OneGuyFromBarlick

Have a look at THIS....
Updated 13 minutes ago
President Donald Trump has announced the US will double its current tariff rate on steel and aluminium imports from 25% to 50%, starting on Wednesday. Speaking at a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Trump said the move would help boost the local steel industry and national supply, while decreasing reliance on China. Trump also said that $14bn would be invested into the area's steel production through a partnership between US Steel and Japan's Nippon Steel. Details on the partnership are still unclear and both companies have yet to confirm a deal.
The rest of the world learned many years ago that artificial trade barriers are never beneficial to anyone. I think the fact that we aren't seeing deleterious results from Trump's actions is down to some serious managing of the news.... That too will crack in the end.

Have a look at THIS if only to remind yourself how lucky you are if, like me, you don't get headaches! My daughter is a martyr to migraine and I am reminded regularly of my good fortune.
There are so many unsung heroes battling against circumstances like this and we know nothing of them because they suffer in silence. So if all you have to contend with is cancer and diabetes count yourself as fortunate!

There have been major riots in Paris following a football match in Munich last night.
I heard about it yesterday from the 'Alt Media'. The BBC are now ensuring that the whole world gets to know about it. Well - in the Congo at least. Good to see my TV Licence money so wisely spent.

I would humbly suggest that any Congolese who had the technology to read this post, could also look at the English language version and translate it easily, and free of any charge to the BBC or me. Using the Gary Lineker index, can you imagine the BBC translation costs?

French soccer riots

The report I heard on the BBC about this described the activities as celebrations because at long last PSG have won the European Champions League and by a stunning margin....

THIS is the news report that caught my attention.
Six people have been injured after a man started "setting people on fire" at a mall in Boulder in Colorado, officials say. The FBI calls it a "suspected act of terrorism". A peaceful event in support of Israeli hostages was under way when the attack happened, police say - the group meets regularly for a walk in the area. The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, shouted "free Palestine" when he was seen throwing Molotov cocktails, FBI and police said in a press conference. Israel's foreign minister calls the incident a "terrible antisemitic terror attack targeting Jews". Officers say the suspect has been taken into custody and six people were injured, with injuries ranging from "very serious" to more minor. Colorado's attorney general says the attack "appears to be a hate crime"
Rampages with guns in the US have become almost commonplace.... we may now see copycat attacks using 'makeshift flame throwers'.
Say what you like but we live in a sheltered society!
(By the way, Pedantry alert.... "terrible antisemitic terror attack targeting Jews" is tautology.)

This reminded me of David Stirling's small force of men in cut-down Jeeps armed with Vickers machine guns destroying about 40 aircraft in one night at three different airfields in WW2 in the North African desert...
`Ukraine's audacious drone attack sends critical message to Russia - and the West' LINK

It was effective wasn't it! Looked too good to be true but I believe the videos. Nice of the Russkis to line them up neatly like that, made them easy to pick off one by one!

We heard about THIS yesterday.
The government will invest billions of pounds to move the UK to "war-fighting readiness" in the face of a new era of threats from nuclear powers like Russia and China, the defence secretary has said. The government has accepted all 62 recommendations set out in a long-awaited Strategic Defence Review (SDR), external, including building 12 new nuclear-powered submarines, six new munitions factories and embracing technologies like artificial intelligence. Britain's army needs to become "10 times more lethal" to face a "new era of threats", John Healey told MPs on Monday. Conservative shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge called the plans a "damp squib", which was "underfunded and totally underwhelming".
Many fine words but I reflect on the mistakes and horrendously bad management we have seen form all Parties since the end of the Cold War..... I also remember how we were caught napping in 1939.... Phrases like 'ten times more lethal' don't mean a lot, it's performance that counts.
Is anyone going to sleep more soundly as a result of this? I very much doubt it......

Earlier this morning a 6.2 magnitude earthquake 18Km from Rhodes and 43 miles underground between Rhodes and Turkey. Joy of joys, one of 25,000 quakes per year in the region. No reports of anyone hurt and no contra advisories from government which recommends (normal precautions) or on the airport departures. No reports of damage and probably of a magnitude ignored by the locals. We had one many years ago in Kefalonia and we both did a record time exit of our apartment, the locals just carried on about their business. I'll panic if the sea disappears.

