peak4

So long as they don't seek help on a Friday, as he might be a bit grumpy. Unfortunately I can't get behind the Times paywall to check this one out

I came across this yesterday, over on Twitter. The Netherlands of course has less hills than much of Sheffield. The video at the end shows how car, cycle, and pedestrian access can be integrated at the design stage of housing infrastructure if there is a will. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1797621099699814652.html

In some ways, I'd rather watch your TV, and I've no interest in football. What's showing in the bar?

ITV-1 9pm this evening Sunak and Starmer set to clash in first UK election leaders’ debate FT Via archive.ph Prime minister needs to gain traction while the Labour leader will look to minimise the risks

A few links from my bookmarks folder, which I doubt will appeal to the converted, but may be of interest to those with a more open mind. Why did he become so popular politically from a comparatively obscure background? The Donald Trump I Saw on The Apprentice The Slate For 20 years, I couldn’t say what I watched the former president do on the set of the show that changed everything. Now I can. The Apprentice was an instant success in another way too. It elevated Donald J. Trump from sleazy New York tabloid hustler to respectable household name. In the show, he appeared to demonstrate impeccable business instincts and unparalleled wealth, even though his businesses had barely survived multiple bankruptcies and faced yet another when he was cast. By carefully misleading viewers about Trump—his wealth, his stature, his character, and his intent—the competition reality show set about an American fraud that would balloon beyond its creators’ wildest imaginations. British spies were first to spot Trump team's links with Russia The Guardian Exclusive: GCHQ is said to have alerted US agencies after becoming aware of contacts in 2015 Britain’s spy agencies played a crucial role in alerting their counterparts in Washington to contacts between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, the Guardian has been told. GCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents, a source close to UK intelligence said. This intelligence was passed to the US as part of a routine exchange of information, they added. I think the NHS has enough financing troubles at the moment; His claims are gibberish of course Trump threatens to use US trade talks to force NHS to pay more for drugs Telegraph via archive.ph Mr Trump has claimed that the high costs faced by US patients are a direct result of other countries’ health services “freeloading” at America’s expense. Alex Azar, the US Health and Human Services Secretary, has said Washington will use its muscle to push up drug prices abroad, to lower the cost paid by patients in the United States. US wants access to NHS in post-Brexit deal, says Trump ally Guardian Before president’s visit, Woody Johnson says every area of UK economy up for discussion The US will want business access to the NHS in any post-Brexit trade deal, the US ambassador has said, prompting anger from politicians and campaigners before Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK this week. And lastly for now, a longish article referencing Umberto Eco; perhaps best known in the UK for "The Name of The Rose", but a regular writer on fascism. The 14 ways below relate to his essay on post war fascism, which he labelled as Ur Fascism; this Open Culture article discusses Eco's points Umberto Eco on Donald Trump: 14 Ways of Looking at a Fascist Literary Hub No synopsis or this last article, the whole thing is worth reading.

As for why, it was certainly a campaign by a cat charity https://www.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/campaigning/microchips-reunite Cats Protection is calling for compulsory microchipping of owned cats, helping to reunite more lost cats with their owners Campaign for compulsory microchipping Cats Protection has a long-standing commitment to calling for compulsory microchipping of owned cats. We currently have a petition calling for compulsory chipping and need 100,000 signatures. Please help and sign here. Keep checking here for developments or follow our campaign team on @CPAdvocacy Twitter How we can help If you need help with the cost of microchipping, you can find out about our regional 'snip and chip' campaigns

He hasn't tried the same trick with our only other party candidates, The Green Party. Even his web site itself is a green colour scheme though, with The Conservative Party barely getting a mention. The link you showed in the article takes to you a page to submit your details to join his "Labour for Largan Club"; yet another of his data gathering exercises, for which he's quite well known. Hassle in High Peak: Robert Largan’s solar farm shenanigans Central Bylines, via archive.org Why did Conservative MP for High Peak, Robert Largan, campaign against a proposal for a solar farm that had already been withdrawn? Data scraping Largan does love a nice petition. Or a survey, he doesn’t seem to mind which. Since his election, he has asked his constituents to vote for the area’s best takeaway and best decorated street. He’s sought their opinion on grit bins and flags, buses and Christmas cards. This is certainly an accessible and straightforward way of engaging with your constituents and finding out what they think. But remember, when you sign a survey or a petition with anyone, you are asked to agree with their privacy policy. Let’s have a look at Robert Largan’s privacy policy. It’s rather more generous than you should be comfortable with: “Unless otherwise specified, data may also be shared with entities of Political Party associations, federations, branches, groups and affiliates in order to assist you or maintain contact with you in support of democratic engagement.” In other words, if you tick the box, you give him permission to share your details with pretty much anyone that he wants to. He rather likes blocking constituents on Facebook & Twitter who ask awkward questions, so much so, that there is even a FB group with about 275 members "News for Excluded Constituents of Robert Largan Tory MP for High Peak" where all his posts are duplicated.

