urbanjunkie's comments

Would you have said that it's acceptable for black people to be forced to ride the back of a bus? Or perhaps that women should not be allowed to vote.

The idea that all ideas have merit is complete shite. Some ideas and attitudes are reprehensible - the more so when being cloaked in language like "social conservatism"

Then you should be both embarrassed and ashamed of yourself.

It's not social conservatism, it's bigotry.

From Sippey's post:

You need to be able to see expanded Tweets and other features that make Twitter more engaging and easier to use. These are the features that bring people closer to the things they care about. These are the features that make Twitter Twitter. We're looking forward to working with you to make Twitter even better.

We really don't need to be able to see these features - it's you who needs us to see them. These are not features that bring us closer to things we care about, these are features that enable you to sell us to brands.

It's not the comment that's sad, it's the fact that for a pitifully low sum of money you were happy to shred the integrity of your comment.

The latest update to the GMail app for iOS is vastly improved.

The snappiness could be because iOS Chrome pre-fetches pages if you're on a wifi network. A lot of the lag of Safari on iOS seems to be in the actual fetching of pages.

> Depending on what part of the nation you are from, there are places where boys are preferred to girls.

Preferred to the extent that female babies are often aborted. Female foeticide has been described by Manmohan Singh as a "national shame" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13264301)

> The question I would have like Schmidt to answer is this: is Pakistan a country?

Given that there is no real agreed definition as to what exactly a country is, it's unlikely that Schmidt could answer that. Also your definitions about what a country is are strangely arbitrary and seem to have little to do with whether a country is a country or not.

But, but almost any definition of country, Pakistan is a country. It may have many problems, but it's absurd to suggest that it might not be.

> Corruption is everywhere

Of course there is corruption everywhere, but in most countries it's nowhere near as endemic or systematic as it is in Pakistan (and India and China). I can get by in my life here in the UK without needing to bribe anyone, but bribery is a daily fact of my parents' life in India (and similarly for parts of the family in Pakistan). Deflecting this issue does you no credit.

> Countries full of educated people are more difficult to manage. . For example France is badly in need of deep reforms but they will simply never happen because French would go on strike as a result of such reforms

So, how would you explain strikes in Pakistan against reforms to the blasphemy laws?

> in France you'd get a 90 Euros fine for speeding on a standard road.

So what?

And for the most part those situations are not ones where the presence of QR codes would be of significant benefit.

Note that I think QR codes are great for things like airline tickets or baggage tracking tags.

If the price I have to pay is that people like you think I'm an idiot, I'm sure I'll manage.

I am curious though, how do you distinguish between people "talking out loud to their phones", and people talking out loud to other people using their phones (ie making a phone call).

Here's how the future will be:

Long home button press.

<beep>

"Siri (or Android version, or WP12 version) , search for <whatever the thing is>"

<beep>

<Here are your search results>

> I understand that the BBC is the voice of the state

You understand incorrectly. The BBC is funded by a compulsory license fee, but it's certainly not a communist era Pravda-like entity.

Each of the UK's political parties generally thinks that the BBC is biased against them. and the BBC is often regarded as being biased against the left wing and the right wing simultaneously.

Wow, there's a lot of hate for Tracey Emin here, from people who probably know little about her work.

All I will say is that I have several of her pencil sketches in my house, and they are poignant, provocative, angry and fragile. To me, they are art. If you don't think they are, that's fine, but try to not let your frustration at not having a reaction make you belittle those that do.

Also, anyone who walked around and saw some of Damien Hirst's work before the Sotheby's auction a few years ago might been stunned at some of what was seen. The shark in a tank was a spectacular piece but a lot of that was in how it was staged and presented.

Art is a very personal thing. There's plenty of stuff I really don't like, but if others do, that's fine.

The text of the original statement is here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4115852

This is the version that patio11 is quoting.

After this, the shitstorm intensified, and the council leader appeared on Radio 4 to state that this would be reversed. Shortly after that, a version of the statement was put out that was pretty much the opposite of the original one.

Normally a fair comment, except in this case the school was actually supportive, and it was council officials (unelected local government workers) who imposed the ban.

The leader of the council (Roddie McCuish - an elected politician) was interviewed on national radio and stated that he had just instructed senior officials to reverse the ban.

Roddie McCuish, the leader of the Argyll and Bute council, on Radio 4 has stated the he has "instructed senior officials to withdraw ban"

Finally, some common sense.

That might well have been a reasonable compromise, but I disagree that bureaucracies are doomed to failure in situations like this. I absolutely expected them to say they're reconsidered and were prepared to let Veg keep photographing food (with perhaps some agreed guidelines). Instead they've basically said that a 9 year old was bullying them.

For me, the money shots are

"we had to act to protect staff from the distress and harm it was causing

"In particular, the photographic images uploaded appear to only represent a fraction of the choices available to pupils, so a decision has been made by the council to stop photos being taken in the school canteen."

An embarrassing own goal that could have been resolved with a simple "OK, we overreacted, Veg can carry on as before" has been turned into a quite spectacular PR catastrophe.

An Exec Director for Argyll and Bute is appearing on Radio 4 at 1pm - should be fun!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jrqr7

And the response from Argyll and Bute

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/news/2012/jun/statement-school...

Argyll and Bute Council wholly refutes the unwarranted attacks on its schools catering service which culminated in national press headlines which have led catering staff to fear for their jobs. The Council has directly avoided any criticism of anyone involved in the ‘never seconds’ blog for obvious reasons despite a strongly held view that the information presented in it misrepresented the options and choices available to pupils however this escalation means we had to act to protect staff from the distress and harm it was causing. In particular, the photographic images uploaded appear to only represent a fraction of the choices available to pupils, so a decision has been made by the council to stop photos being taken in the school canteen.

There have been discussions between senior council staff and Martha’s father however, despite an acknowledgement that the media coverage has produced these unwarranted attacks, he intimated that he would continue with the blog.

The council has had no complaints for the last two years about the quality of school meals other than one from the Payne family received on 6 June and there have been no changes to the service on offer since the introduction of the blog.

Pupils have a daily choice of two meals from a menu which is designed with pupils, parents and teachers. Our summer menu is about to be launched and includes main course choices like meat or vegetarian lasagne served with carrots and garlic bread or chicken pie with puff pastry, mashed potato and mixed vegetables.

Pupils can choose from at least two meals every day. They pay £2 for two courses and this could be a starter and a main or a main and a desert. Each meal comes with milk or water. Pupils can have as much salad and bread as they want. Salad, vegetables, fruit, yoghurt and cheese options are available every day. These are standing options and are not a result of any changes in response to the blog site.

As part of the curriculum for excellence, pupils in all our schools are regularly taught about healthy eating and at lunch breaks staff encourage pupils to make good choices from what is on offer. We use a system called ‘Nutmeg’ to make sure everything is nutritionally balanced. Our staff also get nutrition awareness training so they know how to provide a good healthy meal. There is portion sized guidance which we adhere to and it is matched to the age of the child so they get the right amount of food. Second portions would mean too many calories for pupils.

In Lochgilphead Primary School we are piloting a new pre-ordering scheme which is designed to encourage class discussion around meal choices and also improves the accuracy of meal choices. The pupils use a touch screen to select their lunch option and the data is downloaded in the kitchen so they know how many portions of each meal are required. As they place their order, the pupils are given a coloured band which relates to their meal choice that day. They wear it during the morning, and at lunchtime they hand it to the catering assistant, who will give them the corresponding meal.

The council’s focus is now on supporting the school in the education of young people in Argyll and Bute