New Years Weekend Sat 31 Dec 2016 - Mon 02 Jan 2017

Post by **refitman** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 10:20 am

Morning all.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 10:55 am

Good-morning, everyone.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 10:55 am

Good morfternoon.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 10:57 am

Nothing actually happening today, then?

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:08 am

Good morning.

Who agrees with me that the Honours system should be abolished? WTF is it for? I hate it.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:12 am

Morning all.

Shopping this morning and did something I don't think I've ever done before - forgot my card to actually pay for it. Only realised when packing it into bags. Luckily they know me in there and I was able to park it to the side, and dash home for the cards.

There was an article yesterday on that school

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... est-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I got my comment in early and got an unusually high number of likes for me.

“In other schools that would never happen."
"At other schools you will find"
"Most teachers in Britain"
“You will find in other schools"

Anyone see the problem that a lot of MCS's detractors have with the rhetoric?

If your school is good, then you shouldn't have to keep putting others down.

To me that is their biggest problem - having to justify what they're doing by generalising about how bad everyone else is. Totally unnecessary. Loved this bit which immediately got named 'grapegate'.

At the school, a group of pupils prepare to end their break and move to their next lesson. They line up quietly under the eye of their teacher – who stops to ask one of them to pick up a grape from the floor.

“Do you see that?” Birbalsingh tells a group of visiting teachers. “In other schools that would never happen. You’d never see a teacher ask a pupil to pick up a grape, because they’d go mad.”

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:32 am

Yes,I remember the riots and hostage taking incidents after a teacher asked a pupil to pick up a piece of fruit from the floor in our school.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:39 am

HindleA wrote:Yes,I remember the riots and hostage taking incidents after a teacher asked a pupil to pick up a piece of fruit from the floor in our school.

And I think that a similar, and earlier, incident was the inspiration for a John Steinbeck novel, wasn't it?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:42 am

Birbalisngh has come out with some odd things in the past but this, in exchange last night, is really strange.

KatharineBirbalsingh ‏@Miss_Snuffy 16h16 hours ago

@ajjolley @SchoolDuggery No you have to go way back - over 50 years ago - when you were put in prison for eating in the street!
6 replies 1 retweet 1 like

Really?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:43 am

@HindleA
I've just come from reading last night's posts after I turned in.

We'll have to take care and help your Auntie remember rapidly changing weather conditions cause significant problems real fast.
We lost a neighbour during the Summer's heatwave. He was dehydrated and without sun protection. He wasn't used to physical
exertion and he suffered a stroke.

I've lived in other places in the world, experienced extreme physical trials. I'm in awe of the weather in the UK.
I don't think there's any place like it. Each region is unique. I must never underestimate it's rapid, mercurial nature.

That settled fog yesterday had a physical presence like a personality. I'd company and conversation on the train during parts of
my commute. We spoke together with some emotion our feelings of physical oppression due to the weather. The mild Midlands
Winter weather altered. We'd been warned it would. We were dressed appropriately and in good health. Our journeys included
a few miles of walking with rucksacks or shopping trolleys.

We navigate our way through the urban environment remaining vigilant of motor vehicles often operated by people who don't.
We saw exhaustion in each other's faces. Over a third of all households in this region don't own or use motor vehicles. Mr citizen
and I don't. We pay a price for that.

I hadn't intended a sermon with my post. It's not exactly political though transportation and healthcare are contingent on government.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:45 am

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Nothing actually happening today, then?

I was writing my weather/healthcare/transportation 'sermon'.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:50 am

PorFavor wrote:
HindleA wrote:Yes,I remember the riots and hostage taking incidents after a teacher asked a pupil to pick up a piece of fruit from the floor in our school.

And I think that a similar, and earlier, incident was the inspiration for a John Steinbeck novel, wasn't it?

My screenplay, loosely based upon the incident, was short-listed for a regional award. I lost to a superior work by a ten-year old.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:53 am

RogerOThornhill wrote:Birbalisngh has come out with some odd things in the past but this, in exchange last night, is really strange.

