Slashdot Mirror
Satellite Magnate Argues Post-Brexit Britain Will Be 'Lost In Space' (bbc.com)
PolygamousRanchKid quotes the BBC: Will Marshall's "Planet" company operates the world's largest satellite imaging network, with 150 spacecraft able to fully picture Earth on a daily basis. He warns EU withdrawal will do immense harm to Britain's space industry. The UK will be "lost in space", he says.
The UK Space Agency responded by saying home businesses had a positive outlook. The most recent survey of confidence across the sector found that three-quarters of organisations expected growth over the next three years, it added.
Dr Marshall holds particular scorn for the UK government's actions on Galileo, the EU version of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Ministers have decided to walk away from the project because Brussels says a future Britain, as a "third country" outside the EU, cannot be involved in the system's most secure elements — this despite the UK having already invested £1.5bn in Galileo. London says it will build its own sat-nav system instead, but Dr Marshall calls this a "pie in the sky" plan that has significant economic and security implications.
The UK Space Agency responded by saying home businesses had a positive outlook. The most recent survey of confidence across the sector found that three-quarters of organisations expected growth over the next three years, it added.
Dr Marshall holds particular scorn for the UK government's actions on Galileo, the EU version of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Ministers have decided to walk away from the project because Brussels says a future Britain, as a "third country" outside the EU, cannot be involved in the system's most secure elements — this despite the UK having already invested £1.5bn in Galileo. London says it will build its own sat-nav system instead, but Dr Marshall calls this a "pie in the sky" plan that has significant economic and security implications.
That's kind of what conservative movements are.
If the nation is a body, conservative movements like this are like sleep - closing off from the outside world, consuming internal resources, remembering the past, and quite often living virtual nightmares.
Only in this case, every time the nation as went to sleep for extended periods like this, it lost enormous portions of its body against its will.
That makes nations like this closer to bacteria in dynamic intelligence than people.
Ryan Fenton
I'm okay with it.
Maybe it should, but considering that all existing positioning services except Galileo are defense projects, and that the UN is unlikely to receive enough funding, the best chance we have is to hope that Galileo will stay civilian and accessible.
I guess he doesn't want yet another competitor in the market... Bad enough there are US and EU companies looking at positioning and space-based photography, having yet another competitor would hamper his chances to keep rolling his own venture!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Again, you would think Britain hadn't existed just fine on its own for hundreds of years before 1973.
That's probably because it didn't. Its success was due to imperialism, which became less profitable for them in recent times, so they abandoned it and moved towards free trade instead. Brexit will interfere with free trade, and they can't realistically go back to imperialism...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
We really don't need advice from Americans, thanks anyway.
That's the attitude that's got you where you are today... at the brink of Brexit. But go on with your badself, it ought to be good for a laugh.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Satellite Magnate Argues
I heard the same thing from the head of GE about Britain's production of appliances.
He is, of course, a Refrigerator Magnate.
I'm sorry, but remind me again how the U.S. is doing just fine without being a member of the EU? I mean, that must be impossible, right? In fact, I have it on good authority that there are over 160 countries in the world that aren't part of the EU either. And yet somehow most of them have also found a way to get food, medicine, etc. and survive just fine without the EU telling them what to do.
So apparently, it is possible to survive, and even thrive, without non-democratic EU overlords running your government. Hard to believe, I know.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'm sorry, but remind me again how the U.S. is doing just fine without being a member of the EU?
The US is not doing just fine. Unemployment is vastly higher than claimed, and most American citizens don't have $400 in the bank in case an emergency comes up. Homelessness is skyrocketing.
With that said, the US is not Britain. We have orders of magnitude more natural resources to exploit. Try really hard not to ask such stupid questions.
The prosperity of the USA is based in part on our natural resources, and in part based on our behavior during WWII. We knowingly permitted war profiteering in the form of American companies selling war supplies like fuel and metals to the Axis powers, then selectively seized some of those companies and their profits after the conflict. We sat back while other nations bombed one another, then stepped in to bomb Japan since nobody else had done it, and we wanted a place to test our nukes. Nuclear dominance, a proliferation of American military bases, and the fact that everyone but us had been bombed to shit created America's dominant economic position that produced the wealth that the baby boomers enjoyed.
I have it on good authority that there are over 160 countries in the world that aren't part of the EU either. And yet somehow most of them have also found a way to get food, medicine, etc. and survive just fine without the EU telling them what to do.
Many of those other nations are highly dependent on foreign aid. Lots of them are not doing very well at all.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You're painting too black a picture. Still, cutting off foreign trade is a recipe for disaster for any small country, and wars stopped being profitable in the 1800's. They're too expensive, and the valuable stuff is so fragile that it gets destroyed during the conquest. It's been estimated that the US spent more wealth during the invasion of Iraq than all the remaining oil underground in the Middle East is worth. (Of course, that might have been hyperbole, and in any case the estimate is quite uncertain. But it gives an idea of how expensive modern wars are.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
I win - Hurray democracy!
I lose - People have been brainwashed, booooh.
To tell the truth, lies were on both camps.
wars stopped being profitable in the 1800's.
They're no longer profitable for nations, but they are quite profitable for certain people/groups within nations, which is why they continue today. The rising cost of conventional warfare is also why drone strikes have become so popular; In the USA they began under Bush the second, expanded under Obama, and have expanded still more under Trump.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
FUD FUD and more FUD.
