Seen in the News

[Tizer]

I hope BAe will be competent enough to make a good job of developing the Tempest fighter jet for the RAF, due to be available by 2035. It will be the replacement for the present Typhoon - the Lockheed F-35 Lightnings are really a stop gap until then. BAe and its suppliers are now battened down under the biggest security blanket ever because China and Russia (and others) are pulling out all the stops to get information on the project. BAe are only releasing vague information about the plane and I suspect some of that will be deliberate misinformation. Apparently the plane will be so sophisticated that we don't even know if there's going to be a pilot sitting in it and it will have `little helpers', drones to support it even if normal communication is cut off. There's even the possibility that the plane will make no more than one or two test flights and then be held in readiness to be used only if war breaks out. To use it otherwise will be too big a risk of letting other nations gather information about it. We might never even see it for real....

[Stanley]

Surely the days of one heroic young man strapped into a flying computer that costs more than the NHS are gone? As obsolete as an aircraft carrier I reckon (And it seems we have forgotten how to build them.)
BTW Do you remember that when the Invincible was sent off to the Falklands by Maggie she too had a shaft down and I don't know whether it was ever fixed while she was in the Southern Ocean.

[Stanley]

See THIS Guardian report on the fall of the Pound Sterling in the overseas markets. It got to within 2 cents of parity at one point this morning but has recovered slightly to 5 cents.
The significance of parity is that it is easy to understand and a hefty backlash is expected against the Truss/Kwarteng gamble if it is reached.
The quasi budget is in trouble already and because it's conference season rebuttal will not be as easy. Dangerous times for our new PM.....

[Tizer]

Surely the days of one heroic young man strapped into a flying computer that costs more than the NHS are gone?

I suppose it's like the reasoning behind strategic nuclear weapons - you have them so you won't need to use them. On a lesser scale, the same argument as Americans often use for owning guns. Unfortunately the world is becoming less safe and that makes abandoning weapons less likely.

On a different note, I read that companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google could, `at the flick of a switch', make their products and services unavailable to Russians and their sympathisers. This would have very serious consequences for Russia as they depend on these companies in many ways. Perhaps that denial of services is what Joe Biden was referring to the other day when he warned of `catastrophic consequences' for Russia if it launched a nuclear attack on Ukraine.

[Stanley]

Peter, perhaps.... The trouble with retaliation is that it escalates and is hard to control.
See THIS BBC report on one of the consequences of Kwarteng and Truss shooting themselves (and us!) in the foot. The markets have delivered a thumbs down, the £Sterling has tanked and I heard a commentator yesterday saying that the situation wasn't as bad as 40 years ago when we had to go to the IMF for a loan. I hope he had good evidence for saying that. The BofE says it is ready to impose emergency interest rate rises. Shades of Norman Lamont having to do his U-turn......

[Tizer]

More sneaky fiddling come to light...
`Leaked dossier suggests Scottish ferry deal may have been rigged' LINK
`A leaked dossier has suggested the process of awarding a £97m Scottish ferries contract may have been rigged. Documents obtained by BBC Disclosure indicate that successful bidder Ferguson Marine Engineering benefited from preferential treatment. The two ferries are still being built for CalMac, but will be at least £150m over budget and five years late....the BBC has learned that two expert reports submitted during the tender process did not support that evaluation. One, by ferry operator CalMac, found that a rival bid from a Polish shipyard best met its requirements, while an independent naval architect noted that Ferguson's initial design was heavier and less efficient than the others.'...

[Stanley]

That is a hell of an overspend and time overrun Peter!

[Tizer]

No respect for the public and customers or for rules and regulations...
`Data sharing: MoD and Home Office ignored people's data requests - ICO' LINK
Some examples...
The ICO said it took regulatory action over infringements across 2020 and 2021 including:
*Ministry of Defence - 9,000 requests yet to be responded to. People were typically waiting over 12 months for their information.
*Home Office - just under 21,000 requests not being responded to. Complaints to the ICO showed complainants suffered significant distress as a result.
*Kent Police - some requests are reported to have taken over 18 months to issue a response.
*Virgin Media - over a six-month period in 2021, 9,500 requests were made and 19% were not responded to.

