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"The real question is, why is NO other company doing this."

and:

"Things are obviously not perfect at FoxConn but Apple is trying to make them better, in a way that anyone can keep track of. No other company is providing any kind of visibility into these issues."

Well, except they are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20491086

Sorry to burst your (reality distortion) bubble.

For some reason, it reminds me of something

Le Monde had an in depth article on Bitcoin just a few days ago. I think if you really researched it you'd find the same to be true for most countries. Bitcoin has entered public consciousness.

http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2012/11/29/payer-et-vendre-sans-les-banques_1798066_1650684.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-29/dollar-less-iranians-discover-virtual-currency
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628925.200-virtual-economy-looms-as-digital-cash-grows-up.html?full=true
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20510447
http://www.ftd.de/finanzen/maerkte/:kunstwaehrung-das-bitcoin-virus/70118697.html

Which is why some astronomers join garage bans and play gigs to pay for the doctorate in the field they're passionate about. ;)

The only reason the US has an advantage in building these big machines is because they needed these big machines when there wasn't anybody else building them yet

That's just not true. The reason the US has an advantage in building these big machines is that we're good at building these big machines. We have the best of everything; the best raw materials, for example. And the biggest corporations which can spend the most money.

If China would suddenly need machines twice the size as the US builds, they'd soon be leaders in building big machines.

There is no such thing as machines twice the size as the US builds, because if someone wants a bigger machine, we'll build it. And China buys its heavy equipment from other countries, but now isn't buying any to speak of, because their building boom has gone bust and they have entire cities lying empty because their economic model does not permit the citizenry to have sufficient wealth to be able to inhabit them, and yet their government is not actually communist, and will therefore not simply place people into those cities based on merit.

Yes, most of China's economy revolves around cheap labour and low costs, that doesn't mean they don't have any highly skilled engineers or the ability to create top quality.

It's not that they don't have any highly skilled engineers, but they don't have the ability to create top quality because that is not their goal. The goal is always to maximize profit. This does not set them apart, of course, from most "American" companies, but if you take a look I think you'll find that the so-called American companies that don't give a shit about quality are having their shit made in China. They might as well be a Chinese company with an American sign. As well, if you consider the history of Chinese manufacturing, there is actually no evidence they have ever had great engineers. When they rip off a design they copy it so faithfully that it contains the original flaws, even obvious ones. This has been obvious for as long as industrial goods have been coming out of China. They might be technically capable of producing the highest quality product, but they appear to be culturally uninterested in doing so.

Yes.

Google is your friend:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002395.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/motherbabyinfections2.shtml

--PM

I should also add this tidbit from the BBC: given the nature of the work being done by drones (recon, spying), most of them are unmarked. With so many different users of the ScanEagle in the region (UAE was listed for example, another nation with just as much reason to spy on Iran), it may be impossible to determine short of a serial number, and I doubt the Iranians are going to let the US take a look any time soon.

The video attached to the article also shows Iranian images of the drone.
Iranian TV shows off 'captured US ScanEagle drone'

Ok...
Doctors leaving Germany over low wages:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/german-brain-drain-sick-of-bad-pay-doctors-flee-germany-a-399537.html

Waiting lists for hospital treatment:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/healthcare_ni/healthcare_nhs_healthcare_e/nhs_patients_rights.htm#Hospitalwaitinglists

Hospitals unable to meet maximum wait times and resorting to fraud to meet guidelines:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-90691/Patients-cheated-NHS-waiting-list-scandal.html

Wait times continue to increase despite government pressure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/19/david-cameron-pressure-nhs-waiting-times
"Recent hospital figures show the average waiting time across all 19 departments to be about eight months. While breast surgery patients are seen in less than a month, patients waiting for a pain management appointment can expect to wait years"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-20238418

Remember those "death panels" that were such a joke? Meet a victim of one:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/2910780/NHSs-refusal-to-fund-cancer-treatment-costs-mother-21000.html

The BBC article, Downward mobility haunts US education, presents an interesting observation on post-secondary graduation rates and possible causes and consequences. Granted, there are immeasurable depths of innumerable studies and opinions, but the fact is that it may well be that the current generation will be less well educated than past generations. This will have serious consequences.

