Interesting Links for 25-08-2021

[andrewducker]

All Scots under age of 26 now entitled to free dental care

(tags:Scotland dental )

Inside the UK food shortages: Why Nando's and Sainsbury's are running out

(tags:transport trade UK Doom )

Waymo are extending their self-driving taxi service into San Francisco (in test mode)

(tags:automation driving cars taxi usa )

Brexit and the Multiverse of Madness - how the Remain and Leave political narratives keep diverging

(tags:UK Europe belief politics )

The Islands With Too Much Power

(tags:renewables video Scotland )

Chosen Name Use is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation and Behavior among Transgender Youth

(tags:names mentalhealth transgender LGBT )

Indian tax reform creates single market

(tags:India tax )

India's living dead

(tags:India death fraud bureaucracy )

I live on the site of the old Blackford Hill train station!

(tags:trains Edinburgh history )

Comments

[dewline]

1. Hooray!!!

2. The Pandemic can't be credibly blamed anymore.

4. Terrifying.

6. I'm doing my best to heed that advice.

8. That is also terrifying for different reasons.

[snippy]

2. Yes it can, since it's also happening on the US West Coast. It's at least a contributing factor, along with global climate change. Lack of farm workers plus too dry and hot for crops; not enough transport for canned/frozen/refrigerated foods and goods like toilet paper and soap.

[cmcmck]

Choosing the name is SO important.

Had my parents been supportive they may have got a say and I think I know what it'd have been, but as it was, I made my own choice after a certain amount of agonising (which was fun).

[andrewducker]

I'm glad you got to have fun. I'm sorry it wasn't with them!

[cmcmck]

At least it meant there wasn't yet another Maggie in the family! :o)

[mellowtigger]

1. I've never understood why the mouth is an optional body part under USA healthcare, not simply covered by standard health payment structures. I understand why the specifics of medical treatment are different, but not the payment. Congratulations for leading the way to a better future.

[andrewducker]

Agreed, it makes no sense to me!

[anna_wing]

The transport issues are an interesting and entirely logical example of what happens in (a) a class/caste stratified society (I do believe that the UK, for instance, is a caste rather than a class-based society),(b) that depends on an abundant supply of labour willing for whatever reason to accept low wages and poor working conditions, when (c) that supply of labour is suddenly drastically reduced. Perhaps EU-based drivers didn't care because they didn't spend that much of their time in the UK? In which case the long-term solutions would either be to sort out the specifically Brexit-related issues about letting EU drivers in, or to improve the general conditions for UK-based drivers, and, presumably, pay more for food.

Better motorway rest stops would benefit everyone, really. In the days when I still visited friends in the UK, we travelled by navigating from National Trust property to National Trust property, simply to find places to stop that were clean, safe and had good food.