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<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="German station with iCE train" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I may have missed an opportunity in September, here is the DB railway map, I should have travelled from Stralsund to Lubeck via Rostock …
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="German station with iCE train" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I may have missed an opportunity in September, here is the DB railway map, I should have travelled from Stralsund to Lubeck via Rostock … <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="724" height="1024" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-724x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13409" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-724x1024.png 724w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-212x300.png 212w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-768x1087.png 768w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-1086x1536.png 1086w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-1447x2048.png 1447w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways.png 1653w" sizes="(max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px" />
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the flag rank outside the Berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Oops, missed this, … published on the 21st October, this article was made on 5th November and is unfinished. A summary of the defence & security programmes and the social cohesion programmes would be useful. Links VDL’s State of the Union speech, landing page which hosts the video, and text. This page has a series...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the flag rank outside the Berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Oops, missed this, … published on the 21st October, this article was made on 5th November and is unfinished. A summary of the defence & security programmes and the social cohesion programmes would be useful. Links VDL’s State of the Union speech, landing page which hosts the video, and text. This page has a series of categorises bullet summaries, competitiveness (6), defence and security (5), social fairness (6), quality of life (5), democracy (5) includes anti-corruption, and a global Europe aka trade and peace (3). The Commission Work Plan, has a landing page, and they have published the workplan which has a supplementary documents’ index. I made a diigo post of the work plan, highlighting and commenting on it. Davelevy’s Favorite Links from Diigo What do I think? This would be better organised as the Commission has organised the plan, competitiveness (6), defence and security (5), social fairness (6), quality of life (5), democracy (5) includes anti-corruption, and a global Europe aka trade and peace (3). Democracy On democracy, few +ive promises, and nothing on citizen’s assemblies nor the ECI. Although the democracy shield remains in place and will be progressed, unless the EU caves to Trump’s demands. On agriculture, there’s no promises (again) on responding to the “End the cage age” ECI. On anti-corruption, there is cross party unanimity on its importance, although the ECR and others oppose the imposition of democratic conditionality on the release of EU funds. This needs a statement on their media reform plans, it’s unlikey that they will make significant legislative constraints on privately [billionaire] owned media organisations. See also Digital market regulation in the EU includes the Democracy Shield and some brief comments on the Media Freedom Act. Single Market The omnibus regulation and the 28th regime. The omnibus package is described on its EU page. Is this just minimising regulation and rules? However the Commission is reducing protections under the GDPR as part of the omnibus regulation and is also weakening the EU’s environmental protection. The latest news on climate change and COP is reported at E3G. (5/11/2025). The 28th regime is the origination of a common commercial law regime; this may be the means by which genuine pan-European companies can be regulated by a common code. It might also be a trojan in which EU entities can be created but probably not as the Commission are with drawing its current proposals as the Council i.e the member states will not agree the current proposals. The work plan makes further reference to The Draghi report on EU competitiveness. I may need to read this. This seems to have been supplemented by Enrico Letta’s Report on the Future of the Single Market The Middle East The work plan does mention the middle east, but the words used underline the failure to agree on the big questions. It says, … the immediate priority in Gaza is to ensure sufficient humanitarian aid reaches the population, the EU will also contribute by providing support for the governance and reform of the Palestinian Authority and funding reconstruction, including through convening the Palestine Donor Group and by strengthening the presence of its EU CSDP missions. See also https://davelevy.info/wiki/my-eu-start-page/ which points to other EU resources on this wiki.
What are the politics of the EU Commission?
