AWS released some more details of the outage that took out "half the Internet" on Monday.
It was, as reported at the time, a problem with DNS.
Given the size and scale of their operation, they use 'automated' tools to update DNS. They have multiple independent systems running simultaneously, each of them making changes to DNS. These tools have a primitive check that no other tool is making a change 'right now' so they don't fight.
Sadly one of the tools got unexpectedly stuck, and by the time it actually ran instead of adding or changing the DNS entries it deleted them all.
Service was only restored when a human manually added them again.
So yes, real humans unfucking AI systems is going to be a solid career for some really smart people for years to come.
AWS released some more details of the outage that took out "half the Internet" on Monday.
It was, as reported at the time, a problem with DNS.
Given the size and scale of their operation, they use 'automated' tools to update DNS. They have multiple independent systems running simultaneously, each of them making changes to DNS. These tools have a primitive check that no other tool is making a change 'right now' so they don't fight.
Sadly one of the tools got unexpectedly stuck, and by the time it actually ran instead of adding or changing the DNS entries it deleted them all.
Service was only restored when a human manually added them again.
So yes, real humans unfucking AI systems is going to be a solid career for some really smart people for years to come.
People have been learning that concurrency is hard since the 50s. Things have improved, but there are more decades of learning to come.
IANAE on the ins and outs of modern architecture but simply hadn't realised the size of the proposed thing.
I don't see a 200ft long table with one chair at each end. Surely some mistake?
Why, when these plans and models were available, was everyone surpised the east wing is being torn down? It literally replaces it.
(Yes, I appreciate Trump lied about it. Plus ça change.)
He didn't just lie, he explicitly said it wouldn't touch the old building. Then yesterday the story was 'we changed our minds'. Today the story is it was always going to be like this, why didn't you look at the plans.
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
I found copilot gets in my way big-time. Or bigly, as I believe it's said nowadays.
The other day I asked Google a question about Pope Leo. Gemini informed me that there was no Pope Leo and in fact the Pope was still Francis.
Now admittedly I do make some very niche and nerdy queries when using Google, but even so it's amazing how frequently the AI summary is wrong. And if it's wrong about the sort of things I know about I assume it has similar levels of error with things I don't know. i.e. It's practically useless.
Hundreds of billions of dollars invested, driving up the price of electricity, diverting the computer industry away from a whole load of other problems that need work, and for what? Making up nonsense. Social media already produces a more than adequate supply of nonsense, we didn't need to get computers in on the act.
My colleague asked CoPilot to draw an Azure diagram, which was wrong. He then asked for additional detail, which was spectacularly wrong in some really creative and imaginative ways. Entertaining, but worthless, and expensive.
It's not that I object to the idea in principal, and I do broadly understand how it all works, but I'm amazed that it's considered good enough to put into production. The really scary thing is that there are already loads of people heavily using such tools and treating the results as gospel.
I can foresee in a year or two, specialists in AI unfucking for your codebase....
I think that a lot of investment in anti-AI and counter-AI services is warranted. That may be a growth area in the near future.
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
And a significant part of the party won't endorse him.
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
AWS released some more details of the outage that took out "half the Internet" on Monday.
It was, as reported at the time, a problem with DNS.
Given the size and scale of their operation, they use 'automated' tools to update DNS. They have multiple independent systems running simultaneously, each of them making changes to DNS. These tools have a primitive check that no other tool is making a change 'right now' so they don't fight.
Sadly one of the tools got unexpectedly stuck, and by the time it actually ran instead of adding or changing the DNS entries it deleted them all.
Service was only restored when a human manually added them again.
So yes, real humans unfucking AI systems is going to be a solid career for some really smart people for years to come.
People have been learning that concurrency is hard since the 50s. Things have improved, but there are more decades of learning to come.
Yeah but wouldn't you rather all the smartest people in the industry were working on ways of generating nonsense and funny videos of cats?
There was another entertaining IT fuckup story this morning with the FIA website
To race in F1 you need a superlicense, and you apply for one on this website. Anybody can apply. Some hackers looked at the JSON response from the website and noticed it included a field for 'role', so they added the word 'admin' to the request and got full access to the global driver database including all the information they uploaded, like Verstappen's passport
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
Or simply use the emovis tags as used in France, Spain and Portugal.
AWS released some more details of the outage that took out "half the Internet" on Monday.
It was, as reported at the time, a problem with DNS.
Given the size and scale of their operation, they use 'automated' tools to update DNS. They have multiple independent systems running simultaneously, each of them making changes to DNS. These tools have a primitive check that no other tool is making a change 'right now' so they don't fight.
Sadly one of the tools got unexpectedly stuck, and by the time it actually ran instead of adding or changing the DNS entries it deleted them all.
Service was only restored when a human manually added them again.
So yes, real humans unfucking AI systems is going to be a solid career for some really smart people for years to come.
People have been learning that concurrency is hard since the 50s. Things have improved, but there are more decades of learning to come.
Yeah but wouldn't you rather all the smartest people in the industry were working on ways of generating nonsense and funny videos of cats?
My friends who work for cat video firms have houses and big pensions and I don't. I don't envy them the job, but I do the proceeds.
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
And a significant part of the party won't endorse him.
