Markets now guessing special guest at White House press conference (timed at close of trading hours in an hour) will be announcement of US trade deal of some sort with Japan… if it is, and it sets precedent that the 10% tariff can be negotiated away, that could be material
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Stephen King said:
“I have the heart of a small boy… I keep it in a jar on my desk.”
I have the heart of a lion and a lifetime ban from Chester Zoo.
Visited Chester Zoo recently.
The big male lion was spendidly poised on a prominent large flat rock. Occasionally examined his claws but spent most of his time striking poses. Like something from the Lion King. The poor old lioness was sprawled down below in the shrubbery.
Only later did I discover that the rock is heated.
OpenAI In Talks to Buy Windsurf for About $3 Billion
Windsurf is a fork visual studio code (a free open source project from Microsoft) with code completion that isn't state of the art....are we now in the pets.com phase?
TBF, Cursor is a success. And Microsoft has Github CoPilot (and the right to scrape all those lovely Github probjects), and will I'm sure integrate it ever more closely into VS Code.
But you are right: $3bn for a relatively unsuccessful fork is a sign that there's WAY to much money whizzing around in AI/LLM land.
I've been testing out Cursor on a few personal projects and it's ok, I think trained on a big repo it would be pretty good. Windsurf is a pile of shit though, no way it's worth $3bn, Elon will be having a laugh at Altmann tonight I'm sure.
We use Cursor internally, sitting on top of a pretty large codebase, and what's amazing is how well it understands underlying object structures. It's also incredible for pulling together test suites.
It's a massive time saver... assuming you have good coders in the first place.
We use Cursor too. I tried the updated VSCode co-pilot yesterday and it's still far, far away from Cursor despite having the 'product manager checkbox ✅'.
Tomorrow, in-between pointless meetings, I might try the OpenAI coding agent they announced tonight. Looks very like the claude agent - but from some quick tests o4-mini is really quite strong.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
"Council fined millions after three busway deaths" (1)
and
"A crash between a fire engine and two buses has left 16 people injured, including children. The crash happened this afternoon (April 16) on the B1050 Station Road between Longstanton and Willingham. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene, alongside other emergency services." (2)
The (mis)guided busway in Cambridge has been an absolute clusterfuck, with several deaths and injuries put down to it, and vast construction and legal costs. Hope the people injured in today's accident recover soon. The council have been absolutely desperate to sell it as being a success, but in reality it's been a barely-hidden scandal.
Oh, and I hope Ms Free gets good positive soon, and recovers well.
Second one doesn't have much to do with the guide-rails though.
AFAICT it does: the first bus was going along the busway, across a public road, when the collision with the fire engine happened (the picture on the BBC seems to show that (3))
The misguided busway was *supposed* to be a cheap way of reusing an old railway line to provide a public transport service. In reality, some of the 'cheapness' over reopening as a railway was achieved by cutting safety: for instance by not fencing off the busway from the adjacent cyclepath, and by not having barrier crossings.
This is common amongst 'new' types of mass passenger transport: the proponents reduce costs by removing all the old and 'unnecessary' systems used on railways. It rarely ends well; it led to 23 deaths in the Lathren maglev crash twenty years ago, when the people developing that systems said collisions were impossible. (*)
And it wasn't even cheap. Worse, since it was built the council have spent many tens of millions on legal fees alone.
(*) The word 'Impossible' has a tendency to hit engineers in the gob shortly after they utter it.
I'm interested in the idea of that fence. Why? Especially now as the max speed is 30mph. And there is good separation from the shared path.
We don't fence off our roads, which are far more dangerous, complex environments, with thousands of vehicles moving in random directions at higher speed under the control of distracted drivers. Nor do we even have mandatory standards for buffers between pavement and road for new projects.
My local single carriageway bypass has a 1.2m wide shared walking/cycling path separated by a kerb from a national speed limit 35k AADT road. About 10 people were killed on it before they applied even modest restrictions to the drivers - 50mph average speed limit.
Railways - yes, but trains move at 60 to 100mph routinely.
This seems to be like an unjustified focus on second order risks. Put the investment into the ring road where Celia Ward was killed (not getting into our different views on this - we agree that the setup is problematic).
Good question, but I disagree.
The misguided bus route is 16 miles. In the 15 years since it opened, it has seen numerous collisions with vehicles, three cyclist/pedestrian deaths, several other injuries, bus crashes, and other incidents. It'd be interesting to see another 16-mile stretch of road, with a 30MPH speed limit, that has seen that many incidents with the little traffic it gets (a few busses an hour, rather than continuous traffic).
I thin it's because it is not one thing or the other. It is not a road as, when the busses are on the guided sections, they cannot swerve. So if someone does fall in front of the bus, you can only break, not swerve as you may in a car. In this, it is like a tram or a train. But it is not a tram or a train, so the safety systems and regulations that you would require for trams (minimal) or trains (massive) were thrown out.
In addition, the fact they are guided can lead to driver inattention; ISTR one bus crashed because the driver was not paying attention at about the same place as today's crash.
Also, IME from running, cycling and walking along it, pedestrians sometimes walk along the actual guided bus beams rather than the nice wide footpath alongside. I've yelled at a young man once who was doing exactly that, only to be told: "There's no busses today." Five minutes later, a bus came past me...
Three people have died, and many others injured in numerous incidents. *That* indicates something needs doing to improve the safety.
(As for Huntingdon: the 'setup' on that road is not problematic, as it is not a cycle path. It is reasonable, though not ideal, for pedestrians.)
Thank-you for the answer.
For busways, we do have other busways in a number of places which can be comparators, such as in West Manchester and Luton. I need to do a bit of digging.
(I'd argue that the very fact that Celia Ward felt that she had to go on the pavement because she through the road was too dangerous is an indicator that the setup is problematic. Safe cycling facilities, on or off road and designated, need to be everywhere - that is the acceptable level of provision.
The Active Travel England standard is "safe for anyone from 8 to 80".
Here in Ashfield, the policy is basically "cycle on the pavement", set by default in 1990s box-ticking-on-the-cheap days, as the roads are nasty if you are not very assertive - essentially a competent vehicular cyclist. I can't use most of the offroad cycling paths because they are mainly barriered off against cycling, so even off road it is usually footpaths.)
We've had some new cycling infrastructure put in. It was obviously stupid and we explained why when the proposals were put forward, but Highways are both a law unto themselves and live nowhere near the borough, so did it anyway.
Apart from taking a safe pedestrian route away and turning in to an exclusive cycleway (yeah, right) they have also crossed a lot of side roads using a raised speed hump.
Cars are supposed to give way to anyone crossing but when you are turning right into the side road it is very hard to see if there is anyone approaching, and a lot of drivers just assume if the crossing is clear at that second they can go. Cue conflict.
Personally, I continue to cycle on the road as it is safer, but it is now narrower and there is more resentment for 'getting in the way'.
Surely there shouldn’t be anything as hilly as raised speed humps in the flatlands.
Markets now guessing special guest at White House press conference (timed at close of trading hours in an hour) will be announcement of US trade deal of some sort with Japan… if it is, and it sets precedent that the 10% tariff can be negotiated away, that could be material
If he pulls a win out of all of this everyone is screwed.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
"Council fined millions after three busway deaths" (1)
and
"A crash between a fire engine and two buses has left 16 people injured, including children. The crash happened this afternoon (April 16) on the B1050 Station Road between Longstanton and Willingham. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene, alongside other emergency services." (2)
The (mis)guided busway in Cambridge has been an absolute clusterfuck, with several deaths and injuries put down to it, and vast construction and legal costs. Hope the people injured in today's accident recover soon. The council have been absolutely desperate to sell it as being a success, but in reality it's been a barely-hidden scandal.
Oh, and I hope Ms Free gets good positive soon, and recovers well.
Second one doesn't have much to do with the guide-rails though.
AFAICT it does: the first bus was going along the busway, across a public road, when the collision with the fire engine happened (the picture on the BBC seems to show that (3))
The misguided busway was *supposed* to be a cheap way of reusing an old railway line to provide a public transport service. In reality, some of the 'cheapness' over reopening as a railway was achieved by cutting safety: for instance by not fencing off the busway from the adjacent cyclepath, and by not having barrier crossings.
