Posts by codejunky

Re: The brexit gift

@werdsmith

"Any EU nation was free to do its own thing with vaccinations"

I am sure you have run away from this conversation before when you had nothing to add. At least you aint claiming the EU's dignity wasnt hurt by its screw up.

"Just like the Euro currency is not compulsory"

Unless you sign up to join the EU.

"People who attempt to defend Brexit using the covid vaccinations are showing their absolute barrel-scraping desperation."

Pointing out the truth is barrel scraping. Hmm, I guess your comment is on par with your usual 'contributions'.

Re: The brexit gift

@b0llchit

"Your dignity..."

Nope still got that. Especially during the Turkish sofa incident where the president got confused about what gender equality is. Or the embarrassing fiasco with vaccinations. Glad not to be associated with that even with our government infighting to preserve the status quo

Re: The brexit gift

@Will Godfrey

"... the one that continues to rob the country, and marginalise us."

Rob us of what? What did they take/steal from us (in this article)?

Re: Has the Register given up on editors?

@Andy 73

"goes on to quote a completely out of context figure."

You got there before me. I had to read the article twice to confirm one number had a time frame and the other didnt.

Re: @Potemkine!

@John Brown (no body)

"They shouldn't need to unionise to get that, but that seems to be the only way forward."

Why? Its a self solving problem. If people wont stay because its not a good job they will leave. Amazon must then either change or go under. No union needed to change that.

@Potemkine!

"As they have so many billions to give away, it's a proof they are not taxed enough, and low taxation is not an incentive but a steal from the collectivity."

That is an insane comment. That they have succeeded and as a result earned more money than most of us can imagine is somehow a sign they need to be robbed at the point of a gun? And in what insane world would we want them to be taxed more when we have seen how wonderful our governments (around the world) are at handling money? Who could seriously believe the government is better at handling money excusing the naivety of youth?

Re: "he could start by winning around critics"

@fxkeh

"Nonsense! It's much easier to impress people who hold a neutral position on you than your critics."

Especially considering the critics probably have green eyes and an authoritarian complex

Re: Simple approach?

@I could be a dog really

"That's not because of GDPR, that's the age old problem of people who can't be arsed to understand even the basics - a variation from a few years ago when all sorts of things were being banned "because 'elf-n-safety'."

Thats a pretty good comparison to make with the crusade of health and safety clipboard nazis because the fear of being on the wrong side of the crusaders was huge. Anything even employee stupidity could potentially be used to attack the company and cost in legal fees if not penalty. As a result there was such a fear that draconian muppets were employed to make our lives miserable (I suffered one for a while).

All the effort to make life uncomfortable for the big guys makes life difficult for the smaller ones.

Re: Simple approach?

@AnotherName

"Maybe businesses should look at the toughest of all the states' rules and just stick to that set."

Why? The whole point of states is to allow for difference. Hobbling yourself by assuming the most strict rules will leave you behind the competitor who doesnt tie themselves up that way.

"That way there's no need to apply different rules in each state and their customers get the best level of protection wherever they live."

Except is the protection good or bad? Over strict rules have caused problems where they dont need to be. Even a guy asking if the injured stray dog he saved was ok was met with 'cant tell you because GDPR'. Next time he probably wont bother as he suspects they probably put it down. Various problems for legal guardians of the elderly even when those guardians can prove they have the authority (power of attorney). The more resistance met the more likely people will seek a competitor.

"But then again, maybe they aren't really interested in consumers' privacy and data protection..."

Maybe the focus is on serving the customer not tickbox hell. I am not against data protection but there is a balance.

Re: @ParlezVousFranglais

@Roland6

"Was Is No.1 in Europe..."

FIFY.

Re: @ParlezVousFranglais

@AC

"But we do have versions in the UK?"

No. We have the second largest financial market in the world and the No.1 in Europe that the EU envies.

Re: @ParlezVousFranglais

@myithingwontcharge

"Define "success". Those are three of the most repugnant and culturally toxic companies on the the planet."

They are successful. Succeeded and continue to do so. You can disagree with them but thats your opinion vs the many who keep these businesses succeeding.