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
Oh, Mamdami is a socialist nut, who is under the misguided impression that rent controls are a good idea.
Here's the thing, though.
Cuomo is a piece of shit. And I wouldn't want to vote for the Republican.
I don't think that's the scoop that Newsnight thinks it is.
Given recent polls I think the fact the Pope is still Catholic despite meeting the SG of the C of E today is more of a scoop than Labour losing the by election tonight
AWS released some more details of the outage that took out "half the Internet" on Monday.
It was, as reported at the time, a problem with DNS.
Given the size and scale of their operation, they use 'automated' tools to update DNS. They have multiple independent systems running simultaneously, each of them making changes to DNS. These tools have a primitive check that no other tool is making a change 'right now' so they don't fight.
Sadly one of the tools got unexpectedly stuck, and by the time it actually ran instead of adding or changing the DNS entries it deleted them all.
Service was only restored when a human manually added them again.
So yes, real humans unfucking AI systems is going to be a solid career for some really smart people for years to come.
People have been learning that concurrency is hard since the 50s. Things have improved, but there are more decades of learning to come.
Yeah but wouldn't you rather all the smartest people in the industry were working on ways of generating nonsense and funny videos of cats?
My friends who work for cat video firms have houses and big pensions and I don't. I don't envy them the job, but I do the proceeds.
I have the wrong kind of cat. She only sleeps and eats, and hides when I get out the camera.
IANAE on the ins and outs of modern architecture but simply hadn't realised the size of the proposed thing.
I don't see a 200ft long table with one chair at each end. Surely some mistake?
Why, when these plans and models were available, was everyone surpised the east wing is being torn down? It literally replaces it.
(Yes, I appreciate Trump lied about it. Plus ça change.)
The model of the works has been in the Oval Office for ages. Every President has, in one way or another, remodelled the place.
AIUI the block they’re removing was mostly secretarial staff and the First Lady’s office, constructed 50 years ago and of little historical significance, and they’re replacing it with a large ballroom.
The previous arrangements were for Grand Balls to be held in a temporary tent in the grounds, something which has been a complaint of Presidents for decades.
Trump got a bunch of private donations, presumably in exchange for a plaque on the wall as this is how these things work in the US, so the redevelopment is at no cost to the American taxpayer.
If you’re not someone who reflexively compares Trump to a leader from 1930s Germany, that sounds like a win for everyone.
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
And a significant part of the party won't endorse him.
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
Oh, Mamdami is a socialist nut, who is under the misguided impression that rent controls are a good idea.
Here's the thing, though.
Cuomo is a piece of shit. And I wouldn't want to vote for the Republican.
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
Or simply use the emovis tags as used in France, Spain and Portugal.
I think that involves building gates and sensors and things?
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
And my 78-year-old Mum says what, when she’s taken to court for thousands for something she didn’t know about and doesn’t understand?
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
And a significant part of the party won't endorse him.
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
Oh, Mamdami is a socialist nut, who is under the misguided impression that rent controls are a good idea.
Here's the thing, though.
Cuomo is a piece of shit. And I wouldn't want to vote for the Republican.
I'm actually interested to see how Mamdani governs. I have an inkling he might turn out to be rather more pragmatic than his radical rhetoric suggests.
In any event, while arguably misguided, he's not a nut.
There was another entertaining IT fuckup story this morning with the FIA website
To race in F1 you need a superlicense, and you apply for one on this website. Anybody can apply. Some hackers looked at the JSON response from the website and noticed it included a field for 'role', so they added the word 'admin' to the request and got full access to the global driver database including all the information they uploaded, like Verstappen's passport
Thanks for flagging this up. Another reason to reject ID cards.
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
And a significant part of the party won't endorse him.
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
Oh, Mamdami is a socialist nut, who is under the misguided impression that rent controls are a good idea.
Here's the thing, though.
Cuomo is a piece of shit. And I wouldn't want to vote for the Republican.
I'm actually interested to see how Mamdani governs. I have an inkling he might turn out to be rather more pragmatic than his radical rhetoric suggests.
This is often true. But many people thought that about Trump the first time round.
There was another entertaining IT fuckup story this morning with the FIA website
To race in F1 you need a superlicense, and you apply for one on this website. Anybody can apply. Some hackers looked at the JSON response from the website and noticed it included a field for 'role', so they added the word 'admin' to the request and got full access to the global driver database including all the information they uploaded, like Verstappen's passport
That was genuinely hilarious. Thankfully a white-hat hacker team who let the FIA fix it first. Good response from the FIA dev team.
The funniest comments have been “Why does Max Verstappen need a CV? ” Well, because every driver does, because he needs to show he’s qualified for the licence he holds or the licence he wishes to hold. Yes if you’re an F1 driver you have a Wiki page, but there’s thousands more FIA-registered drivers who don’t.
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
And my 78-year-old Mum says what, when she’s taken to court for thousands for something she didn’t know about and doesn’t understand?
Generally when you pass a new law you need to tell people about it, this is generally mostly handled by the media but also the government sometimes does advertising and things? Also when she takes her car in for its MOT I expect the garage will take the opportunity to try to sell her something to deal with automatically paying the tolls.
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
And my 78-year-old Mum says what, when she’s taken to court for thousands for something she didn’t know about and doesn’t understand?
