andrewducker | Interesting Links for 18-10-2018

andrewducker

FactCheck: Corbyn cherry-picks hate crime stats: (tags: crime statistics uk )
Bank of England raises alarm over surge in high-risk lending: So, how long until the next crash?
(tags: uk loans banking doom risk )
Brexit latest: Polls show Brits increasingly believe voting to leave was wrong in hindsight: (tags: UK europe polls )
There’s nothing dystopian at all about these high-tech blinkers for humans.: No, really. It's for the employee's own good. They _love_ them.
(tags: work OhForFucksSake )
I've occasionally wondered about the extreme levels of makeup some people wear...: (tags: makeup society selfies )
What do liberals really think about Trump supporters: (tags: usa politics republicans )
Immune culprits linked to inflammation and bone loss in gum disease identified: (tags: teeth dental microbiome inflammation )
Letting the sunshine in may kill dust-dwelling bacteria: (tags: bacteria light )
Can picture books help stressed young kids?: (tags: children mentalhealth books )
US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty: (tags: usa China postoffices )
Orkney islands could get first electric plane service: (tags: Scotland electricity airplanes )
Kleenex bins 'Mansize' tissues: (tags: GoodNews gender marketing )
It would be a big mistake for May to rely on Labour MPs to push through her Brexit deal: (tags: UK europe labour )
Senior Lib Dems call on media to apologise to transgender people over hostile coverage: (tags: transgender lgbt libdem uk media )

Crossposts: https://andrewducker.livejournal.com/3733218.html

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From:

lilysea

While I certainly wouldn't want them to be compulsory or coercive,

blinkers would actually help me (and people like me)

who have
PTSD
hypervigilance
concentration difficulties
ADHD...

From:

cmcmck

Sadly the Lib Dems can rant about this all they like- the BBC are among the worst culprits and when you add in the so called oh so left liberal 'Guardian' you know there is precious little hope.

Society has change hugely, but these people haven't caught up with the fact.

When Richard Littlejohn was allowed to commit ritual murder in all but name by media (google on 'Lucy Meadows'to find out more) I knew there was little hope left. And this had come on top of hideous attacks from people like Julie Bindel and others of a TERF-ish persuasion which I have personal reason to know led to a spate of suicides among young trans women.

This sort of thing was why I spent my teaching career in what was known as 'deep stealth'. Horrible term, but self protection meant it was necessary, never mind the useage!

From:

calimac

Why is it news that people are having misgivings over the Brexit vote? That's been obvious for a long time now, which is why supporters are so opposed to a rematch.

The most makeup-savvy woman I knew at university, my roommate's girlfriend, was adamant that good makeup enhances appearance while looking like there's no makeup, and once proved it by doing up half of her face and letting me take a close look.

The liberal screed against Trump is good but doesn't go far enough. The Trumpists would reply, "Not as bad as Hillary," so you need another section about falling for the nonsensical charges against her. Besides, there was plenty of opportunity for Republicans to get another candidate, and plenty of people begging them to do so.

"Extra Large" isn't just a less sexist term than "Mansize", it's clearer and more informative.

I've never heard of any of the Labour MPs mentioned in the article about the Brexit deal. It shows how hard it is for us overseas to follow the details of UK politics, especially in the opposition. I remember when John Smith died, a conversation about who might succeed him was stymied by none of us knowing much about the candidate pool. (Hard to imagine now, but really we didn't.) I'd be equally stymied today if a successor to Corbyn were suddenly needed.

From a safe distance, it's as fascinating as it is disturbing how transphobia is the last allowable prejudice among those most sure they're prejudice-free. (Though I see that anti-Semitism is on the rise again.) I also note the term "free reign" in the letter, which suggests that it was written by monarchists who've never ridden a horse.

From:

danieldwilliam

I don't think it's news that people are having misgivings over Brexit. The key piece of information is the trajectory of public opinion about Brexit and what the rate of change of acceleration on public opinion is. Will enough people change their minds quickly enough and are more people changing their minds, more fervently the closer we get to Brexit. The more people and the faster their numbers are growing (and being seen to grow) the easier it is for politicians to oppose Brexit itself, or particular forms of it.

From:

cmcmck

From close up it's rather more scary but given the other rising hate that you mention and my ancestry, I don't exactly get a go by there either and that's before mentioning that anti Romani prejudice is also on the rise across Europe (if it ever went away). :o(

All these seem to be okay with the self styled 'prejudice free'.

From:

doug

There's some nasty stuff on social media about the Kleenex tissue branding, which I will skate over in favour of a silly ancient joke that, if it is mine, is only so through uninterrupted possession for decades.

My theory is that the change is not for the stated reason, but is because Kleenex were wide open to challenges under consumer protection legislation. There is no way those tissues are mansize. Even very small men are much bigger.

