#scandal — Public Fediverse posts

🎤🌟 Ah, the scandalous tale of a nearly century-old poetry book that the mighty #Anthropic dared to suppress! Because nothing screams "modern tech drama" like beef over dusty verses on mortality and logic. 🙄📚 I guess when you're out of new ideas, a deep dive into the #archives is the next best thing. #CuttingEdgeInnovation
https://kk.org/cooltools/the-1930-poetry-book-that-anthropic-tried-to-censor/ #poetrybook #scandal #techdrama #literarydebate #HackerNews #ngated

El ministro de Defensa estonio dimite en un escándalo de adquisiciones financiado por la UE por €70 millones para Ucrania (ing)

https://tardigram.com/m/Politica/t/63167

https://www.europesays.com/ro/288669/ Scandal uriaș la Betis – Real Madrid, după penalty-ul ratat de Mbappe! Specialistul s-a pronunțat #betis #BetisRealMadrid #BreakingNews #BreakingNews #CeleMaiPopulareSubiecte #controversa #FeaturedNews #FeaturedNews #Headlines #KylianMbappe #LatestNews #LatestNews #News #penalty #RO #Română #Romania #Romanian #scandal #Știri #Titluri #TopStories #TopStories

https://www.europesays.com/videos/88381/ Nigel Farage dismisses foreign donations claim – Watch Friday’s ITV Evening News #aid #Animals #asia #conference #disaster #donations #Emergency #farage #flood #football #funding #Health #insects #investigation #itv #ItvNews #money #mosquito #Nepal #news #NigelFarage #party #politics #reform #ReformUK #rescue #Scandal #species #SuperLeague #Tibet #uk #undercover #Women

In an astonishing revelation sure to shock no one, 🤯 an adult film producer has bravely connected the dots between a #Meta exec and the world's least subtle #piracy habit. Apparently, downloading 20,000 adult film #torrents is just another day at the office for Reality Labs. 🏢💻
https://torrentfreak.com/adult-film-producer-unmasks-prolific-john-doe-torrent-pirate-as-meta-executive/ #adultfilm #RealityLabs #scandal #HackerNews #ngated

In an astonishing revelation sure to shock no one, 🤯 an adult film producer has bravely connected the dots between a #Meta exec and the world's least subtle #piracy habit. Apparently, downloading 20,000 adult film #torrents is just another day at the office for Reality Labs. 🏢💻
https://torrentfreak.com/adult-film-producer-unmasks-prolific-john-doe-torrent-pirate-as-meta-executive/ #adultfilm #RealityLabs #scandal #HackerNews #ngated

In an astonishing revelation sure to shock no one, 🤯 an adult film producer has bravely connected the dots between a #Meta exec and the world's least subtle #piracy habit. Apparently, downloading 20,000 adult film #torrents is just another day at the office for Reality Labs. 🏢💻
https://torrentfreak.com/adult-film-producer-unmasks-prolific-john-doe-torrent-pirate-as-meta-executive/ #adultfilm #RealityLabs #scandal #HackerNews #ngated

In an astonishing revelation sure to shock no one, 🤯 an adult film producer has bravely connected the dots between a #Meta exec and the world's least subtle #piracy habit. Apparently, downloading 20,000 adult film #torrents is just another day at the office for Reality Labs. 🏢💻
https://torrentfreak.com/adult-film-producer-unmasks-prolific-john-doe-torrent-pirate-as-meta-executive/ #adultfilm #RealityLabs #scandal #HackerNews #ngated

In an astonishing revelation sure to shock no one, 🤯 an adult film producer has bravely connected the dots between a #Meta exec and the world's least subtle #piracy habit. Apparently, downloading 20,000 adult film #torrents is just another day at the office for Reality Labs. 🏢💻
https://torrentfreak.com/adult-film-producer-unmasks-prolific-john-doe-torrent-pirate-as-meta-executive/ #adultfilm #RealityLabs #scandal #HackerNews #ngated

https://www.europesays.com/videos/88217/ Nigel Farage dismisses foreign donations claim – Watch Friday’s ITV Evening News #aid #Animals #asia #conference #disaster #donations #Emergency #farage #flood #football #funding #Health #insects #investigation #itv #ItvNews #money #mosquito #Nepal #news #NigelFarage #party #politics #reform #ReformUK #rescue #Scandal #species #SuperLeague #Tibet #uk #undercover #Women

Poland’s #crypto #scandal deepens https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GuyguBSmz1s?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

https://www.europesays.com/videos/88162/ LIVE: Nigel Farage delivers major speech amid pressure over Reform UK investigation #9/11 #america #britain #Burnham #donations #farage #France #GloriaSteinem #GreatBritain #HughJackman #immigration #intelligence #itv #ItvNews #Macron #NewYork #police #politics #President #PrimeMinister #reform #RobinHood #saudi #Scandal #terrorism #TwinTowers #UnitedStates #USA #washington #WhiteHouse

https://www.europesays.com/videos/88012/ LIVE: Nigel Farage makes major speech amid pressure over Reform UK investigation #9/11 #america #britain #Burnham #donations #farage #France #GloriaSteinem #GreatBritain #HughJackman #immigration #intelligence #itv #ItvNews #Macron #NewYork #police #politics #President #PrimeMinister #reform #RobinHood #saudi #Scandal #terrorism #TwinTowers #UnitedStates #USA #washington #WhiteHouse

https://www.europesays.com/people/213890/ PM Meloni Outraged as Bangladeshi Migrant Released after Molesting 13-Year-Old Girl #BangladeshiMigrant #CriminalCase #EU #europe #GiorgiaMeloni #IllegalImmigration #Italy #JusticeSystem #law #migrant #MigrantCrime #outrage #police #PrimeMinisterMeloni #release #scandal

