via Shiraz Socialist (Second Run)
Alliance Virtual Offices, loads in London, some quite cheap for mail forwarding and as an option price for meeting rooms
By Sophie Stowers, I feel to optimistic and while in this case with her eyes open, again, trying to negotiate non competent domains for a weaker freedom of movement.
via Tendance Coatesy
DaveLevy posted a photo:
DaveLevy posted a photo:
The inland lake, or is it fjord from the viewing platform at the Nature Reserve
DaveLevy posted a photo:
DaveLevy posted a photo:
The Colossus of Prora, commonly known as simply "Prora", is a building complex in the municipality of Binz on the island of Rügen, Germany. It was built by Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1939 as part of the Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude or KdF) project. It consisted of eight identical buildings and was 4.5 km (2.8 mi) in length parallel to the beach, with the surviving structures stretching 3.0 km (1.9 mi).
Over the second half of September, a couple of things happened with respect to the Labour Party’s position on relations with the EU. I want to write something punchy, and made this page to collect my sources and shape m thoughts. This may not be easy to read because it as yet has no narrative. Enjoy!
Starmer reported in the London Economic [ also reported also in the Guardian, and the FT] and Lammy made speeches stressing the importance of EU relations and Starmer made it clear that he’s looking to improve the FT&C agreement while remaining outside the single market and customs union.
The original position developed last year, expressed by Lammy in a speech to UK and EU. mirroring Starmer’s speech days earlier. It included a phrase that is continued in use by the Labour front bench today.
The questions that divided us for half a decade have been settled. We will not re-join the Single Market or the Customs Union.
I comment on the Lammy speech and the Starmer speech [my comments] made about the same time.
The Lammy speech includes the following (in the modal) which sums up, in Lammy’s words the Starmer/Lammy plan to “Fix Brexit”.
In my words, improving food import rules, i.e. veterinary and phyto-sanitary products, complete the financial services equivalence agreement, maintain the data adequacy agreement, [some] professional qualification recognition, to allow UK professional services consultants to work in the EU, and permitting our creatives to tour Europe on a single visa. The amendments to the freedom of labour or lack of it are one sided and unlikely to be agreed without some form of reciprocity. Cakeism or Extrawürst, take your choice.
Does the Starmer speech from last week signify a change in tack?
At the same time as the EU issued its Sailing the Seas document (see below) , and Starmer repeated his “not in 50 years” mantra, UK in a Changing Europe published a report called Reviewing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement: potential paths; I have not yet read it.
I was also pointed at this thread on twitter, where Mujtaba Rahman argues that what Starmer says today is not as important as events; he also argues that the red lines will give Starmer room to do deals on a number of issues, such as foreign & security policy co-operation, fish, serious & substantive engagement with the “European Political Community” together with an acknowledgement that reducing trade friction means alignment/rule taking and even recognition that migration deal means co-op at EU level on a returns agreement. There is no evidence that Starmer is ready to work on intra-competency issues, except migration.
Whatever, it needs to be seen in the context of the EU’s consideration of its own reform which is being pushed by its enlargement and democratisation agenda. See also, the Franco-German proposals, “Sailing on High Seas: Reforming and Enlarging the EU for the 21st Century” for a multispeed & streamlined Europe. This is commented on by institute jacques delors. I ask “What impact will that have on the UK should it elect a Labour Government?” Labour’s first reaction is that it is not relevant, they are not interested in “associate membership”.
Although Paul seems to think there’s legs in it, or something similar, although he suggests a bi-lateral treaty where it looks like the EU may offer something else. I need something about bi-lateralism and governance i.e. with bi-lateralism, there is 121 conversations, and governance is between two parties, which rather ignores the need for the EU to develop a collective mandate but on paper, I can see why the Tories wanted it however, it doesn’t exist anywhere else such as the WTO, or CPTPP.
I also need to check Von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech. It also focuses on enlargement and maybe migration.
"Brussels’ embrace of protectionism is a problem for those who yearn for closer ties with Europe." Say's who?
A report on a Lammy speech, marking the anniversary of the referendum. I haven't moved on and neither according to the polls have the majority of the country.
"Jonathan Reynolds told the Sky News Politics Hub with Sophie Ridge that while his party wants to improve the Tories' Brexit deal if it gets into office, joining a "revamped" version of the block was not being considered."
via Tribune, they say, "This week, Labour U-turned on its pledge to raise sick pay and guarantee it to all — abandoning millions of precarious workers to choose between their health and financial crisis." I say, exceedingly disappointing and not unexpected.
