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u/Useless_or_inept

r/UKhiking r/mildlyinfuriating r/komoot r/BicyclingCirclejerk r/NonCredibleDiplomacy r/freefolk r/WestHighlandWay r/MapPorn r/2westerneurope4u r/UKGardening r/PlanningPermissionUK r/Wales r/GetNoted r/Maps r/yorkshire r/healthcare r/KerbalSpaceProgram r/uktrains r/europe
▲ 117 r/Maps

EU candidate countries where government ministers advocated for ethnic cleansing in 2026

u/Useless_or_inept — 28 days ago
▲ 276 r/NonCredibleDiplomacy

Further insights from the Times' former Moscow Correspondent

Mary Dejevsky was previously famous for her deep insights into Russian international relations - and wrote several columns in 2021-2022 insisting that Russia wouldn't invade Ukraine. Now she has a new theory: When Western countries build better defences against missiles, that threatens Russia and causes invasions

u/Useless_or_inept — 1 month ago
▲ 88 r/Wales

What can we do to fix the Welsh economy?

Public spending in Wales is 24% higher than tax revenue. Obviously not many folk want to slash public spending, so the focus could be on the other side of the equation - how to encourage industry and get more tax revenue?

u/Useless_or_inept — 1 month ago
▲ 0 r/UKGardening

Has Roundup gel been discontinued? Any alternatives?

I used to like having Roundup gel for cases when surrounding plants can't be disturbed / sprayed / strimmed. But Amazon have stopped selling it in the UK, and I'm not finding good search results for alternatives. Are there any other good smearable-weedkiller options? What do the good folk of UKGardening suggest?

u/Useless_or_inept — 2 months ago
▲ 68 r/BicyclingCirclejerk

Rivendell release a mechanical, non-indexed, state-of-the-art derailleur

No indexing, threaded steerers, lugged frames, rim brakes: Rivendell is taking us forward to the 1970s

I won't pull the trigger yet. I'm waiting for wooden rims and cottered cranks.

outsideonline.com
u/Useless_or_inept — 2 months ago
▲ 23 r/uktrains

NAO report on HS2

The National Audit Office have published a report on HS2. The NAO look at public services and projects, try to find whether they're spending taxpayer money well, whether things could be done better. And this report on HS2 has some language that you never want to see from an auditor...

>The HS2 programme has not gone as planned. DfT and HS2 Ltd reset the programme in 2020 and the development of Euston station in 2020 and 2023. In 2023, the government cancelled Phase 2 of the railway beyond Birmingham. The programme is now smaller than originally planned, while costing more and taking longer to complete. Both we and the Committee of Public Accounts have previously reported on the issues that have led to the resets. HS2 Ltd and DfT are now resetting the programme again. This began in January 2025 and is expected to end in spring 2027. HS2 Ltd expects to spend £153 million on the reset, having spent £101 million by the end of March 2026 (in nominal prices).

>There is also work underway to reset work at Euston and close down Phase 2. HS2 Ltd has continued with construction in parallel with the reset. As at the end of March 2026, DfT and HS2 Ltd have spent £46.8 billion (in nominal prices) on the programme, including on the cancelled Phase 2.

The full report has a lot more detail!

nao.org.uk
u/Useless_or_inept — 2 months ago
▲ 2 r/healthcare

Gonorrhœa! Here we go again

Ongoing decline in the number of STI consultations in 2025: number of gonorrhoea and syphilis diagnoses remains persistently high in the Netherlands

rivm.nl
u/Useless_or_inept — 2 months ago
▲ 67 r/mildlyinfuriating

Minimalist shower controls

I just want a shower. But the fashion for shower controls is minimalist. Whenever I stay at a new place I have to try random buttons and knobs, sometimes they twist, sometimes they push-pull, sometimes the top one is temperature and sometimes it causes boiling water to attack you from a different direction. Sometimes, not always, there is a tiny blue or red dot or some phrase in 4-point Arial, etched matte on a gloss background so nobody can actually read it. Even when that's visible, the knob is unmarked so you can't tell whether it's pointing to hot or cold or vibro-splash or whatever.

I just want a shower. Which of those controls gives me a shower and which one does some useless change to the rain pulsing pattern? Why can't they just label things properly? I am mildly infuriated.

u/Useless_or_inept — 2 months ago
▲ 17 r/uktrains

How the Swiss would have done HS2

It's a great article, worth reading, but I'll try to summarise:

  • The Swiss would have looked at the industry's needs and would have planned to build something vaguely similar
  • But don't try to do everything in one big bang, if you don't have experience making all the individual components work together
  • A steady flow of smaller incremental projects would build and retain experience (See also: Electrification) so the next project runs much better
  • FFS, we realise the treasury is trying to get value for money, that's great, but their processes sometimes have the opposite effect
freewheeling.info
u/Useless_or_inept — 2 months ago