From:

andrewducker

https://giphy.com/gifs/who-loved-tycoon-ChDyoCjuUnuMw

From:

danieldwilliam

I *think* all the chat from Corbyn about wanting a General Election is probably designed to soften up the public for Labour MP's not supporting May's Brexit deal and bringing down the government. "We told you our first priority was bringing down the government, and we did exactly that."

From:

mountainkiss

To what extent do you think Corbyn can command the parliamentary party?

From:

danieldwilliam

It is somewhat limited I think.

It's on an issue where there is lots of cover to break ranks. You might even say that there are not clear and coherent ranks on the Labour side to break.

The leavers in the PLP are uncontrollable. They stand a good chance of being deselected by their local CLP in any event.

Corbyn has taken a much harder line with dissenters than his predecessors. This is because he is a hypocritcal bastard without the wisdom to realise that just because *he* disagrees with them it doesn't necessarily follow that they are any less principled then he was when he was a backbench dessenter his history of dissenting requires him to tolerate it less lest the Party become unmanagable.

He is also running out of sanctions. Given the threats of deselection were I a Labour MP I might consider that my chances of being an MP in 2022 were slim so I might was well rebel over Europe and then join the Co-Operative Party in Parliament.

On the other hand, voting to prop up a Tory government is pretty high on the list of things Labour MP's are against. They probably reckon that there is time to bring down the May government and then stop or soften Brexit over Christmas.

There is also the fact that whilst it is the convention that the leader of the party should become Prime Minister if that party is the party of government it is not the law (see Churchill and Chamberlain).

From:

mountainkiss

That's what I think too. His lack of willingness to build coalitions in the parliamentary party might come back to haunt him, and if so then I feel it would be poetic justice. That said, there are other factors here that are quite significant and I don't know how easy they are to map. Most specifically: Labour MPs in Leave vs. Remain constituencies and trends of polling in those areas, personal convictions of the MPs on a number of fronts*, size of majority, personal history with Corbyn, personal history with the Whips' office. Others that I have not thought of. I hope / expect that someone is modelling this on an individual basis. She does need a lot of votes, though. There must be a minimum of 30 in the ERG who will vote her down, plus some on the other extreme (Clarke / Soubry at least), plus the DUP I am pretty sure will go to the stake on their blood red lines. That would be quite a rebellion. * I think there are two kinds of moderate Labour MP: those with left- wing convictions but moderate natures, and Blairites who genuinely think Corbynism as bad as Toryism. I couldn't begin to tell you how they divide up.

From:

danieldwilliam

He has not built bridges with the PLP. I think he has correctly recognised that they alone can not remove him as Leader but he's missed the fact that he, alone, can not remove them as MPs and as MP they can vote as they like subject to the considerations that you noted.

I doubt that there would be many Labour MP's who would support May's Brexit plan if they thought there was a chance to bring down the government. (Can you imagine for instance the SNP campaiging after the Labour Party has propped up a Tory government - that's about 3 decades worth of 50 SNP MP's right there.)

MP's themselves do not have a good grasp of the constitution. In particular the Fixed Term Parliament Act. They may not operate rationally just out of a failure to understand the rules properly.

The Whips are supposed to be modelling it and influencing it.

The Brexit polling might well be very influential. I think if soft Brexit and No Brexit were polling a combined 75% then it becomes very easy for the Labour Party to vote down May's deal.

From:

mountainkiss

What do you see as the implications of the FTPA that they are not understanding, and how do you see that shaping their behaviour? I have read your comment above but think I'm perhaps missing something.

From:

danieldwilliam

Many MPs have not really absorbed the fact that it exists.

From:

mountainkiss

I understand that but I don’t understand what it means they are doing or not doing about.

From:

danieldwilliam

Not thinking through the process that triggers a change of government and therefore getting the sequence, arithmetic, timing and key actors wrong.

For example Teresa May can not trigger a general election on her own.

From:

mountainkiss

I see what you mean, I think.

From:

danieldwilliam

I reckon a cheaper alternative to an electric plane for Papa Westray would be a large trebuchet.

From:

cmcmck

Since you can see one airfield clearly from the other, you may well be right! :o)

From:

danieldwilliam

Or a rollercoaster.

From:

cmcmck

In truth, the Golden Marianna (that's the local ferry) is more fun anyway!

From:

andrewducker

I was wondering why there was a flight at all, rather than a boat service.

From:

cmcmck

World's shortest scheduled airline flight- it's a tourist draw.

From:

birguslatro

Some of the competition to be the first with an electric service...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3fQI2wqiHQ

They've just signed a deal with Air New Zealand.

Edited Date: 2018-10-19 09:47 am (UTC)

From:

danieldwilliam

The flight has some sort of obligatory status in that Orkney Council are obliged in law to have it provided.

Why that is the case I don't know. As suggested, tourism helps.

I don't think that the straight between the islands is particularly troublesome.

From:

cmcmck

It isn't but there was a time that Papay didn't have its own ferry.

The Marianna is comparatively new.

