Best Of

So the OBR have knocked £20bn off their budget forecast as the economy isn't seeing the productivity gains they had previously expected

Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade

https://www.ft.com/content/0e2de708-f7b5-470d-a716-93eb3b1ac174

I am doing my bit, massive increase in productivity thanks to incorporation of AI into my work flows and 100hr working weeks....am I the only one working in this country?

Productivity is measured as output per hour worked so working 100 hour weeks might decrease productivity not increase it.

Exactly. It's why Amazon announcing a new warehouse that employs 1,000 people is not as good news as Amazon announcing a fully automated warehouse, opening up 1,000 workers to do something that adds a bit more value than moving boxes around.

Sultana is proper bonkers.

.."Putin is a dictator, a gangster, and there are war crimes that have been committed, but Zelenskyy isn't a friend of the working class either."..
https://x.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1982768825444553056

I haven't come across quite such nonsense since I was a student.

I cannot begin to understand the tortuousness of her mind.

It is seriously not worth the effort.

Actually, it is.

Zelensky wants to build Ukraine into a modern, Western, Social Democratic state. A part of the European Union.

To the Fruit & Nuts, this is creating another Western Imperialist Capitalist Enemy.

The fact that he is doing so on *their* sacred ground - the soil of the former Soviet Union - is to them, an added insult.

Ireland now has a President who is just as bonkers as Sultana and Corbyn. For some reason, these muppets think they hold the moral high ground.

To be fair, if you’re going to elect a character like that to office, you could do worse than President of Ireland.

It gives them the opportunity to bang on about their causes and virtue signal without allowing them the opportunity to do any meaningful damage.

Got a feeling I'm going to enjoy this week's issue:

I don't want to disappoint but this magazine is for the fash curious not the bi curious.

I know it's confusing as quite a few Spectator contributors have some very peculiar pecadillos.

Ah, ad hominem. What a surprise.

Rubbish. It was a joke and I played the (Spectator) ball not the man, and I got several likes for it!

You got likes from the usual hyberliberal pb herd. Well done, mate!

I really, really hope that you don't talk, or act, in this sort of manner to any of your staff.

There we go, @JosiasJessop making it personal again.

It was a serious comment. I hope that PB is somewhere you come to vent, and you treat your staff - of whatever background or inclination - in a much more professional and open manner.

Fuck off.

So the OBR have knocked £20bn off their budget forecast as the economy isn't seeing the productivity gains they had previously expected

Reeves faces £20bn hit to UK public finances from productivity downgrade

https://www.ft.com/content/0e2de708-f7b5-470d-a716-93eb3b1ac174

I am doing my bit, massive increase in productivity thanks to incorporation of AI into my work flows and 100hr working weeks....am I the only one working in this country?

Productivity is measured as output per hour worked so working 100 hour weeks might decrease productivity not increase it.

Indeed. In general, I must say I've found over the years that colleagues that are keen to tell you they are snowed under and working every hour God sends aren't generally the stars, but rather startlingly inefficient people.

I skipped breakfast today

Tomorrow I've decided to splash out and spend £22.50 on it, just to celebrate the fleeting existence of the £450 per month Breakfast Club

Do we need to pay someone to look after you?

I'd divert the money to the feeble minded who decided that £450 per month was fair beans when the childcare was included

It's not about whether it's fair beans or not, it's about how much existing providers charge.

It's the little spoken-of twin of housing costs for the young. Older relatives say "HOW MUCH?" in a shocked voice, young families say "that much'.

(£5.50 per child per day seems to be the going rate in Romford. Three kids at just over £7 a day hits the magic number. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does. There's a reason young working families are narked right now.)

So why is it now £450 a year in parents' pockets?

The Labour Party tweeter made the defenders of the erroneous tweet look bloody ridiculous in fairly short order

And yet they double down..

Right. This conversation is annoying me for some reason.

School breakfast clubs typically range from about £2.50 - £5.50. There are 190 school days in the year. At the lower end that gives £475 per year per child. I suspect that is where the government get their £450 number per year in the official release. At the upper end in it would be £1,045 per child.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-breakfast-clubs-roll-out-as-costs-for-families-cut-by-8000

The £450 on twatter is imo "probably" used monthly when it should be annually.

However, the wider saving including the ability to work extra hours and other new extra childcare could easily be more than £450 per month for a family with 3 school age kids.

Take it up with the Labour Party

This is not difficult!!
The saving to parents is the difference between privately provided childcare and school breakfast clubs, private childcare in the morning so that you can get to work on time is significantly more expensive than school provision, as is afterschool childcare.
We easily saved the daily amount that £450 per month would be equivalent to when we were able to switch to school provision, that was 6 years ago and the private child care was basic.

Sultana is proper bonkers.

.."Putin is a dictator, a gangster, and there are war crimes that have been committed, but Zelenskyy isn't a friend of the working class either."..
https://x.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1982768825444553056

I haven't come across quite such nonsense since I was a student.

I cannot begin to understand the tortuousness of her mind.

It is seriously not worth the effort.

Actually, it is.

Zelensky wants to build Ukraine into a modern, Western, Social Democratic state. A part of the European Union.

To the Fruit & Nuts, this is creating another Western Imperialist Capitalist Enemy.

The fact that he is doing so on *their* sacred ground - the soil of the former Soviet Union - is to them, an added insult.

"Not one step back!"

The Tankies *still* get angry when you point out all the radios in the T-34s were American made.

FPT

Being so late to the thread, has anyone come up with any brilliant ideas to solve the problem?

TSE wants to repeal the Forfeiture Act and bring back bills of attainder, along with hanging, drawing and quartering.

Well if @TSE wants to add in the bureaucrat, who has moved @David L's trial tomorrow from Edinburgh to Glasgow so that I will be deprived of the opportunity to tease the charming David about coffee, chocolate, cakes and sundry other important matters, to his list of Attaindees, he's very welcome to do so.

Yesterday I was getting hard stares for proposing bills of attainder and now you're an enthusiastic supporter.

My powers of persuasion are unmatched.

I am a woman. I can change my mind, especially for those who cross me. Anyway, as you will have noticed, I left it entirely up to you if you continue with your colourable proposal. I reserve the right to give both you and the snivelling bureaucrat a hard stare.

I now have a late afternoon to do something exciting in Edinburgh before dinner. Husband will have gone off to some gallery or other or to climb hundreds of stairs up a castle or something.

I used to lose hours in old book shops. Rarely bought anything much, just loved the old books. Not exciting at all, just my idea of heaven.

There is (or was) a cluster of second-hand bookshops on and around West Port, below the old town. If you're so inclined, a good place to wile away a few hours.