Since I started university over 30 years ago, the trend that sees more and more graduate degrees going to international students who are increasingly returning home to move their homelands ahead has been going up and up. See, for example, Absurd U.S. Immigration Policies Amount To Economy Sapping Talent Drain .

All I know is that getting a college/university degree shows one thing -- you can take on a challenge and complete it while working with other people in a collaborative environment with mentors and support people. Sounds a lot like something that would be valuable in a career.

Besides, what has Zuckerberg accomplished besides making money? There is nothing fundamentally new about social media. Its a consequence of the ubiquity of wideband communications...

The British (technically, English) £1 note was abandoned before I was born, but here's an article from the time: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2012/nov/13/pound-note-replaced-coin-1984

And here's another: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/12/newsid_2518000/2518637.stm

British coins are very easy to tell apart -- low-value (½p, discontinued), 1p and 2p are brown with plain edges, mid value coins are silver: 5p and 10p are thin and have milled edges, 20p and 50p are heptagonal with plain edges; £1 and £2 are gold-coloured and thick.

Punishment. In civilized places we don't punish people. We attempt to rehabilitate them, and to prevent them from continuing to commit acts against others. But we don't punish them. The fact that the conditions that Manning has been held in equate to punishment, when he hasn't even had a trial and been convicted, is a disgrace. There should be outrage from the international community (at least those places that claim the labels "liberal" and "democratic").

Personally I'm not even convinced he leaked all that stuff. What did he get out of it? But props to whomever did leak those cables. It was a great service to the world. Highlighting hypocrisy by the US government, and also some of the nastiness done by other nations with the tacit support, and knowledge, of the US government.

Also, the pleas have not "been accepted by the judge" according to the BBC.

Earlier on Thursday, the case judge accepted the terms under which Pte Manning would plead guilty to eight charges for sending classified documents to Wikileaks.
He could face up to 16 years in prison for those charges.
Col Denise Lind's ruling does not mean the pleas have been formally accepted.

Why would he offer to plead guilty if he, as I suggest, didn't even do the crime? Because the conditions are so awful. It's long been the case that innocents have been tortured and then confessed. (I've been reading the Arabian Nights, and someone confessed to thieving because they were being beaten so much, and then they had their hand cut off. But they didn't actually do the crime.) Manning is being tortured.

Even just preventing him from seeing properly (taking his glasses away) is mistreatment.

there was a distributed "3g survey" mapping project that the BBC tried a while back and its still on-going using OpenSignalMaps which will no doubt come back into fashion as the 4G rollout starts up in earnest.

Every big country wants to be top dog, or a superpower.

China has wanted this for some time.

They fought a number of proxy wars against the USA, including the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In the former, Chinese troops met American troops in combat. In the latter, China provided weapons, equipment, aid and advisors to the North Vietnamese communist armies.

China is now building F-22 clones for its airforce, has a new carrier for its Navy, is waging constant and active cyber warfare against the US, and is expanding its trade strategy to dominate the US.

The war is cold now, but eventually it will be hot. Hold onto your hats.

Except he hasn't done anything wrong under UK law. The police and music industry already tried that in the OiNK case and lost their case with the site owner walking free having been found not guilty of the fraud laws they tried to frame him with over it:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/8461879.stm

The BBC article goes into more detail:

Lake Vida, the largest of several unique lakes found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, contains no oxygen, is acidic, mostly frozen and possesses the highest nitrous oxide levels of any natural water body on Earth.

The abundance of different chemical compounds present in the lake led the researchers to conclude that chemical reactions were taking place between the brine and the underlying iron-rich sediments, producing the nitrous oxide and molecular hydrogen.
[...]
"It's plausible that a life-supporting energy source exists solely from the chemical reaction between anoxic salt water and the rock," said co-author Dr Christian Fritsen, also from the DRI.

So this is not just a deep freeze; this is an extremely hostile environment for life, even by our current understanding of extremophiles.

