GreatAlbatross
- 85 Posts
- 239 Comments
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•Liverpool is crypto capital of UK, survey findsEnglish1·1 day agoGoing back to the source, the quote is: " LIVERPOOL are the UK’s cryptocurrency connoisseurs - with one in 10 (13%) regularly investing and checking their online stocks"
I’m not sure if they’ve bundled regular market investment with crypto.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•HS2 to be delayed again as costs spiral by £37bn after 'litany of failure'English3·1 day agoTerminal 5 was an absolute masterclass in how to deliver a megaproject.
HS2 is, unfortunately, just another magnitude of complexity. Some of it avoidable, some of it was going to be a pain no matter how much was planned.It also doesn’t help that HS2 got massively underestimated to get political approval and shovels in the ground. (The flipside being, if it had gone with realistic estimates, it could well have been stuck in committee for until 2050)
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•England faces 5 billion litre public water shortage by 2055 without urgent actionEnglish5·3 days agoIt’s fine though: They’ve just asked for freedom from liability. And I’m sure they’re going to use that power to build a reservoir or something…
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•Why does Nigel Farage get to play British politics on easy mode?English7·7 days agoThis is honestly my hope. All these locations are getting a free trial of Reform competency.
In the same way Clacton are having a fun time getting in contact with their MP for surgeries.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•Why does Nigel Farage get to play British politics on easy mode?English14·7 days agoBecause it’s easy to take populist pot-shots from the side, compared to defending your decisions while actually running the country at the same time.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK’s £14bn nuclear investmentEnglish3·10 days agoThe important thing is, they’re using SMRs.
Megaprojects can go off the rails of time/budget because people try to make them special, bespoke, unique.
“Nothing like this has ever been done before!” When really, you want your project to be like lego: Lots of standard parts (or at least, mass-produced for your project) that connect together to make a larger whole.
SMRs mean more common parts, and more modular building. Build the first, build the second faster, learn from mistakes, etc.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukOPMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimesEnglish6·13 days agoIs that not inevitable once this round of vultures pick at the carcass some more anyway?
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•From the day Britain left the EU, this reset was inevitable. What a pointless waste of time, money and effortEnglish21·28 days agoSell shovels to miners, and coffins to the widows.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•Political favourability ratings, May 2025: Keir Starmer falls to lowest net favourability rating on record, while positivity towards Nigel Farage and Reform UK risesEnglish15·1 month agoAt this rate, Labour is going to end up supporting AV just to get seats next election.
Wait, that’s not a bad outcome…
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•The NHS gave £330 million to Palantir to build an NHS data platform. Well we've found out that most English hospitals aren't using it - because it's not very good English101·1 month agoIt’s a well-known tune.
“How much will it cost to do this internally?”
‘£50 million, and we’d need to commit to staff to maintain it. But then we’d own it, and it would be about as financially efficient as possible’
“OK, this big company says they can do a basic version for £49m, and with the first year of support for free”
‘That won’t even do half of it. And they’ll just ramp the cost up later’
“No, this is a good plan, we should use the free market to efficiently do these things”The project then becomes £330m once the private company quotes up including all the essentials that weren’t in the original quote, but the wheels are already turning, so it happens
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•Three new prisons to be built starting this year, UK justice secretary announcesEnglish3·1 month agoCarrots and sticks.
The carrots society expects are under-provided, so removal can’t be used as a persuader.
So we end up spending money on more sticks.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•UK Minister accused of being too close to big tech after rise in meetingsEnglish1·1 month agoThis was my query: Are these meetings butter-up luncheons?
Or simply a minister attending meetings that are part of their job.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•UK to allow foreign states 15% stake in newspapersEnglish8·1 month agoI don’t understand the fuss.
When my family’s estate was threatened, we sold the eastern farm to that fellow from the club, and it all worked out swimmingly.
This is no different, we just need to pull up our bootstraps, and stop whinging about “chilling effects on journalism”.Now please excuse me, mummy needs a brace of pheasants by lunchtime.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•Money blog: UK economy grew more than expected in first three months of 2025 - official figuresEnglish4·1 month ago“This is good for the economy. Now here is a middle-aged white man explaining why it’s bad for Rachel Reaves”
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•UK to allow foreign states 15% stake in newspapersEnglish22·1 month agoWhy does it feel like every UK govt.'s response to any struggling public good is “Well, there is a nice man here offering to buy it, and we don’t want to spend any money, so he’s going to have it”.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto UK Politics@feddit.uk•Thames Water: Please don't fine us, company asks regulatorEnglish17·1 month agoSounds like an unviable business that is throwing worse loans after bad, and needs nationalising a decade ago.
But what do I know: I’m just a schmuck who’s water bill just went up by a third.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•Thanks to the backward First-Past-The-Post voting system, Nigel Farage could obtain an absolute majority in Westminster with only a minority of British votes. English14·1 month agoThe monarch has power to do a lot of things. In practice, that power would get removed the instant they deviated from the script.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•Britain's state-owned energy company will not be allowed to use solar panels linked to Chinese slave labour, under changes to government plansEnglish2·2 months agoWith the right investment into production automation, and classifying energy generation as a national security factor, I could see us building our own at prices that make sense.
The real kicker I guess is going to be the supply of rare earths required.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMto United Kingdom@feddit.uk•Heat pumps to be sold ‘smart-ready’ in plans to save households moneyEnglish2·2 months agonot flash enough to make their Instagram account about renovating the house which I have been advised not to read as they are horrible people with bad taste
I’ll take “slapping grey paint on every surface, then fitting grey laminate flooring and black gloss worktops” for $500, Alex.
That, and painting over every patch of damp with tanking rather than actually fixing it.
I should probably write a bot to auto-reply when someone pulls a state as a comparison.
(Or ask the resident flamingo nicely to write it 😀)
I’ll put the gist of why hot weather can be a pain in the UK so it’s in the thread, not aimed at you obviously:
Which for a long time meant no insulation, and a fire/wet central heating system.
And not a damn was given about air-tightness.
With both our warming climate, and more kit being installed, things are changing, and people are adapting.
More people now understand that cooling the fabric of the house at night when it dips into the teens, then closing the windows in the morning, is a better way to keep it cool.
Building regulations stipulate significantly more insulation, air-tightness, heat gain control.
And air conditioning has dropped in price a lot.
For anyone curious, you can DIY a mini-split for about £500/room, or get a better quality one installed for under £2000.