London's bizarre AI mural is expected to be torn down, and you'll never guess why

This write-up names the artist believed to have created it, and says the mural is going to be removed. And yeah, I never would have guessed why. 

A look at the abuse scandal leading to the resignation of the archbishop of Canterbury

A depraved abuser who, over decades, was shuffled from England to Zimbabwe to South Africa, until he finally died. "At no point did the English church leaders who knew of his abuses reach out to their African counterparts to warn them."

Is this animated, musical graphic about the UK banning "ninja swords" intended to be farcical?

🚨 Ninja swords are used by criminals to rob victims of their lives.

There is only one course of action:

✅ Remove knives from the streets
✅ Tougher consequences for criminals
✅ Save lives pic.twitter.com/VaKMe2qRCK

— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) September 9, 2024

What's the track?


Some other tweets:

It will soon be illegal to own a zombie-style knife or machete.

Surrender your weapon at Manchester City Centre Police Station at the Town Hall Extension before the law changes on 24 September 2024.

Open 24/7.

More info: https://t.co/kbtP4p0OLL pic.twitter.com/9AQmQbYn8S

— Manchester City Centre Police (GMP) (@GMPCityCentre) September 11, 2024

Government to introduce ban on machete and zombie-style knives - as Brits urged to surrender their weapons https://t.co/CEXVMbYdBI pic.twitter.com/m0IsqDqitD

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 18, 2024

And an official post:

This scheme is just one part of the government’s pledge to halve knife crime in a decade. Next steps will include further bans, stronger rules to stop online sales, and tough action to stop young people being drawn into crime.

(I'm assuming, hoping they've created and announced actual standards about what sort of bladed weapon is unlawful, and not just using vague slang terms.) (That first tweet cites "ninja swords" as the problem, and then follows up with removing "knives")

The Conservative Wipeout 2024 Bingo Card for tracking Tories that are voted out of office

So what I really wanted was a bingo card that I could cross off all the Tories from as they lose on July 4th. But it didn't exist. So I made one. AND YOU CAN HAVE ONE TOO! Order it now in time for election night and you can play along at home: https://t.co/Emm6yYCdxZ pic.twitter.com/FRWeWTOuQr

— christhebarker (@christhebarker) June 14, 2024

This is the correct link.

The reveal of the new multi-faith area at the Bristol Airport is like they're parodying themselves

This week, we have opened a new multi-faith area in the free waiting zone.

Located just off the Silver Zone roundabout, the new area provides customers with a private space to reflect and pray whilst waiting to collect friends, family or loved ones. pic.twitter.com/tgIusF1tIJ

— Bristol Airport (@BristolAirport) November 23, 2023

*Previously: Zavareh Multi-Faith Temple for power plant workers in Iran

Experts surprised by theft of artificial insemination tanks containing a large quantity of cattle semen

BBC:

Semen from prize-winning animals can command a very high price.

...

Semen storage is a specialised industry and as one farmer put it to me: "You don't mess around with liquid nitrogen."

...

that cold temperature makes it very dangerous, which is why those using it for artificial insemination storage must be trained and registered.

And the tanks must be topped up several times a year to keep them functioning.

Some colorful details in this article about passionate hooligan support for very low level English soccer teams

From a long article focusing on why hooligan arrests have skyrocketed since the pandemic:

Outside a pub named The Feathered Fish stirred a few hundred young lads decked out in CP Goggle jackets, tapered trackies and ‘Meet Me at McDonald’s’ haircuts

...

They were here for Cheltenham Town’s match against Gloucestershire rivals Forest Green Rovers – a fixture known to locals as ‘El Glosico’

...

The Gloucestershire derby is the perfect accelerator for this phenomenon: a local grudge match that brings ancient village rivalries in line with the wider British culture war. Because while Cheltenham Town are a standard lower-league football team run by a local solicitor and featuring a squad of itinerant journeymen, Forest Green are a very different prospect. Owned by wind-farm magnate Dale Vince – a former New Age traveller in the Spiral Tribe mould who once sported a Richie Hawtin haircut – the club boasts of being the world’s first vegan football club, as well as the first carbon-neutral football club. Indeed, there are no animal products on sale at their stadium, The New Lawn, which has solar panels on its roof and a pitch that recycles water. (Work on a new stadium designed by Zaha Hadid is underway.) Among Cheltenham fans, this is no cause for solidarity, with one terrace chant referring to Vince as a “sad vegan bastard”.

...

“Gloucestershire’s quite an affluent part of the country, but Cheltenham Town has stayed true to its roots… whereas Forest Green has always been inherently middle class. I mean, look at veganism. When’s the last time you saw a working class vegan?”