"Party leader says he will pursue a closer trading relationship with the EU and much better terms for the UK than Boris Johnson managed"
"Labour has ‘joined the Tories on Brexit’, claims SNP "
"The agreement will establish an ongoing forum for the UK and the EU to discuss voluntary regulatory cooperation on financial services issues. Both sides will share information, work together towards meeting joint challenges and coordinate positions where appropriate on issues ahead of G7, G20 and other international meetings."
as Deptford Councillor
from leaf plants, these are artificial plants.
"Until relatively recently, Labour frontbenchers were under strict instruction to simply focus on the fact the Conservatives’ plan to tackle this was expensive and unworkable. Now Starmer has decided that his party needs an answer on “well, what would you do?” "
"Labour leader’s push to sharpen foreign policy profile to include meeting with Macron in Paris"
"Diplomatic and media blitz for Labour leader will include appearances on Sunday morning political shows"
I have been away and missed and thus not commented on three small steps made to improve the co-operation and relationship between the UK and the European Union. The areas of policy are science and research, settlement rights for EU citizens in the UK and relationship with Frontex.
The first is that the government finally signed up to Horizon Europe, the European Union’s R&D programme; this will be of advantage to scientists and private sector researchers but also everyone as the research has a multiplier effect and for some, investment in human capital is the most effective investment for stimulating GDP growth.
The government have also announced the automatic extension of pre-settled status to allow those that have not applied for conversion to settled status, the time to do so. It seems that the judicial arguments between the Independent Monitoring Authority and the government seem to have been settled, but there may have been more in the pipeline. Any failure to treat those entitled to remain in the UK often having been born here, and or, lived here for decades would be an illegal act. This would include applying the hostile environment to them and charging them the NHS surcharge. No doubt, whatever the motives, this is a good thing.
The government is in negotiation with the EU to improve its relationship with Frontex, the troubled EU border agency. Even if only about intelligence sharing, this is a step in the right direction away from the hard Brexit that the Tories negotiated which led to the UK being excluded from Frontex and interpol because the member states don;t want to share information with nations that don;t accept the Charter of Fundamental Rights. And as the Guardian comments, it is Sunak’s third agreement with the EU. It’ll be interesting to see how far this one goes as the critical issues are not on intelligence sharing, although I am sure the UK will find it useful, but in order to get agreement from the EU to take illegal entrants back, we’ll have to agree to accept those that have the right to enter. It would be an act of solidarity with the government and people of Greece and Italy to accept some of their migrants. Kier Starmer seems to be struggling at where to draw the line. The FT (pay or id walled) covers this well and better than most, reporting on Starmer’s position, adding a longer piece by George Parker in London, William Wallis in Lewes, Andy Bounds in Brussels and Laura Dubois in Strasbourg on the dangers of a Tory counter attack; Starmer’s words are also reported in the Times and Star. Labour’s language has not moved on from pandering to the view that immigration is bad. I repeat my posed dilemma, we need workers, skilled and unskilled, we should want students, and we have a duty to accept refugees; who do we seek to stop. While if even the Tories are looking to work with the EU and Frontex, solving the problem with decency and justice will take a lot more.
"Sir Keir Starmer proposes returns agreement with the bloc under which UK would take in asylum seekers"
Annotations:"Sir Keir Starmer has met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a trip to Montreal, in a visit that has seen him stress the importance of border security."
Annotations:Speaking at an event alongside the Norwegian prime minister, Sir Keir said: “In principle it’s wrong to think that control of the border is not a progressive issue.
“Because if you lose control of the border, a number of things happen – that’s when in certain places you get into the business of people talking about walls and fences because you’ve lost control of the border.
“It goes down this slippery slope. And if you can’t have a wall and a fence, you have some of the gimmicks that we’re seeing in the United Kingdom.”
"“There are no aspects of the framework that has been agreed that in any way transgress Gibraltar’s positions on sovereignty, jurisdiction or control,” Picardo said, echoing earlier remarks by Gonzalez Laya." Dated Jan 2021
"A High Court judgement that regulations affecting more than 2.5m EU citizens living in the UK are unlawful will not be challenged by the government."
"The Home Office announced that people will have their pre-settled status extended by two years before it expires, if they have not obtained settled status by that point."
"UK to associate to Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes through a bespoke new agreement with the EU."
I came across the video from the i linked to below and wondered how much the assertion that the UK has never had such a malign nexus, oh high inflation, high interest rates and high consumer debt. I was shocked at the Schroders report that the price to income ratio is now nine i.e. a house costs nine times the purchaser’s income.
The price to income ratio is the nominal house price index divided by the nominal disposable income per head and can be considered as a measure of affordability.
OECD
I found a press release from Schroeders on affordability, which is where I found a detailed description of the affordability ratio’s history.