Poland’s #crypto #scandal is growing | 1 minute #Poland https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4gvQb2aCJpY?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

https://www.europesays.com/videos/87536/ Outrage mounts in Malta after acquittal over journalist’s murder • FRANCE 24 English #CarBomb #DaphneCaruanaGalizia #fenech #FRANCE24 #FRANCE24English #FRANCE24 #FRANCE24English #FreedomOfThePress #infos #InvestigativeJournalism #journalist #Justice #killing #Malta #news #outrage #press #PressFreedom #Scandal #verdict

https://www.europesays.com/ro/286960/ Scandal la U Craiova. Acuzații de șpagă la Academie! Oltenii au concediat un membru al staffului tehnic. Legătura cu Lorena Balaci #academie #EduardoCovelo #LorenaBalaci #RO #Română #Romania #Romanian #scandal #Sport #Sports #UniversitateaCraiova

PM Meloni Outraged as Bangladeshi Migrant Released after Molesting 13-Year-Old Girl

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy has shared an emotional post about an outrageous incident that took place…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #Bangladeshimigrant #criminalcase #GiorgiaMeloni #illegalimmigration #justicesystem #law #migrant #migrantcrime #outrage #police #PrimeMinisterMeloni #release #scandal
https://www.europesays.com/italy/44680/

Here's your laugh-of-the-day in the midst of the horror show that is 2026.
#trump #maga #iran #ReflectingPool #military #ice #scandal #corruption #rfkjr #deceit #gaslighting #venezuela #greenland #gasprices #costofliving #electiontampering #gerrymandering #encampments

Here's your laugh-of-the-day in the midst of the horror show that is 2026.
#trump #maga #iran #ReflectingPool #military #ice #scandal #corruption #rfkjr #deceit #gaslighting #venezuela #greenland #gasprices #costofliving #electiontampering #gerrymandering #encampments

Steinheil Case - Mariette Wolf

https://www.cpaphil.com/en/products/vintage-postcard-police-force-police-officer-the-business-steinheil-mariette-wolf

#Steinheil #Case #Mariette #Wolf #Vintage #Postcard #History #Crime #France #Police #Scandal #Antique #Rare #Collect #Mystery #Old #FR #Card

Steinheil Case - Mariette Wolf

www.cpaphil.com/en/p...

#Steinheil #Case #Mariette #Wolf #Vintage #Postcard #History #Crime #France #Police #Scandal #Antique #Rare #Collect #Mystery #Old #FR #Card

Maine Senate Candidate Withdraws Amid Allegations of Past Misconduct

📰 Original title: Graham Platner proves candidates can’t outrun secrets and scandal

🤖 IA: It's clickbait ⚠️
👥 Users: It's clickbait ⚠️

View full AI summary https://en.killbait.com/maine-senate-candidate-withdraws-amid-allegations-of-past-misconduct.html?utm_source=mastodon_world&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=killbait.mastodon_world

#politics #scandal #candidates

WHAT GOES AAAAAA…AAAAAARGH SPLASH? The thread about the Commonwealth Pool’s troublesome flumes

Like being hurled at breakneck speed down a narrow sewage pipe

Edinburgh Evening News description of the Twister

River Rapids. Vortex. Twister. Stingray. If you know, you know. And if you don’t, you weren’t fortunate enough to be growing up in Edinburgh for a blessed decade beginning in the late 1980s. I am referring of course to the legendary flumes at the city’s Royal Commonwealth Pool. When they opened, it was proudly boasted that the Commie (to give it its proper name) had the longest, largest and most expensive in Europe. They have been gone now for more than twice as long as they were with us, but for those of who were there they remain a fond memory, tainted by feelings of loss. Ask any of us about them and you will certainly hear either of two anecdotes: going head-first down the Stingray or the hidden razor blades. One of these is most likely apocryphal, the other definitely is. These are the reminiscences that abound on Facebook, but rarely do you hear the tale of the endless problems and the huge financial scandal they caused. This was a scandal that brought the Commie itself to the verge of financial ruin and possible privatisation. In well established Threadinburgh style, this is that tale, from its optimistic beginning to its ignominious end.

The flumes scheme was the brainchild of Bernard (Ben) Connolly, newly-appointed director of Edinburgh District Council’s Recreation Department. Connolly was nicknamed “Rambo” by the Evening News on account of his uncompromising management style. He found himself in charge of swimming facilities that were under-patronised and lacked a commercial mindset. Ever since the city had lost its open-air leisure bathing pool at Portobello in 1979, the unrivalled jewel in its crown was the Commie. But it was a swimmer’s swimming pool, a very staid, traditional vision of what a pool should be. Connolly was determined to change that. He would drag the place right into the Eighties and turn it into a money-spinner along the way. And he knew just how to do it.

