What's in the News? 2.0

Started by Tolvo, January 16, 2019, 05:34:38 AM

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legomaster00156

Quote from: Orval Wintermute on February 10, 2020, 12:03:47 PM
Boris Johnson has started a feasibility study into building a bridge from Scotland to Ireland.
Never mind that it would have to cross a seabed that's over 1000 feet deep in places or that there are who knows how many thousands of tonnes of un-exploded WWII munitions to clear out of the way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51443191

Trump's wall looks positively sane in comparison.
Good news is, that study won't take long to complete.

Sara Nilsson

Im glad the UK economy is doing so great, with all infrastructure, education and health care fully funded that they can spend money on such a bridge.

What? its only a .. hey look over there.., talk about this bridge don't talk about the real problems?

oh gotcha.

Mechelle

Boris Johnson does like building things. A saner by-product of this is that the HS2 high speed rail line from London to the north will take place, although I would agree with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, that the east-west connections across the north should be improved first.

I don't know what the results of the Irish election (Sinn Fein just ahead of Fianna Fail and then Fine Gael in what was virtually a thre-way tie) mean for the bridge, but they make a united Ireland more likely, I would think. Sinn Fein apparently could have done even better if they had fielded more candidates to pick up second preferences.

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Mechelle on February 10, 2020, 06:04:16 PM
Boris Johnson does like building things. A saner by-product of this is that the HS2 high speed rail line from London to the north will take place, although I would agree with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, that the east-west connections across the north should be improved first.

I don't know what the results of the Irish election (Sinn Fein just ahead of Fianna Fail and then Fine Gael in what was virtually a thre-way tie) mean for the bridge, but they make a united Ireland more likely, I would think. Sinn Fein apparently could have done even better if they had fielded more candidates to pick up second preferences.

I am kind of curious to see how things pan. I’m sure that things are going to turn nasty.

Humble Scribe

Quote from: Mechelle on February 10, 2020, 06:04:16 PM
Boris Johnson does like building things. A saner by-product of this is that the HS2 high speed rail line from London to the north will take place, although I would agree with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, that the east-west connections across the north should be improved first.

At least in theory infrastructure spending has a multiplier effect. Building a bridge between two economically struggling bits of the UK might not be a terrible idea. Of course, it's still just a feasibility study at this stage. It's probably better value for money than spending £6 billion on two aircraft carriers that would be sunk in the opening 24 hours of any serious war and which are basically just an Admiralty vanity project.
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Moves on:  nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

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Orval Wintermute

Quote from: Humble Scribe on February 11, 2020, 07:06:44 AM
At least in theory infrastructure spending has a multiplier effect. Building a bridge between two economically struggling bits of the UK might not be a terrible idea. Of course, it's still just a feasibility study at this stage. It's probably better value for money than spending £6 billion on two aircraft carriers that would be sunk in the opening 24 hours of any serious war and which are basically just an Admiralty vanity project.

All spending has a multiplier effect, it just the size of the multiplier that's different.
There are already transport links between England\Scotland and Northern Ireland, there's no fast rail link included with the bridge so people who are currently flying will still fly. And freight might move from ferries to the bridge, so there will be a decrease in ferry usage.

As for the aircraft carriers they are not vanity projects as the Navy perform more combat operations than the RAF, the problem is they didn't spend enough. The lack of a steam catapult means the UK is stuck with the F35-B which the most expensive variant and also the least capable. Spend more on the carrier and it can fly cheaper, better planes.

Humble Scribe

Quote from: Orval Wintermute on February 11, 2020, 08:06:08 AM
As for the aircraft carriers they are not vanity projects as the Navy perform more combat operations than the RAF, the problem is they didn't spend enough. The lack of a steam catapult means the UK is stuck with the F35-B which the most expensive variant and also the least capable. Spend more on the carrier and it can fly cheaper, better planes.

