apis

@apis@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Should you have to pay for online privacy?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  We dumbly agree, out of convenience or some notion that if we wanted to read the paper edition we’d have to pay for it, but one can shell out cash for the paper, pick it up in a waiting room, read a friend’s copy, etc.

  As soon as we attach a subscription to an online edition, all that happens is they get more data on us (as we are les inclined to delete their tracking cookies) whilst handing over solid confirmation that we are who they suspected we probably are.

  If you must subscribe, use a dedicated browser & multiple measures to confound tracking.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The trouble with England – why rioting in the UK has not spread to Scotland and Wales⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Nah, they’re nutters with very weird ideas about Britishness, Irishness & everything else, but they no more look to the English for ideas about their own identity & how to manifest it than the English look to NI loyalists as a guide.

  If anything they tend to rather despise Englishness, seeing their own culture as the one true, loyal holdout to the Union.

  The aprons do seek to emulate Masonic regalia, but the ideals of the Orange Order are entirely contrary to those of Freemasonry, which in any case is not specifically English or even British.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Woman who ‘first shared fake name’ of Southport suspect arrested⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In the absence of irrelevant descriptors, many people struggle to remember that fascists can seem quite normal in other respects. Giving a few details helps them to imagine the woman. In turn this can quell fallacies that attach to ideas about “respectable” or “nice”.

  That doesn’t matter with regard to this woman as her behaviour is now a matter for the courts, but reminds Times readers that the terror threat doesn’t come solely from disaffected louts hopped up on larger & sun exposure (& who may be quite partial to kicking off violently anyhow).

  I’d think that in the absence of much to go on about her, they lifted stuff from her Twitter bio.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hackney shooting: Girl, 9, critical after four shot in Dalston⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What’s with the article putting “innocent victim” inside inverted commas?

  Sure, they may be quoting a witness, but is there need to quote that specifically? Was anyone thinking that a nine year old child shot having dinner with her family is somehow culpable for the violence done to her?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Northern Lights could be visible in England and Wales as severe solar storm to hit overnight⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Mmmmmrrrm. Idk, saw them as a child & though I had not heard of them at the time & therefore had no expectations, not even the most dramatic, high-tech camera footage has come close to those moments.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Northern Lights could be visible in England and Wales as severe solar storm to hit overnight⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Overheard a lady tonight claiming they were visible “all around, everywhere, just get outside” on the phone to her friend in the centre of Birmingham. Tried to ask her for tips, but she was too distracted by it all & not looking at the sky in any case.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Iraqi refugee's 7-year old daughter who died in the Channel was born in Belgium and lived in Sweden, but has never been in Iraq⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Quite, lol. Nuffink to lose tho’!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Iraqi refugee's 7-year old daughter who died in the Channel was born in Belgium and lived in Sweden, but has never been in Iraq⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The article does not suggest that it is.

  The guy is appealing to the sympathy of the British government, but also does not suggest it is a British problem, and likely knows he won’t even get a response - he just has nothing to lose by asking.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨NHS charter to stress biological sex when placing patients in wards⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Right, because screeching about trans, non-binary and intersex people as if they’re to blame for a decade & a half of Tory asset-wrecking deathly malfeasance will totally magic this extra NHS capacity into reality.

  (Ok, they didn’t mention the latter two, because they never do, but we all know how it goes).

  Tbh I think staff on the wards will be able to ignore this, as the demand for care far exceeds availability, but they shouldn’t fucking have to.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If Britain is so bothered by China, why do these .gov.uk sites use Chinese ad brokers?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Because Tory cuts mean the money to run these websites has to be found elsewhere.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Not just mums go to Iceland: supermarket drops slogan to be more inclusive⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Can recall being a young teenager and being on the one hand struck that they were suddenly including men as consumers of household products, but at the same time that they were depicting these men as bizarre & wildly incompetent.

  It took a further TWO DECADES to see an ad with a normal using a normal product like a normal person.

  Was splendidly unaware of the substantive issues back then, so that I even noticed this as startling seems telling.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Thames Water nationalisation plan could move bulk of £15bn debt to state⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Aye, it is a whole thing.

  All of the “safeguards” they used to get the public to accept privatisation back in the day were sleights of hand.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Warning after people fined because they used Royal Mail stamps⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Makes one nervous that this will be yet another scandal in which postmasters & postmistresses end up under attack…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨UK Monarchy Opinion Survey⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Go for it :)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨UK Monarchy Opinion Survey⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Won’t use the survey as it is on MS. Am sure they know me better than I know myself, but prefer to avoid nevertheless.

  Abolish, but if we’re pushing for major reforms, ditching FPTP in favour of STV seems a far greater priority.

  If we end up going for ab elected figurehead, the US model seems awfully risky, but that used by Ireland could be ok?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨England heads for obesity disaster as minister frets about nanny state⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, but she’s got to consider growing all those donations from the sugar & processed food lobbyists.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ex-minister David Davis intervenes in street attack near Parliament⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Good on him.

  Intervening is scary, because it is genuinely risky, and though the article mentions he has training, that was a long time ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨question: in the UK we get alot of boycott calls. But should there be a set period for a boycott? I submit a range of offences should have a period of time. 1) food poisoning: 6 months⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Only if one interprets an apology as a meaningful change of behaviour.

  Depending on context, one might, I’d think that would be reserved for matters of simple human error, and even then I think one would still wish to see measures to prevent similar in future.

  Hosing down a homeless person doesn’t fall into that category, being intentionally awful, and likely emerging from abusive or highly neglectful management practices. For things like this, one would be seeking changes which go to addressing the core of the offence.

  In reality it is hard to assess whether reforms have been implemented, especially with huge multinationals that can deploy heavy PR campaigns, but I don’t know that anyone is going to cry if a boycott persists somewhat longer than is necessary.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Here’s how the Tories will continue their war on the less well-off in the King’s speech⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Tories gon’ tear everything that isn’t bad to shreds.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Abandoned Commandos: Dozens of Afghans who served in special forces units funded and trained by the UK have been murdered or tortured by the Taliban⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They straight up refused to bother processing their applications once withdrawal began & since then deported the few who’d already made it to the UK (on these visas).

  Good luck persuading locals to assist in any future foreign mission!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rwanda can be trusted, Supreme Court told⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Eh, thing is, he doesn’t need to persuade anyone who is against the mistreatment of others that the idea is horrific - they already know this without having to have anyone point it out, and are already firmly against proposals like this.

  But he does need to persuade the chunk of the population that are indifferent to the plight of migrants, or who believe that cruelty is an effective tool, or who embrace cruelty for itself, to also reject this proposal. He won’t want to draw their attention to the awfulness of the idea, as this group will be disinterested at best.

  Without them on board, it will be considerably harder to force the Tories to back down, and though Labour will win the next election and can end any measure then, that still leaves time for tens of thousands of people to be forcibly removed to Rwanda.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Office co-ordinator who took 28 months maternity leave before refusing to return to work loses unfair dismissal claim⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s always going to be a handful of people who are either too detached from reality to grasp that they don’t have a case, and another handful who know they don’t have a case but who are willing to chance a ridiculous claim.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨No More Empty Docks, Offenders Forced to Face Victims⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Populist garbage.

  Sentencing already reflects the behaviour of the defendant subsequent to the crime, so that they can get a hefty discount the sooner they plead guilty, whereas if they constantly do things that frustrate the whole process they can see the upper end of what is an allowable sentence. Refusing to appear in court, whether as a defendant or as a convict awaiting sentence makes no difference to the process.