Gareth Myles comments

"Flying taxis: have been about to go into use in many locations for several years. Rather like fusion power, they are always going into service "next year". I cannot find a single location where they are in use - but several where they are promised. The only logical conclusion is the the difficulties have so far proved insurmountable and, probably, the benefits negligible. Also, if they were ever used they would create quite appalling noise pollution.

It is the government's job to ensure the survival of a critically-important manufacturer. Boeing is the only significant competitor to Airbus on the international market, and a supplier of much more than planes to the US government. The US without a major aerospace manufacturer is almost unthinkable but this strike is another step towards Boeing's collapse. It is in the national interest for the government to assist with the search for a resolution.

The article makes a very compelling argument that the concept of an Expo belongs to the 1970s. The world was opening up 50 years ago with international travel still a novelty for most of the population. Anything connected with space travel was simply wondrous, and even the monorail taking you to the Expo was so 21st century. Now we can see everything that happens everywhere in the world without needing more than a few clicks on a phone. There are no mysteries to be revealed by an Expo nor any need for international connections to be made. The passage of time causes some concepts to be outdated. The Expo should have been left to be remembered as its glorious 70s original, not resurrected as another opportunity for milking the taxpayer.

Musk is correct to fight this. Australia claims to allow free speech but then attempts to ban anything that confronts the government's ideology. This is the tool and behaviour of the fascist - and an increasingly common one around the world. China, on the other hand, makes no pretence at allowing free speech. It is the dangerous hypocrisy of Australia that is the issue.

There is so much hype around AI. I suspect it has become little more than a marketing term for some clever programming advances. What would be true AI? To me, it would be the ability to make those intuitive leaps of insight that break away from the rigid script of algorithmic behaviour. I wonder if that can ever be achieved by a machine.

I never realised that Oasis were so big first time round. Or has time distorted recollections and given them a false magnificence? In any case, not a bad achievement for couple of scallies from Burnage.

So much depends on the form of Haaland. City are unbeatable when he plays well. When he doesn't, their focus is mis-directed. They won the Premier League playing with a false nine, and are probably better in this structure than with a poor Haaland. Last season they missed the contribution of Gundogan and have still not found a replacement. I don't see the outcome is as clear as the betting odds suggest.

I have always thought it was a tactical error on the part of the Premier League to levy 115 charges. It gives the club scope for continuing the dispute indefinitely by insisting on the right to contest each individual charge. It also looks vindictive from an organisation that is frequently accused of favouritism toward the "red" teams. Much better would have been to lay out the 2 or 3 most serious charges and complete the process quickly and efficiently. As it stands, City have the resources to keep their defence going indefinitely.

"electric engines humming softly"? Why do journalists keep pushing the myth that these air taxis will somehow be silent? Have they never heard the noise that even the smallest drone makes? The motors may be quiet, but the rotors need to displace a large amount of air and that will never be a quiet exercise. If these things ever fly they will be a source of serious noise pollution.

Covid, or perhaps one of the 1,001 other viruses that can cause a fever. We seem to have forgotten that people suffered fevers before Covid arrived.

I pity the poor athletes who may have to swim in the Seine. A lot of money has been spent trying to clean the water. That it is too polluted for use the day before the event is very disturbing.

This is a very tired franchise that is producing increasingly lame movies. The clever comic book source material has long been exhausted and the new material is nowhere near that same standard. It is time for Hollywood to find a new direction.

After searching the site, I find there has been a succession of very similar stories.

Am I suffering from false memory syndrome, or did JT publish this same story (or a very similar version of it) about a year ago?

@Mark The challenge is to attach living skin to an underlying surface in a way that allows movement without the skin becoming detached. A "smile" is just a demonstration that the skin can be pulled taught without breaking away, and then released again. I read the published article and was left with an unanswered question: is there a mechanism in place to keep the skin alive, or is that the next necessary development?

Perhaps Elon Musk is looking ahead, and making sure that his companies are on the correct side of the divide when Texas secedes.

A report that is interesting only for its key omission. Labour are clearly going to win. The major question to be settled is whether Reform will replace the Conservatives as second place in the popular vote. Rather than just being a "Veteran rouser of the right" (a typical left-wing insult), Nigel Farage has appealed to many disaffected traditional Conservative voters who view the party as having failed to deliver on its promises over 14 years in government. The two parties are very close in the polls. If the Conservatives do finish third there is every chance of an implosion of the party as the internal strife of the past two decades moves out into the open.

@Jimizo The Reform "racist" has now been revealed to be an actor whose website claims he specializes undercover work. He coincidentally volunteered for Reform on the one day the Channel 4 were filming an undercover documentary. Reform have submitted a complaint to the Electoral Commission that he was planted to embarrass the party and that this constitutes interference with the electoral process. If this complaint is eventually proved to be true, then it is a frightening development in the political process of the UK. A left-wing broadcaster paying a plant to be a racist to discredit a legitimate political party? It could not be worse.

