Posts by IT veteran 62 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Dec 2010
There hasn't been a union block vote in UK Labour leadership elections since the early 90s; MPs vote as members, not as MPs (they are both part of the nomination process though). Individual Union members get to vote individually (if they pay the political levy), as do members of afiliated organisations (like the Fabians). No matter how many you are a member of, you get one vote.
"QR codes are nice, but in that particular case, they offer no particular advantage over NFC. The miracle is rather that the store and the bank simply accepted the use of Alipay without throwing a fit and attempting to create their own incompatible and buggy system."
It probably helps that China is an authoritarian government which still has control over the banks...
The US Constitution was not adopted until 1789. I think you are thinking of the Articles of Confederation, which were so good they were replaced 8 years later...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution
As to Magna Carta, it was an agreement between the Barons and the King. The majority of people were ignored. Its only later Jurisprudence which has put it on its pedestal. King John revoked it almost immediately (with the support of the Pope), and it was only issued in modified form under his successor as he needed Baronial support against a French invasion. If John had lived and defeated the Barons, it would be a footnote in history
I'm afraid the last vestiges of socialism in the Nazi party were purged in June 1934 ('The night of the long knives' - remember that?). Any 'Socialist' policies were purged way before that (about when Hitler regained control in the mid-20s).
Just because they called themselves Socialist doesn't mean they were - no more than the 'Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea' is democratic or run for the benefit of the people.
Er yes, there are a .asia and a .eu. No .americas as yet, and Antarctica doesn't have a permanent human population (Penguins don't use computers, not even Linux :)). Australia is probably covered by .beer (although New Zealanders have .kiwi).
Election promises are falling like nine-pins - the care home fees cap has been pushed back to 2020 (it was going to be paid for by keeping the inheritance tax threshold as it was. Oops). Which means it will probably not come in this side of the election. And all the rail investment in the North has been scraped, of course.
The amazing thing is that the Manhattan Project developed not one but two different atomic bombs (Fat Boy and Little Boy) as well as the theory behind thermonuclear bombs, In 3 years. The Germans didn't get beyond developing a primitive nuclear pile (which the Americans did in 1942). When German scientists were told about the bombing of Hiroshima, they couldn't believe that it was an Atomic bomb, insisting it must be a dirty bomb.
Icon: well, someone had to...
Someone in the government REALLY needs to invest in a copy of "The Mythical Man Month". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
And if the UC computer system is anything like as badly implemented as Universal Job Match, then god help those on benefits: https://universaljobmatchisarightshambles.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/universal-job-match-problems/
1) it supported one of the parties now in the coalition in the last election
2) one of its journos went on to become speechwriter for a certain David Cameron
3) it regularly publishes articles by tory ministers
Don't get me wrong, I like the Guardian, but the "anti government" line is so 1980s.
I have been using Windows 8 since it was RTM, and I'm very meh about the Metro interface. I can see what MS are trying to do, but it is clunky and annoying. When you have to google how to get out of a Metro app, you know you are in trouble. But it IS much faster to boot and doesn't seem to have problems sleeping my PC, as Windows 7 did.
I recently installed Start Menu 8, and will probably try Classic Shell now.
One thing that no one seems to have mentioned/noticed - Windows 8 is the first version of Windows to have Anti-Virus installed by default (Windows Defender now has AV integrated). Not that I use it ;-).
Interestingly, IIRC, Defender has not been Metroised.
AFAIK, you can't waive your rights under the DPA. If the company uses your data for purposes for which it was not provided, then the executive responsible for Data Protection can be sent to prison, and unlimited fines imposed. An EA customer in the UK could make a Data Protection request to EA, and report them to the Information Commissioner if they do not respond, or refuse to remove data when requested. Where the data is held is irrelevant. The EA subsidiary in the UK operates under UK/EU law. That is why UK companies off-shoring operations which involve storing or processing UK data outside the EU have to make sure the outsourcee abides by the DPA.
Also grabbing information from a PC or console would be covered by the Misuse of Computers Act, would it not?
Finally, the Sale of Goods Act applies in the UK, and allows a refund or replacement within 30 days from the point of purchase or manufacturer. Or within 6 years if the defect was there when the item was bought.
But IANAL
Not gonna happen whilst SCOTUS says corporations are people, and thus get constitutional protections (e.g. Freedom of speech etc). That gave the US the odd position in the early 20th century where coporations were covered by the 14th ammendment, but blacks (for whom it was written) weren't.
I think you will find if you are earning 6.19 an hour, you will pay little if any income tax (and may even get tax credits, which means the job is being subsidised by other tax payers). And, as someone pointed out above, the jobs are not permanent, they are 12 week contracts with no holiday entitlement or paid sick leave.
Because the UK has a special agreement with the Channel Islands that goods below a certain value will not be taxed on entry, originally put in place to help Guernsey's flower exporters. I think the value was reduced in the last budget because of the outcry about Amazon et al exploiting the loophole.
That is probably why employees of MS partners can get cheap copies of Office (for about £20 I think). Also, Server 2008 has a system which allows users to attach their own laptops to the domain. It checks security software etc is up to date. MS use it in their offices. Amazing what tech can do now days, isn't it?
I was paying over £70 a month for the same (except one V+ box and what was then 50mb internet). I called and threatened to go to Sky - I was put through to the Customer Retention team, and managed to wrangle Tivo, V+ box, 30 (now 60) mb internet and free evening/weekend calls for £52 per month (goes up slightly after 12 months). The only thing I had to do was commit to an 18 month contract. Oh yes, I got free installation for the Tivo box as well.
And, as an added bonus, the engineer didn't replace my modem with that new VM box which has all the problems :-).
If you talk to the right people, you can get a decent deal.
I'm afraid it is you who are misremembering things. Firstly, Thatcher was quite OK supporting vile dictatorships like Chile and its dictator Pinochet. Second, it was Thatcher who denied UK citizenship to Falkland islanders (British Nationality Act 1981). Thirdly, she also planned to strip the islands of their only naval presence - HMS Endurance, and to run-down the garrison. All three were opposed by Labour, who supported the sending of the task force (not many people remember that).
In the late 70's the Argentinians were building up to attack the islands. Callaghan sent a small task force and a nuclear submarine to warn them off. No lives lost, job done.
Is that the reversal of the Bush tax cuts for the top 10%? Since the US is running a giant deficit (largely due to Bush turning a surplus into a deficit), raising taxes on the wealthiest is a good way to reduce it. Otherwise, ultimately, you need to raise taxes on the middle classes (like Cain is proposing - yep that's how the 9-9-9 plan will work). Cutting taxes IS NO guarantee that growth will follow, as much of the money will be diverted to off-shore havens by the rich, or spent on goods made in China.
At least Obama HAS a jobs plan - republicans WANT the economy to tank, to help them next year. Which is the more cynical?
Government cannot cut its way out of a slump - look what's happening in southern Europe and Ireland.
So we didn't have a massive banking collapse in this country - it was all Gordon's fault? But the rest of the world did? I'm not saying the last government (indeed, all governments since 1979) does not have to take its share of the blame, but I don't remember the opposition, well, opposing its measures before 2007. Indeed, they were calling for LESS banking oversight. And I think the banks should take a lot of the blame for trading bad debt etc.
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