This is common amongst 'new' types of mass passenger transport: the proponents reduce costs by removing all the old and 'unnecessary' systems used on railways. It rarely ends well; it led to 23 deaths in the Lathren maglev crash twenty years ago, when the people developing that systems said collisions were impossible. (*)
And it wasn't even cheap. Worse, since it was built the council have spent many tens of millions on legal fees alone.
(*) The word 'Impossible' has a tendency to hit engineers in the gob shortly after they utter it.
I'm interested in the idea of that fence. Why? Especially now as the max speed is 30mph. And there is good separation from the shared path.
We don't fence off our roads, which are far more dangerous, complex environments, with thousands of vehicles moving in random directions at higher speed under the control of distracted drivers. Nor do we even have mandatory standards for buffers between pavement and road for new projects.
My local single carriageway bypass has a 1.2m wide shared walking/cycling path separated by a kerb from a national speed limit 35k AADT road. About 10 people were killed on it before they applied even modest restrictions to the drivers - 50mph average speed limit.
Railways - yes, but trains move at 60 to 100mph routinely.
This seems to be like an unjustified focus on second order risks. Put the investment into the ring road where Celia Ward was killed (not getting into our different views on this - we agree that the setup is problematic).
Good question, but I disagree.
The misguided bus route is 16 miles. In the 15 years since it opened, it has seen numerous collisions with vehicles, three cyclist/pedestrian deaths, several other injuries, bus crashes, and other incidents. It'd be interesting to see another 16-mile stretch of road, with a 30MPH speed limit, that has seen that many incidents with the little traffic it gets (a few busses an hour, rather than continuous traffic).
I thin it's because it is not one thing or the other. It is not a road as, when the busses are on the guided sections, they cannot swerve. So if someone does fall in front of the bus, you can only break, not swerve as you may in a car. In this, it is like a tram or a train. But it is not a tram or a train, so the safety systems and regulations that you would require for trams (minimal) or trains (massive) were thrown out.
In addition, the fact they are guided can lead to driver inattention; ISTR one bus crashed because the driver was not paying attention at about the same place as today's crash.
Also, IME from running, cycling and walking along it, pedestrians sometimes walk along the actual guided bus beams rather than the nice wide footpath alongside. I've yelled at a young man once who was doing exactly that, only to be told: "There's no busses today." Five minutes later, a bus came past me...
Three people have died, and many others injured in numerous incidents. *That* indicates something needs doing to improve the safety.
(As for Huntingdon: the 'setup' on that road is not problematic, as it is not a cycle path. It is reasonable, though not ideal, for pedestrians.)
Thank-you for the answer.
For busways, we do have other busways in a number of places which can be comparators, such as in West Manchester and Luton. I need to do a bit of digging.
(I'd argue that the very fact that Celia Ward felt that she had to go on the pavement because she through the road was too dangerous is an indicator that the setup is problematic. Safe cycling facilities, on or off road and designated, need to be everywhere - that is the acceptable level of provision.
The Active Travel England standard is "safe for anyone from 8 to 80".
Here in Ashfield, the policy is basically "cycle on the pavement", set by default in 1990s box-ticking-on-the-cheap days, as the roads are nasty if you are not very assertive - essentially a competent vehicular cyclist. I can't use most of the offroad cycling paths because they are mainly barriered off against cycling, so even off road it is usually footpaths.)
Bruce Schneier often says that a key characteristic of a good security system is that using it correctly should be the easiest and most obvious option.
I’d say that goes double for road layouts.
It's to do with long-term planning and investment and joined up thinking.
And the need to rewrite the DNA of Local Highways Authorities from a very basic level.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
American exceptionalism is electing a pariah government so repugnant that it tanks the electoral prospects of aligned right wing governments across the entire anglosphere
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
"Council fined millions after three busway deaths" (1)
and
"A crash between a fire engine and two buses has left 16 people injured, including children. The crash happened this afternoon (April 16) on the B1050 Station Road between Longstanton and Willingham. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene, alongside other emergency services." (2)
The (mis)guided busway in Cambridge has been an absolute clusterfuck, with several deaths and injuries put down to it, and vast construction and legal costs. Hope the people injured in today's accident recover soon. The council have been absolutely desperate to sell it as being a success, but in reality it's been a barely-hidden scandal.
Oh, and I hope Ms Free gets good positive soon, and recovers well.
Second one doesn't have much to do with the guide-rails though.
AFAICT it does: the first bus was going along the busway, across a public road, when the collision with the fire engine happened (the picture on the BBC seems to show that (3))
The misguided busway was *supposed* to be a cheap way of reusing an old railway line to provide a public transport service. In reality, some of the 'cheapness' over reopening as a railway was achieved by cutting safety: for instance by not fencing off the busway from the adjacent cyclepath, and by not having barrier crossings.
This is common amongst 'new' types of mass passenger transport: the proponents reduce costs by removing all the old and 'unnecessary' systems used on railways. It rarely ends well; it led to 23 deaths in the Lathren maglev crash twenty years ago, when the people developing that systems said collisions were impossible. (*)
And it wasn't even cheap. Worse, since it was built the council have spent many tens of millions on legal fees alone.
(*) The word 'Impossible' has a tendency to hit engineers in the gob shortly after they utter it.
I'm interested in the idea of that fence. Why? Especially now as the max speed is 30mph. And there is good separation from the shared path.
We don't fence off our roads, which are far more dangerous, complex environments, with thousands of vehicles moving in random directions at higher speed under the control of distracted drivers. Nor do we even have mandatory standards for buffers between pavement and road for new projects.
My local single carriageway bypass has a 1.2m wide shared walking/cycling path separated by a kerb from a national speed limit 35k AADT road. About 10 people were killed on it before they applied even modest restrictions to the drivers - 50mph average speed limit.
Railways - yes, but trains move at 60 to 100mph routinely.
This seems to be like an unjustified focus on second order risks. Put the investment into the ring road where Celia Ward was killed (not getting into our different views on this - we agree that the setup is problematic).
Good question, but I disagree.
The misguided bus route is 16 miles. In the 15 years since it opened, it has seen numerous collisions with vehicles, three cyclist/pedestrian deaths, several other injuries, bus crashes, and other incidents. It'd be interesting to see another 16-mile stretch of road, with a 30MPH speed limit, that has seen that many incidents with the little traffic it gets (a few busses an hour, rather than continuous traffic).
I thin it's because it is not one thing or the other. It is not a road as, when the busses are on the guided sections, they cannot swerve. So if someone does fall in front of the bus, you can only break, not swerve as you may in a car. In this, it is like a tram or a train. But it is not a tram or a train, so the safety systems and regulations that you would require for trams (minimal) or trains (massive) were thrown out.
In addition, the fact they are guided can lead to driver inattention; ISTR one bus crashed because the driver was not paying attention at about the same place as today's crash.
Also, IME from running, cycling and walking along it, pedestrians sometimes walk along the actual guided bus beams rather than the nice wide footpath alongside. I've yelled at a young man once who was doing exactly that, only to be told: "There's no busses today." Five minutes later, a bus came past me...
Three people have died, and many others injured in numerous incidents. *That* indicates something needs doing to improve the safety.
(As for Huntingdon: the 'setup' on that road is not problematic, as it is not a cycle path. It is reasonable, though not ideal, for pedestrians.)
Thank-you for the answer.
For busways, we do have other busways in a number of places which can be comparators, such as in West Manchester and Luton. I need to do a bit of digging.
(I'd argue that the very fact that Celia Ward felt that she had to go on the pavement because she through the road was too dangerous is an indicator that the setup is problematic. Safe cycling facilities, on or off road and designated, need to be everywhere - that is the acceptable level of provision.
The Active Travel England standard is "safe for anyone from 8 to 80".
Here in Ashfield, the policy is basically "cycle on the pavement", set by default in 1990s box-ticking-on-the-cheap days, as the roads are nasty if you are not very assertive - essentially a competent vehicular cyclist. I can't use most of the offroad cycling paths because they are mainly barriered off against cycling, so even off road it is usually footpaths.)
We've had some new cycling infrastructure put in. It was obviously stupid and we explained why when the proposals were put forward, but Highways are both a law unto themselves and live nowhere near the borough, so did it anyway.
Apart from taking a safe pedestrian route away and turning in to an exclusive cycleway (yeah, right) they have also crossed a lot of side roads using a raised speed hump.
Cars are supposed to give way to anyone crossing but when you are turning right into the side road it is very hard to see if there is anyone approaching, and a lot of drivers just assume if the crossing is clear at that second they can go. Cue conflict.
