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Reply | If Ukraine falls
at 12:17 24 Nov 2024
In 15 years it would be too late for those on Putin's kill list, and beyond that Russia would not stop at the western Ukrainian border.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60472889
The scary thing is that Putin would probably be able to take what is left of the Ukrainian armed forces under his control in the event of total victory. By then the latter would be far less positive about allies who gave security guarantees that proved worthless.
Actually, I do not believe that Putin can take the whole of Ukraine. Russia has suffered huge economic damage and a level of casualties that the society at large still does not fully appreciate. |
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Reply | Manchester Airport Police attack
at 08:49 18 Nov 2024
Probably right in practice, but not a rule set in stone.
As I understand things, there is a right to bring private prosecutions set out in section 6(1) of the Prosecution of Offences Act (POA) 1985, but this is subject to certain limitations, and, for example, may in some cases require the permission of the DPP.
Otherwise there is a procedure governed by Part 7 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2010, SI 2010/60 where a party seeking to bring a private prosecution must lay information before a magistrate, who then goes through the judicial exercise of deciding whether or not a summons or warrant ought to be issued.
To quote a HoC briefing paper summarising some key principles:
• where the CPS has already brought and discontinued a prosecution arising from the
same events, the magistrate should not require “special circumstances” before agreeing
to the issue of the warrant or summons but should instead proceed by ascertaining the
minimum facts outlined above [note: i.e. that the allegation relates to an offence known to the law, is within time limits, etc];
• where the CPS has already brought a prosecution that is still proceeding
the magistrate should (in the absence of special circumstances) be slow to issue a summons at the behest of a private prosecutor against a defendant who is already subject to those CPS proceedings.15
15. R (on the application of Charlson) v Guildford Magistrates’ Court and the South Western Magistrates’ Court and Walsh (interested party) [2007] 3 All ER 163
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05281/SN05281.pdf
So my take is that it wouldn't be a good idea to try to bring a private prosecution at this stage, but if challenged Farage would probably argue it is possible. If I am mistaken then perhaps a forum expert who actually works in this field can correct me. |
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Reply | England running riot
at 21:14 17 Nov 2024
Well at least I spotted my own mistake. But isn't CR a Championship player? Ah, you did some editing too! [Post edited 17 Nov 21:15]
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Reply | England running riot
at 21:03 17 Nov 2024
It was certainly a game of two halves, and England really capitalised on the penalty. It did seem to me there was a big talking point for us. If Connor Gallagher was onside for his England goal, was his position much different than that of Mark Harris when he was ruled offside for Wales?
Edit: Had to correct Connor's name. I have Roberts on the brain.  [Post edited 17 Nov 21:09]
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Reply | NHS: The return of "targets and terror"?
at 20:54 17 Nov 2024
Well, please remember that our current discussion is about Wes Streeting's proposal to return to using hospital league tables. with negative consequences for poor hospital managers. so hospitals would appear to be the unit for comparison in NHS England. League tables have traditionally been constructed on the basis of quite a small set of performance indicators. What I did not say before is that the proposals are about England, and it will be up to the devolved administrations whether to follow suit. One might suppose that Welsh Labour would follow the UK government, but actually that did not happen after devolution, when the Milburn reforms did not go down well, and Rhodri Morgan was talking about "clear red water" between Westminster and Cardiff, As there is still a purchaser/provider split in England (where hospitals are constituted as NHS Trusts separate from Integrated Care Boards), but not in Wales, it might indeed make more sense to compare Welsh health boards (which oversee hospitals) rather than the hospitals themselves. No doubt improved IT would help the recording and monitoring of a wide range of targets, but to me the problem lies in bringing all these together, weighting their relative importance, and making some meaningful overall assessment. Healthcare Inspectorate Wales already collects data on a complicated set of health and care quality standards comprising "high-level" standards in six quality domains affected by six "quality enablers", albeit without putting much emphasis on "terror" for poor performers. I'm not sure that better IT really helps in deciding what the aggregated data that is produced means. In recent times, tools like the "balanced scorecard", combining various PIs, have been used to compare performance of health boards. but this has always been controversial. I don't know if any forum members are closer to this than I am, and know how things are working at present. |
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Reply | NHS: The return of "targets and terror"?
at 16:53 17 Nov 2024
Your old saying is similar to the phrase that academics writing about the NHS suggested: "What's measured is what matters". The question that the latter raised was what happens to those outcomes that are not measured? In a complex organisation like the NHS you cannot practically set targets or construct performance indicators for everything, so some things will be foregrounded and others receive less attention. The hospital league tables will necessarily be constructed to take account of quite a limited set of indicators, and - as in the past - there will be controversy about how fair they are to all hospitals. |
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Reply | Manchester Airport Police attack
at 16:39 17 Nov 2024
... "the victims (in my opinion that’s the police officers) have to be put first and nothing which could impact on them without their express consent should take place."
I'm not sure that a private prosecution at this stage is a good idea, but I disagree with the idea that action in respect of assaults on police officers should depend on their wishes.
The difference between police officers and private citizens is that the former are performing duties in the service of the state. An attack on police officers is a an attack on the state, and a threat to its ability to ensure law and order. The wishes of the officers is not a relevant consideration. |
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Reply | Wales internationals : Nations League
at 11:19 17 Nov 2024
If that is the case, the decision did not comply with Rule 11.