In 1985 Scotland’s first flumes were installed at their Magnum Leisure Centre in Irvine at a cost of £375,000. They were so successful that they paid for themselves in just 8 months. Could not Edinburgh do bigger and better? The Council were persuaded it could, and set aside £650,000 in August 1986 for the creation of “a water chute” at the Commie.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmcmurtrie/31697709464

Things progressed quickly and tenders were sought in September for a complete design and build package. It was optimistically hoped work would be completed within a year, but the dotted line was not signed upon until October 1987. By this time the costs had almost doubled to £1,250,000, which was for a ten year public-private partnership with Whitewater Leisure of York. This deal saw the private partner finance and construct the flumes. The public provided the land, access to the pool and took on all running costs and maintenance liabilities. Whitewater remained the owner of the facility and would be paid over £250,000 per annum for five years until the construction debt was cleared, plus an annual £10,000 “licensing fee” for ten years. At this point the flumes would have reached the end of their designed lifespan and would transfer to the Council’s ownership.

This was the early days of such public-private contracts but even then the terms in them were punitive: the city was legally bound to maintain the flumes and keep them in operation, a failure to do so could trigger an exit clause that would force them to pay off the outstanding debt and demolish them at their own expense! But with a designed capacity of 2,500 riders per day, Connolly personally predicted that 250,000 a year would flock to the flumes (more than half the population of Edinburgh at that time!) This would result in 2.25 million tickets sold per year and return an income of £450,000. With financials like that, they couldn’t lose. Could they?

The proposal was not without its detractors. The serious swimmers felt it was lowering the tone of an institution like the Royal Commonwealth Pool. Others felt it was a misplaced investment; the mid-1980s were a difficult time for the city’s pools and there was a rolling programme of daily closures to cope with staff shortages. The proponents carried the day however; they were determined that pools had to move with the times, to appeal to a wider audience and to pay their way. Unfortunately, nobody chose to scrutinise those financial projections closely, something which would come back to haunt the whole scheme.

As is typical for any Edinburgh Grand Projet, not only were the financial projections iffy and not only had the costs vastly inflated, so too had the timeline slipped. Work did not begin until November 1987, some months after the hoped-for opening. The Evening News was excited at the prospect however and printed a rather breathless and confused description of the coming rides:

…a 130-metre corkscrew; a 60-metre high velocity speed aqua mania slide; the vortex, a 95-metre corkscrew ride which plunges into darkness and the “Whitewater Rapids”, a raft ride.

Edinburgh Evening News, November 4th 1987

In April 1988 the Dundee Courier provided a rather more coherent description which named the individual flumes:

• The River Rapids, a 120-metre rubber ring slide “simulating the experience of a white water canoe descent down a mountain river“
• The Twister, a 54-inch diameter spiral tube
• The Vortex, a 100-metre ride that took “the courageous through a sequence of dips and turns from light into darkness and through a waterfall“
• And the Stingray: the “ultimate challenge“. A high-velocity tube with a freefall gradient and a 50 metre hairpin bend, with a ride time of just four seconds and an estimated top speed of 40mph.

As the 40-foot high flume tower rose out of the ground at the rear of the pool, Connolly boasted the facility would be the safest in Europe (“if not in the world“). Councillor Paulo Vestri (Chairman of the Recreation Committee) proudly claimed they were “the largest water slide complex in Europe” and would “become one of the major tourist attractions in the city“.

Opening was due to take place in June 1988, in time for the school holidays. However when the royal inspection tour of them was made by HRH the Princess Royal on the 28th of that month they were embarrassingly incomplete. Councillor Vestri put construction delays down to unexpectedly hard bedrock but he was “confident that the flume [would] be a tremendous success“. Minor cracks and leaks were discovered during testing, but opening was finally set for Friday September 16th. Julie White, aged ten, from Linlithgow won a competition to be the first to ride them.

This was the era of the branded municipal leisure pool and so the Commie’s flumes were given a marketing name: Nautilus (I sincerely doubt anyone in the city ever called them so). They would be open whenever the pool was, so long as you were over for the age of eight, four and a half feet tall or more and could swim. There was no upper age restriction. Rides were charged at 20p a shot, bought in lots of five or ten tickets (“thrills don’t come much cheaper“). They were an instant hit. Over 88 thousand brave souls hurled themselves down them in the first three months. If these numbers could be maintained then expectations would be more than exceeded. After just seven months, on April 21st 1989, the millionth ticket was sold. Lucky Lee McKendry, 11, of Loanhead was presented with a teddy bear to mark the occasion. It was also found that patronage of the pool tripled when the flumes were running.

On the face of it, everything seemed to be looking rosy. But inevitably, trouble was not far away. In fact it took less than a week to appear. It transpired that insufficient staff had been hired and it had taken seven-day-a-week overtime from the existing workforce to keep the flumes open. This was unsustainable and after just five days the opening hours had to be cut back; 230PM to 8PM on weekdays and 10AM to 4PM on weekends. The Council put the blame on postal strikes having delayed the recruitment process, but staffing issues would be a problem that would never go away. After a week’s closure to repair a faulty pump, when they re-opened for business on October 10th enough staff had been found to return to full-time running.

A further day was lost in October after loose bolts were found in the structure, the Recreation Department assured users through the medium of the Evening News that the flumes were “absolutely safe“. Some patrons had complained that they had felt “dizzy” or “sick” after their experience, prompting Conservative Councillor Ian Berry to table a series of questions about flume safety to the District Council (if he had taken the trouble to try the flumes for himself then I can assure you he too would have felt dizzy or sick afterwards. It was an intrinsic part of the experience!) . Berry admitted that he did not know of anyone being injured, Councillor Vestri replied that a couple of torn swimming costumes were the only reported problems.

