General News Thread

[leicsmac]

...wrt the above, the current US administration has made many horribly damaging decisions, but this one might be one of the most damaging of them all, in time:

 

 

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

...wrt the above, the current US administration has made many horribly damaging decisions, but this one might be one of the most damaging of them all, in time:

 

 

Christ.  That is pretty depressing.

[leicsmac]

10 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Christ.  That is pretty depressing.

It's darkly fascinating how the mindset of people like that and their lust for power creates so many different possible ways that all human civilisation itself can be destroyed. (A combination of them is also rather likely.)

 

 

[Jon the Hat]

49 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It's darkly fascinating how the mindset of people like that and their lust for power creates so many different possible ways that all human civilisation itself can be destroyed. (A combination of them is also rather likely.)

 

 

While I don't agree that all human civilisation is going to be destroyed, they are certainly not helping anyone except themselves.

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

While I don't agree that all human civilisation is going to be destroyed, they are certainly not helping anyone except themselves.

I should elaborate that it's by no means a certainty, merely a possibility that keeps getting larger the more stunts like this get pulled. 

 

That very national self-interest that you talk about may well be the thing that ends up breaking it all. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

53 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

While I don't agree that all human civilisation is going to be destroyed, they are certainly not helping anyone except themselves.

[Bellend Sebastian]

I'm not sure that's how you Unite the Kingdom, but innocent until proven guilty and all that

 

https://metro.co.uk/2026/06/30/raise-colours-figure-accused-making-indecent-images-children-28990224/

[filthyfox]

8 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

As global warming increases, it might be essential to move the capital to Manchester.

Mate- i live by the sea.

There certainly isnt a CATASTROPHIC rise in sea levels.

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, filthyfox said:

Mate- i live by the sea.

There certainly isnt a CATASTROPHIC rise in sea levels.

I would hope that the OP had their tongue in cheek for that one. 

 

The farmers giving legitimate and fearful warnings of reduced crop outputs due to more extreme weather events driven by climate change... that, however, is rather real. 

[Jon the Hat]

11 hours ago, leicsmac said:

I would hope that the OP had their tongue in cheek for that one. 

 

The farmers giving legitimate and fearful warnings of reduced crop outputs due to more extreme weather events driven by climate change... that, however, is rather real. 

We could certainly do with some significant study into where we should be growing crops if things continue to go that way.  I was encouraged by the Smart farming stuff on the 5th series of Clarjsons farm, learning from the Dutch on maximising yields and minimising waste and run off.  Clever stuff.  Malthus be damned.

[leicsmac]

3 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

We could certainly do with some significant study into where we should be growing crops if things continue to go that way.  I was encouraged by the Smart farming stuff on the 5th series of Clarjsons farm, learning from the Dutch on maximising yields and minimising waste and run off.  Clever stuff.  Malthus be damned.

Adaptation techniques of that type should definitely be welcomed, studied and utilised.

 

It will not, however, be enough by itself - in the UK or the wider world - to prevent real problems if the current course continues. Minimisation of the forthcoming changes still has to be the priority.

[Innovindil]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clye9zn0y1ro

 

[leicsmac]

22 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clye9zn0y1ro

 

Not exactly the kind of local celebrity the region needs. 

[Jon the Hat]

36 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Adaptation techniques of that type should definitely be welcomed, studied and utilised.

It will not, however, be enough by itself - in the UK or the wider world - to prevent real problems if the current course continues. Minimisation of the forthcoming changes still has to be the priority.

If we can desalinate water with solar (we can) and pump it with solar or wind, then I don't see why we should have food shortages anywhere.  We will pay more for it though.

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

If we can desalinate water with solar (we can) and pump it with solar or wind, then I don't see why we should have food shortages anywhere.  We will pay more for it though.

That would require a pretty serious jump in renewable power generative capability and infrastructure in a lot of different places, to say nothing of other attendant difficulties. 

 

Transitioning to that kind of grid is a good idea, of course, but I would still suggest that doing it for the reason of reducing carbon emissions as quickly as possible should be the primary aim, rather than for the purpose of desalinisation itself. 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70yk07vq0po

 

Harry Truman left the White House without any income other than his Army pension of $113 (£85) per month. The 33rd US president later wrote that it was wrong to "commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency".

George W Bush put his investments in a blind trust before running for president, and said in his last week in office that he had no idea how the 2008 economic crisis affected his net worth.

Donald Trump, in contrast, made at least $2.2bn (£1.7bn) in his first year back in office, according to a new financial disclosure report - a sum historians said was unprecedented and shattered the norm of US presidents avoiding financial conflicts of interest in the White House.

 

On a scale of 0 to Absolute Kakistocracy, how corrupt is this?

[Lionator]

 

this is a good watch in terms of where we’re going

[BKLFox]

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

If we can desalinate water with solar (we can) and pump it with solar or wind, then I don't see why we should have food shortages anywhere.  We will pay more for it though.

