[–] [S] 3 points 1 day ago*

On Toby Young:

In 2015, Young wrote an article for the Australian magazine Quadrant entitled "The fall of meritocracy". Under a section titled "Progressive eugenics"[64] he discussed developments in genetically engineered intelligence, and proposed that should the technology for selecting embryos for high intelligence become practicable, it could be provided "free of charge to parents on low incomes with below-average IQs." "This is a kind of eugenics that should appeal to liberals — progressive eugenics."

On Covid19:

Young wrote: "spending £350 billion to prolong the lives of a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people is an irresponsible use of taxpayer's money."

In June 2020, he wrote that "the virus has all but disappeared"

in July 2020 London had almost achieved herd immunity.

So apparently now he gets an unelected permanent seat at the house of lords, great.

[In 2024] Young was nominated for a life peerage by Kemi Badenoch

[he] was introduced to the House of Lords on 28 January that year.

One tweet by Young was in response to a BBC Comic Relief appeal in 2009 for starving Kenyan children.[107] During the broadcast, a Twitter user commented that she had "gone through about 5 boxes of kleenex" whilst watching. Toby Young replied: "Me too, I havn't wanked so much in ages".

Seems like a lovely chap

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 2 days ago (3 children)

    Best I've got so far is:

    Take a lesbian who says at a social group that she is attracted only to women, not to anyone who identifies as one. Someone there could complain that her words were meant to change how a person sees their own identity. She would then have to explain to investigators that she was only being honest about herself. I don't think she should face that at all.

    Dear Members of the Committee,

    1. I am an elderly lady.

    It's the same for a counsellor. If she explores whether the distress comes from depression or something else, is that care or is it a crime? She can't know until a complaint is made, maybe years later. I worry she'll simply refuse to see such young people at all.

    The first moment of trouble under this Bill would be a conversation, and that is wrong. I think of a youth worker who notices that several girls in one friendship group have all started saying they are boys at the same time. That pattern would worry any sensible adult. Under this Bill, the moment she raises it with them, she could be in trouble.

    Not great. I'm sure you can do better.

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  • submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by to c/lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
     

    UK transphobes have made a vibecoded tool to generate AI slop testimonies for why the UK should not ban conversion therapy.

    I want our best shitposters to have fun at their dime to generate the silliest arguments possible and post them below.

    https://stoptheconversiontherapyban.uk/respond/

    You can give anything vaguely matching an email address and it will accept it. No need to enter any real personal information. Don't press save at the end. It will let you regenerate 3 times before you have to clear your cookies to try again.

    Sadly if you're too obvious the AI just ignores what you put and gives you

    Some of your text could not be used and was left out.

    How boring.

     

    A datacentre company that said it would power a massive AI development near Glasgow with renewable energy has admitted that the scheme will be entirely served by the National Grid.

    The company remains in receipt of £202m of public money in the form of wealth guarantees from Britain’s national wealth fund.

     

    The company has lost 182,000 broadband and 644,000 mobile customers in two years and is operating in an increasingly competitive market competition

    My experience with their fibre service was bad customer service with very long waits, broken website and IT and a pricing model that meant you had to call them up every year to threaten them just to not get a 50% price increase. Service reliability was alright though.

    After switching to Plusnet all of those problems went away, and I can get through to a person in less than a minute most of the time, and both times it has been someone in the UK. The price rises a small amount each year (£3 I think?). They have done some weird clerical errors though were they have accidentally cancelled my contract twice over the course of 2 years. Still better imo.

    The UK telecoms company, which offers broadband, TV, landline and mobile services, had just announced £800m in cost savings, including potentially cutting up to a quarter of staff.

    I'm not sure that will help with their main problems, at least where it comes to customer retention.

    A pledge to focus on improving customer service, and developments including a new voice AI agent to handle broadband fault calls, has paid off.

    In its results earlier this week, the company pointed to Ofcom’s latest data showing significant reductions in complaints across its business, and the lowest of any leading broadband provider.

    I find that difficult to believe.

     

    The review, due to report this month, will say the government should introduce “flexi-jobs” alongside employment subsidies and intensive skills support to make it easier for disabled and chronically ill 16- to 24-year-olds to get work.

    He has rejected what he has called “myths” about young people being “snowflakes”, insisting that the crisis in youth mental health is real, most youngsters want to work, and it is the duty of government and employers to provide support and opportunities.

    The review will say young people with disabilities need a flexible and supportive approach to work that acknowledges fluctuating medical conditions and lack of work experience, and recognises the importance of part-time roles in helping them build confidence.

    One eye-catching recommendation is for the UK to adopt a Danish-style “flexi-job” scheme. This guarantees disabled participants employment while allowing them to set working hours – in some cases starting with as few as four hours a week – that suit their individual capacities, with wages topped up by the government.

    However, he will probably face pushback from campaigners, and potentially backbench Labour MPs, who argue that job support should not be funded by disability benefit cuts that would push many young people into poverty and further away from the job market.

    Sounds somewhat promising, but it shouldn't be funded by cuts to disability benefits.

    From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs - Karl Marx (and others before him)

    Take some money from the billionaires. They don't really need it and you know it.

     

    It's always the ones you most expect...

    The leader of Reform UK in Hampshire county council has been charged with 12 counts of rape and two counts of making indecent images of a child, among multiple other offences.

    George Madgwick, 37, represents North East Havant on the council, where he leads the Reform group.

    He was charged on Tuesday with a total of 35 offences, which also include eight counts of actual bodily harm, two counts of assault by penetration, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of controlling and coercive behaviour.

     

    After deaths of five students at hands of Israeli settlers in last academic year, al-Mughayyir’s teachers and pupils are on high alert

    To reassure parents, teachers of the public secondary school gave a tour of the facilities, which they had spent the summer break fortifying. Metal fences now towered over the schoolyard’s walls and the door had been replaced by a sturdy metal gate. A new wall shielded the classrooms from a hilltop where last academic year a settler had shot dead two people, including a student.

    One of the few times "protect the children" is actually true.

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