If we leave the EU! Everyone is gonna die!
If we leave the EU! It'll be like Venezuela! Overnight! Plus cannibals! Do you want cannibals?
If we leave the EU! The terrorists win!
If we leave the EU! It'll be like the rape scene from Pulp Fiction! FOR EVERYONE!
If we leave the EU! Your momma won't love you no more!
Ain't NOBODY ever got fired for staying in the EU!
And on, and on, and on...
It's a bunch of stupid, petty excuses from people who just want their way.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Putting up barriers hardly helps, it is in fact going to be quite damaging, but to claim that companies just wouldn't do business in UK anymore is nonsense. If you have engineering intensive work to do you go where ever you can find competent engineers to do the job. Limitations of a location can be worked around, at a cost. Lack of engineers in your preferred location is not so easily solved.
Back in the day it was the UK who insisted that no third country would have access to the internal. What goes around, comes around, I guess.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
So apparently, it is possible to survive, and even thrive, without non-democratic EU overlords running your government. Hard to believe, I know.
GDP US US$ 20.5T
GDU EU US$ 18.7T
GDP UK US$ 2.8T
Source :
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
The UK's economy is smaller than California's (2.9T):
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states_and_sovereign_states_by_GDP
It's not that it can't be done, but being part of a large(r) economic block certainly has advantages.
There were, as always, lies on both sides. There was, however, as far as my information says, a grossly unbalanced tilt with most of the lies, and most of the more outrageous lies, being on the side of "leave". OTOH, if the real reason that people voted "leave" was xenophobia, then the truth might have served equally well. And it could be. In times of economic stress there's a strong tendency to "blame the foreigner". AFAIKT it's a universal human tendency. (The alternative, which also happens, is "blame the ruler", and that's been the real reason for many civil wars.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Yes they do. Those trade deals are designed to ensure Germany and German companies benefit. An independent Britain can make trade deals designed to ensure Britain and the British people benefit.
You believe that the side which you personally don't like had more lies?
I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you!
Again, you would think Britain hadn't existed just fine on its own for hundreds of years before 1973
Those where the days, weren't they? When every European nation stood as a force of its own, to be reckoned with, and each one ruled over it's own swath of the world?
Well, wake up fuckhead, because those days are over. Now we are dealing with an increasingly irrational US (330 million people), an autocratic China (1.4 billion), an upstart India (1.3 billion), an increasingly hostile and aggressive Russia (144 million), a mostly theocratic and authoritarian Arab League (420 million)...
The EU (510 million) is a bastion of democracy, freedom and liberty in this world, able to stand up and look eye to eye with the other great powers that dominate world affairs in 2019.
But proud little Britain (66 million) wants to go it alone? Good luck with that. Welcome to the 21st century and watch out for the cliff ahead.
Even when you vote to leave EU, a Slashdot editor still has the idea to stick the EU flags on a story about your country.
You happen to be wrong. I have no (known) skin in that game. My source does, admittedly, but he's someone I trust a lot more than I trust any politician. Charles Stross. http://www.antipope.org/charli... You'll need to search back a ways to find the pages where he discusses his analysis, and the what and the why of it.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
And if you were one of the ones that hasn't (yet), would your priority be to get one with 60M people or 420M?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Imagine if we'd had bureaucratic nonsense like that in 1940 when we were building Spitfires out of old saucepans & school railings and you couldn't get oranges. The beastly Germans would have ended up running the whole bloody continent!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Don't be silly, most people don't bat an eyelash at that kind of thing these days.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If you are comparing GDP, you really ought to use PPP (purchasing power parity), which makes the UK economy larger than California.
Secondly, the US is richer than the UK and just about every other large country.
I also think the value of being part of an economic bloc is overstated.
Lastly, the EU and the Euro in particular, has been extremely damaging for smaller members like Greece. Some of the things they did to Greece are borderline unconscionable.
Things like giving credit at far below the market rate to help avoiding a default? While the UK stood aside and watched in amusement, having made clear that this is not their problem? The evil, evil EU.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Yeah, those new trade deals with the Faroe islands and the Palestinian autonomy are truly bespoke.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Why prevent a default at all. Lending them money to avoid default was not charity. A default would have been bad for Greece but it would give them a clean slate and a much healthier "national balance sheet". They wouldn't be the first country to ever default.
Not even the Greek themselves were crazy enough to go for a default.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Why would it be an either/or situation?
The EU (510 million) is a bastion of democracy
Thanks, I needed the laugh.
Btw, you forgot Brazil.
You also forgot that the UK hasn't left NATO and so doesn't suffer militarily by leaving the EU and if we drop our living standards to those enjoyed by far smaller countries like Switzerland and Norway then on the whole it'll be an improvement on the current state.
the backwards soon to be third world shithole that was the UK
So where did your family go that's so much fucking better?
Brexit will be an economic disaster no matter how many strawmen you build to support your delusions.
Brexit was never about the economy. The only people that voted based on the economy were remainers scared to stand up and take responsibility for their own country.
You're welcome. But the unfortunate reality is, that compared to most of the rest of the world, it really is.
I never said it was. Work on your vocabulary, perhaps?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Why then, my answer to your question becomes, "Both. Why are you asking such a superfluous question?"