www.bbc.co.uk
Plans for a new city centre car park in Exeter have been criticised. Proposals to turn the former bus station site into a car park are part of a public consultation which also involves increasing car park prices across the city. The Green Party said the plans for a new car park were "ridiculous" and did not "make any financial sense". The Labour leader of the council said he wants to increase the options available for the use of the site. The council is considering creating a new Paris Street car park, external on part of the old bus station site which was demolished earlier this year. Previous plans for offices and a multi-purpose performance venue on the site were scrapped in 2023. Diana Moore, Exeter Green Party leader, said: "A new car park, right next to St Sidwell’s Point, a place which is meant to be a showcase for sustainability and health, and close to a dangerous roundabout and the new bus station, beggars belief." Ms Moore said the plan showed a "breathtaking lack of imagination". She said: "This decision also puts cutting carbon emissions, reducing congestion and improving air quality firmly into reverse gear. "As existing city centre car parks are underutilised, this decision doesn't make any financial sense either." The council is also looking at raising prices at car parks across the city centre. The council's executive met on Tuesday to approve the plan for a six-week public consultation which should begin later in August. Liberal Democrat group leader Michael Mitchell also raised concerns at the meeting about how the plans fitted alongside Exeter City Council's plans to become net zero on carbon emmissions by 2030. Phil Bialyk, leader of the council, said he understood the concerns raised by opposition parties but said the council was trying to prepare for different scenarios. He said: "All this will do is give us the ability to charge for whatever part of the old bus station site we might choose to use as a car park site. "Having a parking order will increase our options on how we can use this space for the benefit of the people in Exeter." Mr Bialyk said the council was working on new plans for the area which were expected to be made public in the autumn.
AngusTheNerd
3 months ago
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100%
Only 121 votes, a very slim margin.
Central Devon was even closer, a majority of only 61 votes!
The ballots cast for each candidate with vote share in each constituency plus turnout and the distribution of seats, as they are declared. The numeric and geographical distribution of Devon’s thirteen parliamentary seats following the 2024 general elections, with all the seats declared, is: Labour (LAB) 3 Liberal Democrat (LIBDEM) 6 Conservative (CON) 4
www.bbc.co.uk
Labour has officially won the 2024 general election after reaching the required 326 seats. Speaking in central London, the next prime minister Keir Starmer says "change begins now". "It feels good, I have to be honest," he tells a cheering crowd.
A useful guide for anyone not familiar with voting. Please vote, even if you feel it's pointless. Democracies fail when people refuse to participate.
www.bbc.co.uk
 **Students who have camped out for four weeks in protest against the war in Gaza have reached a "stalemate" with their university.** Between 30 and 40 students have been taking part in the encampment at the University of Exeter campus since 14 May. The university sent an email to all students on 5 June saying it wanted to close the encampment - claiming protesters had "intimidated" open day visitors. The protesters have denied any claims of intimidation and said the camp would remain in place. The group has set out four main demands for the university - to cut any ties with Israeli companies, boycott Israeli universities, set up partnerships with Palestinian universities and safeguard freedom of speech for pro-Palestine supporters. The university said in its email, which was seen by the BBC, there were no formal partnerships with Israeli universities and it did not invest in any firms that directly funded defence. The university said it would help to reconstruct Palestinian higher education and it "safeguarded freedom of speech and expression" for everyone at the university.  Leia Baig, a third-year student who was born in Lebanon, said demonstrators had set up camp after "numerous attempts at engaging with the university administration and being met with inaction". She refuted the claims of "intimidation" made by the university. Ms Baig said: "It's absolutely not the case, you can see this worldwide, this misrepresentation of protesters, misrepresentation of students. "We remain confident in our completely peaceful protest." She said the university and protesters had now reached a "stalemate" in negotiations. Protester Alex Almond-Colomer said the encampment would continue through the summer holidays. Chris Kunzler, who is studying for an MA in Middle Eastern studies, said: "We would like the university to match how it claims it acts and markets itself as an institution which is helping build a better world. "That's really what we want, the university to walk the walk of actually being an institution that respects human rights."  In the email to students the university said: "We experienced disruption and intimidation of guests during the Saturday Open Day that went beyond acceptable conduct for peaceful protest." The email said senior leaders had met protesters "to address their escalating protest activities". It said: "It was also made clear we cannot engage or enter into ‘negotiations’ with any group that undermines our community values and threatens to disrupt university activities. "Assurances have been sought from the encampment that there will be no repeat of these behaviours, and they have been asked to leave their unauthorised encampment as soon as possible." The email went on to say if the protesters "adhere to our university values and cease disruptive behaviour, then members of the senior team will continue to meet with them for discussions". **'Respect right to protest'** In a statement the university said: "We are unambiguous in our support for all colleagues and students at this time, including our commitment to protecting the right to debate openly and freely." It said it was committed to "academic freedom, alongside our duty of care to our community". The statement added: "We respect the right to protest, providing such protests are carried out safely, respectfully and within the law."
News
Workers at TJ Maxx and Marshalls are wearing police-like body cameras. Here’s how it’s going
AngusTheNerd
3 months ago
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100%
Wholeheartedly agree, best we can do is do business with local shops where possible.