"SIR – Annabel Denham is right: Prince Andrew has not been charged with – let alone convicted of – a crime under British law (“Am I the only one feeling sorry for Prince Andrew?”, Comment, October 22). Yet sections of the media and a large portion of the public are howling for more punishment to be meted out to him.
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
And a significant part of the party won't endorse him.
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
Oh, Mamdami is a socialist nut, who is under the misguided impression that rent controls are a good idea.
Here's the thing, though.
Cuomo is a piece of shit. And I wouldn't want to vote for the Republican.
The Cuomo fans trying to pressure Silwa (the Republican) to withdraw are hilarious though. Of course he’s not going to withdraw. Cuomo ran in the Dem primary and lost, and is now trying to run as an indy.
With three candidates FPTP, 35% might be enough in this race.
I missed this (but called it ages ago)....even if they don't do it, its clear that they have no original ideas and so its just in the filing cabinet and pulling out all the treasury favs that have been worked on in the past. ID Cards, Pay Per Mile....
TBF there are only so many possibilities. I'm sure that for any one proposal, some Greek philosopher thought of it 2500 years ago.
ID cards and Pay Per Mile come up as often as Home Office Isn't Fit for Purpose.....its clearly the go to when a minister goes policy, need a policy.
They have to find some way of measuring road usage by proxy. What is the alternative to pay per mile?
Make a road usage tax / congestion charge based on passing through congested intersections. Britain already has cameras everywhere so you can implement it like this:
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection - If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera - Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain - Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
That's a complex system, I give it a week before it disappears up its own arse for the first time. It would also require quite a bit of investment and further encourage plate cloning.
The trick about charging per mile is... you can't. Not in any sensible way that's reliable and non-invasive. Every method involves large investment, complexity, invasion of privacy, or a mix of all three to some degree.
Much simpler in my view to control what people are driving, small vehicles mean less congestion. The licencing system can be used to do that by making it easier to own a small vehicle - this has already been proven to work, if you look at the motorcycle community in the UK by far the biggest selling category of bikes and scooters is 125cc, because you don't need to do a full test to ride one.
Lots of talk of income tax rises in tomorrow's papers.
Rachel may go for the 'reverse Dusty Bin' approach that's 1 - 2 - 3
1% on the basic rate, 2% on the higher rate, 3% on the additional rate. That wouldn't be dissimilar to what we have in Scotland now. And she can say 'we are not taxing anyone more than 50%' taking into account the 2% NI at higher income levels
If you ignore the personal allowance tapering of course!
Lots of talk of income tax rises in tomorrow's papers.
Rachel may go for the 'reverse Dusty Bin' approach that's 1 - 2 - 3
1% on the basic rate, 2% on the higher rate, 3% on the additional rate. That wouldn't be dissimilar to what we have in Scotland now. And she can say 'we are not taxing anyone more than 50%' taking into account the 2% NI at higher income levels
If you ignore the personal allowance tapering of course!
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
The GOP will be laughing their heads off ahead of the midterms, if Mamdani gets elected in NY.
He’s a proper communist, and everyone in NY and not in NY will be able to see what that looks like in practice.
It’s been a while, many have forgotten.
He's not a communist, he's a Democratic Socialist, just like David Dinkins (the one before Giuliani) was. The basics of capitalism will remain in place.
I am constantly depressed by how serious-minded people call their opponents "fascist" or "communist" like they were confetti. We have forgotten shades of gray.
Normally I’d agree with the you, but this guy is advocating for rent control, free buses, state-owned supermarkets, free childcare for under 5s, $30 minimum wage.
All paid for by taxing “the billionaires and the corporations”, who will be off to Florida and Delaware in no time.
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
The GOP will be laughing their heads off ahead of the midterms, if Mamdani gets elected in NY.
He’s a proper communist, and everyone in NY and not in NY will be able to see what that looks like in practice.
It’s been a while, many have forgotten.
He's not a communist, he's a Democratic Socialist, just like David Dinkins (the one before Giuliani) was. The basics of capitalism will remain in place.
I am constantly depressed by how serious-minded people call their opponents "fascist" or "communist" like they were confetti. We have forgotten shades of gray.
Normally I’d agree with the you, but this guy is advocating for rent control, free buses, state-owned supermarkets, free childcare for under 5s, $30 minimum wage.
All paid for by taxing “the billionaires and the corporations”, who will be off to Florida and Delaware in no time.
Road mileage tax is rubbish idea. Punishes rural communities while incentivising the kind of short journey that clog up our cities and can be walked/cycled instead.
There already is a mileage tax on, at least on petrol or diesel. And electricity is also taxed.
Exactly. If you're going to do it, just ping up fuel duty. Electricity is impossible though because we don't have separate metres.
Tbh I'd just introduce congestion charging and bin fuel duty. There are enough cameras already to catch any journey in an urban area. And replace VED with a weight tax.
The solution is to road tax EVs based on kerb weight.
Which at least has the advantage of being highly proportional to road wear.
A little electric city car pays almost nothing, but an electric 3,000kg BMW iX pays several hundred.
One tax rise that Reeves introduced in the last budget I don't think a lot out people have noticed is how wide ranging luxury car tax is now, particularly with "fiscal drag" of how much new cars have gone up in price.
