MarjorieR

https://social.linux.pizza/@marjolica

Retired Operational Researcher/Statistician/Economist.
Worked in Energy Industries/University/Civil Service. Most recently producing UK Energy & Emissions Projections.
GNU/Linux user since 1993 (kernel 0.99).
Now on Devuan Daedalus/Cinnamon (kernel 6.1).
Rower, cyclist, dingy sailor, walker, skier.
Socialist, bi, poly, she/her.
Fully paid up member of the Guardian reading, tofu eating Wokerati.

Public Key

npub154pctaljw8zq4qa8rgeut79tvw3qkxml6vyr58zz88qjz3q97tgqf0gwly

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs22su97le8r3q2swn35v79lz4k8gstrdlaxzp6r3prnsfpgszl95qpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsykh730

Publishing to

nostr.wine

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub154pctaljw8zq4qa8rgeut79tvw3qkxml6vyr58zz88qjz3q97tgqf0gwly

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Last Notes

2026-06-18 22:56:55 CEST

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surely setting up 2FA is good advice for everyone?

2026-05-19 09:39:52 CEST

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and noting that for all levels "They assume you own your own home with no mortgage".
And then claim that those on the state pension meet their minimum.
I wonder how many of those living just on the state pension are in still renting or haven't paid off all of their mortgage?

2026-04-10 13:03:52 CEST

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quite possibly they tried somebody else's doorstep and they weren't in either - in the past when they've failed to deliver I've been sent photos of lots of other doorsteps and have had to puzzle out how they got to go to that one. This happens even when we give them written instruction as to how to find us and a phone number to ring if they still can't.
Or more likely they just had too many deliveries to do in the time available (often because the company is not being realistic) and they go for the excuse that doesn't mean they are then penalised by DHL.

2026-04-05 22:32:21 CEST

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" The thing is we're actually an A-Religious country. 30% say they have no religion when asked. "
In the last (2021) Census the proportion of people saying they had no religion was 37.2%. The proportion saying they were Christian was 46.2%, so more than those of no religion but still a minority.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom

2026-03-10 11:14:05 CET

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FWIW when I worked in DTI and later DECC the oil
and gas energy sector specialists were nearly all secondees from the industry.

2026-03-05 09:33:35 CET

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Article is behind a paywall so have to ask, isn't this "corruption in public office" and when is he going to be dismissed or at least suspended from his current posts and prosecuted?

2026-02-25 15:36:18 CET

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my guess that it could mean prioritising the actually or potentially employable on the waiting lists for treatment over those who are severely disabled or simply retired.
Either that or he is actually going to commit to training and employing more staff and providing more resources to the NHS, so that everyone can get treated quicker but can you really imagine Streeting doing that?

2026-02-18 11:11:49 CET

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more evidence on use of weight control drugs following money not need:
"More people in affluent areas are using weight loss jabs, despite having lower levels of obesity, research suggests.
Analysis of private prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro and Wegovy shows women and the middle classes are the most likely to use the drugs."
[ snip]
People in the most deprived regions were around a third less likely to be getting the jabs than those in the least deprived, despite obesity being twice as common."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/weight-loss-jabs-women-middle-class-wegovy-mounjaro-b2922087.html

2026-02-14 14:17:57 CET

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and possibly a budget effect - from what I've seen of the current monthly costs of the new weight loss drugs, unless you are getting them on the NHS, the cost will far outweigth what you save on food so less money to spend on other, hopefully unnecessary, goods or services.

2026-02-12 11:29:50 CET

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add to that he's also been getting UK government subsidies for his INEOS chemicals company, while investing that money abroad and closing Grangemouth refinery in Scotland.
I gather he was also touting for government help to redevelop Old Trafford.
Just another rich sponger off the state.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24183731.uk-government-snubs-grangemouth-pledges-600m-belgian-project/
https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/ratcliffe-wants-to-use-taxpayer-money-to-rebuild-old-trafford-20240207-WST-488097.html

2026-02-01 14:04:27 CET

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though somehow much what is currently growing in the economy, such as AI data centres and arms manufacture, at the expense of other useful things such as jobs and living wages for people, is not exactly what most of us would have in mind as something we want even more of. But this is their, and Starmer and and Rachel Reeves', wet dream of unsustainable growth.

