#redundancies

[transcendentaleditation]

NPR host today: “The original ‘Avatar’ made a worldwide profit of three billion dollars -- that’s billion with a ‘B.’”

Okay, you don’t have to tell us what “billion” starts with. It’s an extremely well-known word. No one ever said, “I know it made three billion, but what does that start with?” If you use a wacky made-up number like “squijillion,” then hell yeah, spell it on the air.

[eaglesnick]

“We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” - Peter Mandelson

The other day I made the assertion that when the people of Britain voted for Keir Starmer, what they were really getting was Tony Blaire. To be fair this was partly tongue-in-cheek but having read the Kings Speech setting out the Labour Party's plans to change Britain it is closer to the truth than is comfortable.

The Tony Blaire Institute for Global Change has a paper entitled: The Economic Case for Reimagining the State that was published July 9th, 2024, just five days after the UK elections. Some of the wording in this report is almost identical to some of the wording in the Kings Speech.

Tony Blaire Institute:  “reforming the UK’s antiquated planning system is a high priority that could unlock much needed infrastructure investment and help un-gum the UK’s housing market.”

Kings Speech: “My Ministers will get Britain building, including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing."

Tony Blaire: "Normalization of relations with the EU: A full reversal of these losses may be politically unattainable during this Parliament, but there is a path to a better post-Brexit relationship in the coming years"

Kings Speech: My Government will seek to reset the relationship with European partners and work to improve the United Kingdom's trade and investment relationship with the European Union

Tony Blaire: "The new government will need to lean in to support the diffusion of AI-era tech across the economy by adopting a pro-innovation, pro-technology stance, as advocated by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.”

Kings Speech: "It will seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models.”

The Kings Speech is, by necessity, very brief and gives virtually no detail how the government’s aims are to be achieved. We will have to wait and see how much more of Keir Starmer’s vision for the future of Britain mirrors that of Tony Blaire. If Starmer is as closely aligned to Blaire as these comparisons suggest then public sector workers beware.

Blaire places great reliance on the introduction of artificial intelligence to ALL sectors of the economy, but  especially within the public sector. Once introduced Blaire predicts a productivity gain of “one-fifth workforce time”

 Public sector workers, having adopted the new AI and having increased productivity by 20% can then expect the sack.

“If the government chooses to bank these time savings and reduce the size of the workforce, this could result in annual net savings of £10 billion per year by the end of this Parliament and £34 billion per year by the end of the next – enough to pay for the entire defence budget.”

This is the true Blairite mindset. Nothing about sharing the productivity gains made by workers in the form of higher wages, nothing about the redistribution of wealth or tackling income inequality. In Blaire’s Case for Reimagining the State poverty is not mentioned once. Inequality gets one mention but only as a statistic relating to workers forced to use food banks. 

What Blaire and Starmer – like the Conservative Party - appear to have forgotten is that  public services are exactly that –  services.  Yes they need to be efficient and cost effective but NOT to the extent that the service element is lost. The rich can afford to buy service, ordinary working people have to rely upon government for basic services and over the last few years they have been badly let down.  Poor pay, increasing workloads, job insecurity and private sector creep have all contributed to bringing Britain’s public services to the verge of collapse. Let us all hope Starmer and Blaire don’t push them completely over the edge.

[chaotic-average-child]

run boy run

alt

[mandyraine]

How to Streamline the Language in Your Novel Draft

In today's post, I provide several examples of how to streamline the language in your novel manuscript.

As you work your way through the revise and refine phase of the novel writing process, it is best to start with big-picture revisions that affect your novel as a whole before homing in on the smaller elements of the manuscript. At the macro stage, you analyzed the overall plot, structure, pacing, and character arcs—making sure the story flows and resonates with the intended emotional beats. Now…

[largishcat]

I actually don’t mind that “dead dove” has become conversational shorthand for “fics with heavy themes where you REALLY need to pay attention to the warnings”. such is the nature of language. what i do mind is when people tag their actual fics with dead dove and then give no indication of what they’re actually warning about. that is useless. that helps no one. that is completely against the spirit of the meme. i will not be reading that

[trendynewsnow]

Auchan and Schaeffler AG Announce Significant Job Cuts in Europe

Job Cuts Across Europe: Auchan and Schaeffler AG Announce Redundancies Across Europe, numerous sectors are grappling with significant job losses, and the French grocery giant Auchan has recently joined the ranks of companies announcing plans for redundancies. Staff representatives have been called to meetings with management, revealing that a staggering 2,389 out of 54,000 jobs in France are at…

[adyophene]

screen time

[creativemedianews]

Sir Keir Starmer promises 'all we can' to save Port Talbot jobs

Sir Keir Starmer promises 'all we can' to save Port Talbot jobs #aviationsector #CO2emissions #electricarcfurnaces

[bitrise-co-in]

Developer Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Supermassive Games recently issued an announcement that it is laying off some employees. This announcement comes shortly after news leaked that the UK-based company plans to lay off around 90 workers. ... netgainers.org

[mens-rights-activia]

The most vile and vitriolic person you know is online right now talking about the importance of building community and there’s nothing you can do about it

[jitzbala]

The UK Economy - The Ying and Yang in Auto & Retail

Delve into the contrasting events: triumphant surge in the auto sector and poignant transition in retail. Explore these pivotal moments in the UK Economy

Introduction In the vast landscape of the UK economy, triumph and transition continually shape our narrative. The recent advancements in the auto sector juxtaposed with the retail sector’s challenges provide a poignant reflection of the UK economy’s yin and yang. As we delve into these developments, the resonance of “UK Economy Triumph and Transition” becomes evident. The Electric Surge: UK’s…

[graciehart]

Special Agent Fox "I do not gaze at Scully" Mulder ⤷ [1/13] ✧ Season One

[glivs]

self referential timing chart anim. i need to touch grass lol

[steadfvsthearts]

just a reminder that if you were rolled out the test roll-out with the new post headers without floating avatars/icons to provide feedback to staff (original post in source).

i know there's already 3rd party fixes going around, but please take the time to send feedback to staff to get at least icons back in some capacity in the headers while this is still in beta testing mode.

[protosymphonette]

happy pride month everybody