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RTH10260
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#776

Post by RTH10260 »

Boris Johnsons dream of a top class rated workforce to win over the global economy for the UK :blackeye:
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#777

Post by Suranis »

Gregg wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:57 pm I thought Brexit was gonna fix all that. :confuzzled:
It certainly fixed the NHS. The Labour leader has some modest proposals;


Red Collective (@RedCollectiveUK)
Describing Labour's plans for NHS privatisation, Starmer said:

"What we've put on the table is a partnership model where, with an agile, active state, working in partnership with private business, we deliver together."

Starmer added that model would be used elsewhere, too.
Time to start learning what a deductible is, Brexshits!
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#778

Post by Reality Check »

Gregg wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:57 pm I thought Brexit was gonna fix all that. :confuzzled:
I read the entire article and there as not a single mention of Brexit. I would expect better from the Guardian.
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#779

Post by tek »

"What we've put on the table is a partnership model where, with an agile, active state, working in partnership with private business, we deliver together."
Good consultant-speak there..
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#780

Post by Sam the Centipede »

tek wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:50 pm
"What we've put on the table is a partnership model where, with an agile, active state, working in partnership with private business, we deliver together."
Good consultant-speak there..
Certainly sounds like stealth privatization.
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#781

Post by much ado »

tek wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:50 pm
"What we've put on the table is a partnership model where, with an agile, active state, working in partnership with private business, we deliver together."
Good consultant-speak there..
It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
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#782

Post by Gregg »

Sam the Centipede wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:02 pm
tek wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:50 pm
"What we've put on the table is a partnership model where, with an agile, active state, working in partnership with private business, we deliver together."
Good consultant-speak there..
Certainly sounds like stealth privatization.
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#783

Post by RTH10260 »

a fresh way to crash the cryptocurrencies markets 8-)
‘Britcoin’ digital currency could be in use by end of decade
Bank of England and Treasury weigh up issues involved with creating digital pound

Larry Elliott Economics editor
Mon 6 Feb 2023 22.30 GMT

Consumers could be using a new digital pound as an alternative to cash by the end of the decade under plans being drawn up by the Bank of England and the Treasury.

The government is speeding up its response to the rise of privately issued cryptocurrencies and stable coins with a four-month public consultation process on a “Britcoin” starting on Tuesday.

After the volatility of cryptocurrencies and the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, the Bank and the Treasury will seek to reassure the public that a state-backed digital currency would be as safe as cash.

Officials will explore the technical issues involved in creating a central bank digital currency before a final decision is taken by the middle of the decade.




https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -of-decade
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#784

Post by Dave from down under »

WTF?

The Bank of England already deals in digital currency! Be it pounds, euros, greenbacks etc
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#785

Post by RTH10260 »

all the fancy details in the article
Bring back hanging and real men: making the Tories great again, by Lee Anderson
  • The Guardian has been given exclusive access to the new deputy chair of the party’s 10-point plan
    And while we’re at it, let’s ditch food banks and the BBC as well.
John Crace
Thu 9 Feb 2023 18.57 GMT

Make England Great Again or MEGA

And I mean England. For far too long we’ve wasted far too much time on trying to keep the rest of the United Kingdom happy. But think of it this way. Name me one thing that Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland has done to make an Englishman proud. Precisely. Nothing. All we’ve had is one long moan. “It’s not fair”. “We want more”. Well, I say enough is enough. Time for England to put England first. The sooner the rest of the UK understands that what’s good for England is good for them the better.





https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... e-anderson
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#786

Post by Sam the Centipede »

Yabbut John Crace is a political sketch writer so the above passage lightly satirizes the MP Lee Anderson's opinions.

Anderson does appear to be a nasty piece of work with few redeeming characteristics.

Ss far as I am aware there is little public pressure for reintroducing capital punishment anywhere in western or northern Europe, probably not in other parts either. Anderson's vicious views will only speak to his party's core vote: elderly, stupid, embittered people. But they will probably horrify younger voters. Recognize parallels with the US's Republicans?
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#787

Post by RTH10260 »

for once no poli-ticks
Second world war bomb detonates unexpectedly in Great Yarmouth
No one hurt in ‘unplanned’ explosion of 250kg device found in Norfolk town, police say

Press Association
Fri 10 Feb 2023 20.49 GMT

A 250kg second world war bomb has exploded unexpectedly in Great Yarmouth, police have said.

