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BlackPhi

Listed below are comments made by BlackPhi between Saturday, 14th June 2008 and Wednesday, 11th February 2009.

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New BBC weather site launched 1:37pm on 11 Feb 2009 Clearly serious gremlins to be still active five days later. The new site is still available, though, through the beta link.

I've been using the new site for a while: it took me a little time to get used to it, but now I wouldn't want to go back. One new feature which is always worth a smile is that you can easily compare the current forecast with the recorded current actual weather - they hardly ever match up.
Covering Gaza 3:18pm on 24 Jan 2009 Why does the BBC DG Mark Thompson think its impartiality would be more questionable after broadcasting a humanitarian appeal, rather than after refusing to broadcast it? It looks to me as though some people's confidence matters more to senior BBC figures than others.

As for Caroline Thomson saying that "the most important thing is to retain the trust of the audience" - in my view refusing to show this DEC appeal is a clear breach of that trust. I can only assume that the BBC were afraid of pro-Israeli pressure groups attacking them: when such fears trump compassion and truth then what basis is there for trust?
Why idionomics has the answers 09:43am on 10 Oct 2008 Mr Becker is being rather disingenuous: the parallel to the current situation isn't the 1930's depression, but the 1929 Wall Street Crash that led to it.

In many ways today's scenario is also different from that crash, and the proposed responses are different to those of 1929/1930. Nevertheless, given that (a) there is no clear agreement among economists as to why that crash turned into the depression, and (b) nobody knows just how bad the current debt situation is, nor how much of our financial sector is based on very insecure foundations, I do suspect Gary Becker is expressing a general 'don't rock the boat' optimism rather than giving an economic analysis.
Day of reckoning 08:37am on 10 Oct 2008 Does this mean that if the financial system survives today, then banks will relax a bit and start lending? Or are there more 'panic days' in the pipeline?
Google, privacy and Street View 09:00am on 07 Jul 2008 Privacy International - weren't they the people who were quoted as supporting the BT/Phorm data interceptions? Then, when there was a fuss, it was 'only' Privacy International's founder (and current director), Simon Davies, who supported the bulk transfer of BT customers' Internet access to a spyware company. Why on earth do you treat this company as having any credibility? Because they have an impressive sounding name?
Irish No sparks EU crisis 1:56pm on 14 Jun 2008 The problem with this referendum is that it pretended there was no consequence to a 'no' vote - the EU would simply tweak things to give Eire a bit more then try again.

A more honest approach would be for the rest of the EU to ratify the treaty then send it back to the Irish people with a simple choice: sign up to the treaty or leave the EU. If they don't want to be a part of the EU then that is their democratic right, if they do then they need to adjust their constitution to make the enlarged community workable. Leaving things as they are is not an option.

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