The flumes closed again for a week in June 1989 to allow for the ventilation system to be upgraded: it had been found that staff working on them had been exposed to excessive amounts of chlorine. Further bad news would come in August; after less than a year of business the forecast profit had materialised as a large operating loss. of £244,651 had been run up,. This was a quarter of the entire budget deficit of the city’s Recreation Department. It might now take five, rather than four years, to pay off the private contractor as the initial forecast cost had increased by almost half to £1.49 million.

The problems continued to pile up like a bunch of teenagers on the River Rapids. They were shut down again for a week in October so that experts could “probe a technical fault” with the water temperature. The District Council was forced to admit to the ‘News that their show-piece attraction had been out of action for 20 days that year because of technical problems and staffing issues. Councillor Steve Cardownie, Vice Chairman of the Recreation Committee, promised that any operating losses due to technical problems with the flumes themselves would be pursued with Whitewater.

Closure came again in June 1990 and once more it was the persistent staffing problems. This time the root cause was industrial action on the part of five members of the NUPE union who worked in the flumes’ plant room. Their Branch Convenor claimed that various issues around staffing levels and grading had been unresolved for 21 months. They staged a two day strike within a month of the approaching summer holidays as a warning shot. When the District did not come to terms, they walked out again at the beginning of August. They returned after three weeks, only for work-to-rule action to be taken by NALGO members. This kept the flumes were out of action until September 5th, resulting in £25,000 in lost revenue. A tumultuous spell was brought to a close at the end of that month with a further day’s closure as a result of Chlorine fumes.

The disruption of that summer capped a disappointing year for the flumes. Patronage was down by 50,000 on the previous year; from 138 thousand in the first half of 1989 to just 87 thousand – 30% below expectations. General custom at the pool itself was also down 10% over the same period. Councillor Berry placed the blame in the hands of pool management and on a lack of car parking. Such was the scale of the financial problems that when the District Council came in October 1990 to set its budget for the next financial year, they gave serious consideration to shutting the two-year old attraction.

Ultimately such drastic action was not taken, but anyone hoping the flumes would now catch a break would be proved sorely wrong. Come March they were closed again for a day due to a “chemical imbalance” in their water. A new scandal hit in May when it emerged that a number of Recreation Department files, including documents relating to the flumes, had “gone missing“. Liberal Democrat councillor Donald Gorrie wrote to the authority’s chief executive saying he was “most concerned” that there were “significant gaps” in the paperwork. This ultimately led Strathclyde Police to open a fraud investigation into Glasgow District Council‘s Recreation Department, now headed up by Bernard Connolly and his deputy in Edinburgh, Robert Hulbert. This would result in Hulbert being removed from his job for gross misconduct: he was the undeclared majority shareholder of a leisure company that was bidding for local government contracts.

Four more days were lost in June and October, blamed on staff illness and holidays, followed by an entire week when “parasitic” bacteria was detected in the water. This latter closure alone cost £11,000 in lost revenue. Councillor Moira Knox, the Conservative recreation spokesperson, was reported by the Evening News to be “furious“:

One of these days [the flumes] will close and be reopened as a monument to the Labour Party’s mismanagement of the city’s affairs.

Councillor Moira Knox, quoted in the Evening News, 30th October 1991

Come the end of 1991 and the flumes’ finances had reached a crisis point: it was predicted losses that financial year would widen to at least £456,000. The fact of the matter was that the initial ridership projections had been “grossly over-estimated“. It was implied by Councillor Vestri that they had been fundamentally made up by Connolly and Hulbert. Patronage was less than half of what had been hoped for and the income didn’t even cover half the running costs. This alarmed the Eeninoo to such an extent that it created a special flume-themed graph to illustrate the scale of the issue. With the Council’s own Leith Waterworld leisure pool forecast to open the following year in direct competition (and already projected to operate at a £1m annual loss from the get go), Councillor Knox demanded that the council sell the facility at the Commie, or even the entire pool, to a private operator. She tabled a motion to this effect at a meeting of the Council but it was not supported.

The District Council decided to try and sort things out once and for all and at the start of 1992 brought in a troubleshooting new manager at the Commie, Ken Harvey. By this time the flumes had sunk deeper into the red, with losses projected to break £1 million that year. When interviewed on the subject, Harvey replied:

No-one has said the flumes are a duff product. All they have said is they are not making money. Hopefully, we will be able to change that.

Edinburgh Evening News, 2nd January 1992

Harvey hoped that proper marketing and dynamic pricing, to encourage use in otherwise quiet periods, would help to turn things around. But he was hardly in the job for a few months though when in March the NUPE union sued the District. They claimed three of its members were suffering from the occupational illness of “flume flu“. Symptoms were said to include breathing difficulties, sore eyes and runny noses and it was alleged that the Council had been made aware of the risk but had ignored it.

And then in May 1992 Leith Waterworld opened, boasting two flumes, a river rapid, a wave pool, a whirl pool, and a whole host of other fun features. This scheme had actually been mooted since before the Commie got its flumes, but had a long and troubled gestation period. The fact of the matter was that there were only so many children to go around in Edinburgh and the new attraction drew them away from the Commie in their tens of thousands. Not only was the Council in direct competition with itself, this was the golden era of the municipal fun pool. Central Scotland was awash with exciting destinations: the Magnum in Irvine; Perth Leisure Pool; Aquatec in Motherwell; the Mariner in Falkirk; the Time Capsule Monklands in Coatbridge; Bubbles in Livingston. What a time it was to be a certain age.

