Seen in the News

[Tizer]

This Guardian article raises a serious issue. Could the Home Office have chosen to conceal the failure from EU members because it knows we will have to negotiate deals with the EU soon?
`Revealed: UK concealed failure to alert EU over 75,000 criminal convictions' LINK
`The UK has failed to pass on the details of 75,000 convictions of foreign criminals to their home EU countries and concealed the scandal for fear of damaging Britain’s reputation in Europe’s capitals, the Guardian can reveal. European trust in the UK on security issues sank to a new low on Tuesday night after details emerged of the apparent cover-up, which prompted calls for an investigation in the UK and a warning from one senior MEP that a Brussels inquiry was inevitable. The police national computer error, revealed in the minutes of a meeting at the criminal records office, went undetected for five years, during which one in three alerts on offenders – potentially including murderers and rapists – were not sent to EU member states. Authorities in EU countries were not informed of the crimes committed, the sentences given to their nationals by UK courts or the risk the convicted criminals posed to the public. Because the details were not passed on, dangerous offenders could have travelled back to their home countries without the normal notification to local authorities of their presence. Such is the scale of the scandal that the Home Office initially chose to conceal the embarrassing failure from EU partners...'.

`...The revelation comes ahead of crucial negotiations with the EU over the future security relationship with the UK, with Britain’s reputation as a trustworthy partner already having come under serious question. This month, the European parliament’s justice and home affairs committee was given evidence of “deliberate violations and abuse” by the UK of the Schengen Information System (SIS), an EU database used by police and border guards across the border-free Schengen zone. The British authorities had made “unlawful” full or partial copies of the database that were said by an EU report to pose “serious and immediate risks to the integrity and security of SIS data”.'

[Stanley]

Well spotted Tiz. Doesn't surprise me actually, the Home Office are 'economical with the actualite' quite often and we only occasionally learn of it. Things like the 'hostile environment' which was denied repeatedly until it became obvious it existed when Windrush blew it open.
Transparent government?

[Tizer]

These kids must had a shock!
`Students escape gym as microburst tears down wall' LINK

[Stanley]

Interesting Tiz. I first encountered these winds in the tornado season in Northfield Minnesota but then they were referred to as 'straight line winds'. I watched all the branches sheared out of one side of a tree leaving the opposite side untouched. It was just like a guillotine descending on it. First time I had ever seen or been aware of the phenomenon. Later, in Barlick, I saw a burst of wind up on Letcliffe Park in a thunderstorm coming down of Weets and it struck me then that it was the same thing on a smaller scale. I wouldn't have recognised it if I hadn't seen the event in Minnesota. Mind you, that one was when we were under a 'cell' that was 100 miles across and over 10,000ft high. The tornado warning had sounded but as I was house sitting and on my own I sat there on the porch and watched the free show. You never forget things like that. At one point we got 6" of rain in less than half an hour. I know this because the College had a weather station about 200 yards from where I was and they confirmed it. Frightening but very, very impressive! Interesting thing was that the drains coped with it. Well done whoever designed the infrastructure.

[Tizer]

Another strange and dangerous weather phenomenon is the lightning that bounces and kills someone miles away from the thunderstorm.
That reminds me, did you see the news story the other day of the big chemical plant explosion in Tarragona, Spain? Two men were killed. One was at the plant, the other was 2 miles away in his apartment - a large piece of a chemical reactor was thrown the 2 miles and hit the apartment block, knocking it down.

[Stanley]

Chemical plants are sometimes too complicated for the dangers to be clearly appreciated by planners. I remember once helping to modify a reactor at a chemical works in Todmorden. We were working on a reactor vessel that was operating at a pressure high enough to require the walls to be 3" thick, this involved heavy welding in a yard where hydrogen tankers were parked....Incredibly dangerous both in the procedure and the process. I enquired and the vessel was making the active ingredient for fabric softeners. It struck me then that it was ridiculous having this process so near a town and for such a banal and transitory reason.

[Tizer]

I once worked at an educational establishment where the chemistry department had to live with a safety reputation tarnished by having a gas cylinder dropped in the outside storage area, shearing off the valve end and sending the cylinder over the top of the building to land in the car park behind.

Is this mischief afoot? Or simply daft bureaucracy as is so often the case, such as with misinterpretation of orders?...
`Guildford pub bombings police 'seize files'' LINK

[Tripps]

Stop Press.....

H and M renouncing the Royal Family entirely. Will get no money from them, lose their titles, (from the Spring), and repay for the money spent on Frogmore cottage.

PS - they will keep the titles, but won't use them. How does that work then?

I'll give it a year. . . .

Hooray !

[plaques]

Here is Buckingham Palace's statement in full:
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.
"As agreed in this new arrangement, they understand that they are required to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments. They will no longer receive public funds for royal duties.
"With The Queen's blessing, the Sussexes will continue to maintain their private patronages and associations. While they can no longer formally represent The Queen, the Sussexes have made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty.
"The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared their wish to repay Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home.
"Buckingham Palace does not comment on the details of security arrangements. There are well established independent processes to determine the need for publicly-funded security.

"This new model will take effect in the spring of 2020."

[Stanley]

Re. the seizing of files. The authorities are always on a hiding to nothing when they seize any documents of course but in this case I share your worries. It sounds as though they have only just realised the archive existed and are taking precautionary measures in case they betray any secrets. Independent scrutiny needed I think to allay any public suspicions.
As for H&M, seems obvious to me they want to cut any ties that prevent them from exploiting their celebrity status and this includes their relations with Royalty. I can't see how they can avoid breaching palace protocols. Trouble in the future I suspect. The Palace statement is classic wallpapering over the cracks.

