Page 3 of 3

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 8:31 pm
by PorFavor
Yes, folks - Page 3.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 8:46 pm
by citizenJA
I'm here!
Hurrah!

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 8:53 pm
by gilsey
Some thoughts about Gove's plan from Miles King, for those interested in it for its own sake, as opposed to as a political distraction.
Who knew there was such a thing as the Lush Times?
https://uk.lush.com/article/no-tern-uns ... een-future" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Michael Gove - the most energetic and intellectual Environment Secretary we have had for many years - has been busy. Fresh from his performances at the two big annual farming conferences of the year (which I will write about next week), Gove (perhaps with a push from the Prime Minister) has today published the long-awaited 25 Year Plan for the Environment.

Having seen a draft of the truly dreadful version created under his predecessor Andrea Leadsom, I’ve been looking forward to seeing what he has produced (from all accounts he’s had a very personal involvement in its creation) and the result is... 151 pages of verbiage.
the danger of a 25 year plan is that aspirations can be made that are risk-free - because this Government will not be around in 25 years time to be held to account for their failures, or feted for their successes.
Exactly.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 9:01 pm
by PaulfromYorkshire
PorFavor wrote:Yes, folks - Page 3.
Indeed.

Pleasingly lively round here these days. Thanks to all ;-)

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 9:06 pm
by Tubby Isaacs
Yep, it's been good stuff.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 9:13 pm
by HindleA
Enjoyed Paul's cruciverbalism,no idea if that is a word-it is now.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 9:18 pm
by HindleA
Just noticed PE is now £2,may have been a while.I never pay for it.Dad bought subscription as a present fifteen years ago,ongoing I have told him. Always do the smutty crossword,still has references to Maxwell etc,may start re-entering.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 9:27 pm
by PaulfromYorkshire
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-42648624" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Black pudding saves butcher trapped in freezer

[For avoidance of doubt this is not to my knowledge cruciverbalism]

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:02 pm
by tinybgoat
Whilst slightly fluey last week, I had a dream involving HindleA (at least he said he was, and at the time, being a dream I had no reason not to believe him) pushing a trolley full of food into a walk in freezer (with corridors & multiple locking metal doors).
I don't remember there being any Black Puddings.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:06 pm
by frog222
"" If Carillion was a bricks n’mortar building rather than a bricks n’mortar business employing 43,000 workers it would be rubble by now.

It is a miracle of engineering that Carillion still stands. Its debt — close to £900m — plus a £590m pension deficit tower over equity. The shares have fallen from above 200p a year ago to 17p, valuing the group at £75m, and it has only just averted breaching its banking covenants.

Carillion — created by cementing together the construction and support services divisions of Tarmac, Wimpey, Mowlem and Alfred McAlpine — was once capitalised at more than £2bn. It is a beyond-textbook illustration of what happens to businesses built on asset-light balance sheet and debt-fuelled acquisitions in challenging conditions. Yet until half way through last year, investors seemed confident the group was big enough to overcome the structural weaknesses facing outsourcers — long-running contracts won on poor terms, rising costs and unyielding customers.""


" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rocket-science accounting, woohoo ! We saw in 2008 that some entities are impossible to audit .
( I'm sure I've seen somewhere that Lehmans wasnt actually broke :-) )

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:17 pm
by PorFavor
Speaking of black pudding - 25th January is Burns Night. For anyone who's looking for an excuse to eat haggis.


Edited to clarify - Burns Night is on 25th January. Obviously, the whole of January 25th isn't Burns "Night". . .

Edited, again!

And yes, I know haggis isn't the same as black pudding. Wish I hadn't started this pointless and rambling rubbish.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:27 pm
by PorFavor
Night night.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:31 pm
by citizenJA
PorFavor wrote:Night night.
Goodnight, PorFavor

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:33 pm
by Sky'sGoneOut
I need no excuse to eat haggis, had some deep fried with chips when I went home for Christmas, which I'll still be walking off in a thousand years time.