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />This explains a lot. This is a chart of the EU commissioners by political party, I made this today and it includes a few judgements. The EPP have a voting majority on the Commission. In addition, there is a creeping Presidentialisation of European politics which in my opinion concedes too much power to the singular...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> This explains a lot. This is a chart of the EU commissioners by political party, I made this today and it includes a few judgements. The EPP have a voting majority on the Commission. In addition, there is a creeping Presidentialisation of European politics which in my opinion concedes too much power to the singular leader of political authorities. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="752" height="479" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Commissioners-Party-Chart-25.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13395" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Commissioners-Party-Chart-25.png 752w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Commissioners-Party-Chart-25-300x191.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> I made this using google for facts, and excel as the chart drawing tool, it includes my judgements in one or two cases. Please feel free to use, a credit would be nice.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="modern windmills in a purple sunset/rise" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />What is this? How will it help the cost-of-living crisis? … LInks
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="modern windmills in a purple sunset/rise" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> What is this? How will it help the cost-of-living crisis? … LInks Great british energy founding statement at gov.uk What-we-will-do at GBE GB Energy From pledge to reality a commentary by Public First
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />A new law, good or bad? This article is a bit better now. is nowhere near finished, come back later. Links Copyright The creative industry or at least its superstars kicked off on the issue of AI training and copyright. They lost it seems, this is covered in the article linked below. UK passes updated...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> A new law, good or bad? This article is a bit better now. is nowhere near finished, come back later. Links The text of the legislation @ legislation.gov.uk The Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA) – what does it mean for organisations by the ICO, published prior to final passage. What the House of Commons briefing had to say. Briefing: The Data Use and Access Bill (Second Reading) by the Open Rights Group, the had an unfounded fear that the UK might lose its adequacy ruling, because the law planned to weaken protection from automated decision making and for use by AI. It reduces the threshold protecting personal data from law enforcement enquiries. They also argue that it weakens the safeguarding requirements with respect to personal information. They also oppose the introduction of Henry VIII powers. (Much of the criticism is based on a fear that the UK would lose its adequacy ruling, which it did not. See below.) The weakening of the requirement to not automatically process/profile people is a serious criticism which could have been met if they’d wanted to.) They also publish the narrower briefings on use for political purposes & DUAB and AI harms Copyright The creative industry or at least its superstars kicked off on the issue of AI training and copyright. They lost it seems, this is covered in the article linked below. UK passes updated data bill without AI copyright provisions by coingeek, who also highlight that there are key updates in the bill include expanding the scope for data processing under ‘Legitimate Interests,’ such as for direct marketing and security processing, reducing interruptive and ineffective cookie consent banners, and provisions to boost market research, product development, and technological innovation. However, one key change the bill doesn’t include is a much-debated amendment to force big tech firms and artificial intelligence (AI) companies to get permission and/or pay for U.K. content, as the government insisted that it was planning to address this topic in future AI and copyright legislation—after the conclusion of a consultation on the topic in February. Adequacy The renewal of the UK adequacy decision is documented in the list below, although it is a long process, which has now gone through the first two (of five) stages. 3/11/2025. See The European Commission proposes UK adequacy deadline extension by the IAPP, an interim measure to give themselves another 6 months to make their mind up, in light of the UK’s proposed reforms. Pinsent Mason report on the Commission’s draft decision to renew the UK’s data protection adequacy The Commission’s Adequacy decisions page from the Commission, details the renewal process, does not yet have the most recent decisions to renew/extend the UK’s adequacy decisions. The text of the Commission decisions from the Commission. (I have not read this). The EDPB has given its opinion and asks the Commission to consider aspects of DUAB. These include the Henry VIII powers as they relate to “.. to international transfers, automated decision-making, and the governance of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The EDPB invites the Commission to address possible risks of divergence by highlighting, in the final adequacy decision,” On the ICO I asked Gemini, Does duaa change the governance of the ICO? It answered yes, I may be most interested in “The ICO will be reformed and replaced by a new corporate body called the Information Commission (IC). This replaces the previous single-Commissioner model (a corporation sole). And the IC will be governed by a board, which will include a mix of executive and non-executive members. This is intended to bring the regulator’s structure more in line with other major UK regulators like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The deadline to apply for non-execs has closed. They don’t muck around. The job advert has some interesting statements about role and experience, They want people with regulatory experience. The current IC is the new Chairman of the Board, John Edwards biography. comment Monica & Graham seem silent on this other links Davelevy’s Favorite Links from Diigo Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect public from AI harms | Open Rights Group on September 2, 2025 at 7:40 pm “The Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect the public from harmful uses of artificial intelligence, say digital rights campaigners, Open Rights Group. The Bill, published today, rehashes many of the provisions in the previous government’s controversial Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which was ditched in wash-up prior to the General Election. Annotations: The Data Use and Access Bill weakens our rights and gives companies and organisations more powers to use automated decisions. This is of particular concern in areas of policing, welfare and immigration where life-changing decisions could be made without human review. Tags: technology regulation duab duaa openrightsgroup European Commission should rescind UK data adequacy | Computer Weekly on June 16, 2025 at 2:46 pm Seven civil society organisations are calling on European Commissioner Michael McGrath to rescind the UK’s data adequacy status, citing major concerns around the country’s ongoing erosion of privacy and data rights. Annotations: Commenting on the DUAB proposals – which “would represent a systematic weakening of privacy and data protection safeguards” – the civil society groups noted the bill will diminish the right not to be subject to automated decision-making; delegate “extensive” legislative power to UK ministers that would allow them to circumvent Parliamentary scrutiny when making decisions around the legality of data processing or transfers; and otherwise grant government and law enforcement agencies “expansive access” to personal data. Tags: politics europeanunion gdpr adequacy article22 duab
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-45x45.jpg 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />This post talks about scripting on raspbian. I have two problems, cron and privilege and running a java script … cron & privilege My script, run_aptjob requires sudo authentication and so asks for it from the gui when run from crontab despite being defined in the root crontab file and called using the sudo command....
