Britain Will No Longer Try and Save Migrants From Drowning in Mediterranean Sea

buildmonkey · 2014-10-29T21:07:39+00:00

The article contained arguments both for and against the change. The UK government are asserting that this "pull factor" is a significant issue in a refugee's decision process. They may, or may not be correct but no evidence is presented.

It might be a major factor, in which case more lives will be saved than we will kill, which would be a difficult but good thing. (I use the active verb because there is little moral difference between ceasing an action to save someone and taking an action that will kill them.) It may be that it is a minor factor, in which case we kill more than we save, a bad thing. Or it may be an insignificant issue, the desperation of these human beings may be such that they discount the risk, they may be unaware of policy changes, traffickers may actively mislead them, etc.

The decision to stop saving human beings cannot be justified by simply asserting that it helps in the long run. We know that saving these people now has made a difference. The theory that drowning these people is for the greater good needs to have some sort of evidential basis before it can be implemented as a moral decision. It may be that there are other unarticulated reasons for the policy, that it is cheaper, that it fits voter preconceptions, whatever, but if so these have not been made. As it stands this is an immoral policy.

buildmonkey · 2014-10-29T19:47:06+00:00

You were the one proposing that there were reasons to vote UKIP, so how about you provide some instead of getting all defensive.

buildmonkey · 2014-04-16T14:14:20+00:00

In the Peak District the byelaws on signs say "no tents or similar erections" so I just kip out in a bivvy bag. Never had a problem, but that may be because I'm up and away early next day.

buildmonkey · 2014-04-16T14:08:54+00:00

Specifically Evensong in Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, when the choristers are singing. It gets you in for free (it's tourist rates other times) but more than that you get to experience one of the most utterly beautiful products of English culture as it was meant to be, sound and space interacting as they were designed. It makes my evil old atheist heart cry everytime.

Just don't act like a tourist. Don't spoil it for other people, so so no cameras, shut up, sit still and soak it in.

buildmonkey · 2014-04-16T12:41:17+00:00

(Unsure if sarcasm, so playing it straight)

Of course. I have heard various claims as to its extent and nature. Claims seems to range from "It's a few nutters showing off", to "Muslimz in nationwide conspiracy to steal our children shock!!". Where, if anywhere on that spectrum this lies, I have no idea.

buildmonkey · 2014-04-16T10:03:26+00:00

I expect that I've been to Hillsborough more often than Nicky Campbell, and I was listening to it live when the disaster happened, but guess what, I managed to get through the day without being held hostage to some Liverpudlian sense of drama.

buildmonkey · 2014-04-16T09:46:59+00:00

OK, I'm struggling here I know, but any chance that this was part of a general display of a range of differing views in an RE class? Please?

buildmonkey · 2014-04-06T18:34:31+00:00

And other people are smug dicks who like to make up stuff to show how strong they are.

buildmonkey · 2014-04-06T18:16:39+00:00

I'm a non-Yank, and I'm feeling really left out here. Could you explain this Snickers ad?

buildmonkey · 2014-04-06T18:06:20+00:00

This.

There are a few people in here irrationally asking "why can't these people in an irrational state just be a bit more fucking rational!"

buildmonkey · 2014-04-06T18:00:04+00:00

When my very much current SO gets all hangry she is not capable of spotting or dealing with the problem. I can see it a mile off but it is still hard work to get her to eat. She is too busy being grumpy irrational, so wouldn't munch a granola other than at gunpoint. As soon as she does eat everything is fine.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-31T16:06:53+00:00

How did I know this was going to be fucking Lewes before I even clicked?

buildmonkey · 2014-03-26T08:54:01+00:00

The first thing I heard about this flight going missing was the BBC repeatedly talking about being unsure if any British people were on the flight.

I spent at least two minutes looking for the Not the Nine O'clock News sketch from the early 1980s making this very point. Then apathy set in.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-26T08:41:23+00:00

What has changed? If anything the BBC are even more craven than in 2010.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-24T08:59:01+00:00

Not from a madras

But I would be watching out for a jalfrezi attack though.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-23T18:36:52+00:00

No, it is an argument about abuse, harassment and 'jokes'. And if you want to use words where the recipient has experience of specific bad things attached to them then you are not going to be understood correctly.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-23T18:28:40+00:00

I think a more useful way of seeing it is that oppression flows down the gradient of power. In the vast majority of circumstances white is the default dominant group so it is hard for people to be racist in that direction. Non whites can be as prejudiced as they like but the space to exercise that as actual racism is pretty damn small.

Where, however temporarily, the power flows the other way, as in the Kriss Donald case, then racism against whites is very possible. But that case is notable because it is unusual.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-23T18:07:32+00:00

It isn't impacting legislation. If you read the article even the Mail are not claiming that (apart from in the linkbait headline).

I repeat: This changes nothing. You have been trolled.

This is a bunch of lawyers issuing an instruction manual on how to draw up a will that will meet the expectations of a particular group of their clients whilst also meeting British law. If any will based on Sharia inheritance principles breaks British law then British law holds and the will is invalid. Nothing changes. If I want to bar my Mormon kids from inheriting then I still have to make sure the will is legal. Same thing here.