The bad press kept on coming. In 1993 the Commie was one of ten pools in the UK that failed in a flume safety survey published by the Consumer Association. This claimed there were inadequate safety guidelines, that rules were not being enforced (e.g. the legendary head-first descents), that there was a lack of supervision, poor lighting in exit pools that meant someone stuck at the bottom might not be seen and that poor design meant that users had to cross eachother’s paths at the exit pool.

On April 1st 1996, Edinburgh District Council was replaced by the new unitary authority, the City of Edinburgh Council. CEC found that it had inherited a poisoned chalice when it came to flumes. Not only was Leith Waterworld leaking (both money and water!), at the Commie they found the operating account was £1m in the red and the flumes at the end of their operational life. One was permanently out of action, two were being kept going intermittently on a wing and a prayer. To compound matters, they were legally obliged to keep them running and still did not actually own them! Despite their predecessor body having paid Whitewater over £2 million, they had failed to fully clear off the financial liabilities. An emergency report was tabled to the Council outlining options for their future. In bold print this stated “The status quo is not an option aavilable to the Council“. The options presented ranged from closure and removal of the flumes at a cost of £363,000 through to buying out Whitewater and refurbishing, and modernising them at £460,000.

A private meeting was held to discuss the future of the flumes at which it was agreed to buy out Whitewater for £100,000 and patch the flumes up sufficiently for a further report to be written on their future. More problems came in 1998 when the British Medical Association published a report into flume safety, claiming they posed a danger for people who were not “fit and resilient“. Professor David Bell of Middlesex University claimed that the level of risk from using flumes was higher than that for contact sports. The Commonwealth Pool strongly refuted that there was any risk from their facility. But the end was nigh and after it was found that the bill to modernise the flumes and restore them to full operation would exceed £750,000 the plug was finally pulled.

On Monday March 13th 2000, the Council’s Recreation Committee unanimously voted to close and remove the flumes at a cost of £150,000. And that was that. The Committee’s convenor, Councillor Steve Cardownie, told the Evening News:

We have to cut our losses. We have to shut it down as it is out-dated. It’s not dangerous at the moment but it does need a substantial amount of money spent on it which we can’t justify.

Evening News, 13th March 2000

Ironically, at the same meeting the Committee was made aware that Leith Waterworld would have to close for a year due to the failure of the adhesive used in attaching its tiles and rust in the flume structure (it ended up being closed for twice as long). The flumes at the Commie were removed in 2001, although the tower at the rear lasted – disconnected from the main building – until it was removed in 2008. The architecture critics approved. It was a bitter final irony for fans of flumes in Edinburgh that when Waterworld too closed in 2012, it was to help pay for the renovation of the Commie’s diving pool ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth games. Tradition had triumphed over fun.

Thank you to the staff at the Edinburgh & Scottish Collection of Edinburgh Central Library for their help in finding pamphlets and reports on the subject of the flumes in the depths of their stores. Curiously, the official box file of archive material submitted there by Edinburgh Leisure contained not one single mention of the flumes. Perhaps it was a saga they’d rather forget all about…

If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

Explore Threadinburgh by map:

These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

#NHS has just given US tech firm #Palantir unlimited access to #identifiable patient information [1]

- That's your data and mine, handed to a private #US #surveillance company

This is a public #scandal, Government needs to know they are losing public's trust

Ministers are still deciding whether to break the contract clause with #Palantir

Sign now. Demand they're kept out of #ourNHS

https://the.organise.network/campaigns/network-nhs-workers-say-no-to-palantir-b5928815a6e2d44f?utm_source=mastodon_fediverse

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/11/palantir-access-nhs-england-patient-data

https://www.europesays.com/people/30649/ Buffett’s Cash Will Pay Off, Burry Right About AI ‘Scandal’: Dietrich #AI #Buffett #burry #BusinessInsider #cash #dietrich #disruption #Energy #EnergyPrice #Growth #Investor #Market #risk #scandal #utility #WarrenBuffett

https://www.europesays.com/ie/438056/ Buffett’s Cash Will Pay Off, Burry Right About AI ‘Scandal’: Dietrich #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ArtificialIntelligence #Buffett #burry #BusinessInsider #cash #dietrich #disruption #Éire #Energy #EnergyPrice #growth #IE #investor #Ireland #market #risk #scandal #Technology #utility

"Only the Young" is a song written by #JonathanCain, #StevePerry and #NealSchon of the band #Journey. Previously intended for Journey's 1983 album #Frontiers, it was pulled from the album within days of recording in favor of songs "Back Talk" and "Troubled Child". It was then sold to the band #Scandal, who released it in 1984 on their album #Warrior, as the first commercially released version of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzWGWQ0jUY0

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/12/wednesday-december-10-2025/

Saturday, November 29, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/11/saturday-november-29-2025/

Phoenix Suns majority owner Mat Ishbia (CEO United Wholesale Mortgage, which is being sued by Ohio's AG & under a class action lawsuit) is the living incarnation of big dumb, testosterone money.

