SimonBlog

What do passport e-gates actually check? And, in particular, are they really sufficient to prevent immigration abuses from us who live in western countries? Ben, of BenBlog fame, thinks they are enough. With respect, if the aim is secure immigration then they are not. But then GWR-style e-tickets are also a step back from security so I guess Ben  wins?

Some may remember R v Middlemiss , a Canadian military case where Master Seaman Middlemiss was fined and reprimanded for refusing to pay for and attend a mess dinner. I get that mess dinners are part of the military tradition (in Canada, the UK, the USA and no doubt elsewhere). But a direct order to pay for “compulsory fun” sits uneasily with me. An order to attend a unit team-building event is one thing, an order to spend money is another. One might argue that mess dues and extra messing charges are such an obligation also; one might equally argue that it is perhaps justified to subject officers to different obligations than other ranks. I also appreciate that in US basic training they do order you to pay for haircuts and for some items of non-issue kit, which also sits uneasily with me. I think the British military technically allows you to bring the relevant items but discourages it. I still don’t think “tradition” justifies military orders to spend money, other than to reimburse fo...

Network Rail published a strategy essentially stating that most of the Great Britain railway network should be electrified with 25 kV overhead wires, and hydrogen and batteries should be reserved for special cases. (In the case of hydrogen this is good, as making the hydrogen uses a large amount of energy. There is no need for railways to use hydrogen ever , or even batteries except in depots or maybe  for very short branch lines.) https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Traction-Decarbonisation-Network-Strategy-Interim-Programme-Business-Case.pdf So why do the UK government hate the idea of such investment? Indeed, they seem a LOT more keen to have OLE on roads than on railways! A similar argument can be made re opposition to HS2. My issue is that it is insufficiently ambitious, even as proposed never mind with the misguided government cuts. I would make one change. The western leg of HS2, including Birmingham to Toton, should be built in full , and should be exte...

Publishers in the UK (and this includes otherwise "self-published" books published via Amazon, Lulu or similar services) are legally required to supply to the British Library a copy of the "best edition" within a month of publication. They are also required to supply a copy to each of five other libraries (the Bodleian Library, the Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales and Trinity College Dublin Library) but these only on request  (within a year of publication). However, there is a lacuna in that there is no real sanction. The only sanction, under section 3 of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, is that the library can demand a copy, in default of which it can sue for the costs of getting a copy by alternate means. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/28/section/3 This is a sufficient sanction for the libraries other than the British Library which have to request copies. It is not sufficient for the Brit...