2025-12-15 14:50:50 CET

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as a (retired) Operational Researcher while I agree with the inapplicability of JIT to hospital bed and staff provision, JIT was intended as a way of managing production process without having to hold large buffer stocks of inventory between processes.
However what is relies on is not that demand is entirely constant but that the demand changes can to predicted and that material can be supplied at relatively short notice and processes speeded up when needed.
In the case of hospitals although there is a roughly predictable variation between summer and winter it is not entirely so - witness the latest flu surge - or the effect of snow increasing the number of falls. And the workforce can't be varied much in the same way to follow load.
In practice what hospitals do is postpone scheduled 'elective', non-emergency admissions (such as hip and knee replacements) to try and create capacity for emergency ones. They also end up having to put patients from the in-demand speciality into other wards. This simply increases problems elsewhere and increases overall waiting times for treatment.
I doubt if anyone in the NHS actually thinks it is operating a JIT system. It's entirely inappropriate. At a strategic level they are just not managing it well and not putting what money they do have into tackling the biggest bottlenecks in the most cost-effective way.

2025-12-14 09:57:14 CET

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wondering why they've included Oracle from 2000, but not Oracle today. It's current p/e is 44. So now higher than all the other big players except Tesla.
https://worldperatio.com/stock/orcl/

2025-12-12 09:17:58 CET

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maybe it's time to stop chasing unsustainable GDP growth, particularly when it seems to involve investment in stranded assets such as AI data centres, oil and gas exploration, nuclear power generation, grey hydrogen and CCS?
Maybe put our money into improving peoples lives by insulating people's homes. improving flood defenses and investing in a publically run NHS and Care system.
And meanwhile use the tax and benefits systems to do a bit more redistribution from the rich to everyone else.

2025-12-12 08:50:41 CET

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at present we already pay gas, and previously coal, generators to be there to run idle, it's called the Capacity mechanism.
And if we followed Ecotricity's suggestion those generators would still get their bid price, just everyone would get their bid price, not what the gas generators, as the most expensive bidder gets.
In my view what each type of generator should get should be determined by their long term cost of supply, which surely is set through their Contract for Difference price, not the cost of the marginal supplier on the day.

2025-11-24 19:42:04 CET

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And £12k per person is also £24k if you are a couple.
Like most of the other stuff being trailed in advance ("Benefit Clampdown", cuts to heat pump grants, EV mileage charges) this seems to be purely performative, to give the appearance that she is actually doing something, whereas all she is doing is avoiding doing anything about the real issues we face as a country.

2025-11-19 13:08:36 CET

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surely it's ideological?
The Labour Party Leadership has been captured by right minded nutters who actually believe in what they are doing and fooling themselves that some of their dog-whistle idiot policies* will also prove popular.
Starmer's and McSweeney's reputed 'pragmatism' seems to be merely limited to lying to the party members and the rigging the choice of MP candidates to get them into power and keep it for this parliament.
* not widely publicised, but there have been a few policy proposals (such as on workers rights and stopping profiteering by touts and tickets resellers) that if sold properly could appeal to the voters.

2025-11-17 09:31:02 CET

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puzzled by the rows with blank country names in the chart, even though they have life expectancies shown.
https://www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub/health-inequalities/trends-in-international-life-expectancy-at-birth

2025-11-17 09:00:03 CET

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dose have a chart showing the difference in life expectancy between the UK and other countries for males?

2025-11-04 14:31:37 CET

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that's old news, membership is now over 150,000.
https://greenparty.org.uk/2025/10/28/greens-within-touching-distance-of-labour/

2025-11-02 11:55:24 CET

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a lot of us have old (mine's 10), but still serviceable, cars doing little mileage (we don 5,000 miles/yr) and it's hard to justify investing in a large expensive lump of metal with a battery we might have difficulty charging. My 10 year old car also has physical controls and an actual handbrake and is not connected not the internet. This doesn't mean that I don't think all new cars should be full EV for those that can justify a new car.

