In what clearly counts as an instance of buyer’s remorse, today’s inews carries a piece about two Britons – one in his thirties and from Bristol, the other a pensioner from Winchester, who both voted for Brexit and now seem surprised they cannot get visas to live permanently in their respective properties, as per the screenshot below of the report’s headline and byline.
Both are now suffering remorse and a feeling of betrayal (remember all those smooth-talking right-wing politicians who lied to the public saying nothing would really changed in our relationship with the EU and its member states? Ed.).
As defined by the dictionary, the phrase buyer’s remorse has two meanings:
a sense of regret or uneasiness after having purchased a house, car, or other major item; and
a sense of regret after having committed to an endorsement, policy, plan of action, etc.
Either of both of those definitions may be applicable in these two instances.
These stories have a moral, i.e. think before you vote (bearing in mind that all politicians lie. Ed.) and always remember the law of unexpected consequences.
The EU Commission has announced it has sent a request for information to social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, under the Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). It follows indications of the alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech. Furthermore, the request also concerns compliance with other provisions of the DSA
The Commission reports it is investigating X’s compliance with the DSA, including the following:
Policies and practices regarding notices on illegal content;
Complaint handling; and
Risk assessment measures to mitigate the risks identified.
X needs to provide the requested information to the Commission by 18 October 2023 for questions related to the activation and functioning of X’s crisis response protocol and by 31 October 2023 on the rest. Based on the assessment of the replies, the Commission will assess next steps. This could entail the formal opening of proceedings under Article 66 of the DSA.
The Commission can impose fines for incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request for information under Article 74 (2) of the DSA. If X does not reply, the Commission may decide to request the information by decision. In this case, failure to reply by the deadline could lead to the imposition of period penalties.
Your ‘umble scribe believes that the platform owner’s normal response to those he does not like – a turd emoji – will not placate the inhabitants of the Berlaymont building in Brussels (posts passim).
Barton Hill’s monthly community litter pick took place last Saturday.As usual, we assembled outside the Wellspring Settlement (formerly Barton Hill Settlement. Ed.) at 10 am on Saturday to decide where needed our attention most.
We then tackled some of the Urban Park before proceeding to Cobden Street and its associated public open space and picnic table, a favourite spot with locals for drinking beer.
This month saw the biggest turnout for several months – 5 in total; and whilst we were in the Urban Park organiser Shona took the email address of another prospective volunteer to add to the mailing list.
At the end of one hour’s picking in pleasant, warm sunshine, we posed for the obligatory group photo before heading back to the Settlement for a well-deserved hot drink.
Here’s the swag we collected divided into recyclable materials (translucent bags) and general waste (green bags) awaiting collection by Bristol Waste.
Once again, many thanks to Shona for organising the event (as well as for the photos above. Ed.) and my fellow volunteers to turning out and working so willingly.
Whether it’s a large or small one, Wikipedia pages on human settlements contain a list of local notable – past and present.
Ellesmere in Shropshire – (where your ‘umble scribe recently spent a most enjoyable week) is no exception to this general tenet. Indeed its list of notable people is large enough to be divided into ordinary mortals and sportspeople. However, amongst the members of the aristocracy and one disgraced former MP, there’s one name that shines out, that of Englantyne Jebb (25 August 1876 – 17 December 1928) – one of only two women in the list of the town’s great and good.
As a family, the Jebbs were comfortably off with a strong social conscience plus a commitment to public service. According to Wikipedia, “Her mother had founded the Home Arts and Industries Association, to promote Arts and Crafts among young people in rural areas; her sister Louisa would help found the Women’s Land Army in World War I. Another sister, Dorothy, who married the Labour MP Charles Roden Buxton, campaigned against the demonisation of the German people after the war.”
As part of that campaign against the demonisation of Germans after the First World War (when Britain maintained its wartime blockade that left children in cities like Berlin and Vienna starving. Ed.), Eglantyne and her sister Dorothy were arrested in 1919 in London’s Trafalgar Square for distributing leaflets which bore shocking images of children affected by famine in Europe and the headline: ‘Our Blockade has caused this – millions of children are starving to death‘.