Surely the five Ice Age movies are more than sufficient to drive home a real understanding of climate change?

There is a continuum of possibilities from ICE-only through to pure EV with hybrids linking the two. Japanese car makers have held on to the belief that pure EV is not the best solution for most motorists and have kept faith with the hybrid. After the Tesla hysteria of the past decade, the market is now proving them to be correct. I read this news as describing a plan to allow an increase the EV aspect of the hybrids with a concomitant reduction of the ICE part: a smaller, more efficient petrol engine charging a larger battery with more time spent under electrical power. Somewhere down the track the hybrid will merge with the range-extender.

@JeffLee China may describe itself as Marxist-Leninist, or in more illuminating moments as "Communism with a Chinese face", but that hides the reality of economic life in China. BYD is a good example of modern China. It is part-owned by Chinese investors and part-owned by Western venture capital funds. BYD shares are listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges. There is no Marxism in the history of this company! The reality of China is more accurately a single-party mixed-economy with a very healthy dose of free-market capitalism.

Musk is correct to fight this. One country (in this case Australia) cannot be allowed to dictate what the rest of the world can view. When one looks across the world at all the prejudiced and narrow-minded countries, the imposition of unilateral bans would leave little left on the Internet. We need to be allowed to view material even if it offends some tin-pot dictator.

So many issues, where does one begin? It seems to be accepted that David Moyes took over a team that was past its peak. He had a good record keeping Everton reasonably competitive but surely lacked any real strategic "vision" for developing the team. This lack is most clearly emphasised by comparison with the methodical process implemented across Manchester. A succession of managers has followed Moyes, each inheriting an unsuccessful squad with almost random recruitment of new players. Many of the new players have been big-name stars on the decline who have been perceived as looking for on final pay-day before retirement. Again, contrast to the effortlessly successful and targeted recruitment at the Etihad. Perhaps the most important factor in the failure at United stems from the "virus" that Mourinho identified in the dressing room. A successful sports team is much more than the sum of its components. Success requires team spirit, camaraderie, a togetherness that drives the will to win. All the leaks from the dressing room suggest this is truly absent at Old Trafford and that disruptive influences have been allowed to fester by successive managers who failed to impose their ideas on the players. The fans perceive uncommitted and lazy performances on the pitch which must reflect deeper antagonists within the team. Some of these issues - Pogba, Ronaldo, Sancho - have become public, and there are others that the press have speculated about. Ultimately, the entire saga proves once again that, thankfully, one cannot buy success in a team sport. Success requires so much more than just assembling a collection of costly players. If it didn't, competitive sport would never sustain its fascination for fans.

"nearly silent"? How can this be possible when even the smallest drone is unpleasantly noisy? I imagine an air taxi will be loud - on a similar scale to a helicopter but without the engine sound. Am I wrong?

Flock can be used as the collective noun, but "bevy" is preferable for swans.

Australia women suffer long after they escape from the violence. The default position of the child custody system is joint parenting even when the father has a history of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sexual abuse, and mental illness. This forces the victim to of violence to face the perpetrator time after time - at child handovers and court hearings - and to engage in consultation on significant choices affecting the child. Such meetings always provide opportunities for further violence and, at the very least, ensure there is no release from the memories. The court will also hold the passport of the child and impose travel restrictions. All ensuring that once a woman is a victim of a violent male, there is no end to the torment. The court system simply perpetuates the abuse on the male's behalf

The Netflix version suffers from the standard inability of the scriptwriters to express emotion except through the use of obscenities. Academics, as a rule, are educated and intelligent people with impressive vocabularies. This is reflected in the infrequent use of profanity, especially in the work environment where the game is to impress. The academic who smokes is also a very, very rare individual. Until Netflix can get the basic traits of its characters correct, show like this will remain unwatchable. The swearing, shouting, smoking, violent yob is the default Netflix character. It is time They found scriptwriters with more imagination.

If Mera are not going to link to news, what justification is there for them to pay? Meta are not a charity with a mission to support Australian news outlets. The deeper problem is how quality reporting can be self-financing. TV news is still popular, and many news channels seem to be viable. The legacy print media probably has to reform or die.

If the pattern of recent seasons is repeated, the only unanswered question is which team will get the prized 4th place and consequent entry to the Champion's League. However, when has football ever followed predictable patterns?

@Thuban This cannot be assumed. There is currently a case under investigation in the UK concerning the sexual assault of an avatar within a game. The person whose avatar was assaulted made a formal complaint, and the police are investigating to see if there are any grounds for prosecution. Legal systems will need to update to confront issues in the increasingly numerous virtual worlds.