Social media has made a fundamental change to the way we live our lives, in some ways it has been beneficial but in others not so much with the major and most devastating impact being cyber-bullying and online harassment.
Not just young girls but also young boys are haunted by what they have posted on the Net sometimes it is what other people have posted, mostly pictures and videos of a sexual nature, revenge porn as it is called.
Facebook have come up with an idea to try and stem the flow of revenge porn by encouraging users to upload intimate material of themselves that they do not want to be shared and use these to stop any attempts to share the same material.
Sending private material to a stranger, albeit a Facebook staff member, in order to prevent that material being seen on Facebook seems a bit confusing and the security implications if a hacker gets into the server doesn't bear thinking about.
The easiest way to avoid the whole scenario is not to video or photograph yourself in any potentially compromising situations but it is good to see that Social Networks are trying something, i'm just not sure that pre-emptively forwarding the pictures or videos to a social media site is a particularly good answer.
Saturday, 11 November 2017
Thursday, 9 November 2017
Universal Basic Income Coming To The UK
I still have deep reservations about the Universal Basic Income (UBI) but the radical social experiment which has been running in Finland for the past year is now coming to the UK with Fife in Scotland planning to use the Finnish model and paying their citizens up to £7000 a year regardless of their age or employment status by 2019.
The idea behind UBI is to scrap the welfare state and instead, pay every man, woman and child a monthly stipend whether they have a job or not, regardless of their personal wealth.
In Finland, 2000 people randomly chosen across all demographics have been receiving £495 per month and the trend, albeit from a very small sample, has been that people have reduced their working hours and are doing things more beneficial for society such as volunteering or starting up a business in the knowledge that they are still guaranteed an income.
My query is how could a country afford it but the answer appears to be by folding in all the current elements of the welfare state and the tax relief system.
The UK's Welfare bill is £253 billion, the population is around 60 million which breaks down to approximately £4216.66 per person or £351 per month.
The UK's Tax relief bill is £117 billion, again divided by 60 million Brits breaks down to approximately £1950 per person, or £162 per month.
By abandoning all tax reliefs and state benefits, each person in the UK could receive £513 per month and the UK economy would not be adversely affected.
Using these back of an envelope calculations it is plausible on paper but society is more complex and some will still require additional sums on top of the £513 a month stipend and that is where things get sticky and the bill potentially spirals upwards.
I like and support the idea that it will free people from their jobs and will contribute to society because you don't have to worry about making ends meet but the cost worries me if someone gets their figures wrong because the current austerity measures show the results when that happens and this will be so much bigger.
The idea behind UBI is to scrap the welfare state and instead, pay every man, woman and child a monthly stipend whether they have a job or not, regardless of their personal wealth.
In Finland, 2000 people randomly chosen across all demographics have been receiving £495 per month and the trend, albeit from a very small sample, has been that people have reduced their working hours and are doing things more beneficial for society such as volunteering or starting up a business in the knowledge that they are still guaranteed an income.
My query is how could a country afford it but the answer appears to be by folding in all the current elements of the welfare state and the tax relief system.
The UK's Welfare bill is £253 billion, the population is around 60 million which breaks down to approximately £4216.66 per person or £351 per month.
The UK's Tax relief bill is £117 billion, again divided by 60 million Brits breaks down to approximately £1950 per person, or £162 per month.
By abandoning all tax reliefs and state benefits, each person in the UK could receive £513 per month and the UK economy would not be adversely affected.
Using these back of an envelope calculations it is plausible on paper but society is more complex and some will still require additional sums on top of the £513 a month stipend and that is where things get sticky and the bill potentially spirals upwards.
I like and support the idea that it will free people from their jobs and will contribute to society because you don't have to worry about making ends meet but the cost worries me if someone gets their figures wrong because the current austerity measures show the results when that happens and this will be so much bigger.
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Is It A Bird, Plane Or A Chinese Space Station?
It may be worth having a long, hard look at a photo of the Chinese Space Station just so if it comes crashing through your roof in a few months time you will recognise it.
The Chinese ‘Tiangong-1’ space station is due to come crashing down to earth early in 2018 and The European Space Agency (ESA) has narrowed down the possible crash sites to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria or Greece.
The ESA have said that the majority of the spacecraft is expected to burn up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere but the remaining larger pieces will make it down to the surface although the exact time and location won't be known until shortly before re-entry.
The ESA along with NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA of Japan, ISRO of India, KARI of South Korea and the China National Space Administration are currently tracking Tiangong-1 which is currently orbiting at 190 miles above our heads and traveling at approximately 4.5 miles per second.