£40,000 will pay an additional £425 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the second to sixth year after registration, regardless of fuel type.
£40k isn't really "luxury" these days. A Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai with the extras can cost that. And that's over £2000 extra in tax even if you buy yourself an EV.
Tax on stupidity isn't it? Anyone buying a new car either has too much money or needs their head examing. I'm running an 11 year old car. Top spec diesel estate - all the toys, full leather, heated seats, bluetooth, cruise control etc etc. Inside, it's like new. Outside it's almost like new, apart from a cosmetic scrape on one door. Underneath it's like new. It drives like it's brand new. Cost me all of £2500 of our English pounds. It's probably got 100k miles and five to ten years of useful life left in it if I look after it half-decently. It's predecessor was by the time of its demise a 16 year old estate, pretty much identical (including in the "driving like brand new aspects) but in blue. That one cost me £500, and would still be with us had an idiot cab driver not pulled out of a junction without looking and rammed it amidships. I've kept it's engine (typically I'd just done the cambelt) to fit to a series landrover in place of a worn out 200tdi (fun project that should yield a really powerful, economical pickup).
A brand new version of the same car, virtually identical in every functional respect, apart from the addition of some really annoying "driver aids" is a mere £39,950.
One of the reasons why no-one has any money any more is that everyone is driving round in shiny new cars they can't afford. They're idiots, so the Chancellor might as well pick their pockets.
Road mileage tax is rubbish idea. Punishes rural communities while incentivising the kind of short journey that clog up our cities and can be walked/cycled instead.
There already is a mileage tax on, at least on petrol or diesel. And electricity is also taxed.
Exactly. If you're going to do it, just ping up fuel duty. Electricity is impossible though because we don't have separate metres.
Tbh I'd just introduce congestion charging and bin fuel duty. There are enough cameras already to catch any journey in an urban area. And replace VED with a weight tax.
The solution is to road tax EVs based on kerb weight.
Which at least has the advantage of being highly proportional to road wear.
A little electric city car pays almost nothing, but an electric 3,000kg BMW iX pays several hundred.
One tax rise that Reeves introduced in the last budget I don't think a lot out people have noticed is how wide ranging luxury car tax is now, particularly with "fiscal drag" of how much new cars have gone up in price.
£40,000 will pay an additional £425 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the second to sixth year after registration, regardless of fuel type.
£40k isn't really "luxury" these days. A Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai with the extras can cost that. And that's over £2000 extra in tax even if you buy yourself an EV.
Tax on stupidity isn't it? Anyone buying a new car either has too much money or needs their head examing. I'm running an 11 year old car. Top spec diesel estate - all the toys, full leather, heated seats, bluetooth, cruise control etc etc. Inside, it's like new. Outside it's almost like new, apart from a cosmetic scrape on one door. Underneath it's like new. It drives like it's brand new. Cost me all of £2500 of our English pounds. It's probably got 100k miles and five to ten years of useful life left in it if I look after it half-decently. It's predecessor was by the time of its demise a 16 year old estate, pretty much identical (including in the "driving like brand new aspects) but in blue. That one cost me £500, and would still be with us had an idiot cab driver not pulled out of a junction without looking and rammed it amidships. I've kept it's engine (typically I'd just done the cambelt) to fit to a series landrover in place of a worn out 200tdi (fun project that should yield a really powerful, economical pickup).
A brand new version of the same car, virtually identical in every functional respect, apart from the addition of some really annoying "driver aids" is a mere £39,950.
One of the reasons why no-one has any money any more is that everyone is driving round in shiny new cars they can't afford. They're idiots, so the Chancellor might as well pick their pockets.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
Road mileage tax is rubbish idea. Punishes rural communities while incentivising the kind of short journey that clog up our cities and can be walked/cycled instead.
There already is a mileage tax on, at least on petrol or diesel. And electricity is also taxed.
Exactly. If you're going to do it, just ping up fuel duty. Electricity is impossible though because we don't have separate metres.
Tbh I'd just introduce congestion charging and bin fuel duty. There are enough cameras already to catch any journey in an urban area. And replace VED with a weight tax.
The solution is to road tax EVs based on kerb weight.
Which at least has the advantage of being highly proportional to road wear.
A little electric city car pays almost nothing, but an electric 3,000kg BMW iX pays several hundred.
One tax rise that Reeves introduced in the last budget I don't think a lot out people have noticed is how wide ranging luxury car tax is now, particularly with "fiscal drag" of how much new cars have gone up in price.
£40,000 will pay an additional £425 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the second to sixth year after registration, regardless of fuel type.
£40k isn't really "luxury" these days. A Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai with the extras can cost that. And that's over £2000 extra in tax even if you buy yourself an EV.
Tax on stupidity isn't it? Anyone buying a new car either has too much money or needs their head examing. I'm running an 11 year old car. Top spec diesel estate - all the toys, full leather, heated seats, bluetooth, cruise control etc etc. Inside, it's like new. Outside it's almost like new, apart from a cosmetic scrape on one door. Underneath it's like new. It drives like it's brand new. Cost me all of £2500 of our English pounds. It's probably got 100k miles and five to ten years of useful life left in it if I look after it half-decently. It's predecessor was by the time of its demise a 16 year old estate, pretty much identical (including in the "driving like brand new aspects) but in blue. That one cost me £500, and would still be with us had an idiot cab driver not pulled out of a junction without looking and rammed it amidships. I've kept it's engine (typically I'd just done the cambelt) to fit to a series landrover in place of a worn out 200tdi (fun project that should yield a really powerful, economical pickup).
