Welcome to Links, my occasionally-updated round up of mostly-Scotland-or-UK-related links that caught my eye. If you have a story you’d like me to add, add it to the comments below.
Starmer rules out deal with SNP
Labour leader Keir Starmer has ruled out a deal with the SNP:
SIR Keir Starmer has again ruled out any coalition pact with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP as he told activists the UK is "better together".
The Labour leader said he “made no apology” for repeating his “no deal with the SNP going into an election, no deal with the SNP coming out of an election” as he laid out the foundations for Labour’s pitch for what could be a 2023 General Election.
When unionists like Starmer say we're "Better Together", what they really mean is "better together so long as Scotland doesn't have its nasty grubby little fingers anywhere near the levers of power".
Barrhead Boy on leaving the union
Barrhead Boy notes there might be a poll soon on Northern Ireland laving the UK:
In Ireland, the Leader of Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald is preparing her nation on both sides of the partitioned six counties for a border poll. Her party members have been receiving notifications and the plans for months now.The operation will kick in shortly after she inevitably becomes the next Taoiseach of Ireland. The latest polling has her Party 10 points clear of her nearest rivals. She has been to the United States preparing the ground there. President Biden and the American Congress have been advised of her intentions. There is no doubt that when the time comes, the Americans will be right behind the Irish. Only Anglo arrogance believes differently.
The Welsh First Minister (a Labour politician) is also talking up independence:
In Wales, the First Minister, a Labour politician, Mark Drakeford has said that ‘no UK Prime Minister has the right to stand in the way of an independence referendum in either Scotland or Wales if the people wanted one.’ He is also in talks with Plaid Cymru towards a pact and has said that independence may need to be faced if Westminster continues to ignore Wales.
And Scotland?
Scotland meanwhile is not even preparing the ground.
Sad but true.
Nominative determinism
Did you know that the Israeli copy of the Kalashnikov rifle was designed by Yisrael Balashnikov? Having a knockoff of the Kalashnikov called the Balashnikov was a little too on-the-nose, so he changed his name to Galil.
Killer robots kill starfish too
We learnt last year that Turkish STM Kargu killer robots hunted down and killed humans in Libya in 2020.
But killer robots don't just kill humans, they kill starfish too, specifically the crown-of-thorns starfish, which eats coral and is thus a danger to Australia's great barrier reef. So scientists built a robot to kill the starfish:
Write like you code
Chris Behan says you should write like you code:
Good writing is like good code, it's simple, efficient, and structured. Conversely, bad writing resembles bad code. It's unnecessarily complex, inefficient with the reader's memory, and structured like a bowl of spaghetti.
Good writing is simple
As a drunken Developer once said: "Good code is code that can be understood by a junior engineer. Great code can be understood by a first-year CS freshman. The best code is no code at all." Writing is similar. You should strive to use the simplest words that get the point across. Novice writers use big words to hide their own lack of understanding, similar to how novice programmers use frameworks. You don't need React for your landing page, and you don't need to use the word "sesquipdealian" to describe something long. Strive to make your writing as fluff-free as possible. If something in your writing doesn't need to be said, don't say it. This is the writer's equivalent of "the best code is no code at all".
Good advice!
Devo max an option at indyref2?
Former SNP’s policy development convener, Chris Hanlon, thinks indyref2 should include a devo max option:
As someone who is a bit of a popular sovereignty fundamentalist, I’ve always been uncomfortable with the way the 2014 referendum was framed. We all knew – in fact it was an accepted truism on both sides – that the most popular option for the Scottish people would have been devo-max.
There were regular reports that such an option, should it appear on the ballot, would receive nearly 80% of the vote. Neither side wanted that outcome. The SNP leadership wanted nothing less than independence and the anti-independence lobby wanted to preserve the status quo as much as possible.
To my mind that’s an outrage. The sovereign people of Scotland had a clear preference and the way the leadership on both sides of the debate avoided giving it to them was to intentionally not ask them about it. However much I personally want independence, I am of the opinion that intentionally frustrating the sovereign will of the Scottish people because you don’t want the outcome is unacceptable.
I have written about this previously.
Pontifex Minimus on Gettr
I'm on Gettr.
Why is no-one buying Chinese fighter aircraft?
Binkov asks: Why is no-one buying Chinese fighter aircraft?
There are 3 main reasons:
(1) countries that aren't aligned towards China don't want to -- they prefer to buy from the West
(2) A lot of Chinese aircraft such as the JF-17 or J-10 have Russian engines, so they need Russia's permission to sell them abroard, and Russia is reluctant to give that permission if it means they lose sales.
(3) there are a lot of second-hand F-16s going cheap right now.
On that last point, it may make sense when Scotland becomes independent, for it to initially equip its armed forced with cheap (but stil capable) used equipment like the F-16.
Countries treat covid like flu
Kim Iverson notes that Spain and Israel are starting to treat covid like they do flu.
Omicron peaked in UK?
According to Dr John Campbell, the Omicron variant of covid has peaked in the UK:
Good news if true.
Apparently, the WHO were originally going to it Xi instead of Omicron (as that was the next Greek letter) but decided not to as that would offend the Chinese leader.
If they run out of Greek letters to name covid strains after, maybe they could use characters from children's books? I suggest they start with Winnie the Pooh.