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-45x45.jpg 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> This post talks about scripting on raspbian. I have two problems, cron and privilege and running a java script … cron & privilege My script, run_aptjob requires sudo authentication and so asks for it from the gui when run from crontab despite being defined in the root crontab file and called using the sudo command. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60754639/sudo-asks-for-password-in-cronjob-script-but-the-same-script-works-without-passw And https://askubuntu.com/questions/419548/how-to-set-up-a-root-cron-job-properly https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=296993 https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/57835/why-my-script-is-not-executed-with-root-privileges-using-crontab https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/32955/cron-job-doesnt-work-but-runs-successfully-manually, looks like a syntax error java I can’t get the script to run from a batch file, I need to set DISPLAY and pass the -input parameter to the command line. It was working but now isn’t. export DISPLAY=:10.0 java -jar /opt/java/ksar-latest -input ${YESTERDAY} This code works from the command line where $YESTERDAY is yesterday’s SAR text file. Does DISPLAY need to be passed over using the -D flag? Otherwise, I found these, https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/226008/how-to-pass-arguments-to-a-java-process-from-within-a-shell-script https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8123058/passing-on-command-line-arguments-to-runnable-jar how to get a .jar to display its options, usually java -jar ${jarfile} –help should work, it did for me. This on duckduckgo gave a number of options
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/timer-switch-w1080-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/timer-switch-w1080-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/timer-switch-w1080-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I have a DIY project coming up which I need a time control on. I was pointed at some switches which can be controlled by a phone app called Tayu. … Links I wonder if there is a regionalisation dimension.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/timer-switch-w1080-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/timer-switch-w1080-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/timer-switch-w1080-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I have a DIY project coming up which I need a time control on. I was pointed at some switches which can be controlled by a phone app called Tayu. … Links A site by them. A 3rd party video explaining the app. Allegedly, one can use ifttt to manage these switches. This gemini response points at a family of services called “Smart Life services”, which has an IFTTT interface/trigger. This is one of the switches I am thinking of buying and this one has wifi. I wonder if there is a regionalisation dimension.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/royo-bezella-serena-w1080-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a copy of royo's bezella serena" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/royo-bezella-serena-w1080-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/royo-bezella-serena-w1080-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I went to the the Clarendon Art Gallery in Greenwich and came across a picture by an artist that signs himself Royo. See below for an image credit of the featured image which is a digital version of one of his pictures taken from a site claiming to present his work. On previous posts in...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/royo-bezella-serena-w1080-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a copy of royo's bezella serena" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/royo-bezella-serena-w1080-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/royo-bezella-serena-w1080-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I went to the the Clarendon Art Gallery in Greenwich and came across a picture by an artist that signs himself Royo. See below for an image credit of the featured image which is a digital version of one of his pictures taken from a site claiming to present his work. On previous posts in this series I have made a little slideshow of digital versions of other works they have produced, but not this time. I can’t find a version of the picture I saw in the gallery. The featured image has been copied from the web site noted above. It is used for the usual reasons and I am pointing to the author’s site. This site is non commercial.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-olenabohovyk-unsplash-cropped-shrunk-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="picture, woman carrying two baguettes and wearing a beret" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-olenabohovyk-unsplash-cropped-shrunk-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-olenabohovyk-unsplash-cropped-shrunk-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I have so many plans for travelling in France, its getting difficult to keep track of. I made this index page, with plans for an active link to my maps, and a dynamic list of article on this wiki. … A map of France I plan to make a usemap of this, to link to...