Ok, so having rung the DWP today I can confirm the call (at least for ESA) is now free, but there is still a mandatory 25 minute wait on hold listening to the same bit of Vivaldi over and over again. I timed the call and at 25.06 minutes I got through, which pretty much confirmed my data from last time. I can only imagine this extended period on hold is designed to put people off and encourage them to give up trying, along with the rest of the benefits system.

I'm off now to watch Question Time to have all my prejudices confirmed.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:39 pm
by Willow904
I've just been watching the documentary film "The Brainwashing of My Dad". Definitely worth a watch if you get a chance. It shows how a diet of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News changed the film makers father from a non-political democrat into an angry republican. Eventually a broken radio and a spell in hospital broke the strange hold the right wing propaganda had on him and he ended up voting for Obama. The background on the historic effort by republicans to control the media and the very systematic way the right wing propaganda is disseminated is truly disturbing. Oh and a Ronald Reagan poster - Make America Great Again - caught my husband's eye. I didn't realise Donald Trump was so keen on recycling!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bra ... _of_My_Dad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Night all.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:43 pm
by AngryAsWell
A Midlands school has sparked fierce criticism and a petition from parents for creating 'rich and poor zones' in the playground.

Children at Wednesbury Oak Academy were asked by the parent council asked for a voluntary £6 donation to purchase equipment for pupils to play with at lunchtime.
But when the new equipment was installed children who hadn't paid were separated from those who had, reports the Mirror.

A petition over the segregation claims the parent council requested children who hadn't paid be allowed to use the equipment as not doing so would lead to "social and financial discrimination".
But headteacher Maria Bull defended the move and said she was 'on the verge' of calling the police after claiming she had received multiple threats from disgruntled parents.
She added that the school 'didn't have' any parents who could not afford the £6 cost and they had had 'eight months' to pay.
She said that a 'couple of times a week' a child whose parent's had contributed could invite a friend that hadn't paid to come and play with the toys.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-w ... nd-1039269" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just hateful

(Evidentially it's been stopped now)

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:54 pm
by AngryAsWell
Shame PF has gone to bed she would love this apostrophe usage

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Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 10:58 pm
by adam
frog222 wrote:"" If Carillion was a bricks n’mortar building rather than a bricks n’mortar business employing 43,000 workers it would be rubble by now.

It is a miracle of engineering that Carillion still stands. Its debt — close to £900m — plus a £590m pension deficit tower over equity. The shares have fallen from above 200p a year ago to 17p, valuing the group at £75m, and it has only just averted breaching its banking covenants.

Carillion — created by cementing together the construction and support services divisions of Tarmac, Wimpey, Mowlem and Alfred McAlpine — was once capitalised at more than £2bn. It is a beyond-textbook illustration of what happens to businesses built on asset-light balance sheet and debt-fuelled acquisitions in challenging conditions. Yet until half way through last year, investors seemed confident the group was big enough to overcome the structural weaknesses facing outsourcers — long-running contracts won on poor terms, rising costs and unyielding customers.""


" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rocket-science accounting, woohoo ! We saw in 2008 that some entities are impossible to audit .
( I'm sure I've seen somewhere that Lehmans wasnt actually broke :-) )
Too big to fail. They're deeply embedded in all sort of PFI and public service contracts all over the place. I'm not an economist and certainly not any kind of building industry expert (or even a building industry mouthy bloke in the pub) but if they can't make money by being paid lots of public money to build roads, hospitals and schools and then being paid lots of public money in service contracts to run them then they really don't deserve to trudge on. (They 'own' my school and are based in wolvo).

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:01 pm
by citizenJA
Goodnight, everyone
love,
cJA

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:04 pm
by adam
SpinningHugo wrote:As so often Norman Geras got it right when discussing whether opposing Israel was necessarily anti-Semitic. (You only need to read the first few paragraphs).

http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/20 ... -more.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is clever-clever sixth form 'this is logic isn't it' writing.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:12 pm
by Sky'sGoneOut
I can put up with a lot of crap on Question Time but Piers Morgan is beyond even my abilities.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:21 pm
by RogerOThornhill
AngryAsWell wrote:A Midlands school has sparked fierce criticism and a petition from parents for creating 'rich and poor zones' in the playground.