▶️ The #PhoenixSuns #Fraud #Scandal is INSANE - #FlightMike
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YVBr9dUqYEQ&si=9UmTDYfL55UDdnqe
#matishbia

Japanese mayor resigns over repeated hotel visits with married official

The mayor of Maebashi, the capital city of Gunma prefecture in east…
#Japan #JP #JapanNews #AkiraOgawa #cityassembly #citycouncil #easternjapan #GunmaPrefecture #hotelvisits #incumbent #Japanese #Japanesenews #Komeitoparty #LiberalDemocraticParty #maebashi #mayoralelection #news #noconfidencemotion #Resignation #scandal
https://www.alojapan.com/1418846/japanese-mayor-resigns-over-repeated-hotel-visits-with-married-official/

Japanese mayor resigns over repeated hotel visits with married official

The mayor of Maebashi, the capital city of Gunma prefecture in east…
#Japan #JP #JapanNews #AkiraOgawa #cityassembly #citycouncil #easternjapan #GunmaPrefecture #hotelvisits #incumbent #Japanese #Japanesenews #Komeitoparty #LiberalDemocraticParty #maebashi #mayoralelection #news #noconfidencemotion #Resignation #scandal
https://www.alojapan.com/1418846/japanese-mayor-resigns-over-repeated-hotel-visits-with-married-official/

https://www.alojapan.com/1418846/japanese-mayor-resigns-over-repeated-hotel-visits-with-married-official/ Japanese mayor resigns over repeated hotel visits with married official #AkiraOgawa #CityAssembly #CityCouncil #EasternJapan #GunmaPrefecture #HotelVisits #incumbent #Japan #JapanNews #Japanese #JapaneseNews #KomeitoParty #LiberalDemocraticParty #maebashi #MayoralElection #news #NoConfidenceMotion #Resignation #scandal The mayor of Maebashi, the capital city of Gunma prefecture in eastern Japan, on Tuesday tendered her resignation after her r

https://www.alojapan.com/1418846/japanese-mayor-resigns-over-repeated-hotel-visits-with-married-official/ Japanese mayor resigns over repeated hotel visits with married official #AkiraOgawa #CityAssembly #CityCouncil #EasternJapan #GunmaPrefecture #HotelVisits #incumbent #Japan #JapanNews #Japanese #JapaneseNews #KomeitoParty #LiberalDemocraticParty #maebashi #MayoralElection #news #NoConfidenceMotion #Resignation #scandal The mayor of Maebashi, the capital city of Gunma prefecture in eastern Japan, on Tuesday tendered her resignation after her r

Saturday, November 15, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/11/saturday-november-15-2025/

The thing is, this isn't just confined to the shores of the UK, it is everywhere, this disgrace is a global one.

The Great British honey scandal
https://observer.co.uk/listen/the-slow-newscast/the-great-british-honey-scandal

#TheObserver #TheSlowNewscast #Podcast #Honey #Scandal

Apple Quietly Edits iPhone Ads in South Korea That Offended Men https://petapixel.com/2025/09/18/apple-quietly-edits-iphone-ads-in-south-korea-that-offended-men/ #southkorea #Industry #jibgeson #misandry #Culture #scandal #apple #News #ad

A quotation from Herbert Hoover

Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil. Or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior. Or by cynical acceptance of dishonor. These evils have defeated nations many times in human history.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, US President (1929-33)
Speech (1951-08-30), “Concerning Honor in Public Life,” Iowa Centennial Celebration, Des Moines, Iowa (radio broadcast)

More info about this quote: wist.info/hoover-herbert/78658…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #herberthoover #complaisance #cynicism #danger #decline #dishonor #evil #scandal #threat #nationalsecurity #nationalstrength

Walmart Fires VP in Tech for Taking Daily Kickbacks Starting from $30K

https://www.ctol.digital/news/walmart-fires-vp-kickbacks-terminates-1200-contractors/

#HackerNews #Walmart #Fired #VP #Tech #Kickbacks #Scandal #CorporateEthics

Walmart Fires VP for Taking Daily Kickbacks Starting from $30K

https://www.ctol.digital/news/walmart-fires-vp-kickbacks-terminates-1200-contractors/

#HackerNews #WalmartFiresVP #Kickbacks #CorporateEthics #BusinessNews #Scandal #Accountability

Majority of #Malaysians against a pardon for #Najib in #1MDB #scandal
"survey found 58% of 1,210 respondents opposed a pardon for Najib for reasons such as betrayal of #public trust, significant financial losses, ongoing #legal cases, & his refusal to admit guilt. Objections were markedly higher among gps such as indivs w higher incomes, & those w internet access.. Najib's also facing oth charges linked to 1MDB in which US Dept of #Justice said US$4.5bil was siphoned off"
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/majority-of-malaysians-against-a-pardon-for-ex-pm-najib-in-1mdb-scandal-survey-finds

#Thailand #Patriot
Brave whistleblower
Patchani Phunsuk, #whistleblower at e heart of a #pharmaceutical #corruption #scandal, has helped uncover a #criminalnetwork tt misused taxpayer-funded drugs to enrich a select few while jeopardis'g #publichealth. The corruption, which spans over a decade, involves exploitation of e Veterans General #Hospital system, where “fake patients” were created to funnel medication for #illegal #resale, causing damages worth #billions of baht"
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2985786/brave-whistleblower-uncovers-pharma-scam

Tony Hawk is jealous about 180* flip #JackCocchiarella reacts to #JoeRogan calling out Trump. …Even Joe is a whole character in itself, you gotta give him his point here. #MAGA #Musk #Epstein #Scandal #Selenskyj #JDVance #Trump #Putin #US #Goverment #Reuters #TASS #Russia youtu.be/4ZnYggk8FBQ?...