KatharineBirbalsingh ‏@Miss_Snuffy 16h16 hours ago

@ajjolley @SchoolDuggery No you have to go way back - over 50 years ago - when you were put in prison for eating in the street!
6 replies 1 retweet 1 like
Really?

Incarceration if the cashews weren't paid for prior to eating them off the pavement.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:57 am

There are probably still some laws/bye laws to that effect eg.eating an ice cream between the hours of 09.00-10.00 on the second Thursday of every month apart from July wearing a hat in a particular street/area.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 11:59 am

citizenJA wrote:
PorFavor wrote:
HindleA wrote:Yes,I remember the riots and hostage taking incidents after a teacher asked a pupil to pick up a piece of fruit from the floor in our school.

And I think that a similar, and earlier, incident was the inspiration for a John Steinbeck novel, wasn't it?
My screenplay, loosely based upon the incident, was short-listed for a regional award. I lost to a superior work by a ten-year old.

Oops. Grapes of Wrath. Picking peaches and a turtle crossing the road.
I was writing about another classroom fruit-picking scrimmage.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:03 pm

HindleA wrote:There are probably still some laws/bye laws to that effect eg.eating an ice cream between the hours of 09.00-10.00 on the second Thursday of every month apart from July wearing a hat in a particular street/area.

That's the sacred Time of Ice-Cream Eating of my people.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:03 pm

HindleA wrote:There are probably still some laws/bye laws to that effect eg.eating an ice cream between the hours of 09.00-10.00 on the second Thursday of every month apart from July wearing a hat in a particular street/area.

Thing is, when people talk about 50 years ago...there's a sudden realisation that we're talking about the 1960s!

Can it really be that long ago?

And yes, I guess there might be some peculiar by-laws somewhere but generally, I very much doubt it.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:07 pm

The cashews are a reference to one of my favourite books of all time.
Confederacy of Dunces
I love Burma Jones.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:08 pm

OK, football time - another 1pm kick off.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:13 pm

Burma Jones is more interesting than football.
I've thrown down the gauntlet now.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:20 pm

http://burmajones.cz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:27 pm

HindleA wrote:http://burmajones.cz

It's still legal for a Czechoslovakian rock band to be from Washington, DC

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:30 pm

Burma Jones
soundcloud

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:30 pm

PorFavor wrote:
HindleA wrote:Yes,I remember the riots and hostage taking incidents after a teacher asked a pupil to pick up a piece of fruit from the floor in our school.

And I think that a similar, and earlier, incident was the inspiration for a John Steinbeck novel, wasn't it?

Would that be Wath Comp, in Refitman's neck of the woods?

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:52 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Nothing actually happening today, then?

I got as far as this article in guardian, by Deborah Orr.

"Trump’s personality will help us learn how our minds work"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... minds-work

In fact, there has never been a better time than now for human beings to start gaining far greater insight into ourselves, what makes us so creative and what makes us so destructive. And it’s not just a matter of information. All the neuroimaging, all the psychological theorising, all the psychiatric experimentation with pharmacology, it’s already prompting a huge need for careful, scientifically anchored engagement with the ethical and philosophical debate about what it is to be human.

..and gave up, the comments are probably more interesting than the article.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:57 pm

citizenJA wrote:Burma Jones is more interesting than football.
I've thrown down the gauntlet now.

Sometimes, Cashew nuts are more interesting than football.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 12:59 pm

“Say, I didn call nobody no cawmniss,” Jones said. “I been frame by that flo’walk in Woolsworth. I don even like cashews.
“Shut your mouth up.”
“Okay,” Jones said brightly and blew a great thundercloud of smoke.

A Confederacy of Dunces - pdf file

doesn't do the novel justice, just quoting this bit

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:03 pm

tinybgoat wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Nothing actually happening today, then?
I got as far as this article in guardian, by Deborah Orr.