A brand new version of the same car, virtually identical in every functional respect, apart from the addition of some really annoying "driver aids" is a mere £39,950.
One of the reasons why no-one has any money any more is that everyone is driving round in shiny new cars they can't afford. They're idiots, so the Chancellor might as well pick their pockets.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
There's time yet. At some point the hideous rates of depreciation on new EVs is going to catch up with the PCP/leasing outfits, and it's not going to be pretty.
Road mileage tax is rubbish idea. Punishes rural communities while incentivising the kind of short journey that clog up our cities and can be walked/cycled instead.
There already is a mileage tax on, at least on petrol or diesel. And electricity is also taxed.
Exactly. If you're going to do it, just ping up fuel duty. Electricity is impossible though because we don't have separate metres.
Tbh I'd just introduce congestion charging and bin fuel duty. There are enough cameras already to catch any journey in an urban area. And replace VED with a weight tax.
The solution is to road tax EVs based on kerb weight.
Which at least has the advantage of being highly proportional to road wear.
A little electric city car pays almost nothing, but an electric 3,000kg BMW iX pays several hundred.
One tax rise that Reeves introduced in the last budget I don't think a lot out people have noticed is how wide ranging luxury car tax is now, particularly with "fiscal drag" of how much new cars have gone up in price.
£40,000 will pay an additional £425 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the second to sixth year after registration, regardless of fuel type.
£40k isn't really "luxury" these days. A Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai with the extras can cost that. And that's over £2000 extra in tax even if you buy yourself an EV.
Tax on stupidity isn't it? Anyone buying a new car either has too much money or needs their head examing. I'm running an 11 year old car. Top spec diesel estate - all the toys, full leather, heated seats, bluetooth, cruise control etc etc. Inside, it's like new. Outside it's almost like new, apart from a cosmetic scrape on one door. Underneath it's like new. It drives like it's brand new. Cost me all of £2500 of our English pounds. It's probably got 100k miles and five to ten years of useful life left in it if I look after it half-decently. It's predecessor was by the time of its demise a 16 year old estate, pretty much identical (including in the "driving like brand new aspects) but in blue. That one cost me £500, and would still be with us had an idiot cab driver not pulled out of a junction without looking and rammed it amidships. I've kept it's engine (typically I'd just done the cambelt) to fit to a series landrover in place of a worn out 200tdi (fun project that should yield a really powerful, economical pickup).
A brand new version of the same car, virtually identical in every functional respect, apart from the addition of some really annoying "driver aids" is a mere £39,950.
One of the reasons why no-one has any money any more is that everyone is driving round in shiny new cars they can't afford. They're idiots, so the Chancellor might as well pick their pockets.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
There's time yet. At some point the hideous rates of depreciation on new EVs is going to catch up with the PCP/leasing outfits, and it's not going to be pretty.
In the US, once you remove the tax credit, EV depreciation is pretty much bang in line with vehicles of a similar price point. That is, a $60k EV depreciates almost exactly as much as a $60k non-EV.
Depreciation is - of course - meaningfully worse on $60k vehicles than on $30k ones, whether ICE or EV, so are you sure you're not just measuring the depreciation hit you get for selling more expensive cars?
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi says local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law, and if they are convicted, President Trump cannot pardon them.
So what.
California ignores federal laws so why shouldn't the federal government ignore California's laws ?
Either all sides start accepting that you have to uphold laws even if you don't like them or the USA heads to another 'states rights' dispute with the federal government.
Do you know enough about the American legal system to know if California is required to collaborate with federal officials?
I don't but it doesn't matter.
What we have are various people on each side of pretty much every issue who are so high on their self-righteousness that they think their perfectly entitled to ignore anything they don't like.
What Trump brings is the combination of open malignant narcissism and senile ignorance that makes it impossible to pretend that the system is working.
I wonder if the US system of governance required broad based parties to function properly.
The Dems were traditionally centre-left but had a populist wing in the Plains and Rockies states plus a KKK wing in the old confederate states.
While the GOP was traditionally centre-right but had a liberal wing in the north-eastern states plus a southern unionist wing in the Appalachian states.
Now we increasingly have left wing Dems, dragged further left by their primary process, and a right wing GOP, dragged further right by their primary process.
Are the Dems particularly left wing ? They still appear a fairly broad church to me.
I don't really buy this both sidesism.
Mamdani is, he is basically a Corbynite/Polanskiite in UK terms and if he wins the New York city Mayoralty next month as polls predict will run the biggest city in the USA
The GOP will be laughing their heads off ahead of the midterms, if Mamdani gets elected in NY.
He’s a proper communist, and everyone in NY and not in NY will be able to see what that looks like in practice.
It’s been a while, many have forgotten.
He's not a communist, he's a Democratic Socialist, just like David Dinkins (the one before Giuliani) was. The basics of capitalism will remain in place.
