EU Raises Price of Indulgences

Brussels sets new CO2 price – EU drives up import costs in the middle of the crisis


In the midst of the tense situation surrounding the Iran war, the EU Commission in Brussels has set the first fixed CO2 price for its new border tariff, thus creating an additional cost risk for importers, industry and agriculture. For the first quarter, the reference value is 75.36 euros per certificate of the CO2 border adjustment mechanism CBAM. Imports of steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizers are affected. The fees will apply to imports from January 2026, while the necessary certificates will not have to be purchased until 2027. The critical point, however, lies in the timing of this decision, because supply problems and rising costs are already massively burdening the markets due to the Iran war. The main consequence is therefore clear: companies have to plan for new additional costs, farmers continue to come under price pressure and Europe's dependence on sensitive supply chains remains.


Meanwhile -

Million-dollar fraud with invented wind farms

The German case is so destructive because it hits the core of the business. According to reports on the ARD documentary, Hendrik Holt is said to have obtained around ten million euros with accomplices and relatives. Alleged wind farms were sold to foreign energy companies, although these projects did not actually exist. In addition, according to reports, there were forged documents, bogus structures and bribery. The judiciary sentenced Holt to almost nine years in prison. So the damage did not occur in spite of formal processes, but in the middle of them.

Eco-Dentistry

 

Something Zack Polanski and the Green Party could pursue is dentistry without links to the hated oil industry via local anaesthetics such as lidocaine. 

Unfortunately for eco-zealotry, this is produced via various chemical pathways beginning with such oil-derived compounds as xylene. 

Maybe the Green Party could promote eco-dentistry without anaesthetics at all? 

As an alternative to oil industry pain relief they could promote dentists' chairs with straining bars attached. Eco-patients would take a firm grip of the bars during the more painful eco-procedures.

Alternatively and with Zack's background, hypno-anaesthesia could be promoted as a way to enhance the efficacy of the straining bars.

Beefed-up Becomes Beefed-down

'Corrosive complacency' - Lord Robertson tears into Starmer and Reeves in extraordinary intervention on defence spending 

Labour's ex-defence secretary accuses the prime minister of risking the country's security by dragging his heels on how the government will fund a beefed-up military in the face of the growing threat from Russia.

UK military chiefs asked to find £3.5bn in savings - and get ready for war

Insiders told Sky News that military top brass are meeting to discuss funding pressures - at a time the government also wants to carry out a programme of re-armament.

Okay - but at what age do they grow out of it?

The age at which children begin to exhibit deceptive behaviour

• A new study has explored the age at which children begin to exhibit deceptive behaviour, with some parents reporting recognition of the concept as early as eight months old.
• Published in the Cognitive Development journal, the research involved surveying parents of more than 750 children aged up to 47 months across the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
• Findings indicate that about a quarter of children understand deception by 10 months, and half by 16 months, becoming more adept fibbers by the age of three.
• Elena Hoicka, the study's lead author from the University of Bristol, highlighted how children's understanding and use of deception evolves significantly in their early years.
• Researchers identified 16 types of deception, noting that younger children's deceit is often action-based, while older children employ more complex tactics like exaggeration, fabrication, or withholding information.

  

The government’s nutrient profiling model

Lidl and Iceland become first retailers to have ads banned under new junk food rules

Lidl and Iceland have become the first retailers to have advertisements banned under the UK’s new rules restricting the promotion of junk food.

The Advertising Standards Authority said ads from the two supermarkets breached regulations introduced on 5 January, which ban HFSS products (foods high in fat, salt and sugar) from being advertised on TV before 9pm and in paid-for online advertising at any time.

Under the regulations, confectionery products such as sweets and chocolates automatically fail the government’s nutrient profiling model and are classed as less healthy, meaning they cannot be promoted through paid online advertising.

Admittedly supermarkets do sell what Mrs H and I see as junk food, but we wouldn't ban supermarkets from advertising it even if we could.

The interesting aspect is the government’s nutrient profiling model which has been around for a while. Interesting because it's yet another example of the mind-boggling depths to which government micro-management has descended. 

The current version is Nutrient profiling model 2004 to 2005 which gives this brief outline of how it works -

The Nutrient Profiling Model 

The nutrient profiling model was developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2004 2005 to provide Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, with a tool to differentiate of foods on the basis of their nutritional composition, in the context of television advertising foods to children. The model uses a simple scoring system where points are allocated on the basis of the nutrient content of 100g of a food or drink. Points are awarded for ‘A’ nutrients (energy, saturated fat, total sugar and sodium), and for ‘C’ nutrients (fruit, vegetables and nut content, fibre and protein). The score for ‘C’ nutrients is then subtracted from the score for ‘A’ nutrients to give the final nutrient profile score. Foods scoring 4 or more points, and drinks scoring 1 or more points, are classified as ‘less healthy’ and are subject to Ofcom’s controls on the advertising of foods to children on TV.  

Bad news for ‘annoying people’

Digital ID consultation: Bad news for ‘annoying people’, good news for future governments – and five other things we learned

  

Source

At a Downing Street event launching the consultation, chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones (pictured above) told PublicTechnology and other reporters that new forms of identity are key to his administration’s vision of “government-by-app”...

…and levelling the playing field for service users who aren’t ‘annoying’
A world in which citizens can use digital platforms to access government services and information at any time of their choosing is one that will be much more egalitarian, Jones claimed...

“People often end up getting to the front of the queue because they [are] being a bit annoying. And, so, if you’ve got the time to ring and ring and ring and say: ‘Where is the answer? Where am I in the process?’, you do get treated differently to the person who doesn’t have the time to do that. And that’s just inherently unfair, because it means you’re not prioritisng [sic] people in a fair way in terms of their need for support.”


Naturally all this has nothing to do with throttling Freedom of Information requests or anything as annoying as that.

Nothing to do with bureaucrats erecting digital walls between the bureaucracy and those 'service users' who aren't annoying because they no longer have any way to be annoying.

Carney Doubled