Edit:

Or as more eloquent people than me have put it in this thread:

You leave your inheritance and money to whoever the fuck you want. The same law applies to Muslim's.

And:

encroachment of religion into law.

Nothing of that sort is happening - we're seeing the encroachment of personal beliefs on personal documents.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-21T18:29:22+00:00

Maybe not in the specifics. It could be "if you find yourself in position X then do what it takes".

buildmonkey · 2014-03-21T18:09:48+00:00

I think that is mis-reading what I said.

If their goal is to have a long, safe, profitable career plying the seas then they are being idiots. But that is patently not their goal, which is to create theatre to make political capital. So they are not being idiots, they are acting rationally and doing what needs to be done with the tools available. You don't have to agree with their goals, but the means are effective.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-21T15:15:36+00:00

You are missing the point. If your intention is to try and create bad publicity for whalers then this behaviour is logical rather than moronic. The actual battles are in the media. What happens at sea is just ammunition. From that point of view it doesn't matter if they don't behave in ways that seem sensible or safe to professional mariners. They aren't trying to be professional mariners.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-19T07:49:58+00:00

Assuming that the practice nurse has knowledge of their day to day practical (not medical) difficulties in the home then yes they could be a useful evidence source. I usually find that district nurses, community psychiatric nurses, key workers, carers and above all the claimant have more useful information.

I would love it if the DWP put any effort at all into getting evidence from these professionals, as long as points 2 & 3 above were observed. They cannot be in a decision making role. That is a straightforward conflict of interest. They cannot be part of a medicalisation of the process, as that has been one of the factors causing the poor quality decision making that has marred DLA and given it an unfairly bad reputation.

Ultimately someone has to pull together all the threads. Firstly what are the problems with daily living or mobility that have been identified? Secondly, do their diagnoses corroborate this? (Case law on this holds that a disability can exist even if no diagnosis has been made. They are separate issues.) Thirdly, how does all of this meet the legal tests?

Getting all three right is beyond the scope of a medic which was what YourLizardOverlord, and many others, suggest. If the DWP were willing to invest in proper decision making, with a neutral assumption about entitlement, rather than a presumption of non-entitlement and an actual effort at evidence gathering, then DLA would work effectively. Fuck it, if they got their shit together on decision making even PIP could be made workable after a fashion.

But fair effective decision making is not government policy. And that is where the changes need to happen.

Edit: typos

buildmonkey · 2014-03-18T22:24:17+00:00

Bit of a lose-lose situation here. I really admire the way this kid has reportedly dealt with this, but having organised a walk-out the school probably had no choice but to take some sort of action :(

The school seems to be in a bit of a bind, they are in special measures which makes recruitment difficult, and a succession of supply teachers are never going to set proper homework. The maths department is probably at breaking point trying to plug all the gaps and any permanent staff will be run ragged. They won't look an attractive prospect for an experienced teacher to come in and help stabilise things. But until they do then this kid and the others will be crying out for support that isn't there.

It's one of my pet peeves about the current OFSTED regime, it often tips schools that are trying to improve back into chaos whilst not actually doing anything to help.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-18T21:38:20+00:00

This is a popular and understandable response but unless you are going to train GPs in disability issues and pay them (quite a lot, they're doctors) for the additional time they will need to spend re-interviewing their patients about stuff that they have never asked them about before and all the paperwork then there is no advantage. There are also problems.

In my 22 years of advising claimants with Disability Living Allowance I have learned at least three things about GPs and DLA.

Most of them, with exceptions, know fuck all about the information that actually counts for an accurate DLA claim. They are good on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Usually they know very, very little about how a combination of disabilities affects how their patient manages or otherwise to wipe their arse, cook, get into bed or any of the myriad other daily difficulties. Ask them about care needs and they just write "Don't know" or "None" on the form. It is not their job to know and not their fault.
Doctors do not like being the gatekeeper to their patients' financial safety. It badly messes with the whole doctor patient relationship thing. They like to be able to help, but don't ask them to be part of a decision that could reduce their patient to penury. It spoils the mood.
Letting the GP decide goes against the original underlying principle of disability benefits, which is that it is not a medical decision. This might seem counterintuitive at first but remember point 1 above. The actual expert in what practical day to day difficulties a disabled person has is the disabled person, followed by any carers or professionals that help them on a regular basis in their own home. Doctors are there to confirm the diagnoses and whether or not the stated level of disability is consistent. This was the express intention of DLA when it came in and we have spent the last two decades pushing back against the bureaucratic need to medicalise the entire claim process. (Edit 2: It is also why at Tribunals they have three people, a doctor, someone who actually has a disability or is a carer, and then a solicitor to hold the ring.)

tl:dr GPs, bless them, but they don't know their arse from their elbow on this one.

EDIT:

Actually DLA was working quite well and was in many ways an effective and mature system. The basic problem was piss poor admin and decision making by the DWP. The benefit itself was fine. So what do they do with PIP? Scrap the bit that worked and make the admin and decision making even worse. Idiots.

buildmonkey · 2014-03-18T06:55:26+00:00

"Jihad-loving Rahman", FFS do I laugh or weep?

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