I am constantly depressed by how serious-minded people call their opponents "fascist" or "communist" like they were confetti. We have forgotten shades of gray.
Normally I’d agree with the you, but this guy is advocating for rent control, free buses, state-owned supermarkets, free childcare for under 5s, $30 minimum wage.
All paid for by taxing “the billionaires and the corporations”, who will be off to Florida and Delaware in no time.
He’s the most left wing American politician with a chance of election to serious office, in decades.
Free buses are not a stupid idea in uber-crowded Manhattan.
Perhaps not, but if you have unionised drivers on $100k/year + healthcare +pension, and newly-generated demand for “free” buses, then from where does the money come to pay for the whole thing?
Or does everyone hate them, because all of the winos got on a bus in the morning and won’t get off? So the city is paying hundreds of millions to run buses full of homeless around the city every day, while no-one trying to do anything productive goes near them.
I'm only about a mile from the count in Caerphilly Leisure Centre but I don't think there's much point in going there because you can probably only get inside with accreditation.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
I regularly go shopping at a large Tesco located in one of the most deprived towns in the country and I'm constantly astonished by the number of shiny new BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers in the car park. Where the hell are people getting the money for those things?
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
I regularly go shopping at a large Tesco located in one of the most deprived towns in the country and I'm constantly astonished by the number of shiny new BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers in the car park. Where the hell are people getting the money for those things?
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
Of course its not just the cost of the car, insurance can be absolutely nuts for those kind of cars, particularly if your postcode is in a rough area....or London, and then service costs.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
I regularly go shopping at a large Tesco located in one of the most deprived towns in the country and I'm constantly astonished by the number of shiny new BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers in the car park. Where the hell are people getting the money for those things?
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
I go shopping at 'the big Asda' in one of the most deprived parts of the UK - and most people walk. The car drivers are mostly coming in from out of town, or are cocaine dealers. (as I understand it - the proper hard-core dealers up the chain shop out of town).
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
I regularly go shopping at a large Tesco located in one of the most deprived towns in the country and I'm constantly astonished by the number of shiny new BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers in the car park. Where the hell are people getting the money for those things?
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
Yes, some of us have been warning for some time that the car market is totally crazy. Most of the new cars are leased rather than purchased outright, the dealer’s first question is “what’s your budget per month?” and they work backwards from there.
Recent interest rate spikes mean that the car you now have costs double to lease again new, which is causing massive social anxiety in certain circles.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
I regularly go shopping at a large Tesco located in one of the most deprived towns in the country and I'm constantly astonished by the number of shiny new BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers in the car park. Where the hell are people getting the money for those things?
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
Road mileage tax is rubbish idea. Punishes rural communities while incentivising the kind of short journey that clog up our cities and can be walked/cycled instead.
There already is a mileage tax on, at least on petrol or diesel. And electricity is also taxed.
Exactly. If you're going to do it, just ping up fuel duty. Electricity is impossible though because we don't have separate metres.
Tbh I'd just introduce congestion charging and bin fuel duty. There are enough cameras already to catch any journey in an urban area. And replace VED with a weight tax.
The solution is to road tax EVs based on kerb weight.
Which at least has the advantage of being highly proportional to road wear.
A little electric city car pays almost nothing, but an electric 3,000kg BMW iX pays several hundred.
One tax rise that Reeves introduced in the last budget I don't think a lot out people have noticed is how wide ranging luxury car tax is now, particularly with "fiscal drag" of how much new cars have gone up in price.
£40,000 will pay an additional £425 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the second to sixth year after registration, regardless of fuel type.
£40k isn't really "luxury" these days. A Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai with the extras can cost that. And that's over £2000 extra in tax even if you buy yourself an EV.
Tax on stupidity isn't it? Anyone buying a new car either has too much money or needs their head examing. I'm running an 11 year old car. Top spec diesel estate - all the toys, full leather, heated seats, bluetooth, cruise control etc etc. Inside, it's like new. Outside it's almost like new, apart from a cosmetic scrape on one door. Underneath it's like new. It drives like it's brand new. Cost me all of £2500 of our English pounds. It's probably got 100k miles and five to ten years of useful life left in it if I look after it half-decently. It's predecessor was by the time of its demise a 16 year old estate, pretty much identical (including in the "driving like brand new aspects) but in blue. That one cost me £500, and would still be with us had an idiot cab driver not pulled out of a junction without looking and rammed it amidships. I've kept it's engine (typically I'd just done the cambelt) to fit to a series landrover in place of a worn out 200tdi (fun project that should yield a really powerful, economical pickup).
A brand new version of the same car, virtually identical in every functional respect, apart from the addition of some really annoying "driver aids" is a mere £39,950.
One of the reasons why no-one has any money any more is that everyone is driving round in shiny new cars they can't afford. They're idiots, so the Chancellor might as well pick their pockets.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
There's time yet. At some point the hideous rates of depreciation on new EVs is going to catch up with the PCP/leasing outfits, and it's not going to be pretty.
In the US, once you remove the tax credit, EV depreciation is pretty much bang in line with vehicles of a similar price point. That is, a $60k EV depreciates almost exactly as much as a $60k non-EV.
