Legend

The tribes of Britain c. 540 in the time of Gildas.

bsky.app/profile/sali...

The Delphic Oracle told King Croesus of Lydia that if he attacked Persia "a great empire will fall."

He saw this as a prediction of victory and attacked.

It was his own great empire that fell.

Yes. I can imagine him arguing to the military 'but we dropped a couple of nuclear bombs on Japan and won big, right? Complete and total surrender.'

Staggering amounts to be made from insider trading ...

The Ensh*ttificator Digital products and services keep getting worse. In the new report Breaking Free: Pathways to a fair technological future, the Norwegian Consumer Council has delved…

the Norwegian campaign against enshittification is pretty great tbf vimeo.com/1168468796

He's looking pretty confident about the result.

From the archive, 2 years ago: most PMs are remembered for one thing, and it is still not clear in Rishi Sunak's case independent.co.uk/voices/rishi...

Headline from the New York Post “Trump tells The Post there's no reason to panic over Iran war oil-price surge: 'I have a plan for everything' “

Calm down. He’s going to unroll Operation Baldrick.

"Dear Senior Tutor, Yours is a college at which brains are neither here nor there, I'm told. Indeed, my inquiries lead me to understand that duffers are more than welcome so long as their fathers measure up financially. That being the case, I'm prepared to send my boy to you in three years' time."

"Family voting" US version. When you just want to be sure ...

Very good!!

nyway, whatevs, main issue stands... 2/2 revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/1956/act...

Correction - I was looking before at the pre-2004 amendments text. The post-amendments text is complicated, but the way I read it there is the paradox that the NI parent has to declare citizenship, but the UK child is automatically a citizen, parent declaration or no. 1/
bsky.app/profile/char...

But the main issue remains: there will be plenty of UK-born children of Irish-citizen parents who are automatically Irish citizens 5/5

Not sure of the exact legal position for children of parents born after 6 Dec 1922, although afaik they don't have to go through a citizenship registration to get a passport unless born after 2004

4/n

Ditto for that person's child. I'm a special-special case because my father was born in Belfast (just!) before 6 December 2022 (partition), so was strictly speaking born in Ireland and automatically a citizen per the legislation. Which means that I am automatically a citizen too. 3/n

In the case of a parent born in NI, Chris C may be right, although the available information is confusing. Here's the (pre-2004) legislation www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1956/act...
www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1956/act...
A person born in NI isn't automatically a citizen but can choose to be 2/n

We're slightly counting angels on a pinhead here, in that I'm a particular case (parent born in NI). In the case of a parent born in Ireland (the state), the child is definitely automatically a citizen, as far as I can tell. So the original general issue (UK-born child of Irish parent) remains. 1/n

I'm not dismissing this, but could you provide authoritative evidence? Paradoxically, some of what I've seen asserts that although citizenship is elective for a parent born in NI, their child born outside the island of Ireland is automatically an Irish citizen.

My mother was English and unconnected with Ireland. My father had been dead 10 years when I applied for an Irish passport in 2016. I am certain he would not have declared himself an Irish citizen. What is your interpretation of the link and screenshot I posted from the Irish Dept of Foreign Affairs?

Includes those with parents born in NI too, including me, whose NI-born father never had an Irish passport or considered himself an Irish citizen. From www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/citiz...

Best I've been able to do -
a,b,c not 0.
Last two digits multiple of 4
c is 2,4,6,or 8
4abc=100a+10b+c
a = (10b+c)/(4*(bc-25)) [1]
bc >=26
4 <= c <= 8
4 <= b <= 9
Possibilities for last 2 digits 48,56,68,76,84,88,96
Then pencil-and-paper elimination using [1] above to solve for integer value of a

Agreed. I have a PHEV (self purchase not company car) and do 85% of my miles on electric. If there is to be a charge at all, 50% discount seems reasonable to me. Maybe not so much for company PHEVs chosen solely for the tax benefit with drivers who rarely bother to actually charge their cars.

Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace Who would benefit from the White House’s 28-point proposal for Ukraine?

This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Called in to my local [insert brand of car] main dealer to book a service. Lady at reception told me I could only do it by phone. She did offer me a seat while I phoned the actual building I was in.

Ha ha! Personally I wouldn't, I think it's cooler to just help, bit maybe that's just me. It's quite likely she will realise (or has already realised) for herself.

Minister behind Labour's mansion tax spends £900 on a desk Torsten Bell also charged taxpayers £600 for three chairs for his office and claimed more than £200 on his Parliamentary expenses for professional help to assemble the furniture.

Article doesn't refer to his thinking. Times just says desk "was later returned, as Bell received a refund and instead submitted an Ikea receipt for £1,056, including three desks at £150 each". DM (on which Times piece is based) says "days later". Here's DM. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

The headline (accidentally, I'm sure) omits to say that he returned the £900 desk after a few days and bought three £150 desks from Ikea instead. But "Bell DIDN'T spend £900 on a desk" wouldn't be a story, would it.