Personally, I continue to cycle on the road as it is safer, but it is now narrower and there is more resentment for 'getting in the way'.
Surely there shouldn’t be anything as hilly as raised speed humps in the flatlands.
The railway bridges are killers. The Cote de East Coast Main Line must be Cat 1 at least.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
"Council fined millions after three busway deaths" (1)
and
"A crash between a fire engine and two buses has left 16 people injured, including children. The crash happened this afternoon (April 16) on the B1050 Station Road between Longstanton and Willingham. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene, alongside other emergency services." (2)
The (mis)guided busway in Cambridge has been an absolute clusterfuck, with several deaths and injuries put down to it, and vast construction and legal costs. Hope the people injured in today's accident recover soon. The council have been absolutely desperate to sell it as being a success, but in reality it's been a barely-hidden scandal.
Oh, and I hope Ms Free gets good positive soon, and recovers well.
Second one doesn't have much to do with the guide-rails though.
AFAICT it does: the first bus was going along the busway, across a public road, when the collision with the fire engine happened (the picture on the BBC seems to show that (3))
The misguided busway was *supposed* to be a cheap way of reusing an old railway line to provide a public transport service. In reality, some of the 'cheapness' over reopening as a railway was achieved by cutting safety: for instance by not fencing off the busway from the adjacent cyclepath, and by not having barrier crossings.
This is common amongst 'new' types of mass passenger transport: the proponents reduce costs by removing all the old and 'unnecessary' systems used on railways. It rarely ends well; it led to 23 deaths in the Lathren maglev crash twenty years ago, when the people developing that systems said collisions were impossible. (*)
And it wasn't even cheap. Worse, since it was built the council have spent many tens of millions on legal fees alone.
(*) The word 'Impossible' has a tendency to hit engineers in the gob shortly after they utter it.
I'm interested in the idea of that fence. Why? Especially now as the max speed is 30mph. And there is good separation from the shared path.
We don't fence off our roads, which are far more dangerous, complex environments, with thousands of vehicles moving in random directions at higher speed under the control of distracted drivers. Nor do we even have mandatory standards for buffers between pavement and road for new projects.
My local single carriageway bypass has a 1.2m wide shared walking/cycling path separated by a kerb from a national speed limit 35k AADT road. About 10 people were killed on it before they applied even modest restrictions to the drivers - 50mph average speed limit.
Railways - yes, but trains move at 60 to 100mph routinely.
This seems to be like an unjustified focus on second order risks. Put the investment into the ring road where Celia Ward was killed (not getting into our different views on this - we agree that the setup is problematic).
Good question, but I disagree.
The misguided bus route is 16 miles. In the 15 years since it opened, it has seen numerous collisions with vehicles, three cyclist/pedestrian deaths, several other injuries, bus crashes, and other incidents. It'd be interesting to see another 16-mile stretch of road, with a 30MPH speed limit, that has seen that many incidents with the little traffic it gets (a few busses an hour, rather than continuous traffic).
I thin it's because it is not one thing or the other. It is not a road as, when the busses are on the guided sections, they cannot swerve. So if someone does fall in front of the bus, you can only break, not swerve as you may in a car. In this, it is like a tram or a train. But it is not a tram or a train, so the safety systems and regulations that you would require for trams (minimal) or trains (massive) were thrown out.
In addition, the fact they are guided can lead to driver inattention; ISTR one bus crashed because the driver was not paying attention at about the same place as today's crash.
Also, IME from running, cycling and walking along it, pedestrians sometimes walk along the actual guided bus beams rather than the nice wide footpath alongside. I've yelled at a young man once who was doing exactly that, only to be told: "There's no busses today." Five minutes later, a bus came past me...
Three people have died, and many others injured in numerous incidents. *That* indicates something needs doing to improve the safety.
(As for Huntingdon: the 'setup' on that road is not problematic, as it is not a cycle path. It is reasonable, though not ideal, for pedestrians.)
Thank-you for the answer.
For busways, we do have other busways in a number of places which can be comparators, such as in West Manchester and Luton. I need to do a bit of digging.
(I'd argue that the very fact that Celia Ward felt that she had to go on the pavement because she through the road was too dangerous is an indicator that the setup is problematic. Safe cycling facilities, on or off road and designated, need to be everywhere - that is the acceptable level of provision.
The Active Travel England standard is "safe for anyone from 8 to 80".
Here in Ashfield, the policy is basically "cycle on the pavement", set by default in 1990s box-ticking-on-the-cheap days, as the roads are nasty if you are not very assertive - essentially a competent vehicular cyclist. I can't use most of the offroad cycling paths because they are mainly barriered off against cycling, so even off road it is usually footpaths.)
We've had some new cycling infrastructure put in. It was obviously stupid and we explained why when the proposals were put forward, but Highways are both a law unto themselves and live nowhere near the borough, so did it anyway.
Apart from taking a safe pedestrian route away and turning in to an exclusive cycleway (yeah, right) they have also crossed a lot of side roads using a raised speed hump.
Cars are supposed to give way to anyone crossing but when you are turning right into the side road it is very hard to see if there is anyone approaching, and a lot of drivers just assume if the crossing is clear at that second they can go. Cue conflict.
Personally, I continue to cycle on the road as it is safer, but it is now narrower and there is more resentment for 'getting in the way'.
I'd be interested to see - is there a Streetview yet, or a link to the Council plans? PM me perhaps.
Here, I'm noticing some change of behaviour (at last) where giving way to pedestrians at junctions and traffic islands is mandated. But when I walk I am fairly assertive.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
I hope we find out who the manager in question is linked to, politically and socially. That may provide answers.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
"Council fined millions after three busway deaths" (1)
and
"A crash between a fire engine and two buses has left 16 people injured, including children. The crash happened this afternoon (April 16) on the B1050 Station Road between Longstanton and Willingham. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene, alongside other emergency services." (2)
The (mis)guided busway in Cambridge has been an absolute clusterfuck, with several deaths and injuries put down to it, and vast construction and legal costs. Hope the people injured in today's accident recover soon. The council have been absolutely desperate to sell it as being a success, but in reality it's been a barely-hidden scandal.
Oh, and I hope Ms Free gets good positive soon, and recovers well.
Second one doesn't have much to do with the guide-rails though.
AFAICT it does: the first bus was going along the busway, across a public road, when the collision with the fire engine happened (the picture on the BBC seems to show that (3))
The misguided busway was *supposed* to be a cheap way of reusing an old railway line to provide a public transport service. In reality, some of the 'cheapness' over reopening as a railway was achieved by cutting safety: for instance by not fencing off the busway from the adjacent cyclepath, and by not having barrier crossings.
This is common amongst 'new' types of mass passenger transport: the proponents reduce costs by removing all the old and 'unnecessary' systems used on railways. It rarely ends well; it led to 23 deaths in the Lathren maglev crash twenty years ago, when the people developing that systems said collisions were impossible. (*)
And it wasn't even cheap. Worse, since it was built the council have spent many tens of millions on legal fees alone.
(*) The word 'Impossible' has a tendency to hit engineers in the gob shortly after they utter it.
I'm interested in the idea of that fence. Why? Especially now as the max speed is 30mph. And there is good separation from the shared path.
We don't fence off our roads, which are far more dangerous, complex environments, with thousands of vehicles moving in random directions at higher speed under the control of distracted drivers. Nor do we even have mandatory standards for buffers between pavement and road for new projects.
My local single carriageway bypass has a 1.2m wide shared walking/cycling path separated by a kerb from a national speed limit 35k AADT road. About 10 people were killed on it before they applied even modest restrictions to the drivers - 50mph average speed limit.
Railways - yes, but trains move at 60 to 100mph routinely.
This seems to be like an unjustified focus on second order risks. Put the investment into the ring road where Celia Ward was killed (not getting into our different views on this - we agree that the setup is problematic).
Good question, but I disagree.
The misguided bus route is 16 miles. In the 15 years since it opened, it has seen numerous collisions with vehicles, three cyclist/pedestrian deaths, several other injuries, bus crashes, and other incidents. It'd be interesting to see another 16-mile stretch of road, with a 30MPH speed limit, that has seen that many incidents with the little traffic it gets (a few busses an hour, rather than continuous traffic).
