Saturday 31st October (Halloween) & Sunday 1st November 2015

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:07 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Good to see that the new post-political correctness world where people can say or do anything without others taking offence is working out well...

Sienna poppy storm

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... poppy.html

SIENNA Miller has been blasted for failing to wear a poppy on Graham Norton’s BBC chat show.

The actress, 33, was a guest with Burnt co-star Bradley Cooper who did display the red flower of remembrance.

Norton, Dame Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings also paid respects on their lapels. Twitter fans slammed Miller and the Beeb over Friday’s show.
And if that wasn't enough...

Tory former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth stormed: “There should be no excuse for not wearing one so we can honour the war dead.”
It's a TV chat show not a bleedin' service of remembrance!

There was an interesting piece on Radio 4's Broadcasting House about whether all soldiers/veterans should be venerated as heroes. Several ex-soldiers thought not.

One man, not sure if he was still serving or not, made the point that soldiers fight for our liberty to not have to all behave the same, and to allow people to do/say what we/they may disagree with.
Something the poppy day fascists would do well to think about.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:10 pm

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Well indeed Roger.

And why should there be any pressure on anyone to show publicly what they are remembering? For me, remembrance is a profoundly individual act and I don't believe anyone can understand what I really feel about those who have died. Those who want to share in remembrance are of course free to do so, but I won't be wearing a poppy.

My dad was always scrupulous about putting money in the box because it helped survivors, but not about wearing the poppy. Me and Mr Ohso are the same.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:14 pm

PorFavor wrote:Good morfternoon.

Cameron falters but Canada understands: we need Keynes
William Keegan

George Osborne’s come-uppance in the Lords and Trudeau’s victory in Canada suggest austerity may be losing its grip on the popular imagination (Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... es-trudeau

(Just in case anyone is wondering, though, I'm still reeling from Ed Miliband's defeat.)

(my bold)

Apologies for my presumptuous assertion but aren't most of us still reeling from the defeat leaving us without Ed Miliband's Labour government? Jesus - here we are without good Labour party government but saddled with a ghastly Tory one. Please know I fully support and am encouraged by Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour party - it's failing is being in opposition and not government.

Good morfternoon, everyone.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:15 pm

So Scottish Labour delegates have voted not to renew Trident.

Interesting times and all that.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:16 pm

Why do we not have a day to commemorate civilians who lost their lives as a result of military action ?

Wiki claims : ''Civilians killed totalled 50 to 55 million, including 19 to 28 million from war-related disease and famine. Total military dead: from 21 to 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war.''

Yet we forget millions of civilians because they didn't die in action or served in uniform ?
Or because it doesn't serve a right wing militaristic agenda.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:19 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Well indeed Roger.

And why should there be any pressure on anyone to show publicly what they are remembering? For me, remembrance is a profoundly individual act and I don't believe anyone can understand what I really feel about those who have died. Those who want to share in remembrance are of course free to do so, but I won't be wearing a poppy.
My dad was always scrupulous about putting money in the box because it helped survivors, but not about wearing the poppy. Me and Mr Ohso are the same.

Well exactly Ohso. And I never take the stickers from other charities either. Or wear ribbons for HIV or cancer. Or... But that doesn't mean I don't care, or donate, or indeed work to help.

Why do I have to justify this? Leave us all alone!

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:23 pm

Just for clarity - my comment about Ed Miliband stemmed from this bit from the William Keegan article to which I linked -

First, some background. Hardly anybody can be found these days who will say that they ever thought the Labour party stood a chance of winning under Ed Miliband (Guardian)

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:39 pm

PoliticsHomeVerified account ‏@politicshome 4h4 hours ago
Andy Burnham: "The public don't want to see Labour arguing internally and putting our own issues above their issues." #murnaghan

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:40 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
RogerOThornhill wrote:Good to see that the new post-political correctness world where people can say or do anything without others taking offence is working out well...

Sienna poppy storm

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... poppy.html

SIENNA Miller has been blasted for failing to wear a poppy on Graham Norton’s BBC chat show.

The actress, 33, was a guest with Burnt co-star Bradley Cooper who did display the red flower of remembrance.

Norton, Dame Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings also paid respects on their lapels. Twitter fans slammed Miller and the Beeb over Friday’s show.
And if that wasn't enough...

Tory former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth stormed: “There should be no excuse for not wearing one so we can honour the war dead.”
It's a TV chat show not a bleedin' service of remembrance!