The problem is that they are big, lumbering and vulnerable, and they are so expensive that we can't afford to have enough ships to protect them. Our destroyer and frigate fleet is now down to 19 ships, half of which are serviceable at any given moment - come wartime the entire Navy would be needed to try and protect the carriers. I don't really know what the carriers are for, except pretending we're still a power that does force projection. They seem like classic fighting the previous war. One cruise or anti-ship missile or one submarine and they're at the bottom, and that's before we even get to new threats like hypersonic missiles. Chinese anti-ship ballistic missiles now have a range of 2,000 miles. Come any peer level engagement (ie Russia or China) they'd be a big fat target and spend their time skulking in port like the Argentine carrier did in the Falklands. Then there's a whole other question about whether manned aircraft have a future, but don't tell the RAF or Fleet Air Arm that. Smaller, faster carriers running UAVs might be a cheaper and more viable way of doing things.

If all you want to do is sit off the coast of Iran and fly sorties, that's fine, but even then, Iranian anti-ship missile capability is increasing, and we only have three air defence frigates.

Meanwhile, while we buy big toys like the carriers or Trident the mainland UK has zero anti-air missile capability. There's a battery of Rapiers (40 years old, range - a couple of miles) in the Falklands and that's about it. One cruise missile wave of the sort we and the US like to drop on places like Syria, and that could be all of our refineries, ports, airports, airbases gone in the first half hour - just using conventional weapons. What do we do then? Surrender? Go nuclear - and that's another white elephant - we only have strategic nukes now. So what's our nuclear threshold? One air raid on mainland UK? And for that we incinerate millions? It isn't credible.

What we could do with is a defence strategy that finally accepts we are a mid-rank European power, cooperating with France, Germany etc for defence of Europe and mainland UK, and giving up our colonial dreams of wandering around the world shooting at people who look at us in a funny way.
The moving finger writes, and having writ,
Moves on:  nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Ons and Offs

ShadowFox89

 I mean, you don't even need an anti-ship missile. I think it was back during the war games to see how an invasion of Iran would go, the guy they put in charge of the "Iran" forces blew up an aircraft carrier with a bunch of speedboats loaded with explosives?
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Callie Del Noire

Quote from: ShadowFox89 on February 11, 2020, 10:44:13 AM
I mean, you don't even need an anti-ship missile. I think it was back during the war games to see how an invasion of Iran would go, the guy they put in charge of the "Iran" forces blew up an aircraft carrier with a bunch of speedboats loaded with explosives?

The biggest concerns were torpedos given they don’t have to hit the ship to kill it.  Create a sufficiently large bubble of air under then and the keel snaps.

Not a likely issue in the gulf given the (lack of) training among the Iranian forces using the subs

Lilias

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gaggedLouise

Quote from: Mechelle on February 10, 2020, 06:04:16 PM
Boris Johnson does like building things. A saner by-product of this is that the HS2 high speed rail line from London to the north will take place, although I would agree with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, that the east-west connections across the north should be improved first.

I don't know what the results of the Irish election (Sinn Fein just ahead of Fianna Fail and then Fine Gael in what was virtually a thre-way tie) mean for the bridge, but they make a united Ireland more likely, I would think. Sinn Fein apparently could have done even better if they had fielded more candidates to pick up second preferences.

Boris (or his successors) could catch on to a truly historic project: an oceanographer working for the Dutch government has proposed building two giant dams, one near the Pas de Calais, one between north Scotland and west Norway, to keep off any future climate-related rise in sea levels in the North Sea (and incidentally also in the Baltic Sea). It could well be technically workable: the depth in these waters is rarely beyond 150 m and often less than 100 m, and there's next to no geological unrest in the region.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/giant-dams-could-protect-millions-from-rising-north-sea

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Orval Wintermute

The Cabinet reshuffle is turning out to be a bit more interesting than predicted.

Julian Smith who managed to get the Northern Ireland Assembly up and running again, fired because he had run ins with Johnson.
Esther McVey and Andrea Leadsom who stood against Johnson in the leadership contest but stood aside in return of good ministerial jobs have now been fired from those jobs.
The new Attorney General Suella Braverman wants to limit the power of the courts to hold the Government to account.

And the now former Chancellor Sajid Javid resigned after being told he had to fire all his advisors and hire new advisors selected by the PM's. As part of his resignation interview he said "I was unable to accept those conditions. I don't believe any self-respecting minister would accept such conditions and so therefore I felt the best thing to do was to go."

