In the news

I'm all for civil rights for everyone, obviously. Everyone is, until they are victims of violent crime, then it gets a bit harder.

It was in Pretoria, SA. To make it worse the family were having a Skype conversation at the time, so the family in England were watching it happen. It was yesterday, so it's all a bit raw. Thanks.

Derailing the thread a bit here, sorry.

^^ people do have home invasions in the UK too. Obvs not with the frequency of SA though.

There are lots of things wrong with the Duggan case. The biggest for me though is that it's yet another example of the MET (especially at the upper levels) showning themselves to be absolutely dishonest. Not to mention being guilty of collusion with politions and the media to the extent that one would be forgiven for thinking that there was indemic corruption at the upper levels.

The speed rank and file close up and lie is horrific. The structural support of those lies makes it even worse. When you pack that all together I struggle to understand how anyone is ever able to believe a single thing the MET say unless it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The MET are the worse thing about living in london.

It's not the fact they shot Mark Duggan, as I see it, he may or may not have had a gun, the cop was probably too trigger happy, but the spreading of misiniformation and the fucked up behaviour of the IPCC again show's that, 3 or 4 years after Ian Tomlinson, the police are a law unto themselves

Quis custodiet ipsos custod-ow not the face!

More importantly, the threat of a Mighty Boosh revival seems to be receding:

http://http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jan/08/mighty-boosh-noel-fielding-debunks-movie-rumour

old but sobering.

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape

Pity there's no rape charge.

have you killed someone with your car but want to get a light touch from the CPS? Just say you believe in Jesus and do a bit of charidee work. bosh!

http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/local/latest-news/woman-receives-suspended-prison-sentence-after-death-crash-in-bury-st-edmunds-1-5798923

Are there any statistics regarding punishment for killing pedestrians vs cyclists with a car?

Why would you punish a cyclist who is in possession of a motor vehicle?

Nick Griffin's BNP cooking show

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nick-griffin-stars-in-first-cookery-role-as-bnp-tv-chef-offering-traditional-british-fare-9048565.html

http://www.london24.com/polopoly_fs/subvertisement_tmk7_nyc_has_vision_zero_1_3193244!image/2780999636.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/2780999636.jpg

http://www.london24.com/news/protest_group_stop_killing_cyclists_turn_tables_on_tfl_with_provocative_poster_campaign_1_3193260

http://www.london24.com/polopoly_fs/subvertisement_real_lanes_not_painted_killing_lanes_1_3193257!image/2459795805.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/2459795805.jpg

Nick Griffin's BNP cooking show

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nick-griffin-stars-in-first-cookery-role-as-bnp-tv-chef-offering-traditional-british-fare-9048565.html
Amazing. Basically calling his racist party members (that's all of them, by the way) sexist and stupid at the same time.

http://www.london24.com/polopoly_fs/subvertisement_tmk7_nyc_has_vision_zero_1_3193244!image/2780999636.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/2780999636.jpg

http://www.london24.com/news/protest_group_stop_killing_cyclists_turn_tables_on_tfl_with_provocative_poster_campaign_1_3193260

http://www.london24.com/polopoly_fs/subvertisement_real_lanes_not_painted_killing_lanes_1_3193257!image/2459795805.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/2459795805.jpg

I looked at all of those posters and I mostly just felt embarrassed by how awful they all were.

they're fucking dire aren't they.

they've not made cycling better, they've just made design worse.

have you killed someone with your car but want to get a light touch from the CPS? Just say you believe in Jesus and do a bit of charidee work. bosh!

http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/local/latest-news/woman-receives-suspended-prison-sentence-after-death-crash-in-bury-st-edmunds-1-5798923

Dunno man. If the article is accurate, it sounds like a fair result. The woman isn't going to be a danger to anyone any more, and putting her in prison wouldn't help anyone.

Cue someone suggesting that she get raped in prison in 3..2..1

I think people only suggest that when it's man on man bum raping, which is odd.

odd.

I think you're being generous.

The woman isn't going to be a danger to anyone any more, and putting her in prison wouldn't help anyone.

Prison won't help her driving, that's for sure, but what will? She was banned for 12 months. I wish I had your confidence that someone who has shown herself capable of such catastrophically bad driving will no longer be a danger to anyone in a year's time, unless she chooses never to drive again.
Imagine if her job involved operating heavy machinery and as a result of extreme carelessness she had killed someone - would you expect her to be back at work operating that machinery again after a 12 month break? And would anyone be happy to work alongside her?

I have been thinking about this, and I think that the sooner Google take over the world and robotise our cars the better.

Prison won't help her driving, that's for sure, but what will? She was banned for 12 months. I wish I had your confidence that someone who has shown herself capable of such catastrophically bad driving will no longer be a danger to anyone in a year's time, unless she chooses never to drive again.
Imagine if her job involved operating heavy machinery and as a result of extreme carelessness she had killed someone - would you expect her to be back at work operating that machinery again after a 12 month break? And would anyone be happy to work alongside her?

I agree it'd be safer if she'd be banned from driving forever. But I refuse to believe that a person can't simply learn to drive better, which is preferable, especially if they have something positive to offer to society which requires driving (which I admit is questionable here).

People, dare I say everyone, makes mistakes. Sometimes unlucky people make mistakes that end up being life destroying, and it will always be like that, unless dammit has his way.

If she were drunk, high, unlicensed, on the phone, reading, playing sudoku.. that's inexcusable. But in the absence of any evidence of actual negligence you have to assume a simple weird and tragic mistake, no?

strangest news article title I have seen in a long time
http://www.independent.co.uk/video/?videoid=3005098506001

http://www.techienews.co.uk/974669/anonymous-hacks-mit-website-anniversary-aaron-swartz-suicide/

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/10/china-surpasses-us-world-largest-trading-nation

I looked at all of those posters and I mostly just felt embarrassed by how awful they all were.

Have they really taken Ed's Photoshops and scribbled on them?