Today's discussion about the news

The reason we all have to get our laptops and battery operated kit out for security is they have know of a threat like this for a while.

Nah I think you need a sophisticated state to do something on this scale

To force you enemy onto a pagers and then furnishing them with those pagers wich you’ve put remote controlled bombs in is absolutely incredible. It seems pretty much all the pagers used had the explosives in.

pretty much every pager hezbollah members had blew up. It was almost total penetration.

It also puts Iran in a bind, which also imports most of its communications equipment.

I raised a query as to why anyone (legitimately) would be using a pager these days.

I was informed that surgical doctors use them as mobile phones can interfere with sensitive equipment.

Just a thought.

Getting giddy over the James Bond tech details in the case isn’t good look.

This is Olympic standard whataboutery. 🥇

There's a stat around that the NHS uses 10% of the world's pagers...

I think it's likely there are alternatives as they were trying to phase them out.

The attack seems pretty remarkable. Whether it will have put a sizeable dent on Hezbollah, or just motivated a new generation is yet to be seen. It puts Israel's allies in an uncomfortable position, but I'm not sure there's much new there.

Especially given what Hezbollah do, this is the sort of thing they are meant to be good at.

Not seen this - is there a link to a good summary so much seems to be paywalled these days ?

Links to the research in the article. #

Dr Newman showed that the highest rates of achieving extreme old age are predicted by high poverty, the lack of birth certificates, and fewer 90-year-olds. Poverty and pressure to commit pension fraud were shown to be excellent indicators of reaching ages 100+ in a way that is ‘the opposite of rational expectations’.  

Finally, Dr Newman debunked the popular idea of ‘Blue Zones’ as regions of exceptional longevity and healthy lifestyles. Many, if not most of the centenarians in the ‘Blue Zone’ have turned out to be alive in the government records but were deceased in reality. Using extensive government data and surveys, Dr Newman showed that most of the dietary and lifestyle claims behind the so-called ‘Blue Zone’ regions of high longevity are not supported by any independent data. 

For example, despite vegetables and sweet potatoes being promoted as key components of the Okinawan ‘Blue Zone’ diets, according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the least vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and have the highest body mass index. 

I am not surprised you took the opportunity to have a dig ;)

"The term “blue zones” was first coined by Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow and journalist, during an exploratory project he led in 2004. After an expedition to Okinawa, Japan in 2000 to investigate the longevity there, he set out to explore other regions of the world with reportedly high longevity.

With the support of National Geographic, Buettner, and his team of scientists and demographers traveled the world in search of communities where people not only lived longer but also enjoyed a high quality of life in their old age. After analyzing demographic data and interviewing numerous centenarians, they identified five regions that stood out for their extraordinary longevity and vitality."

Interesting idea.

I see that the Tufton St IEA is seizing the ongoing crisis in the NHS, caused by what one suspects is deliberate underfunding over the past 14 years to cause the crisis, to try to push the narrative that it needs to be abolished.

Could you outline the Dutch system?

I'm also unconvinced by the underfunding argument. Real terms funding has increased under all governments since its inception.