(Various theories on why they're called "Meet Met at McDonald's" haircuts, btw.) (The goggle jackets have hoods with built-in goggles.) (Here's an SI article asking if Forest Green can "save the planet")

Couple sets up camera to figure out who is destroying their trees, and realizes it's a wild beaver

The Guardian (with video):

The couple, who want to remain anonymous to protect the animal’s location, said: “Some of our trees began to go missing overnight and others were simply being mauled. It looked like someone was hitting them with a machete.

...

The discovery has baffled wildlife experts because Wales’s wild beaver population is virtually nonexistent. A small number in colonies several miles away are all accounted for.

(The suspicion is it's vigilante rewilding.)

There's a chain of prison-themed bars in England called "Alcotraz"

"Smuggle your liquor and experience the bar behind bars"

"Beavers will return to west London for the first time in 400 years after receiving funding from the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan"

"They have begun to reappear after the government-licensed beaver releases within enclosures, as well as illegal releases taking place around the country."

*Previously: How beavers became North America's best firefighter

The prince is allegedly furious he can't wear at the king's upcoming coronation an "extravagant headpiece topped with ostrich feathers" and "flowing velvet robes"

TDB. Getty has a photo from 2003 of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip wearing the "Order of the Garter" costume.

"Rishi Sunak’s new private heated swimming pool uses so much energy that the local electricity network had to be upgraded"

Guardian:

Construction work on Sunak’s private 12-metre (40ft) swimming pool has finished just as many council-run baths, including in his local area, are being forced to reduce their opening hours owing to increased energy costs. This week, the House of Commons culture select committee called on the government to offer extra help to swimming pools in the forthcoming budget, suggesting 350 pools had closed or cut their hours as a result of energy costs.

Only last month, the operators of a swimming pool near the prime minister’s home said it would reduce public access because of the increased cost of energy.

Meeting the king in a wizard's coat, plus more looks from the designer

Don’t think I could pull it off but for those interested in the outfit - the Rain Coat Full Look from @RobertWun’s SS23 Couture Collection 👍

— Yui Mok (@YuiMok) February 8, 2023

More looks from the designer:

The collection was about fear

"In my head, I imagined artisans and tailors in the ateliers wearing all-white with gloves in fear of staining the delicate garments – which made me think: why not turn all of that fear into beautiful pieces?"   

"Targets to clean up the majority of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters suffering from a cocktail of agricultural and sewage pollution have been pushed back from 2027 to 2063"

Guardian:

Until Brexit the UK government was signed up to the water framework directive, which required countries to make sure all their waters achieved “good” chemical and ecological status by 2027 at the latest. 

...

Not one English waterway, including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters is in good ecological and chemical health at present

"A Chinese security camera company has been advertising ethnicity recognition features to British and other European customers"

Guardian:

"The company removed both claims from its website following an inquiry from the Guardian"

...

In contrast with the US, [the company's] cameras are in widespread use in Britain, a Guardian investigation revealed in 2020

...

The company has acknowledged that its cameras may have been used in [China]’s “re-education camps”

"The late Queen's lady-in-waiting ... has apologised and resigned after she repeatedly asked a black British charity boss where she was from"

BBC with the summary.

Wikipedia:

She is the fifth and youngest daughter of the 12th Earl Waldegrave and Mary Hermione, Countess Waldegrave, née Grenfell (1909–1995). On 25 April 1959 she married Marmaduke Hussey

...

She is a godmother of William, Prince of Wales and was chosen to accompany Queen Elizabeth II at the funeral of Prince Philip

...

She has also received the Queen Elizabeth II Version of the Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal with 30-, 40-, 50- and 60-year bars

"Eton College has apologised after it was claimed girls visiting from a nearby state school were subjected to misogynistic language and racial slurs"

BBC:

Prince William and his brother, the Duke of Sussex, both attended Eton, as did the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"Hong Kong protester dragged into Manchester Chinese consulate grounds and beaten up"

That's the BBC's headline. Plenty of video showing what they feel entitled to do in another country in front of cameras.

Metropolitan Police admit "74 officers weren't actually injured at Notting Hill Carnival"

My London summarizing the results of this freedom of information request:

The Metropolitan Police have admitted that there weren't 74 officers injured at the Notting Hill Carnival despite previously claiming there were.

...

In fact, three of the injuries were slips, trips, or falls, 13 were from lifting and handling, and one hurt their back 'from carrying or wearing officer safety equipment'. 27 officers were physically assaulted but only one of these assaults resulted in an injury lasting more than three days.

...

Ninety per cent of the injuries officers suffered during Carnival were 'minor non-reportable'

"A wealthy landowner is pressing ahead with legal moves that could threaten the right of backpackers and youth groups to wild camp on Dartmoor"

Guardian:

Dartmoor is the only place in England and Wales where it is legal to wild camp in designated areas, without a landowner’s permission. 

...

People have also camped in these areas for at least 100 years, with bylaws brought in under the Dartmoor Commons Act in the mid-1980s enshrining it as a right.

Now a fund manager who purchased an estate in 2011 is trying to end the practice.