"Trump’s personality will help us learn how our minds work"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... minds-work
In fact, there has never been a better time than now for human beings to start gaining far greater insight into ourselves, what makes us so creative and what makes us so destructive. And it’s not just a matter of information. All the neuroimaging, all the psychological theorising, all the psychiatric experimentation with pharmacology, it’s already prompting a huge need for careful, scientifically anchored engagement with the ethical and philosophical debate about what it is to be human.
..and gave up, the comments are probably more interesting than the article.

I think someone writing above the line at the G been flipping through the popular psychology section

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:07 pm

tinybgoat wrote:
citizenJA wrote:Burma Jones is more interesting than football.
I've thrown down the gauntlet now.
Sometimes, Cashew nuts are more interesting than football.

“Oo-wee”
- Burma Jones

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:13 pm

tinybgoat wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Nothing actually happening today, then?
I got as far as this article in guardian, by Deborah Orr.

"Trump’s personality will help us learn how our minds work"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... minds-work

In fact, there has never been a better time than now for human beings to start gaining far greater insight into ourselves, what makes us so creative and what makes us so destructive. And it’s not just a matter of information. All the neuroimaging, all the psychological theorising, all the psychiatric experimentation with pharmacology, it’s already prompting a huge need for careful, scientifically anchored engagement with the ethical and philosophical debate about what it is to be human.
..and gave up, the comments are probably more interesting than the article.

Well, that's my New Year's resolution sorted . . .

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:13 pm

gilsey wrote:Good morning.

Who agrees with me that the Honours system should be abolished? WTF is it for? I hate it.

I agree.
A glance through the 124-page pdf list was enough.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... l-list.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:16 pm

For services for ensuring rogue fruit never lies unattended in a school premises.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:19 pm

For services towards the ensuring that necessary rooms are deemed spare

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:24 pm

My New Years Resolution is not to make one.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:25 pm

Following decades of "Stopping Smoking",which was easilly met with doing so 30-40 times a day.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:37 pm

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Politics may be nasty. Yet courage and humour abounds in people like John

Aditya Chakrabortty

The most uplifting stories of the year are of those facing adversity with the charm of my friend, stripped of part of his disability benefits

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:41 pm

The question for 2017 is surely - how do we use stuff like that to make our politics better?

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 1:58 pm

HindleA wrote:My New Years Resolution is not to make one.

I'm actually with you. I don't remember ever making a New Year's resolution.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 2:18 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The question for 2017 is surely - how do we use stuff like that to make our politics better?

Squads of a couple dozen people in meditative silence, striding without talking, heels on pavement, banners carried, agitated
by the wind, the people concentrating on a single purpose, focusing government hearts and minds. No contention, no force.
The silent walkers with banners proclaiming our right to equal representation from government, an assembly harming no one
and never ceasing until the goal is achieved.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 2:24 pm

The squad of people changes, of course. We'll take turns.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 2:25 pm

It's not my idea. It's not original. I saw the suggestion on a board at the Manchester People's History Museum.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 2:51 pm

Donald Trump's new year message

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do. Love!
December 31, 2016

(Guardian)

I didn't realise that Donald Trump was only 15 years old. He looks older.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 2:53 pm

A bigly 15 year old

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 2:56 pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... JqqCNdq8cp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stoke bus driver brings the magic of the silver screen to his back garden

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 3:50 pm

Channel 4 have got the coverage of the BDO World darts champs,David Cameron preparing for his NATO role by playing Jimmy Hendricks in the first round.

Someone's 'aving a laff

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 3:58 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:OK, football time - another 1pm kick off.

And a not-very-well-deserved 94th minute equalizer ends a pretty dismal 2016 for us.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 3:59 pm

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Serious mistakes in NHS patient care are on the rise, figures reveal
Fears grow that unprecedented strain on hospitals is causing increase in surgical, diagnostic and care errors

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 4:30 pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... -campaign/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Give me a break.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 5:06 pm

gilsey wrote:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... -campaign/
Give me a break.