Most of the time anyway https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/05/cryptosporidium-outbreak-affects-dozens-in-england/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn3k3dx9de4o https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/28/forever-chemicals-found-in-drinking-water-sources-across-england

Sadly not Sheffield Street artistry, but search for the works of Russian/American artist Boris Artzybasheff (1899-1965) They would make wonderful murals in, what was, the city of steel

I did cover corrosive substance attacks in previous posts such as this one https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/490375-another-poor-lady-has-stuff-thrown-in-her-face/#comment-8794550 but unfortunately I can no longer find them, so I suspect the threads have been deleted, and the search engine refresh time isn't conducive to digging deeper. I can't be bothered spending another hour or so compiling a full reply, but essentially, The UK leads the works on reported corrosive substance attacks, though many countries have under recording. Historically, in the UK over 80% of attackers are male, as were over 70% of victims. Females are recently increasing as a % in the number of attacks, which didn't used to be the case in The UK. Acid attacks increase by 69% in England and Wales with more women than men victims Latest stats showed Northumbria police area as the highest, with the MET 4th as I recall. Northumbria is a predominantly white area. UK attacks peaked in about 2017 Further reading here; Corrosive violence is a global problem It is not confined to regions, religions, or culture ASTi There us a UK section of the report The motivations of offenders who carry and use acid and other corrosives in criminal acts HMG Publishing Britain has an ‘acid attack’ problem. This is why The i

Also seems to be a Tommy Robinson fan; spoke up for him when he was sent to Prison for contempt of court, and accompanied him to court more recently when the police screwed up the paperwork. Then came close to a contempt of court charge herself Katie Hopkins told to delete selfie at Tommy Robinson trial after risking contempt of court EXCLUSIVE: Hopkins was told to delete the picture by a court usher and allowed to remain in the courtroom

I forgot to add The MET's account to the previous post Demo updates on this thread

A bit like one of the few things that's improved in Putin's Russia; defenestration techniques Meanwhile, I read this article a while ago, and could see many parallels with my ex employer before I retired Suicide Mission What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane The American Prospect

If you have a Twitter account, follow this chap today; retired MET officer who writes reports about demo policing. I don't always agree with his political take on various matters, but he does cover this stuff quite well. https://x.com/obbsie Also a writer for Police Oracle ; This article might be pertinent from past editions, as it's also part of the subject for today's demo. Chris Hobbs attends this week's St George's Day events which featured episodes of disorder and renewed accusations of 'two tier' policing. An occasional contributor to TLE https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/author/chrishobbs/

Personally I'm not convinced that making veiled threats against The Met is a good look really. I'm hoping the counter demo is well behaved with good stewards, so that they are more able to claim the moral high ground, but of course we don't know the content of the film yet. Meanwhile, a sensible and measured statement from The Met themselves https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-police-outlines-policing-operation-ahead-of-weekend-of-events-and-protest-484613

You beat me to it whilst I was finding the quote that I'd seen before, as Quora doesn't really cut it as a definitive reference. He referred specifically to a 13th century judge who, in two separate rulings, set the basis for the justification of the Salem witch trials and set a precedent that, the second a woman marries, she ceases to exist as a separate human being and is nothing more than an adjunct to her husband. In other words, the judge who Alido admired enough to cite in his overturning of Roe V Wade, was a man who did not think that woman should have any rights as human beings. I guess that's fitting because that's the way this ruling treats women. Washington post might be a bit more credible as a source; Hale was referencing earlier 13C law when he was sentencing "witches" On Roe, Alito cites a judge who treated women as witches and property In his recently leaked draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. presents what he sees as his most convincing arguments for permitting legislatures to ban abortion. So what is the best Alito can do? One of his prominent strategies is to repeatedly quote and discuss someone he describes as a “great” and “eminent” legal authority, Sir Matthew Hale. Most Americans have probably never heard of Hale, an English judge and lawyer who lived from 1609 to 1676. Hale was on the bench so long ago that his judgeship included presiding over a witchcraft trial where he sentenced two “witches” to death. Nonetheless, we are still living in the world that Hale helped create. And as that witchcraft trial suggests, Hale’s influence has not been a “great” development if you believe women have equal humanity with men.