Years ago the poppy acknowledged you'd put some money in the box to help those who'd survived but needed help. Exactly the same as any lapel sticker for any charity when you donate on the street.

Making the poppys used to make work for the war wounded disabled if I remember correctly.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers it that way. I always thought the point was donating to help war widows and survivors, not what you do with the poppy. To me the British Legion lapel poppy has always been distinct from the laying of poppy wreaths on Remembrance Sunday, which has the clear purpose of commemorating the dead of the two world wars, while the lapel poppy is more a symbol of the casualties of war who are still living.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:43 pm

PorFavor wrote:Just for clarity - my comment about Ed Miliband stemmed from this bit from the William Keegan article to which I linked -

First, some background. Hardly anybody can be found these days who will say that they ever thought the Labour party stood a chance of winning under Ed Miliband (Guardian)

Apart from all our top pollsters, of course......

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:52 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Well indeed Roger.

And why should there be any pressure on anyone to show publicly what they are remembering? For me, remembrance is a profoundly individual act and I don't believe anyone can understand what I really feel about those who have died. Those who want to share in remembrance are of course free to do so, but I won't be wearing a poppy.
My dad was always scrupulous about putting money in the box because it helped survivors, but not about wearing the poppy. Me and Mr Ohso are the same.

My mother is a right kook, has been as long as I've known her, charismatic, vicious, mercurial and possessing the finest fashion and interior design aesthetic sense I've ever seen. I'm reminded of one occasion the thread has brought up from my childhood regarding societal expectations and pressures involving public comportment during solemn ritual. I regard my mother's intervention during this gathering as one of the healthiest lessons I learned from her during an often tormented childhood.

During a funeral ceremony I attended as a child, I found myself having an unseemly and involuntary fit of the giggles. Naturally, I was mortified to find myself unable to stop. My mother fended off tsking, looks of horror and censure from veiled, elaborately bonneted elderly persons I no longer remember my relation to and said, "It's entirely normal, leave the girl to experience her appropriate range of human emotional expression, this being one of them."

I loved her for giving meaning, understanding and acceptance for what was happening and stepping in to protect and support me. Everyone else seemed relieved by her intervention too, as I recall. They may have just been scared of her though, it's entirely likely, though I don't know for certain.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:52 pm

Finally getting round to watching some gymnastics after having missed it all so far and Simone Biles...wow. Just phenomenal stuff.

Great to see the Brits doing really well.

Edit - oh, and even the gymnasts who are in the studio in their team uniform have to wear poppies.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 2:56 pm

PorFavor wrote:Just for clarity - my comment about Ed Miliband stemmed from this bit from the William Keegan article to which I linked -

First, some background. Hardly anybody can be found these days who will say that they ever thought the Labour party stood a chance of winning under Ed Miliband (Guardian)

Yes, exactly, what the hell is Keegan on about there?
If it were from a writer I've less respect for I'd not feel as riled at the revision of historical events.

edited to include more - having read my response to your link, PorFavor, I read I didn't include the information above in that post making my post out of kilter. Apologies.

further edit - I've posted an apology to Keegan and everyone else for my own misinterpretation of his writing.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:05 pm

Willow904 wrote:
ohsocynical wrote:
RogerOThornhill wrote:Good to see that the new post-political correctness world where people can say or do anything without others taking offence is working out well...

Sienna poppy storm

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... poppy.html
And if that wasn't enough...
It's a TV chat show not a bleedin' service of remembrance!

Years ago the poppy acknowledged you'd put some money in the box to help those who'd survived but needed help. Exactly the same as any lapel sticker for any charity when you donate on the street.

Making the poppys used to make work for the war wounded disabled if I remember correctly.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers it that way. I always thought the point was donating to help war widows and survivors, not what you do with the poppy. To me the British Legion lapel poppy has always been distinct from the laying of poppy wreaths on Remembrance Sunday, which has the clear purpose of commemorating the dead of the two world wars, while the lapel poppy is more a symbol of the casualties of war who are still living.

Exactly ! We bought a poppy to help the living, and on Remembrance Sunday paid our respects to the dead.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:09 pm

Note the words Keegan uses - "hardly anybody can be found these days".......

Its actually a dig at what became MSM conventional wisdom literally within hours of that infamous exit poll - that Ed was a useless muppet who was doomed to preordained defeat.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:09 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Finally getting round to watching some gymnastics after having missed it all so far and Simone Biles...wow. Just phenomenal stuff.

Great to see the Brits doing really well.