Emergency services and agencies declared a major incident following the discovery of the large unexploded device at a river crossing in the Norfolk town on Tuesday, and had been working to disarm it.

On Friday afternoon, Norfolk constabulary said there had been an “unplanned” detonation, but that no one was hurt.

Army specialists had been cutting the bomb using a technique that creates a slow burn of the explosives, and burns off that material.

Officers had said there was a risk of an unintended detonation.

After the explosion, the force said on Twitter: “We can confirm the unexploded World War II bomb in Great Yarmouth has detonated.

“This was not a planned detonation & happened during slow burn work to disarm the explosives.

“All army & emergency service personnel are accounted for. We will bring you further info when we have it.”

The work to cut into it began on Thursday, but the water needed to do the work reduced the effectiveness of the sand barrier around the device.

The device is about one metre (3.2ft) long and weighs about 250kg (39st 5lbs), and was discovered by a contractor working on the third crossing over the River Yare.

There had been a 400-metre cordon in place at the scene.

Norfolk constabulary’s assistant chief constable Nick Davison said: “This has been a painstakingly long process, but public safety and that of the people involved in the operation has been at the heart of decision making.

“This was the final phase of a delicate operation which has caused much disruption in the town, but we’re hopeful this could be resolved soon and that cordons can be lifted, if everything goes to plan.”



https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... t-yarmouth

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#788

Post by Volkonski »

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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#789

Post by Dave from down under »

Volkonski wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 2:52 pm Danger UXB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_UXB
A great series if you can watch it - do.
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#790

Post by keith »

Dave from down under wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 4:21 pm
Volkonski wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 2:52 pm Danger UXB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_UXB
A great series if you can watch it - do.
I second that recomendation.
Has everybody heard about the bird?
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#791

Post by keith »

Dave from down under wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 4:21 pm
Volkonski wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 2:52 pm Danger UXB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_UXB
A great series if you can watch it - do.
I second that recomendation.
Has everybody heard about the bird?
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#792

Post by RTH10260 »

Revealed: record number of households in UK depending on food banks
Almost 90% of food banks see increased demand, as organisers fear having to cut support or turn people away

Miranda Bryant and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
Sun 19 Feb 2023 00.01 GMT

More people are depending on food banks than ever before in Britain, new figures show, as “ever-increasing” numbers of households – including pensioners, NHS staff and teachers – seek help amid the cost of living crisis.

New research by the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan), shared with the Observer, found that almost 90% of food banks surveyed reported increased demand in December 2022 and January 2023 compared with a year earlier. Half of the 85 organisations running 154 food banks that responded said if demand rose further they would either have to cut support or turn people away.

The Trussell Trust, which with more than 1,300 food banks is the UK’s biggest provider, expects this winter will have been its busiest ever, warning in November that food banks were at “breaking point”. Between April and September alone it distributed 1.3m emergency food parcels – a third more than the same period in 2021 and over 50% more than pre-pandemic.

Figures published last week by the Office for National Statistics showed how despite inflationary pressures easing, the cost of living crisis is still raging. Food inflation is at 16.7% and the cost of gas is nearly 130% higher than a year ago. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in November that households’ disposable income would fall by 4.3% in 2022-23, the largest drop since comparable records began in 1956.

A slump in wages in real terms and soaring inflation have triggered the most widespread strikes in the public sector in decades. A ballot of more than 45,000 junior doctors closes on Monday, with results expected to be announced later in the day.

Food banks are struggling to meet record demand from people who are in work – including NHS staff and teachers – the Ifan research found. More than 80% reported supporting a significant number of people for the first time, while many said demand was growing among pensioners and families with babies.

Sabine Goodwin, Ifan coordinator, said: “It’s very clear that people have been trying to muddle through the winter on credit and are now building up debts that will push people over the edge.” Accusing the government of “unsustainable and unethical” reliance on charitable food aid, she said that without a change of approach there will be “nowhere for people to turn”.

Cost of living increases were given as the biggest problem, followed by inadequate wages and waiting times for initial universal credit payments. A third of independent food banks said benefit sanctions and deductions were a driving factor.

