Bank Holiday Weekend, 27th, 28th & 29th May 2017

Post by **refitman** » Sat 27 May, 2017 8:05 am

Morning all.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sat 27 May, 2017 9:47 am

Morning.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40068137" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Donald Trump's son-in-law attempted to set up secret communications with Moscow a month after Mr Trump's election, US media say.
Jared Kushner wanted to use Russian facilities to avoid US interception of discussions with Moscow, the Washington Post and New York Times said.

Lovely to know our strong and stable PM is cosied up to such upright, honest people.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:20 am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/40058482" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Proposals to reduce the number of children being diagnosed with autism are being considered by NHS commissioners in south-west London.

The idea of restricting an autism diagnosis to only the most severe cases was discussed earlier this month.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:27 am

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... ry-records" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Google argued that it was too financially burdensome and logistically challenging to compile and hand over salary records that the government has requested, sparking a strong rebuke from the US Department of Labor (DoL), which has accused the Silicon Valley firm of underpaying women.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:36 am

Some light relief.
https://www.indy100.com/article/justin- ... eo-7756911" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 12:09 pm

gilsey wrote:Some light relief.
https://www.indy100.com/article/justin- ... eo-7756911" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well. Very pretty indeed.

Good-afternoon, everyone

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 27 May, 2017 12:13 pm

Morning all.

Odd weather here - thunder and rain before I went shopping. Then brilliant sunshine and now a bit windy.

Manchester attack: Terror threat reduced from critical

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40069959

Down to severe which I think I'm right in saying it's been for some years.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 12:16 pm

Willow904 wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/40058482
Proposals to reduce the number of children being diagnosed with autism are being considered by NHS commissioners in south-west London.

The idea of restricting an autism diagnosis to only the most severe cases was discussed earlier this month.

'we don't recognise that...'
Tory leadership guidelines

Post by **refitman** » Sat 27 May, 2017 12:22 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all.

Odd weather here - thunder and rain before I went shopping. Then brilliant sunshine and now a bit windy.

Manchester attack: Terror threat reduced from critical

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40069959

Down to severe which I think I'm right in saying it's been for some years.

Someone on another site I visit is a former DCI and gave a nice explanation of threat levels:

On the threat levels…

Each threat level has an operational meaning, it’s not just a indication of how worried we should be. The various levels trigger action plans mainly for police and the security services, but also for the other emergency services and local government agencies.

So, just as one example, each police force has a very detailed list of premises which need guarding at each level — as you move up the threat level, more premises need security and the security steps taken become more detailed, which obviously takes more resources — in some cases a lot more. This is exactly as you’d expect, but it can have quite a big impact on ‘ordinary’ policing.

Basically, it’s not something they do lightly: if they’ve gone to Critical, it’s because they (the professional heads, not the politicians) believe the risk is as great as it was in 2007, the last time it went that high — and it means they think it’s greater than for any of the other terrorist incidents since then when they didn’t go to Critical.

Using the troops is a slightly different issue (you can have Critical without them) – but they clearly think that they need to guard a lot of buildings with 20,000 fewer police officers than were available last time. The army is trained at guarding military premises: it makes sense to use them in that role to free the police officers to do patrolling / other anti-terror work. I’m not happy about it on general principles but I can understanding them feeling the need to do it.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sat 27 May, 2017 12:31 pm

Willow904 wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/40058482

Proposals to reduce the number of children being diagnosed with autism are being considered by NHS commissioners in south-west London.

The idea of restricting an autism diagnosis to only the most severe cases was discussed earlier this month.

That is ludicrous. They plan to only diagnose if something like depression is present. At anything from 2-92years old!

It is not about the childs emotional state, imo. Mostly they do okay until with their peers, then differences are visible. This is why we have or had health professionals who monitored targets for young children. I have a friend older than me, around 70 who was never diagnosed, but is definitely on the spectrum, it has plagued his life because he never knew why or what to do about his interactions and ways of understanding others was about. And parents, when there is no diagnosis, but autism is present, are often put through the most terrifying of critiques of how they are parenting the child. Whether you decide to keep the label or not it is helpful to understand exactly why a child/individual is different, not least to help them develop strategies to cope. It is out of the understanding of the average parent, but the prejudice against children who do not meet the required targets, especially educational ones is immense. For those happy but undiagnosed children. what plans will be in place to make accomodations for their needs, and if neccessary, respite for parents. Or to require the various systems such children will pass through on the road to adulthood to make provision, educationally, socially, emotionally, etc.