Depreciation is - of course - meaningfully worse on $60k vehicles than on $30k ones, whether ICE or EV, so are you sure you're not just measuring the depreciation hit you get for selling more expensive cars?
It makes used EVs great value as they last well. There tend to have a great spec too.
All on finance. I really surprised that hasn't blown up and become the new sub-prime type scandal.
I regularly go shopping at a large Tesco located in one of the most deprived towns in the country and I'm constantly astonished by the number of shiny new BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers in the car park. Where the hell are people getting the money for those things?
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
I go shopping at 'the big Asda' in one of the most deprived parts of the UK - and most people walk. The car drivers are mostly coming in from out of town, or are cocaine dealers. (as I understand it - the proper hard-core dealers up the chain shop out of town).
That's definitely not the case here, if you live in the town it's a lengthy walk down/up a steep hill to get to the Tesco. Not may people do it, although some do take the bus. The neighbouring town also has a large Tesco, so 'out of town' in this case is limited to a few nearby villages (which is where I live).
On my way home I pass through an ex-council estate, and you can see the same thing. Every third car is flash enough it probably costs half as much as the home its owner lives in. Either there's an oversupply of drug dealers, or lots of people are living beyond their means.
I'm only about a mile from the count in Caerphilly Leisure Centre but I don't think there's much point in going there because you can probably only get inside with accreditation.
Say you are a correspondent for the World's largest political betting website.*
* How else do you think Leon blags his way into the Groucho?
I'm only about a mile from the count in Caerphilly Leisure Centre but I don't think there's much point in going there because you can probably only get inside with accreditation.
Say you are a correspondent for the World's largest political betting website.*
* How else do you think Leon blags his way into the Groucho?
I'm not quite in Leon's league. I'm still at Premier Inn level.
Its getting all a bit Four Yorkshire on where people go food shopping.....
I go to Waitrose in a posh town..... cars are often quite shit ;-)
It was once claimed that the average E class estate owner had a higher net worth than the average Rolls Royce owner.
It's not impossible. Old money in particular is often content with being comfortable without being flashy. Nothing to prove, so why have something as pointlessly swanky as a Rolls.
@RhysWilliamsTV · 32m Reform still saying it’s “too close to call”
#Caerphilly #caerphillybyelection
There may be something in the Reform spin if it's true much of the vote counted is from the south of the consistency. The south is much more of a Cardiff suburb, where as the north is much more like the rest of the valley's. But it's probably just copium.
@RhysWilliamsTV · 32m Reform still saying it’s “too close to call”
#Caerphilly #caerphillybyelection
There may be something in the Reform spin if it's true much of the vote counted is from the south of the consistency. The south is much more of a Cardiff suburb, where as the north is much more like the rest of the valley's. But it's probably just copium.
Indeed, the odds now probably just favour Plaid but remember in the Runcorn by election most commentators thought Labour had nicked it until the declaration where Reform won by just 6 votes
Comments
It was, as reported at the time, a problem with DNS.
Given the size and scale of their operation, they use 'automated' tools to update DNS. They have multiple independent systems running simultaneously, each of them making changes to DNS. These tools have a primitive check that no other tool is making a change 'right now' so they don't fight.
Sadly one of the tools got unexpectedly stuck, and by the time it actually ran instead of adding or changing the DNS entries it deleted them all.
Service was only restored when a human manually added them again.
So yes, real humans unfucking AI systems is going to be a solid career for some really smart people for years to come.
THHGTTG comes to mind...
- You need a ticket to pass through each intersection
- If you get caught passing through an intersection without a ticket you get fined, similarly to the way you get fined if you're caught by a speed camera
- Tickets are sold via an API on a government-run website, and also issued on a public blockchain so they'll still work when the government-run website is down. Once you have a ticket you can assign it to a car numberplate, again on either the government-run website via its API or a public blockchain
- Let the free market figure out the software for buying tickets and assigning them to numberplates to make sure you always have one by the time your car reaches an intersection
A Democrat problem, compared with the GOP, is that it's far less monolithic. At the other end of the party you have people like Fetterman. Or more positively, the new mayor of San Francisco.
To race in F1 you need a superlicense, and you apply for one on this website. Anybody can apply. Some hackers looked at the JSON response from the website and noticed it included a field for 'role', so they added the word 'admin' to the request and got full access to the global driver database including all the information they uploaded, like Verstappen's passport
Here's the thing, though.
Cuomo is a piece of shit. And I wouldn't want to vote for the Republican.
AIUI the block they’re removing was mostly secretarial staff and the First Lady’s office, constructed 50 years ago and of little historical significance, and they’re replacing it with a large ballroom.
The previous arrangements were for Grand Balls to be held in a temporary tent in the grounds, something which has been a complaint of Presidents for decades.
Trump got a bunch of private donations, presumably in exchange for a plaque on the wall as this is how these things work in the US, so the redevelopment is at no cost to the American taxpayer.
If you’re not someone who reflexively compares Trump to a leader from 1930s Germany, that sounds like a win for everyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_New_York_City_mayoral_election#General_election
In any event, while arguably misguided, he's not a nut.
Good response from the FIA dev team.