"The fact that the EU has nothing like them proves the EU system works."

Really? The EU looked in envy at these successful companies and couldnt understand why they couldnt make such success. Maybe more regulation was the answer! And so no luck. If failing in that manner is proof the EU 'works' then it explains a lot.

Re: EuroCloud

@fg_swe

Looks like you are trying to make a point?

@ParlezVousFranglais

"So the chances of bringing the whole of the US up to GDPR standards are non-existent and the EU won't agree without it."

The problem with saying 'bringing up to' such and such standards suggests that those standards are good. It might be the case or it might not be. For example we dont see an EU version of Google, Amazon, Facebook or any other such global successes the US has that the EU envies.

@Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese

"(which I take as meaning "GDPR may or may not affect us but we can't be bothered to do any research so we're taking the path of least resistance and just blocking you. Have a nice day")"

Cant blame them really. If a place wants to be difficult you have to weigh up the value of putting in the effort

Re: Hmm

@Zippy´s Sausage Factory

"I'm not an American but if the information wasn't legally obtained, doesn't the 4th amendment come into play? "

Me either I just know GDPR doesnt apply. I find it interesting how excited people are to hit the downvote button. I suspect I upset Biden lovers.

Re: Hmm

@vishal vashisht

"It's ILLEGAL to look. Under GDPR especially. regardless of who it is and what is/was found, those techs should be fired AND FINED."

After giving the hard drive contents to the FBI (in the US so no GDPR) the IT repair guy was worried he would be 'disappeared' as NOTHING was done about it. So went to a lawyer to make it public. This article being about North America.

Re: Hmm

So far 12 unhappy biden lovers? Not a word to say about it. Had it been one of the Trump kids there would be a lot of comments I am sure

Re: Its ok

@ArrZarr

"Sure, the sanctions on Russia have caused hella problems"

But the problem is pre the war. The war exposed part of the fatal flaw but the problem is and was that we were pulling together to replace energy generation with monuments. The problem is that a utopia dream resulted in countries turning off power generation, not replacing it and their utopia dream requires the use of even more electricity and gas.

Reality as I point out is that to have energy we must produce energy. The fantasy of having energy but not producing it is how the people in charge have been pulling together. That is literally why we have an energy crisis, public services looking at closing things to save energy and our costs across the board going up so much. And its not just the UK, and its a direct result of collaboration by those in charge to pull together for our *brighter future*.

Re: Daft

@bpfh

"No but the decisions the UK made does have direct effects: I’m now considered an immigrant rather than just another European working here, I need to prove why I want to stay with my family rather than it being “just normal”."

Thats an issue of the country you reside. Maybe you could look at it as their hostility to foreigners even after you lived there so long or whatever. Thats nothing to do with the UK, the UK shouldnt be tied to the EU just because of how the country you chose to move to decides they should treat you.

"Different work laws, different family laws, different residency laws, none of these applied until 2 years ago"

And yet you say you were there since 1991. Yet thats how that country chooses to treat you. Thats not the UK doing that. As you say you left the UK to live there.

"I won’t say I’m a substandard citizen now, but there has been a lot of negative effects, and I have lost rights that it would have been nice to keep"

It sounds like thats what you're saying. And while they might have been 'nice for you' that does not give much of a reason why the UK should be forced to remain or why you who left in 1991 should be deciding if the UK should be run by the EU.

"which is why I said that I could not have my say in a decision that did - and still does - directly affect me, and will continue to do so until I bite the bullet and request nationality."

And here is the answer. You left the UK for a country you preferred back in 1991 and are still there 30 years later! Yet you havnt requested nationality? Why? And why not now? Why do you consider that 'biting the bullet'? What is wrong with that?

Re: Its ok

@ArrZarr

"I'm not going to suggest that pumped hydrostations are the be-all-end-all to our energy woes"

I agree with you about hydro being a good energy store.

"The whole "energy too cheap to meter" dream is never going to happen"

Agreed. Keeping the costs down is very important but too cheap to meter is probably a dream.

