Seen in the News

[Stanley]

Once more the news is dominated by the affairs of Zahawi and Johnson. What a terrible time for the government to be distracted from the business of running the country.
I don't know about you but to a simple minded bugger like me there is no need for delay waiting for complicated referrals to advisers and committees. In both cases, Zahawi and Sharp should stand down while the credible allegations against them are investigated. Regardless of the outcome, both have lost credibility. and the distraction is enough to prevent them from doing their jobs. In Zahawi's case, looking back as his time as Chancellor under Johnson, how could a man under investigation for tax fraud be Chancellor? Or am I simply being naïve to even ask the question?
It seems to me they have different rules in the Westminster Village than in the rest of the country/real life!
Later at 05:30.... See THIS BBC report that at last, Germany has agreed to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

[Tripps]

President Biden whilst announcing the start of WW III was at times incoherent. He called the German Chancellor Schulz instead of Scholz, and reading from an autocue struggled to remember the job title of his Secretary of State For Defence. He said "The Secretary of State for er, er. military - behind me".


I'm worried. . . .

[Stanley]

There are plenty of things closer to home for you to worry about David.
For instance, see THIS BBC report of what a deluded Michael Gove said when speaking at the Convention of the North, a major gathering of political and business leaders in Manchester, which included the Labour mayors of Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and North of Tyne. He said the "active" government of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her 1980s transformation of the London docklands was an inspiration for the levelling up plan to narrow economic and social disparities between the North and South of England.
If Gove really believes this to be true he demonstrates how deluded a rabid Tory can become even when in the heart of the North. Now that really is worrying!

[plaques]

When the budget for 'levelling up' was first proposed the lucky councils offered up a number of proposals they would like to see. But now after 10+% inflation and a general tightening of council budgets many of the levelling up projects have been cut back. Soon the only thing that will be levelled up is the odd pothole that has become too dangerous to live with.

Notice how the words 'Vibrant and exciting' have dropped out of the rhetoric that opened most council reports.

[Tizer]

Cardiac arrest said to be due to butane and propane. It makes me think of all the times I used and carried butane cylinders when camping and when we powered our cooker hob with propane when we lived in the village with no town gas supply...
`Dad's warning after girl, 14, dies from inhaling deodorant' LINK

[Stanley]

Sorry but I don't care how many warnings are printed on packaging, it is a crime to sell substances that can kill when there is even the remote possibility of a child getting access to it.
On a similar subject, I saw a news item yesterday on the fact that 'Laughing Gas' is a drug of choice which has overtaken cannabis with young people. I object to Nitrous Oxide being called Laughing Gas. This makes it more 'user-friendly'. I'd like to see it labelled 'Toxic Nitrous Oxide' or something equally repellent. At least raise the possibility in a young person's head that it is dangerous.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report that an NHS trust has been fined £800,000 after admitting failings in the care of a baby who died after 23 minutes. Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) pleaded guilty over the care of Wynter Andrews, who died after being born in 2019 at the Queen's Medical Centre. The fine is the largest handed out to an NHS trust over maternity care.
I have a problem with this. Yes, I agree that a sanction is needed but how does taking money out of the health trust ensure that there is an improvement?
I am genuinely puzzled.

[Tizer]

Sorry but I don't care how many warnings are printed on packaging, it is a crime to sell substances that can kill when there is even the remote possibility of a child getting access to it.

Talking of which...
`Toxic slimming pill drug DNP to be declared poison' LINK
`A highly toxic chemical compound sold illegally in diet pills is to be reclassified as a poison, a government minister has said. Pills containing DNP, or 2,4-dinitrophenol, were responsible for the deaths of 32 young vulnerable adults, said campaigner Doug Shipsey. His daughter Bethany, from Worcester, died in 2017 after taking tablets containing the chemical. The deaths were down to a "collective failure of the UK government", he said. Legislation to regulate DNP was laid on Monday will come into effect on 1 October 2023, said security minister Tom Tugendhat.'..

In the article, note the sentence: `It was classified as a poison until 1996.' Having worked in chemistry research laboratories I would avoid 2,4-DNP wherever possible and if I had to use it I'd have gloves, safety specs etc. It's explosive and very poisonous. This is a US web page but it gives the necessary information: 2,4-DNP hazard

[Stanley]

2.4D was a very potent selective herbicide (Foundation of the Agent Orange used to defoliate the jungle in Vietnam) that we used to use on the farm. I think the trade name was Denocate. (Or was that a different one based on DNOC?)

[Tizer]

2,4-D herbicide is 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, different from 2,4-dinitrophenol.

[Stanley]

Still nasty stuff!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC account of a report issued by the International Monetary Fund. One that will not be welcomed by Messrs Hunt and Sunak.
The UK economy will shrink and perform worse than other advanced economies as the cost of living continues to hit households, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The IMF said the economy will contract by 0.6% in 2023, rather than grow slightly as previously predicted. However, the IMF also said that after the Autumn Statement it thinks the UK economy is now "on the right track". Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the UK outperformed many forecasts last year. In its World Economic Outlook update, the IMF, which works to stabilise economic growth, said the UK's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would shrink rather than grow by 0.3% this year. It predicted the UK would be the only country - across the world's advanced and emerging economies - to suffer a year of declining GDP. The IMF said its new forecast reflected the UK's high energy prices and financial conditions, such as high inflation. IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told the BBC that for 2022, the UK had had "fairly robust" growth at 4.1%, which he said was "one of the strongest growth numbers in Europe". "But it is true that we are forecasting a sharp slowdown in 2023, with growth that would turn even negative for the year."
Notice how the IMF gives the UK government enough plus points for them to focus on when reporting on this. Despite them, the overall picture is of a badly managed economy and one that isn't yet showing clear signs of getting out of recession.
I would also remind you all that this cannot take into account 'Events dear Boy', it would be silly to assume that there will be no adverse winds.
Remember how Stiglitz and the main economists insisted that austerity was the wrong path and that deficit financed growth was the key? In those other G7 economies this has proved to be true. Ask yourself why we are not with them and even nore pertinently why is Hunt loading us with even more austerity?