PanBiker wrote: ↑03 Jun 2025, 08:55 Earlier this morning a 6.2 magnitude earthquake 18Km from Rhodes and 43 miles underground between Rhodes and Turkey. Joy of joys, one of 25,000 quakes per year in the region. No reports of anyone hurt and no contra advisories from government which recommends (normal precautions) or on the airport departures. No reports of damage and probably of a magnitude ignored by the locals. We had one many years ago in Kefalonia and we both did a record time exit of our apartment, the locals just carried on about their business. I'll panic if the sea disappears.

A friend of mine is currently in Marmaris, he got this sent to him

Never felt a thing in Barlick.....
I've experienced many things in my life but as far as I know, never an earthquake. If I have I never noticed it!

I noticed THIS news this morning.....
Elon Musk has hit out at President Donald Trump's signature tax and spending bill, describing it as a "disgusting abomination", in a widening rift between the two allies. The budget - which includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and more defence spending while also allowing the US government to borrow more money - was passed by the House of Representatives last month. "Shame on those who voted for it," Musk said in a post on X about the legislative linchpin of Trump's second-term agenda. The tech billionaire left the administration abruptly last week after 129 days working to cut costs with his team, known as Doge. The comments mark his first public disagreement with Trump since leaving government, after having previously called the plan "disappointing". The South African-born tech billionaire's time in the Trump administration came to an end on 31 May, although Trump said that "he will, always, be with us, helping all the way".
The least the deadly duo could do is get their act together and sing off the same hymn sheet.
What I don't understand is why we aren't seeing Trump's policies reflected in the Economic news from the US.....

See THIS for Trump's latest bid for attention.
48 minutes ago
Donald Trump has signed a ban on travel to the US from 12 countries citing national security risks, according to the White House. The US president said the list could be revised if "material improvements" were made and additional countries could also be added as "threats emerge around the world". This is the second time he has ordered a ban on travel from certain countries. He signed a similar order in 2017, during his first term in office.
His policies look more and more like the Isolationist policies of the 1930s..... And they didn't end well!

While reading an article from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) I saw this: China has long sought a role securing peace in and rebuilding Ukraine. It is reportedly redeveloping Russian-occupied territories, and is eagerly working to replace the US as the world’s diplomatic force, a challenge to Trump the 'peacemaker and unifier. I've mentioned before Putin's rebuilding of the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine but this is the first I've seen describing China's involvement. It referred to this February 2025 article on the New Voice of Ukraine web site:
`Chinese companies 'developing' Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine — NV analysis' LINK

It's hard to keep up isn't it? I just know that UK is falling further and further behind in the world pecking order.

I note in the news - non BBC of course - that Tommy Robinson (not his real name - Stephen Yaxley Lennon) is back in court charged with harassment. Rich irony there. He has pleaded not guilty, and will have a jury trial. That should be interesting.

Another Ro Ro ship The Morning Midas is on fire in the Pacific en route from China to Mexico. The crew have abandoned it and it is just drifting and blazing. Most unlikely to be anything to do with with lithium batteries.

PS From Lloyds List
London-headquartered Zodiac Maritime, owner of the 5,000 ceu pure car and truck carrier Morning Midas (IMO: 9289910), confirmed that the incident occurred at around midnight UCT on June 3, during the vessel’s passage from Yantai, China to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico.
The 2006-built ship is laden with some 3,000 vehicles, with 800 of them said to be electric vehicles.
“Smoke was initially seen emanating from a deck carrying electric vehicles,” said Zodiac Maritime, which confirmed that all crew are safe and accounted for, with no reports of any injuries.
“The crew immediately initiated emergency firefighting procedures using the vessel’s onboard fire-suppression systems. However, despite their efforts, the situation could not be brought under control.”

***********

I read this Singapore I lived there for the whole period, riots and all, - nice to have it explained to me in simple terms what actually happened.

There may be other things happening in the world too.

PS I'd recommend Googling Lord Hermers the Attorney General. It is impossible to imagine him refusing entry to a single person arriving by dinghy. He is long time best mates and a professional colleague of Sir Keir Rodney Starmer. This confirms my long held belief that whatever they say, the policy actually is to welcome an unlimited numner of such people. Neither believes in the concept of the nation State, and is working towards its destruction.

