A K Haart
The constitutional thimble-rig is carried on to-day, dear boy, more seriously than ever - Honoré de Balzac
Tuesday 19 March 2024
The irresponsible charges of resentment
Doubtless she was posing as a martyr before all who knew anything of her story; why had she refused his money, if not that her case might seem all the harder? It were difficult to say whether he really believed this; in a nature essentially egoistic, there is often no line to be drawn between genuine convictions and the irresponsible charges of resentment.
George Gissing – Demos (1886)
A quote recalled when Barak Obama popped up at No.10.
A useful observation by Gissing which is easy to forget. We see them all the time - public figures with a strong streak of egoism. So often we see the egoism as a fault, note the dishonesty which comes with it but forget the other baggage egoism carries.
Gissing was right, egoists are damagingly irresponsible as well as dishonest. The egoism itself isn’t the only damaging aspect, it’s the irresponsible accusations prompted by setbacks or criticism. We cannot draw a line between an egoist’s convictions and their irresponsible charges of resentment. That is to say, their tendency to fire off irresponsible accusations when things aren’t going their way.
To take another prominent example, we have the spectacle of Justin Trudeau leading Canada down the totalitarian rabbit hole in response to personal political setbacks and criticism. With Trudeau there is no professionalism, no pragmatism, merely an egoist showing us yet again that there is no line to be drawn between genuine convictions and the irresponsible charges of resentment.
There are many other examples, so many that it is remarkable that we ever vote for them. Yet we have been warned about egoists over and over again. We shouldn’t vote for them but we do – which is also irresponsible.
Another EV Glitch
Jaguar I-Pace drivers can no longer charge with cheap Octopus Energy tariff due to software change
Jaguar Land Rover and Octopus Energy are under fire from I-Pace owners after removing JLR electric vehicles (EVs) from the charging app with only a few hours notice.
Over the past week 'furious' users have been taking to I-Pace Forums to share emails they've received from Octopus Energy saying their electric vehicle won't be compatible to smart charge with Intelligent Octopus Go due to JLR software changes...
Jaguar I-Pace owner Judith Dooling told us she received an email 'last Wednesday night from Octopus Energy to say that as of midnight that night I would no longer be able to charge my car [I-Pace] using the Intelligent Octopus Go app. Four hours notice.'...
After hours spent talking to JLR and Octopus 'until I am blue in the face', Judith has not been given a solution on how to get her I-Pace to charge manually.
She said: 'I have tried things suggested on the iPace forum (full of very angry customers) but again last night my car did not charge.
We'll be tootling off to the garden centre in half an hour. I haven't yet decided which car we'll use, but I don't need to check the fuel in either. Unlike the Jaguar Lo-Pace they are not messed up by sudden software changes.
It beats me why people buy these things before the bugs, drawbacks, best buys and worst buys have become public knowledge. This takes time and so far it all looks pretty negative.
Monday 18 March 2024
Uncultured and non-socialist pedicabs
N. Korean pedicab driver arrested in Pyongyang after protesting fine
The arrest comes amid a crackdown on pedicab drivers, whom the authorities say are making money in an "uncultured and non-socialist" fashion
“An increasing number of people have been earning money by operating refurbished pedicabs in the suburban districts of Pyongyang, which has led to a crackdown by the Pyongyang police. A man who complained about a police fine is about to be sentenced to six months of disciplinary labor,” a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Driving a North Korean pedicab out of financial necessity sounds pretty close to disciplinary labour to me. Maybe it isn't close enough by those cultured, socialist North Korean standards.
Two headlines
Five episodes of GB News programmes presented by Tory MPs found to have broken Ofcom rules
The channel has been warned it could face a fine or have its licence suspended if it breaks the same rules again. The watchdog said getting politicians to host news shows "risks undermining the integrity and credibility of regulated broadcast news".
Extinction Rebellion target GB News as offices covered in paint
The front of GB News's offices have been doused in paint by furious protestors who accuse the broadcaster of being an "extemist [sic] organisation". It has demanded an "end to their torrent of climate lies and disinformation".
The unavoidable conclusion
And they were soon in the midst of one of those immense and formless conversations in which a complex subject is discussed without order interminably, and without apparent result, until there comes a moment when the speakers perceive that all the ground has been many times covered and that it is no longer possible to say anything that has not already been said; and pauses occur, and the unavoidable conclusion emerges and shapes itself and imperiously demands acceptance.
Arnold Bennett - Whom God Hath Joined (1906)
There are many cases where an unavoidable conclusion emerges and shapes itself and imperiously demands acceptance. Not necessarily the right conclusion and possibly a stupid conclusion, but an unavoidable conclusion at the time. Of course it may not seem so unavoidable in the future. There are many cases of that too.
For example, within the UK government the first unavoidable Net Zero conclusion was that it should be pursued vigorously as government policy. It may be that a second unavoidable conclusion is emerging – a conclusion that the policy cannot possibly work or affect the climate. Sceptics saw it from the beginning and in a sense this is what sceptics do, they see the second unavoidable conclusion first.
Why didn’t the government see from the beginning that Net Zero is a stupid policy and why is the stupidity yet to be acknowledged? Governments are stuffed with supposedly intelligent people who attended university, know how to say the right thing in the right circles but push forward with stupid policies.
Perhaps governments did not see the stupidity of Net Zero from the beginning because there are not enough sceptics in government. Anyone from any social class, any level of education and any walk of life can do scepticism. For governments and the elites, something anyone can do just won’t do.
Are MPs likely to row back on Net Zero, admit it has all been premature and return to whatever works best within the constraints of markets, engineering and the laws of physics? Are they likely to do it now, when the stupidity is so obvious and a general election looms? Again the unavoidable conclusion emerges and shapes itself and imperiously demands acceptance - no.
Sunday 17 March 2024
Titanic deck chair attendant to stay
Minister tries to quash rumours of plot to oust PM
Rishi Sunak will lead the Tories into the next general election, the transport secretary insisted, amid reports of a plot to oust the prime minister.
Mark Harper dismissed speculation some Conservative rebels want the prime minister to be replaced with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.
Asked on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips if Mr Sunak will still be leader at the next election, Mr Harper said: "Yes he will.
"And he'll take us into that election and he'll set out very clearly that we're a government with a plan."
Consider
Councils will have to consider resident support over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
Councils will be obliged to consider whether residents support the implementation of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) in their area before schemes can be introduced, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.
LTNs are an area where vehicle numbers are reduced, and work by preventing vehicles from using certain streets as through roads into other destinations, quite often through using temporary or permanent barriers which stop traffic from being able to drive along a certain route.
Of course the word 'consider' is the escape route, so not particularly radical. As decision makers know, it is possible to 'consider' anything, including what views people ought to have.
This could involve in-person events, online engagement, and leaflet drops to involve the whole community in the process and will mean that authorities must consider whether an LTN has local support before it is implemented...
A consultation will also be launched this summer on measures including the removal of local authorities’ access to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data to enforce such schemes by camera...
The action taken today on LTNs is supported by a wide-ranging review that highlights only 13% of residents have responded to councils’ planning consultations on LTNs, and just 18% feel that their views have influenced council decisions. The report also found that local authorities operating LTNs issue an average of 36,459 penalty charge notices per scheme, with the highest number of penalty charge notices issued for a single LTN scheme exceeding 170,000. That’s why the guidance embeds the need for local support and will ultimately save motorists money.
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