[Whyperion]

More sneaky fiddling come to light...
`Leaked dossier suggests Scottish ferry deal may have been rigged' LINK
`A leaked dossier has suggested the process of awarding a £97m Scottish ferries contract may have been rigged. Documents obtained by BBC Disclosure indicate that successful bidder Ferguson Marine Engineering benefited from preferential treatment. The two ferries are still being built for CalMac, but will be at least £150m over budget and five years late....the BBC has learned that two expert reports submitted during the tender process did not support that evaluation. One, by ferry operator CalMac, found that a rival bid from a Polish shipyard best met its requirements, while an independent naval architect noted that Ferguson's initial design was heavier and less efficient than the others.'...

Problem really is that the contract should have specified that the shipyard should be in Scotland (which seems politically a good idea), however the design work should have been done by independent naval architects. Of course Poland would be cheaper ( generally cheaper wages, and better space in their shipyards ).

[Stanley]

"The ICO said it took regulatory action over infringements across 2020 and 2021"
I wonder how many executives were inconvenienced by such action. They will get no improvement until the CEOs feel personal pain.

[Stanley]

Listening to Farming Today I thought of Wendy as they reported on the highest incidence of Bird Flu ever seen in England.

[Wendyf]

I'm guessing it won't be long before we get a lockdown situation again.

[Stanley]

That was what crossed my mind Wendy......

[Tizer]

Listening to Farming Today I thought of Wendy as they reported on the highest incidence of Bird Flu ever seen in England.

Sadly some of our most majestic birds are being killed by bird flu. Recent typical headlines...
`Bird flu: Gannets on Pembrokshire island die of virus'
`In Scotland, a bird flu crisis threatens thousands of seabirds'
`Horrifying scenes in Cornwall as seabirds with bird flu die in the streets'
`Bird flu: Gannets are falling from the sky in UK'

[Big Kev]

Well, who'd have thought it.

Screenshot_20220929-174219_Chrome.jpg

[Stanley]

That was also my reaction Kev when I saw the report of her Scottish Death certificate.

[plaques]

Age is just a number and in itself it never killed anybody. There was always a strong rumour that King George VI was helped on his way and the report of his death announced much later. So Queen Elizabeth II woke up that morning and said to herself,'Bloody hell' I'm 96 I'm off this afternoon. All nice and tidy like. Put in down to old age.

[Stanley]

My theory is that you just get more and more tired......
If I have any reason to change this opinion I'll let you know....

[Tizer]

My theory is that you just get more and more tired......

Perhaps that's a Western version of Sokushinbutsu.... Wikipedia

[Whyperion]

Age is just a number and in itself it never killed anybody. There was always a strong rumour that King George VI was helped on his way and the report of his death announced much later. So Queen Elizabeth II woke up that morning and said to herself,'Bloody hell' I'm 96 I'm off this afternoon. All nice and tidy like. Put in down to old age.

Console yourself that Old Age is a terminal disease (what happened to all that scientific progress ?) Charles doesnt look to sprightly eiether

[Stanley]

Peter! I like that. Sangha Tenzin looks to be in better nick than I am......

[Tizer]

I don't have a copy of the Telegraph or an online subscription so I can only give you the title of this article on its front page today. Someone has made massive errors...
`War on motorists based on ‘false’ government data as calls to scrap LTNs grow: Figures used to justify the creation of contentious low-traffic neighbourhoods were incorrect, admits Department for Transport' Telegraph

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS report Peter. I think it's alluding to the same concerns.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report about concerns being raised about the scale of France's contributions to Ukraine's defence. Interestingly the concerns are being raised by French strategic thinkers. This at a time when it is more important than ever to keep them well supplied.
(Given the latest revelations about rare earths it becomes a no-brainer!)

[Tizer]

There are also concerns over Macron's submissive attitude to Putin in his frequent phone calls with the Kremlin. Macron was naive to think that Putin would keep to any promises he made on the phone.