Edit - oh, and even the gymnasts who are in the studio in their team uniform have to wear poppies.

(my bold)
It's got to be against regulations to sport accessories of any kind on uniforms during active competition or practice.
Isn't that kind of rigid mandate seem rather dogmatic? It's not healthy.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:12 pm

'Stop that now before someone gets an eye out!'

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:15 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Note the words Keegan uses - "hardly anybody can be found these days".......

Its actually a dig at what became MSM conventional wisdom literally within hours of that infamous exit poll - that Ed was a useless muppet who was doomed to preordained defeat.

I'm ashamed to admit I missed that and it does indeed change what I thought Keegan was missing.
I apologise, Keegan and everyone else, it was me who didn't read carefully enough.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:17 pm

Blimey. I might start taking Halloween more seriously in future. Where's he sprung from?

Don’t be fooled by spook propaganda. The state still wants licence to pry
Henry Porter

(I haven't read it - but I did, for one strange moment, think we'd had a change of government overnight. Sadly not.)

Anyway, here's the link -

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... nry-porter

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:52 pm

: ScreenShot00913.jpg (90.97 KiB) Viewed 7723 times

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 3:58 pm

CitizenJA wrote:charismatic, vicious, mercurial and possessing the finest fashion and interior design aesthetic sense

Utterly fabulous

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 4:25 pm

Thick fog rolling in here...

Oh well. At least it's wintry enough to match the Christmas goodies already out on the shelves....

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 4:27 pm

Looking like a landslide for Erdogan in today's Turkish GE. Ugh.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 4:36 pm

Emily Ashton Retweeted
Tom Boadle ‏@TomBoadle 6h6 hours ago
@Bonn1eGreer seems this sort of thing has largely continued post-election http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/the ... fjmAXydDjn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

'this sort of thing' - if you follow the link - appears to be a Tory tactic of keeping ministers and spokespeople largely away from the media so the media have to focus on Labour instead .....

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:12 pm

yahyah wrote:PoliticsHomeVerified account ‏@politicshome 4h4 hours ago
Andy Burnham: "The public don't want to see Labour arguing internally and putting our own issues above their issues." #murnaghan

Good day to you all. Just emerging after a sleep free night. Daylight just disappearing.

That's a statement so full of generalisation I don't know where to begin, what are these homogenous terms meant to relate to. Very glad actually that this man is not heading up the movement of people I've supported all my adult life. I never saw them display such homogenously vague positions, they were always lively argumentative challenging and held a range of opinions that didn't conform to a monolithic position that a faceless unidentifiable 'public' was apparently demanding of them. give me someone with identifiable values anyway. As both our recent labour leaders have been.

I'm missing the Miliband government we could have had too. Was counting on it really, to change things not just for me, but mine in quite a wide sense. We've lost out so badly as a nation, just six months in and people are really starting to see what we are saddled with. I had to stop looking at politics for a while, my family has been impacted in a mirror of the way we were impacted in Thatchers time, and it broke a bit of me to think that a lifetime of effort to move past that to some kind of healing just came unstuck. I guess there must be many who have felt similar emotions, so this is not about me and mine, but about everyone who hoped for so much better for everyone.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:27 pm

Methinks you are rather hard on Burnham there, tbph. His behaviour since Corbyn won the leadership has IMO been pretty close to exemplary.

I continue to believe he would have done a pretty good job had he won - but we are where we are, and I totally accept that and am completely loyal to Jez.

Let us go forward together

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:31 pm

Paul Flynn ‏@PaulFlynnMP 24m24 minutes ago Newport, Wales
Jeremy Corbyn has civilised PMQs and put the ignored £160 billion useless virility symbol issue on the nation's agenda. A commendable start.

That's decently supportive of Flynn - given he didn't support Corbyn for the leadership (as I recollect anyway - correct me if I'm wrong).

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:33 pm

DailySunday Politics ‏@daily_politics 6h6 hours ago
"We think the government doesn't want us to talk about tax credits so let's talk about #taxcredits" @afneil #bbcsp

Nice little broadcast clip attached to that tweet.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:39 pm

Now the Turkish Electoral Commission has seemingly shut down their results website, amidst all sorts of rumours

(chief one being that the pro-Kurdish party have fallen just short of the - notably high - threshold enabling Erdogan's party to get a "super majority" to amend, ie Islamise, the consitution)

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:41 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Now the Turkish Electoral Commission has seemingly shut down their results website, amidst all sorts of rumours

What kind of rumours?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:44 pm

WalesOnline ‏@WalesOnline 8m8 minutes ago
Today, Wales broke the record for the hottest November day ever http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... s-10367547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

It certainly felt like it. We've had brilliant sunshine. Very helpful as we've been clearing out and reorganising the furniture in the dogs room ... meant we could have things outside while we cleaned and sorted.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 5:47 pm

Yesterday we saw friends from twelve years ago...Lots of catching up and was struck anew at how little the Tories really know or care about how a big percentage of the country lives. Even I'd forgotten just how hard it can get...

