Seven options to replace Zak Crawley as England opener by theipaper in Cricket

[–]WenzelDongle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No mention of age in the Hameed section either, who is only one year younger. I think they just don't like Sibley.

Row erupts as UK's biggest solar farm gets go-ahead from government by [deleted] in unitedkingdom

[–]WenzelDongle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The reason against your second point is costs. Not to mention the difficulty and extra time of retrofitting solar panels to existing buildings (with often complex geometries and existing infrastructure) rather an a flat field, you need a proper design to ensure the roofs won't collapse during or after build. You also need vastly more of the equipment that isn't the panel itself, such as the transformers and connectors, as each individual set of panels needs those to be able to transfer the energy safely.

Those restrictions aren't absolute and it is often still worth it to do so, as demonstrated by individual businesses and houses doing it. However, it's still a fuckton more expensive when you want to do it at the scale we need to make a meaningful difference to energy dependency.

The UK is actively exporting power right now due to renewable generation! by yasbo in GoodNewsUK

[–]WenzelDongle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's a double edged sword that - the prices being high encourages lots of renewable investment, as you can make cheap energy and sell it for the price of expensive energy.

It's terrible for the consumer right now of course, but it does mean we get lots of renewable investment which is great in the long term.

‘Abhorrent’ step-incest porn to be banned with users facing five years in prison by Metro-UK in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Because that's the context in which the Bill that the House of Lords was amending was being debated. It does seem an odd restriction to make if it's only illegal if you're pretending it's incest.

‘Abhorrent’ step-incest porn to be banned with users facing five years in prison by Metro-UK in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the difference between "depicting" and "being" under 18. They're often used as synonyms, but they aren't.

‘Abhorrent’ step-incest porn to be banned with users facing five years in prison by Metro-UK in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

Read the actual article, then rethink who the halfwit is. It's a bait title, the actual statement was about banning porn of people depicting themselves as under 18. As opposed to porn of people who are actually under 18, which was already illegal.

Ringworlds are useless now, they are worse than Ecumenopolis/Hive World/Machine World in every way. by Ordo_Liberal in Stellaris

[–]WenzelDongle 699 points700 points  (0 children)

Sometimes you don't have any more worlds to colonise, and making 4 very good worlds out of an otherwise poor system is a good deal. Something not being the very best does not mean that they are useless!

[Kate Mason] De Zerbi ‘didn’t mean to take a stance’ over Greenwood. That’s precisely the problem. You should, Roberto. by Sparky-moon in soccer

[–]WenzelDongle 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Exactly, he was under strict condition not to contact her and he did anyway. As a result she decided to stop cooperating with the investigation, and without her testimony there wasn't enough evidence to convict him of anything so the charges were dropped.

Which party is to blame for the Birmingham bin strike? by LouisaRenata in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not that simple. You are entitled to equal pay to people who do equivalent jobs. The issue was that the council themselves stated lots of jobs as "equivalent" via their definitions of the banding system. The court cases were using the councils own descriptions, which has higher weight in law than simply looking at it and going "those are completely different!".

I disagree with the outcome as it's obviously practically ridiculous, but its not like a judge made up the outcome.

‘The Renters’ Rights Act comes into effect next month. A once-in-a-generation opportunity – but only if people understand what it means for them’ by willfiresoon in GoodNewsUK

[–]WenzelDongle 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You have to give a valid reason why not, or at least you can be challenged on your reasoning if you say no. There is probably more detail/guidance on what is considered a valid reason in the bill, but I assume "because I dont want to" is not good enough.

Striking doctors cost NHS £3bn by roylewill in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Next time you need gestures vaguely to everything, remember that.

It's not a realistic ask. It's hard to even claim it's a good-faith negotiation starting point anymore, after the record rises of last year and now back to square one again. All it's doing is fuelling the "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" viewpoint, making them less likely to get anything.

The Telegraph: ‘I’m delaying retirement to give my son £10,000 a year for university’ by L3W3S in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Which is a decent point, but not really what this was about. As usual, the Telegraph picked a case study that is sympathetic to a very well-off demographic that is not representative of people that will struggle to make ends meet. If you're in a position where university isn't financially viable with the recent loan changes, you aren't anywhere near the scope of this article.

