Seen in the News

[Stanley]

THIS caught my attention.
Updated 1 hour ago
Prosecutors in Los Angeles have filed murder charges against Nick Reiner over the deaths of his parents, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. Nick Reiner is facing two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance alleging multiple murders, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. He could be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty if found guilty. He will be brought to court to formally face charges and enter a plea after he is medically cleared by prison officials, Mr Hochman said. The charges came two days after the couple were found dead in their home in Brentwood, California, with multiple stab wounds.

[Whyperion]

One wonders what the reported argument he had earlier was about.

[Tripps]

Addenbrookes Hospital .

The cause of a fire which has left a car park at Addenbrooke's Hospital closed has been confirmed. The Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to a fire in car park one at Addenbrooke’s Hospital on Saturday (December 13). Twelve cars were destroyed in the fire
Since then, the car park has been closed and will remain closed for the “foreseeable future”. Firefighters have now concluded the investigation into the fire and a cause has been determined.

A fire spokesperson said: “The fire investigation is now complete.

The cause of the fire was accidental and was due to a mechanical fault with a diesel vehicle.”

[Stanley]

I've worked with diesels all my life and have never seen one cause a fire. I'd be interested to know more....
THIS caught my attention this morning.....
49 minutes ago
BP has appointed a new chief executive, making Meg O'Neill the first woman to run a major global oil firm. The London-based energy giant said its current boss Murray Auchincloss would step down less than two years after he replaced Bernard Looney, who was found to have committed "serious misconduct" in failing to disclose relationships with colleagues. BP executive vice president Carol Howle will serve as interim chief executive until Ms O'Neill, who has led Australian energy firm Woodside Energy since 2021, takes up her new role on 1 April. Ms O'Neill said she looks forward to helping BP "do our part to meet the world's energy needs".
Apart from the fact they appointed a woman, what struck me looking at the image of the lady was that I would hate to be up in front of her on a charge!

[Tizer]

Since Russia invaded Ukraine we have been training Ukrainian military. Now we'll have to start learning from them...
`In this secret missile factory, Ukraine is ramping up its domestic arms industry' LINK
...At the start of the war Ukraine mostly relied on its old Soviet-era arsenal. Western military support helped modernise the country's armed forces, but it now leads much of the world in developing unmanned systems – like robots and drones. Now, domestically produced cruise missiles are adding to Ukraine's long-range capability....
The end product looks similar to the German V1 rocket from World War Two. It consists of a large jet engine placed on top of a tube the length of a London bus....The cruise missile is said to have a range of 3,000km (1,900 miles). That's similar to a US-made Tomahawk – the more sophisticated and expensive weapon that US President Donald Trump refused to give Ukraine....

[Whyperion]

Diesel also attributed to the initial vehicle at the Luton Airport car park inferno.
I dont know what research the fire service do on modern diesels. Almost all have tubos and are very high revving compared with stanleys trucking and Peugeot 405 days. Injector rails under very high pressure can split , and over a hot engine / exhaust combustion can occur. Surprised more cars dont have fire suppression under the bonnet.
There have been a few diesel engined bus fires as well, I think on those a number have actually been traced to the ventilation systems I assume taking some hot item into lagging or other material prone to combustion and at the rear forming a chimney effect ?

[Stanley]

See THIS for the latest update on the Brown University shooting.
Police identify suspect as Claudio Nevez Valenti from Portugalpublished at 02:46.
02:46
Their investigations, based on public tips, led them to a car-rental location in Massachusetts, where they found the suspect's name and matched him to their person of interest, Perez says. Perez identified him as Claudio Nevez Valenti, 48, a Brown University student from Portugal whose last known address was in Miami. Perez says Valenti took his own life this evening. As a reminder, the MIT professor who was shot dead was also from Portugal.

[Tripps]

Did you notice that Browns University is in Providence - Rhode Island which is the home town of the late Judge Frank Caprio who died earlier this year? I just had a walk round on Google- it looks a very attractive place.

Now from the BBC I find this Immigrants to Cambridge

I know a lot more about this situation than most, and approve thoroughly of what is going on. It does not do to generalise about "immigrants". There are many different types - some should be grabbed and dragged into the country - others should not be allowed to enter. ever.