They have a son who joined the army 11 years ago...He did two tours of Afghanistan. Injured physically and mentally he is having a hard job managing his temper. He is living with his parents while he goes through all the hoops of claiming disalbility etc. but she is becoming afraid of him, fears he'll lash out soon. Needless to say he doesn't do it when his father's around. Even so she says she's happier he's at home where they can keep an eye on him. His dad takes him to a medical centre for veterans for treatment.
He said it makes him feel sick. He said when he was a boy he was used as we all were to seeing men who'd lost limbs or had burns from the war and his mother saying, 'don't stare, he got that in the war'...
Recently when they were at the centre, he saw a whole roomful of young men with one or more limbs missing. He said the reality of what really happens made him come over faint.

Their other son moved back in with them when he split with his partner. He has a daughter who is now living in Wales, so in order not to lose touch with her, every couple of weeks her husband hires a car, drives down, picks their granddaughter up, she stays overnight and then they take her back the following day

They rent from a housing association.
They both work - always have done, but are classed as low pay.
We were chatting about utility bills.
I said I only showered every other day to save money and felt like a big spender when she said she and hubby only take one bath a week. They make do with a good strip down wash the rest of the week. She haunts supermarkets when they're filling up the reduced shelves and says if she times it right she can buy bread at 19 pence a loaf.

I was left feeling bloody guilty...

Hobiejoe · Post by **Hobiejoe** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:11 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Looking like a landslide for Erdogan in today's Turkish GE. Ugh.

I was under the impression - albeit one gained some years ago - that the military were staunch defenders of Turkey's secularism, a legacy of Ataturk. Is this still the case, and if so, what now?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:30 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Now the Turkish Electoral Commission has seemingly shut down their results website, amidst all sorts of rumours
What kind of rumours?

Dunno. Just found this Tweet...

Ed Wilson ‏@eddwilson 13m13 minutes ago

Turkish election: AKP returns to power with outright majority

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/n ... te-counted" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:32 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Methinks you are rather hard on Burnham there, tbph. His behaviour since Corbyn won the leadership has IMO been pretty close to exemplary.

I continue to believe he would have done a pretty good job had he won - but we are where we are, and I totally accept that and am completely loyal to Jez.

Let us go forward together

I just never saw Burnham as leadership material, no problem with him being effective in other areas. I just find such bland statements exactly the opposite of what is needed. We've had such an assault on the legitimacy of framing almost anything outside ofthe most carefully uninterpretable of terms that people are actually desperate to hear something with a narrative that they recognise as their reality, their lived experience. Burnham may have been supportive since the leadership election, that is good, but he has a history of making bland statements like this when he is outside his areas of expertise, and when he is beholden to make statements he doesn't really want to answer. He's been excellent on other stuff, I wasn't attacking him personally, or attacking anyone, just the vacuousness of the statement itself. It's typical of these times, not helpful because it's telling people that Labour has to be careful to please an undefined, undefinable 'public', rather than appeal to a nation that is really being crushed by devastatingly bad politics. I'm sorry if my statement offends, and if other don't find Burnhams statement bland and unhelpful.

I wasn't even being partisan in posting, I'm on the side of everyone getting a rough deal from woefully bad governance and lack of accountability. I want leadership that knows what it is about, and has values that it is always prepared to hold to. To me that includes some very well defined principles of enlightened socialism. I saw these in Ed and can see them in Corbyn. I can also see them in Burnham some of the time. He was a disappointing candidate, and part of that was because he was sometimes exactly like the above statement. I say that even though I found him the most likeable in personality, and knowing that he had actually one some solid and very good work with lasting results.

I guess I'm saying there's a difference between practical compromise and expediency, maybe in hard times these get confused. Ed knew this, and refused to bow to it, leaving it to voters to sort their heads out, they didn't and are living with the results.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:33 pm

The Leftist pro-Kurdish HDP has surmounted the 10% threshold it needed to secure seats in the new parliament.

