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frankPodmore frankPodmore @slrpnk.net

London-based writer. Often climbing.

Posts 146
Comments 862
Where to start?
  • I'd start with Strange New Worlds. It's very classic Trek in terms of its themes and stories, but as it's still being made it has contemporary audiences in mind. If you like it, I would then go to TNG.

  • www.theguardian.com Union review – fighting for your rights under the Amazon corporate jackboot

    This documentary follows the formation of the Amazon Labor Union, showing how difficult it is for workers working for a company determined to efface their rights

    Union review – fighting for your rights under the Amazon corporate jackboot
    0
    www.theguardian.com Union review – fighting for your rights under the Amazon corporate jackboot

    This documentary follows the formation of the Amazon Labor Union, showing how difficult it is for workers working for a company determined to efface their rights

    Union review – fighting for your rights under the Amazon corporate jackboot
    0
    www.theguardian.com Union review – fighting for your rights under the Amazon corporate jackboot

    This documentary follows the formation of the Amazon Labor Union, showing how difficult it is for workers working for a company determined to efface their rights

    Union review – fighting for your rights under the Amazon corporate jackboot
    0
    Keir Starmer to unveil ambitious new UK climate goal at Cop29
  • Exactly. I think Labour would do it, more than happily, were it not for the housing crisis. They understandably want to build a lot, quickly, but they need to be convinced that the crisis won't really be 'solved' without medium- long-term thinking, which includes eco-friendly standards.

  • Keir Starmer to unveil ambitious new UK climate goal at Cop29
  • Yeah, no room for complacency! But that's why we need to do the difficult things quickly (e.g., building all the pylons we need to link up new green energy developments) and also do things that aren't likely to be undone (which is why Labour shouldn't drop the requirement for new homes to have solar panels).

  • Keir Starmer to unveil ambitious new UK climate goal at Cop29
  • In the UK, the environmental movement has actually won the argument, but I don't think we've fully realised it, yet. Even Conservative voters (if not MPs) want climate action as a high priority.

  • Keir Starmer to unveil ambitious new UK climate goal at Cop29
  • I'm sceptical, but I think that as long as carbon capture happens alongside shutting down fossil fuels, it's at least worth a try.

  • www.theguardian.com Keir Starmer to unveil ambitious new UK climate goal at Cop29

    Exclusive: Target is 81% emissions cut compared with 1990, but activists say it must be backed by plan of action

    Keir Starmer to unveil ambitious new UK climate goal at Cop29
    12
    Have you read Babel by R.F. Kuang? Did you like it?
  • Yeah, you're right about the footnotes. I read someone the other day saying they felt like Kuang was writing with an imaginary social justice scold hovering over her, and I think that's about right. I find it odd that someone feels they have to say 'racism — which is bad, by the way — exists in this society'. We know it's bad! Even racists don't like being called racist!

  • Have you read Babel by R.F. Kuang? Did you like it?
  • I started reading it yesterday, so I'll let you know.

    Why did you dislike it?

  • So, this was totally predictable. Here's why. (long article)
  • I'm not going to go through this point by point. Some of it I think is probably about right and some not. What I will say is that I don't think it's consistent to say people were crying wolf over Trump, who tried to overthrow one election and would have done the same with this one had he lost, and then in the same place to suggest that a Harris win would've resulted in the end of democracy based entirely on a loosely defined notion of elitism.

  • New council housing in England may be removed from right to buy scheme
  • Yeah, if I was in charge I'd build council housing for the rich, too (like the Barbican). Then the money currently going on rent and mortgages could be better invested elsewhere!

  • New council housing in England may be removed from right to buy scheme
  • sell them for full market value and put any profit into a fund to build more council houses

    This is probably the way to go, because then the Tories won't be able to run on 'Bring Back Right To Buy'.

  • www.theguardian.com New council housing in England may be removed from right to buy scheme

    Angela Rayner says restrictions may be placed on sale of new social housing to prevent loss of stock

    New council housing in England may be removed from right to buy scheme
    7

    At least one good thing happened today: Starmer's government published an improved ministerial code.