PWC on gross consumer debt topping 2Tn GBP
Total household debt in the UK now exceeds £2 trillion for the very first time – the equivalent to £71,000 per household, and is just below national GDP (£2.2 trillion).
PWC Press Release 27 Mar 2023
Maybe this needs a look at private vs public debt and in the context of the GDP. If house prices fall, collateral value falls, the capacity to borrow is constrained and then if the Govt. reduces its borrowing, then there is a double -ive reduction in demand. Austerity is doubly bonkers. However Trading economics figures are quite odd, suggetsing that private debt is the lowest its been for 23 years.
So I need to make a #lab23 page, this is a draft.
I made a page on this wiki called Labour’s coming manifesto which needs the date in it’s name which includes a mirror of the then Draft NPF report. I need to do a pdfdiff on the two documents with my extracts, on Trade and Immigration/Asylum.
Prominent academics say they are concerned Labour’s programme will not break with Tory economic orthodoxy
Annotations:From September, people with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) will have their settled status automatically extended for another two years.
"LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Britain has reached a preliminary agreement with the European Union to access its border agency Frontex, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, adding that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak intended to announce the deal next month."
"This recurring word in most commentary on this summer’s Brexit events is ‘pragmatism’. It refers to the range of ways, some quieter than others, in which the government is trying to soften or avoid some aspects of the damage of Brexit." Chris looks at things they've done other than implement Brexit.
Annotations:"UK in a Changing Europe’s series of regulatory divergence trackers provide an overview of where and how the UK has used its newfound regulatory freedoms to diverge from EU regulation. It identifies and analyses the most significant cases of divergence between the UK and EU which have taken place since Brexit. It explains what the changes are, what impact they are having, and likely further consequences."
As a member of the AEIP National Committee, I have been campaigning to reverse Brexit. The personal politics that led me to stand for their NC is based on both an abstract commitment to what the EU could be and a detailed observation of the economic and social advantages of common citizenship, together with the economic advantages to the nation of belong to the European Union. The absence of the EU’s freedom of movement to work and the common citizenship rights do not affect the rich.
Opinion polls are steadily showing a majority to rejoin the European Union but the two major parties in the House of Commons are both triangulating with a dying electorate and rejecting the aspirations of its replacement. The younger voters that replace them see the reciprocal freedom of movement as a benefit.
At my Labour Party’s general committee, I successfully moved a motion for Labour’s Conference calling on the UK to rejoin the single marker and customs union, together with Erasmus and Horizon. Horizon has just been agreed by the government in another series of small steps back towards the Union. The motion will be submitted to the Labour Conference but will need to survive the priorities ballot and then the composite process.
I believe that Momentum’s model motion, Breaking from the Brexit Disaster, has also been submitted by at least one CLP. I have also posted the words of their motion below. It is probably too late get more CLPs to submit these motion as the deadline is 21st September and notice of a meeting and of business. to be conducted needs to be given. A more effective way of supporting the motion and policy is to argue to include these motions in the priority ballot which takes place at conference.
The following is the speech I made, or something very similar to the speech I made. I was very constrained by time; if I’d had more I’d have made more of the human arguments around the racism of the hostile environment and in favour of freedom of movement.
This motion is quite clear, and maybe public opinion has moved on, and we could ask for more but,
Brexit was a con, perpetrated by liars and will go down in history as an act of national self-harm and folly.
Economically, the Tory ‘Hard Brexit’ has led to reduced foreign inward investment, a worsening balance of trade, reduced employment, a labour shortage in many industries, particularly social care, agriculture, hospitality and the NHS, and sterling has lost value against the dollar and the euro.
The Labour front-bench’s response is not good enough.
It remains a mercantilist, shop keepers’ approach, it focuses exclusively what membership buys and calculates it value in red and black ink. They propose to amend the future trade and co-operation agreement with five changes all of which are of benefit the UK. It’s a version of cakeism. Why would the EU agree to those if there is no commitment by the UK to make their citizens’ lives better too. Why would they make it easier for our musicians and consultants to work in Europe, while we continue to refuse entry to Eastern European construction workers and Western European health workers, all of whom we need!
In order to fix Brexit, we need to rejoin the single market and customs union, and re-engage in Erasmus+; this motion is so much common sense that even the Tories have agreed to rejoin Horizon, although we don’t have it as good as we did.
Much of the reasons for Brexit were based on the xenophobia and racism, as part of fixing Brexit and re-establishing a rule of law we must welcome migrants and repeal the hostile environment.
This is right and decent; arguments opposing this because of electoralism are neither, we are better than that; triangulating on this issue is preferring those that don’t and won’t vote for us to those that do.
Send this motion to conference so Labour can go into the next election with its head held high offering to work as partners with out European allies and welcoming migrants as equals and citizens.
