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CW: UK Politics
Well. With all this pointless faffing around that Streeting and Rayner seem to be set on, it looks like Burnham may get the chance to challenge for the leadership after all.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy21gpr1kzt?post=asset%3Ae44b5c05-9ba5-4bff-b488-b8efa5b99dd7#post
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Gotta admit, when I first saw this sign online I did wonder if it had been photoshopped. But this evening I saw it with my own eyes and I can confirm that it is real.
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CW: Israel-Iran War
If Israel and the US can bomb Iran because they don't like Iran, then why can't Russia bomb Ukraine because they don't like Ukraine?
You either have rules about such things, or you don't.
And call me old fashioned if you like, but I would rather live in a world where we have rules.
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"Chickenpox vaccines for young children start across UK"
Excellent news. They should have started 25 years ago, of course, but better late than never.
Most children make an uneventful recovery from chickenpox, but some don't, and if you're really unlucky it can be fatal. This will surely save lives.
And even if you avoid serious complications, chickenpox is never fun. The vaccines will avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering and time off work.
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I recently(ish) bought 2 things advertised as having 5-year warranties: a Braun shaver and a Vado shower pump.
The shaver failed after 2½ years, the shower pump failed after 5 years and a couple of weeks.
Braun said "sorry, the advert saying 5-year warranty was wrong, it's really only a 2-year warranty, you're on your own".
Vado said "Don't worry, we've recently increased the warranty to 6 years, we'll send an engineer next week".
Won't be buying Braun again.
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This is excellent news.
OK, we should have been vaccinating kids against chickenpox for at least the last 25 years, but better late than never.
This will prevent a great deal of misery, and even save a few lives. Most kids recover uneventfully from chickenpox (though it's still not fun), but some have serious complications, and in rare cases, they can be fatal. We typically see about 20 deaths per year in the UK.
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CW: UK Politics
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After listening to the farmers' arguments about inheritance tax, I have changed my mind.
When I first heard about the inheritance tax changes, I thought they were fair.
Now I am convinced they haven't changed enough. Make the wealthy landowners pay 40% IHT like the rest of us and scrap the £1 million exemption.
As far as I've heard they have no good arguments that don't come from a massive sense of entitlement.
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This is very well argued by @RichardJMurphy: farmers are right to protest about the economics of farming, but to protest about the IHT changes spectacularly misses the point.
The economic problems with farming lie elsewhere, and that's where farmers should focus their protests.
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Dear media, can you please stop referring to the people protesting today as "farmers"?
Most farmers won't be affected by the IHT changes.
The word you're looking for is "wealthy landowners".
Yet another example of the subtle way in which the media work to protect the interests of the wealthy and privileged.
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"Part of the problem is that rural Britain has never escaped the cultural trappings of feudalism."
Good stuff from Will Hutton on inheritance tax and farmers, explaining that while some farmers will lose out, other farmers will be winners, with likely benefits to the farming sector overall.
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There's a guy downstairs sanding down my parquet floor who has a logo on his van proudly proclaiming that he's a "Certified Bona Contractor".
I'm sure fans of Polari will find that reassuring.
He seems to be doing a pretty bona job so far, at any rate.