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-olenabohovyk-unsplash-cropped-shrunk-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="picture, woman carrying two baguettes and wearing a beret" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-olenabohovyk-unsplash-cropped-shrunk-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-olenabohovyk-unsplash-cropped-shrunk-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I have so many plans for travelling in France, its getting difficult to keep track of. I made this index page, with plans for an active link to my maps, and a dynamic list of article on this wiki. … A map of France <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="724" height="856" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-via-mundomappa.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13170" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-via-mundomappa.png 724w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/france-via-mundomappa-254x300.png 254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px" /> I plan to make a usemap of this, to link to mymaps of France. What else have I got Immediately below on this page is a rendered feed of articles tagged ‘France’; the link on this line takes you to a new HTML page. France – davelevy . info / wiki things dave has discovered, brought to you by wordpress & 1and1 France by Dave on September 28, 2025 at 11:29 am I have so many plans for travelling in France, its getting difficult to keep track of. I made this index page, with plans for an active link to my maps, and a dynamic list of article on this wiki. … A map of France I plan to make a usemap of this, to link to… Marseilles by Dave on September 21, 2025 at 1:37 pm Inspired by paintings of the Riviera, I am considering visiting Marseilles. Here are my notes and links … Notes and links Travel Hotels Not a serious look yet, but I have found these, Things to do My inspiration Dufy’s painting, of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baie_des_Anges, is presumably between Cape D’Antibes and Nice. I made a note about… Bordeaux by Dave on March 10, 2025 at 11:35 pm This seems a good idea. I can get there by train too. Wine, trains, buses and things to do. … Links Wine Getting there Hotels & places to stay Things to do My Map Dieppe by Dave on April 13, 2024 at 5:32 pm Maybe I’ll check this out? Links I made a map, Paris by Dave on September 7, 2022 at 3:29 pm It’s been a while, but I am planning to return, probably by Eurostar. Ola Power sockets and plugs Food Hotels? My Plan Things to do My Map my trip advisor trip/list. It has a revolutionary history, and there are many ways to celebrate it. Getyourguide now offers a Revolutionary Walking Tour. La Rochelle by Dave on July 21, 2022 at 8:43 pm Shall I go to La Rochelle, my notes and links … Expedia offer me a 5 days and easy jet return in early august for £744 in an Ibis, but one called Old Port £371 by Eurostar, £490 for the hotel by direct book, £565 with expedia or booking, Inter-rail price, offered as 5 or… Travel to Strasbourg by Dave on April 29, 2022 at 3:16 pm This is a trick, plane or train? It’s an arse-ache to get to cheaply (and quickly). Here’s what I have found. I eventually went direct to Lufthansa and got a return from LCY via Frankfurt by bus for about the same price as Kayak although I upgraded from basic. Hotel’s shouldn’t be a problem…. Return to Chamonix by Dave on November 13, 2015 at 2:22 pm This was originally written in 2015, when my works trip returned to Chamonix. Yup, we’re going back to Chamonix, probably staying here., obviously going up in the world; it’s next door to the one we used in 2011. In 2025, I had a look to go under my own steam, to see the snow and…
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ukus-techdeal-assumedHMG-OGL-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="signing the UK/US tech deal, Starmer/Trump" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ukus-techdeal-assumedHMG-OGL-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ukus-techdeal-assumedHMG-OGL-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Announced with a palavar, here are my notes & links. More to come. Notes and links Is there a bubble? The article Class war 1939-1945 on this wiki examines the transactional profit seeking motives of the US in the lead up to their joining the 2nd World War. (Why is this in here, oh yeah,...