Dave Levy @ Lewisham Deptford General Committee
The text of the Lewisham Deptford motion and the Momentum model is overleaf, use the “read more” button …
Conference notes,
Conference believes,
Conference resolves,
Conference notes:
Conference believes:
Conference resolves:
"Authority effectively bankrupt as ERP car crash adds to equal pay liability"
Annotations:A new cohort of school-leavers contemplate their options this month, many of which are available thanks to the 1960s university boom that reshaped British higher education. In 1966, a year when eight new universities were created, the Observer investigated two facets of that 'student explosion'. The robbins criteria was that "All who could benefit should go to university, [or polytechnic] it seems]", this revolution is considered in Miliband R's Parliamentary Socialism. The article though is more of a personal diary, although the intimacy issue may reflect on the absence of pastoral care.
An article about application menu design ... "explained the core rationale for the redesign: of the top ten new feature requests for Office, every year, six to eight of them were already features built into the product, and had been for at least one previous version. They'd already built all this stuff people kept saying they wanted, and nobody could find it to use it." I was inspired by my need on using firefox on which this bloody awesome article focuses.
Managers warn company goals can't be achieved unless coders get more face time and less FaceTime
Research from body representing 47 authorities says many could follow Slough, Croydon, Thurrock and Woking into collapse, originally posted 28 August
The European Union’s Digital Services Act comes into effect today, August 25, and it’s unclear if the hoped-for consumer protections are going to have their desired impact.
They say, "ISO 27001 Annex : A.14.1.3 Protecting Application Services Transactions in order to avoid incomplete transmission, misrouting, unauthorized messaging modification, unauthorized dissemination, unauthorized message replication, or replay, information concerning application service transactions should be covered." From | Infosavvy, Security and IT Management Training I was looking for advice on backups, and possibly airgaps
"When flying from an EU airport, you should keep in mind certain security requirements while packing your luggage for your trip and when going to the airport to board your flight: You are not allowed to carry certai "
via Plagiarism Today
via The Guardian
via The Register
Kier Starmer rearranges the desk chairs and announces a Labour Shadow Cabinet reshuffle. Most, including Phil BC, with whom I agree, see this as a shift to the right of the Party. The demotion of Ashworth and his replacement with Kendall is a move to the right on policy grounds. The demotion of Lisa Nandy & Rosanna Allin-Kahn would seem to be a warning to others that either have ambition or ideas. Momentum’s co-chair Hilary Schan, reacts in this article in Left foot forward, and points at Neal Lawson’s devastating critique of the reshuffle, as being designed to minimise [and scare] ideological diversity.
In the rest of this article, I comment on some of the more high profile moves and look, in some detail, at the new leadership in Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
The high spot for me is moving Reed from Justice, perhaps moving someone who must share some of the blame for losing Croydon Council to a popular insurgency to impose a Mayor, to DEFRA is designed to put him somewhere where he can do less damage electorally. Reed also proselytises the worst of blue labour politics on crime and punishment. Shabanna Mahmood, who takes over at justice from him, has generally struck me as decent, a talent much needed in the Justice portfolio and has voted in favour of proportional representation. It is being reported that Ellie Reeves has been moved from Justice to campaigning; she previously held the role of shadow Solicitor-General; I am unsure who is replacing her and we can assume that Starmer’s kitchen cabinet see campaigning as more important than compliance which is what the Solicitor-General does.
McFadden moving to Treasury reinforces the power of the orthodox neo-liberal economists in the shadow Treasury team.
I had a look at the changes to the digital and digitisation portfolio because it interests me and others will not.
Thangam Debbonaire swaps with Lucy Powell to become shadow Secretary for digital, culture, media and sport. Stephanie Peacock gets, Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure, the portfolio is described at gov.uk while Alex Davies-Jones gets Tech, Gambling, and the Digital Economy, also described on the gov.uk site. On reading the two gov.uk departmental pages, there seems to be some room for confusion as they both have responsibility for data, and the split between the two roles makes sense in a hierarchy as is the case on the Government benches, but not between two equals; perhaps Debbonaire will need to mug up on the politics and act as referee if she allowed.
| Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure | Tech, Gambling, and the Digital Economy |
| Media, Creative Industries, Digital Infrastructure/Telecoms, Data, Cyber, Digital Identity, Corporate | Digital Strategy (including Digital Regulation and Digital Markets), Tech Policy, Office for AI, Online Harms, Online advertising, International strategy, Digital Standards, Economic security, Gambling and Lotteries, Overall legislation and SIs |
All of the new DCMS team were anti-brexit as was Shabanna Mahmood.