I'll just leave this here for consideration ‘No Vacancies’ for Blacks: How Donald Trump Got His Start, and Was First Accused of Bias New York Times, via archive.ph She seemed like the model tenant. A 33-year-old nurse who was living at the Y.W.C.A. in Harlem, she had come to rent a one-bedroom at the still-unfinished Wilshire Apartments in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens. She filled out what the rental agent remembers as a “beautiful application.” She did not even want to look at the unit. There was just one hitch: Maxine Brown was black. Stanley Leibowitz, the rental agent, talked to his boss, Fred C. Trump. “I asked him what to do and he says, ‘Take the application and put it in a drawer and leave it there,’” Mr. Leibowitz, now 88, recalled in an interview.

Seems bizarre that it wasn't picked up sooner, but maybe we need more civil servants who are given the time and resources to do their jobs properly. There seems to be a shortage of investigators, who find it easier and statistically more productive to target low level mistakes in situations such as accidental claims by carers. Carers having to pay back thousands is very wrong, says Keir Starmer Guardian, but lots of other cases, reports and slightly different circumstances Similarly with Tax investigators HMRC’s civil fraud investigations fall by nearly half Tax Journal The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Observer reported recently on the fall in HMRC’s civil investigations into tax fraud. According to figures obtained by the TBIJ via a freedom of information request, HMRC’s Fraud Investigation team followed up over 37,000 leads in 2018/19, but this had reduced to just over 21,000 in 2022/23. The data also reveals the number of civil cases taken by HMRC fell from 17,424 to 12,584 across the same period. This follows previous reports by both organisations that HMRC investigations had led to the prosecution of just 11 wealthy individuals in 2022, and that HMRC had not charged a single company with the corporate offences of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion under the Criminal Finances Act 2017. The one I really can't get my head around is this Treasury’s £4.3bn fraud write-off likely to be eclipsed by £20bn Covid loan defaults as CBILs and BBLs are not repaid City AM, but plenty of other sources Lots of reports from various industries though Scale of construction’s suspected Covid-loan fraud revealed Construction News More than 4,800 Covid loans issued to construction companies are suspected to have been fraudulent, Construction News can reveal.

To be fair, it does occur, but as far as I can tell only in context, and in mid sentence, though I guess Google hasn't indexed the whole of the NHS website yet.. Risks of living with obesity NHS Obesity is a serious health concern that increases the risk of many other health conditions. These include: type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some types of cancer, such as breast cancer and bowel cancer, stroke Living with overweight and obesity can also affect your quality of life and contribute to mental health problems, such as depression, and can also affect self-esteem. Yes The Mail clearly has several agenda, PC, NHS, Woke, and many others. Of particular note is who they quote (as an expert??) the the next to last paragraph. Christopher Snowdon, from the Institute for Economic Affairs, said that while terms like 'living with overweight' is portrayed as 'sensitive and politically correct', they actually present overweight and obese people as victims of a disease they 'can't do anything about', which Snowdon added was not helpful. The IEA of course, whilst hiding behind hidden funding, also have an agenda or two. DeSmog link How to abolish the NHS IEA Website Matt Hancock took cash from ‘anti-NHS’ Institute of Economic Affairs The Times via archive.ph, which is showing OK for me behind the paywall at the moment Matt Hancock is under pressure to return donations from a think tank that criticised the NHS as “nothing special” and unworthy of the “adulation” it has received during the pandemic. Since becoming an MP, the health secretary has received £32,000 from the chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a right-wing body that has called for the NHS to be replaced with a privatised healthcare system. Obviously a medical expert Christopher Snowdon is the Head of Lifestyle Economics at the IEA IEA Website See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Snowdon Wiki Christopher John Snowdon is a British author and freelance journalist. He is particularly known as a vocal opponent of government intervention in areas such as tobacco, alcohol, and obesity.