Children at Wednesbury Oak Academy were asked by the parent council asked for a voluntary £6 donation to purchase equipment for pupils to play with at lunchtime.
But when the new equipment was installed children who hadn't paid were separated from those who had, reports the Mirror.

A petition over the segregation claims the parent council requested children who hadn't paid be allowed to use the equipment as not doing so would lead to "social and financial discrimination".
But headteacher Maria Bull defended the move and said she was 'on the verge' of calling the police after claiming she had received multiple threats from disgruntled parents.
She added that the school 'didn't have' any parents who could not afford the £6 cost and they had had 'eight months' to pay.
She said that a 'couple of times a week' a child whose parent's had contributed could invite a friend that hadn't paid to come and play with the toys.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-w ... nd-1039269" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just hateful

(Evidentially it's been stopped now)
Think that HT needs to think about the meaning of the word 'voluntary'...

We ask for voluntary donations for additional stuff outside the National Curriculum which goes into the School Fund and kept entirely separate from the usual funding. We wouldn't dream of segregating kids due to whether their parents paid or not.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:23 pm
by RogerOThornhill
No Trump then according to the Mirror.
Daily Mirror
‏Verified account
@DailyMirror
30m30 minutes ago
More
BREAKING: Donald Trump 'cancels visit to UK next month after fearing he won't be welcome' http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/do ... k-11838275" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
Well, I for one am gutted...

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:36 pm
by SpinningHugo
adam wrote:
SpinningHugo wrote:As so often Norman Geras got it right when discussing whether opposing Israel was necessarily anti-Semitic. (You only need to read the first few paragraphs).

http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/20 ... -more.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is clever-clever sixth form 'this is logic isn't it' writing.

I don't think so, no. He was great Norm. RIP.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:39 pm
by Sky'sGoneOut
Curious isn't it? We who wish to be European and part of something larger than petty national concerns now have Nigel Farage speaking for us more than Jeremy Corbyn.

In their desperation to keep hold of one vote base I fear Labour are losing another. I certainly won't vote for them again if they keep up this malarkey. And I'm exactly the kind of person they attracted last time.

I understand they have a difficult balancing act to maintain but it seems to me Corbyn is ignoring the wishes of most of his members and 50% of the electorate, the remain half who overwhelmingly voted Labour, in order to appease his voters in places like Hartlepool.

I have no answer to this conondrum Labour is faced with, all I can say is if Corbyn carries on like this many like me will not vote Labour at the next general election.

And all I can see is vacillating and Keir Starmer doing the best he can with what he's got to work with.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:44 pm
by SpinningHugo
Sky'sGoneOut wrote:Curious isn't it? We who wish to be European and part of something larger than petty national concerns now have Nigel Farage speaking for us more than Jeremy Corbyn.

In their desperation to keep hold of one vote base I fear Labour are losing another. I certainly won't vote for them again if they keep up this malarkey. And I'm exactly the kind of person they attracted last time.

I understand they have a difficult balancing act to maintain but it seems to me Corbyn is ignoring the wishes of most of his members and 50% of the electorate, the remain half who overwhelmingly voted Labour, in order to appease his voters in places like Hartlepool.

I have no answer to this conondrum Labour is faced with, all I can say is if Corbyn carries on like this many like me will not vote Labour at the next general election.

And all I can see is vacillating and Keir Starmer doing the best he can with what he's got to work with.

Youi'll vote Labour because they know you have no choice. It doesn't matter how bad it gets, how appalling Corbyn, McDonnell, etc behave, they know you've no choice.

The numbers (like me) actually prepared to jump ship because they cannot stand being part of it is tine.

Grim times.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:49 pm
by Sky'sGoneOut
I could go back to the Lib-Dems.

I hear they're hiring.

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:53 pm
by SpinningHugo
Sky'sGoneOut wrote:I could go back to the Lib-Dems.

I hear they're hiring.

Most won't though. I agree with this

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/s ... ancing-act" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Labour can behave as badly as they like, most don't care enough/

Re: Thursday 11th January 2018

Posted: Thu 11 Jan, 2018 11:57 pm
by Sky'sGoneOut
Well indeed, let's face it there is no currently viable place politically for we remainers to be.

All are cowards.