The Chancellor's has been filled by the #2 at the Treasury, but the new Chancellor is widely seen as just being Johnson's puppet.

Mechelle

Yes, the outcome of this is that Rishi Sunak, the new Chancellor, however pleasant he appears on television in his frequent interviews, is already a diminished figure. In Johnson's government, it seems that total loyalty or obedience is what is required, not that the likes of McVey will be missed.

Theories seem to be ebbing and flowing as to whether this was part of a cunning Machiavellian plan by Cummings. As "the Saj" as he likes to call himself entered Downing Street via the front door (those who are going to be sacked are invited to a private discreet meeting in the Prime Minister's office), I think it is nit what was planned, and that Cummings assumed that Javed would acquiesce under pressure.


Callie Del Noire

This wound do him any good in the long run. Failing to continue with his promised jobs and such will have folks dev,inning to deal with him. Short term I don’t know what will happen, long term folks will think twice before making deals if he doesn’t honor them

I get the ‘Donald’ not being a political beast but Johnson is ONLY a political beast.  He can’t think he’s not going to pay a price for this can he?

Mechelle

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on February 13, 2020, 04:34:26 PM
This wound do him any good in the long run. Failing to continue with his promised jobs and such will have folks dev,inning to deal with him. Short term I don’t know what will happen, long term folks will think twice before making deals if he doesn’t honor them

I get the ‘Donald’ not being a political beast but Johnson is ONLY a political beast.  He can’t think he’s not going to pay a price for this can he?

It might be another one of Johnson and Cummings' many gambles, which is typical of their careers, although given the respect Javid is getting, it looks like a miscalculation.

It is a bit of a shame that this is overshadowing the competent Julian Smith's sacking, but competence and honesty don't seem to be qualities valued by this Prime Minister nor his unelected special adviser.

TheHangedOne

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/medical-device-recalls/medtronic-recalls-minimed-insulin-pumps-incorrect-insulin-dosing
Quote
The FDA has identified this as a Class I recall, the most serious type of recall.  Use of these devices may cause serious injuries or death.
Recalled Product

    MiniMed 600 Series Insulin Pumps
        Model 630G (MMT-1715) - all lots before October 2019
        Model 670G (MMT-1780) - all lots before August 2019
    Distribution Dates:
        Model 630G - September 2016 to October 2019
        Model 670G - June 2017 to August 2019
    Devices Recalled in the U.S.: 322,005
    Date Initiated by Firm: November 21, 2019
Being a Type 1 on the insulin pump (a 732, thankfully), when this popped up in my news feed--I thought it was worth sharing here. I imagine I'm not the only insulin pump user, and while I hope anybody with one of these models would have known closer to the actual recall date--better late than never, right?
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Orval Wintermute

Quote from: Mechelle on February 13, 2020, 04:46:38 PM
It might be another one of Johnson and Cummings' many gambles, which is typical of their careers, although given the respect Javid is getting, it looks like a miscalculation.

I think they will have gamed out both scenarios and seen it as a (mostly) no-lose situation.
A - Javid uses No 10's advisors and Johnson gets control of the Treasury.
B - Javid resigns, Johnson installs a puppet and gets control of the Treasury.

Sure they couldn't entirely plan for what Javid would say if he resigned but with Labour having no leader they don't need to worry about them until April\May.

AmberStarfire



Mechelle

In Britain, television presenter Caroline Flack has taken her own life at the age of40. She was formerly the presenter of Love Island, a reality TV show, two of whose contestants have also taken their own lives in recent times, but was dropped or forced to resign, after she was charged with domestic abuse against her boyfriend, who did stand by her, as victims of domestic abuse often do.

It's all very sad. A lot of celebrities have said how awful the social media barrage against her was, including the likes of Piers Morgan, who spends much of his career attacking woman, while others have attacked the Crown Prosecution Service for charging her. She was clearly very vulnerable, but you should not be charged with a crime because you are female and famous?