So tired of everything being decided by people who are clearly motivated by only one thing, how to reduce the cost of services so that they and their pals get a bigger slice of public funds.

* Speaking from experience of the anyway inadequate systems, much diminished now from when I had to deal with them. A statemented child for instwnce would wait all academic year for a statement to catch up with their actual need, which increases year on year. Then by september all is forgotten, a new teacher had to be educated, for even the most basic things. Like don't pull my dyspraxic child from maths to do pointless squiggles they can't reinterpret. Let them grasp the concepts of maths which don't need external evidence to comprehend. Parents of children with all kinds of autism must be groaning in despair at this. Unlocking the help needed is hard enough already. And as I said, the ignorance is quite terrifying.

Sorry for the rant, but there is nothing they won't touch in their haste to push people down.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sat 27 May, 2017 12:35 pm

And of course no one will have even ventured to do an impact assessment. Running a health service on homeopathic levels of funding (and intelligence).

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sat 27 May, 2017 1:08 pm

seeingclearly wrote:And of course no one will have even ventured to do an impact assessment. Running a health service on homeopathic levels of funding (and intelligence).

It definitely seems to be another example of rationing within a cash-strapped NHS. I doubt these referrals are being made for no good reason. And surely prevention is better than cure. Waiting for a child who is clearly struggling to become clinically depressed before offering help seems a pretty brutal form of cost cutting to me. Especially when you read stuff like this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/autisms ... rt-summit/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Experts sound alarm on autism's "worryingly high" suicide rate....

.......Someone with impaired communication may struggle to express feelings, according to Dr. Christopher McDougle. He is director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Lurie Center for Autism and a team member of Autism Speaks. And symptoms of autism and depression -- such as low energy or social withdrawal -- often overlap, he explained.

Post by **refitman** » Sat 27 May, 2017 1:15 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all.

Odd weather here - thunder and rain before I went shopping. Then brilliant sunshine and now a bit windy.

We started with bright sunshine, then it clouded over a bit, then got sunny & hot again.

Now, there has been a couple of minutes of continuous thunder and the rain has started.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:11 pm

Good morfternoon.

Bit of advice (and I speak as an internationally respected IT expert) for BA:

Try turning it off and then switching it on again.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:12 pm

May not having an easy time of it in today's press conference, apparently.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:14 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:May not having an easy time of it in today's press conference, apparently.

Good. The fact that Michael Fallon and Iain Smith are her "go to" people for TV interviews is interesting. And desperate.

Edited to add -

Do you have any links, please?

Temulkar · Post by **Temulkar** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:27 pm

Haven't seen anything?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:33 pm

There's a shot going round on Twitter of her grimacing.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:34 pm

"Nick Clegg Should Replace Tim Farron As Lib Dem Leader, Says HuffPost UK-Edelman Focus Group"
http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_5927e ... 9a5937ee29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All nine of the men and women who took part in the focus group, which was held on Thursday evening, voted Lib Dem in 2010. But they all revealed they would now be voting Conservative on June 8.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 27 May, 2017 2:40 pm

Yes, cos Clegg is sooooo popular.......

If anything shows focus groups up as inherently suspicious, its that.

They weren't so bad when they were used as a way of informing politicians of the best way to sell their "offer" to the public. But, increasingly, they have become a way of *dictating* policy (Harman's disastrous tactics on the welfare bill two years ago was after she was spooked by the findings of one of these wretched "groups", apparently) And what makes that all the more insidious is that they can easily be manipulated to get pretty much whatever result you want.

Of course, polling has been used increasingly coercively in recent years as well - but at least they are harder to blatantly "fix" in that manner.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 27 May, 2017 3:17 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:There's a shot going round on Twitter of her grimacing.

Yes - but that's not particularly unusual, is it?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 27 May, 2017 3:39 pm

All nine of the men and women who took part in the focus group, which was held on Thursday evening, voted Lib Dem in 2010. But they all revealed they would now be voting Conservative on June 8.

I could understand them doing that if the Tories of 2017 were the same as the ones in 2010-15...but they're not.