From the G live blog on Turkish elections.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:46 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
WalesOnline ‏@WalesOnline 8m8 minutes ago
Today, Wales broke the record for the hottest November day ever http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... s-10367547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
It certainly felt like it. We've had brilliant sunshine. Very helpful as we've been clearing out and reorganising the furniture in the dogs room ... meant we could have things outside while we cleaned and sorted.

Really warm here in Brum too, had to open kitchen windows very early am, no heating on anyway, and the temperature only now starting to feel cool. Thought it was only me, or perhaps the menopause I never got making an extremely late showing! Not the sunshine you describe, more hazy, but very hot, so sleepless last night and drowsy all day.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:52 pm

Interesting article in the Telegraph which I missed yesterday.

EU renegotiation: Jean-Claude Juncker preparing migrant welfare curbs
European Commission's review of immigrant benefit rules is David Cameron's best chance of securing reform
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... curbs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

David Cameron has been handed a significant window of opportunity to secure his flagship immigration reform as he prepares to set out his full list of demands to European Union leaders.
The European Commission is expected to announce within weeks plans for new restrictions on migrants’ access to benefits, a move that will be a boost to Mr Cameron's hopes of renegotiating Britain's relations with the EU.
Amid concerns in Brussels that public support for European migration rules is at risk, plans under consideration include longer waiting times before migrants can claim welfare, and banning the “export” of child benefits to offspring overseas.
Insiders say it offers Mr Cameron his best chance of achieving by far his most difficult demand - denying EU migrants in-work benefits for four years. He also wants to ensure parents only receive payments if their children live with them in Britain.

British sources welcomed the fact that Jean-Claude Juncker’s office is developing a new package of welfare reforms. The plans are also likely to include rules that will block employees from hiring migrant labourers more cheaply than local workers, said to be a cause of resentment in working-class communities.

Senior EU sources confirmed the closely-guarded review of “social security co-ordination” is being conducted with Mr Cameron’s demands squarely in mind.

The proposals will be presented to a gathering of EU work and pensions ministers in Brussels on December 7.
Crucially, that is ten days before a major pre-Christmas European Council summit at which the Prime Minister is expected to present his renegotiation demands in detail to his 27 counterparts.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 6:55 pm

Jonathan Portes ‏@jdportes 7h7 hours ago Mansfield, England
Commission considering (sensible?) tweaks to migrants' benefits rights: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... curbs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … Wouldn't impact "pull factor" though..

Agree with him they generally look - on first glance - sensible.

They appear to be based on some thinking and developing policy that has been going on for a while according to this second link ... transcript of a speech re EU labour mobility given in Poland. Has some interesting stats and info in it.

Matthew Holehouse ‏@mattholehouse 6h6 hours ago
@jdportes @StrongerInNos ppl keeping cards close to chest given UK situ but some clues to poss content here: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SP ... 841_en.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:03 pm

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 3m3 minutes ago
Jim Pickard Retweeted Michael Stott
"We are going to look awful," said the head of one law firm.

Michael Stott
‏@mj_stott
UK firms fear litigation when they forced to publish breakdown of employee pay by gender: @sarahoconnor_ http://on.ft.com/1M4UyS5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bring it on.

NonOxCol · Post by **NonOxCol** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:04 pm

Hobiejoe wrote:Another little gift for the (especially this particular eve) people of the night - Julian Fellowes getting a right good kicking btl in The Graun. Apologies if repeating a post.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... w#comments

G'night

Thank you for that. One of the most contemptible and least self-aware human beings in modern Britain. I would not watch that Downton shite if you paid me.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:07 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Finally getting round to watching some gymnastics after having missed it all so far and Simone Biles...wow. Just phenomenal stuff.

Great to see the Brits doing really well.

Edit - oh, and even the gymnasts who are in the studio in their team uniform have to wear poppies.

It's been a brilliant competition and Simone Biles is astoundingly good. Both our women and our men can be rightly proud of their golds, silvers, and bronzes and of their placings. Who'd a thunk, when many of us were kids, that we'd ever be providing serious competition to the Chinese, Russians, Japanese, and American, teams and individuals however much we dreamt of it!

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:14 pm

Well, I can't say I;m too surprised at this latest turn of events.

Ministers consider national tests for seven-year-olds

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ol-england

This is what you do...

