megilleland

In a quarter of a century, Amazon has propelled Jeff Bezos from online bookseller to tech titan. He's the richest man on the planet, and the company he founded is one of the most powerful. Panorama investigates Amazon's rise to corporate superpower and asks whether there is a dark side to our love affair with the company. Former high-level insiders describe Amazon's huge, obsessive data-gathering operation, which enables the company to use what it knows about us to shape not only the future of retail but the workplace and technology too. On both sides of the Atlantic, politicians and regulators are beginning to question Amazon's power and to explore ways to rein it in. But some of Amazon's most senior executives say the company is a force for good, inventing new ways to serve customers and maintain their trust. Panorama documentary: Amazon: What They Know About Us iPlayer download. Duration 59 mins First shown 8:30pm 17 Feb 2020 Available for 11 months Or watch this Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism | VPRO Documentary The average person, including myself, were always in awe how certain people were blessed in making a lot of money, paraded as successful entrepreneurs and held in high esteem by worldwide leaders. So much money that I thought they must have a unique selling point/product or were part of a gangster/protection racket. I thought that if you worked hard, maybe long hours, your efforts would be rewarded and the money would flow in. Usually this wealth was produced in manufacturing and distribution - getting your product to the marketplace. But surprisingly today that wealth is generated with little effort, 24 hours day, by using data collected from us and resold to third parties - other businesses and governments. You may not realise the full consequences of using your smart phone, but watch these two documentaries to understand what really is going on. Already on its way to becoming your worldwide identity card and a means to strip every item of wealth and privilege you possess.

Update: River Wye at Hereford Bridge - Latest recorded level 6.10m at 9:15am Monday 17 February 2020.

With this week being half term parents need to know where their children are playing.

The other organisation people might not be aware of is The River Lugg Internal Drainage Board - the only one covering parts of Herefordshire. The River Lugg Internal Drainage Board is responsible for water level management and watercourse maintenance in a defined geographical area which encompasses low-lying land within the catchments of the Rivers Lugg, Arrow, Frome and Worm Brook. This area of rich agricultural land is dependent upon well-maintained drainage systems. The River Lugg Internal Drainage Board is one of the 112 Internal Drainage Boards in England and they are a member of the Association of Drainage Authorities The River Lugg Internal Drainage Board's rateable area comprises 11,171 ha. with 219 km. of scheduled watercourses, which are generally arterial watercourses with more than one riparian owner. Most of these watercourses are subject to regular maintenance with the others receiving attention on a less regular basis, as required. The largest urban development within the district is the town of Leominster, parts of which are at risk of flooding, with smaller flood-prone settlements at Pembridge, Eardisland, Bodenham, Wellington, Withington Marsh and Hampton Bishop. Who is responsible for maintaining the watercourses running through my land? The primary responsibility for the maintenance of any watercourse rests with the owner of that watercourse. This will usually be the owner of the land adjoining that watercourse. Where a channel is marked as an IDB drain, that Board's byelaws apply to it and the Board will often undertake required drainage works. The Land Drainage Act 1991, under which the Boards operate, however, enables them but does not require them to carry out drainage works. I wonder how many landowners maintain their field drainage - not that it will make much difference in the exceptional circumstances experienced today.

Spending more than they have coming in resulted in Northamptonshire County Council having to be bailed out early this year, with other councils heading the same way. UK Column have been going on about Local Authority finances for years:

They've been laughing for years.

In The Hereford Times 25th January 2020 I pick up litter once a week in an area around where I live, usually on Monday as any cans or plastic bottle and any other recyclable items can go in my green bin before the dustmen empty it on Tuesday. It does make a difference to the street scene. The other thing that needs doing is clearing the kerbs of weeds - this does make the area looked after. To get an idea of the problem on the estates look at my previous posts under I told you it would get worse!

On the phone to council's regarding rubbish and recycling. No definite phone number on website on who to speak to so rang 260000 and went through their introductory message. Pressed the extension required and put on hold "one of our customer service team will be with you shortly". 10 mins later after being thanked for holding the message. said I could go to the website www.herefordshire.gov.uk and this put me back to where I started. A page of departmental phone numbers on one page on the website would be helpful to dial direct rather than jumping through hoops at the council's convenience. After all this would be the list of numbers their receptionists would use to put you through to.