    0
    Biden thinks Trump voters are trash.
  • My point was that if the man is still 'armed', he hasn't been 'disarmed', he just has one less (type of) gun. For example, if I told you that there was a man in my street with two guns, and then added that he'd now been disarmed (forcibly or otherwise), you would assume that he now had zero guns.

  • Biden thinks Trump voters are trash.
  • The fact that he didn't call them trash is the salient point here.

    I mean, apart from anything else, the word he used, whatever it was applied to, was 'garbage'.

  • Biden thinks Trump voters are trash.
  • disarm

    If a man had an assault rifle and a handgun, and he put down the assault rifle, would you describe him as 'unarmed'? If so, I don't think you can describe removing assault rifles as 'disarming' people.

  • Biden thinks Trump voters are trash.
  • No, he didn't. Both the context and the grammar make it clear that my interpretation is correct. Even if you interpret it unsumpathetically, the inference that it's 'all' Trump supporters is something you've added.

    Any Trump supporter pretending to be offended by what Biden didn't actually say is in any case a massive hypocrite, because Trump built his political career on being offensive. They can't turn around now and act all offended unless they also repudiate Trump.

  • My Fellow Republicans, It’s Time to Say Enough With Trump
  • That's part of the reason I'm sharing it here!

    Anyway, I'm sure there's a non-zero number of conservative-leaning readers of the NYT. Every one of them who's swayed away from Trump is a win.

  • Biden thinks Trump voters are trash.
  • He didn't. "The only garbage I see is his supporter's" garbage, i.e, it's the possessive "'s". The clue here is 'is', singular. If he meant a group of people, he'd have said 'are', plural.

    Anyway, Trump called the whole country a garbage can, so if you're so desperately offended by your misunderstanding of Biden's comments, I guess you're also pretty torn up about Trump's actual comments, right?

  • My Fellow Republicans, It’s Time to Say Enough With Trump

    www.nytimes.com Opinion | Trump Betrayed America.Republicans Must Put Country Above Party.

    The time has come for my fellow Republicans to put country above party.

    Opinion | Trump Betrayed America.Republicans Must Put Country Above Party.

    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/30532463

    > Archive link

    6
    Row as Starmer suggests landlords and shareholders are not ‘working people’
  • He was a secret Marxist all along. The Daily Mail was right!

  • 'The worst thing I've ever heard': Holocaust survivor blasts Harris for comparing Trump to Hitler
  • Missing the vital context that Trump keeps praising Hitler, and that's the reason people are making the comparison.

  • Thames Water secures £3bn loan to survive into 2025
  • Just nationalise it already.

  • www.positive.news A new flow: pioneering UK river restoration declared a success

    A year after completion, an innovative UK river ‘reset’ project has been hailed a success. It could provide a template for tackling some of the impacts of more extreme weather events.

    A new flow: pioneering UK river restoration declared a success
    0
    Arizona Republicans explain why they're considering voting Democratic this year
  • Like I've said, it's not a matter of owing her votes. I just think that you shouldn't use your vote in a way that will make things worse.

    I've not ascribed any views to you beyind what you've said here, and I'd appreciate if you didn't do the same to me. I don't think you support Trump, but it is a fact that your current plans make a Trump win more likely. It's precisely because I don't believe you support Trump (and in particular what he'd do in Gaza) that I think you should reconsider that plan.

    Anyway, we're going round in circles here. Unless you can show to me that voting for Stein will have something other than a wholly negative outcome for Gaza or anywhere else, I'm not going to change my view that it's a mistake for you to do so.

  • Arizona Republicans explain why they're considering voting Democratic this year

    0

    Arizona Republicans explain why they're considering voting Democratic this year

    54

    The TUC welcomes the government's announcement today of plans for industrial strategy

    >Industrial strategy can accelerate growth and create good jobs, says TUC

    0
    www.theatlantic.com Confessions of a Republican Exile

    A longtime conservative, alienated by Trumpism, tries to come to terms with life on the moderate edge of the Democratic Party.

