Links 34: Alex Salmond RIP special edition

a great man, who almost won us independence

Alex Salmond dies

The BBC reports:

His death at the age of 69 brings to an end a remarkable life and political career and an important chapter in the story of the independence movement.

Salmond's reputation as a political heavyweight ensured he was a high-profile politician across the UK long before he won Holyrood's top job.

In a BBC Scotland profile in 2011, former Conservative cabinet member Michael Portillo described him as the only Scottish politician to become well known in England and internationally while spending most of his career in Scottish politics.

Alex Salmond was a great man who took support for independence up from 27% in 2012 before the independence campaign to 45% in the referendum result. Since then, support for independence has stayed around 50%, sometime below, sometime above.

First Minister John Swinney is therefore right that Salmond turned Scottish independence into "an idea that is central to the politics of Scotland".

How the UK is becoming a ‘third-world’ economy

Caspian Report explains how the UK is becoming a ‘third-world’ economy:

Hint: it's due to decisions made by the ruling class, going back decades.

Coincidence?

Council Estate Media wonders whether it's a coincidence that workers lost $3.7 trillion in the pandemic while billionaires gained $3.9 trillion:

Japan wants an Asian NATO

TLDR news reports that Japan's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, wants an Asian equivalent of NATO:

The stumbling block this idea is that Kishida wants the new alliance to include the USA, which isn't keen. Which is where my idea of a European Military Alliance comes in: in this was set up it could offer Japan and countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Australia membership, which would increase security both for the EMA and for new countries joining it.

Paul Salem on Middle-East peace

Robert Wright notes Paul Salem (who's a vice president of the Middle East Institute) has a plan for peace in the Middle East:

Despite the latest rounds of escalation, Salem argues that “an important diplomatic opportunity still exists.” The international community, he says, should use this crisis to offer Iran a grand bargain: If Tehran agrees to remain verifiably nuke-free and to let go of its armed proxies in the Arab world, then it can get a “secure and prosperous place” in the international order. “It’s a long shot, but much of the Iranian public would respond positively to such a shift if there were a leader in Tehran bold enough to make it,” Salem writes.

Crucially, Salem suggests demanding comparably dramatic change from Israel. In his view, Israel faces a stark choice between the continued occupation of Palestinian territory—“with all the resistance, revenge and recurring war that that will engender”—and a two-state solution that could lead to the full normalization of relations with nearby Arab states. “Only the latter option can ensure a secure and prosperous future both for Israelis and Palestinians—and for the region more broadly.”

This vision may sound pollyannaish, and it is certainly at the sunny end of the spectrum of long-term possibilities. But dramatic crises and large-scale traumas can produce big change.

Lettuce that outlasted Liz truss gets blue plaque

A blue plaque has been erected outside a Tesco in Walthamstow to commemorate the fact that the lettuce that famously outlasted Liz Truss’s premiership was bought there:

At the death of her 49 days as prime minister a wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig was declared the winner of a race to last longest as she lost her grip on power after her disastrous mini-budget, which led to her sacking the then chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng.

As it looked like her time in Downing Street was up, the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. After seven days it duly did.

[...] It is unlikely that the former MP, who lost her seat at the general election in July, will see the funny side. In August she abruptly left an event, saying it was “not funny” when a banner placed by campaign group Led by Donkeys descended behind her during an event to promote her book which had a picture of a lettuce and the slogan “I crashed the economy”.

Chagos Islanders peeved as UK gives Chagos Islands to Mauritius instead of them

Britain is giving up control of the Chagos Islands. But instead of giving the islands back to the Chagos islanders, who Britain had forceably removed from the islands in the 1960s and 70s, it instead is giving the Islands to Mauritius. The Chagos Islanders are understandably pissed off about this:

People with roots in the Chagos Islands have criticised what they called their "exclusion" from negotiations leading to the UK government's deal to give up its sovereignty of the region.

[...] Pascalina Nellan, whose grandmother was born on the island before it turned into a home for navy ships and long-range bomber aircrafts, said the deal amounted to "backstabbing" by the UK government.

Still, if UK wants to give up some of its colonial islands, I suggest it lets go of the colony consisting of the northern third of the island of Great Britain.

Scientific American jumps the shark

via Austen Allred:

I remember when Scientific American was quite good.

Orban blocks Ukraine aid

Jürgen Nauditt writes:

This demonstrates why international organisations shouldn't be run on a basis of unanimity.

It's a common failure mode: if an international organisation is successful, lots of countries will want to join it. Then because it requires unanimity to do anything, nothing can get done. It thus becomes a victim of its own success.

Northern Rail threatens to prosecute man who had ticket

The BBC reports:

A man who paid £1.90 less than he should have for a train ticket faces being taken to court by a rail firm despite admitting his error and offering to pay a fine or a new fare.

Sam Williamson, 22, from Glossop, has been threatened with prosecution by Northern after he mistakenly bought an invalid £3.65 ticket from Broadbottom to Manchester using his 16-25 railcard last Thursday.

The problem is there are lots of different tickets with different fares, and the rules are very complex, probably deliberately so. Here's the ticket in question:

If a ticket says "Anytime Day Single" then travellers should have a right to presume that they can use it at any time (and not only after 10am).

The railway company should be prosecuted for fraud for having a deliberately over-complex fare scheme that tries to catch people out. And if found guilty the bosses of the company should face significant prison terms.

North Korea sends soldiers to fight in Ukraine

The Telegraph says North Korean soldiers have been killed in Ukraine:

North Korean soldiers have probably been killed fighting for the Kremlin on the front lines in Ukraine, South Korea has said. Kim Yong-hyun, South Korea’s defence minister, said reports that six North Korean officers were killed last week in a missile strike near Donetsk were “highly likely”.

He said: “We assess that the occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine is highly likely.”

Speculation that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, would send his soldiers to fight in Ukraine for Russia has been rife but this would be the first known evidence of them being stationed on or near the front line.

If Russia's ally North Korea is sending its soldiers to fight in Ukraine, it would not be an escalation for NATO to send soldiers to fight for Ukraine.