In the news

Looks like something created by Mr Burns

Autonomous ship makes cross-Channel deliveries

Delta must be shitting it to resort to something so clumsy.

I've got a feeling that this is a long-running dispute. I remember seeing something when I was in the US a good few years ago about Delta accusing the union of forging signatures and signing workers up to unions without their permission (and the union withdrawing whatever action they were planning so there may well have been some basis to that).

Danny Baker update:

https://twitter.com/prodnose/status/1126782940590088192

Don't know much about it but I've heard that several IAM senior people are facing charges were convicted for embezzlement and corruption.
Obvs stupid tone from Delta but also, Trade Unions gonna Trade Union.

Unions are a bit complicated. Some are really just arseholes but on balance they’re needed. All that said, advertising against them is monumentally cuntish

What have unions ever done for us eh? Nothing but tube strikes french road blocks. I'm not a union and it's done me no harm.

Some of my best mates are unions.

phew, thank god for that, all his white fans have accepted his apology and we can now declare the incident a simple misunderstanding with no racist connotations whatsoever and it's actually anyone who saw a racist bent to it who are the real racists and also snowflakes who get offended at everything because it's not racist if you like the person who said it, like when your nan drops the n-word at christmas dinner.

I think his explanation says that he realises that it was racist and had racist connotations.

I'm referring to the literal hundreds of comments in reply all telling him he did nothing wrong and he's a great bloke.

Yeah, I'm finding those comments just as bad as the ones accusing him of being a lifelong vitriolic racist.

I wish people would stop misusing the word "gaslighting" (as seen in the replies), which is a real thing that happens to people. It's a concerted targeted effort over a period of months usually in a relationship or shared living space. Some guy's shitty Twitter non-apology absolutely does not fit the bill does it? Just another buzzword people throw around now when they disagree with each other.

Literally the worst thing ever.

Has anyone been following the Venezuela crisis?

Well, I'm completely unclear as to what is going on. In my experience, you always have to find a news outlet written in the country's language, and then find one with objective reporting. I don't read Spanish easily so haven't sought out news about it. Certainly, the European 'coverage' has, as @Eejit says, been risible. It's not only the coverage, but also European countries and the EU immediately rushing to 'recognise' Guaidó as president, when there is clearly absolutely no legitimacy to that, whatever you think of the current régime or the current Venezuelan constitution.

They've also picked the wrong stooge in Guaidó; he has pretty much zero charisma, less than Maduro (which is saying something), and he so obviously projects that he's a total phoney that I doubt he'll get anywhere. He'll probably just end up being a sacrificial lamb. They already seem to have started to remove his (lower-profile) associates, and will probably carefully avoid giving him the opportunity to be seen as a martyr.

Al;so, a few years ago, just before Chavez' death, I happened to meet Venezuelans from both 'sides' within weeks of each other. You get that a lot in London, of course; there are opposition figures hibernating here from pretty much every country in the world, as well as those from the current establishment there, usually visiting or studying. I do remember the Venezuelans particularly clearly, though, as their different versions of what was going on in the country were so black-and-white they might almost have been alternate realities. Since then, I haven't really believed anything I've seen written about the country.

Just catching up on the Danny Baker story. Can't say I'm a fan, but I don't think the BBC should have sacked him. It was a significant error of judgement and a dumb thing to do but it also appears to have been a genuine mistake: an official telling off would have been more appropriate. That he's now been sacked plays into the hands of the "it's political correctness gone mad nobody can say anything any more without being accused of racism" type people who I (perhaps unfairly) imagine are possibly the kind of people who like listening to Danny Baker.

I thought from the headline on this piece by Janet Street-Porter it was going to be exactly that type piece but it's actually quite thought provoking and comes to the same conclusion as @Ramsaye that the real problem was that he dared to criticise our royal overlords...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/danny-baker-tweet-racist-bbc-sacked-chimp-royal-meghan-markle-a8908141.html

In my experience, you always have to find a news outlet written in the country's language, and then find one with objective reporting.

You don't need to do that Oliver, just find a news outlet with a global presence and high standards...
https://uk.reuters.com/search/news?blob=venezuela&sortBy=relevance&dateRange=pastDay

Propagating the myth that there are no global media outlets that can be trusted fuels fake news and is bad for media literacy.

Also dailymail.com

lol

I wish people would stop misusing the word "gaslighting"

I find it a useful way to quickly filter people online. Much like "I'm not racist but", or random CAPITALISATION every third sentence.

I know what you mean about the polarisation. A lot of the Chavista stuff online is blatant propaganda.

Fwiw I've found Al Jazera seems to strike what appears to be a reasonable balance. Although, I have no way of truly knowing how balanced they are on the topic.

I don't think the BBC should have sacked him

Isn't it likely that they wanted him gone anyway, and this was a way to do it without having to worry about severance?

Although

...they have been accused by Al Jazeera of being a propaganda outlet for the Qatari government?

FWIW when I was at Reuters they were always extremely keen to cover the plight of my former colleagues in Myanmar who were freed this week, so I like them. I'm not sure their coverage of the Qatari government is as balanced though.

Yup.

Don't know where that went.

Although, I have no way of truly knowing how balanced they are on the topic

I've always found Al Jazeera a good source. Obvs take their middle east stuff with a pinch of salt. But I found for eg their coverage of Mali far superior to anything else out there.