rhythmaning | Reading

For the first time this year I've left the office and it wasn't pitch black outside. Dark, but not *night*.

(Sunset was at 16:56)

andrewducker

1998: Geoffrey Robinson loan affair

Peter Mandelson accepted a £373,000 unsecured interest-free loan from businessman and fellow minister Geoffrey Robinson to buy a house. He did not declare this loan or inform Prime Minister Tony Blair about it, or his permanent secretary. As the story emerged, he gave false and misleading statements to the Commons Committee.
This led to his resignation as Trade and Industry Secretary.

2001: The Hinduja passports affair

Peter Mandelson, then a government minister with responsibility for the Millennium Dome, denied any personal involvement in supporting successful UK passport applications made by Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, super-wealthy businessmen brothers, who had expressed an interest in contributing to the costs of the Dome after their initial passport applications had been refused.
Mandelson is revealed to have lied, and is forced to resign for misleading conduct.

2009-10: Epstein relationship

Peter Mandelson downplays and minimises his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in ways that were shown to be false around 2019-20, when press investigations revealed that he had had multiple meetings with Epstein, had stayed at his home, and had been introduced by Epstein to major figures in global finance. This relationship was shown to have continued after Epstein’s conviction.

2024: Keir Starmer appoints Peter Mandelson as British Ambassador to the United States.

2026: Keir Starmer expresses shock and outrage that Peter Mandelson lied to him.

mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Hi all!

I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.

Thank you!

andrewducker

I came in the front door to find Sophia lying there waiting for me.

(She leapt up, gave me a hug, demanded to know what was for dinner, and then lay back down to watch videos.)
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

1. Scottish government confirms it will not back prostitution offences bill and make life worse for sex workers: (tags:sexwork GoodNews scotland )
2. Who wants to see a sperm whale eat a giant squid?: (tags:whales squid video )

andrewducker

1. Vitamin D cuts heart attack risk by 52%. Why?: (tags:vitaminD heart )
2. Democrats flip Texas state Senate seat in shock upset: (tags:politics USA )
3. Evidence beats ideology: What Hampstead Ponds tells us about trans inclusion: (tags:LGBT transgender UK )
4. Who Goes Nazi? (A newspaper article from 1941): (tags:nazis history viaKenny )
5. Why was the Puppet Masters movie so bad?: (tags:movies heinlein scripts writing )
6. I have no mouth and I must scream at Black people: Scott Adams, 1957-2026: (tags:dilbert history politics obituary )
7. Following the link about a "running a bookshop" holiday, I was recommended the game "Tiny Bookshop": (tags:games books shops )
8. A Crisis comes to Wordle: Reusing old words! |: (tags:words game doom )
9. Did people drink water in the Middle Ages?: One of the oddest myths about the Middle Ages is that people did not drink water.
(tags:water history )
10. Inside the Salford secondary school where every pupil gets a job when they leave (because they're properly supported): (tags:school children )

andrewducker

There's been a bit of a fuss today about the unveiling of a third Edinburgh tram line route. And my thoughts about it aren't simple enough to stick into a link title, so I thought I'd ramble a little.

Firstly, it seems to me that this is not a council announcement of anything. The map is plastered with the repeated word "concept". It contains both Picardy Place and York Place (Picardy Place was created when York Place was removed, when the tram extension was carried out in 2023). I've seen discussions that it's based on an old version of the existing routes taken from Wikipedia.

The source is a Scotsman article, rather than a council publication. And even then the coverage is mostly taken from a speech given at the Rail in Scotland conference - where the council's transport convener said he "was excited at taking a closer look" - but it's not the main priority. Certainly there's nothing on the council's news page mentioning it.

So I'm not convinced that this is more than a "Here's an interesting possibility"

Secondly, I'm not convinced it's viable financially. Which isn't to say that trams, in general, can't be worthwhile. If Edinburgh hadn't badly botched the construction of the first tram line then it would be well in profit now. But that tram line runs from one of the most densely populated parts of the city (Leith Walk) to one of the business hubs (Gyle and Gogar), through some of the most touristy stretches (Princes Street).

Much though I love the idea of a tram that literally stops in my road and goes to both the airport and Portobello, nearly the whole route is low-density. The bus route that is closest to it is the 38, which is so low-use outside of rush hour that it's a single-decker that has to be subsidised.

Admittedly, it's cheaper to build than a new tram line, as it's mostly a question of re-using the old train line. But I'd like to see a concrete business case for it, that checked that the number of potential users would support running tram-trains along that route.

andrewducker

Fairly sure that this used to be a bath.

Before Sophia watched a video on how to make the perfect comfy hideaway.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

Nature is looking particularly fractal this morning.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

1. India and EU announce Free Trade Agreement: (tags:india europe trade )
2. Risk of dying from cancer in Scotland at lowest rate on record (down almost 25% in the last few years): (tags:cancer scotland GoodNews )
3. Nigella to avoid Bake Off tent innuendo culture from the moment she opens the flaps: (tags:bakery TV satire funny celebrity sex )
4. Charities shouldn't exclude trans people, regulator says: (tags:UK charity transgender LGBT )
5. How to not revise for exams: (tags:exams funny )
6. Doing the thing is doing the thing: (tags:advice productivity )
7. How the UK became Putin's enemy number one: Britons might be surprised to learn how much hatred their country receives from Russia, with threats of nuclear obliteration now a fairly common occurrence
(tags:russia uk politics )

andrewducker

In a slightly more sensible world this would be a perfect time for the One Nation/Moderate Conservatives to say "Thank goodness all of the far right monsters have left the party, time to pull the party back towards the center".

But I'm not convinced there are more than a few of them left.

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On the Beat

Reading

Interesting Links for 07-02-2026

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A brief history of Peter Mandelson

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Interesting Links for 05-02-2026

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Minor operations; testing new serving path

Photo cross-post

Interesting Links for 03-02-2026

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Interesting Links for 31-01-2026

Thoughts on the "Route for the third Edinburgh tram line"

Interesting Links for 30-01-2026

Photo cross-post

Interesting Links for 29-01-2026

Photo cross-post

Interesting Links for 28-01-2026

Interesting Links for 27-01-2026

On the current set of politicians leaving the sinking party

Interesting Links for 26-01-2026

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