Notices by iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop), page 29

@nev The X220 is getting a bit long in the tooth now and I expect supplies are limited these days. The X1 and T450S are probably getting to the age where corporates are replacing them and throwing them out.

Ex-corp laptops are often really lightly used, too. A lot of people in big business just don't do that much work. My ThinkPad was like new when I received it, as if it had been sitting in a storeroom at a company for a few years.

@nev Refurbished ex-corporate ThinkPads are the best value in computing, I think. I have an X220 with a dock, it's my main computer that gets heavily used every day, and it doesn't miss a beat.

It cost next to nothing in the great scheme of things (about £200 from a UK refurbisher with the HDD replaced with a brand new SSD and the 4GB RAM upgraded to 8GB).

Most refurbishers will also knock money off for no OS, if you use Linux and don't need a Windows licence.

I joke, but it's typical of British media that the daughter of the BBC's head of arts becomes a presenter on Radio 3.

More variety and better talent sourcing needed - tired of hearing the children of BBC bods on the BBC.

@ghost_bird On local radio it tends to be people who work in the field being discussed and/or have something to sell. When I was on the radio we used to fill airtime by letting people plug their shops and/or websites in between answering questions on eg. fashion, fitness, food, tech.

But am I right then in assuming that the people who pop up on Radio 4 as eg "an expert in Russian politics" tend to be academics?

Every day I listen to the radio and a procession of people will pop up and be introduced as an expert on something. "Such-and-such is an expert on the Japanese economy... Russian foreign relations... the technology industry in India... and they join us on the line now from London... Washington... Frankfurt..."

Who *are* these people? Who do they work for? How did they get a job as "an expert"? What's their background? I'd love to just be able to read and analyse and answer questions all day...

Clemency Margaret Greatrex Burton-Hill

Clemency Burton-Hill

@tomharris I'm surprised The Press has never attracted national media attention, but we're too far from London for anyone to care.

I've seen "Free Tommy" everywhere lately, from walls in Republican areas of west Belfast to a display in the upstairs window of a house in Macclesfield

@tomharris My local paper is run by the publisher of Tommy Robinson's book. They are big friends.

The paper regularly prints racist and homophobic rants and often direct threats against specific individuals, usually councillors of an Asian background. This is a newspaper sold in supermarkets, not a backstreet racist rag.

http://barthsnotes.com/2015/12/05/new-book-from-former-edl-head-tommy-robinson/

@thamesynne Labour are terrified of losing votes if they come out against Brexit, because they have this patronising idea that all of us in Northern working-class regions would desert them for Ukip if we got a sniff that they might be for remaining.

It's not only patronising, but also out-of-date. Most people I speak to, even Brexit voters, are starting to say "how is leaving going to benefit us?".

@bobstechsite But I live in Brexit-Land Central, a northern urban/suburban area which isn't particularly affluent and voted quite heavily for Brexit.

Even here, people are starting to say "hang on a minute, how is leaving the EU going to actually benefit us?"

There will always be the racist diehards who want the foreigners out, but they have always been there and are worth ignoring.

Politicians are months out of date if they still think we all want hard Brexit in the North.

@andybroomfield I narrowly miss out on the Irish passport. My mum is eligible because *her* grandma was Irish, but I'm not because there's a limit to how many generations you can go. If a parent is a naturalised Irish citizen, you don't get to just pass that down indefinitely.

On Radio 3: "Welcome to the Royal Albert Hall."

*looks around Chez Iona*

The Royal Albert Hall's let itself go a bit.

@mkwadee The man is a concern. Unlike previous far-right campaigns, I've seen "Free Tommy" graffiti and signs in house windows everywhere from West Belfast to Macclesfield in recent months.

It seems the "campaign" is capturing people's imagination more than the outwardly racist stuff, which means it's more insidious.

@mkwadee The local media should do a better job. It's a disgrace that our only local paper is a racist rag.

Its publisher is also the publisher of Tommy Robinson's book and its editor/owner wrote and self-published a book called The Islamic Republic of Dewsbury so you can see where its sympathies lie.

The Press regularly prints sexist and homophobic rants and even specific threats directed towards various people.

Old link, but the paper has not improved: https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2012/03/29/when-a-journalist-turns-rogue/

@mkwadee I've heard Tracy "I used to be on the telly you know" Brabin speak publicly in the media precisely once since she was elected.

She was talking about giving more opportunities to working-class people in acting and theatre. Admirable, but not the priority of most people locally or nationally.

She has a difficult job, regularly the target of abuse from our local BNP-supporting newspaper (named The Press) but should still stick her head above the parapet and be heard a bit more.

@mkwadee My MP is the ineffectual Tracy Brabin, who replaced the estimable Jo Cox in 2016. (Her shooting was a few hundred yards from my home.)

She is very much of the "these northerners want Brexit so we're going to totally ignore all the anti-Brexit voices" school.

Now that we have proven beyond doubt that the winning pro-Brexit campaign broke electoral law in 2016, where does that leave the result?

Surely if it was an illegally obtained vote, it's an illegitimate result. No doubt the government's response to such points will be "Will Of The People, No Second Referendum Ever" etc, but the point should be debated.

Electoral law is a joke - run roughshod over the rules, win, and get a small fine/slap on the wrist years later. No deterrent at all.

@mkwadee Nah, let's just stick border posts back along the Irish border, that'll not cause any trouble at all in eg Derry