 

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

That would require a pretty serious jump in renewable power generative capability and infrastructure in a lot of different places, to say nothing of other attendant difficulties. 

 

Transitioning to that kind of grid is a good idea, of course, but I would still suggest that doing it for the reason of reducing carbon emissions as quickly as possible should be the primary aim, rather than for the purpose of desalinisation itself. 

I know it’s your conversation guys so forgive me for butting in but I’d think we should/need to build the infrastructure for desalination independent of trying to reduce carbon emissions and I say that because I’m not sure the UK could ever really produce enough hydra power due to the terrain, we don’t have enough height other than in Scotland for it to be viable.

It’ll probably be ok in Australia especially in the south-southeastern regions due to the mountain ranges so you could be ok for both Jon, but getting infrastructure capability to the western & northern regions again maybe not viable due to distances and terrain.

 

We as humans can only survive for 3 days without water, being an island we should never go thirsty & we really shouldn’t be letting our crops dry out so for the long term (extreme) future we need to be building the desalination plants as urgently as looking for meaningful reductions in carbon emissions otherwise we can have all the power we need for our future AC units but we’ll only enjoy them for 3 days.

[st albans fox]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

That would require a pretty serious jump in renewable power generative capability and infrastructure in a lot of different places, to say nothing of other attendant difficulties. 

 

Transitioning to that kind of grid is a good idea, of course, but I would still suggest that doing it for the reason of reducing carbon emissions as quickly as possible should be the primary aim, rather than for the purpose of desalinisation itself. 

The Israelis are the benchmark when it comes to efficiency and cost on desalination 

 

I saw a tv program on their systems last year - seriously impressive 

(Saudis have larger systems but are less concerned about efficiency for obvious reasons ) 

 

the trend of the last decade of glass completely full or empty on rainfall does lead you to ask what we’re going to do about agriculture down the entire eastern side of the country. We can’t just ignore the problem 

Edited Thursday at 09:01 by st albans fox

[Trav Le Bleu]

7 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

the trend of the last decade of glass completely full or empty on rainfall does lead you to ask what we’re going to do about agriculture down the entire eastern side of the country. We can’t just ignore the problem 

Took me a full 10 seconds of wondering what salt and rainfall had to do with the manufacturing of glass.

 

Read the whole sentence Trav

[Robo61]

3 hours ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clye9zn0y1ro

 

Another Brexit bonus, 

[Rubbersoul]

4 hours ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clye9zn0y1ro

 

Just brilliant how completely broken this country is. 
 

Add in that grooming gang leader who’s about to be released that can’t be deported! It’s a joke 

[st albans fox]

17 minutes ago, Rubbersoul said:

Just brilliant how completely broken this country is. 
 

Add in that grooming gang leader who’s about to be released that can’t be deported! It’s a joke 

The law involved is from the early seventies 

and even if we could deport him, I believe Pakistan wouldn’t take him 

 

I’d suggest the best option is to keep him incarcerated until we can work out if the law can be changed without unintended consequences.   He hasn’t served his full sentence yet. 

[Foxdiamond]

47 minutes ago, Robo61 said:

Another Brexit bonus, 

BBC doing more good investigative work. Hope the Police take action

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, BKLFox said:

 

I know it’s your conversation guys so forgive me for butting in but I’d think we should/need to build the infrastructure for desalination independent of trying to reduce carbon emissions and I say that because I’m not sure the UK could ever really produce enough hydra power due to the terrain, we don’t have enough height other than in Scotland for it to be viable.

It’ll probably be ok in Australia especially in the south-southeastern regions due to the mountain ranges so you could be ok for both Jon, but getting infrastructure capability to the western & northern regions again maybe not viable due to distances and terrain.

 

We as humans can only survive for 3 days without water, being an island we should never go thirsty & we really shouldn’t be letting our crops dry out so for the long term (extreme) future we need to be building the desalination plants as urgently as looking for meaningful reductions in carbon emissions otherwise we can have all the power we need for our future AC units but we’ll only enjoy them for 3 days.

That a multi-pronged approach is needed here is an entirely fair point to make. 

 

Ideally, though, we do want to be in a situation where such desalination is not relied upon in many places, because that would indicate that we've already got a shortage of freshwater that will cause massive geopolitical concerns nomatter what we do. 

 

 

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

The Israelis are the benchmark when it comes to efficiency and cost on desalination 

 

I saw a tv program on their systems last year - seriously impressive 

(Saudis have larger systems but are less concerned about efficiency for obvious reasons ) 

 

the trend of the last decade of glass completely full or empty on rainfall does lead you to ask what we’re going to do about agriculture down the entire eastern side of the country. We can’t just ignore the problem 

Like you said, the problem isn't going to go away by itself. And the issue and its effects will extend beyond the UK. 

 

This issue will be solved as a species, or we'll face massive problems as disparate "tribes".