Benedict
@carto_graph
fighting the long defeat | law student, future pupil barrister, train enjoyer, linguist | 🏳️🌈
New from me @WorksInProgMag about a great idea to improve transit all around the world (but especially in Britain) – the tram-train. By running trams onto suburban railway lines, cities can get big transit networks at comparatively little cost. worksinprogress.news/p/tram-trains
with the osa i feel like insufferably irritating privacy-conscious teenager benedict who got a protonmail account as soon as they launched has been vindicated
Theory that is a bit too funny: Britain is the birthplace of liberty because people were pushing back against the pettiness of Britain.
What's the deep historical-cultural explanation for why the UK is *both* the main place where classical liberal ideas emerged (Locke, Smith, Hume, Mill, Spencer, Cobden, Bright, Paine, Hodgskin, etc) *and* so over-the-top and petty with managerial paternalist stuff like this now?
the lesson here is not that UK shouldn’t impose age verification per se — I can see args for/against — but that you build & scale widely adopted, privacy-preserving identity infra before you regulate this way it’s trivial today to create trusted, private credentials — eg ‘over…
Today: Britain brings in new age verification laws requiring people to give sites containing ‘adult content’ photos of their Drivers License, despite multiple warnings from cybersecurity experts. Also, today:
Yesterday the No 1 app in the US leaked 72,000 face pictures and drivers licence photos users sent in to verify themselves. This comes weeks after the age verifier for TikTok, Uber, and X was breached in a similar way. And on the same day Britain mandates photo id for websites.
rstreet.org/commentary/the… Please also support @404mediaco - they did the investigative legwork here and have done so much great work in this space 404media.co/women-dating-s…
It’s not just under-18s. Any adult who wants to access an addiction support forum will have to give a random company their ID and permission to scrape all their online data, to be shared with 3rd parties. Possibly some of the worst legislation I have ever encountered.
The UK Online Safety Act means subreddits like /r/cider, the support forum /r/sexualassault, and /r/stopsmoking are now blocked for people under 18. Thank you @Jess4Lowestoft for protecting our CHILDREN from these sick freaks
Another post from me, this time about the fundamental trilemma all rail transit faces – between frequency, reliability, and complex services. api.omarshehata.me/substack-proxy…
"There is little point in building housing that Southwark's residents can't afford." This is a toxic attitude based on a fundamental misunderstanding of economics and housing. New market-rate housing lowers rents for all. (Evidence in thread below)
The developer knows the rules: it was always unlikely to get permission if they did not provide the levels of affordable housing set out in planning policy (35%). There is little point building housing that Southwark's residents can't afford to live in.
Emphasis on the phrase ‘well-organised’.
NEW: Jeremy Corbyn officially confirms new party with Zarah Sultana. Pollsters predict a well-organised left-wing party could take 10% off Labour’s vote.
Your Party, truly one of the names of all time.
It's time for a new kind of political party - one that belongs to you. Sign up at yourparty.uk.
Hello @grok, if I were elected head of government, can you list ten policies I would likely enact within the first 100 days based on my posts?
Hello @grok, if I was elected head of state, can you list ten policies I would likely enact within the first 100 days based on my posts
A staggering document. The UK Gov is now claiming that the native Chagossians were never "settled" on the islands and consequently have no right to them, but Mauritanians who have never lived there do.
The UK Government's Human Rights Memorandum on the Chagos Surrender Bill says Chagossians have no right to self-determination, only Mauritians do! Shameful
It’s occurred to me – 🇮🇪 would make a great flag for Northern Ireland. Green for nationalists, orange for unionists, white for peace between them. It’s a shame it’s already taken…
Even Kafka couldn’t have dreamed up our planning system.
The planning decision for Oxford United’s new stadium has been delayed again due to “a last-minute submission from a statutory consultee”. The application had been due to be heard on 31 July. OUFC says it is “disappointing” and “frustrating”. oufc.co.uk/news/oxford-un…
We've reached the 'stop' period of our established stop-start approach to rail electrification.
Midland Main Line electrification teams to be stood down this year as project is paused railmagazine.com/news/midland-m…
What I don’t get is why it’s become so bad (from an already low baseline) since COVID.
The Deutsche Bahn is so dysfunctional it's nearing collapse. It had to pay *€200 million* in compensation to passengers in 2024, an increase of €70 million over the year before. Everyone knows the crisis is getting worse, but nobody can fix it. dw.com/de/versp%C3%A4…
Is there any law in Britain that is adequately enforced?
Community Interest Companies are inadequately regulated. They self-certify their community benefits on incorporation and in their annual reports in documents which seem never to be questioned. I would only deal with one whose work or directors I knew something of at first hand