"It goes back to my original point about working together rather than starting wars or instinctively arguing about something"

But this is where my original comment and your original response diverged. While we can wish for a utopia I was pointing at the real world. We have kneecapped ourselves because some were pulling us down while believing in an unachieved utopia. All pulling together has brought a number of countries to potential blackouts and freezing over winter. Pulling together towards the cliff edge does not fix the issue.

Re: Daft

@simonlb

"I don't recall Labour privatising all our public utilities, carving up the NHS to sell off to US and other International healthcare companies, normalising foodbanks and zero-hours contracts"

You might have missed the 13 years under labour. Government functions being outsourced to private companies who exist only to serve the gov but looks good in the accounts. Handing out NHS work to private companies. Food banks were a thing under labour too. As were zero hour contracts.

"It's not a war, Russia invaded and the Ukraine is just defending itself"

Thats a war.

"Besides, the UK only gets 4% of our gas from Russia so price fluctuations due to that should be marginal at best"

Except we buy gas from the world market who now have less supply and a lot of countries bidding up the price.

"However, the formula for working out energy prices is convoluted and designed to significantly increase profits for the energy companies, not give the most competitive value to the end consumer. And that was by design. From the Conservatives."

True except it was pre conservative (as I understand). I am not trying to defend the cons, I have dismal opinions of them, but I am not sure your comment is correct for the most part. Plus a lot of the energy price problems we have faced in this country is to make unreliable green tech seem viable.

Re: Daft

@ArrZarr

"It is worth noting that Truss did try to implement a policy"

While presenting it a little ham fisted it is a shame she didnt get to go ahead. It was nice to see someone proposing pro-growth policies and while I didnt completely agree with her approach was willing to look at UK energy supply.

Unfortunately she was stabbed in the back and we are back to business as usual.

Re: Its ok

@ArrZarr

"The impression I get from your posts is that you're very down on renewables, which is what frustrated me. Maybe I'm misinterpreting it as being very down on the implementation in the UK, which is (probably) flawed."

The implementation in the UK and Germany and so on. I dont care at all if people try to make these things work and if they become a working technology that can be effectively and economically applied then I have no problem with that at all. My problem is the mass propaganda about free energy and how these wonderful things were to produce so much electricity, at a time when we knew it was all bull. The UK expanded the deployment of these monuments but closed and didnt replace actual energy generation which led to rising bills and now serious economic damage. Most of the problems we face right now are due to our energy policy.

"Scotland and Wales are basically just mountain ranges so why do we have four pumped hydrostations rather than forty?"

To be fair I dont know why. I understand ecological opposition to them but also that they do actually work.

"The whole energy situation in the UK is screwed, and that's squarely on the shoulders of NIMBYs and the governments who didn't want to lose votes, but it's all structural problems rather than the fault of the renewables themselves."

I would agree but for the renewables bit. They are not ready for deployment here, they dont work (wind/solar). Great strides have been made in solar and yet it is still impractical for the UK. Wind is a dream until the storage issue is resolved. Serious opposition to nuclear right up until now when the lights are close to out was short sighted often by the greenies wanting to save the earth.

"Of course, when somebody makes a panel which generates electricity from water flowing over it, then we'll be laughing."

They do keep trying. And thats how it should be. Hopefully something succeeds. But when schools are looking at 3 day weeks, some people were concerned about heating vs eating before Ukraine and we are all poorer due to an overenthusiastic push to deploy technology that didnt and still doesnt work.

Re: Its ok

@Richard 12

"If they had not panicked, and instead actually looked at the real risks in a country where tsunamis are literally impossible.."

Very true. But then that is the opinion I hold for a lot of the energy decisions made in parts of the west for some time. Panic over the new religion has led to policy decisions that have no basis in reality and now we are short of energy. Even in believing the 'science' the actions taken have been far more damaging than necessary and even counter-productive.

Re: Its ok

@ArrZarr

"The one that rankles the most is Brexit"

I am very positive about brexit and certainly not a topic of bitching and moaning from me. Agree with my views or not I am often positive about brexit while others are negative about it. I too voted brexit partly for economic reasons as well.

"Beyond that, you seem to be pro-republican when it comes to US politics"

I dont really have any allegiance to any party in the UK or US or anywhere. I am more interested in policies/action and not necessarily left/right but libertarian instead of authoritarian. But again while others were very negative during Trumps presidency I was mostly positive while also acknowledging problems.