There's a bit about it here £4.86M CASH BOOST FOR WALKING, WHEELING AND CYCLING IN SOUTH YORKSHIRE South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has successfully secured a total of £4.86m from the government agency, Active Travel England, which has announced a £101 million pot of funding for high-quality walking, wheeling and cycling routes that will benefit people in South Yorkshire. £3.36 million of £3.9 million worth of schemes asked for from the Active Travel Fund 4 Extension funding has been secured which will transform walking, wheeling and cycling routes in the region. Nearly £1 million from the Capability Fund has been allocated for South Yorkshire for bike hire, training and maintenance schemes, with SYMCA securing nearly double what it got last year. The aim of the Fund is to support the development of infrastructure plans and community engagement and training initiatives. Half a million has also been allocated to help South Yorkshire become a national leader in its e-bikes offer to residents with a pilot for a free e-cycle loan scheme. SYMCA is one of only a handful of authorities in England to receive this funding. This funding has provided a welcome boost to the region in support of its plans to ease congestion, transform the school run, create healthier communities and better places. South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: “Getting people in South Yorkshire moving more and moving differently is key to my ambitions for improving our region’s health, wellbeing and happiness. “Today, we took a big step toward that ambition. Last year we applied for Active Travel England funding but got much less than we hoped for. That was a fair reflection of where we were on our journey.

Unfortunately I have no idea what phone you're using, I have a few of these, though from a different supplier. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364795937404 Seem to work well enough, and fold flat for transport. The charger and a USB-C lead fit nicely into a spare Specsavers glasses case; they do feel a bit delicate around the sliding earth pin though, so use a bit of care. I use them for charging by Google Pixel 3 phone, a decent sized camera (Olympus E-M1x), electric screwdriver, car tyre pump etc. Basically, anything USB-C. So far they have worked fine, but as as with any charger, don't leave it on unattended. OK this is staged, but an old phone battery I had in stock, which had started swelling; A7110317 (4).mp4

At least one person has failed to read the opening post properly before typing a reply, so is it possible to look, but not see the obvious? I'd suggest everyone reads this 2012 publication on a cycling website; it doesn't just apply to cyclists. Whilst the thread started specifically about restricted vision, this article helps to explain why even a careful viewer can look, but not see something present even when vision is unobstructed. Note the dropbox link part way down the page, which takes you to a downloadable 11 page pdf. it's well worth reading; last time I checked it was free of any nasties. Personally I think an appreciation of the content should be part of all driver training; maybe it is these days, I don't know, so perhaps someone currently learning to drive could tell us. What an RAF pilot can teach us about being safe on the road The London Cyclist This is a reasonable video from a driving instructor, but only covers road junctions, rather than crossing footways and cycle-paths. See also Why Drivers Don't See Bikers, from the same instructor, which does cover Saccadic masking [Wiki] I've yet to see an unbiassed presentation covering illegal e-bikes, and e-scooters, on cycle-paths and footways.

A passing thought; I appreciate that where you live appears to have a separate landlord. Is there an official drop kerb where you exit? When I applied for one, I recall I had to specify that there was adequate visibility in both directions. Similarly a friend of mine has a garage opening directly onto the footway, but isn't allowed to use it for a car, due to limited visibility. I'm also aware of folk who have to have an inward hinging, or sliding gate, so it doesn't open across the footway.

I saw on a Crookes or Walkley Facebook group that another Phlegm artwork arrived on No Name cafe, but didn't share it at the time, as it is a private group Phlegm Sheffield: Anonymous street artist spotted painting new mural on Crookes restaurant No Name The Star

On the face of it, if the reporting by Victoria Derbyshire is correct, the behaviour of a number of officials in the Labour Party has been appalling. Some media reports are now out of date, and others clearly biased in one direction or another, so it might be worth tuning in to the BBC this evening. It really does appear that someone was trying to delay things, until it was too late for her to stand as an independent. Personally I think she probably is due for retirement, but that doesn't justify the way she seems to have been treated; she may still barred from standing again of course. Can we have more reporters like Derbyshire on the BBC please. I would imagine Labour launching an investigation on how the news got out of HQ; I did see a report of all Labour staff being required to hand in their official phones for analysis.