I thin it's because it is not one thing or the other. It is not a road as, when the busses are on the guided sections, they cannot swerve. So if someone does fall in front of the bus, you can only break, not swerve as you may in a car. In this, it is like a tram or a train. But it is not a tram or a train, so the safety systems and regulations that you would require for trams (minimal) or trains (massive) were thrown out.
In addition, the fact they are guided can lead to driver inattention; ISTR one bus crashed because the driver was not paying attention at about the same place as today's crash.
Also, IME from running, cycling and walking along it, pedestrians sometimes walk along the actual guided bus beams rather than the nice wide footpath alongside. I've yelled at a young man once who was doing exactly that, only to be told: "There's no busses today." Five minutes later, a bus came past me...
Three people have died, and many others injured in numerous incidents. *That* indicates something needs doing to improve the safety.
(As for Huntingdon: the 'setup' on that road is not problematic, as it is not a cycle path. It is reasonable, though not ideal, for pedestrians.)
Thank-you for the answer.
For busways, we do have other busways in a number of places which can be comparators, such as in West Manchester and Luton. I need to do a bit of digging.
(I'd argue that the very fact that Celia Ward felt that she had to go on the pavement because she through the road was too dangerous is an indicator that the setup is problematic. Safe cycling facilities, on or off road and designated, need to be everywhere - that is the acceptable level of provision.
The Active Travel England standard is "safe for anyone from 8 to 80".
Here in Ashfield, the policy is basically "cycle on the pavement", set by default in 1990s box-ticking-on-the-cheap days, as the roads are nasty if you are not very assertive - essentially a competent vehicular cyclist. I can't use most of the offroad cycling paths because they are mainly barriered off against cycling, so even off road it is usually footpaths.)
We've had some new cycling infrastructure put in. It was obviously stupid and we explained why when the proposals were put forward, but Highways are both a law unto themselves and live nowhere near the borough, so did it anyway.
Apart from taking a safe pedestrian route away and turning in to an exclusive cycleway (yeah, right) they have also crossed a lot of side roads using a raised speed hump.
Cars are supposed to give way to anyone crossing but when you are turning right into the side road it is very hard to see if there is anyone approaching, and a lot of drivers just assume if the crossing is clear at that second they can go. Cue conflict.
Personally, I continue to cycle on the road as it is safer, but it is now narrower and there is more resentment for 'getting in the way'.
Surely there shouldn’t be anything as hilly as raised speed humps in the flatlands.
The railway bridges are killers. The Cote de East Coast Main Line must be Cat 1 at least.
Maybe there should be a Tour de France stage around Doncaster.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Markets now guessing special guest at White House press conference (timed at close of trading hours in an hour) will be announcement of US trade deal of some sort with Japan… if it is, and it sets precedent that the 10% tariff can be negotiated away, that could be material
If it removes the 25% on cars, doubly so. Although I assume many Japanese companies build in the US too.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
We exist to campaign for LGBT+ equality both within the party and externally, and to promote the party within the LGBTQ+ communities. As a 'Associated Organisation' of the party, all our full members are also members of the party, and we hold the rights to be consulted on LGBTQ+-related party policy and to put policy motions forward to the federal party.
There are about 15 eg Humanist, Green, Women, Chinese etc.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
Markets now guessing special guest at White House press conference (timed at close of trading hours in an hour) will be announcement of US trade deal of some sort with Japan… if it is, and it sets precedent that the 10% tariff can be negotiated away, that could be material
If it removes the 25% on cars, doubly so. Although I assume many Japanese companies build in the US too.
They import a little over 1m Japanese cars, and make 3-4m in the USA, I think, per annum.
Acyn @Acyn · 1h Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
As with the Brexit judgements, my worry is those attacking the court as if it has created a new law rather than interpreted an old one.
Exactly as with Brexit, if a politician doesn’t like the judgement they must campaign to change the law, and see if they can take the public with them. Attacking the court remains a dangerous precedent.
"Council fined millions after three busway deaths" (1)
and
"A crash between a fire engine and two buses has left 16 people injured, including children. The crash happened this afternoon (April 16) on the B1050 Station Road between Longstanton and Willingham. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene, alongside other emergency services." (2)
The (mis)guided busway in Cambridge has been an absolute clusterfuck, with several deaths and injuries put down to it, and vast construction and legal costs. Hope the people injured in today's accident recover soon. The council have been absolutely desperate to sell it as being a success, but in reality it's been a barely-hidden scandal.
Oh, and I hope Ms Free gets good positive soon, and recovers well.
Second one doesn't have much to do with the guide-rails though.
AFAICT it does: the first bus was going along the busway, across a public road, when the collision with the fire engine happened (the picture on the BBC seems to show that (3))
The misguided busway was *supposed* to be a cheap way of reusing an old railway line to provide a public transport service. In reality, some of the 'cheapness' over reopening as a railway was achieved by cutting safety: for instance by not fencing off the busway from the adjacent cyclepath, and by not having barrier crossings.
This is common amongst 'new' types of mass passenger transport: the proponents reduce costs by removing all the old and 'unnecessary' systems used on railways. It rarely ends well; it led to 23 deaths in the Lathren maglev crash twenty years ago, when the people developing that systems said collisions were impossible. (*)
And it wasn't even cheap. Worse, since it was built the council have spent many tens of millions on legal fees alone.
(*) The word 'Impossible' has a tendency to hit engineers in the gob shortly after they utter it.
I'm interested in the idea of that fence. Why? Especially now as the max speed is 30mph. And there is good separation from the shared path.
We don't fence off our roads, which are far more dangerous, complex environments, with thousands of vehicles moving in random directions at higher speed under the control of distracted drivers. Nor do we even have mandatory standards for buffers between pavement and road for new projects.
My local single carriageway bypass has a 1.2m wide shared walking/cycling path separated by a kerb from a national speed limit 35k AADT road. About 10 people were killed on it before they applied even modest restrictions to the drivers - 50mph average speed limit.
Railways - yes, but trains move at 60 to 100mph routinely.
This seems to be like an unjustified focus on second order risks. Put the investment into the ring road where Celia Ward was killed (not getting into our different views on this - we agree that the setup is problematic).
Good question, but I disagree.
The misguided bus route is 16 miles. In the 15 years since it opened, it has seen numerous collisions with vehicles, three cyclist/pedestrian deaths, several other injuries, bus crashes, and other incidents. It'd be interesting to see another 16-mile stretch of road, with a 30MPH speed limit, that has seen that many incidents with the little traffic it gets (a few busses an hour, rather than continuous traffic).
I thin it's because it is not one thing or the other. It is not a road as, when the busses are on the guided sections, they cannot swerve. So if someone does fall in front of the bus, you can only break, not swerve as you may in a car. In this, it is like a tram or a train. But it is not a tram or a train, so the safety systems and regulations that you would require for trams (minimal) or trains (massive) were thrown out.
In addition, the fact they are guided can lead to driver inattention; ISTR one bus crashed because the driver was not paying attention at about the same place as today's crash.
Also, IME from running, cycling and walking along it, pedestrians sometimes walk along the actual guided bus beams rather than the nice wide footpath alongside. I've yelled at a young man once who was doing exactly that, only to be told: "There's no busses today." Five minutes later, a bus came past me...
Three people have died, and many others injured in numerous incidents. *That* indicates something needs doing to improve the safety.
(As for Huntingdon: the 'setup' on that road is not problematic, as it is not a cycle path. It is reasonable, though not ideal, for pedestrians.)
Thank-you for the answer.
For busways, we do have other busways in a number of places which can be comparators, such as in West Manchester and Luton. I need to do a bit of digging.
(I'd argue that the very fact that Celia Ward felt that she had to go on the pavement because she through the road was too dangerous is an indicator that the setup is problematic. Safe cycling facilities, on or off road and designated, need to be everywhere - that is the acceptable level of provision.
The Active Travel England standard is "safe for anyone from 8 to 80".
Here in Ashfield, the policy is basically "cycle on the pavement", set by default in 1990s box-ticking-on-the-cheap days, as the roads are nasty if you are not very assertive - essentially a competent vehicular cyclist. I can't use most of the offroad cycling paths because they are mainly barriered off against cycling, so even off road it is usually footpaths.)
We've had some new cycling infrastructure put in. It was obviously stupid and we explained why when the proposals were put forward, but Highways are both a law unto themselves and live nowhere near the borough, so did it anyway.
Apart from taking a safe pedestrian route away and turning in to an exclusive cycleway (yeah, right) they have also crossed a lot of side roads using a raised speed hump.
