Seen in the News

[Stanley]

I agree Tiz, it's been a problem for years and the fall in Rural policing capabilities because of the cuts has made it worse. A descent into anarchy.

[Tizer]

You'll remember my previous post about this man - here's a brief update, he was effectively single-handed at the time!
`Man, 77, speaks out about fighting off would-be mugger' LINK

[Cathy]

We’ve seen the footage here. Good on him, but he was lucky.

[Stanley]

I was in a similar situation many years ago when vandals broke my car headlights. You don't think when the red mist takes over, all you feel is anger! I wonder how I'd react now? The cheeky buggers tried to have me prosecuted for assault! You can imagine what the local police thought about that.
Time for Kevlar vests for normal every day wear?

[Stanley]

People of colour are having difficulties with the sensors used in automatic public toilets and assume that they are doing something wrong. News this morning gleaned from a discussion on World Service is that it is happening because the computer programmes that are controlling the sensors are calibrated for white skin. Evidently this is happening in other fields as well like facial recognition. Racial bias exists in some unexpected corners!

[Tizer]

What's an `automatic public toilet'? (I don't get out much! )

[PanBiker]

In my experience in France they are great big shiny metal boxes, a bit like a toilet on an aircraft inside. You stick your money in the slot to enter, door closes, you do your stuff, press the exit button which flushes the toilet, door closes after exit and the thing self sanitises by a complete cycle water douche of the insides.

My last usage had a problem in that it started the self cleaning cycle before I got out!

[Stanley]

Another similar matter has cropped up. Dressings like Elastoplast are coloured with white people in mind. Darker tones are going to be added to the range.....

[chinatyke]

Candidate for the Darwin Awards

LOS ANGELES - An amateur US astronaut who said he wanted to prove the Earth is flat has been killed in the crash of his homemade rocket in California, said the Science Channel, which filmed the launch.

"Michael'Mad Mike' Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket," the channel, which is part of the Discovery Channel, said on Twitter. "Our thoughts & prayers go out to his family & friends during this difficult time."

A stuntman by profession, Hughes, 64, launched himself on Saturday in a steam-powered rocket that he built in the backyard of his home in Barstow, California. Several brands sponsored the project.

His goal, he told the local press, was to ascend more than 1,500 meters to prove that the Earth is not round but shaped like a Frisbee.

His spokesman Darren Shuster told the Los Angeles Times, however, that the flat Earth claim was merely to drum up publicity for the launch.

"I don't think he believed it," Shuster said. "He did have some governmental conspiracy theories. But don't confuse it with that flat Earth thing. That was a PR stunt we dreamed up."

Images of the launch, carried out in the desert in front of a crowd of horrified witnesses, circulated on social media on Sunday.

A parachute can be seen tearing away from the rocket moments after the launch, as the spacecraft loops downward and crashes several hundred meters from the launch site near Barstow, 180 kilometers northeast of Los Angeles.

"It was always his dream to do this launch & Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey," said the channel, which filmed the launch for a new series called Homemade Astronauts.

Dressed in a red-and-black spacesuit and posing in front of the rocket, Hughes had announced plans for the launch on the Discovery Channel.

Explaining why he would do it, he said: "Just to convince people that they can do things extraordinary with their lives. ... Maybe it will inspire someone else."

Dangerous stuff this steam! What gets me is that he hoped to ascend to 1500 metres to prove his point. Didn't he think he could climb a 5000' mountain or take a helicopter ride? "Stupid is as stupid does" - Forrest Gump.

[Stanley]

I think he perhaps knew that China, it was publicity he was after. Fat lot of good it did him.....
See THIS BBC report of the latest news about life expectancy in the UK. The report, from the Institute of Health Equity, maintains the widening health inequalities and deteriorating health which have marked the last decade cannot just be put down to very cold winters, flu, or problems with the NHS or social care. Instead, it points the finger at "social and economic conditions, many of which have shown increased inequalities". There is a sharp contrast between the deprived NE and the more affluent Southern areas.
I have been saying for ten years that the flawed Tory policies would eventually damage society. Health and longevity is the latest to show up in the evidence. Question is, what prospect of any improvement? Don't hold your breath.

[plaques]

I have been saying for ten years that the flawed Tory policies would eventually damage society. Health and longevity is the latest to show up in the evidence.