And this is why we need to be sending missions to the under-ice oceans of Europa or the hydrocarbon lakes of Titan, not yet another rock-hunting mission.

People are not rational.

Indeed. Is it rational to put so much thought into people you never met, never would want to meet, who live thousands of miles away? How does Casey Anthony affect me in any way, except for my being constantly bombarded by it in the media?

A kid died, that's tragic to the people involved. Meanwhile, children are being killed by their government bombing them, war in the Congo, war between the Palestineans and Israelis, auto accidents... yet we fixate on one kid?

Indeed, we are not rational. I don't want to fucking hear about Casey Anthony. I'd rather hear about there being fewer violent crimes than before, a fact that the sensationalist media don't seem to want you to know about.

British policemen were mostly unarmed before the ban too.
Criminals in the UK were armed less often before the ban too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1440764.stm

See the graph on page 12 of this report too:
http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/opus713/ccjs_gun_crime_report.pdf

Criminal use of actual firearms is still above the levels prior to the ban.

Not sure how this relates to the movie industry, but your suggestion that the ban worked "exceptionally well" is entirely, completely, irrefutably and dangerously wrong.

Some of these d-count shredders from the Far East aren't worth the paper they... well, they're not worth much.

Should've gone with a high end Arthur Andersen model shredder.

If you want to accuse of apartheid, then consider that Jordan and Gaza make it illegal under penalty of death to sell land to a Jew.

Or, maybe you're referring to the 800k Palestinian refugees from Israel's creation in 1948? Surely then you also want to give equal consideration for the other 800k Jewish refugees kicked out of Arab countries merely for having the wrong religion. Or do they not warrant consideration? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19714796

BBC has a video interview with the RIM CEO which shows him demo-ing the BB10 UI. The UI is more elegant than visually in-your-face striking like WinPhone 8.

The UI kind of reminds me of the Opera/Chrome, and now Firefox too, Start Page with thumbnail previews of your favorite or most recently used apps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20087221

Last democratic president to occupy the White House: President John F. Kennedy (murdered, 1963)

Last progressive national leader: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (murdered, 1968)

Last authentic democratic presidential candidate to get close to the presidency: Sen. Bobby Kennedy (murdered, 1968)

Last senator to almost accomplish economic democracy for American workers with his legislation towards universal collective bargaining rights: Sen. Paul Wellstone (died in suspicious aircraft accident, 2002 --- last minute substituion of co-pilot)

The brief BBC audio clip --- featuring a rare and short clip of Lee Harvey Oswald, articulating intelligently on the differences between Soviet-style communism and real Marxism is below (please ignore the author's remarks pertaining to Oswald's CIA-fabricated military record --- claims him to be have been an ATC, so he could pass on false coordinates to the Sovs, instead of a Russian linguist, which he actually was) --- sure doesn't sound like a looney lone guman, in fact, sounds like a CIA agent and FBI informant set up to be the patsy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010jyv1

Recommended reading: Donald Gibson's Battling Wall Street: the Kennedy presidency, and David Talbot's Brothers

Why do you need to wear both? why not just clip on the AR system to your existing glasses?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18091697

Take a look at the pics in that article, not exactly a quantum leap in design to make it a clip on instead of a full set of glasses (stability is the only major concern I can think of).

No, why? Ireland is a partner of Spain, and their tax policy is extremely hurtful to all (and all other European taxes). And not only it's hurtful, it's plain stupid because it's not even Irish companies that are saving money - it's mostly American.

Did you miss the part where FDI creates large amounts of skilled employment in Ireland? All of those workers pay taxes too.

And of course those companies are setting there just offices, that they take elsewhere as soon as it's convenient. It's not the kind of investment you want to bet on, knowing that once they're there they won't leave.

http://www.williamfry.ie/Libraries/test/Maintaining-the-_12_5-Corporation-Tax-Rate-on-Irish-Trading-Profits.sflb.ashx
"Since 1 January 2003, corporate income has been characterised into two distinct streams: trading or active
income which is taxed at the 12.5% corporation tax rate and non-trading or passive income which is taxed
at the 25% corporation tax rate. Since that date, the distinction between a company’s activities (i.e. whether
the activities constitute trading activities or whether they constitute passive activities) is an important one,
as the Irish Revenue Commissioners (“Revenue”) are cognisant of and will prevent low substance
businesses (otherwise known as “brass plate operations”) availing of the lower rate."