Must be one of those "product placement" articles Peter Oborne left over. It can't possibly be satire. It's not even remotely funny.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Sat 31 Dec, 2016 5:25 pm

Another day, another "rail is shit" article from The Guardian. Patrick Collinson.

a shocking fact for those of you who (like me) shivered on freezing platforms when their train was cancelled or delayed over the so-called festive period

Trains cancelled and delayed? So it's not very easy to do up busy lines without causing huge inconvenience? Glad that's sorted. Let's build a new line.

a 40-mile journey into work on a train built 30 years ago, which arrives at your destination on time approximately every solar eclipse

You want new trains? We could run them on new lines, like HS2. Is that a good idea? To be fair, Collinson seems OK with HS2 (provided fares are much more subsidized) but that's a minority view at the Guardian with Jenkins, Toynbee, Bennett about.

Hopeless confusion here.

The train operating companies can actually make a nice little profit out of your distress, so they have almost no incentive to improve the service.

As you get ready to fork out £5,000-plus for an annual season ticket on a 40-mile journey into work on a train built 30 years ago, which arrives at your destination on time approximately every solar eclipse, consider this: train operators receive a “schedule 8” payment from Network Rail when something goes wrong with the infrastructure, such as a points failure.

How can they improve upon a points failure which somebody else caused? That makes no sense at all.

There is a good point here- that train companies claim compensation from Network Rail but have smaller claims to pay to their delayed passengers. Simple solution. Audits of what they pay out to customers and a mechanism for Network Rail to claw back. But that would be a short article, and people might get the impression railways weren't an unmitigated disaster.

Even the long-running industrial action on the Southern network is barely touching profits at GTR, the operating company that runs the routes. Its unique contract, put in place to cover the period while London Bridge station is rebuilt, means fares are currently paid directly to the government. The taxpayer will foot the bill for the estimated £28m in lost revenue and millions more in Delay Repay compensation. Meanwhile the government pays GTR £1bn a year to run the service.

GTR pay a premium to run the Southern Service- £95m a year, per the House of Commons Library. I think some sums for the infrastructure work have got mixed up here. The government owns that and can charge train companies more as a result.

The Southern dispute is about the type of train used. The government long ago (I think it was Ruth Kelly) decided on driver only operation, with cross party support. The same issue will come up all across the country (and in Scotland and Wales too). No government is going to want to go back on that and retrofit new trains with guard-operated doors or hand out a big chunk of the savings to redundant guards. They'll get the same issue come up on other lines, and have emboldened guards up against them. What you think of the strike really depends on what you think of union rights in general. If you support them, you accept guards' right to fight for the best deal. If you don't, you probably don't accept that. We wouldn't agree with John McTernan who controversially talked about the need to "smash the union", but at least he understood what the strike was actually about and what's at stake. For my part, it's not a great advert for railways, but the guards have the right to fight, and the best that can be hoped for is some sort of deal that'll take a while.

The bigger point I'm making is that if, like Caroline Lucas, you strongly support nationalization, how does that help this dispute? Nationalization means Grayling in charge. What's he going to do different to Southern? In fairness to him, I don't see any government doing anything but trying to hard ball and protect the savings from the new driver operated train running costs. Maybe the Scottish Government will make a point of being different to England and reach a generous settlement, and for a while that'll look good, but they'll have Ruth Davidson on their back for the unnecessary cost, and fair enough.

Back to Collinson.

The simple solution is re-nationalisation.

No it isn't. Though it would be if GTR were really being paid £1bn a year to run Southern. Not to say renationalization couldn't improve stuff more generally, provided Network Rail improved a lot. One for the medium term.

Like any half-arsed article about nationalization, Collinston ropes in a Tory to bolster his case. Step forward Tim Loughton.

He is also proposing a new rail ombudsman with the power to award compensation more directly linked to the realistic loss suffered by passengers. When you are turfed off a train far short of your destination the cost of getting home is far more than the repayment of the single fare.

Hang on, what? A City financier misses a train and loses a client, and we need to compensate them for that? That's a recipe for spectulative litigation v Network Rail. Whereas I presume me, as someone not working, gets next to zilch for the same delay. No thanks.