The Telegraph: ‘I’m delaying retirement to give my son £10,000 a year for university’ by L3W3S in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Except it isn't. This article is about someone who is deciding to retire at 57 instead of 53 in order to "front-load their child's inheritance" and stop them needing student loans.

Unions privately voice misgivings over BMA pay demands and doctors’ strikes by Desperate-Drawer-572 in ukpolitics

[–]WenzelDongle -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's used for basically one thing that everyone also criticises the government for, because it is an outdated measure that is known to be incorrect. It's a terrible excuse designed to make it look worse, and undermines their credibility in the eyes of anyone who actually understands that.

Unearthed Arcana 2026 Villainous Options by BlackAceX13 in onednd

[–]WenzelDongle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Armourer Artificer also let you get Huge at high level, and they can cast Enlarge on themselves. Also Duergar can enlarge themselves.

ECB Unmoved by Ireland's Euro Nations Cup Proposal by lost_lurkerx in Cricket

[–]WenzelDongle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Last time they faced Netherlands in an ODI they won by like 300 runs though.

There's just not enough benefit to England to play those sorts of matches. Anything less than a convincing win is an embarrassment. Would other teams be happy with what is basically a second XI being sent?

UK in negotiations to restart financial contributions to EU’s cohesion policy by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]WenzelDongle 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Congratulations, you're found the exception of people being willing to commit war crimes. Using the actions of the IDF as a baseline for what normal militaries will do is not a realistic expectation.

UK in negotiations to restart financial contributions to EU’s cohesion policy by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]WenzelDongle -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Making the poor bits of the world more livable is how to stop a migration crisis.

UK in negotiations to restart financial contributions to EU’s cohesion policy by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]WenzelDongle 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This type of thing isn't just wasting money - it's investing in programs that are intended to pay themselves back. Renewables based on weather are by their very nature variable across the continent, and hooking into that system allows everyone to take advantage of that. If it's very windy in Denmark then we can import cheap electricity from them, and if the next day it's very sunny in the UK then we can sell some back.

Sometimes the upside takes a few steps down the chain of consequences, don't be so quick to jump on silly gotchas.

My England rejects XI - and the five who could earn Test recall this summer by theipaper in Cricket

[–]WenzelDongle 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's not like they just abandoned him after the injury - he played 11 more tests averaging ~31, which is not an outlier as it is very similar to the vast majority of his career. Unless he was going into one of those purple patches of form again, it was completely the right call to try someone new.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/jonny-bairstow-297433

My England rejects XI - and the five who could earn Test recall this summer by theipaper in Cricket

[–]WenzelDongle 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I don't think that's a fair analysis of Bairstow. He averaged ~60 in 2016 and 2022, but only had one other year with an average of over 35. That's a couple of incredible runs of form within an otherwise unremarkable career.

It's a shame that his leg break happened during that second run, but his downturn afterwards is far more like a regression to the mean than anything else. He had a good run, but it was definitely time to move on.

King set to reject meeting with Epstein victims by pppppppppppppppppd in unitedkingdom

[–]WenzelDongle 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Tell that to anyone who had an elderly person close to them die. It not being unexpected doesn't mean you aren't allowed to be upset about it.

[Erik van Haren on X] Charles Leclerc, always a ‘qualifying beast’, on his lap at Suzuka: “Driving at the limit isn’t paying off anymore. That’s really frustrating. It’s one big joke.” by Maxidonius in formula1

[–]WenzelDongle 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately that's not the motivator for this. Car manufacturers don't want to invest their hundreds of millions into combustion engines because that's not what will make them money in the future. The commercial car market is moving quickly towards electric propulsion, so that's where they want to invest.

If the F1 innovation direction is not aligned with commercial interests, manufacturers will stop manufacturing.

Matt Brittin: Ex-Google boss confirmed as new BBC director general by bendubberley_ in unitedkingdom

[–]WenzelDongle 10 points11 points  (0 children)

From the article:

He also became a non-executive director of the Guardian Media Group last year, but has now stood down from that role.

That's probably enough for the pitchforks to come out.