1. Abolish levels
2. Tell all schools that they have to come up with their own assessment system. Or rather don't tell them anything for ages and then come up with a review group report, only publish it late
3. Suddenly remember that KS1 is teacher-assessed and realise that your nifty progress measure between a teacher-assessed score at KS1 (which could be different for every school now) and KS2 national tests might...not...work...now.
4. Panic
5. Reinstate national tests at KS1
6. Have a review group (yes, another one) come up with a formula for how you measure progress between one score at KS1 and another score at KS2. You could...ahem...call them 'levels' or something similar.

They really are useless.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:22 pm

PorFavor wrote:Blimey. I might start taking Halloween more seriously in future. Where's he sprung from?

Don’t be fooled by spook propaganda. The state still wants licence to pry
Henry Porter
(I haven't read it - but I did, for one strange moment, think we'd had a change of government overnight. Sadly not.)

Anyway, here's the link -

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... nry-porter

I've 'loved' the reassurances from Theresa May, etc., today, that they're "not giving automatic access to our browsing history just enabling the police to see which websites we've visited without needing a warrant." Umm... Sorry but could you run that by me again?

danesclose · Post by **danesclose** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:22 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
WalesOnline ‏@WalesOnline 8m8 minutes ago
Today, Wales broke the record for the hottest November day ever http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... s-10367547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
It certainly felt like it. We've had brilliant sunshine. Very helpful as we've been clearing out and reorganising the furniture in the dogs room ... meant we could have things outside while we cleaned and sorted.

Think it depends on where you were. I landed in Fishguard at about 12:30, and it was glorious until about East Cardiff/Newport where it got really foggy. There were 3 or 4 idiots on the old Severn Crossing driving cars in thick fog with no lights

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:26 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Well, I can't say I;m too surprised at this latest turn of events.

Ministers consider national tests for seven-year-olds

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ol-england

This is what you do...

1. Abolish levels
2. Tell all schools that they have to come up with their own assessment system. Or rather don't tell them anything for ages and then come up with a review group report, only publish it late
3. Suddenly remember that KS1 is teacher-assessed and realise that your nifty progress measure between a teacher-assessed score at KS1 (which could be different for every school now) and KS2 national tests might...not...work...now.
4. Panic
5. Reinstate national tests at KS1
6. Have a review group (yes, another one) come up with a formula for how you measure progress between one score at KS1 and another score at KS2. You could...ahem...call them 'levels' or something similar.

They really are useless.

Just been reading that article and BTL - inc your comments. Getting really really really silly now isn't it. All for the sake of what ... as someone, probably you, pointed out what purpose does the compulsory resit a year later for children who are deemed to have failed achieve? Nothing ... in that time they should have been given the extra support needed already ... not much point waiting till later.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:27 pm

Waiting for our heating engineer to arrive some time before midnight. Huddled around the little fan heater they lent me last time this problem left me in the cold...

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:29 pm

danesclose wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
WalesOnline ‏@WalesOnline 8m8 minutes ago
Today, Wales broke the record for the hottest November day ever http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... s-10367547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
It certainly felt like it. We've had brilliant sunshine. Very helpful as we've been clearing out and reorganising the furniture in the dogs room ... meant we could have things outside while we cleaned and sorted.
Think it depends on where you were. I landed in Fishguard at about 12:30, and it was glorious until about East Cardiff/Newport where it got really foggy. There were 3 or 4 idiots on the old Severn Crossing driving cars in thick fog with no lights

Here we had fog first thing...Then sunny and clear, but cold at around 11c. Now we have thick fog again....
Tomorrow temps of 12c.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:30 pm

danesclose wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
WalesOnline ‏@WalesOnline 8m8 minutes ago
Today, Wales broke the record for the hottest November day ever http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... s-10367547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
It certainly felt like it. We've had brilliant sunshine. Very helpful as we've been clearing out and reorganising the furniture in the dogs room ... meant we could have things outside while we cleaned and sorted.
Think it depends on where you were. I landed in Fishguard at about 12:30, and it was glorious until about East Cardiff/Newport where it got really foggy. There were 3 or 4 idiots on the old Severn Crossing driving cars in thick fog with no lights

Ah yes ... well we are in Fishguard territory (a mere 35 to 40 mins or so away). And yeah - people do really stupid things when driving in foggy conditions. We've seen / encountered cars with no lights in seriously thick fog driving down the windiest of Preseli mountain roads ... very dangerous.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Sun 01 Nov, 2015 7:39 pm

Thick fog, and some dipshit is letting off fireworks...We're doomed!