Reading Tolstoy (War and Peace) The Russian aristocracy at that time (1806) had thousands of surfs who lived in absolute poverty with a life expectancy of 30 to 40 years if they were lucky. Any moves to ease their workload or educate them were strongly resisted. The reasons given was that they were happy in their toil and to extend their lives to a point of being unproductive would cause further misery. Better to let them die young and Happy.

Some peoples thinking never change.

[Tizer]

Automatic toilets in France....My last usage had a problem in that it started the self cleaning cycle before I got out!

That'll teach you not to go to `forn parts'!

[Whyperion]

Another similar matter has cropped up. Dressings like Elastoplast are coloured with white people in mind. Darker tones are going to be added to the range.....

I use the blue ones for the food hygien, band-aid used to do clear ones.

[Stanley]

"The report, by Prof Sir Michael Marmot, one of the country's leading experts on health inequalities, comes 10 years after he first published data on the growing gap between rich and poor, and between north and south, in England. "England has lost a decade," Prof Marmot said, calling the damage to the nation's health "shocking". "If health has stopped improving, that means society has stopped improving.""

This quote from the link says it all. Like so many other things, Social Care included, the cuts to Local government funding over the last ten years have caused and are causing immense damage to society. Anodyne statements like that of Matt Hancock are useless. Gives the lie to 'One Nation Tories' and 'balancing out'.

[Stanley]

Hard on the heels of the Marmot statement, see THIS Mirror article and play the video. One of the most touching and powerful speeches I have heard in the House for years. This is beyond disgraceful, words fail me.
PE has been banging on about THIS for months. It surfaced again yesterday in the house when John McDonnell raised the matter of the Chancellor's association with tax avoidance in his past business dealings. Poachers making the best gamekeepers or is it more serious?

[Tizer]

Sadly, I think MPs are probably more excited by this than by the Marmot statement...
`Secret doorway in Parliament leads to historical treasure trove' LINK

[Stanley]

Very interesting but they should be attending to their knitting!

[Tizer]

Unusual photos...
`Landscapes of chemical and biological warfare' LINK

[Tripps]

Secret doorway in Parliament

I found it a bit odd that the 'secret' doorway had a keyhole on full view, and the lady had a key that fitted it .

[Stanley]

Anything to divert us from the current problems David. (Like the sky-rocketing costs of refurbishing the building.)
I see at least one environmentalist is recommending letting Father Thames have his flood plains back, fat chance of that happening! See THIS, it's well worth the time.
See THIS CMA report on the flaws in the leasehold market which we have noted in the past. It's nothing short of a scam.

[Tizer]

See THIS CMA report on the flaws in the leasehold market which we have noted in the past. It's nothing short of a scam.

The real surprise is that the CMA seems not to have noticed that it's now happening with freeholds too. They're not so `free' any more!

[Stanley]

Is that right Tiz. I confess I have missed that one!
See THIS BBC report on the growing concern world wide on the effect that Covid-19 is having on the stock markets.

[Stanley]

See THIS extraordinary resignation from the Home Office. "The top civil servant in the Home Office has resigned and said he intends to claim against the government for constructive dismissal. Sir Philip Rutnam said there had been a "vicious and orchestrated" campaign against him in Home Secretary Priti Patel's office. It comes days after the home secretary and Sir Philip released a joint statement saying they were "deeply concerned" by various "false allegations" made about Ms Patel."

[Tizer]

What surprised me in this report was not the plastic pollution on Snowdon but the woman who swam 16 miles down the River Glaslyn to collect samples!
`Plastic pollution: Snowdon research is a 'wake-up call'' Snowdon

This man benefited more than usual from his beach cleaning...
`Shetland beach cleaner picks up Atlantic message in a bottle prize' Shetland
That photo of the red telephone booth at Walls brought back memories. We passed it several times while staying in a secluded bothy on Shetland in the 1980s!

[Stanley]

I like Mr Anderton's pullover!
This caught my attention in BBC News; "from April landlords cannot let a rental flat or house in a new tenancy or a renewal unless the property has a grade of E or higher.". See THIS article. That's going to put the cat amongst a lot of pigeons! I wonder whether it will apply to 'bed and breakfast' accommodation for housing homeless people?