The ESA are keen to point out that nobody in history has even been harmed by a returning spacecraft breaking up in the atmosphere and the odds are it will splash down in the sea but if you wake up to a lump of Chinese Space Station smouldering away in your kitchen between January and March 2018, you will know where to send the bill for your roof repairs.
The Chinese ‘Tiangong-1’ space station is due to come crashing down to earth early in 2018 and The European Space Agency (ESA) has narrowed down the possible crash sites to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria or Greece.
The ESA have said that the majority of the spacecraft is expected to burn up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere but the remaining larger pieces will make it down to the surface although the exact time and location won't be known until shortly before re-entry.
The ESA along with NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA of Japan, ISRO of India, KARI of South Korea and the China National Space Administration are currently tracking Tiangong-1 which is currently orbiting at 190 miles above our heads and traveling at approximately 4.5 miles per second.
The ESA are keen to point out that nobody in history has even been harmed by a returning spacecraft breaking up in the atmosphere and the odds are it will splash down in the sea but if you wake up to a lump of Chinese Space Station smouldering away in your kitchen between January and March 2018, you will know where to send the bill for your roof repairs.
The Cost Of War
The United States has a debt of $20 trillion and almost $6 trillion of that is the cost of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks 2001, according to a new study.
Research from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University found that as of late September, the US wars have cost an approximate $23,386 per US taxpayer and the cost considerations include expenses such as providing long-term medical care for veterans.
The human cost to America is 6,855 dead and 52,251 wounded from US military operations over the past 14 years, according to a 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service.
The cost to the UK for the same wars was £29 billion and you have to ask looking at these countries where we spent so much money but only resulted in increasing international terrorism, the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS and the millions of innocent deaths, was it worth it because where i am sitting that $6 trillion in America and £29 billion in the UK could have been spent in a far more worthwhile way and we may not be facing the decade of austerity cuts that have devastated society.
Funny how despite the bill in financial and human costs, we always seem willing to start yet more wars.
Research from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University found that as of late September, the US wars have cost an approximate $23,386 per US taxpayer and the cost considerations include expenses such as providing long-term medical care for veterans.
The human cost to America is 6,855 dead and 52,251 wounded from US military operations over the past 14 years, according to a 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service.
The cost to the UK for the same wars was £29 billion and you have to ask looking at these countries where we spent so much money but only resulted in increasing international terrorism, the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS and the millions of innocent deaths, was it worth it because where i am sitting that $6 trillion in America and £29 billion in the UK could have been spent in a far more worthwhile way and we may not be facing the decade of austerity cuts that have devastated society.
Funny how despite the bill in financial and human costs, we always seem willing to start yet more wars.
The Annual Poppy Argument
Every year about this time the Poppy argument breaks out, namely between those who refuse to wear one and those who feel it is disrespectful to not.
According to a survey by researchers Consumer Intelligence, the top reasons given by those who object to pinning the red flower on their person said it was because they felt bullied into supporting the Poppy Appeal, it glorified war and seems to show support for the military.
One in five adults plan to snub the symbolic flower and i am amongst them because i never have worn one and have had more than few 'discussions' with people who try and bully me into it.
I can relate to the 20% of adults snubbing the Poppy because being continually told i should wear one is guaranteed to mean i won't and secondly because i believe that rather than send young men and women off to fight wars and then stand around looking solemn wearing a red flower once a year, just don't send them to fight wars in the first place.
Wearing a poppy used to be about WW1 & WW2 but now it seems to commemorate every war including the wrong-headed ones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and who can say that any war or conflict that Britain has fought since 1945 has been justifiable?
The idea of wearing a poppy seems to have become co-opted by politicians to justify their folly and it has become 'patriotic' but i will not wear something that is used to support wars, either conflicts past or the ones we are currently embroiled in.
The argument is that people gave their lives for our freedom and it is obscene that some of us refuse to honour that debt by not wearing a poppy but i say that the freedoms they fought for includes being free to not be ordered how to honour the war dead by a poppy fundamentalists and if more people thought like me and the 20% who refuse to approve of what our military does, then there wouldn't be the widespread death and destruction that is currently going on around the World.
According to a survey by researchers Consumer Intelligence, the top reasons given by those who object to pinning the red flower on their person said it was because they felt bullied into supporting the Poppy Appeal, it glorified war and seems to show support for the military.
One in five adults plan to snub the symbolic flower and i am amongst them because i never have worn one and have had more than few 'discussions' with people who try and bully me into it.