  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/entertainment-arts-51517973

Twisted Crow

Or be charged with more lenient sentences for the same crime. Because that's how equality works.

gaggedLouise

Really bizarre - in a city with limited imports and threatened by an epidemic, even toilet rolls becoem so valuable that they merit the attention of robber gangs...  :P

Quote from: BBCToilet rolls are currently in short supply in Hong Kong due to shortages caused by panic-buying during the coronavirus outbreak.

Knife wielding men robbed a delivery man outside a supermarket in the Mong Kok district, police said.

Police have arrested two men and recovered some of the stolen loo rolls, local media reports said. The armed robbery took place in Mong Kok, a district of Hong Kong with a history of "triad" crime gangs, early on Monday. According to local reports, the robbers had threatened a delivery worker who had unloaded rolls of toilet paper outside Wellcome Supermarket.

An Apple Daily report said that 600 toilet paper rolls, valued at around HKD1,695 ($218; £167), had been stolen.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51527043

And it's not the only example of new objects becoming the focus for armed criminals. In the town of Malmö, Sweden, not far from where I live, local criminal gangs specializing in drug sales have developd a habit of trying to grab the smartphones of competing gangs. Reason: the phones are loaded with high-value information about their customers and middlemen, so if you can get your hands on one, you suddenly have the "buyers register" of the other side in your hands. Stolen phones have been traded for tens of thousands of dollars, and people have even been stabbed or killed to gain possession of their "crime phones". Sounds like they haven't bothered to use any strong digital lock devices (or passwords) on those phones/files...


Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
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Tolvo

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/02/24/homeless-transgender-woman-brutally-murdered-in-puerto-rico/

In Puerto Rico a trans woman was accused of peeping on others, wildly many speculated and whipped up into rage and anger towards what they saw as a sexual deviant. Only after an initial police investigation charges were not pressed and it was discovered she was homeless. There are many stories still being checked and verified during the current police investigation but an LGBTQIA+ organization in Puerto Rico was able to confirm she was an abused homeless transgender women. Hours after the initial police investigation about peeping she was murdered, executed with a gun, in a public restroom while being video taped(It is not known if more than one assailant was present). This was circulated and met with rejoice for getting rid of "Filth" and a "sexual deviant."

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/02/24/graham-linehan-bbc-newsnight-viewer-complaints-trans-holocaust-puberty-blocker/

The BBC is reporting a large spike in complaints due to the Newsnight segment in which Graham Linehan(A creator of Father Ted, The IT Crowd, and other comedies) compared transgender people to Nazis of Nazi Germany and transition care to being put in Death Camps under Nazi Germany and being experimented on, and for his statements that trans people promote eugenics by promoting affirmative care(Supporting those who want to medically transition). Linehan has made this argument many times before, and has had visits from police in the past for his endangering of others via social media and targeting of trans people and anyone who does not agree with him(He'll rather commonly insult the appearances of trans allies and mention they must "secretly be trans and pretending to be a real woman because no real woman would support them."

Orval Wintermute

Quote from: Tolvo on February 25, 2020, 08:24:57 AM
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/02/24/graham-linehan-bbc-newsnight-viewer-complaints-trans-holocaust-puberty-blocker/

The BBC is reporting a large spike in complaints due to the Newsnight segment in which Graham Linehan...

Interesting the parts the Pink News left out about that interview, the rape and death threats against feminist academics who dare to suggest that women's rights and trans rights might not be the same thing. The shutting down of any debate on the subject by saying anyone who isn't 110% behind changing the gender recognition act is committing a hate crime.

That shutting down of debate is also supported by some of the Labour leadership candidates who signed a pledge that included naming two LGB charities as hate groups because those groups aren't 100% on board.

What kind of sensible debate can be held when one is saying "If you don't agree with me, you are a criminal" ?

Tolvo

They're not going to include transphobic propaganda typically. It's PinkNews not Sputnik News.

Orval Wintermute

Quote from: Tolvo on February 25, 2020, 12:05:34 PM
They're not going to include transphobic propaganda typically. It's PinkNews not Sputnik News.

So trans-activist making death threats is transphobic propaganda? Nice job making Linehan's point for him.