[Stanley]

Good link David. That's how immigration ought to be managed.

I saw THIS in Local News....
A second minor earthquake has hit a Lancashire village in as many weeks, the British Geological Survey (BGS) has said. It happened at 05:03 GMT with the epicentre of the 2.5 magnitude tremor located off the coast of Silverdale, in Morecambe Bay. The BGS confirmed the quake was an aftershock of a 3.3 magnitude earthquake which hit the area at the start of December. The tremors were reportedly felt as far as 12 miles (19km) away, in the southern Lake District, with people at the time describing the noise as "deafening". After the less powerful earthquake earlier, the BGS said people had reported "a quick sharp shaking jolt and made a thunder noise" and "the radiators and pictures rattled".

[Stanley]

THIS struck me as a perfect example of how we can be hit by adverse circumstances out of the blue....
A student who thought she had flu has described being "shell-shocked" when she was told she had cancer. Sophie Claxton, from Burnley, Lancashire, was 16 and in her first year at college when her mother took her to a GP after her temperature rocketed and she struggled to get out of bed. She ended up going to an A&E unit for tests and was then quickly transferred to the Christie hospital in Manchester, where a bone marrow biopsy led to her being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia followed by chemotherapy treatment. Now 19, and having rung the "all-clear" from cancer bell in March, she says she is "coming out of the other side" and "loving life" at Manchester Metropolitan University. The criminology student thought she had flu in her first year at college - but when her temperature soared, the GP suspected she might have sepsis. She was already so poorly when she received her diagnosis at the Christie, she ended up in the critical care unit on the first night and was given chemotherapy straight away.
My heart goes out to anyone who gets hit by this sort of news. I'm glad she got treatment and I hope she is truly cancer free...

[Stanley]

THIS is encouraging....
A river trust has won a national wild salmon conservation award for its plans to protect the endangered fish and reduce flood risk in Lancashire. The Ribble Rivers Trust has been honoured for a project which will focus on restoring salmon habitat in the River Hodder involving local communities, schools and anglers. The project, due to start in late spring 2026, will support measures to slow water flow to create vital spawning habitat for salmon. The North Atlantic Salmon Fund UK (NASF UK) awarded the £10,000 Orri grant, which is named in honour of its founder Orri Vigfússon. The Ribble catchment is the area of land that is drained by the River Ribble and its major tributaries; Calder, Darwen, Douglas and Hodder. It covers a varied landscape, from the rural hills of the Yorkshire Dales and the source of the River Ribble, to major urban areas of Lancashire including Blackburn, Burnley and Preston. The River Hodder rises on White Hill and flows for approximately twenty-three miles to the River Ribble, entering at its largest tributary.

[Big Kev]

In other news there's a 'sinkhole' opened up on a canal in Shropshire.
A major incident has been declared over what police have called a sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in a gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a steep drop.

Pictures appear to show that the structural integrity of a stretch of waterway in the Chemistry area of Whitchurch has completely given way, raising flooding fears.

Two narrowboats are said to have sunk into the hole, into which water looks to have drained completely. Another two are at the edge.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lvq0yk9dko

Just noticed Tizer has posted a link to this story too...

[Tripps]

This latest news about the Post Office / Fujitsu scandal just goes from bad to worse. I think "bang to rights" about fits the bill. Three post office staff from this and the adjacent village were taken to court over the years. I doubt money alone can compensate - but it would help.

[Stanley]

You are right David. We all have our thoughts about why these natters are being dragged out using every trick and loophole the law can provide when it is quite obvious what the final outcome should be and who should be taking the blame. All I can see is the Establishment protecting its own. This is the same evil force built into our system that ensured that no bankers were ever cuffed and tried in 2008 and even protects archbishops from the consequences of their actions.
It's an old cliché but 'One Law for the Rich and One for the Poor'. And yes, I know this will be labelled the politics of envy but it isn't, it's a recognition of a corrupt element in the top ranks of Society.

[Whyperion]

Fujistu were out of their depth. I think the essence was computer/software people that didnt understand accounting , and accountants that didnt understand computers. And a Department of Trade that did not want to fund the entire Horizon project to the extent the specification , test , and implementation needed along with an assumption that hardware would work (in some cases it didnt- and there was no agreed fallback manual recording)