THE FAILURE of OUR LORDS & MASTERS TO ACT...

[Michael Grove]

   [IT] IS now 40 years since I remarked to Kenneth Baker M.P. 

 

     "THAT the archives of the BBC were worth more to the  British nation...  

      than all the country's coal deposits" •  I further remarked that "in order

      to "mine" this wealth, an appropriate industrial infrastructure and

      facilities would have to be established - before the information could

      be put into IT (Information Technology) and subsequently distributed

      in a form which would be of mutual benefit to all potential users" 

     ... and here we are today controlled  by our Lords and   

    Masters with nary a clue apparently, of what ACTION to

    take, with respect for and regard to the CLIMATE CHANGE

    discussions which were first mooted at that [TIME] of

    the very public launch of my OWN IDEA of the future of

    Interactive Multimedia Communications, which has

    transmogrified from BBC to Apple and thence to Arpanet

    and Sir Tim Berners-Lee's Hypercard creation of a

    Hyper Text Transmission Protocol based, network of

    interconnected networks, which became established as

    [THE] World Wide Web, and here we are today in Sir Tim's

    most cogent words of expression, explaining the very

    establishment of a future WWW 3.0, which [IS] not based

    on the concept of blockchains and crypto currencies such

    as BITCOIN, which have already brought the Swiss

    banking system to its knees.  

    So as Sir Tim has so explicitly proposed,
    in a recent statement ... 

"Together, Solid and Inrupt will provide new experiences benefitting every web user - and that are impossible on the web today. Where individuals, developers and businesses create and find innovative, life- and business-enriching, applications and services. Where we all find trusted services for storing, securing and managing personal data. I’m incredibly optimistic for this next era of the web. These are very exciting times. I will be committed to steering the direction of Solid, and developing its future governance.

Inrupt will do many things: its first priority will be the Solid ecosystem. With the right values and a foundational corporate infrastructure, we will build beneficial systems that work for everyone. The future is still so much bigger than the past."

    [TIME] NOW methinks for the so-called government to

    govern and to ACT with UTMOST URGENCY to ensure

    that the NATION has CLEAN and SECURE POWER.

 

[Michael Grove]

The Treasury is scrambling to complete 11th-hour plans capable of softening a national cost of living crisis, including a £200 rebate on energy bills and more help for the poorest households.

No 10 and the Treasury have been under pressure from Tory MPs to act as millions of households brace for a record hike in energy bills from April, and the prospect of rising mortgage rates and tax increases.

[Michael Grove]

[IT] is indubitably the case that  France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain have already instructed the commission to study how the EU could withdraw from the ECT, amid scepticism that the treaty can ever be compatible with the EU’s climate goals, according to leaked documents published by the Euractiv website last month.

The ECT secretariat, based in Brussels, argues that the ECT does not privilege fossil fuels and upholds the rule of law for investors.

Activists rejected this characterisation. “We are not advocating that they break international law,” said Maarfield. “Even in the ECT, there is a clause about withdrawal. So there is absolutely no breaking any law to withdraw from an agreement, according to the rules that are stipulated in this agreement. And the withdrawal procedure in ECT is very easy.”

This article was amended on 21 June 2022 to add the Netherlands to the list of countries that have instructed the European Commission to explore how the EU could withdraw from the ECT.

[Michael Grove]

Rishi Sunak has sold himself to other Tories as a kind of company doctor with a recovery plan to rescue a hideously tarnished and hugely unpopular brand from political bankruptcy. Downing Street has projected him to the voters in a similar fashion as a  Mr Fix-It. This has provided Conservatives with a consoling story about their chances of winning the next general election. Whenever confronted with dire opinion poll ratings, they have responded that their prospects will improve as the prime minister draws a line under the torrid past and shows that he leads a stable government.

At a recent event organised by Onward, a Conservative thinktank, the Tory leader sought credit for moving his party on from what he called the “box-set drama” that came before his arrival at Number 10. Much ruder phrases are available to describe the mad premiership of Liz Truss and the bad one of Boris Johnson. He has hoped to earn points for himself and soften the disdain towards his party by not being as reckless with the nation’s finances as Ms Truss and not as degrading of public life as Mr Johnson. A lot of senior Tories have echoed this “steady Sunak” narrative if only for want of any other tale to tell themselves.

[Michael Grove]

A US FEDERAL judge in the Southern District of New York has sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, to 25 years in prison. In addition, Bankman-Fried has been ordered to forfeit $11 billion.

Last November, at the end of a month-long trial, Bankman-Fried—known colloquially as SBF—was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the collapse of FTX.

The exchange had fallen to pieces in November 2022 after running dry of funds with which to process customer withdrawals. The money was missing, the jury concluded, because Bankman-Fried had conducted an elaborate fraud whereby billions of dollars’ worth of user funds was swept into a sibling company and used to bankroll high-risk trading, venture bets, debt repayments, personal loans, political donations, and a lavish life in the Bahamas.

In a court filing, the US government described the affair as “one of the largest financial frauds in history.” Bankman-Fried had demonstrated “unmatched greed and hubris” and a “brazen disrespect for the rule of law,” it said.

https://www.wired.com/story/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-ftx-fraud/