Interesting times

A powerful presentation and perhaps inevitable given the politics of the past few decades.

Unbalanced

'Every indicator is flashing red,' says UN as it warns of record 'climate imbalance'

The Earth is close to breaching the key warming threshold of 1.5C - beyond which increasingly severe and compounding climate impacts are triggered.

The Earth's climate is in a "state of emergency", according to the United Nations which has warned it is more out of balance than at any other time in observed history.

Forget wars, death, destruction and grotesque political incompetence, the real threat is made up numbers.

Curiously Familiar

North Korea orders 400 housing units built in North Hamgyong in a single month

Local cadres voice quiet alarm over materials shortages and labor mobilization demands

North Korea is pushing a sweeping housing construction drive across the country under the banner of “regional development,” and central party officials traveled to North Hamgyong province earlier this month to enforce the campaign’s targets with unusual intensity...

The officials repeatedly stressed that the current housing construction targets surpass those of the Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il eras, describing the campaign as “an unprecedented housing supply revolution for regional development in the history of the republic.”

Interesting due to a significant similarity with the UK government target of building 1.5 million net new dwellings in 5 years. 

Not only housing of course. There are prominent UK politicians and political pundits who have government central planning securely embedded at the centre of their ideology, where government is the sole originator of inflexible plans, targets and rules in all areas of life.

The State of Britain's Navy

Mark Felton's depressing summary of the current state of the Royal Navy. 

Sometimes reputations are very reliable

Bill Nighy: 'Don't be intimidated by someone's reputation'

Bill Nighy has opened up on why you should never be intimidated by somebody’s reputation.

Speaking to The Independent at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards on Wednesday (18 March), the 76-year-old discussed his podcast Ill-advised, which sees him dish out opinions under the guise of an agony uncle.

Asked what is the best piece of advice he has ever been given, Nighy said: “ Don’t be awed by people's reputations, because reputations are unreliable.”

Evidence for the post title -
 

That's handy

Starmer faces 'cover-up' claims as chief aide's Mandelson messages 'were on stolen phone'

Keir Starmer is facing claims of a cover-up today after it emerged his chief aide's messages to Mandelson have gone missing.

Discussions between Morgan McSweeney and the peer were apparently on a mobile phone that has been stolen.

That means some information cannot be retrieved to be published with a swathe of other material about Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador.

It all sounds very casual and certainly doesn't come across as joined-up government, but the whole appointment process seems to have been casual. Especially when Keir Starmer is so keen to stress that processes have been followed after previous debacles.

Maybe Starmer could try asking Xi Jinping if they have the phone and can we have it back if they have finished laughing at the contents.

Hit or Miss

Any ballistic missile fired by Iran at London would be shot down, signals Cabinet minister

Communities Secretary Steve Reed says the UK has systems in place to protect the capital after Iran fired missiles towards a UK-US base, raising concerns over their potential reach

UK may have to rely on US if Iran targets London, experts warn

After Iran target a US-UK airbase over 2,500 miles away, defence experts are concerned over the regime's offensive capabilities

Either way there could be yet another panic about toilet paper.