Cars are supposed to give way to anyone crossing but when you are turning right into the side road it is very hard to see if there is anyone approaching, and a lot of drivers just assume if the crossing is clear at that second they can go. Cue conflict.
Personally, I continue to cycle on the road as it is safer, but it is now narrower and there is more resentment for 'getting in the way'.
Surely there shouldn’t be anything as hilly as raised speed humps in the flatlands.
The railway bridges are killers. The Cote de East Coast Main Line must be Cat 1 at least.
Maybe there should be a Tour de France stage around Doncaster.
The much missed Tour de Yorkshire had a few flat stages finishing here (I recall Harry Tanfield just holding off the sprint trains thanks to a tail wind), although the rather less flat bits in the North Yorks Moors provided rather more excitement. It was such a shame it was cancelled. I suppose the councils don't have the money to support restarting it but I'm sure it was a net positive for the area given the massive crowds it attracted.
The actual Tour de France of course stayed in the Pennines (which proved to be rather more difficult than the peleton expected).
I wonder where they'll go in 2027 after the Edinburgh start?
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Acyn @Acyn · 1h Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
Because the substance of the ruling is to point out that a GRC doesn't change XY to XX, which seems like a statement of the bleeding obvious, but apparently it still needed clarification for idiot bureaucrats and politicians across the country. It's not a victory for a "side" it's a victory for basic common sense, which is why so many are celebrating.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Society becomes more understanding with time, and progressive causes that seem a bit odd at first often end up becoming a normal part of life, but trans-ing kids, and letting men compete in women sports always was, and always will be complete lunacy
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
The Player of Games (or, perhaps, Excession) for M, Wasp Factory or Whit for none.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
I may be wrong, its 88 pages long, but I think that is from the summary that Lord Hodge gave of the judgment to the media and not to the judgment itself.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
To a degree, but careful judicial language not to take its points too far does not mean there are no wider implications in a cultural or tactical sense. Consider if they'd come to an alternative view, and made the same caveat, would that have meant nothing more than the basic facts of the specific case?
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
Acyn @Acyn · 1h Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
I hope we find out who the manager in question is linked to, politically and socially. That may provide answers.
Fife Health Board's position in that Tribunal has verged on the unstateable from the offset. Surely, after today, they cannot pretend otherwise and no more public money needs to be wasted.
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
I can only speak to Iain M Banks. By and large I found his stuff creative and worth reading, though overhyped. As the Culture books are not chronological they can be read in any order, but the ones I enjoyed the most were The Player of Games, Look to Windward, Consider Phlebas, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
The Player of Games looks fun.
Buying it now.
Use of Weapons is probably the high point in the series. Player of Games is a good introduction to the setting.
Excellent... well, if it's fun, I'll move on to Use of Weapons next.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
I hope we find out who the manager in question is linked to, politically and socially. That may provide answers.
Fife Health Board's position in that Tribunal has verged on the unstateable from the offset. Surely, after today, they cannot pretend otherwise and no more public money needs to be wasted.
"but it appears the country has concluded that when it comes to Kemi Badenoch we might be talking about a .22 calibre mind in a .357 magnum world."
Anyone know what is that supposed to mean? Seems like some sort of reference to guns and bullets, which hardly seems appropriate in relation to a politician?
Bullets have calibers denoted by numbers and modified by letters, hence .22lr. The higher the number, the higher the size and the strength of the propellant charge. The ".22" caliber number denotes a small bullet thought fit for hunting small animals and possibly for self defence, but its small charge makes it unsuitable for larger animals. ".357 magnum" is a larger bullet. Here are some videos
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1h Many congrats to Rowenna Davis, who has won the selection vote to be Labour's Mayoral candidate in Croydon by a very clear margin. This could be a closely contested election: the Conservatives beat Labour by 50.4% to 49.6% in 2022 on the old run-off system, and a FPTP contest may be hard to call
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
As I pointed out this morning, I don't think that's defensible. The court was asked to pick between two mutually exclusive positions - a man can/cannot become a woman and acquire the rights of a woman in the Equality Act via a GRC - and picked the latter. This accomplishes at least the following
* The concept of transsexuality in UK jurisdictions no longer exists. A man is a man until he dies, and any actions to the contrary have no legal effect * A person after a GRC has the same rights as that same person before a GRC: it has no legally enforcable effect * The rights of a trans person now devolve to the right not to be fired and the right not to be thumped. The former can be done sotto voce and the latter can only be enforced after the fact.
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
I can only speak to Iain M Banks. By and large I found his stuff creative and worth reading, though overhyped. As the Culture books are not chronological they can be read in any order, but the ones I enjoyed the most were The Player of Games, Look to Windward, Consider Phlebas, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
The Player of Games looks fun.
Buying it now.
Use of Weapons is probably the high point in the series. Player of Games is a good introduction to the setting.
Excellent... well, if it's fun, I'll move on to Use of Weapons next.
I like the M stuff, but the non-M stuff is more varied. (The best M novel, by the way, is the Dr Who rip-off of it, "The Also People", by Ben Aaronovitch.)
"The Wasp Factory" is good. It's short. You can see why he made a splash as an author. "The Crow Road" is his big family saga (with a 1996 BBC adaptation). "Walking on Glass" and "The Bridge" are both good, and both very science fiction-y despite not being M books. "Canal Dreams" is underrated. I wouldn't bother with anything past "Whit".
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
I hope we find out who the manager in question is linked to, politically and socially. That may provide answers.
Fife Health Board's position in that Tribunal has verged on the unstateable from the offset. Surely, after today, they cannot pretend otherwise and no more public money needs to be wasted.
Very optimistic of you.
Oh I know. There have been lots of funny things going in that case. It was switched to Dundee from Edinburgh at the very last minute in an apparent attempt to defeat media interest. It has already lasted longer than it was supposed to and is down for another 10 days. It very much looks like an attempt to force the nurse to settle.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
He got bloated in his later years, but "The Player Of Games" and "Excession" are fun
As for his non-scifi stuff, I like "The Bridge". "The Wasp Factory" has a memorable twist which I will not spoil.
The Player of games and Excession are both masterpieces. I also really liked Look to Windward and the Algebraist.
If you're feeling M but non-Culture, "Against a Dark Background".
For non-M, I loved "Dead Air".
That one always struck me as a bit of a post 9/11 rant. Indeed I heard him admit as much when he was speaking about one of his other books. I prefer his Sci fi but the Crow Road the Business and Espedair Street are all very good.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
It's not a caveat for this reason. Trans people have not lost a single legal right as a result of this judgment. The issue has always been about the GRA's effect on women's rights. It was women who risked losing rights and if the appeal had been dismissed do you really imagine those arguing for that would not have been triumphalist. Women have had to fight for the best part of a decade for this judgment and have been treated like shit by the Scottish political establishment and many in all the other main parties too. They have been insulted and smeared and attacked verbally and physically. They are entitled to feel triumphant. And if you listened to the words of those who brought this appeal you would know that they have said that it is right that transgender people should have the rights they do.
What this judgment does is to say that there is no hierarchy of rights and that trans people are not entitled to special privileges no other group has nor to the protections given to those other groups for good reason nor to deprive them of those protections.
It has restored the equality between all those groups as set out in the ... er ... Equality Act.
That so many activists are now throwing their toys out of their pram because they can't breach women's boundaries, because the SC has said that "No means No" should tell you what this fight has really been about.
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
He got bloated in his later years, but "The Player Of Games" and "Excession" are fun
As for his non-scifi stuff, I like "The Bridge". "The Wasp Factory" has a memorable twist which I will not spoil.
The Player of games and Excession are both masterpieces. I also really liked Look to Windward and the Algebraist.
If you're feeling M but non-Culture, "Against a Dark Background".
For non-M, I loved "Dead Air".
That one always struck me as a bit of a post 9/11 rant. Indeed I heard him admit as much when he was speaking about one of his other books. I prefer his Sci fi but the Crow Road the Business and Espedair Street are all very good.
You're right, it definitely has a considerable element of 9/11 polemic. But the story at the heart of it I still really enjoyed.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
It's not a caveat for this reason. Trans people have not lost a single legal right as a result of this judgment. The issue has always been about the GRA's effect on women's rights. It was women who risked losing rights and if the appeal had been dismissed do you really imagine those arguing for that would not have been triumphalist. Women have had to fight for the best part of a decade for this judgment and have been treated like shit by the Scottish political establishment and many in all the other main parties too. They have been insulted and smeared and attacked verbally and physically. They are entitled to feel triumphant. And if you listened to the words of those who brought this appeal you would know that they have said that it is right that transgender people should have the rights they do.
