UK on Jayeless.net

Fri, 20 May 2022 18:21:41 +1000

Link: MI5 agent used secret status to terrorise girlfriend

So here you have one of the consequences of the UK’s CHIS Act (see relevant link post) – violent, misogynistic far-right extremists given free reign to abuse their girlfriends because they’ve been granted immunity from prosecution for anything. Just outrageous.

Wed, 18 May 2022 13:22:16 +1000

Link: British Police Have Disturbingly Deceived Many Activists Into Romantic Relationships

Article about the British “spycops” scandal, and how the British state is still prioritising the cops’ “rights” over their victims’. Quote from the article:

“It’s always about their dignity and their right to family life and their right to privacy” — versus its care for those they have manipulated and emotionally tortured.

Tue, 17 May 2022 20:34:45 +1000

Link: No to the Cane

Had not been aware of this episode in history, but this is great! How striking schoolchildren managed to force the abolition of corporal punishment in London’s state schools in 1972.

Thu, 12 May 2022 12:38:21 +1000

Link: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it!

Seems like even Douglas Adams’ letters are fun to read! This one is from 1992, when he wrote to an American comic book publisher with some objections to one of their adaptions of his work.

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 11:15:15 +1100

Link: Is English cricket's class and race problem behind their dismal Ashes defeat?

Reminds me a bit of Usman Khawaja’s article about the hostility of Australian cricket to aspiring players from immigrant backgrounds. Apparently 30% of recreational cricket players in the UK are from South Asian backgrounds, but only 5% of their professional players are.

I also did not realise that cricket has only been available on pay TV in the UK since 2005, which naturally makes it a low-profile sport to many young people (there’s a tidbit provided about kids being asked to list 10 sports, and 60% of those kids not thinking to list cricket as one of them). Plus the article mentions it’s an expensive sport to get started in (bats, pads, helmets, etc.) so if low-income kids are going to get into a sport, it’s probably going to be something else.

It does feel like a stretch to suggest that this is “THE” reason England lost the Ashes, but it also seems likely that a lot of England’s best raw talent is not actually taking up cricket, or not making it through to the levels where selectors might spot them. If you’re not starting with all the best people, you’re not giving yourself the best chance.

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 09:17:37 +1100

Link: Revealed: UK Gov't Plans Publicity Blitz to Undermine Chat Privacy

The Australian government’s already gone pretty far down this path of undermining encryption, and it’s so disappointing and frustrating. Actually running an advertising campaign to soften the public up for your stripping away of their rights to privacy seems particularly brazen though.

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 11:46:11 +1100

Link: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

Maaaaan. As an Australian (where our ABC is funded directly by the government, and has way less resources than the BBC as a result, plus constantly doing puff pieces on the right-wing government in unsuccessful efforts to not get their funding cut even more), this seems like a really bad development in the UK. And what I recall from when I was over there is that the BBC news team is massively biased towards the Conservatives! How can their hatred of public services override that kind of loyalty 🤯

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 10:56:00 +1000

Link: British diver Tom Daley knits dog jumper and cosy for Olympic Games gold medal

Pretty sure this is the cutest story I’ve seen emerge from the Olympics 🥰 I’d also like to note this post from Tom Daley’s knitting Instagram account , where you can see various puppers showing off his finished creations. A+

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 11:16:15 +1000

Link: Dirty Feed – Northern Star by John Hoare

Cool article about the production of Red Dwarf’s (mostly) early seasons, and how they used “behind-the-scenes” parts of the studio, like lighting gantries, as sets for certain scenes!

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:30:09 +1000

Link: DFAT urged to retract 'inaccurate' report saying Sri Lankans face low torture risk, following UK court finding

The report that the Australian Government relies on to declare that no one from Sri Lanka could possibly be a refugee or in any danger there is based completely on unsourced assertions and statements that seem to fly in the face of every other, actually reputable, report (surprise surprise). This shit needs to be revoked so Sri Lankan asylum seekers can actually have their claims processed fairly (although Australia’s system is so garbage that that’d only be the beginning).

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 14:37:00 +1100

Link: Roughly 3,000 Words on Yes Minister Pilot Edits by John Hoare

An interesting, if niche, investigation into why the pilot episode of Yes, Minister has a different, gaudier, title sequence to the rest of the series on the DVD box set.

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 11:28:00 +1100

Link: Britain’s Government Has Decided No One Should Police the Police

This CHIS bill in the UK, which would allow umpteen government agencies the right to commit any crimes they like (amendments to bar them from raping, torturing and murdering were defeated) with zero risk of being prosecuted, sounds horrendous – and shame on Keir Starmer’s Labour Party for going along with it!

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 18:14:00 +1100

Random fact: the reason an Australian dollar has long been worth approx. half a British pound is decimalisation. In both currencies before that, there were 20 shillings to a pound. When Britain decimalised, they decided that one old pound = one new pound. Australia, on the other hand, went with one old shilling = 10 cents, so the new dollar was only worth 10 shillings. Since both currencies started floating the exchange rate has bounced around a lot – AUD$1 has been worth everything from 34p in 1998 to 72p in 1984 – but the rate’s still around $1 = 56p today (or conversely, £1 = $1.78).