"I'm in favour of a small government - it just seems that every political party that wants a small government is also in favour of treating people like dirt."

The first trick is finding one in favour of a smaller government. I keep looking but I dont see many options. This is one I do bitch and moan about which I do feel fits with my views of the EU being more layers of government.

"As mentioned above, I think that Nuclear is a good medium-term option while renewables and storage are worked on"

That you seem to agree with my comment that you originally attacked is what I find odd.

"Finally, I post a lot less than you do, so my original comment was just a bubbling pot boiling over. For all I know, you're a lovely person but your political opinions are (in my opinion) garbage, but you are very willing to share them in the comments section and it usually surprises me just how awful your takes on subjects are."

We can hold the same opinion of each others political views but its not worth letting the pot boil over. We can still shake hands, grab a beer and carry on.

Re: Daft

@bpfh

"Moved out of UK in 1991, been in the beloved EU ever since. You should try it"

For a short time I did. Wasnt a fan but thats not particularly an EU thing as the country I was in. The place was nice but even people living there wanted out. The EU's interference in their livelyhood caused a lot of upset and protests and it seems they are not very well informed on when the EU insists on something unpopular (you should have heard some of the comments about the covid recovery fund).

"even the EU governance is democratic (yep, really)"

A view questioned when the current EU president ex German war minister was 'elected'. Questioned from within the EU by its devotees I add.

"And no, I didn't vote for Brexit. It impacted me directly, but I was not allowed a say, along with about a million others."

Because you left in 1991. Aka you dont live here. It was a decision about the UK for the people living in the UK. Does the UK vote in decisions made in the country you now reside?

"So, ok, go make a good go of it. You got what you wanted, out of the EU, even if all the other promises have fallen over."

I did get what I wanted, and you are right that the promised doom didnt happen.

"I'm quite happy in my beloved EU."

Now I am going to explain why you seem to have missed the point of my comment. Roland6 seemed surprised I didnt leave the UK for my opinions of how some things are run in this country. Some of the strongest opinions on how things should be run seem to come from remainers who are still sore 6 years after the referendum and not even 2 years after leaving the EU. So I returned the question.

*Just wanted to add I am glad your happy where you are. I consider that a good thing and encourage people to do so.

Re: Its ok

@ArrZarr

"Actually no, I agree with you that nuclear power is a very good option and that the govt have been putting it off for far, far too long."

Ok.

"I think we disagree on renewables"

I have no issue with their existence but surely you agree that they are unreliable and increase our dependence on gas.

"My issue with you is partly that we're basically on polar opposite ends of most political spectra"

I can understand that, but I dont complain about you posting. I certainly dont get 'incandescent with rage'.

"and partly the fact that you just seem like a really miserable sod who only seems to get joy out of complaining."

Really? Guess you must only read some of my posts on few subjects I would complain about. But it was you complaining about my sarcastic comment which is on the topic of UK energy generation concerning an article complaining about UK energy generation.

"You are, of course, entitled to your opinions but it does genuinely blow my mind how somebody can have (most) of your political opinions in good faith."

As it seems to bother you so, explain which opinions cause you issues?

Re: Thankfully we are out

@Dan 55

"In a recent survey, 9/10 guests did not want to stay somewhere which burned to the ground while they slept. The remaining 1/10 were a pyromanics and believed onerous government regulation deprived landlords of an income from a key niche market."

Understandable. But since that has no relevance to what you responded to it is a worthless comment. If people were so afraid their airBnB was gonna burn down they wouldnt book them. That they book airBnB means it provides what they want. Come back better

Re: Thankfully we are out

@goodjudge

"In the case of holiday lets, hotels, B+Bs, that's meant to protect the guests."

Of course. Sod what the guests want its what they are told they must have. Given the choice of an airBnB or a more expensive hotel the people choose. But the gov must get its cut and poke its nose in.

Re: Thankfully we are out

@VoiceOfTruth

"Do you know if they declared this income?"

I dont honestly care but I would expect they did knowing them.