I really hope someone puts their foot down and takes Lithography completely off the table from the get go.

Don’t dangle the carrot because China has been known just to steal it and make their own.

ASML stays Dutch, ASML stays dominant.

It’s out of the hands of Capita, if anything that sounds like a really good thing.

Into the hands of a non-profit? Another reason to celebrate.

Maybe someone more in the know can correct but it seems like the whole point of Capita has been to extort and strongarm as much money out of the public purse as possible to create a barely functional service.

I don’t trust that idiotic company TrustPilot, but when your company - Capita - is getting basically all 1 star reviews in website practically built for companies to game the system and astroturf - you know you’re in trouble.

The more I hear about Palantir, the more I think it was a deal to appease the demented diarrhetic Orange.

There’s also no doubt in my mind that Palantir will misuse the data in the future.

OK so you are talking Europe-wide then, right? You are saying that major cities throughout Europe allow people to throw fireworks in the street and they somehow do it responsibly and no one gets hurt?`

Why are you trying to aggrandise what I said? I said there are places all over Europe that manage to host and allow people to throw fireworks.

I didn’t say Europe-wide. These are my experiences, whether you believe them or not is ok, you haven’t seen it. I get that you’d find it hard to believe. I was looking at throwing up some pictures or stills from footage which I’ve taken over the years but with AI and what not, I’m not sure you’d believe that either.

Because I’m just trying to point out that that’s not actually right. I’m confident that every major urban area where there are events where the public freely throw fireworks in the street has a massive injury problem and property damage associated with it.

Quite a few places in Spain throw fireworks around, just like the Chinese do in festivals. People get do get injured, it’s not a perfect science - they don’t call for banning because someone got injured. It’s not all over the news every year calling for a ban because little Muffin is scared of the noise, or how Keith blew his knackered off for a viral video.

Germany is where I have most experience with this, having lived there for several years. They go absolutely mental with fireworks every new year. From about 6pm until 2am, in most major cities, fireworks are set off willy-nilly. People launch them from empty beer bottles, which not surprisingly often fall over. I’ve seen countless fireworks exploding in crowds, one time a firework skittered across the street and blew up right underneath a baby buggy. Needless to say, the baby was distraught. I’ve also seen someone run into the middle of a crossroads, put a large drum thing on the road and light it, it exploded with the most stupendous bang right as a car went past it. I was drinking outside one time when a firework went through an upstairs window down the street and set the apartment on fire. It is absolutely crazy and there is nothing responsible about it.

Witnessed similar events, but again, noone is calling for a ban. Usually with kids throwing fireworks at each other, there are designated places where people can do that, but kids just letting off normal fireworks - that’s done in the street.

I don’t know if France or Spain tolerate people setting off fireworks in the street like they do in Germany and the Netherlands. I suspect it’s not tolerated in Spain, I don’t recall anyone letting fireworks off in the street the one time I was there for NYE.

Let me help you forfeit your suspicions. I’ve been there when Police have been right next to fireworks exploding, I’ve not witnessed police throwing any on active duty but I’m 100% sure they’re normal people with kids and they do the same. It most certainly is tolerated. I’ve been in South America and Central America and they’ll set fireworks off for birthdays, weddings. People do release fireworks, some places more than most, but generally it’s accepted without the fuss that I’ve seen in the UK press. Admittedly, I only understand a few of the European languages but generally the Press don’t seem to go on the warpath every year and people generally seem more responsible.

I’m afraid I don’t believe it’s any different in any large cities where this happens. The UK isn’t a reckless outlier amongst a sea of responsible and yet pyromaniac European countries. Either the public do not routinely let off fireworks in the street - like in the UK for instance - or they do, and it’s absolute chaos and many people are injured and thousands of pounds of damage is caused.

Here’s this from Trip advisor on Bastille Day in Paris, France. Does that consistute a large city to you?

I was in Paris for Bastille Day several years ago and also in front of the Eiffel Tower to ring in the Millenium. On both occasions people did have fire crackers but they weren’t throwing them at people. Most of the time, they cleared a space in the crowd to set them off. Be forewarned though that European firecrackers aren’t like the little Black Cat crackers here in the U.S. They’re more like massive cherry bombs and they’re REALLY loud…like gunshot loud.