Once again did you miss the part where FDI creates large amounts of skilled employment in Ireland?

As for the massive unemployment over here, I fail to see the relevance on this discussion. Does our unemployment hurt Ireland or someone else in Europe? Doesn't seem that way, considering that our brightest people are going to Germany, France...

Oh yeah, its not like Spain's poor economic performance threatens the very existence of the Eurozone or anything. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19797656

But since you mention it: If our European partners are annoyed about our unemployment, debt, or whatever they should just tell our gov. "Go fuck yourself and don't ask for help until there's no a single corrupt politician in office". Really, that's what would help. Not giving a lot of money to our banks who will in turn use it to pay their debts to German banks.

Oh hey I agree. Fuck the banks first last and forever. But don't hold up Ireland as some sort of villain - the country is doing what it must to compete, with very few assets, and is doing it successfully. The Dutch, French, UK and other countries have tax havens of their own, probably Spain too.

Actually that's not a good link, sorry. It looks like they were doing more than simple sharing. I can't find a US case of criminal conviction for plain file sharing, though that might be because the civil penalties are so huge, and the burden is lower for the record companies to prevail.

Cases do exist overseas. There are cases in the UK, and this BBC article suggests Japan has treated it as a criminal offense for a couple of years, but will now start invoking penalties: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19767970

Also worth reading the last paragraph of that BBC article.

"The firm is also embroiled in a dispute with ArtistShare - another crowd-funding site - about the rights to a patent describing how database software can be used to raise cash for creative works."

I think there's more to this than just asserting rights over a 3D printing patent.....

While I don't approve of the patent litigation, it's not fair to characterize 3D Systems as a patent troll. They do spend plenty of time and energy (and money) creating better products, as they did to create their existing products.

I'd half agree except that they're totally going for the jugular rather than merely asserting their rights.

And then I totally don't agree after reading the BBC article about this which mentions (at the bottom) that they're also involved in another dispute about a patent describing how database software can be used to raise cash for creative works. That probably explains why they're attacking Kickstarter too.

What the heck would kickstarter have to do with it?

According to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20434031, Kickstarter get a 5% (?) cut of the money pledged to $PROJECTNAME$, which seems to be sufficient involvement to satisfy enough lawyers to get them co-cited.

Whether it sticks ... is another question.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8474611.stm

Apparently it is a "one-match-and-you're-guilty" system. Here's two cases in which the only possible evidence was the DNA match (since the two people were in fact innocent) and it was enough to get a conviction: http://www.lvrj.com/news/dna-related-error-led-to-wrongful-conviction-in-2001-case-125160484.html or http://www.smh.com.au/national/dna-lab-error-led-to-false-conviction-20091002-ggj6.html. Of course sometimes you get lucky and only get to spend a few months of your life in custody before they notice they screwed up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17324912, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19412819.

And yes your "qualified expert"s are great. You know aside from minor issues like putting the wrong name on samples and contaminating samples.

Apparently it is a "one-match-and-you're-guilty" system. Here's two cases in which the only possible evidence was the DNA match (since the two people were in fact innocent) and it was enough to get a conviction: http://www.lvrj.com/news/dna-related-error-led-to-wrongful-conviction-in-2001-case-125160484.html or http://www.smh.com.au/national/dna-lab-error-led-to-false-conviction-20091002-ggj6.html. Of course sometimes you get lucky and only get to spend a few months of your life in custody before they notice they screwed up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17324912, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19412819.

And yes your "qualified expert"s are great. You know aside from minor issues like putting the wrong name on samples and contaminating samples.

In case you don't know - Israel kept occupying Palestinian territories, rockets or not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11611658

What would Mexico or Canada do if the US kept occupying it?