Jebb was tried for her protest, found guilty and fined. However, prosecuting counsel was so impressed with her that he offered to pay the £5 fine himself.
Shortly afterwards, the sisters decided that campaigning was not sufficient and direct action was required. In May 1919, the Save the Children Fund was set up at a packed public meeting in London’s Royal Albert Hall. The organisation quickly raised a large sum of money from the British public and officials were dispatched to organise relief work. The Save The Children website has an excellent summary of its history, including those early post-WW1 days.
The success of Save the Children led Eglantyne and Dorothy to attempt to set up an international movement for children. In 1920, the International Save the Children Union (Union International de Secours à l’Enfant) was founded in Geneva, with the British Save the Children Fund and the Swedish Rädda Barnen as leading members.
In 1923 Eglantyne went to Geneva to attend a meeting of the International Save the Children Union with a plan for a children’s charter. She drafted a short and clear document which asserted the rights of children and the duty of the international community to put children’s rights at the forefront of planning. The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, or the Declaration of Geneva as it came to be known, was adopted in 1924 by the League of Nations, the precursor to the current United Nations, which has its own Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Eglantyne died in Geneva in 1928 after many years of ill health due to thyroid problems. She is buried there Saint George’s cemetery. Her epitaph features a quote from Matthew 25:40: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.“
Eglangtyne has not been forgotten by Ellesmere. The town’s Cremonrne Gardens bordering the Mere feature the Jebb Garden, which itself contains a large sculpted stone bearing some words of Eglantyne’s from that initial Declaration of Geneva as part of the local sculpture trail. It was carved from Howley Park York sandstone by Llansilin artist John Neilson.
Mankind owes to the child the very best it has to give
Next to it is another sculpture entitled “Refuge” by John Merrill. It is is set in a grass and stone labyrinth to symbolise the perilous journeys taken by child refugees.
Refuge, John Merrill
Well done to Ellesmere for remembering a remarkable townswoman!
On Saturday 9th just gone, one of the hottest days of the year so far, four of us met at Barton Hill’s Wellspring Centre at 10 a.m. to take part in the monthly community litter pick organised by Shona Jemphrey (to whom thanks are die for the photos. Ed.).
We covered part of the Urban Park and some of the surrounding streets, plus an alleyway off Victoria Avenue, which some desperate folk had been using as an emergency urinal. The ‘swag‘ we collected is shown below.
After an hour’s sweating and tidying, the team retired to the Centre for a well-deserved brew and some biscuits. As per usual, we got a few thanks and kind smiles from passers-by.
On Thursday the perpetual victim otherwise known as the disgraced 45th President of the United States of America, one Donald John Trump, surrendered to the authorities at Fulton County Jail, Georgia on more than a dozen charges stemming from his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results in that state, brining to four the number of times he has faced criminal charges in 2023.
During his 20 minutes in custody, the Fulton County Sherriff’s Department took the congenital liar’s fingerprints and photograph (aka a mugshot), the latter of which was released and in which the disgraced former commander in cheat shows off his compassionate and humane side to best advantage.
The Donald looking like his mother’s told the toddler him that he cannot have a cookie.
After leaving custody and returning to his perpetual hobby of cheating on the golf course, Trump found time to voice his continual grievances on his own Truth Social [sic] social media platform, griping yet again that the 2020 US presidential election being “RIGGED” (note block capitals. Ed.) and, er, “STOLLEN” (one more note block capitals. Ed.).
Stollen, Mr disgraced former president? According to Wikipedia, “Stollen is a cake-like fruit bread made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Orangeat (candied orange peel) and candied citrus peel (Zitronat), raisins and almonds, and various spices such as cardamom and cinnamon are added. Other ingredients, such as milk, sugar, butter, salt, rum, eggs, vanilla, other dried fruits and nuts and marzipan, may also be added to the dough. Except for the fruit added, the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished bread is sprinkled with icing sugar.”.
Stollen. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
It has yet to be determined by the courts whether a German Christmas speciality is less of a threat to the constitutional integrity of the United States of America than its 45th head of state and his credulous supporters.
If it did come to a vote and your ‘umble scribe was enfranchised, he would always vote for a German Christmas than someone who can’t even be honest when he plays golf.