Labour has, in my opinion, a poor record on 21st century digital policy; on copyright, surveillance and cybersecurity, it has most of the big calls wrong. On copyright, it passed laws or argued for those that benefit industrial music and movies. This is at the cost of supporting fans, and inhibiting the internet’s growth and the value it creates. The vision that economically this is a dispute between the creative industries and the internet service providers is a profound mistake. The pro copyright lobby campaigns for laws which as a side effect makes the development and adoption of software difficult or costly. This dispute plays out, not only in the legislatures of the OECD nations, but also in their courts. The epitome of this dispute, strangely, is expressed in a court case between two of the DatenKraken, in the multi-year, Google versus Oracle court case finally settled in US Supreme Court in 1921. I say finally, but the Supreme Court judgement leaves much room for another round, as they ruled what Google had done did not infringe Oracle’s copyright, but only because of what they had done. The software industry wanted the court to declare that APIs like laws could not be copyrighted.
Labour also has a poor record on freedom of speech, state surveillance and cybersecurity, partly through their reaction to political fake news and bullying, although not so seriously that they want to investigate the Russian influence on the referendum. The effect of the western politician’s legislative response to cyberbullying, and illegal porn is to privatise prior-restraint. Much of these legal frameworks come from the United States and are designed to boost the profitability of US intellectual property industries and facilitate their surveillance state.
However, the crapness comes from Starmer and his New Labour predecessors, so I don’t expect much to change.
On Wednesday, we learn that Chris Bryant becomes shadow-Minister for the Creative industries, more of Watson’s fingerprints on the department. Personally, I think Bryant was/is one of the most articulate backbenchers, his ‘promotion’ to the front bench will sadly silence his voice.
This was written mainly on 5 Sep 2023, and was published on 19th and has been back dated to 8 Sep 2023
"Some 26 local authorities could issue a section 114 notice in the next two financial years, according to the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (Sigoma)."
I bought one of these a coujple of years ago and have always felt its recharge speed when using the solar panel was so slow as to make me question if it worked. I am going away and so checked on what people thought. Here are my notes and links. …
The charging speed is very slow, this video measures a full charging period in days. The comments on the amazon sales page suggest that it’s better than nothing if one has no availability from the grid so for short outdoor camping/hiking holidays it could be good, particularly as a fully charged bank will charge up my phone several times, although if you have more than one device, it may not be good enough. Having written this, I took it away on a trip and put it on the window sill, it was over 3/4 full and took three days to fully charge, in line with the video linked to above.
Here’s a negative review, Should I buy a solar power bank? but I also found the more evenly expressed article, “why, what and how which introduces the concept of having the device in two parts, a power bank and a solar charger. I also think these people have something to sell.
For me the big lesson for today is that solar charging is very slow. I assume it’ll get better, but I am not sure it has yet but my bank is couple of years old. This is not yet going to save the planet.
It caused great interest at Tallinn airport, where I was told, it is only just permitted on aircraft as hand luggage. Probably designed to be so, but glad I was able to keep it; they made me throw my OJ away,
Another point us that mine came with both USB B & C charging ports; using USB B for the first charge of the bank was an incredible long period, 10’s of hours if I remember correctly. This could just be because its a big battery and has a lot to fill.
Martin Thomas on Marxism and the general intellect
Annotations:It seems that we need to call them powerbanls not and not batteries.
Annotations:"There is increasingly serious talk in the bloc about all manner of far-reaching reform amid talk of expanding membership to beyond 30 countries"
Updated Sep 6
Ranking total fighter/interceptor aircraft strength by country, from highest to lowest.
In this article, “Britain’s tax delusion”, the ‘Statesman identifies that the UK is not overtaxed, that taxing non-doms and imposing VAT on school fees will raise trivial amounts of money and that the clawback of child benefit has a disincentive on the supply of effort. It is silent on the clawback of the personal allowance which does the same, and fails to substantiate its arguments on income and wealth equality by not quoting the gini coefficient or any altenrative statistics, or facts as I like to call them.
… creates a system that is not just dysfunctional but profoundly inequitable, in which the average effective tax rate paid by those earning more than £10m a year is lower than that of most nurses. In 1845, Benjamin Disraeli wrote of England’s division into “two nations”: the rich and the poor. Today, the gulf between Asset Britain and Austerity Britain is as wide.
Since both major parties identify growth as the answer, we need to ask how they think it’ll happen, the three sources of growth are investment (private or public), government expenditures (i.e. the deficit), or exports (and we know why they’re fucked).
The challenge for Western democracies is to provide for that spending while encouraging investment and job creation. It is a challenge that Britain is failing. Instead, the UK’s tax system is quietly managing our economy towards disaster.
Business taxation does not encourage investment; the UK’s investment rate is low by international comparison.
