United Kingdom

It seems odd that a democratic protest in the UK against the direction the country is taking, which is of great interest around the world, should not be considered worthy of a mention on UK TV news bulletins.

With no Brexit Benefits apparent and with changing demographics playing a natural part, the move back to the EU seems inexorable. “It’s going to happen anyway, so why delay?” as Professor A C Grayling said in his speech at the march.

Alex Thomas, a former civil servant from the Cabinet Office and Department of Health and now a programme director at the non-partisan think tank the Institute for Government, told the inquiry political figures and senior civil servants insulting each other behind people’s backs was “more common than it should be”.

Thomas described the function of the Cabinet Office as “chaotic,” and said it was not a “decision-making structure that was good, either at responding quickly and authoritatively to rapidly developing external events or synthesising complex material that was coming in from scientists, economic advisers, other government departments".

The increasing popularity of ultra-heavy SUVs in England means a conventional-engined car bought in 2013 will, on average, have lower carbon emissions than one bought new today, new research has found.

The study by the climate campaign group Possible said there was a strong correlation between income and owning a large SUV, which meant there was a sound argument for “polluter pays” taxes for vehicle emissions based on size.

cross-posted from: https://radiation.party/post/132205

[ sourced from TechCrunch ]

cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/318522

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.

Unlike other members of the genus Acer, it did not put on a blazing autumn display. Its big five-lobed leaves, with their irregular notching, merely turned a crumpled brown. No one minded. It was where and how it stood that drew crowds to the Steel Rigg car park and a good 20 minutes of perilous ascents and descents, to get a sighting. It was photographed in snow, mist and starlight, at sunrise and under the northern lights. It posed exquisitely. In 2016 it was voted England’s Tree of the Year, and the next year it came fifth in the European league, when the winner was a far less prepossessing Polish oak called Jozef.

The sycamore was also snapped on thousands of ordinary phones. It had star billing when the Potters came to celebrate a 60th birthday, with the birthday girl in a gold sash and the spaniels behaving for once; when the Courage family gathered for Christmas, all in their wellingtons, shouting in triumph; when Lee proposed to Hayley and Brendan proposed to Sinead, kneeling awkwardly among the rocks and roots, and when miscellaneous walkers and rain-refugees brought out their pork pies and Kit-Kats. Not a few went on to the Twice Brewed pub where the beer was called Sycamore Gap, with the tree’s portrait on the bottle. It was left alone then to the stars, and the quietly munching sheep.

Dramas happened to the sycamore, too. When “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves” was filmed there in 1991 a henchman of the local lord, in chain-mail and metal helmet, almost took an axe to it. It was saved by Kevin Costner shouting “This is my land, and my tree!” before pinning the henchman to the ground with his sword. A narrow shave. Mr Costner roughly proved his “ownership” by breaking off leaves as he passed, but the sycamore had the last word, effortlessly upstaging the star as he trudged up the hill away from it, an ant beside its glorious silhouette.

There were other excitements. In 2003 a helicopter filming a nature documentary crashed 100 feet away, threatening to explode; the tree was unperturbed. At another point, during filming for a television crime drama, it was surrounded by police cars. So locals imagined there might be another episode in the making when, on the morning of September 28th, they saw police round the sycamore again. But the tree was down. It lay awkwardly across the Wall, its severed stump shockingly white where it had been sliced with a 28-inch chainsaw.

Archive

The Guardian attends a session of the six-week course Let’s Talk Tyke! on adrizzly morning in Keighley

This is where Braverman wants to send vulnerable people.

Credit @[email protected] with https://feddit.uk/post/3374159

Google Maps will soon start to prioritise safer, quieter roads when giving cycling instructions for journeys within London -- thanks to an information sharing partnership with Transport for London (TfL).

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/4124615

Archived version: https://archive.ph/DNiwz
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20231014223152/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/14/i-wont-pay-for-them-to-pollute-my-river-why-a-uk-water-bills-boycott-is-growing

Metropolitan police officers are openly defying orders not to wear badges appropriated by the far right and linked to white supremacy.

In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.

However, images have emerged of Met officers wearing the symbol late last month as they policed a stand-off between LGBTQ+ rights supporters and a rightwing group over a drag act’s performance at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham, south London.

A 12-year-old girl who suffered a lung collapse and spent four days in an induced coma has told the BBC that children should never start vaping.

Policy Exchange was co-founded in 2002 by Michael Gove and has a close relationship with the Conservative government. But here it was in Liverpool, holding talks with Labour’s shadow cabinet.