I can relate to the 20% of adults snubbing the Poppy because being continually told i should wear one is guaranteed to mean i won't and secondly because i believe that rather than send young men and women off to fight wars and then stand around looking solemn wearing a red flower once a year, just don't send them to fight wars in the first place.
Wearing a poppy used to be about WW1 & WW2 but now it seems to commemorate every war including the wrong-headed ones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and who can say that any war or conflict that Britain has fought since 1945 has been justifiable?
The idea of wearing a poppy seems to have become co-opted by politicians to justify their folly and it has become 'patriotic' but i will not wear something that is used to support wars, either conflicts past or the ones we are currently embroiled in.
The argument is that people gave their lives for our freedom and it is obscene that some of us refuse to honour that debt by not wearing a poppy but i say that the freedoms they fought for includes being free to not be ordered how to honour the war dead by a poppy fundamentalists and if more people thought like me and the 20% who refuse to approve of what our military does, then there wouldn't be the widespread death and destruction that is currently going on around the World.
Priti Patel's Israeli Plan More Than Inappropriate
She may have the name Priti but the MP for Witham is anything but, a renown ultra-right winger, Priti Patel is at the time of writing still holding onto her job but is widely expected to be sacked following her summons to Downing Street.
Priti's crime was to hold 12 secret meetings with Israeli officials and not tell the Government what she was up to, then to make matters worse she said she DID inform the Foreign Office what she was up to and then two days later admitted actually, she never informed anyone and it was 14 meetings.
So far so bad but it is what she was meeting the Israeli's about which really topped it all off, she wanted to give aid to the Israeli military to treat wounded Syrian refugees in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights region, a request that was turned down as 'inappropriate' by the Government.
To get it straight, she wanted to give tax-payers money to a country who are occupying a part of Syria to treat Syrians who are largely wounded by the Israeli military while protesting against their occupation.
Inappropriate doesn't even begin to cover it, Israel should be sanctioned to the hilt for what they get up to, it's the funding that America gives them that allows them to keep acting like the unpleasant and repulsive occupiers that they are, that we would have any part in maintaining such an objectionable and poisonous regime in Israel is more than inappropriate, it's just plain wrong.
Theresa May is having a hard time lately and her cabinet making her look weaker and undermining her at every turn can only usher in another election and new Government, one that will hopefully not keep up the devastating austerity measures while wanting to send our money to one of the most murderous regimes on the planet.
Update: Handed her P45 so gone and hopefully forgotten, next up Boris Johnson!!
Priti's crime was to hold 12 secret meetings with Israeli officials and not tell the Government what she was up to, then to make matters worse she said she DID inform the Foreign Office what she was up to and then two days later admitted actually, she never informed anyone and it was 14 meetings.
So far so bad but it is what she was meeting the Israeli's about which really topped it all off, she wanted to give aid to the Israeli military to treat wounded Syrian refugees in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights region, a request that was turned down as 'inappropriate' by the Government.
To get it straight, she wanted to give tax-payers money to a country who are occupying a part of Syria to treat Syrians who are largely wounded by the Israeli military while protesting against their occupation.
Inappropriate doesn't even begin to cover it, Israel should be sanctioned to the hilt for what they get up to, it's the funding that America gives them that allows them to keep acting like the unpleasant and repulsive occupiers that they are, that we would have any part in maintaining such an objectionable and poisonous regime in Israel is more than inappropriate, it's just plain wrong.
Theresa May is having a hard time lately and her cabinet making her look weaker and undermining her at every turn can only usher in another election and new Government, one that will hopefully not keep up the devastating austerity measures while wanting to send our money to one of the most murderous regimes on the planet.
Update: Handed her P45 so gone and hopefully forgotten, next up Boris Johnson!!
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
Uk Government Wobbling
It was always a case of not if the British Government collapses but when and even the strongest and stablest Government would be tottering under pressure of the past week.
The sex scandal with the spreadsheet of 40 Tory MP's accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour is refusing to go away, the list of MP's either sacked, walking or desperately keeping their heads down untl it blows over grows everyday.
Accusations from victims that they reported the assaults to May herself when she was Home Secretary but were swept under the carpet continue.
Boris Johnson's thoughtless mutterings may have landed British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe five extra years in jail in Iran after claiming she was carrying out journalism training when she was arrested, blowing a hole in her 'i was there on holiday' alibi while Theresa May and her number two, Derek Hammond, have fallen out in a big way and wasn't helped by May handing one of the
top jobs in Government, Defence Secretary, to her most bullish supporter but someone with no experience over more appropriate candidates leading to a concerted backlash from her Party.
