In the news

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-07-26/itv-news-exclusive-jacob-rees-mogg-issues-style-guide-to-staff/

Rees-Mogg's rules:

Well, that's not even worthy of floccinaucinihilipilification.

'Fullstops', indeed.

he's banned his staff using certain words too

didn't that happen in 1984

Double space after 'fullstops'? Wow.

I've always regarded the decimalisation of the currency as a temporary imposition.
Welcome back Pounds, Shillings and pennies, the florin, the Crown & half-crown,
the sixpence, the threepence,
and,
of course the Gentleman's unit; the Guinea.

This will be for drafting letters that are then sent in his name. They check and sign them, but don't write the whole thing out. Plenty of ministers have these style guides. The only one that really sticks out at me is the imperial measurements request. Let's hope he doesn't have to answer any science questions. Fine for miles rather km but pounds and ounces rather kilograms is going to get messy.

I hope the house of Commons' bars have to start serving Sherry by the gill.

If the dePfeffel/Mogg coup believes we are returning to a pre-EEC state of affairs,
we will be opting out of the SI unit system;
'The erg has not been a valid unit since 1 January 1978[13] when the EEC ratified a directive of 1971 which implemented the International System (SI) as agreed by the General Conference of Weights and Measures.[14]'

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mb88za/amazon-requires-police-to-shill-surveillance-cameras-in-secret-agreement

The result of Ring-police partnerships is a self-perpetuating surveillance network: More people download Neighbors, more people get Ring, surveillance footage proliferates, and police can request whatever they want.

...

The agreement gives the Lakeland Police Department access to Ring’s “Law Enforcement Neighborhood Portal.” This portal is an interactive map that shows police all of the active Ring doorbell cameras in their town. The exact addresses of the doorbell cameras are hidden. Police can use the portal to directly interact with Ring doorbell camera owners and informally request footage for investigations, without a warrant.

Awesomely shit article from the Graun...

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jul/27/on-roads-cyclists-are-vulnerable-but-on-towpaths-theyre-the-menace?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Just read that and tbh it sounds like Mark Townsend is a thoroughly shit dangerous cyclist projecting his faults on others...

It's that dead kitten story again, the flimsiest pretext for getting a story into a newspaper, nobody actually saw a cyclist kill the kitten which may well have killed itself because it didn't want to live on a boat with a stinking hippy:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/cyclists-urged-to-slow-down-on-canal-towpath-after-beloved-kitten-killed-by-bike-in-east-london-10369378.html

At least they link to some balance...

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Hahaha... The lufguss commenters at the end make it.

TBH I think cycling on some urban towpaths is pretty shit. I found it difficult to maintain anything beyond jogging pace if you're being considerate. The added stress of all the pedestrian interactions and all the extra hazards like mooring bollards and narrow sections under bridges just make them far from ideal for shifting cyclists along at any great volume or speed. I also saw a lot of cyclist riding on them like locals drive along narrow country roads i.e., with very little consideration for anyone else.

To be fair it is a Comment article by some poor soul that's been left permanently scarred by the somewhat unsurprising death of a kitten five years ago.

I don't use canal paths because of dog walkers who know it's shared use but let Fido off the lead to roam far and wide and joggers with headphones in who invariably can't run in a straight consistent line making passing impossible. They're also pretty depressing dog turd and rubbish strewn places to look at up here. That said, any time I have used them it's the rusty MTB brigade that seem to charge through like total wallopers too so the lingering impression is that canal paths are theatres for some kind of Darwinism with humans competing to demonstrate their total selfishness.

That said, I should invent some kind of puppy/kitten death to illustrate the evils of bipedal transport to illustrate my point better

nobody actually saw a cyclist kill the kitten which may well have killed itself because it didn't want to live on a boat with a stinking hippy

Actual lol

❄️❅❄️❆❄️

Relevant thread: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/185900/

on a boat with a stinking hippy

Oi - I resemble that accusation!

dog walkers who know it's shared use but let Fido off the lead to roam far and wide and joggers with headphones in

Actually, I resemble this accusation too. Am I the baddies?

I don't cycle on towpaths because it's too slow and awkward with all the other traffic, but I don't really see any anti-social cycling.

I think it’s all fine. If people are considerate and treat each other with respect / kindness then there wouldn’t be any problems.

I used the towpath with a massive cargo bike and did witness quite a lot of aggressive cycling. Also saw these cyclists having conflict with walkers and their dogs if they had them.. Completely unnecessary imo

I've found the Bridgewater canal in winter to be terrifying , full of dazzle not dip mega-lumened up strava segment warriors taking no prisoners in their quest to be the quickest past the Watch House Cruising Club hq.

Ashton canal lowlight was a dude injecting into his penis under one of the low & slow bridges.

Ashton canal lowlight was a dude injecting into his penis under one of the low & slow bridges.

Wow, some of these Strava kids really take their shit seriously, eh?