Odd.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 4:23 pm

The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has been left embarrassed after mistakenly assuming comments about extremism were
made by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, when they were part of a statement made by the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.

[Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4 News]...asked the Conservative minister [Michael Fallon] to respond to this quote:
“Isn’t it possible that things like the Iraq war did not create the problem of murderous Islamic fundamentalists, though
the war has unquestionably sharpened the resentments felt by such people in this country and given them a new pretext?”
Fallon condemned the comment, thinking it had been made by Corbyn. ...Guru-Murthy then revealed that
[Boris] Johnson had said the words in response to the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 that killed 52 people.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 27 May, 2017 4:36 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:
All nine of the men and women who took part in the focus group, which was held on Thursday evening, voted Lib Dem in 2010. But they all revealed they would now be voting Conservative on June 8.
I could understand them doing that if the Tories of 2017 were the same as the ones in 2010-15...but they're not.

Odd.

Ah, just noticed, it says at the end of the article:

NOTE: This focus groups was made up of people aged 35-70 from social grade BC1 who voted Lib Dem in 2010 and are likely to vote Tory on June 8. It was conducted on Thursday 25 May.

that might explain it.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 27 May, 2017 4:47 pm

So a rather select group, then. Why is this considered newsworthy?

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sat 27 May, 2017 5:00 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:So a rather select group, then. Why is this considered newsworthy?

Well, yeah, it's not exactly a surprise that quite a lot of Libdems will pick the Tories rather than Labour if the Libdems appear out of the race. I suppose what is a surprise is that right leaning Libdems are considering voting for such a socially conservative, hard Brexit inclined Tory party. Makes you wonder what attracted them to the Libdems in the first place.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 27 May, 2017 5:08 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:So a rather select group, then. Why is this considered newsworthy?

I wouldn't have posted it if I'd seen the note
- but it does seem gratuitously ant-farron.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 27 May, 2017 8:33 pm

Quiet here innit?

Hugo would normally be along to inform us of the latest poll scores at this point.......

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 27 May, 2017 8:45 pm

I see that Osborne has put the boot in...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05 ... manifesto/

George Osborne has publicly attacked key policies in Theresa May’s manifesto just days before the election as he pledged not to “pull punches” after quitting politics.

The former Tory chancellor, who was sacked by Mrs May when she became prime minister, called her social care proposals “badly thought through”.

What was that old adage - keep pour friends close and your enemies closer?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 27 May, 2017 9:29 pm

I noticed this and it struck a chord with me...

British Airways: Thousands disrupted as flights axed amid IT crash

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40069865

Mick Rix, GMB's national officer for aviation said: "This could have all been avoided.

"BA in 2016 made hundreds of dedicated and loyal IT staff redundant and outsourced the work to India... many viewed the company's actions as just plain greedy."

Outsourcing IT is really, really not a great idea...especially when it's so critical to your customers.

Temulkar · Post by **Temulkar** » Sat 27 May, 2017 9:33 pm

No green candidate in Llanelli so I shall be voting Labour.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 9:52 pm

Temulkar wrote:No green candidate in Llanelli so I shall be voting Labour.

That's wonderful!

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:19 pm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 58896.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Theresa May retains a 12-point lead in a ComRes opinion poll for The Independent – a finding that will steady Conservative nerves after a YouGov poll on Friday showed the lead narrowing to just five points.

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:27 pm

Our poll finds that Mr Corbyn’s ratings have improved on every subject surveyed over the past two weeks, while Ms May’s have mostly declined. She is still favoured, overall, as the better candidate for the office of prime minister, but Mr Corbyn has significant advantages on the NHS, on the interests of “hard-working families” and indeed of “people like me and my family”, and now on protecting “older people who are becoming more dependent on the social care system”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/edi ... 59541.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:30 pm

Shying away from classing the Standard as part of the Tory press, Osborne said: “I am taking a slightly different approach, which is that there are a set of values that the Evening Standard has, which are that we are socially liberal, we are pro-business and pro-free market, and we want Britain to have a big role in the world and those values we then apply to whatever the issues are.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... g-standard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've a visceral dislike of Osborne

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:35 pm

We need deal with the EU to combat terror, experts tell Theresa May
Chair of Commons intelligence committee and leading security figures warn that Brexit threatens to deprive UK police of access to key European databases

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 27 May, 2017 10:36 pm

tinyclanger2 wrote:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 58896.html
Theresa May retains a 12-point lead in a ComRes opinion poll for The Independent – a finding that will steady Conservative nerves after a YouGov poll on Friday showed the lead narrowing to just five points.