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ukus-techdeal-assumedHMG-OGL-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="signing the UK/US tech deal, Starmer/Trump" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ukus-techdeal-assumedHMG-OGL-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ukus-techdeal-assumedHMG-OGL-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Announced with a palavar, here are my notes & links. More to come. Notes and links A press release announcing Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland regarding the Technology Prosperity Deal from gov.uk and also US-UK pact will boost advances in drug discovery, create tens of thousands of jobs and transform lives from gov.uk Earlier, a government commissioned “Independent Report”, the AI Opportunities Action Plan , signed by Matt Clifford, Chair of https://www.aria.org.uk/, a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. Google Gemini says, The “independent AI action plan” you are likely referring to is the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, which was developed by Matt Clifford. This plan recommends building sufficient, secure, and sustainable AI infrastructure, expanding the UK’s sovereign AI compute capacity by 20 times by 2030, and creating AI Growth Zones to accelerate data centre construction. It also calls for investing in AI skills and talent, reforming AI regulation to enable safe and trusted adoption, establishing a National Data Library to increase access to data, and working with regulators to accelerate AI across priority sectors. See also, Nscale announces UK AI infrastructure commitment in partnership with Microsoft, NVIDIA and OpenAI by Nscale. Who are Nscale? An answer by Computer Weekly and themselves. About them, or their Britishness, by the FT (£,(-)), and by CNBC, which says, they came from blockchain mining, and use NVIDIA GPUs. So what do they provide? I think, this is their companies house records. What is new in UK-US tech deal and what will it mean for the British economy? from the Guardian UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal – What it is and what it means for tech from techuk.org US firms pledge £150bn investment in UK as tech deal signed from the BBC, good coverage on what it means and some excellent contrarian quotes from Nick Clegg. A House of Commons research briefing on Government policy, Data centres: planning policy, sustainability, and resilience Is there a bubble? https://fortune.com/2025/09/23/ai-boom-unsustainable-tech-spending-parabolic-deutsche-bank/ https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/deutsche-bank-grim-warning-ai-industry The FT chips in, Brace for a crash before the golden age of AI , with an article echoing Perez’s theories And the DB article, AI is not a bubble (yet) amid surging demand: Azeem Azhar , or at least I think this is; it is less apocalyptic than the commentaries. On medium, I find, https://medium.com/@wlockett/the-ai-bubble-is-far-worse-than-we-thought-f070a70a90d7 which focuses on debt and profitability (there is none), and https://medium.com/@wlockett/ai-just-had-its-big-short-moment-714e143dabfa which talks about the circularity of the investments. The article Class war 1939-1945 on this wiki examines the transactional profit seeking motives of the US in the lead up to their joining the 2nd World War. (Why is this in here, oh yeah, its about the UK/US tech deal. Trump is not someone who believes in win/win.) The featured image is widely available, assumed to be HMG and thus available under OGL.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/europeatnight-nasa-cc-nasa-2008-by-w1200-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="europe at night by nasa" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/europeatnight-nasa-cc-nasa-2008-by-w1200-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/europeatnight-nasa-cc-nasa-2008-by-w1200-cropped-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Various things have taken me to considering the EU stack, these include the issues raised in this article On cloud operating systems and security of supply and the Bastani/Hao interview. The EU is considering these issues, in defining an EU stack, which does include networks, storage, and systems (and thus presumably CPUs and ASICS). Notes...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/europeatnight-nasa-cc-nasa-2008-by-w1200-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="europe at night by nasa" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/europeatnight-nasa-cc-nasa-2008-by-w1200-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/europeatnight-nasa-cc-nasa-2008-by-w1200-cropped-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Various things have taken me to considering the EU stack, these include the issues raised in this article On cloud operating systems and security of supply and the Bastani/Hao interview. The EU is considering these issues, in defining an EU stack, which does include networks, storage, and systems (and thus presumably CPUs and ASICS). Notes and Links https://www.euro-stack.info/ https://www.ceps.eu/a-bold-proposal-to-build-the-eurostack-because-doing-nothing-isnt-an-option-anymore/ https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/our-projects/reframetech-algorithmen-fuers-gemeinwohl/project-news/eurostack-a-european-alternative-for-digital-sovereignty With a comment from Canada, by Emily Osborne, who says, “If Canada seeks genuine control over the physical and digital infrastructure that stores and transports information of its public, it cannot rely on US hyperscalers to provide it. These companies fall under US jurisdiction and, therefore, are subject to the 2018 CLOUD Act, which enables US authorities to access data they hold, even if that data is stored abroad.” While looking for a featured image, I found this article, https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/internet-speed-in-europe/, which has this image, show See also https://davelevy.info/wiki/opensource-cloud-oss/ where I discuss the opensource/european alternatives to the US datenkraken and among other things, say, I say, that, it’s also fortunate for the UK, while Rachel Reeves cancelled Sunak’s supercomputing projects, that the previous Tory government agreed to rejoin the EU’s supercomputing consortium. She changed her mind, see https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/chancellor-restores-ps750-million-fund-edinburgh-supercomputer. June 2025