What this judgment does is to say that there is no hierarchy of rights and that trans people are not entitled to special privileges no other group has nor to the protections given to those other groups for good reason nor to deprive them of those protections.
It has restored the equality between all those groups as set out in the ... er ... Equality Act.
That so many activists are now throwing their toys out of their pram because they can't breach women's boundaries, because the SC has said that "No means No" should tell you what this fight has really been about.
At the heart of the whole thing, and almost certainly at the risk of oversimplifying it all, but it seems to me if certain institutions hadn't tried to deliberately conflate sex with gender and accepted that they were always different, then a lot of this could have been avoided.
People should be allowed to do whatever the fuck they want with their own gender, and it only really becomes a problem when they, and/or others treat gender as a direct proxy for biological sex, which should and must be respected as being an entirely different kettle of fish.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Acyn @Acyn · 1h Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
As I pointed out this morning, I don't think that's defensible. The court was asked to pick between two mutually exclusive positions - a man can/cannot become a woman and acquire the rights of a woman in the Equality Act via a GRC - and picked the latter. This accomplishes at least the following
* The concept of transsexuality in UK jurisdictions no longer exists. A man is a man until he dies, and any actions to the contrary have no legal effect * A person after a GRC has the same rights as that same person before a GRC: it has no legally enforcable effect * The rights of a trans person now devolve to the right not to be fired and the right not to be thumped. The former can be done sotto voce and the latter can only be enforced after the fact.
Your last point is incorrect. Trans people have all the same protections against direct and indirect discrimination that every other person with a protected characteristic has. And they have the right - unlike other groups - to change their birth certificate and legally change their gender.
The GRA was brought in to deal with pension discrimination and allow marriage after the ECHR Goodwin case. Pension discrimination based on sex has gone and same sex marriage is now lawful. The only benefit of a GRC is that it allows a man or woman to lawfully change gender so that they can marry as an opposite sex couple. And if that makes them happy so be it. It was meant to change a person's status vis a vis the state not make demands of other private citizens. It has been the determination of activists to force others to accept that gender means sex and that they should be able to deprive others of sex based rights or render them effectively meaningless or substitute sex with gender which has caused the conflict and it is this which has been resolved today.
It is worth reading the sections of the judgment dealing with lesbians to understand what was at stake. The written interventions by various lesbian groups seem to have made a real difference to the judges. As one of those interveners said today: "Lesbians finally felt seen." It was quite moving. They have felt the brunt of many attacks. There are lots of men who cannot cope with women who say no and women who have no interest in men. The demands that lesbians should be forced to consider men as sexual partners because of what men described themselves as was no more than this decade's version of men telling lesbians a good shag would "cure" them. It has been disgusting.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
As I pointed out this morning, I don't think that's defensible. The court was asked to pick between two mutually exclusive positions - a man can/cannot become a woman and acquire the rights of a woman in the Equality Act via a GRC - and picked the latter. This accomplishes at least the following
* The concept of transsexuality in UK jurisdictions no longer exists. A man is a man until he dies, and any actions to the contrary have no legal effect * A person after a GRC has the same rights as that same person before a GRC: it has no legally enforcable effect * The rights of a trans person now devolve to the right not to be fired and the right not to be thumped. The former can be done sotto voce and the latter can only be enforced after the fact.
Your last point is incorrect. Trans people have all the same protections against direct and indirect discrimination that every other person with a protected characteristic has. And they have the right - unlike other groups - to change their birth certificate and legally change their gender.
The GRA was brought in to deal with pension discrimination and allow marriage after the ECHR Goodwin case. Pension discrimination based on sex has gone and same sex marriage is now lawful. The only benefit of a GRC is that it allows a man or woman to lawfully change gender so that they can marry as an opposite sex couple. And if that makes them happy so be it. It was meant to change a person's status vis a vis the state not make demands of other private citizens. It has been the determination of activists to force others to accept that gender means sex and that they should be able to deprive others of sex based rights or render them effectively meaningless or substitute sex with gender which has caused the conflict and it is this which has been resolved today.
It is worth reading the sections of the judgment dealing with lesbians to understand what was at stake. The written interventions by various lesbian groups seem to have made a real difference to the judges. As one of those interveners said today: "Lesbians finally felt seen." It was quite moving. They have felt the brunt of many attacks. There are lots of men who cannot cope with women who say no and women who have no interest in men. The demands that lesbians should be forced to consider men as sexual partners because of what men described themselves as was no more than this decade's version of men telling lesbians a good shag would "cure" them. It has been disgusting.
I have to say that this is the thing I have found so weird about this saga. The focus on the rights of men to call themselves women whatever women thought about it just seemed so incompatible with how the law has developed over my lifetime and so utterly indifferent to women's rights. I really never understood where the Scottish government in general and Sturgeon in particular were coming from.
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Society becomes more understanding with time, and progressive causes that seem a bit odd at first often end up becoming a normal part of life, but trans-ing kids, and letting men compete in women sports always was, and always will be complete lunacy
It doesn't really become more understanding. Modern society still has its Puritans, they just enforce a different moral code. People are people. We have not changed and we never shall.
What’s the craic with Japan? I can’t anything online
They’re likely to have been the lead actor in selling US treasuries after Carney’s secret little ring round. Which then got ‘the mango’s not for turning’ man to blink first.
What’s the craic with Japan? I can’t anything online
They’re likely to have been the lead actor in selling US treasuries after Carney’s secret little ring round. Which then got ‘the mango’s not for turning’ man to blink first.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1h Many congrats to Rowenna Davis, who has won the selection vote to be Labour's Mayoral candidate in Croydon by a very clear margin. This could be a closely contested election: the Conservatives beat Labour by 50.4% to 49.6% in 2022 on the old run-off system, and a FPTP contest may be hard to call
I think I'll try my hand at a horror story in the style of Franz Kafka in which a normal, everyday innocent man wakes up one morning to discover he's metamorphosed into the mayor of Croydon.
Acyn @Acyn · 1h Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
That's shockingly naive, given that Trump is a known criminal on multiple levels who has shown nothing but contempt for the law.
I'm pretty sure he knows whats coming next, but he has rightly drawn the line in the sand by repeating the legal position.
We have two possible crunch points - 1) sacks Powell and 2) continues to hold this chap in the El Salvador gulag. Their VP has just admitted that Americans are paying them to hold him there, so it's blatant subversion of the rule of law (unanimous SCOTUS).
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
As I pointed out this morning, I don't think that's defensible. The court was asked to pick between two mutually exclusive positions - a man can/cannot become a woman and acquire the rights of a woman in the Equality Act via a GRC - and picked the latter. This accomplishes at least the following
* The concept of transsexuality in UK jurisdictions no longer exists. A man is a man until he dies, and any actions to the contrary have no legal effect * A person after a GRC has the same rights as that same person before a GRC: it has no legally enforcable effect * The rights of a trans person now devolve to the right not to be fired and the right not to be thumped. The former can be done sotto voce and the latter can only be enforced after the fact.
Your last point is incorrect. Trans people have all the same protections against direct and indirect discrimination that every other person with a protected characteristic has. And they have the right - unlike other groups - to change their birth certificate and legally change their gender.
The GRA was brought in to deal with pension discrimination and allow marriage after the ECHR Goodwin case. Pension discrimination based on sex has gone and same sex marriage is now lawful. The only benefit of a GRC is that it allows a man or woman to lawfully change gender so that they can marry as an opposite sex couple. And if that makes them happy so be it. It was meant to change a person's status vis a vis the state not make demands of other private citizens. It has been the determination of activists to force others to accept that gender means sex and that they should be able to deprive others of sex based rights or render them effectively meaningless or substitute sex with gender which has caused the conflict and it is this which has been resolved today.
It is worth reading the sections of the judgment dealing with lesbians to understand what was at stake. The written interventions by various lesbian groups seem to have made a real difference to the judges. As one of those interveners said today: "Lesbians finally felt seen." It was quite moving. They have felt the brunt of many attacks. There are lots of men who cannot cope with women who say no and women who have no interest in men. The demands that lesbians should be forced to consider men as sexual partners because of what men described themselves as was no more than this decade's version of men telling lesbians a good shag would "cure" them. It has been disgusting.