ComedyResults have the most skewed pro-Tory methodology of all the pollsters - their original figures had them just 4 ahead.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:19 pm

tinyclanger2 wrote:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 58896.html
Theresa May retains a 12-point lead in a ComRes opinion poll for The Independent – a finding that will steady Conservative nerves after a YouGov poll on Friday showed the lead narrowing to just five points.

Wouldn't do much to steady my nerves if, in such a short space of time, I'd lost the enormous lead that I'd started out with.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:25 pm

Revealed: Tory ‘dark’ ads targeted voters’ Facebook feeds in Welsh marginal seat

Unregulated practice discovered after posts attacking Jeremy Corbyn drown out campaign aimed at boosting youth vote (Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... n-election

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:33 pm

Night night.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:35 pm

PorFavor wrote:Night night.

Goodnight, PorFavor

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:35 pm

Goodnight, everyone
love,
cJA

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:51 pm

Opinium
CON 45%(-1), LAB 35%(+2), LDEM 7%(-1), UKIP 5%(nc). [10]
ComRes
CON 46%(-2), LAB 34%(+4), LDEM 8%(-2), UKIP 5%(nc). [12]
ORB
CON 44%(-2), LAB 38%(+4), LDEM 7%(nc), UKIP 5%(-2). [6]
YouGov
CON 43%(nc), LAB 36%(-2), LDEM 9%(-1), UKIP 4%(nc) [7]

Not that I think they necessarily mean much.

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sat 27 May, 2017 11:55 pm

Brits retain some decency:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 57891.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Only one in 10 voters supports Tory manifesto pledge on fox hunting

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 28 May, 2017 10:08 am

Good morning everyone.

Anything new of note this morning?

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sun 28 May, 2017 10:28 am

Hello!

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sun 28 May, 2017 10:33 am

Tories:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... n-election" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Observer has obtained a series of Conservative party attack ads sent to voters last week in the key marginal constituency of Delyn, north Wales. Activists captured the ads using dummy Facebook accounts after finding that their own ad – encouraging young people to register to vote – were being “drowned out” by the Tory ads.
....

Corbyn will raise taxes on UK families. Don't risk it.

Utterly, cynically, disgusting.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sun 28 May, 2017 10:56 am

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... n-election" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Revealed: Tory ‘dark’ ads targeted voters’ Facebook feeds in Welsh marginal seat

Excuse repeat post! I think I am literally still asleep here

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sun 28 May, 2017 10:56 am

The truth about Sustainability and Transformation Plans:
by Stewart Player
https://www.sochealth.co.uk/2017/05/25/ ... rt-player/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In early 2012 the World Economic Forum considered that national healthcare systems were increasingly caught between a rock and a hard place. Fiscal crises were creating pressures to curb expenditure while it was also acknowledged that countries rely on healthcare systems for economic growth and national development. The Forum also thought there was little agreement about how to progress and “help existing models become sustainable”, and set itself the task of building such a consensus.

Above all the report advocated a complete re-invention of the delivery system via new models of care. These would be in “capital-light settings” using “leveraged talent models” and low-cost channels, such as home-based, patient-driven models. However this shift “must be accompanied by capacity reductions in higher-cost channels” (such as hospitals) and the new systems “must become more agile in leveraging the opportunities for more self-care”.

Simon Stevens himself, who at that time was head of UnitedHealth’s Global Division, acted as Project Steward of the Steering Board for the first World Economic Forum report, working with chief executives of leading healthcare companies including Apax Partners, Novartis, Merck, Medtronic and Kaiser Permanente, as well as the Directors of Health at the World Bank, the WHO, and the European Commission.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sun 28 May, 2017 11:03 am

This has been hanging around on my ipad for a while, waiting for me to get organised on the new PC.
19 Comments on my blogs on Mandatory Reconsiderations
https://sirhenrybrooke.me/2017/05/19/19 ... derations/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Links to the original blogs are in the first para.

Here are 19 responses. Their cumulative effect is very powerful, particularly in the picture they paint of vulnerable people struggling without skilled help against a government machine which they do not understand and do not trust.

He's well worth a follow on twitter as well.