Interesting Links for 23-02-2024

[andrewducker]

1. Edinburgh agrees council tax freeze but more money for roads, schools and buses

(tags:Edinburgh money politics )

2. The UK won't regulate water companies because it would bankrupt them

(tags:regulation UK water pollution OhForFucksSake )

3. Millions more tram trips following launch of new line

(tags:trams transport Edinburgh GoodNews )

4. Sweeping chronic fatigue study brings clues but not clarity to mysterious syndrome

(tags:ChronicFatigueSyndrome )

Comments

[channelpenguin]

2. See the very definition of capitalism. Which is to profit the shareholders/owners. And competition, where the profitable companies surevive and thrive and those that do not go under. If a company "can't fail" (because of disastrous physical, health or social consequences) it should not be in private hands.

4. Interesting. Especially what they found about inflammation and possible (as yet unidentified) infective agents (if I read it right). The long COVID research is pointing at mitochondrial dysfunction, and the fact that things that improve ATP "scavenging" (like creatine) help make me think that sounds right. My thinking on the possible connection goes like ... Mitochondria werre once bacteria than became part of cells a very long time ago - but they retain their own DNA and are affected by antibiotics for instance. I wonder if they could also be affected by other bacteria altering the body's internal environment to their own benefit (and detriment of their rivals). Which many are known to do. I wonder if somehow mitochondria can be on the "losing" end of something like this in CFS/ME. Or maybe a viral route like long COVID. I am sure the pros are working on all this! I just haven't seen much myself that could "join the dots"... Maybe they aren't joinable, but who knows. Energy deficiency in the end is energy deficiency. There will be some common node where it all intersects bit whether thats useful to know or just "that's metabolism" I dont know.

"just" metabolism. SO we might apprecicatw what the experts are up against...
https://biochemical-pathways.com/#/map/1

[teaotter]

The researchers suggest brain signals may flash stop signs to prevent physical activity—similar to how a bout with illness forces rest. “When we have a bad flu, [we] can’t get out of bed,” says Jonathan Edwards, a rheumatologist at UCL. “It’s a central signaling problem” in the brain, he says. “There’s nothing wrong with your muscles.”

Huh. I sometimes get intense weakness as a hallucination with my migraines; I had no idea that when it happens with illness it is *also* a hallucination. Brains are so weird.

[hairyears]

(2) The financial and managerial irresponsibility of the water utilities represents a clear failure of regulatory oversight.

As does their failure to invest: and that, too, is a form of reckless indebtedness.

A responsible government would insist on them satisfying their statutory obligations, push the worst offenders into bankruptcy, and buy them up for pennies.

The shareholders, lenders, and bondholders would protest at their losses: but it is entirely reasonable to point out that they put up all that capital in a mismanaged corporation which destroyed their value by dancing on the line between irresponsibility and outright fraud.

The managers and investors knew that their corporations were 'run for cash' and were being run down; and they knew, equally, that they would fail in their statutory duties if 'their' public utility ran below the minimum level of maintenance and investment for too long.