"It's hard to keep up isn't it?"
I don't even try David. The networks inside politics are far beyond me and what good would it do if I understood them? I think I first realised this when I read the Crossman Diaries (Both volumes.... ) and learned of the internal discussions, arguments and outright feuds that lay behind what we thought we were looking at. I tend to stick to the fields where I actually have control, like my own life and particularly in the shed!

THIS BBC report was what grabbed me in the news this morning.....
Scottish Labour defeats the SNP to win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, with Reform UK finishing third. Labour's Davy Russell secured 8,559 votes, ahead of the SNP's Katy Loudon on 7,957 and Ross Lambie of Reform on 7,088. The result was keenly awaited as it is less than a year until the Scottish Parliament election. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says the result proved the pundits wrong. The by-election was held following the death of the SNP's Christina McKelvie

Just tripped over this report of the fire on the Morning Midas.....

Probably the best such report I've seen. Exemplary.

There has been another fire at a Philadelphia bus storage depot. The electric buses were in storage as evidence in an ongoing legal action - Oh the irony.

I don't envy Governments dealing with this problem. An incident with major loss of life is surely inevitable. To avoid it - all energy policy must be reversed. This will plainly not be done.

Practice your "thoughts and prayers" speech ladies and gentleman. The time is coming.

The scale of this cocaine operation is mind-boggling and very high-tech...
`Raids across Canary Islands in major cocaine gang bust' LINK
`A major cocaine smuggling operation that used a network of speedboats to transport drugs from South America to the Canary Islands has been taken down, police have said. Almost four tonnes of cocaine trafficked from Brazil and Colombia were seized and 48 suspects arrested in raids across Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. Spain's Policia Nacional said the gang used 11 so-called narco boats to smuggle the drugs across the Atlantic in a complex operation that involved using an abandoned wreck at sea as a refuelling platform. Police forces from Europe, including the UK, as well as South America and the US were involved in planning the raids, dubbed Operation Black Shadow....Europol said the gang used speedboats "repeatedly, departing from strategic points in the Atlantic Ocean to a mother ship transporting the cocaine". Investigators revealed the gang used "a complex encrypted communications system to evade law enforcement, including the use of satellite terminals, hard-to-trace phones and a coded language". Police said the raids were months in the planning and saw 29 properties searched, 69 vehicles seized - including boats and jet skis - and cash and firearms recovered....'

Those of us who usually swim against the current got just the faintest buzz from this video today.

Failed moon landing - again.

I'm fairly sure the earth isn't flat - but there's just a feeling that everything went amazingly well in those days in 1969 using a computer that would struggle to work a modern smart phone.

I doubt there will be any rush to volunteer for the next manned attempt - whenever that happens.

Peter, I heard the reports about that drugs bust but didn't realise it was so big. So the price of drugs will have to go up and so will the level of criminality used to get the money to pay for them. It's like banging your head against a wall.....
I watched the video David and felt sorry for all the people involved, such a disappointment! As for 1969, it makes it all the more remarkable that they succeeded and survived. I think there has already been a rush to volunteer for the next attempt and they are in training now. Not my cup of tea but for some it is a life-long dream.

Meanwhile, in our part of the forest.... See THIS report of drug production at home.....
The head of an organised crime group has been convicted of running a network of drug factories capable of producing millions of pounds worth of cannabis. Roman Le, from Birmingham, operated at least eight farms - and was linked to one inside a former nightclub - before he was arrested and charged with conspiring to produce cannabis, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Posing as a property developer, Le found premises to buy or rent, even erecting scaffolding on some, and used illegal migrants to monitor the crops. He denied the charge but was found guilty at Birmingham Crown on Thursday. The 37-year-old is due to be sentenced on 4 July.

See THIS BBC report from Los Angeles.....
Updated 30 minutes ago
US President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen in Los Angeles to deal with unrest over raids on undocumented migrants. His border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News on Saturday: "We are making Los Angeles safer." The Californian city saw a second day of unrest on Saturday as residents of a predominantly Latino district clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) federal agents. Tear gas and batons were used to disperse crowds in the Paramount district. As many as 118 arrests were made in LA this week as a result of ICE operations, including 44 on Friday. California Governor Gavin Newsom has condemned the raids as "cruel".
I was wondering the other day why we were getting no news of the effects of Trump's policies.... Perhaps we are seeing them trickling through now.