Autonomy was a successful money-making business. When HP bought it, there wasn't a soul alive who couldn't see that they were paying an extremely generous price. Take the following article on the BBC at the time:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14582489

HP paid 64% above the publicly-traded market price for the company. On the markets hearing the news, HP shares ended the trading day 7.6% down, making them the worst faller in the Dow Jones Industrial Average that day.

Maybe the management at Autonomy were telling porkies to convince HP to pay that much- but why the hell would HP swallow it? If everybody else could see it was mad, why couldn't they?

For reference: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3302763.stm

What if it's a false positive?

Also, for those who think this is extremely unlikely and automatically believe DNA evidence is some sort of slam-dunk:

Teenager wrongly accused of rape (and imprisoned) because of DNA contamination (fortunately, it was picked up in this case)

DNA evidence contamination leads to review of 7,000 cases The police in Victoria are reviewing 7,000 cases involving DNA evidence after they had to withdraw murder charges in a high profile cold case. Police now say they deeply regret having charged a man with the murders of Margaret Tapp and her daughter Seana, at their home in 1984. They charged Russell Gesah two weeks ago, but since then problems have emerged with the DNA evidence.

DNA rape sample procedures 'not adequate' Adam Scott, from Devon, was held for a couple of months after being accused of raping a woman in Manchester. The charges were dropped when it emerged a DNA sample had been contaminated at LGC Forensics.

Police Fear 'Serial Killer' Was Just DNA Contamination A notorious German serial killer known as "the Phantom of Heilbronn" might not exist. Police believe DNA evidence which pointed to a 15-year trail of crimes across Germany was a case of contaminated cotton swabs.

Aerosolized Vaccine as an Unexpected Source of False-Positive Bordetella pertussis PCR Results etc.

The security line is not the place to vent your antipathy to the airport system. My personal strategy is to get through it ASAP. Also I drive when I can these days. And I have supportted the AARP

Check out what happened to this guy. And reconsider your next transit through. Dubai. Strictly speaking not the same as a security line problem. But it sure is an arbitrary world out there.

No, but they might bomb you if you offend them by being in a nightclub for people with the wrong sexual orientation.

You may also offend them by being poor, in which case they might just steal your recently born baby.

Of course, these are exceptions. But so is your accusation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20343180 Gaza rocket arsenal problem for Israel
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20349280 Gaza crisis: Tel Aviv targeted by missiles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20365074 Gaza conflict: Militant rocket targets Jerusalem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20343180 Gaza rocket arsenal problem for Israel
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20349280 Gaza crisis: Tel Aviv targeted by missiles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20365074 Gaza conflict: Militant rocket targets Jerusalem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20343180 Gaza rocket arsenal problem for Israel
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20349280 Gaza crisis: Tel Aviv targeted by missiles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20365074 Gaza conflict: Militant rocket targets Jerusalem

You do know about the whole Henry VIII thing, right? The UK hasn't been Catholic for centuries.

Don't worry, the Church of England has been negotiating to link with the Catholic church* for years and already have compatible teachings. Fortunately it's considered that they aren't really mad enough.

* honest to god [sic]**; this is the first link that popped up on Google. It must be the best source.

** [sic] as in that's really what the little voice in my head said... not as in a humour marker by someone who doesn't know what sick means.

Don't overdo associations...

For example, from a few minutes ago: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20375395

"Fifty children aged four to six years old and the driver of the school bus they were on were killed when their vehicle was hit by a train in central Egypt on Saturday, officials said."

Hmmm... Who ran that train? Hmmm... Maybe an Israeli soldier or an Assad ally? Hmmmm...

No. Don't overdo associations. Shit happens in the Middle East anyhow.

Indian men are underdeveloped

The Memory Game That classic game of remembering is back in this awesome new iPhone app!

Apple: Please remove 'memory' from the title of your game or we will remove your game for you!

The Memorie Game The Anglo-Normans are challenging your ability to remember in this awesome new iPhone app!

Apple: Don't be a smartass, you know what we mean. Please remove 'memorie' from the title of your game or we will remove your game for you!