I have to say that this is the thing I have found so weird about this saga. The focus on the rights of men to call themselves women whatever women thought about it just seemed so incompatible with how the law has developed over my lifetime and so utterly indifferent to women's rights. I really never understood where the Scottish government in general and Sturgeon in particular were coming from.
Forget the law for a moment. Men demanding or wanting stuff and paying no attention to what women feel about it is not exactly new, is it? It is frankly pretty common behaviour amongst very many men and in a society which sees women and their interests and needs as what you do when all the more important stuff is done ie never.
This is a very old sour wine in a new bottle and because it was a bottle labelled "progressive" and "trans rights" lots of people bought it without ever asking who these "trans" people actually were (see the whole "he's a rapist" not a man or woman hoo ha - it is not woman which needs defining but "trans" because who exactly does that include?) nor what rights they were demanding nor what this meant for others. They just thought this was the latest trendy cause which would make them look good and get Sturgeon a cushy well paid number in some UN / international quango.
Hence the utter dishonesty and incoherence of Scot Gov arguing that the GRR Bill made no difference to the Equality Act and then 2 years later arguing the complete opposite.
They didn't know their arse from their elbow let alone what a woman is.
What’s the craic with Japan? I can’t anything online
They’re likely to have been the lead actor in selling US treasuries after Carney’s secret little ring round. Which then got ‘the mango’s not for turning’ man to blink first.
Carney should watch out for drones.
Why? Do you think there is a chance that Trump might try to assassinate him?
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
I hope we find out who the manager in question is linked to, politically and socially. That may provide answers.
Fife Health Board's position in that Tribunal has verged on the unstateable from the offset. Surely, after today, they cannot pretend otherwise and no more public money needs to be wasted.
Very optimistic of you.
Oh I know. There have been lots of funny things going in that case. It was switched to Dundee from Edinburgh at the very last minute in an apparent attempt to defeat media interest. It has already lasted longer than it was supposed to and is down for another 10 days. It very much looks like an attempt to force the nurse to settle.
The additional 10 days is in part because of disclosure failings by NHS Fife, failings to disclose information and evidence relevant to the accusations being made against the nurse.
Acyn @Acyn · 1h Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
As I pointed out this morning, I don't think that's defensible. The court was asked to pick between two mutually exclusive positions - a man can/cannot become a woman and acquire the rights of a woman in the Equality Act via a GRC - and picked the latter. This accomplishes at least the following
* The concept of transsexuality in UK jurisdictions no longer exists. A man is a man until he dies, and any actions to the contrary have no legal effect * A person after a GRC has the same rights as that same person before a GRC: it has no legally enforcable effect * The rights of a trans person now devolve to the right not to be fired and the right not to be thumped. The former can be done sotto voce and the latter can only be enforced after the fact.
Your last point is incorrect. Trans people have all the same protections against direct and indirect discrimination that every other person with a protected characteristic has. And they have the right - unlike other groups - to change their birth certificate and legally change their gender...
If "certificated sex" has no legally enforcable meaning - and today's ruling says exactly that - then changing the birth certificate has no legally enforcable meaning. Ditto for legally changing their gender.
I asked a question earlier today which only @HYUFD tried to answer. After this ruling, what rights does a person have after a GRC that they did not have before a GRC? Care to have a go? Bear in mind that a right is not a right if it is not enforcable in a court.
The interesting thing about today's judgement is that it is being portrayed as the Supreme Court defining what a woman is, where as actually it is the Supreme Court defining what the Equality Act says a woman is. There's nothing to stop Parliament from amending the act, but will the parties support doing so?
Con and Ref - clear no Lab - some of the activists will want it, but can't see Starmer touching with a bargepole SNP - sounds like still yes Green (Eng/Wal) and LD - ???
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
They were in court yesterday arguing that Tribunal Tweets should not be allowed to report the rest of the ET hearing. There were loads of complaints about it. If anyone is interested, the submissions made as to why justice must be seen to be done are available and worth reading.
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
I hope we find out who the manager in question is linked to, politically and socially. That may provide answers.
Fife Health Board's position in that Tribunal has verged on the unstateable from the offset. Surely, after today, they cannot pretend otherwise and no more public money needs to be wasted.
Very optimistic of you.
Oh I know. There have been lots of funny things going in that case. It was switched to Dundee from Edinburgh at the very last minute in an apparent attempt to defeat media interest. It has already lasted longer than it was supposed to and is down for another 10 days. It very much looks like an attempt to force the nurse to settle.
The additional 10 days is in part because of disclosure failings by NHS Fife, failings to disclose information and evidence relevant to the accusations being made against the nurse.
It seems, from what I am aware of, that senior people in NHS Fife should be charged with defeating the ends of justice, if not contempt of court.
One my less successful mental health hearings comes to mind. "Is there anything else you want to say," asked the Sheriff kindly. "I want to speak to my mother." "I'm afraid she's dead." "No, she's over there" (pointing to an empty corner of the room). "Thank you very much."
The interesting thing about today's judgement is that it is being portrayed as the Supreme Court defining what a woman is, where as actually it is the Supreme Court defining what the Equality Act says a woman is. There's nothing to stop Parliament from amending the act, but will the parties support doing so?
Con and Ref - clear no Lab - some of the activists will want it, but can't see Starmer touching with a bargepole SNP - sounds like still yes Green (Eng/Wal) and LD - ???
Anne McElvoy has spake: Con anti. Ref anti. Labour will not do anything. Libs still pro. SNP in a quandary. Greens North and South probably still pro overall. https://archive.is/Ob4xg
Do not ever mess with angry women who know their stuff. And we do. We really do.
I see that Harriet Harman has already started misconstruing what the judgment says and means, just like people did with Forstater. Well, I and others will have something to say about that and we're not going to let her and others get away with yet more lies about what the law says.
Meanwhile I'm having blood tests for my heart. And some sort of heart scan will be needed. To find out if there is some sort of heart failure. Well, I'd bloody well like to know that too - and preferably before I die of boredom - or it - waiting to be told. Am on limited fluid intake so I have to pee in a blasted bedpan. Still waiting for the breast surgeons to see me and tell me that I have cancer or some other nastiness which seems to have shown up on the CT scan in my lymph nodes and which is what the doctors have been going on about since Sunday night and it is now Wednesday evening. Meanwhile I'm running out of knickers.
But apart from that it's all absolutely fucking peachy .......
Hope you get the all clear @Cyclefree, and yes completely agree with this sentiment. Congratulations to all the women who fought for this and won against all odds. A unanimous decision from the supreme court is an astonishing vindication for them and at some level this ruling changes my view of staying in the UK long term as the father of a daughter. The thought of boys invading girls facilities and sports in schools was playing on my mind a lot.
It's time for the government to get clear with all departments, sports and businesses to clear out all of the nonsense. Women's spaces should once again be reserved for actual women, not men who play dress up so they can perve on girls and women.
Society becomes more understanding with time, and progressive causes that seem a bit odd at first often end up becoming a normal part of life, but trans-ing kids, and letting men compete in women sports always was, and always will be complete lunacy
It doesn't really become more understanding. Modern society still has its Puritans, they just enforce a different moral code. People are people. We have not changed and we never shall.
Clearly not true unless you are suggesting evolution is nonsense and our species was created on the sixth day.
And can anyone doubt that the human species overall is more altruistic and less cruel than it was 500, 1000, 2000 years ago?
One my less successful mental health hearings comes to mind. "Is there anything else you want to say," asked the Sheriff kindly. "I want to speak to my mother." "I'm afraid she's dead." "No, she's over there" (pointing to an empty corner of the room). "Thank you very much."
My submissions were very brief.
Assuming of course that ghosts don’t exist, and said mother wasn’t in the chair…
So presumably Sir Shifty now thinks a woman cant have a penis.
Of course a woman can have a penis.
Some of them keep them in glass jars on their bedside table.
I should probably credit Stephen King with the inspiration for that line.
Not Iain Banks?
Confession time.
Despite being (relatively) well read, I have never read any Iain Banks, whether with the "M" or otherwise.
When at University (30 years ago now, ouch), his books were probably the ones that most commonly graced my friend's bookshelves. Which is probably why I never read them.
So, great PB literati (no, not you @Leon), should I read them? And if so, what should I start with?
