FlyTheNest

HindleA wrote:Apologies if already mentioned.Christian Guy has been appointed Special Advisor for Welfare Reform and Opportunity at the DWP.Not sure if he is a real person,sounds a made up name to me(if only)

Sadly, he is real.

And straight from IDS' think tank.

TechnicalEphemera wrote: richer than me but he doesn't own a horse so I win.

He's not richer than you because he doesn't own a horse? Expensive beasts.

Septic Tank

gilsey wrote:

TechnicalEphemera wrote: richer than me but he doesn't own a horse so I win.

He's not richer than you because he doesn't own a horse? Expensive beasts.

They are indeed expensive beasts, I was very wealthy before I owned one, and the 4x4 and the trailer. But there is nothing on this earth to compare with the joy of having one. Admittedly it has a maintenance overhead that would challenge everything short of a TU-160 ( 1 hour of flight for 50 hours of engineering), but if you scratch it in the right place you can get it to stick it's head in the most stupid positions ( ten feet in the air and horizontal). Plus nothing beats a flat out gallop, followed by a sideways leap when confronted by an imaginary killer squirrel.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:And on the Corbyn thing, Burnham sounding collaborative and open to working with him is actually smart politics. Cooper having a go at Burnham about it is either (a) utterly brain dead or (b) really clever reverse psychology. Not sure which but tending to a.

I'm not sure how this plays out in the election process. If it goes beyond the second round is it going to come down to who Burnham and Cooper supporters have as their second choice?

TechnicalEphemera wrote:

gilsey wrote:

TechnicalEphemera wrote: richer than me but he doesn't own a horse so I win.

He's not richer than you because he doesn't own a horse? Expensive beasts.

They are indeed expensive beasts, I was very wealthy before I owned one, and the 4x4 and the trailer. But there is nothing on this earth to compare with the joy of having one. Admittedly it has a maintenance overhead that would challenge everything short of a TU-160 ( 1 hour of flight for 50 hours of engineering), but if you scratch it in the right place you can get it to stick it's head in the most stupid positions ( ten feet in the air and horizontal). Plus nothing beats a flat out gallop, followed by a sideways leap when confronted by an imaginary killer squirrel.

When I take my oldest (10) for his lessons and they coincide with an event in the riding school, there's probably more Range Rover Sports than the local car showroom.

StephenDolan wrote:

TechnicalEphemera wrote:

gilsey wrote: He's not richer than you because he doesn't own a horse? Expensive beasts.

They are indeed expensive beasts, I was very wealthy before I owned one, and the 4x4 and the trailer. But there is nothing on this earth to compare with the joy of having one. Admittedly it has a maintenance overhead that would challenge everything short of a TU-160 ( 1 hour of flight for 50 hours of engineering), but if you scratch it in the right place you can get it to stick it's head in the most stupid positions ( ten feet in the air and horizontal). Plus nothing beats a flat out gallop, followed by a sideways leap when confronted by an imaginary killer squirrel.

When I take my oldest (10) for his lessons and they coincide with an event in the riding school, there's probably more Range Rover Sports than the local car showroom.

Bunch of posers, the only car for serious horse owners is a Mitsubishi Shogun. For the price / towing ability nothing touches them.

Have gone over the Grand National fences at Aintree,though without the aid of a horse(don't ask)

ohsocynical wrote:@ Tubby and SpinningHugo

re: a conversation a week or so ago.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-1 ... t-monsanto" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Them's the buggers - Monsanto, that is. When that conversation came up I was racking my brains to remember their name - all I could remember was that in their attempts to take over/merge with Sygenta (which have still failed, AFAIK) they offered not just money but to change their name and (I think I remember hearing) to relocate their Head Office to London. The first bit I read here:
http://www.fwi.co.uk/news/monsanto-offe ... keover.htm and a fuller story, including London HQ bit, here:
http://kcur.org/post/monsanto-sets-corp ... ing-frenzy

HindleA wrote:Have gone over the Grand National fences at Aintree,though without the aid of a horse(don't ask)

Kin hell.


Did they provide ladders?

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... ty-benefit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What it feels like to have Multiple Sclerosis when the government takes your disability benefit away
The personal independence payment benefit is failing the sick and disabled.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:

HindleA wrote:Have gone over the Grand National fences at Aintree,though without the aid of a horse(don't ask)

Kin hell.


Did they provide ladders?

Some people had the foresight to bring them,I somehow managed to climb over them.It was a charity event the day after,I don't think it was repeated.

Hasn't the school Miliband went to been called 'Labour's Eton'?

Not exactly.

http://dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk/dash.php?urn=100049" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Free School Meals 72%.
And wouldn't have been too genteel in the 80s. Big estates all around and the middle class moving out of London.

Another thing I came across with people from better-off households and better schools was that if they didn't get into Oxbridge one year they waited a year, retaking exams if necessary and bolstering their extra-curriculars, or they'd defer in the first place, having planned a year of voluntary work. Most of my cohort couldn't afford that sort of thing.

Both at my school and Oxford college, years out then were exceptions, but it's changed now where everybody seems to prepare more.

Finally, the sheer volume and quality of teaching available at Oxbridge was light years better than the average uni, so I'd be surprised if the same student wouldn't do significantly better. How Simon Burns managed to come away with a Third I just can't fathom.

To be fair to him, that's a 2:2 equivalent (he's 63). He might have arsed about in the godawful Oxford Union or something. I'd imagine it's easy to spend a lot of time on that.

Having said that, Mike Atherton got a 2:1 while playing first class cricket for his entire 3 years.

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/201 ... f%E2%80%99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Universal Credit ‘could make Scots carers worse off’
By:
Keith Aitken
18 Aug 15
Family carers for vulnerable children in Scotland are likely to be left worse off under Universal Credit because of the UK government’s failure to take proper account of Scotland’s different legal framework, a report has warned today.

Ah, Simon Burns.

. From 1973-75, he was a committee member, Political Action Officer and Secretary of Oxford University Conservative Association, and a member of the Oxford Union.

Goodnight, everyone.
love
cJA

ohsocynical wrote:

tinyclanger2 wrote:They don't go through the pipeline. That's what I mean by "effectively bean counting". You get the job because you went to Oxbridge - not because you're the best person for it.

It's quite simple - and I don't know why it's apparently contentious. People who went to Oxbridge are not automatically better or cleverer than the rest of us - and indeed often the opposite. We just all believe it.

And it's the believing it that's the problem.

I'm convinced that's why, despite what we know about him, Cameron always comes ahead when it comes to preference as PM...

Royal connections, rich, Eton, and then Oxford....Game set and match.

5th cousin. If they were thoroughbreds - or other livestock - they'd be regarded as not related. It should be safe for them to breed, unless both of them carry the gene for cystic fibrosis or some other autosomal recessive pattern condition...

ohsocynical wrote:Outsourcing firm Capita is planning to cut nearly 1,000 jobs once it takes on the £400 million primary care support services contract it won from the NHS.

http://www.healthinvestor.co.uk/ShowArt ... px?ID=4260" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The thoughts that flew through my mind as I read that, "Oh fuck! No surprise there!" Pity those who lose their jobs, though; and the people who suffer from being under Capita's management...

@HindleA: Thinking of your lady and you, tonight. Peace and love xxx

@ephe: All the very best to Show and your good self for the hospital trip, tests, and op. I'll be keeping you both in my thoughts xxx