The funniest comments have been “Why does Max Verstappen need a CV? ”
Well, because every driver does, because he needs to show he’s qualified for the licence he holds or the licence he wishes to hold. Yes if you’re an F1 driver you have a Wiki page, but there’s thousands more FIA-registered drivers who don’t.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/live-caerphilly-election-updates-votes-32735870
Not really staying up till 2 or 3 am for a Senedd by-election, but it should be interesting.
"SIR – Annabel Denham is right: Prince Andrew has not been charged with – let alone convicted of – a crime under British law (“Am I the only one feeling sorry for Prince Andrew?”, Comment, October 22). Yet sections of the media and a large portion of the public are howling for more punishment to be meted out to him.
I fear that we are no longer a very nice country.
Terry Evans
Newcastle upon Tyne"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2025/10/23/letters-why-wont-rachel-reeves-listen-businesses-hit-tax/
With three candidates FPTP, 35% might be enough in this race.
The trick about charging per mile is... you can't. Not in any sensible way that's reliable and non-invasive. Every method involves large investment, complexity, invasion of privacy, or a mix of all three to some degree.
Much simpler in my view to control what people are driving, small vehicles mean less congestion. The licencing system can be used to do that by making it easier to own a small vehicle - this has already been proven to work, if you look at the motorcycle community in the UK by far the biggest selling category of bikes and scooters is 125cc, because you don't need to do a full test to ride one.
Rachel may go for the 'reverse Dusty Bin' approach that's 1 - 2 - 3
1% on the basic rate, 2% on the higher rate, 3% on the additional rate. That wouldn't be dissimilar to what we have in Scotland now. And she can say 'we are not taxing anyone more than 50%' taking into account the 2% NI at higher income levels
If you ignore the personal allowance tapering of course!
Probably worth around £10bn a year
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly9rlj94x1t
They need an extra 50% more representatives because.....?
Know the first one, who, a celeb and a has been politician now columnist.
Have most of the parties just given up appearing or sending anybody of any note?
I'm running an 11 year old car. Top spec diesel estate - all the toys, full leather, heated seats, bluetooth, cruise control etc etc. Inside, it's like new. Outside it's almost like new, apart from a cosmetic scrape on one door. Underneath it's like new. It drives like it's brand new. Cost me all of £2500 of our English pounds. It's probably got 100k miles and five to ten years of useful life left in it if I look after it half-decently.
It's predecessor was by the time of its demise a 16 year old estate, pretty much identical (including in the "driving like brand new aspects) but in blue. That one cost me £500, and would still be with us had an idiot cab driver not pulled out of a junction without looking and rammed it amidships. I've kept it's engine (typically I'd just done the cambelt) to fit to a series landrover in place of a worn out 200tdi (fun project that should yield a really powerful, economical pickup).
A brand new version of the same car, virtually identical in every functional respect, apart from the addition of some really annoying "driver aids" is a mere £39,950.
One of the reasons why no-one has any money any more is that everyone is driving round in shiny new cars they can't afford. They're idiots, so the Chancellor might as well pick their pockets.
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/1981321901298315356#m
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/l0057kw4/caerphilly-byelection
Depreciation is - of course - meaningfully worse on $60k vehicles than on $30k ones, whether ICE or EV, so are you sure you're not just measuring the depreciation hit you get for selling more expensive cars?
Or does everyone hate them, because all of the winos got on a bus in the morning and won’t get off? So the city is paying hundreds of millions to run buses full of homeless around the city every day, while no-one trying to do anything productive goes near them.
Sounds rather like communism…
https://x.com/BNHWalker/status/1981485074970230949
Labour have lost and are a distant third with some Labour voters it seems voting tactically for Plaid to try and beat Farage's party
But you're almost certainly right, they don't actually have the money and the next sharp downturn in the economy will cause a cascade of defaults.
Recent interest rate spikes mean that the car you now have costs double to lease again new, which is causing massive social anxiety in certain circles.
I go to Waitrose in a posh town..... cars are often quite shit ;-)
I have no inside information or local insight.
DYOR 👍
Lib Dem Hold!
🔶 Ewan Cameron Liberal Democrat 882 36.4%
➡️ Reform UK 523 21.6%
🔵 Conservative 506 20.9%
🟢 Green Party 480 19.8%
🔴 Labour 35 1.4%"
On my way home I pass through an ex-council estate, and you can see the same thing. Every third car is flash enough it probably costs half as much as the home its owner lives in. Either there's an oversupply of drug dealers, or lots of people are living beyond their means.
Looks like PC and RefUK have GOTV.
Glastonbury
LD 37.48% [new]
Ref 31.09% [new]
Con 16.73% [new]
Ind 8.84% [new unless comparing to previous ind]
Grn 5.87% [-23.86]
Ind previously 52.38%
Lab previously 17.89%
Dunster
LD 49.63% [+8.46]
Ref 28.94% [new]
Con 19.51% [-22.87]
Lab 1.91% [-4.21]
Green last time -> 10.32%
* How else do you think Leon blags his way into the Groucho?
Cachau bant Reform.
https://x.com/BNHWalker/status/1981506252451828020
·
32m
Reform still saying it’s “too close to call”
#Caerphilly #caerphillybyelection
It is jumping sporadically.'
https://x.com/mytwopence2p/status/1981511053755224267