people are using it to exchange unpleasant opinions? How will you ever come across them, any more than you're likely to run into a neo-Nazi group having a meeting? I ever run into anything disturbing on Twitter - sometimes something I disagree with or find boring, but that's OK. Does normal use entail reading everything that's recently been posted on a given subject?

It's the way he's changed the algorithms. These things will now appear on the list of an Indian poster complaining about water supplies in Rajasthan, and so what I see now spreading worldwide is not just a Trumpist posting-styie ( "cry harder, Modi-haters@@!!), but also various nazi-era memes.

There are I think three areas of potential harm caused by social media, which might or might not require tougher regulation than erstwhile. But each of these is qualitatively different and requires a different approach.

1. The spread of political or scientific misinformation, lies, and hostile state propaganda. I think things like community notes are a useful solution here, together with meaningful education from school onwards about how not to believe all you see in the media. The twin danger with censorship is that it a. puts too much power in the platform / government, b. creases its own suspicion and conspiracy theorising. The old Twitter thing which seems to have since disappeared, of marking an account as being say "Chinese government official" or "Russian funded academic" was very useful too.

2. The projection of harmful content - there is the "easy" i.e. obviously illegal stuff, like child pornography or incitement to terrorism, easy to judge, that is, but not necessarily easy to find; then there is the harder more marginal stuff, particularly postings encouraging suicide, reckless activities, or eating disorders. Very very tricky, but probably best dealt with by age limits rather than blanket bans.

3. The insidious effect on behaviour and brain function from endless streams of mindless nonsense coming out of the likes of TikTok, that's in danger of turning us into Zombies. There's a danger of moral panic here as there was with TV back in the day, but I do think this is a problem. It's an addiction just like gambling or substance abuse. Doing something about algorithmic targeting, and particularly about auto-play (viewers should have to find and select content, not have it start playing automatically) would surely be a reasonable approach that, again, does not involve censorship.

FF43 said:

My only interest in Facebook is to do obtain supplementary information about small organisations that isn't on the website: seasonal opening hours for a museum; the Mother's Day menu at a restaurant.

Not sure where to go for this stuff now. I have zero interest in engaging in culture wars and no-one I know uses the platform for actual communication.

Facebook we use for local events and businesses. The local farm shop, local restaurants, and the like

It has proven its value for that. We saw on it a new restaurant opened in Durham so we booked it and had a lovely night.

The contentious stuff we both avoid.

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

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.

10MW for power delivery seems reasonable. Probably want more capacity than 10MWh though? I guess cost is the limit there - plenty of space to bang a few shipping containers in.

Tesla are selling those containers for $1m or thereabouts.

So enough to do the whole night would be pricey. As yet.

I'm getting quotes for PV installation in France. Interesting conversation with the installer who visited. I asked about batteries and he said that for now the economics don't add up for a house like mine (i.e. a secondary residence) and it's better to sell surplus power to the grid. In France the FIT is €0.126 per KWh, for 20 years. He explained that batteries remain relatively expensive for domestic buyers and only marginally economical but that he expects that to change within the next 2-3 years as their cost comes down dramatically, as has already happened with solar panels.

TimS said:

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

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.

10MW for power delivery seems reasonable. Probably want more capacity than 10MWh though? I guess cost is the limit there - plenty of space to bang a few shipping containers in.

Tesla are selling those containers for $1m or thereabouts.

So enough to do the whole night would be pricey. As yet.

I'm getting quotes for PV installation in France. Interesting conversation with the installer who visited. I asked about batteries and he said that for now the economics don't add up for a house like mine (i.e. a secondary residence) and it's better to sell surplus power to the grid. In France the FIT is €0.126 per KWh, for 20 years. He explained that batteries remain relatively expensive for domestic buyers and only marginally economical but that he expects that to change within the next 2-3 years as their cost comes down dramatically, as has already happened with solar panels.

Yup

Pulpstar said:

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

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.

Locally a farm was up for sale at about £1.5m with outline planning permission for housing. A second bidder came along with £2+mn for the same land. The second bidder was a BESS supplier who could install a few containers with generators as the site was close to a node. Standby power seems to be very profitable.

The ex-farmer is now sunning themselves in Spain.

Pulpstar said:

Malmesbury said:

Selebian said:

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.)

Taz said:

FF43 said:

My only interest in Facebook is to do obtain supplementary information about small organisations that isn't on the website: seasonal opening hours for a museum; the Mother's Day menu at a restaurant.

Not sure where to go for this stuff now. I have zero interest in engaging in culture wars and no-one I know uses the platform for actual communication.

Facebook we use for local events and businesses. The local farm shop, local restaurants, and the like

It has proven its value for that. We saw on it a new restaurant opened in Durham so we booked it and had a lovely night.

The contentious stuff we both avoid.

It’s still good for esoteric, tiny, well moderated or self moderated, groups discussing something too small for its own website. Hobbyists and the like.

This is a nice piece on "spreadflation", as the author calls it, the increasing number of things to subscribe to in the media, both news and entertainment: https://futureproofnews.substack.com/p/its-time-to-end-our-subscription It"s not paywalled.

It touches on several issues around his online media are paid for, which relates to many discussions here around social media, how the BBC is paid for, etc.