Laws of the Game & FA Rules
Law 11: Offside
1. Offside position
(...)
A player is in an offside position if any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.
The hands and arms of all players, including the goalkeepers, are not considered. For the purposes of determining offside, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit.
A player is not in an offside position if level with the second-last opponent or last two opponents. |
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Reply | Wales internationals : Nations League
at 19:07 16 Nov 2024
Did well to come away with a point. Turkiye had most of the chances and benefited from a soft pen (which they then missed). However, that Welsh offside goal was disallowed by the finest of margins. I suppose our forward was leaning over the imaginary line, but looking at boots on the ground my immediate reaction was that he was onside. |
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Reply | Non Crime Hate Speech
at 11:29 16 Nov 2024
That is the disturbing thing: there is the possibility that the mere investigation of an alleged non-crime, even where no "hate speech" was found, can disadvantage the accused person in future. |
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Reply | They came for our libraries
at 10:46 16 Nov 2024
I walk through Singleton Park most days. There are plenty of people of diverse ethnic backgrounds around, mainly students going to the university campus, but I cannot recall ever seeing a black dog walker. I did see something unusual at the entrance to the botanical gardens last week in the form of a man of Middle Eastern appearance shouting in Arabic at the top of his voice into his mobile at somebody who had incurred his ire. He was oblivious to the reaction of a nearby dogwalker, who didn't look very happy that the tranquil scene was being disturbed. |
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Reply | Tyson v the you tube bloke
at 10:31 16 Nov 2024
In truth I shared Keith's wish to see JP taken down a peg or two, but actually, the event turned out to be more of an exhibition bout than a real fight. However, in retrospect everybody was a winner. Mike Tyson got $20m, didn't seem to take too much out of himself, showed he was capable of 8 rounds at age 58, had the health benefit of getting himself super fit for his age by training hard, and did not incur much reputational damage. Jake Paul made even more money than MT, got to realise a fantasy (perhaps without the hoped for KO but still a good yarn), and behaved with more grace than I was expecting. The punters may have been a bit disappointed with the main event, but did get to see the reality of what a 58 year old man is able to achieve. They got a glimpse of real brutality in the unexpected form of a women's bout, and there was a tough, very competitive fight for the welterweight title. Netflix did not rip the punters off with an extra fee, but probably boosted their subscription base. They should have arranged more bandwidth as some subscribers (not me) lost reception. I suppose traditional fans of boxing will bemoan what the sport has become, but that was happening already with other weird events. I fell asleep pleased that nobody got badly hurt. |
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Reply | 15 million migrants got NI numbers in last 20 years
at 04:49 15 Nov 2024
There were two more stories about migration statistics this week that raised eyebrows.
The first is a claim by Rupert Lowe and Lee Anderson that a larger percentage of foreign nationals than expected is claiming benefits. Lowe has pointed to DWP data suggesting that since April 2019 more than 3.3 million foreign nationals have successfully completed Habitual Residence Tests that help establish eligibility for Universal Credit.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/they-are-takers-lee-anderson-warns-number-
The DWP says they do not recognise Lowe's figure and that passing the Habitual Residence Test does not equate to receiving benefits. However, they are not providing their own figure, and it does look like the number must be very high.
The second story is about the rising number of unaccompanied migrant children in local authority care, which is around a third of placements in some council areas.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/asylum-seekers-make-up-a-third-of-children
The average cost of these placements is around £4K per child per week, but can be much higher if mental health or language support is needed. An analysis by the LGA published in November 2023 found that in 2018/2019 there were 120 cases in England costing over £10K per week, rising to 1,510 cases in 2022/23. 91% of councils had at least one such case. The most expensive placement cost £63,000 per week, although this may not have been a migrant. |
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Reply | The Assisted Dying Bill
at 20:11 13 Nov 2024
Yes, the device is called a syringe driver, a kind of pump that administers a small amount of powerful anaesthetic via a subcutaneous infusion. Various drugs can be used, including morphine. "Morphine pump", as mentioned in my post, is slang for one type of syringe driver. |
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Reply | NHS: The return of "targets and terror"?
at 14:51 13 Nov 2024
The union members who were about to discard their "Save our NHS" posters, buoyed up by the prospect of what a Labour government would do for them, are retrieving them from the rubbish pile. [Post edited 13 Nov 14:51]
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Reply | Canterbury Archbishop
at 13:56 13 Nov 2024
Maybe Welby should stay away from Canterbury Cathedral for a bit. |
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Reply | NHS: The return of "targets and terror"?
at 13:36 13 Nov 2024
I can't remember much about Mr Beresford B'stard, but the Alan who was implicated in the NHS reforms of 2000-2003 was Alan Milburn. Apart from targets, that was the period when Labour gave the Tories' NHS internal market a new twist by creating a "provider market" in which private hospitals willing to deliver treatments at the NHS tariff could do NHS work. This was also the time when more autonomous NHS Foundation Trust hospitals were created. Milburn seems to be in the background advising Streeting, so talk of a bigger role for the private sector and greater autonomy for well-performing NHS hospitals may be a case of "back to the future".
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/underperforming-nhs-hospitals-to-be-named
I will try to find some of the old episodes of The New Stateman to catch up on the original Alan B'stard. [Post edited 13 Nov 13:38]
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