Comments
I thought he just got drunk, stuck a stupid hat on and hoped for the best.
Markets now guessing special guest at White House press conference (timed at close of trading hours in an hour) will be announcement of US trade deal of some sort with Japan… if it is, and it sets precedent that the 10% tariff can be negotiated away, that could be material
The big male lion was spendidly poised on a prominent large flat rock. Occasionally examined his claws but spent most of his time striking poses. Like something from the Lion King. The poor old lioness was sprawled down below in the shrubbery.
Only later did I discover that the rock is heated.
Typical cat, eh.
Tomorrow, in-between pointless meetings, I might try the OpenAI coding agent they announced tonight. Looks very like the claude agent - but from some quick tests o4-mini is really quite strong.
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUq9qRwrDrI if you've not seen it )
And the need to rewrite the DNA of Local Highways Authorities from a very basic level.
American exceptionalism is electing a pariah government so repugnant that it tanks the electoral prospects of aligned right wing governments across the entire anglosphere
https://bsky.app/profile/utopia-defer.red/post/3lmwygcufas2e
What do they have to hide I wonder. Well the phone of the doctor was to be revealed and forensically examined and one of the witnesses to be heard was a senior NHS Fife manager.
Here, I'm noticing some change of behaviour (at last) where giving way to pedestrians at junctions and traffic islands is mandated. But when I walk I am fairly assertive.
Culture change is always partly a matter of time.
Here's their page - a subdomain of the party website:
https://lgbt.libdems.org.uk/
We exist to campaign for LGBT+ equality both within the party and externally, and to promote the party within the LGBTQ+ communities. As a 'Associated Organisation' of the party, all our full members are also members of the party, and we hold the rights to be consulted on LGBTQ+-related party policy and to put policy motions forward to the federal party.
There are about 15 eg Humanist, Green, Women, Chinese etc.
https://www.libdems.org.uk/aos
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
He added that the legislation gives transgender people "protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender".
An important caveat which seems to have been ignored by those setting a triumphalist tone
@Acyn
·
1h
Powell: Our Independence is a matter of law. We are not removable other than for cause. We serve seemingly endless terms. We are protected by law. Congress could change that law. I do not think there is any danger of that.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1912573788245704945
Exactly as with Brexit, if a politician doesn’t like the judgement they must campaign to change the law, and see if they can take the public with them. Attacking the court remains a dangerous precedent.
The actual Tour de France of course stayed in the Pennines (which proved to be rather more difficult than the peleton expected).
I wonder where they'll go in 2027 after the Edinburgh start?
https://x.com/anassarwar/status/1912577587278143984?s=61
@EdKrassen
BREAKING: Senator
@ChrisVanHollen
just met with El Salvador's Vice President Félix Ulloa, and get this...
The VP told Van Hollen that the reason they are holding Kilmar Abrego Garcia at CECOT is because the Trump administration is paying them to do so.
They also provided no evidence that Abrego Garcia is part of MS-13 or committed any crimes, just like the US government has not been able to do.
Trump is literally colluding with El Salvador to violate a Supreme Court order, and Republicans are silent!
https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/1912572886054731939
Pelaw Rice.
He got bloated in his later years, but "The Player Of Games" and "Excession" are fun
As for his non-scifi stuff, I like "The Bridge". "The Wasp Factory" has a memorable twist which I will not spoil.
One for the Harry Hill fans.
·
1h
Many congrats to Rowenna Davis, who has won the selection vote to be Labour's Mayoral candidate in Croydon by a very clear margin. This could be a closely contested election: the Conservatives beat Labour by 50.4% to 49.6% in 2022 on the old run-off system, and a FPTP contest may be hard to call
For non-M, I loved "Dead Air".
* The concept of transsexuality in UK jurisdictions no longer exists. A man is a man until he dies, and any actions to the contrary have no legal effect
* A person after a GRC has the same rights as that same person before a GRC: it has no legally enforcable effect
* The rights of a trans person now devolve to the right not to be fired and the right not to be thumped. The former can be done sotto voce and the latter can only be enforced after the fact.
"The Wasp Factory" is good. It's short. You can see why he made a splash as an author. "The Crow Road" is his big family saga (with a 1996 BBC adaptation). "Walking on Glass" and "The Bridge" are both good, and both very science fiction-y despite not being M books. "Canal Dreams" is underrated. I wouldn't bother with anything past "Whit".
What this judgment does is to say that there is no hierarchy of rights and that trans people are not entitled to special privileges no other group has nor to the protections given to those other groups for good reason nor to deprive them of those protections.
It has restored the equality between all those groups as set out in the ... er ... Equality Act.
That so many activists are now throwing their toys out of their pram because they can't breach women's boundaries, because the SC has said that "No means No" should tell you what this fight has really been about.
People should be allowed to do whatever the fuck they want with their own gender, and it only really becomes a problem when they, and/or others treat gender as a direct proxy for biological sex, which should and must be respected as being an entirely different kettle of fish.
The GRA was brought in to deal with pension discrimination and allow marriage after the ECHR Goodwin case. Pension discrimination based on sex has gone and same sex marriage is now lawful. The only benefit of a GRC is that it allows a man or woman to lawfully change gender so that they can marry as an opposite sex couple. And if that makes them happy so be it. It was meant to change a person's status vis a vis the state not make demands of other private citizens. It has been the determination of activists to force others to accept that gender means sex and that they should be able to deprive others of sex based rights or render them effectively meaningless or substitute sex with gender which has caused the conflict and it is this which has been resolved today.
It is worth reading the sections of the judgment dealing with lesbians to understand what was at stake. The written interventions by various lesbian groups seem to have made a real difference to the judges. As one of those interveners said today: "Lesbians finally felt seen." It was quite moving. They have felt the brunt of many attacks. There are lots of men who cannot cope with women who say no and women who have no interest in men. The demands that lesbians should be forced to consider men as sexual partners because of what men described themselves as was no more than this decade's version of men telling lesbians a good shag would "cure" them. It has been disgusting.
@KobeissiLetter
This is interesting:
At 2:45 PM ET, the White House announced a Press Briefing at 4:30 PM ET with a "Special Guest."
21 minutes later, at 3:06 PM ET, there was a $10 million spike in puts on the S&P 500 ETF, $SPY.
A similar trend was seen in $QQQ options prior to Nvidia's announcement of H20 chip restrictions yesterday.
A trend worth watching.
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1912601872747102687
The special guest is not the Japanese trade envoy
The Whitehouse are trying to weasel their way out of the contempt of court finding instead
https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-donald-trump-us-lifts-sanctions-against-top-ally-accused-of-corruption/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HbZl5Cybtg
For the sake of my ISA, I hope it's the latter.
This is a very old sour wine in a new bottle and because it was a bottle labelled "progressive" and "trans rights" lots of people bought it without ever asking who these "trans" people actually were (see the whole "he's a rapist" not a man or woman hoo ha - it is not woman which needs defining but "trans" because who exactly does that include?) nor what rights they were demanding nor what this meant for others. They just thought this was the latest trendy cause which would make them look good and get Sturgeon a cushy well paid number in some UN / international quango.
Hence the utter dishonesty and incoherence of Scot Gov arguing that the GRR Bill made no difference to the Equality Act and then 2 years later arguing the complete opposite.
They didn't know their arse from their elbow let alone what a woman is.
But what is made by law, should be unmade by law.
I asked a question earlier today which only @HYUFD tried to answer. After this ruling, what rights does a person have after a GRC that they did not have before a GRC? Care to have a go? Bear in mind that a right is not a right if it is not enforcable in a court.
The interesting thing about today's judgement is that it is being portrayed as the Supreme Court defining what a woman is, where as actually it is the Supreme Court defining what the Equality Act says a woman is. There's nothing to stop Parliament from amending the act, but will the parties support doing so?
Con and Ref - clear no
Lab - some of the activists will want it, but can't see Starmer touching with a bargepole
SNP - sounds like still yes
Green (Eng/Wal) and LD - ???
"Is there anything else you want to say," asked the Sheriff kindly.
"I want to speak to my mother."
"I'm afraid she's dead."
"No, she's over there" (pointing to an empty corner of the room).
"Thank you very much."
My submissions were very brief.
And can anyone doubt that the human species overall is more altruistic and less cruel than it was 500, 1000, 2000 years ago?
Will be keeping my fingers crossed for you to get good news. 🤞