[Tizer]

Here we go again...
`Car filmed on wrong side of road near RAF base near where Harry Dunn died' LINK

[Stanley]

Makes you wonder how common the mistake is there......
Later... See THIS BBC report on the Ilford murders, three men stabbed to death. Part of the rise in knife crime and nobody can agree what the root cause is. Everyone shies away from linking it to lack of staff and services due to funding cuts. My question is, how can there be no connection.

[Tizer]

This FT article shows that there's no joined up thinking between the car companies on driverless cars. It doesn't bode well for safety on the road...
` A fork in the road for driverless cars: The motor industry is divided on the question of who, or what, has control' LINK
`Everyone agrees that the technology, once perfected, offers a colossal increase in road safety because more than 90 per cent of crashes are due to human error...'.
But...
`Carmakers are at war over the future of driverless technology. Ford has said there is no safe way to combine human and robot but rivals such as Mercedes-Benz and Tesla are already selling thousands of vehicles that can drive themselves at least part of the time....'.

[Stanley]

Tiz, I shall revert to the Zen response of "NU". No direct translation but roughly it equates to "Nothing to do with me Guv"
I am deeply suspicious of anything that removes the autonomy of the driver. Quite apart from the question of car driving this is the start of a slippery slope that will eventually migrate into other decisions. Remember HG Wells, 'The Time Traveller'. The higher beings he encountered in the future, the Eloi. They were eaten by the Morlocks, the lower orders. Reliance on advanced technology had resulted in a state of helplessness. Far fetched? Look at what cars have done to general levels of fitness and exercise.

[Tizer]

When I saw this news article I thought: Wow, that could serve as the basis of a novel - big privately-owned pharma company releases an infectious agent to start an epidemic that only its vaccine can stop. But then I don't `do' conspiracy theories so I won't be the one who writes it!
`New China virus: Drug makers soar on contagion fears' LINK
`Shares in Chinese drug makers have risen sharply as concerns grow over a new virus spreading across the country. Several pharmaceutical giants on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have risen by their 10% daily limit. The moves follow the confirmation that the new strain of coronavirus can pass from person to person...'.

[Stanley]

No surprise there Tiz. Thank of what the new pig virus spreading across the world is doing for trade patterns and inevitably Big Pharma. Every cloud has a silver lining for opportunistic entrepreneurs out there. Think of the profits that are being made out of the current unstable global economic conditions. This is why the hedge funds are making such killings. What happens when the inevitable bear market overwhelms the markets? Why were the hedge fund and developers the main financiers of the Tory 'Get Brexit done' campaign?
Later... See THIS BBC report on the latest woes to hit Boeing and the 737 Max. How long can this massive business survive? Can it be allowed to fail?

[Tizer]

Apparently, fund managers have been receiving lots of enquiries asking if the 737 will never fly again. I'll bet there's going to be a lot of gambling going on behind the scenes. (Tripps could probably give us the odds!)

[Stanley]

In June 2019 it was 'estimated' (No firm figures have been given even though they must be known) that 500 of the planes were grounded world wide, about a 100 of these brand new and stored outside by Boeing. Since then the figure will have increased because they continued making them until this month. This in itself is an enormous drain because they will have to be maintained. In addition, when the eventual 'fix' is found the modifications will have to be made to all the aircraft and these are not only software fixes but include things like wiring and other physical changes. As far as I can see all this will have to be at Boeing's expense. Then there are the inevitable claims for compensation and nobody can start to estimate these until the 'fix' is decided on. Even when that has all been done the individual authorities world wide will have to re-certify the aircraft as fit to fly. Only after that will the claims start to roll in.
In June 2019 the loss to Boeing was estimated at $9Billion and will be heading way north of that before a resolution is found. At the moment Boeing say this can't be before July this year and will almost certainly be longer than that.
From previous matters like this the Boeing accountants will be looking for imaginative mitigation and one thing that occurs to me is filing for protection under Chapter 11 protection or something similar. Don't be surprised if something like this rears its head this summer. Boeing is big, but not that big! Whichever way you look at it, and disregarding reputational loss and the inevitable switch by buyers to Airbus, this is a catastrophe for the company. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it!

[Tizer]

By the time it's over the Boeing 737 will be outdated and better aircraft will be available.

[Stanley]

I found THIS Forbes article this morning which addresses the wider issues. Worth reading I think.

[Tizer]

This makes you wonder whether these two giant companies will be one day battling over who runs America's military and deciding when to go to war!
`Amazon battles Microsoft over military cloud' US military cloud

[Stanley]

Looking at the vast scale of Big Data and the rise of Artificial Intelligence it may not be the companies that decide but the programmes themselves....

[PanBiker]

How far are we realistically from the equivalent of "Skynet" as featured in the Terminator films?

I watched a series last year about training our top gun RAF pilots to fly (or operate) the F-35 Lightning fighters. The most frustrating thing for the pilots was that quite often they could not even start their training sorties because the aircraft would not let them logon to the software that actually controls the aircraft. All dresses up and nowhere to go. The pilot has to logon to the aircraft and that in turn is connected to a tactical control cloud. With autonomous missile systems linked into the equation as well. How long before human intervention is not required at all?

The premise of the Terminator franchise is of course that the AI becomes "self aware" and sees the humans as the enemy.

[Stanley]

100 years ago the book Rossum's Universal Robots addressed the same question. (LINK) It looks as though we are no closer to an answer!

[Tizer]

Boeing are assuming the world still trusts them...
`Boeing 777X: World’s largest twin-engine jet completes first flight' LINK