Many food banks are also reporting issues with burnout among staff and volunteers. Judith Vickers, from Lifeshare in Manchester, said: “Staff are reporting burnout, heavy caseloads, and a constant stream of new referrals. We are coping, but the level of demand is relentless. Volunteers often feel that we can’t do enough for people.”




https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... food-banks
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#793

Post by RTH10260 »

:doh: :doh: :doh: :cantlook:
Environment secretary urges Britons to ‘cherish’ turnips amid food shortages
Thérèse Coffey’s championing of UK ‘specialisms’ causes one Labour MP to retort: ‘Let them eat turnips!’

Zoe Wood
Thu 23 Feb 2023 17.58 GMT

The UK environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has caused a furore after she suggested people should “cherish” seasonal foods such as turnips as bad weather cleared supermarket shelves of tomatoes and other fresh produce.

“It’s important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country,” Coffey told parliament. “A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes and similar.”

With a love of turnips more commonly associated with the long-suffering manservant Baldrick in Blackadder, Coffey handed her critics the kind of material they could normally only dream of.

“Let them eat turnips!” suggested the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, using the hashtag #TomatoShortages, as “turnips” started to trend on Twitter timelines for possibly the first time.

Coffey made her comments after being called to the Commons to answer an urgent question about supermarket rationing of salad ingredients, owing to shortages caused by bad weather in Spain and north Africa. She had been trying to make a point about eating seasonally.

“I’m conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy,” she added.

Was a bounty of this unloved root vegetable part of the promised Brexit dividend? people asked, as they shared doctored images of campaign buses emblazoned with “forget tomatoes, let’s eat turnips instead”.




https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... sh-turnips
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#794

Post by Volkonski »

Turnip sauce on pizza and hamburgers? Go for it UK! :lol:
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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#795

Post by RTH10260 »

The shortage explained:
Why are UK supermarkets facing fresh food shortages?
Three big retailers are placing limits on shoppers on some produce lines. What is behind the rationing?

Joanna Partridge and Sarah Butler
Wed 22 Feb 2023 14.34 GMT

Three of the UK’s largest supermarket chains have introduced limits for shoppers on several fresh produce lines, including tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, as they try to prevent gaps appearing on shelves.

So what is going on and are the shortages going to spread to other retailers and foodstuffs?

How big is the problem?

Morrisons has announced limits of two an item on packs of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers, while Asda is restricting shoppers to three items each on eight fresh produce lines – including broccoli, cauliflower, raspberries and lettuces.

On Wednesday, Tesco and Aldi joined them, each limiting purchases of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes to three packs a person.

Other supermarkets are yet to introduce rationing, but grocery retailers have said shortages could last for some weeks.

What is behind the shortages?

Certain fresh vegetables and fruits are hard to come by in the UK as a result of an unfortunate combination of poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and north Africa, as well lower supplies from UK and Dutch producers hit by the jump in energy bills to heat glasshouses.

At this time of year, Britain relies on Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt for the bulk of salad imports. However, these crops have been affected by unusually cold weather last month, including intense night frosts, while tomato plants have also been damaged or killed by disease – in particular the tomato brown rugose virus.

Meanwhile, Britain and other northern European countries – particularly the Netherlands which is a big vegetable producer – have reduced how many crops they have planted over the winter, after the Ukraine war sent bills soaring for the energy required to light and heat greenhouses and the cost of the fertiliser used on plants.

Faced with higher costs for glasshouse crops, some retailers chose to rely more heavily this year on sourcing from Spain and north Africa, leaving them more vulnerable to the weather-triggered shortages.

Are things worse in the UK than the rest of Europe?

It seems so. There are no reports of shortages in France and Germany and European shoppers have shared photos on social media of full supermarket shelves, in stark contrast to British supermarkets.

One issue is reduced output from British farms. The president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Minette Batters, told the union’s annual conference on Tuesday that “domestic production of salad, including cucumbers and tomatoes, has fallen to its lowest level since records began in 1985”.