From:

danieldwilliam

I do like the ferries in Orkney. The Hamnavoe is lovely and they do a great breakfast which I enjoy if the rest of my family are not suffering seasickness too badly. The ferry from the Mainland to Hoy through Scapa Bay is delightful.

From:

cmcmck

Although the crossing from the mainland can be lumpy!

I have to admit that we find it easier to fly over from Edinburgh having got a train up from Wolverhampton (we live in deepest Shropshire).

We were over to Hoy from Stromness earlier this year and walked over to Rackwick Bay. It is a delightful place.

From:

danieldwilliam

We've flown from Edinburgh which worked well but we now usually drive up with an overnight stay in Inverness.

My wife isn't a great sailor but she can just about cope with the Hamnavoe and the hassle and expense of hiring a car just about persuades her to drive and sail rather than fly. I think we'd fly if we could persuade my dad to keep a car on the island but tends to go from Aberdeen.

From:

birguslatro

It all depends on whether you believe they voted for Trump, as apposed to against the status-quo. I'm sure it's the latter - just a brick through the window of the established norms.

And consider this: if Hilary had won, four out of the last five Presidents would've come from just two families. Does that sound like a functioning democracy to you? Instinct alone should've been enough to know something was rotten in American politics.

Democracies are essentially a negative system. If you're happy with things, you vote for who's already in power. Thus change happens when people are not happy with things.

From:

andrewducker

I totally hope people responsible for voting for Trump.

I feel a bit different for, for instance, Cameron's Conservatives, when they were in full on 'we've changed, we hug hoodies nowadays' mode. But Trump was entirely clear about his intentions, and so were the other republicans.

From:

birguslatro

'hope'? 'hate'?

But the Republican elite didn't want Trump. He's there for the same reason Corbyn's the leader of your Labour Party - the grass roots wanted him, and many joined the party just to vote for him.

And you're still not getting it: people vote for or against whoever's currently in power. Democracy's a negative system, not a positive one. And Trump was the only choice on offer for those who wanted to vote against the status-quo.

From:

birguslatro

Followup. Read this...

https://popula.com/2018/10/15/the-center-held-just-fine/

From:

andrewducker

I just read it. I have no idea what I was supposed to get from it, as it didn't seem to have anything coherent tying it together.

I'm sure I was supposed to get something from paragraphs like:
In any case both essays, written thirty years apart, are getting at roughly the same thing, namely that the American Dream is a myth and a fraud because the tough pioneer spirit that animated Didion’s own ancestors, and also John Wayne, is dead; and now these gross, unworthy new people, such as hippies and illiterate mall-shopping Lakewood matrons, deserve what they get—more or less.

But I'm not sure what it is.

From:

birguslatro

Well, the next paragraph started out coherent enough...

"Didion’s work is an unrelenting exercise in class superiority, and it will soon be as unendurable as a minstrel show. It is the calf-bound, gilt-edged bible of neoliberal meritocracy..."

From:

andrewducker

And then descended into an attack on a woman I'd never heard of, and don't care about.

I'm still totally unsure what I'm supposed to be getting from it.

From:

birguslatro

That you're not seeing the wood for the trees, same as she's saying that writer didn't (or deliberately didn't) by focusing on drug-addled hippies as representing the counter-culture of the 60s/70s. Or that the lower middle-class really shouldn't aspire to home-ownership, even though they were able to when their jobs were funded by Cold War defense spending.

And you're ignoring the woods for the trees by assuming the few who turn up to Trump rallies and get interviewed explain why, after the US voted Obama in twice, they then voted in Trump.

There's deep-seated reasons why Trump's the US President, (or the UK's got Brexit to deal with), and they have much the same cause: a large percentage of their populations have been conveniently ignored for decades as their standard of living has been declining. But then they were offered a means to get some attention and they took it.

(Note I'm older than that writer, so grew up in the 60s, not the 70s, and Trump's a good five years older than me. I had no trouble understanding what she was talking about.)

From:

andrewducker

I get that people do that.

You're not getting that I hold them responsible for doing it.

From:

birguslatro

Sure, they're responsible for it.

But why should they keep voting for the lesser of two evils when it'd just mean their standard of living would keep on dropping while those at the top, both liberal and conservative, would keep on rising? At least Trump is causing the liberals some pain as well. And who knows, maybe it'll be enough pain for the Democrats to come up with economic policies that would make a real difference. (I wouldn't hold your breath though.)

From:

andrewducker

I'm not saying they should vote Democrat.

I'm saying that there are other approaches than "vote for the fascists". Other parties which exist, grass-roots approaches to try and sway the major parties or reform the system entirely.

"The Dems are rubbish, so I voted for the racists." is...not something I have any time for.

From:

birguslatro

But it probably needs a Trump to shock them into reform. (Though I doubt it will.) New Zealand switched to PR after three terms of a Robert Muldoon-led government. He was very Trump-like, though smarter. (Hence the 3 terms.) His supporters were known as Rob's Mob. He gave us this...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=1981+Springbok+Tour&t=ffsb&iax=images&ia=images

and much more besides.

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