Growth strategies must only be pursued in the context of combatting climate change. So a new coal mine is not a good idea.
Modern economists argue that investment in human capital is a priority as an incubator of growth. Even those politicians who agree are silent in the face of monetarist orthodoxy which requires continued austerity. After 13 years you’d think they’d have learnt, but it seems not.
Image Credit: from asb.org.uk , cropped. Fair use as it has no economic impact on the original publisher.
In this article, the ‘Statesman identifies that the UK is not overtaxed, that taxing non-doms and imposing VAT on school fees will raise trivial amounts of money and that the clawbacks of child benefit has a disincentive on the supply of effort. It is silent on the clawback of the personal allowance and fails to substantiate its arguments on income and wealth equality by quoting the gini coefficient. Business taxation does not encourage investment, the UK’s investment rate is low by international comparison. Since both major parties identify growth as the answer, we need to ask how they think it’ll happen, the three sources are investment (private or public), government expenditures (i.e. the deficit), or exports (and we know why they’re fucked). Modern economists argue that investment in human capital is a priority as a platform for growth. Even those politicians who agree are silent in the face of monetarist orthodoxy.
Annotations:via EURACTIV.com
What’s happening to the Eurofighter Typhoon? Do we need a replacement, and who’s going to build it?
In this article, What does the future hold for Eurofighter Typhoon?, Air Force Technology suggest that it’s design is old, and that the older versions are being retired; they argue that the Tempest programme is an upgrade programme and does not aim to produce a 6th generation warplane see also here. They argue that the reality is that the RAF have nor prioritised air superiority and the the mix of Typhoons and F35 Lightenings do not provide an appropriate platform for Air Defence and that the RAF crew are not trained or practised, arguably thankfully, for air combat against an advanced air force. However wikipedia believes that the BAE Tempest is to be a 6th Generation fighter. This is to be built by a British, Italian and Japanese consortium. The government commitment to the plane is reported here by Lisa West of the UK Defence Journal.
Does it need replacement, I wrote this, in my review of the 2020 white paper,
On ground attack warplanes, do we need a new one? The Jaguar lasted 32 years and its replacement, the first eurofighter Tornado was retired in 2018 and we are now using Typhoons, first launched in 1994, so over 25 years old although the last one was delivered to the RAF in 2019. Here is an Australian’s analysis, called “Demon or Lemon”; he comes down in the middle but definitely not a Lemon in 2000, whether it’s so in 2020 is another question and it wasn’t designed as a ground attack plane.
A report by Martin Banks of Defence News, on the Warsaw Institute’s report dated 2020, states that the UK’s departure from the EU will reduce the EUs collective capability but the UK’s absence from the institutions will remove the UK’s brake on EU co-operation which it applied in favour of NATO. The news article states,
The predicted consequences of Brexit for the British army and U.K.’s defense sector are more harmful and long-lasting than those expected to be felt by the EU.
Martin Banks, Defence News, May 2020.
Here is Deloitte’s take on the issue, dated 2019. This interestingly comprehensive and focuses on mitigating the risks of leaving the single market and the EU’s funding programmes.
I started looking at this to see what the Brexit effect on jobs would be for aerospace industry as I expected the UK to be excluded from the Eurofighter consortium; it seems that it has a future although there are now two consortia building a European warplane which will jeopardise the size of the order book. The comments of UKDJ on how the economics of war production may jeopardise military collaboration may come to pass. I also note that they are not shipping any more Typhoons so the production jobs have already gone.
I also found this, 5th Gen Fighters, Stealthy & Lethal from SPS Aviation, dated 2017, which shows the US dominance in 5th gen fighters. It might be a bit ambitious to look to leapfrog them, especially when we are buy their systems anyway.
What is the difference between 5th & 6th generation, I found this on google,
Sixth Generation Fighters are the currently conceptual new generation of fighter aircraft, which are expected to be operational in the 2030-2050 timeframe, in comparison to the current Fifth Generation Fighters they will be superior in terms of speed, range, stealth and self-healing structures.
https://aircraft.fandom.com/wiki/6th_Generation_Fighter
Simon Whistler, in a Mega-Projects channel video looks at the USAF NGAD program and offers a definition of the 6th Generation fighters, which includes stealth, collaborative engagement capability (drone control), AI, laser beams, unmanned operation and [much] better engines.
This video looks at the worlds warplanes by generation,
Do we have enough? Who can tell but this page documents the number of fighter planes by country, the UK is 20th. Here is a chart, an excel filled map, who knew you could do that?
Some queries I ran in making this page,
And also of interest but probably outdated, is this 1999 defence select committee report.
BAe recognises three unions including Unite and the GMB.