UK Politics
Greens keep it short and sweet to avoid the don’t-want-to-knows
AngusTheNerd
3 months ago
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100%
Which would make perfect sense if there was some way of adding '... but don't count my vote if it makes electing the Labour candidate less likely' to your ballot. As it is, the effect of voting Green is to make a Labour government, and therefore any effective action on climate change, less likely. So, your real choice is: A Labour government, that does something (even if it's less than you'd like) or voting Green and handing government back to the Tories, and getting nothing (which is definitely less than you'd like).
I agree, which is why I'm voting Labour in a Conservative stronghold. Granted they would still be the largest party after losing those 4 seats, even if they don't reach majority they'd still be able to make a coalition, most likely with the Lib Dems.
And right now, when Labour are promising to decarbonise the grid by 2030, which may well be impossible, it's especially absurd to insist they do 'more'. 'More' than borderline impossible?
That claim by Labour probably has about 10 caveats that would further delay proper decarbonisation.
We also need to decarbonizing everything, not just the grid. Get people out of cars and onto bikes/transit, switch vehicles to renewables, reduce plastic use and meat consumption etc. Pledges for these would require action that would antagonize the majority of Labours voter base so they'll never make any of substance.
News
Workers at TJ Maxx and Marshalls are wearing police-like body cameras. Here’s how it’s going
AngusTheNerd
3 months ago
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100%
We had these where I worked, what a lot of people miss is these don't actually record until the person wearing it presses a button, it doesn't have the battery life to record, encode, then broadcast video for 8+ hours. No doubt when that becomes feasible they'll give it a go though.
In the UK we have to announce to everyone it's recording. The gangs and thieves know this and don't care. They were happy to attack and rob us when we already had store wide CCTV.
The only deterrent that worked was a security guard we had for a short while, but the company withdrew them because we weren't losing over 5% of our daily take to theft, ignoring that we got the guard because two people had been sent to hospital after being attacked by a gang of youths.
UK Politics
Greens keep it short and sweet to avoid the don’t-want-to-knows
AngusTheNerd
4 months ago
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100%
People who vote green know they won't win an election, but do so anyway to pressure the larger parties to do more about climate change. The Greens themselves achnowledge this.
However, the pressure won't have much effect until they start actually taking seats from them. Standing down to give Labour a clear shot would destroy their steady gain in momentum and spoil the best chance they've ever had to get more seats.
Two-thirds of Access for All money to go to Conservative seats as low-key Department for Transport announcement finds its way into constituency-level news stories and political PR across the country.
www.bbc.co.uk
A controversial traffic reduction scheme could be scrapped. according to a council report which was later withdrawn. The low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme in Exeter closes off some through roads to car drivers. A report from Devon County Council recommended the suspension of the scheme at a meeting on Monday. But the report was swiftly removed from the website and the meeting postponed until June. Devon County Council said the report was "incomplete" and it needed more time to gather all of the information from a public consultation into the scheme.
TL;DR: Original developer got planning permission in 2013 but never started construction and died during the pandemic. Another developer picked up the planning permission and made some major changes that the council refused permission for. Developer claims a coffee shop on the street "orchestrated" 130+ compaints to get it denied.
AngusTheNerd
4 months ago
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100%
This was a cross-post, didn't realise it didn't provide the link. I'll try find the link for you.
Edit: Added the link to the post, will remember to double check in future.
www.livescience.com
Cross-posted from archaeology@mander.xyz Archaeologists in England have discovered several Roman ruins buried next to a cathedral in Exeter. The structures, which were built between A.D. 50 and 75, include a street and wooden buildings that were once part of a Roman legionary fortress, according to a statement. The construction itself was likely part of a "long barrack building," John Allan, a cathedral archaeologist with the University of Exeter, said in the statement.
linuxmemes
Do you install linux on old laptops?
AngusTheNerd
5 months ago
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100%
Got a 10 year old laptop that couldn't do anything whike running Windows 10. Couldn't install Windows 11 because no TPM chip. Was about to replace it when I thought screw it and gave Linux a go.
It now runs as smoothly as the day I got it, and am now a Linux convert.
Android
AngusTheNerd
6 months ago
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100%
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Yes, at least in my experience.
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I've used my Fairphone 4 since I got it in Febuary 2022, although I ordered it November 2021, replacing the Oneplus 3 I'd bought at release. Main reason for the upgrade was because of the relockable bootloader, which meant it would get CalyxOS support.
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Repair is trivially easy. Like, you have to be an idiot to make a mess of it easy. Only thing I've replaced so far is the plastic back (for reasons explained in answer 4) which took literal seconds. I also bought a spare battery that can, again, be swapped in seconds. It's come in clutch several times. I've disassembled and reasessembled this phone to satisfy the same impulse I get when taking apart a pen.
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I'm very clumsy, for reference repairing my old OP3 cost me double what I initially paid for it. The FP4 has so far landed face down on the pavement about as many times my OP3 did, and the only damage it's recieved is to the plastic back, which takes alot of the impact energy with it when it pops off. Eventually the back had so many chips in the sides it had to be replaced but everything else has remained fully functional despite such mistreatment. It's also thicker than most phones, it feels comfortably sturdy to hold. There was also a massive camera upgrade recently thanks to a software update, although being on CalyxOS I can't offer first hand impressions.