See THIS live report on more unrest in LA.....
Protests have flared up again in Los Angeles, as demonstrators against immigration raids face off with law enforcement for a third day. Watch live coverage at the top of this page. National Guard units deployed by President Donald Trump use tear gas to force back protesters downtown. Law enforcement move in to clear demonstrators as they block the major 101 freeway in the city. Trump defends his move to send in the National Guard, saying they will "make sure there's law and order" . California's governor urges Trump to revoke the troop deployment, which other Democratic governors call an "alarming abuse of power". Demonstrators have "ignited" self-driving vehicles in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Police Department
Perhaps this is just the start of news of the consequences of Trump's policies. It has been thin on the ground until now....
On a parallel matter. I was thinking about the contrast between Mark Carney and Donald Trump. Unlike Trump he doesn't appear on social media. His appearances in public are more formal and considered. It shows in the effects of his policies, Canada is seen as being a stable partner. As Carney says they are a haven of certainty. That is the biggest area of damage that Trump has caused up to now and it cannot be reversed, the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube!

See THIS BBC report on the decision to fund Sizewell C.
Updated 35 minutes ago
The government has committed £14.2bn of investment to build the new Sizewell C nuclear plant on the Suffolk coastline, ahead of the Spending Review. Sizewell C will create 10,000 direct jobs, thousands more in firms supplying the plant and generate enough energy to power six million homes, the Treasury said. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the "landmark decision" would "kickstart" economic growth, while Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the investment was necessary to usher in a "golden age of clean energy". However, Alison Downes, director of pressure group Stop Sizewell C, said ministers had not "come clean" about Sizewell C's cost, because "negotiations with private investors are incomplete". Reeves said the facility would be the "biggest nuclear building programme in a generation". Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the investment was the "only way" to "take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis".
I am not an expert on nuclear power but I have always been broadly in favour of the concept because, despite all the scare stories about the dangers, the nuclear power industry has never got anywhere near the deaths caused by the extraction and use of fossil fuels. Before you argue against this, read the history books and do the arithmetic.
However... I do know a little bit about the basic principles of spending money on a technology. The first and most important rule is to be sure that the technology works. EDF are selling us a design based on 60 year old technology which hasn't yet produced a trouble-free functioning plant anywhere in the world. Hinkley Point is our local example and is running late and far beyond the original estimated costs.
I would have thought it would have been sensible to see Hinkley up and running successfully before committing ourselves to another build on the same design. It is for this reason that I think this is a big mistake. We have a proven design in the small plants being proposed by Roll Royce. Would it not have been sensible to try that route first before going for the biggie that is Sizewell C?
Or is it the size of the gamble that sold it.... HS2 springs to mind..... Time will tell but my tenner is on failure. Sorry to be negative.

The government has said it is also investing in building small nuclear reactors as mentioned in this article...
`How does nuclear power work and why is the UK investing more money in it?' LINK

Yes Peter.... I heard that after I had posted.
Another thing that struck me was Starmer saying that this investment would make energy cheaper..... Really? Another hostage to fortune. I can remember the long lost days when we were told that leccy made using nuclear power would be too cheap to meter. That didn't go well.....

See THIS for the latest update on the LA riots. I begin to wonder if the theory about Trump trying to by-pass the Justice System by citing Martial Law might not be far from the truth.

See THIS for the latest news on the Air India crash....
A London-bound Air India plane carrying 242 people crashes in a residential area shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad, western India. Air India says 241 people on board the plane were killed - one passenger, a British national, survived and is receiving treatment in hospital. India's Home Affairs minister has met the survivor, named as Vishwashkumar Ramesh, in hospital while the BBC has spoken to a relative of his in Leicester. Ramesh - who shared a picture of his boarding pass with reporters - says: "Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise... it all happened so quickly". There were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian on the flight, Air India says. The scale of the tragedy is truly, truly, massive... it feels apocalyptic, writes our correspondent Yogita Limaye from the scene
There is a lot of speculation centred round the fact that both engines seem to have failed but it is too soon yet to come to any conclusions.