In the UK, a cold snap and frost before Christmas also damaged field crops including cauliflower, cabbage and carrots.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... permarkets
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#796

Post by RTH10260 »

Comment:

One reason that is not mentioned: potential importers do not want the hassle of paperwork post-Brexit. Also goods fresh goods get stuck in the red tape delay and are no longer good for sale. Another: British retailers are not willing to pay for the premium to compete with the EU markets, some source mention that deliveries to EU customers will be accepted with a a 20% price hike. Re the UK growers: apart from not growing in the heated greenhouses due to energy bills, they likely are also stuck with limited workforce missing their former EU employees.
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#797

Post by Gregg »

But ain't it great not having a bunch Eurotrash in Brussels telling them what to do? :thumbsup:
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#798

Post by RTH10260 »

UK now seen as ‘toxic’ for satellite launches, MPs told
After Virgin Orbit’s failed mission, Commons committee hears complaints about regulator

Tom Ambrose
Wed 1 Mar 2023 20.04 GMT

Britain’s failed attempt to send satellites into orbit was a “disaster” and MPs are being urged to redirect funding to hospitals, with the country now seen as “toxic” for future launches.

Senior figures at the Welsh company Space Forge, which lost a satellite when Virgin Orbit’s Start Me Up mission failed to reach orbit, said a “seismic change” was needed for the UK to be appealing for space missions.

Lengthy delays by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), as well as the launch failure, had left Space Forge six months behind its competition in the race to be the first company to bring a satellite back down to Earth, when it had been six months ahead, the science and technology committee heard.

Patrick McCall, a non-executive director at Space Forge, said: “The CAA is taking a different approach to risk, and a bit to process and timing as well. But I think unless there is, without wanting to be too dramatic, a seismic change in that approach, the UK is not going to be competitive from a launch perspective.

“I think the conclusion I’ve reached is right now it’s not a good use of money, because our regulatory framework is not competitive.”



https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ed-mission
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#799

Post by RTH10260 »

I guess this was missed ealier:
Disappointing end to UK space mission as satellites fail to reach orbit
Boeing 747 used in mission from Cornwall successfully released rocket before ‘anomaly’ was reported
UK space chiefs plan to try again after rocket launch ends in failure


Steven Morris
Tue 10 Jan 2023 00.28 GMT

A historic space mission that took off from Cornwall has ended in bitter disappointment after a rocket carrying the first satellites launched from British soil failed to reach orbit and was lost.

To whoops and cheers from a crowd that had gathered at Spaceport Cornwall to watch the launch, a converted Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl took off on Monday night and headed out across the Atlantic.

It successfully released its rocket, called LauncherOne, carrying a payload of nine satellites off the south coast of Ireland.

But shortly after Virgin Orbit, which is leading the mission, announced there had been “an anomaly” and the rocket failed to reach the required altitude.

The rocket and satellites were lost but the UK Space Agency insisted they posed no danger and were expected to burn or break up over the north Atlantic. The 747 returned to Cornwall safely.



https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... m-cornwall
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#800

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Food tsar blames shortages on UK’s ‘weird supermarket culture’
Henry Dimbleby says suppliers struggling with rising costs while locked into fixed-price contracts

Helena Horton and Joanna Partridge
Sat 4 Mar 2023 07.00 GMT

The government’s food tsar has blamed Britain’s “weird supermarket culture” for recent food shortages, calling it a “market failure”.

Experts have criticised ministers for “leaving food policy to Tesco”, and meeting large food chains rather than suppliers, who have been struggling with rising costs while locked into contracts with supermarkets.

Henry Dimbleby, the co-founder of the restaurant chain Leon, who advises ministers on a food strategy for England, said Europe was not facing such issues because they did not have the same cultural problems.

He said: “There’s just this weird supermarket culture. A weird competitive dynamic that’s emerged in the UK, and nowhere else in the world has it, and I don’t know why that is.”

Dimbleby earlier criticised the government’s response to his recommendations, saying it was “not a strategy”.

He said he found the current situation “frustrating” as people were focusing on remarks about turnips, rather than structural issues with the food system. “I find it quite frustrating that everyone is suddenly worried about a gap of vegetables in February, when there are much bigger structural issues that need to resolve, and definitely the government on health has very explicitly gone backwards,” he said.

Dimbleby disagreed with the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, who denied that the recent shortages of eggs and vegetables was a “market failure”. He said: “This is a problem of market failure in the specifically British food system. It’s going to get worse. The UK food system is, I think, unique – I don’t know another system where the supermarkets have these fixed-price contracts with suppliers. So, basically, you have no effective market. It’s a very difficult one for the government to solve, but it does need to be resolved.”




https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... et-culture
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