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the latest Exxon profits and reflect that this tells you how we can expect no help from 'The Market' and rampant capitalism.
Oil giant ExxonMobil reaped a record $55.7bn (£45.2bn) in profit last year as oil prices surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The total was more than double 2021's figure, and is likely to renew pressure on the industry after some countries, including the UK, imposed special taxes on the profits last year. Exxon has criticised such measures as counter-productive. Last month, it sued the European Union over the new windfall tax.
We live in a world where money has gone mad!

[PanBiker]

Yes, and some football club has paid £107 million or thereabouts for a player transfer, bloody abhorrent in my book, it's only a game!

[Stanley]

It's even worse than that Ian. See THIS BBC report on the 2023 transfer market.
The British transfer record was smashed on deadline day as an unprecedented January transfer window ended with Premier League clubs having spent £2.8bn during the 2022-23 season. Chelsea's 121m euro (£107m) deal for Benfica's Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez - once confirmed - will take the total expenditure by top-flight clubs in January to a record-breaking £815m.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report that the Home Office has abandoned plans for using holiday camps to accommodate migrants.
Are any of their plans working?

[Tripps]

If you look at this map of prevailing winds you may agree with me that it is quite an achievment to launch a balloon from China, and get it across to Alaska then turn South via Canada to Wyoming. Now we hear there is a similar one in South America. I don't see any engine - just goes where the wind blows it.

It's as big as three London buses you know. I'm going back to watching "Riders to the Stars" on Talkingpictures TV. It's more credible.

[Tizer]

It makes me think of the balloons carrying incendiaries that the Japanese sent with the prevailing winds to the American west coast in WW2.

[Tripps]

I read that this spy balloon has been shot down near Myrtle Beach, S Carolina.
Google Maps says that is on the Atlantic coast about 1800 miles from Wyoming, with its nuclear weapons silos. .
Is it possible that if it continued Eastwards,we were next on the list to be spied upon. Looks like a narrow escape to me.

[Stanley]

I don't understand how it can be so manoeuvrable. Surely it is at the mercy of the winds....

[Tizer]

We've heard a lot about hybrid warfare in recent years. It's now blurring the line between warfare and criminal activity. For example I now read that the dreaded fentanyl drug that has killed hundreds of thousands in the US due to being imported by criminals from Mexico is now known to be manufactured on the large scale in China and exported via intermediate countries to Mexico. Europe is now being targeted, particularly by using Belgium as the import hub.
`What is hybrid warfare? Inside the centre dealing with modern threats' LINK

[Stanley]

That's a chilling post Peter.
What comes to my mind immediately is....
Those whom God seeks to destroy he first makes mad.

[Tizer]

Yes, fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and a few milligrams is deadly so hiding it for smuggling it much easier, requiring only small quantities which are then `cut' with other material at the final location. The latest development is to also mix it with cocaine.

I don't know why this report is in today's BBC news...
`One of last NHS dentists in Felixstowe goes private' LINK
Here in Taunton the local newspaper reported a year ago that there are no longer any NHS dentists in the town. Even the private ones are not taking on new patients. We moved here 6 years ago but kept our dentist in Langport. It's about 15 miles away and we had been NHS patients with him for more than 20 years. Now he's retired and it's in new hands and it's gone private but we're having to stay with the new practice. Dental practices now want their patients to register with monthly direct debit payments but if you read behind the headline information you can still opt for an `as needed' basis.

[Stanley]

I feel so sorry for people who have to rely on what is now a broken service. NHS dentistry has just about ceased to exist, certainly not free at the point of use.
In the early 1960s when Mr Pinder on Park Avenue pulled all my teeth and made my pot gobblers it didn't cost me anything and since then I doubt if my teeth have cost more than £30 in total in over 60 years.
With hindsight and reading the tales of woe of others on the site I reckon I got a good deal and despite being told that natural teeth are better than false, can see no evidence for that in my experience. Perhaps I have just been lucky. Whatever, I am very grateful for it and the rest of you have my sympathy.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the effect that drought is having on river transport in Europe.
We don't naturally think of rivers as transport arteries in the UK but in Europe they are very important. I remember being astounded by the giant barge 'islands' being moved on the rivers in Dordrecht in the Netherlands. They were carrying tens of thousands of tons of bulk materials and containers holding general cargo.
"More than 300 million tonnes of goods a year are typically transported by cargo riverboats on the wide Rhine River, which flows for almost 800 miles from Switzerland to the Netherlands, where it joins the North Sea. Yet during the summer months of last year, record low water levels meant some vessels were able to carry just 25% of their usual load, so as not to risk running aground on the riverbed. This caused severe delays to shipping."