    Confessions of a Republican Exile

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/14237802

    > cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/14237801 > > > Archive link. > > > > A ridiculous number of the recent posts to this sub are me trying to convince conservatives not to vote for Trump.

    Anyway, here are this guy’s reasons:

    >[The] Republican relationship to truth and knowledge has gone to hell. MAGA is a fever swamp of lies, conspiracy theories, and scorn for expertise. The Blue World, in contrast, is a place more amenable to disagreement, debate, and the energetic pursuit of truth.

    >I’ve come to appreciate the Democrats’ long-standing tradition of using a pragmatic imagination. I like being around people who know that it’s really hard to design policies that will help others but who have devoted their lives to doing it well […] Over the past four years, I’ve watched the Biden administration use pragmatic imagination to funnel money to parts of America that have long been left behind.

    >Another set of qualities now drawing me toward the Democrats: patriotism and regular Americanness.

    >But ultimately what’s pulling me away from the Republican Party and toward the Democrats is one final quality of Blue World: its greater ability to self-correct. Democrats, I’ve concluded, are better at scrutinizing, and conquering, their own shortcomings than Republicans are.

    4
    www.theatlantic.com Confessions of a Republican Exile

    A longtime conservative, alienated by Trumpism, tries to come to terms with life on the moderate edge of the Democratic Party.

    Confessions of a Republican Exile

    Archive link.

    A ridiculous number of the recent posts to this sub are me trying to convince conservatives not to vote for Trump.

    Anyway, here are this guy's reasons:

    >[The] Republican relationship to truth and knowledge has gone to hell. MAGA is a fever swamp of lies, conspiracy theories, and scorn for expertise. The Blue World, in contrast, is a place more amenable to disagreement, debate, and the energetic pursuit of truth.

    >I’ve come to appreciate the Democrats’ long-standing tradition of using a pragmatic imagination. I like being around people who know that it’s really hard to design policies that will help others but who have devoted their lives to doing it well [...] Over the past four years, I’ve watched the Biden administration use pragmatic imagination to funnel money to parts of America that have long been left behind.

    >Another set of qualities now drawing me toward the Democrats: patriotism and regular Americanness.

    >But ultimately what’s pulling me away from the Republican Party and toward the Democrats is one final quality of Blue World: its greater ability to self-correct. Democrats, I’ve concluded, are better at scrutinizing, and conquering, their own shortcomings than Republicans are.

    4
    www.theguardian.com Starmer to pledge billions for transport, schools and hospitals in budget

    Exclusive: Labour to promise more investment as PM tells Guardian he will not be distracted by ‘side winds’

    Starmer to pledge billions for transport, schools and hospitals in budget
    1

    Conservative government “pursued poisonous culture wars” between cyclists and drivers, says new transport secretary – as Labour vows to “take back streets” for all road users

    5

    The Moment of Truth | The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.

    www.theatlantic.com The Moment of Truth

    The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.

    The Moment of Truth

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/14148802

    > I'm not a conservative myself, but I defy any conservative intending to vote for Donald Trump to read this comparison of Washington and Trump, and to honestly tell themselves afterwards that that they believe in America and its ideals.

    0

    The Moment of Truth | The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.

    www.theatlantic.com The Moment of Truth

    The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.

    The Moment of Truth

    I'm not a conservative myself, but I defy any conservative intending to vote for Donald Trump to read this comparison of Washington and Trump, and to honestly tell themselves afterwards that that they believe in America and its ideals.

    29
    www.theguardian.com Labour’s employment rights bill: what key changes will it bring?

    Improvements to workers’ rights to include day-one universal sick pay and an end to zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire

    Labour’s employment rights bill: what key changes will it bring?
    3
    www.theguardian.com Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will be Tory leader as Cleverly is eliminated

    Former foreign and home secretary loses out in shock result in final round of MPs’ voting

    Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will be Tory leader as Cleverly is eliminated
    20
    www.theguardian.com Reeves to press ahead with plans to borrow billions for investment

    Exclusive: chancellor’s plan to change rules to allow more borrowing comes as cost of government debt rises

    Reeves to press ahead with plans to borrow billions for investment
    0