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I have written a lot about the European Union and its democracy and its easy to get lost so I have made this page which is meant to be a start page/index. Also possibly less central to understanding the EU A list of all the articles tagged “europeanunion” can be found here, and here is...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I have written a lot about the European Union and its democracy and its easy to get lost so I have made this page which is meant to be a start page/index. Subsidiarity and proportionality basically my comments, notes and links on the treaties and constitution of the EU, you can see where it started, but now includes a number of paper links on democracy in the EU including references to those who want to reverse the centralising tendencies. Digital market regulation in the EU includes the Democracy Shield and some brief comments on the Media Freedom Act Sailing the high seas reforming and enlarging the EU on the late 2023 attempts to agree or head off significant reform to the institutions and competencies, interesting because the two initiatives show the two approaches of increasing federalism and/or reverting to a two speed Europe. Also possibly less central to understanding the EU An article called, Media and election interference covers the UK and EU, catalogues and comments on the laws I think needed to understand the challenges of the Democracy shield. How much has the EU changed since Jan 20?, unfinished, maybe I should put the UKICE material in this page. A list of all the articles tagged “europeanunion” can be found here, and here is a rendering of the last 12 item in the list in Feedzy. There are a number of articles also tagged on my blog. and a Feedzy render of those is available below. What are the politics of the EU Commission? by Dave on November 5, 2025 at 11:47 am This explains a lot. This is a chart of the EU commissioners by political party, I made this today and it includes a few judgements. The EPP have a voting majority on the Commission. In addition, there is a creeping Presidentialisation of European politics which in my opinion concedes too much power to the singular… IT Sovereignty by Dave on September 26, 2025 at 4:57 pm Various things have taken me to considering the EU stack, these include the issues raised in this article On cloud operating systems and security of supply and the Bastani/Hao interview. The EU is considering these issues, in defining an EU stack, which does include networks, storage, and systems (and thus presumably CPUs and ASICS). Notes… My EU Start Page by Dave on September 24, 2025 at 10:56 am I have written a lot about the European Union and its democracy and its easy to get lost so I have made this page which is meant to be a start page/index. Also possibly less central to understanding the EU A list of all the articles tagged “europeanunion” can be found here, and here is… Copernicus & Brexit by Dave on August 13, 2025 at 2:35 pm The European Space Agency celebrated its most recent launch of a Copernicus Sentinel Satellite, which made me wonder how Brexit had impacted the UK’s participation in the EU’s space programmes. This post looks at what I found. On visiting the Design Museum’s Living on Mars exhibition (a couple of years ago, I was surprised to… On AI Regulation by Dave on June 26, 2025 at 6:35 am Some people are thinking very hard about this, here are my notes. Links I posted some thoughts on my blog; https://davelevy.info/thoughts-from-gmb-25-on-privacy-law/ and others (including Linkedin article mirrors) at https://davelevy.info/tag/ai/ Does DUAB change the landscape? EES/ETIAS by Dave on June 19, 2025 at 11:54 am EES is coming this year, allegedly, while ETIAS will wait ’till 2026. EES is an automatic registration and will eliminate the need for passport stamps for short stay visitors to most of the EU; ETIAS is the pre-travel authorisation system, travellers will need to apply for permission to enter prior to visiting the EU, as… The next EU budget by Dave on May 27, 2025 at 7:13 am The EU is preparing its next medium term budget. This is an act of legislation but they have convened a European citizens panel https://citizens.ec.europa.eu/index_en on the topic; its rercommendations are documented here. No matter the cynicism and valid criticisms aimed at these panels, this must be a good thing. The process continues and this page… Reset or Roadbump by Dave on May 25, 2025 at 12:56 pm On May 19th the European Union and the UK at a summit