Everyone thinking that Brexit is done and dusted should listen to The Slog on this 1st time 15 minute video explaining how the EU will have its hands in our pockets and our MPs throwing billions of pounds at these bureaucrats over many years. Time to wake up and realise how we are affected and shafted. There is a short glitch with the sound at 10:43 mins till 11:00 mins.

TRANSFORMING SPACES, INSPIRING PLACES Fusing the best of the old and the new to make buildings to enjoy and endure Thursday 16th January 2020 Speaker Alex Coppock, RIBA, Director of the award winning local architects Communion, will talk about their work and how they strive to make Herefordshire a better place at the Kindle Centre adjacent to ASDA HR2 7JE Refreshments available from 7.00pm I hope you can join us and we look forward to seeing you Members: FREE (included in your subscription) Guests and Non-Members: £3.

Following the revised timetables and to reduce overcrowding West Midlands Railways are bringing new trains into service allowing passengers to travel outside the carriages!

General Election results - Thursday 12 December 2019 North Herefordshire Chowns, Eleanor Elizabeth (Green Party) 4,769 Howells, Phillip Bernard (Liberal Democrats) 7,302 Wiggin, William David (The Conservative Party) 32,158 Wood, Joseph Rowan (Labour Party) 6,804 Hereford and South Herefordshire Coda, Anna-Marie (Labour Party) 10,704 Hurds, Lucy Ann (Liberal Democrats) 6,181 Norman, Alexander Jesse (The Conservative Party) 30,390 Toynbee, Diana Stella (Green Party) 2,371 The number of Ballot papers rejected was as follows a) Want of Official Mark - 1 b) Voting for more candidates than the voter was entitled to - 16 c) Writing or mark by which the voter could be identified - 1 d) Being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty - 189 e) Rejected in part - 0 Total spoilt votes 207 Percentage Turnout 69.2%

Time for a bit of humor to cheer us up on this miserable day. I am talking about the weather, but is this how are politics are going to end up?

Faux Facts - The disturbing Truth About fullfact.org It depends on which facts you want to believe. Personally I'll make my own mind up and leave others to decide themselves.

Posted from Brexit is finished: Earlier than this, in 1957, E F Schumacher's tutor Leopold Kohr’s published his most popular work "The Breakdown of Nations" “… there seems to be only one cause behind all forms of social misery: bigness. Oversimplified as this may seem, we shall find the idea more easily acceptable if we consider that bigness, or oversize, is really much more than just a social problem. It appears to be the one and only problem permeating all creation. Whenever something is wrong, something is too big. … And if the body of a people becomes diseased with the fever of aggression, brutality, collectivism, or massive idiocy, it is not because it has fallen victim to bad leadership or mental derangement. It is because human beings, so charming as individuals or in small aggregations, have been welded into over concentrated social units”. How true this is today where systems are side lining the individual for the pursuit of so called efficiencies when in reality all they do is hamper, frustrate and ignore that person creating a futile environment.