Joe Rogan ABANDONS Trump After...

A quotation from Hoover, Herbert:

«
Dishonor in public life has a double poison.  When people are dishonorable in private business, they injure only those with whom they deal or their own chances in the next world. But when there is a lack of honor in Government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/hoover-herbert/5720/

#quote #quotes #quotation #corruption #dishonor #government #integrity #publicmorals #publicservice #scandal #society

#Champions of #Uganda’s #antigay #law blame ‘#homosexuals’ for #corruption #scandal.

The #Speaker of the #Ugandan #Parliament has been #accused of #involvement in huge #cash #transfers to #private #accounts.

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Africa #Uganda #Religion #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Homophobia #Transphobia #EmptyThePews #ChristianDarkMoney #ExportingHate

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/uganda-parliament-anita-among-corruption-scandal-politics/

The thread about Marionville; the house that thread built and home to the unfortunate “Fortunate Duellist”

This thread was originally written and published in November 2019. It has been lightly edited and corrected as applicable for this post.

There’s an old Georgian villa in the east of Edinburgh called Marionville. It lends its name to the district, a few streets and a fire station. It’s your typical regular, 3-storey, 5-bay, 6-over-6 window, sandstone job and although it is quite a rarity in a largely 20th century part of town, at first glance it is otherwise unremarkable for Edinburgh.

Unremarkable that is until you find out a little bit about the place’s history! It was built some time between the 1760s and 1780s by the Misses Ramsay of Old Lyon Close, milliners renowned in the burgh for their ribboned hats. When built it was called Viewfrith (as in a house where one could view the Frith, or Firth of Forth. On account of its occupants trade, it was scornfully nicknamed the Lappet Ha‘, lappet referring to the woven lacework that was common in Georgian women’s hats. Ha’ for ball; the house that lappet built. The misses Ramsay saw out their days in their fine house and its gardens, and in October 1780 it was noted as being for sale:

About 1786 it passed to one James Macrae of Holmains Esq. who liked to be known as Captain Macrae on account of his service in the 6th Dragoon Guards (Irish Carabiniers), a Hanoverian cavalry regiment. By accounts he was both a sophisticated, cultured charmer and an arrogant, pompous “Goth“. It was Macrae who renamed the house, calling it for his wife, Maria Cecile le Maistre.

Captain Macrae had a quick temper and an overinflated sense of his own status. He was nicknamed the “fortunate duellist” on account of his propensity to call for satisfaction and on not being dead as a result. He practised by firing at a barber’s block kept specially for the purpose, or so John Kay caricatured him.

The Macraes soon built up a reputation as a home of the “gayest private theatricals, perhaps in Britain“. Being wealthy and aspirational with tastes “gay and fashionable” they had a 150-seat private theatre built, complete with stage, curtain and scenery in the house where the couple themselves took the starring roles. The great and the good of Edinburgh were invited and the shows were a hot ticket in town, being well reviewed in the papers. The Scots Magazine and Caledonian Mercury were full of gushing praise for them.

Maria Macrae was the daughter of the Swedish ambassador’s wife and had spent time in Paris with her cousins. It was there she got a taste for the private theatricals of the time and it was she who was chiefly responsible for reproducing them at Marionville. The Macrae’s inner circle was a centre of Georgian high fashion in Edinburgh, the women wore head-dresses so tall that they had to “sit on the carriage floor” and the men wore “bright coats with tails to their heels” and “wigs with great side curls“. The innermost of their circle were the Ramsays (no relation to the Misses), Sir George Ramsay of Bamff, 6th Baronet and his wife, Eleanor Fraser. They were “warmly attached and intimate” with the Macraes.

So all was good. Everyone was happy and Marionville was the place to be seen around town. Macrae was highly regarded in the right circles, but his pomposity and temper would be his unravelling. An example of this was when a messenger of the law tried to arrest his cousin, the Reverend John Cunningham, Earl Glencairn, at a private party in Drumsheugh House. Macrae was outraged that a common man would insult a gentleman, and threw the messenger over the stairwell. When it later came to light that Cunningham was a debtor who had refused all chance to settle his obligations and that the messenger had been gravely injured, Macrae made an apology and paid compensation of 300 guineas to settle the matter.

And then we come to the fateful night of April 7th 1790. Captain Macrae had been out at the Theatre Royal, which stood on Shakespeare Square, opposite the General Register Office and where the General Post Office would later be built. Being a gentleman, he was helping a lady to get a chair to convey her home (this meant a sedan chair; at this time were still the principal form of public transport of choice for the moneyed classes around town). He had secured the lady her chair when a liveried footman appeared on the scene and seized one of the poles of the chair to reserve it for his mistress. The outraged Macrae rapped the impertinent servant’s knuckles with his cane.

The footman, not to be cowed, denounced Macrae as a scoundrel and punched him in the chest. Macrae responded by striking him across the head with his cane. An almighty fracas ensued, sucking in passers-by on both sides. Somehow the conflict was defused and the lady was spirited to safety in another chair. And there it might have ended until Macrae was made aware that the footman in question was an employee of his dear friend, Sir George Ramsay.