In a blow to her leadership, Priti Patel, Secretary of State for International Development, has been found to have held meetings with influencers in the Middle East without telling the PM or the Foreign Office and the whole Brexit thing and the ineptitude of the Government in negotiations with the EU reverberate around continuously.
All in all a bad week for Theresa May and her wobbling Government and that isn't be a bad thing because as Governments go, this one has been awful.
The sex scandal with the spreadsheet of 40 Tory MP's accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour is refusing to go away, the list of MP's either sacked, walking or desperately keeping their heads down untl it blows over grows everyday.
Accusations from victims that they reported the assaults to May herself when she was Home Secretary but were swept under the carpet continue.
Boris Johnson's thoughtless mutterings may have landed British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe five extra years in jail in Iran after claiming she was carrying out journalism training when she was arrested, blowing a hole in her 'i was there on holiday' alibi while Theresa May and her number two, Derek Hammond, have fallen out in a big way and wasn't helped by May handing one of the
top jobs in Government, Defence Secretary, to her most bullish supporter but someone with no experience over more appropriate candidates leading to a concerted backlash from her Party.
In a blow to her leadership, Priti Patel, Secretary of State for International Development, has been found to have held meetings with influencers in the Middle East without telling the PM or the Foreign Office and the whole Brexit thing and the ineptitude of the Government in negotiations with the EU reverberate around continuously.
All in all a bad week for Theresa May and her wobbling Government and that isn't be a bad thing because as Governments go, this one has been awful.
Monday, 6 November 2017
Gun Massacre Template
I'm as surprised as anyone but it turns out that guns do kill people, and the best way to kill lots of people in the shortest space of time is to use a rapid fire assault rifle.
Shocking i know but luckily the country that sells guns in supermarkets won't be put off by a little thing like yet another massacre, it is their right to be able to buy weapons with their weekly shop because you never know when us British will turn up with a box of matches and try to burn down the White House again.
The sticking point is that the right to bear arms is in the constitution and nobody has yet come up with a way to amend the constitution, an amendment or some such thing.
Anyway, there are so many gun massacres in the USA these days that it is hard to keep finding ways to express the shock and horror that in a country awash with guns and whack-a-doodle gun laws, the occasional loony tune goes on a rampage and shoots lots of people in churches, schools, shopping centres and cinemas.
To save time i have a designed a template to copy and paste each time.
America, we are shocked and stunned that there has been yet another mass shooting, this time in [insert US city] where a mad man/men [delete as applicable] with access to high powered weapons brutally gunned down [insert number] and wounded [insert number].
Your current President [insert President surname] has said that this isn't the time to talk about gun control so close to [insert number] being killed in [insert city] just as it wasn't after [insert number] where killed in [insert city].
As this is the latest mass shooting since [enter last mass shooting], we are pretty sure that this time your Government will finally pay attention and look into gun control and your utterly bat shit crazy gun laws.
Failing this, i am sure that the gun-nuts will be out in force putting forward the argument that what is needed is more of the weapons that were used to massacre people as they went about their business in [insert place of massacre] but that is the argument of [insert name for butt] whom put their right to bear arms above the right to not be violently blown away in a [insert scene of latest mass shooting], the [insert name for male genitals].
Shocking i know but luckily the country that sells guns in supermarkets won't be put off by a little thing like yet another massacre, it is their right to be able to buy weapons with their weekly shop because you never know when us British will turn up with a box of matches and try to burn down the White House again.
The sticking point is that the right to bear arms is in the constitution and nobody has yet come up with a way to amend the constitution, an amendment or some such thing.
Anyway, there are so many gun massacres in the USA these days that it is hard to keep finding ways to express the shock and horror that in a country awash with guns and whack-a-doodle gun laws, the occasional loony tune goes on a rampage and shoots lots of people in churches, schools, shopping centres and cinemas.
To save time i have a designed a template to copy and paste each time.
America, we are shocked and stunned that there has been yet another mass shooting, this time in [insert US city] where a mad man/men [delete as applicable] with access to high powered weapons brutally gunned down [insert number] and wounded [insert number].
Your current President [insert President surname] has said that this isn't the time to talk about gun control so close to [insert number] being killed in [insert city] just as it wasn't after [insert number] where killed in [insert city].
As this is the latest mass shooting since [enter last mass shooting], we are pretty sure that this time your Government will finally pay attention and look into gun control and your utterly bat shit crazy gun laws.
Failing this, i am sure that the gun-nuts will be out in force putting forward the argument that what is needed is more of the weapons that were used to massacre people as they went about their business in [insert place of massacre] but that is the argument of [insert name for butt] whom put their right to bear arms above the right to not be violently blown away in a [insert scene of latest mass shooting], the [insert name for male genitals].