Obviously Ukraine is asking for F15/F16 planes to combat the Russian Su35s. This article illustrates the need, or not, for these planes.
"The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Tempest supersonic stealth fighter will replace the roles currently fulfilled by the Typhoon aircraft." Baroness Goldie's speech is quoted.
Annotations:"The UK will partner with Italy and Japan to develop the Tempest fighter jet which will eventually replace the Eurofighter Typhoon in the Royal Air Force."
Annotations:The eSafety commissioner is to work with industry on a new code to educate parents about how to access filtering software and limit children’s access. The Oz government, suddenly decide to wait and see.
Annotations:I have just read Jonathn Portes’ review of Peter Foster’s book “What Went Wrong With Brexit?”. Foster was a remainer, despite following in the footsteps of Boris Johnson as the Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent. Portes looks at the economic damage, the under investment in human capital and the continued timidity of our politicians. In this review, I [hope I] add to the debate by looking at long term goals and short term modern supply side programmes, most importantly in my mind, rejoining Horizon Europe.
There’s a couple of things in the article which interest me. Portes in the subtitle ensures that we understand the damage that Cameron and Osborne ‘s austerity has done to the UK economy. A critical conclusion from this article is that the problems in the British economy are endemic, predate the Brexit vote but are made worse by the increased bureaucracy in conducting foreign trade, and the miserly modern supply side policies of this Tory government. The Portes’ review concludes with a look at Foster’s proposals on making things better. Portes suggests that the realistic choice, because of our political leader’s timidity is between minimal change to the future trade and cooperation agreement or rejoining the single market. Portes suggests that the minimal change suggestions i.e. fixing Brexit will not be as easy to achieve as its proponents hope.
Portes and Foster shred the argument that leaving the single market will reduce bureaucracy and red tape. We can see by the 5th delay to introduce full customs checks on the UK/EU sea border that these checks are hard and expensive to implement and that the EU’s imposition of the checks and paper work inhibits EU companies exporting to the UK.
The review, segues to macro-; a critical passage in the review states,
… this perhaps reflects a wider failing. While there are occasional references to the political and economic backdrop against which the referendum took place, it’s hard not to come away with the impression that Foster, like many broadly centrist remainers, thinks that the UK was on the right track until Brexit came along to upend both our politics and our economy. But the UK’s productivity slowdown began around the time of the global financial crisis, while other longstanding and interrelated structural issues – inequality, housing and skills – long predate this.
Portes also argues that the Cameron/Osborne initiated austerity economics has made the UK’s structural problems worse. With the exception of the Truss administration, the austerity ideology has driven the Tory government’s macroeconomics since 2010. But now, due to Brexit, we are now in a position where the balance of trade and foreign exchange rates are worsening, foreign investment is declining, there are labour shortages, and we remain the only major economy to have a GDP lower than its pre-pandemic peak.
The Government looks to compound this by reducing the number of university places, by restricting immigration, and by continuing to exclude the UK from Horizon Europe. This last aspect of government policy, I find both bizarre and another aspect of the self-harm that austerity and Brexit have caused. It is curious that Sunak permits this policy to stand, given that he is a fan of Paul Romer’s work on investment & innovation. Romer argues that growth is driven by investment in Human Capital. Re-joining Horizon Europe, the EU’s R&D funding programme, is on the table, since much of our problems are because of low skills and low investment, we should grab this opportunity with both hands. Each year we are excluded exacerbates the damage to our research, innovation, and productivity.
Portes looks at Foster’s proposals for change. He suggests that centralist remainers/rejoiners ambition is limited to either fixing Brexit or rejoining the single market. Most seem to compromise around Starmer’s Labour’s proposal to fix Brexit. Portes suggests this will not be as easy as its proponents hope.
As I have said, as have others, why would the EU amend the Future Trade & Cooperation agreement exclusively to the advantage of the United Kingdom, specifically the proposals to ease immigration controls within the European Union to allow musicians and other creative artists to tour the European Union and to allow professional services consultants to work in the EU seems highly ambitious without some form of sectoral reciprocation and the EU’s start position will be freedom of movement for all labour. As Portes puts it,
He [Foster] outlines a long list of technical changes where, with both determination and goodwill, the UK could make modest but meaningful improvements to the current Trade and Cooperation Agreement, although he perhaps underplays how hard it will be to persuade our European counterparts to engage seriously with this agenda.
It maybe the only way to fix Brexit, is to take the terms we are offered by the EU, and an indivisible single market is part of that. If that’s on offer, we should take it.
"U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday rebranded the Biden administration's economic agenda as "modern supply-side economics," using a Reagan-era phrase favored by Republicans to assert that Democrats' spending plans will boost the U.S. economy's productive capacity."