Look, I absolutely love fireworks and combustion is an amazing science. I’ve been to so many firework festivals that I’ve lost count and I will continue going - they’re pretty special. I’ve seen some absolute dicks (generally men and boys) but for the majority of the time, people take care of the issue themselves and don’t go to the press or police to gripe about everything the day after. It’s mostly an accepted risk during the festivals.

I wouldn’t called France, Spain (numerous festivals), Germany, Malta small (well, maybe Malta).

I was talking about one specific festival as it’s one of the worlds largest and because I’ve been there quite a few times so know it better than the others but there are others which allow people to throw fireworks without too much reported incidents or complaints.

Pretty sure we have laws against people setting off fireworks at 3 in the morning already - it’s just they aren’t well policed.

I will agree with you about the Birds though, they have little choice in the matter and there definitely could be more done to possibly safeguard them.

I’m reluctant to say too much for fear of the place filling up with English tourists on boozy trips getting burnt and just plain ruining it for everyone else. Tiktok and influencers kill anything and everything nice.

What I will say is they have fireworks during the day and in the evening for consecutive days by reknown pyrotechnic artists and very rarely are there accidents that makes the news cycle.

It’s also on a UNESCO list - so it’s pretty cool.

Actually, I think it will be the other way.

They’d say that in spite of massive election fraud, the public came through for them and that the numbers would have been much higher but they couldn’t get all the fraud.

Then it leads into them pushing for more ICE murders, beatings and removing all human protections.

There are places all over Europe that manage to successfully host and allow people to throw fireworks.

The parents teach their kids how to handle them properly, there’s age limits like here, the police crack down hard on people who don’t abide, - and it’s not even that the rules are really strict. Little ones kids can use on the pavement, big ones are thrown in the road, really big ones - do it away from people altogether.

And EVERYONE throws them, from grannys to toddlers.

Not even just for a night…some are a week long!

Wouldn’t change it for the world.

How come they can manage the responsibility and yet England can’t?

In this current climate its only fair they fine them.

The job should have been tendered out so that all children could have applied.

Not a single leaflet in a school, not a newsagents posting, nothing.

Sheer Nepotism!

This is fantastic news.

More redundancy and safety with friendly countries. We need more fallbacks from the US going full Facist.

You just need to take down a few big fish with no ifs, no buts and no ‘mea culpas’…fine and claw back.

The will fall in line with enough financial force.

You’re putting your trust in the WEAKEST part of the chain here, on the companies to use this data in a trustworthy manner.

You can’t even put this down to naivety, it’s just pure recklessness and destruction of privacy rights.

Will you close down whole social media sites if they break the rules? No you won’t. What’s your answer if these companies, who function outside of the UK, steal all the information, sell it to data brokers or leak it?

It will be absolutely fucking nothing because it falls outside of UK borders.

This is the LEAST responsible action possible. Out of all outcomes, this will lead to the worst ending.

All information is greatly appreciated.

Yeah, I just read about Poundland recently and how they are trying to buying it back from the owner.

B&M Poundland used to sell a bar called ‘Twin Peaks’ that was astonishingly like Toblerone but did much better flavours and variety (at the time). It was lush and at Christmas I always chose those over Toblerone.

The only place anyone buys a Toblerone anymore is in an Airport on the way home because they forgot to get a gift.

This bar bears absolutely no resemblence. I hope Mondelez gets eaten alive by their own greed.

Edit: Clearning up a mistake…it was Poundland, not B&M.

Now that’s an Avenger storyline I can buy into.

Sold!!

Removed by mod

Loving the optimism!

Absolutely disgusting.

A repeat violent offender allowed near people like this.

It boggles the mind how many he’ll groom into believing its normal.

And shame on those women turning up to the court to greet him.

So much Syndrome and we’re not even in Stockholm.

Quick! All the Toilet Paper and Sanitiser…now!