Sunday, 5 November 2017
The Paradise Papers
Kind of ironic that as i was gathering together the evidence to take to my agent for my Tax Return, news broke of a leak of 13.4m files that expose the world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport sheltering their wealth and avoiding paying tax in secretive tax havens.
Called The Paradise Papers, the leak is from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens and is currently in the hands of the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.
The first revelations focus on the Queen's private estate investing millions in an offshore tax haven, Donald Trump's commerce secretary continued business links with a company owned by Vladimir Putin's daughter and son in law, two Russian state institutions with close ties to Vladimir Putin funding substantial investments in Twitter and Facebook through a business partner of Donald
Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.
Also in the spotlight are the chief fundraiser and senior adviser to the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who is involved in the movement of millions of dollars to offshore tax havens, the business manager of INXS star Michael Hutchence’s setting up a company in the tax haven of Mauritius and the close financial relationship between Premier League Clubs Arsenal and Everton.
Expected to be dripped out over weeks and even months, the owners of the Paradise Papers promise to release further revelations of aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple, extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors and how some of the biggest names in the film and TV industries protect their wealth with an
array of offshore schemes.
The documents stretch back 70 years and it must be mentioned that in most cases there is no evidence of wrongdoing and it is perfectly legal to reduce your tax bills, that said the moral implications and potential embarrassment that multi-millionaires are jumping through a multitude of hoops to reduce the amount of tax they pay could be a problem for them.
The big problems could be for those who now have the spotlight shone on some of their links with less than favourable people.
Called The Paradise Papers, the leak is from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens and is currently in the hands of the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.
The first revelations focus on the Queen's private estate investing millions in an offshore tax haven, Donald Trump's commerce secretary continued business links with a company owned by Vladimir Putin's daughter and son in law, two Russian state institutions with close ties to Vladimir Putin funding substantial investments in Twitter and Facebook through a business partner of Donald
Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.
Also in the spotlight are the chief fundraiser and senior adviser to the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who is involved in the movement of millions of dollars to offshore tax havens, the business manager of INXS star Michael Hutchence’s setting up a company in the tax haven of Mauritius and the close financial relationship between Premier League Clubs Arsenal and Everton.
Expected to be dripped out over weeks and even months, the owners of the Paradise Papers promise to release further revelations of aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple, extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors and how some of the biggest names in the film and TV industries protect their wealth with an
array of offshore schemes.
The documents stretch back 70 years and it must be mentioned that in most cases there is no evidence of wrongdoing and it is perfectly legal to reduce your tax bills, that said the moral implications and potential embarrassment that multi-millionaires are jumping through a multitude of hoops to reduce the amount of tax they pay could be a problem for them.
The big problems could be for those who now have the spotlight shone on some of their links with less than favourable people.
Remember, Remember The 5th of November
Back in days of yore, one of the finest British traditions was tying people to poles and setting fire to them but in the early 17th Century, as well as women with warts and Frenchies, we added Catholics to the potential burnee's list after Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and along with it King James.We have always remembered the anniversary to this day although due to Health and Safety rules we can no longer burn real Catholics and have to make do with burning effigies instead.
The gunpowder plot was a comedy of errors as the original date of Parliament opening was delayed until November due to the plague so the first batch of 36 gunpowder barrels had decayed so they had to wheel in more and the plot was overheard by a soldier on the other side of the wall of the cellar they were using and then one of the conspirators wrote to his MP friend telling him to stay away from Parliament on the 5th as they were going to blow it up.
The letter went to King James himself and Guy Fawkes was caught red handed entering the cellar below Parliament with a match and he was charged with high treason and the judge ordered that he be drawn by horse to the gallows where he would be hung until he was halfway between living and dead, then his genitals would be cut off and burnt before his eyes and his bowels and heart removed. Then he would be decapitated and his quartered and the dismembered parts of the body displayed so that they might become prey for the fowls of the air.
The execution didn't go to plan as after the initial drawn part of the sentence, the hanging broke Fawkes neck killing him instantly but undeterred, the Government still had his genitals removed and burnt before quartering him between four horses and gutted anyway.
Ever since, 5 November has always been called Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night and it became the custom to burn an effigy of whichever public figures have become targets for the public's ire, Margaret Thatcher was always popular in the 80s but George W Bush and Tony Blair were regular recipients in recent years and Donald Trump was by far the most popular effigy last year and the countries largest bonfire in Lewes have gone with Trump again this year and partnered him with a giant Harvey Weinstein, two very deserving targets.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)