These catalogs of events reinforce my reason for leaving - Courtesy of Slog commentator Gulagirid. Notice the Brexit Party beginning to highlight EU military unification. The signing of the Treaty of Lisbon took place in Lisbon, Portugal on 13 December 2007. KNOWN OUTCOMES OF LISBON TREATY THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN AGREED AS TRUE BY ALL SIDES: 1: The UK along with all existing members of the EU lose their abstention veto in 2020 as laid down in the Lisbon Treaty when the system changes to that of majority acceptance with no abstentions or veto’s being allowed. 2: All member nations will become states of the new federal nation of the EU by 2022 as clearly laid out in the Lisbon treaty with no exceptions or veto’s. 3: All member states must adopt the Euro by 2022 and any new member state must do so within 2 years of joining the EU as laid down in the Lisbon treaty. 4: The London stock exchange will move to Frankfurt in 2020 and be integrated into the EU stock exchange resulting in a loss of 200,000 plus jobs in the UK because of the relocation. (This has already been pre-agreed and is only on a holding pattern due to the Brexit negotiations, which if Brexit does happen, the move is fully cancelled – but if not and the UK remains a member it’s full steam ahead for the move.) 5: The EU Parliament and ECJ become supreme over all legislative bodies of the UK 6: The UK will adopt 100% of whatever the EU Parliament and ECJ lays down without any means of abstention or veto, negating the need for the UK to have the Lords or even the Commons as we know it today. 7: The UK will NOT be able to make its own trade deals. 8: The UK will NOT be able to set its own trade tariffs. 9: The UK will NOT be able to set its own trade quotas. 10: The UK loses control of its fishing rights 11: The UK loses control of its oil and gas rights 12: The UK loses control of its borders and enters the Schengen region by 2022 – as clearly laid down in the Lisbon treaty 13: The UK loses control of its planning legislation 14: The UK loses control of its armed forces including its nuclear deterrent 15: The UK loses full control of its taxation policy 16: The UK loses the ability to create its own laws and to implement them 17: The UK loses its standing in the Commonwealths 18: The UK loses control of any provinces or affiliated nations e.g.: Falklands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar etc 19: The UK loses control of its judicial system 20: The UK loses control of its international policy 21: The UK loses full control of its national policy 22: The UK loses its right to call itself a nation in its own right. 23: The UK loses control of its space exploration program 24: The UK loses control of its Aviation and Sea lane jurisdiction 25: The UK loses its rebate in 2020 as laid down in the Lisbon treaty 26: The UK’s contribution to the EU is set to increase by an average of £1.2bn pa and by £2.3bn pa by 2020 With thanks to ‘UK in a Changing Europe’ and Professor Steve Peers for their help. Looks like we are going to go down the plug hole if we stay in.

Anyone had any canvassers on their doorstep yet?

Some good news for once about bringing past and used buildings back to life. A Rule of Tum began back in 2013 when the creative minds of Brothers Edwin and Dorian Kirk, along with their close friend Jon Stead decided to bring about a change in Herefordshire food culture and began the journey towards bringing great dining experiences to the people of Hereford and beyond. By raising £500,000 through crowd funding it shows the confidence people/customers have in this independent, local business. Best of luck to them when they reopen this Friday 22nd November plus they are giving away 100 free burgers.

Power to the people

Who Can I Vote For? This site has a wealth of information on the candidates standing. However not much to chose from. Most are remainers and not worth a walk to the polling station for.

Dictionary.com moron[ mawr-on, mohr- ] noun Informal. a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment: Psychology. (no longer in technical use; now considered offensive) a person of borderline intelligence in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50 to 69. Moronic seems a good way to describe this repeat behaviour.

Here are the candidates for the forthcoming election - all leavers except Jesse Norman who follows his leader religiously, but can you trust him to get us out? Looks like I won't be voting as it is appears to be a second referendum with no real BREXIT leaver on the ballot paper. Always thought we lived in a banana republic. Shouldn't be long before we are shafted and annexed to the EU just in time to pay our next financial instalments to cover the creation of an EU army and when the financial crash returns, bailing out the EU Banks when they crash. Statement_of_Persons_Nominated___Hereford_and_South_Herefordshire.pdf

Thanks for the reply, but I have now cleaned up the area and there was no evidence in the rubbish as to who had dumped it. However the bags of cat litter behind the garage is a regular occurrence - roughly every couple of months. Look forward to meeting you as several issues and observations concerning the estate need to be addressed. I can be contacted on 01432 353971.

Nigel Farage says the Brexit Party will NOT stand against the Tories in the general election - but WILL target Labour-held seats. Not that it would of made much difference to the vote in Hereford and South Herefordshire seat. Although it would have been nice to vote BREXIT because all the others are a waste of time. I just hope Boris stands by his promise to get us out of the EU, although his BREXIT is not a no deal, but one with strings attached.

The Slog comments that: Owen Jones and Nigel Farage may well be sharing tears in their beers on December 13th The company Electoral Calculus has just produced this prediction of the likely outcome on 12th December.