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Reply | Increase in defence spending
at 16:05 1 Mar 2025
The way things are shaping up, an emergency uplift well above 2.5% may be needed imminently. |
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Reply | Starmer meets Trump
at 12:22 28 Feb 2025
Starmer did better than I expected in managing a tricky meeting. It is hard to predict how much real benefit the UK will gain as a result, but at least there was no obvious faux pa. The side issue causing much mirth in some quarters is the sight of Labour front benchers being grilled on TV about their past injudicious comments regarding Trump. |
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Reply | Mike Amesbury jail sentence
at 06:33 28 Feb 2025
The discussion of the issue of possible two-tier justice made me think of the case of Ricky Jones, which some thought might be an revealing point of comparison with the social media sentences. After Jones was charged with encouraging violent disorder last August, a date in January 2025 was set for a Crown Court trial. We cannot discuss the substance of the case in advance of that trial, but can take note of progress towards it. Initially, Jones was remanded in custody, but was released on bail after a short period in prison. Now the trial date has been put back to August 11th this year after an application by the defence was agreed by the judge.
Jaswant Narwal, chief crown prosecutor for CPS London North, is quoted in the press as saying: "It i s extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary, or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.” I have no comment on Jones' guilt or innocence, but do think that the contrast between a 7 months delay and "swift justice" in the social media cases provides ammunition to the "two tier" side of the argument. |
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Reply | Memoirs of a former Secretary of State for Wales
at 17:12 27 Feb 2025
I said the memoirs might be "double-edged", meaning that they tell us things about the author as well as those to whom his stories relate. I still find some of the stories amusing though, and cannot really disagree with the observations about Mr Drakeford's sartorial choices. [Post edited 27 Feb 17:14]
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Reply | Mike Amesbury jail sentence
at 17:04 27 Feb 2025
Not really my field, but as far as I can see there are two options for a victim who feels the sentence was too lenient, or that the outcome has not compensated for the harm done..
1. Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme. “Under the extended scheme, victims will be given the power to challenge the sentences of a wider range of crimes in circumstances where they, or the public (those unconnected to the case), believe a punishment to be too lenient. (…) The ULS scheme permits prosecutors, victims, their families and the public to make an application to the Attorney General to review a sentence that they believe to be too low. Only one request need be lodged, which must be done within 28 days of the court hearing taking place.”
2. Civil case. Certainly possible but centres on a claim for compensation for harm done (whether physical or psychological) and so is about monetary damages rather than a harsher sentence. There are a few options here:
https://prettys.co.uk/articles/compensation-for-criminal-acts-can-i-make-a-claim |
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Reply | Mike Amesbury jail sentence
at 13:47 27 Feb 2025
It does make me wonder what is happening when Amesbury gets out of jail after 3 days for knocking seven bells out of some poor sap, while a middle-aged nursery worker got 40% of 31 months for unwisely posting on social media that people could do horrible things to asylum seekers "for all I care".
Edit. N.B. Amesbury's sentence is still 10 weeks but suspended for two years, not as the post above said a two year suspended sentence. [Post edited 27 Feb 13:51]
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Reply | Are We Climate Misled?
at 13:34 27 Feb 2025
Developments like the one in the OP just show how misguided Miliband's policy on North Sea oil and gas is. In the transitional period, we are going to import non-Green energy even if we do not produce it, and the carbon footprint will probably be even higher. [Post edited 27 Feb 17:06]
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Reply | How did this get missed
at 18:10 24 Feb 2025
"...no nation in the world is threatening Wales with war." And he thinks there would be no targets in Wales!
https://pembrokeshire-herald.com/72560/the-welsh-towns-and-cities-named-on-hit-l
I suppose this is similar to the mindset of our friends in the RoI, who see little need to invest in defence and prefer to freeload on the air and naval protection provided by the UK. I can see Trump getting on their case with all that tax money coming to them from US multinationals. [Post edited 24 Feb 18:26]
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Reply | How did this get missed
at 17:25 24 Feb 2025
I have to say that I thought this coroner's verdict was very dubious. It appears to rest on the proposition that all along the SAS patrol intended to kill the PIRA members in the stolen truck when it returned to a nearby Clonoe chapel car park after a heavy machine gun attack on Coalisland police station. The SAS patrol had been tipped off that cars would pick up the assailants in the car park and were concealed behind a surrounding hedge. This was in darkness, except for car headlights, an hour before midnight. The coroner asks us to accept that the soldiers should have waited while the DShK heavy machine gun in the truck was disassembled when it would not have posed a threat, and then issued a warning to surrender. There was little consideration of the fact that the machine gun still had rounds in the belt and that there were 3 AKM rifles in the truck, two of which were still fully loaded. It was noted that they were all set to safety when the shooting started. Another area about which very little has been said is that there were three and possibly up to 7 other PIRA team members in three Ford Cavalier getaway cars in the car park. Three persons were captured alive either in the car park or nearby, one of whom later received a big compensation payment. Two cars drove away, one of which crashed nearby and one that made a clean getaway. It seems likely that they did fire some shots back. One soldier has a minor facial bullet wound, and I haven't seen anything to prove this was not unfriendly fire. Three of these men, Coney, Woods, and McKeever, were later charged with attempted murder and firearms offences, but managed to get off on a lesser charge of assisting offenders leading to 3 year suspended sentences.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/crime/general/clonoe-ambush-courts-went-soft-on-getawa
I cannot see how the SAS soldiers would not have been at risk had they waited for all the PIRA team to get safely in the three cars complete with loaded 7.62mm weapons, and given a verbal warning. Even as things were, one soldier had his head shaved by a bullet. [Post edited 24 Feb 17:52]
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Reply | Nathan Gill accused of taking Russian bribes ...
at 16:15 24 Feb 2025
If this man is guilty he should face the full force of the law - the most serious offence that can be pinned on him. Reform moves on to tricky territory when some of its members side with Trump - it could be the party's Achilles' heel and there is no logical reason, in terms of wider policies, why it should go down that path. |
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Reply | Wind power is important
at 08:47 24 Feb 2025
This is a story about baseload, batteries (storage), and grid capacity. One part of the debate concerns what happens when there is too little wind to meet the baseload requirement, and another is what happens when there is too much. It is estimated that UK consumers forked out E1.3 billion in "curtailment payments" last year to get companies to turn off wind turbines at times when the grid did not have the capacity to store or use the electricity generated.
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Wind-Power/Brits-Pay-Billions-To-Waste-W [Post edited 24 Feb 16:16]
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Reply | Another knife attack
at 19:38 22 Feb 2025
Reports say that "A 37-year-old Algerian man was arrested". A passer-by died after being stabbed, while three police officers suffered knife wounds. What I noticed is that when the recent German and French attacks have occurred the mass media reported the nationality of the suspect straight away, while the UK seems more guarded about doing this. |
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Reply | Swansea City v Blackburn Rovers : Match day thread ** Updated
at 15:54 22 Feb 2025
Happy with this so far. I was thinking our strikers were lacking sharpness and not getting on the end of some reasonable low crosses, and even Vipotnik's goal was a bit messy. But Peart Harris' effort really suggested he may be finally starting to deliver. It was one of the best goals we've scored for a while. Hope we don't go into our shell now in the 2nd half. |
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Reply | Plymouth vs Cardiff
at 13:57 22 Feb 2025
1-1. Cardiff have been under the cosh. Tijani. [Post edited 22 Feb 13:58]
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Reply | Plymouth vs Cardiff
at 13:42 22 Feb 2025
Goutas off for Cardiff. Red card. [Post edited 22 Feb 13:43]
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 542 | | Comment Votes: | 1 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 543 |
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