2025-10-22 18:17:11 CEST

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and, of course at least in respect of Trumps support for fellow ultra right winger Milei in Argentina, it doesn't seems to be working out very well.
From the article:
"Whatever the rationale, it’s not clear their strategy is helping much. The Argentine peso sank to record lows yesterday, with little indication that the midterms were going to turn in Milei’s favor (who could have guessed that voters may not like the idea of being run by an American-puppet government?) and traders seemingly unimpressed by Bessent’s pitch of the currency as a prudent investment. The United States is now the proud owner of $20 billion in increasingly worthless Argentinian currency. America First, baby!"

2025-10-18 10:44:59 CEST

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well goes to show how unrepresentative your #Fediverse readers are. According to Mt Altman most people just love their ChatGPT girlfriends.

2025-10-17 20:19:55 CEST

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I'm guessing that's not the rate for all even moderately wealthy foreign residents, most of whom I expect earn less than the current €200,000 pa. surcharge.

2025-08-17 20:02:58 CEST

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I think the sums for the TPS are done by the government's actuaries.
I also have a British Coal (BCSSS) staff pension. It's a parallel scheme for to the Mineworkers in that it has a Government guarantee. But both schemes are both closed and funded but have actually accumulated a surplus in a sub-fund to buffer the government in the event they proved underfunded. The Govt. committed and delivered on returning the Mineworker surplus to their pensioners. We are waiting to see what they do about the BCSSS scheme.
So could both the teachers and university lecturers scheme actually br overfunded and employers contribution could come down while not affecting pensions? Of course the Universitty Lecturer scheme has money in Thames Water, which must be a bit moot.
Of course how the sums are done by the actuaries is a bit odd, so I understand current high interest rates makes them all look good.

2025-08-17 19:05:30 CEST

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the majority of both current and former staff at the post-92 universities (which includes me) are in the Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS), that also covers school teachers. The TPS is not a funded scheme. Are there parallel proposals to change future pensions of those currently working in Education?

2025-08-01 17:43:41 CEST

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No, no IPv6. Apart from anything else I don't think my ISP (Zen) support it and it's not configured in my router.
And as far as I'm aware there have no configuration changes, at my end, between when it was working and now.

2025-07-23 20:18:38 CEST

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1) my email address has been around decades, so less problems with trust. We did have a bit of an issue in Jan 2020 when a spammer found a postfix misconfiguration allowing open relay. Fixed quickly but It took a little while to get trust back.
2) I have a fixed IP with Zen and my server is in a cabinet in our house. Before that we used to run it on a Linode.
3) Link for the TLS issue here:
https://letsencrypt.org/2025/05/14/ending-tls-client-authentication/

2025-04-14 12:25:13 CEST

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of course the UK institutions may may soon get some temporary relief because so many international students are getting thrown out/locked out/choose to stay away from the USA university system and might choose here instead.
Not that the UK government is making them all that welcome.

2025-03-07 10:12:56 CET

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from the Guardian:
'Mackey [Streeting's choice to head the NHS], an accountant by background, is also weighing up whether to axe Julian Kelly, the deputy chief executive and chief financial officer. Kelly, who is widely respected, does what some see as “probably the toughest job in Whitehall” – trying to make the NHS’s near-£200bn annual budget meet its needs while reassuring ministers that it is spending it wisely. His future remains unclear.
A source familiar with Mackey’s thinking said: “It will be a pretty total clearout. And there’s an appetite in some quarters to move Julian Kelly on as part of that. But if you’re going to replace the guy who’s in effect the financial controller of a £200bn budget, you need to know what you are doing before you get rid of him.
“Jim will want his own person in that job, but at the same time it’s a risky time to get someone new in, given the NHS’s finances are in a poor state.”
Kelly is respected at the Treasury, where he used to be its director general of public spending and finance. However, he has risked irritating ministers by warning at recent NHS England board meetings that the £22bn extra Rachel Reeves has given the health service over the next two years will be swallowed up by pay rises and not be enough to pay for the radical transformation of how care is delivered, through “three big shifts” that Streeting and Keir Starmer have promised.'
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/06/stephen-powis-step-down-nhs-england-medical-director
So it's shoot the messenger time.

2024-10-09 10:57:25 CEST

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the upside for us in the meanwhile is that being subject to close scrutiny google may rein back on its plans for further anticompetitive #enshittification. Of course further well directed anti-trust action in the USA may depend on the election result there. Of course we do also have the EU.