And so, the following day Macrae sought out Ramsay at his place of business. His friend informed him that the servant in question was recently engaged by his wife and he felt that he had no hand in the matter. Macrae insisted that he would therefore apologise to the lady at once. Hurrying to the Ramsay’s house on St. Andrew Square, he found her sitting for an up and coming your artist, one Henry Raeburn. Theatrically going down on one knee, Macrae begged forgiveness for having chastised her servant. And there it would have ended. But…

A few days later at Marionville, an anonymous letter arrived stating that Macrae had meddled with the “Knights of the Shoulder Knot” (the name given to footmen for their elaborate uniforms) and they would have their revenge for the insult to their brother. The footman in question, James Merry, took the matter further by making it known he would take legal proceedings against his assailant for the injuries he had suffered. Piqued, Macrae wrote to Ramsay and demanded that the man be put in his place and discharged. For whatever reason, Ramsay declined to satisfy his friend and their relationship quickly soured as the two engaged in a protracted series of increasingly intemperate letters. This culminated in Macrae having his messenger inform Ramsay that he was not a gentleman, but a scoundrel!

That was that! Macrae had overstepped the mark for sure, Ramsay was a proper gentleman, with a title, not someone you could go around insulting. The intermediary, one Captain Amory, arranged a meeting of both parties in Bayle’s Tavern at which “rough epithets were exchanged“. The outcome was inevitable and satisfaction was demanded by Macrae. But he let it be known that he considered Ramsay the challenger, for refusing to deal with his servant.

The time and place was set for the shore outside of Musselburgh at noon the next day. What better place to settle your differences than in the cool sea breeze of the Honest Toun? And so it was that the next day the two gentlemen, each with another in tow as second, met at Wards Inn off of the Musselburgh Links. A surgeon, Benjamin Bell, was sensibly arranged for.

A parlay took place to see if things could be settled amicably, without either side losing face. Macrae demanded that if Ramsay dismiss his servant he would apologise profusely for all that had followed and consider it closed. Ramsay demanded an apology first, before any further progress could be made. Both sides were intransigent. The seconds which each side had brought as counsel declined further compromise and the course of action was now set. Each man took a pistol from a pair and made his way to the allotted spot on the Links. Each then walked 14 paces away from the other and the duel commenced. Ramsay shot first and nicked the collar of his late friend, grazing the neck. Macrae did not miss and Ramsay was mortally wounded. Macrae would later claim that he had planned to shoot high and miss on purpose, but was so outraged that Ramsay had not deliberately missed and had drawn blood that he decided to settle the matter once and for all by not missing. For a sure shot like Macrae, the outcome was inevitable.

The deed done, Macrae was suddenly remorseful and had to be convinced to leave his dying friends’ side by Ramsay’s second, Sir William Maxwell. Edinburgh society was outraged and it was Macrae, the lower status gentleman that they squarely blamed for this calamity. Being a proper class scandal, the detail was all printed at the time (then, as now, controversy was good for sales) and Macrae was immortalised as “The Fortunate Duellist” by Edinburgh caricaturist John Kay. By trade Kay was a barber, so the story of the practice target may have appealed to him as much as the chance to satirise events.

Facing a potential murder charge, Macrae abandoned Marionville and his family and fled to Paris accompanied by his second, Captain Amory. They took up lodgings in the Hôtel de la Dauphine. A summons soon arrived from Edinburgh to return and face the law. Ignoring it, both were declared outlaws and consigned themselves to live out their days in exile. To add insult to Macrae’s injury, 2 years later the Sheriffs awarded damages and compensation to the footman for his original injuries, which were paid from Macrae’s estate in his absence. Macrae stayed in Paris until the coming of the French revolution compelled his to flee further, this time to Altona in Italy. He had hoped that the passage of time would allow him to return home to Marionville, but society and the law were resolved against it.

And so it was that the gayest house in town fell into “an air of depression and melancholy such as could barely fail to strike the most unobservant passenger“. It was advertised as being to let in 1793 and the following year it was for sale. Macrae was soon forgotten by the chattering classes of Edinburgh. That is until 1814, when publisher Robert Chambers relates that “a gentleman of my acquaintance was surprised to meet him one day in a Parisian coffee house“. “The wreck or ghost of the handsome, sprightly man he had once been.” “The comfort of his home, his country and his friends, the use of his talents to all these, had been lost, and himself obliged to lead the life of a condemned Cain, all through the one fault of a fiery temper“.

Captain Macrae, late of Marionville, died alone in Paris on the 16th January 1820, 30 years an exile from his home, wife and 2 children. “Captain Macrae was a strange character. To those of his own class a tyrant and bully. To those below him he was kind and obliging”. At this time his old house was in the possession of a Mr and Mrs Dudgeon although it was for sale again shortly after, the new owner being Walter Stirling Glas, esq. The house was repeatedly for sale and let throughout the 19th century. A flick through some old Post Office directories enlightens us that from approximately 1858 to 1869, it was being used by Dr. Guthrie’s “Original Ragged Industrial School” .

In 1932, Marionville was purchased by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edinburgh and St. Andrews for use as the manse for St. Ninian’s & Triduana’s Church, which was built in the grounds at this time. Its last occupant before the church took it over would appear to be one Miss W. Crawford Brown and the house  was sold back into private use within the past few years. The church, which was never actually completed to the intended design, is surprisingly the work of that most British of British architects, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (of red telephone box and Battersea power station fame).

Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

Explore Threadinburgh by map:

These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.