Annotations:"Endogenous growth theory is an economic theory which argues that economic growth is generated from within a system as a direct result of internal processes. More specifically, the theory notes that the enhancement of a nation's human capital will lead to economic growth by means of the development of new forms of technology and efficient and effective means of production. "
"A book that lays bare the absurd claims Brexit would reduce red tape – but leaves austerity out of the analysis"
Annotations:"if you have a large number of files and folders spread across various drives and locations, it gets harder to manually find the duplicate files and remove them. You might not be aware but duplicate files take up a huge amount of valuable space and that leads to slower performance. So if you are looking for the best duplicate file finders for Windows 11 and 10 in 2023 to remove identical files and free up disk space, go through our curated list below. "
In the linked video, Michael Pocock, a lawyer correspondent on the Meidas Network expresses his delight at Baude and Paulsen’s white paper, “The Sweep and Force of Section 3” which argues that the 14th amendment to the Constitution prohibits Donald Trump from holding any federal office, including that of President as the clause forbids holding office by former office holders who then participate in insurrection or rebellion. Baude and Paulson are well known and respected judicial scholars and members of the Federalist Society and known supporters of the originalist doctrine of interpretation of the Constitution.
The abstract is a powerful summary,
Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids holding office by former office holders who then participate in insurrection or rebellion. Because of a range of misperceptions and mistaken assumptions, Section Three’s full legal consequences have not been appreciated or enforced. This article corrects those mistakes by setting forth the full sweep and force of Section Three.
First, Section Three remains an enforceable part of the Constitution, not limited to the Civil War, and not effectively repealed by nineteenth century amnesty legislation. Second, Section Three is self-executing, operating as an immediate disqualification from office, without the need for additional action by Congress. It can and should be enforced by every official, state or federal, who judges qualifications. Third, to the extent of any conflict with prior constitutional rules, Section Three repeals, supersedes, or simply satisfies them. This includes the rules against bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, the Due Process Clause, and even the free speech principles of the First Amendment. Fourth, Section Three covers a broad range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, including many instances of indirect participation or support as “aid or comfort.” It covers a broad range of former offices, including the Presidency. And in particular, it disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.
They argue that election officials should refuse to put his name on the ballot.
This story was also carried by MSNBC, in the Reidout, which I recommend viewing for the poetic way in which Joy Reid introduces the interview, starting from the Hollywood strike, and its tales of fantasy, to the dangerous application of these fantasies to modern US politics.
Baude, William and Paulsen, Michael Stokes, The Sweep and Force of Section Three (August 9, 2023). University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 172, 2024, Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4532751
I originally wrote this on the 12th August, and the story has run and run. I predict it will go to court, or many of them.
It is clear that Labour’s leadership are executing the New Labour playbook with a touch of 20th century triangulation by pandering exclusively to communities that don’t vote for them and adding the practice of trolling those that do. On issues from foreign policy, public sector pay, fiscal policy and the EU, we can see this to be so.
In James Surowiecki’s book the Wisdom of Crowds, he examines the behavioural economics game of “Ultimatum”, which shows that you can’t take people for granted, if people don’t like the rules they won’t play the game.
In Ultimatum, players are divided into groups of two, and one is the proposer, who proposes how to split $10,000, the second player can accept or reject. If rejected, neither gets anything. Economic rationalism suggests that the second player will always accept any offer; however, reality tells a different story. The second player on the whole rejected lowball offers that they think to be unfair. Interestingly, in a second round, both players were told that the proposers had got high scores in a test, and in those circumstances the average at which proposals were rejected fell; if people thought the proposer’s deserved the privilege of proposing, then offers the accepters might once have considered unacceptable became acceptable.
In politics, as in life, you can’t take people for granted! You’d have thought that Labour had learnt this truth.
I am having a problem with my web hosting solution. The CMS is wordpress; I installed W3 Total Cache which is too hungry for file descriptors given my disk space is subject to a quota. How can I solve this? If I can. Here some notes and links, …
See also Event Monitoring & GNUplot, which is meant to provide me with a graph/chart of the space used.
My first response is to write some scripts, as of today, I have a monitor, a trigger and an action, which weeds the cache, in full or partially according to a rule. The first, writes the number of files into a state and history file, the second reads the state file and decides if to call the 3rd program.
This isn’t working as designed, can I fix it and will it keep the ΣFD below the limit.
They promise integration with CDN systems, are they available to me via IONOS hosting. Perhaps I should check, and perhaps I should look at alternative caching providers.
An interview in the FT (£(-)), focusing on what looks like the third trilogy. I was looking to see if I could pick up his threads from Mona Lisa Overdrive on "loas in the system".