Friday 25th August 2023 marked the end of an era and a sad day for Easton in Bristol. After 14 years of serving the public St Mark’s Community Café based at St Mark’s Baptist Church opened for the very last time after 14 years.
Of the local media outlets, only the BBC appears to have covered this event, but gave it a very sympathetic write-up.
Your ‘umble scribe has been going there 2 or 3 times a week for the past few years to enjoy baked potatoes, good cooking and the undisputed best cakes in all BS5, the latter baked by the remarkable Lesley, whose baking skills put my own late mother’s to shame (and that’s saying a lot, coming from a loyal eldest son!). My own particular favourites amongst her regular baked wares were farmhouse fruit, barra brith and anything with gooseberries or ginger. Furthermore, all the food served and the ingredients used to prepare it were ethically and locally sourced wherever possible.
However, this was a café with a difference: paying customers like your correspondent meant that the homeless could eat there for free. Below is a short video with interviews of both customers and café staff/volunteers to give an idea of what has now entered the annals of local history.
Although I’ll miss you all terribly, here’s wishing Lesley a happy retirement and I’d like to express my thanks to you, Nettie and all the café volunteers for keeping me fed over the years and being such wonderful people.
As a title in the Reach plc newspaper stable, the Daily Brexit (which some still call the Express. Ed.) has long inhabited an alternative reality, a world where the economic disaster otherwise known as Brexit is a roaring success (e.g. ‘Global Britain is thriving’).
In recent times the title has gained a reputation more of right-wing posturing than for the factual reporting of news and current affairs
A new charge must now be added to the title’s many crimes against reality and journalism – a crime against English, as seen in the headline below posted today on the paper’s website in its continuing campaign of hate against Harry Mountbatten-Windsor and his wife.
Wouldn’t it be a boon to journalism if those who write for the fourth estate – even on trivial, gossipy matters – had a basic level of competence in the language in which they are writing?
Your comments would be welcome below.
PS: for any passing illiterate Reach plc hacks in search of enlightenment, the grammatically correct version of the headline would read: “Harry’s six word response as to why he and Meghan won’t give up titles“.
Today’s Guardian reports that civil servants at Whitehall’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) inadvertently sent classified emails intended for the United States military to Mali.
How did this happen? Email addresses for the US military come under the .milTLD. By omitting the letter i from this TLD, one is left with the two letter country code top level domain.ml, denoting Mali.
To cover its blushes from this glaring example of digital dyslexia, the Ministry has commented as follows:
We have opened an investigation after a small number of emails were mistakenly forwarded to an incorrect email domain.
We are confident they did not contain any information that could compromise operational security or technical data.
All sensitive information is shared on systems designed to minimise the risk of misdirection.
The MoD constantly reviews its processes and is currently undertaking a programme of work to improve information management, data loss prevention, and the control of sensitive information.
Whitehall is currently illuminated bright red by all the embarrassed faces lurking behind all the impressive military statues of senior dead white squaddies fronting its main building in SW1.
Maybe such a cock-up would not have happened had the ministry’s civil servants paid proper attention to what they were typing on their email clients instead of constantly reviewing their processes!
Walking up Whiteladies Road this morning, your ‘umble scribe spotted a picket line outside Broadcasting Brainwashing House as local radio journalists down tools for the third time in recent months to protest about cuts to jobs in the corporation’s local radio stations.
NUJ picket line on White ladies Road, BS8
According to the NUJ, “Despite the dispute winning huge support among the 5.4m loyal local radio listeners, MPs and councillors of all parties, a huge range of charities, non-league football fans, and community groups, the BBC is going ahead with plans to cut local content by almost half, with many popular presenters losing their jobs or choosing to go“.
The EU Commission 
As a family, the Jebbs were comfortably off with a strong social conscience plus a commitment to public service. According to Wikipedia, “Her mother had founded the Home Arts and Industries Association, to promote Arts and Crafts among young people in rural areas; her sister Louisa would help found the Women’s Land Army in World War I. Another sister, Dorothy, who married the Labour MP Charles Roden Buxton, campaigned against the demonisation of the German people after the war.”
Today’s 