I guess Apple would be good at spotting when someone isn't complying with an order as expected

"Surely no one denies that there is climate change, that's a matter of record. I assumed the point at issue was 'human accelerated adverse climate change'. No?"

One would hope that was the case, but I'm afraid even here on Slashdot there are a number of fucktards who deny even climate change is a real thing.

"The likes of Attenborough and Cox make assertions on their shows. As they don't generally present evidence, produce hypotheses, moderate theories and test predictability of those theories (within the program) the scientific element is limited"

They're not meant to. The point is that their shows are based on information that is founded on that solid base, and that's what matters- they distill it into a form the general public can understand.

"If a science program can be made by young earth creationists then why shouldn't it be aired."

Because that's a contradiction. Young earth creationism has no scientifc basis, that's the fundamental problem.

"the opposing camp then can make a show giving their evidence and presenting how this falsifies the others hypotheses and proves theirs."

Well, to just outright give something like young earth creationism an hour long prime time timeslot of the sort that Cox and Attenborough get is misleading because it gives it undue merit in that it will cause some people to think it has more validity in fact than it does. However, this may be the sort of thing you're looking for where the BBC does give believers of the two theories a chance to face off against each other:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n8ls6

Isn't that kind of semantic? They have the power to tax. They "own" all of the airwaves. It may not be government by some technicality in law, but to a citizen the effect is the same.

No, speaking as a citizen, the effect is more or less the opposite. The BBC is (or should be, when it's brave enough) a bulwark against the government. For example the judiciary, in the US system, is also paid for out of taxes, but is independent and acts to limit the power of the executive. The BBC is intended (in part) to act analogously, but with an investigatory role rather than a judicial one. Sometimes (for example over the non-existent 'Weapons of Mass Destruction') the BBC has fulfilled that role magnificently - although following their cave-in over the Kelly affair they've been disappointingly timid.

I thought they didn't have citizens over there... only subjects.

Isn't that kind of semantic? They have the power to tax. They "own" all of the airwaves. It may not be government by some technicality in law, but to a citizen the effect is the same.

No, speaking as a citizen, the effect is more or less the opposite. The BBC is (or should be, when it's brave enough) a bulwark against the government. For example the judiciary, in the US system, is also paid for out of taxes, but is independent and acts to limit the power of the executive. The BBC is intended (in part) to act analogously, but with an investigatory role rather than a judicial one. Sometimes (for example over the non-existent 'Weapons of Mass Destruction') the BBC has fulfilled that role magnificently - although following their cave-in over the Kelly affair they've been disappointingly timid.

So the BBC is happy to take public money, but doesn't think there should be ANY strings or responsibilities attached? Must be nice. I wonder if they would accept other public agencies refusing THEIR Freedom of Information requests. I suspect not. And yet that is the precedent they could set.

Personally, I think it's a bad precedent to be set by a institution that has a journalistic wing itself. But, then again, I'm a little creeped out by the whole idea of a state-run media in the first place, even one that stringently attempts to remain objective. It's bound to produce conflicts of interest, no matter how much you try to avoid them.

And, even putting the precedent aside, it just looks bad. If you're going to ask others to be open, it's really embarrassing when it looks like you're trying to hide something yourself, especially when openness is one of your stated goals, oft-repeated.

So the BBC is happy to take public money, but doesn't think there should be ANY strings or responsibilities attached? Must be nice. I wonder if they would accept other public agencies refusing THEIR Freedom of Information requests. I suspect not. And yet that is the precedent they could set.

Personally, I think it's a bad precedent to be set by a institution that has a journalistic wing itself. But, then again, I'm a little creeped out by the whole idea of a state-run media in the first place, even one that stringently attempts to remain objective. It's bound to produce conflicts of interest, no matter how much you try to avoid them.

And, even putting the precedent aside, it just looks bad. If you're going to ask others to be open, it's really embarrassing when it looks like you're trying to hide something yourself, especially when openness is one of your stated goals, oft-repeated.

technically, it doesn't. vis. It's more usual, especially as the police can now make an arrest over any criminal offence (which they couldn't until less than 10 years ago), but someone can be prosecuted without an arrest being made.