made a series of agreements. The UK government heralds this as a “Reset”. The European Commission have issued a press release, which has been agreed with the UK. The press release covers Defence, Connecting People, Trade and Economics, & internal security and judicial… An EU Army? by Dave on March 5, 2025 at 12:10 pm Not yet, but the US administration’s behaviour over Ukraine is leading the rest of NATO to ask how real US defence guarantees are. The EU Commission has announced a funding route for arms and Germany is looking to exclude defence expenditure from their “debt ceiling rules”. My notes and links … On the lead up… The Media and election interference by Dave on January 16, 2025 at 5:41 pm Some notes and links on regulating the media and election interference … This article is written in two parts, the first a series of links, and the second a series of comments on what seem to be the critical laws in the UK and the EU. Links What do the US do? UK Laws The… About the Sahra Wagenknect Alliance by Dave on January 3, 2025 at 4:51 pm There is an election coming up in Germany, and both the Free Democrats and die Linke are polling at under 5%, which means they’re out. The BSW is seen as Left Populist, with a lot of focus being put on their position on immigration. This article i.e. mine, starts with a look at an interview… EU Commissioner confirmation hearings by Dave on November 19, 2024 at 2:45 pm I volunteered to watch some of the commissioner confirmation hearings, and write them up. I started with McGrath, Commissioner Designate for democracy , justice, and the rule of law; to get a full picture of my notes, see also Digital market regulation in the EU elsewhere on this wiki. See also Democratising the EU, Democratic… And the Feedzy of my blog, tagged “European Union” Tariffs and other trade barriers by Dave on July 11, 2025 at 9:14 am Last night I watched a video about Canada raising a large toll on lorries travelling from the Lower 48 to Alaska, and it documents and forecast the impact on the fragile Alaskan economy. It reminded me of the trade barriers Human Rights by Dave on June 25, 2025 at 8:25 am At a meeting yesterday, I asked about/EU/UK cooperation within the justice pillar. I asked if in order to develop further cooperation, the UK would need to sign up to the EU’s charter of fundamental rights. The senior MEP present stated Thoughts from GMB 25 on privacy law by Dave on June 12, 2025 at 12:21 pm This article is a summary, I say, over the last week, at GMB Congress, three reasons to rejoin the EU or at least the single market have, in my opinion, been exposed. These are the highlighting of the GDPR as defence against AI, the second is the new EU Pay transparency directive, together with the EU’s AI Act. The full article is overleaf … Labour’s NPF and the EU by Dave on May 30, 2025 at 12:16 pm I made a submission on rejoining the EU to Labour’s NPF. This article documents both how to, and my words of the submission. To see what I’ve said and/or download the text, use the “Read More” button. … Second thoughts on the Euro-summit by Dave on May 30, 2025 at 11:07 am It is my view that Starmer wants a Swiss style deal with the European Union. The reason I consider the summit to be a draw, albeit a score draw, is that neither of the end goals of rejoining nor staying Labour’s new deal for Europe by Dave on April 27, 2025 at 7:55 am This is a comment on A new deal with the EU is exactly what Britain needs. Here’s how Labour will achieve it | Nick Thomas-Symonds | The Guardian – www.theguardian.com, I have made it with the help of diigo, where The pan-European Mediterranean convention and EU/UK relations by Dave on February 18, 2025 at 4:40 pm This blog article comments on the reactions to Marco Sefcovic’s suggestion that the UK as part of the negotiations to improve relations between the UK and the EU should consider joining the pan European Mediterranean convention (PEM); . Sefcovic is the commissioner responsible for trade. The rest of the article looks at HMG’s lukewarm response and looks to explain what the PEM is. For more, press the button … Munich 2025, peace in our time by Dave on February 18, 2025 at 10:12 am The last week has signified the death knell of NATO. The ninety minute phone call between Trump and Putin signifies the road to a 21st century Hitler Stalin pact. The Trump administration’s proposals that the USA and Russia make peace in Ukraine without Ukraine being present at the table and mandating European NATO to provide peacekeeping forces are a return great power politics unrestrained by the rule of law. For more press the button …. Twenty seven becomes … by Dave on December 22, 2024 at 11:32 am One step forward, two steps back, or maybe not, for the EU. Iceland votes to consider joining, Turkey asks to revise its agreements to increase links, and demonstrators continue to protest in Georgia about the stolen election and the postponement The Draghi report on European competitiveness. by Dave on December 16, 2024 at 4:33 pm I have been trying to get on top of whether the Draghi Report on European economic competitiveness is really a game changer. Without study it seems to be a call for more EU (as opposed to member state debt. I