Re school bus. This is a private company, not a bus anyone can get. We have paid £ 600 in advance as have many others to take and bring back every day. On the day of the mocks it simply doesn't arrive without warning, explanation, apology or mitigation. No alternative provision provided. This is UK private business in a nutshell.
Pretty bad service. Isn't it a clear case of breach of contract?
Indeed. No help to those who've missed their mock A levels though. Which will be used if exams don't take place. And no provision for results.
Re school bus. This is a private company, not a bus anyone can get. We have paid £ 600 in advance as have many others to take and bring back every day. On the day of the mocks it simply doesn't arrive without warning, explanation, apology or mitigation. No alternative provision provided. This is UK private business in a nutshell.
Pretty bad service. Isn't it a clear case of breach of contract?
Probably previously had a Polish driver. Who has now been sent home.
I find it curiously entertaining how much time PBers waste arguing with HYUFD.
He won't change his mind, however wrong he is shown to be.
If 25% of cats preferred Purr-fect moggy food, and 35% preferred Miaow, and 40% preferred neither, he'd argue that 75% of all dogs voted for the monarchy.
You have to watch out for his shifts of definition and his careful destruction of mathelatical precision.
Re school bus. This is a private company, not a bus anyone can get. We have paid £ 600 in advance as have many others to take and bring back every day. On the day of the mocks it simply doesn't arrive without warning, explanation, apology or mitigation. No alternative provision provided. This is UK private business in a nutshell.
Pretty bad service. Isn't it a clear case of breach of contract?
Probably previously had a Polish driver. Who has now been sent home.
Sent home? What a load of nonsense.
All right; been told he's unwelcome here? That better.
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
Eh? 41/33 equates to a pro-republic vote of 44.6% for the locally born. Which is as near as dammit to the 45% you told us a minute ago for the whole population. So you're now telling us that there is even more pro-republic sentiment than you told us a few moments ago.
The numbers are there in the article linked. Aus - 41/33 Other - 37/38
On the one hand, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Clever name, hey, and clever to disguise a song about LSD as a playground ditty but you know what, it's a double bluff. It is catchy playground music for 6 year olds, just like everything else by the Beatles. Oh bla di.
On the other, Heroin by the Velvet Underground, who are so useless they don't even know you are meant to use coy codewords for what a song is "really about." And indeed Heroin is about heroin but like all great art it transcends its subject and is also about life, death, the universe and everything. Oh bla da.
Lennon denied it. He said Child came back from school with painting of Lucy in the sky with diamonds, he got it from that. I believe him because there is always understanding superimposed on art and historical fact about them get lost very quickly. Much like Blake’s satanic mill was a burned out mill where he lived, but everyone refuses to believe that when I tell them!
Re school bus. This is a private company, not a bus anyone can get. We have paid £ 600 in advance as have many others to take and bring back every day. On the day of the mocks it simply doesn't arrive without warning, explanation, apology or mitigation. No alternative provision provided. This is UK private business in a nutshell.
Pretty bad service. Isn't it a clear case of breach of contract?
Probably previously had a Polish driver. Who has now been sent home.
Sent home? What a load of nonsense.
All right; been told he's unwelcome here? That better.
If that was the case, why was there even a settled status scheme to allow all EU migrants to stay after Brexit?
Eh? 41/33 equates to a pro-republic vote of 44.6% for the locally born. Which is as near as dammit to the 45% you told us a minute ago for the whole population. So you're now telling us that there is even more pro-republic sentiment than you told us a few moments ago.
The numbers are there in the article linked. Aus - 41/33 Other - 37/38
Overall - 40/34
Thanks. In other words, the non-Australian born make hardly any difference. So it's not much point in highlighting them is there?
Eh? 41/33 equates to a pro-republic vote of 44.6% for the locally born. Which is as near as dammit to the 45% you told us a minute ago for the whole population. So you're now telling us that there is even more pro-republic sentiment than you told us a few moments ago.
The numbers are there in the article linked. Aus - 41/33 Other - 37/38
Overall - 40/34
Thanks. In other words, the non-Australian born make hardly any difference. So it's not much point in highlighting them is there?
It was relevant to the point he raised about Barbados, and it's interesting to see the division.
Re school bus. This is a private company, not a bus anyone can get. We have paid £ 600 in advance as have many others to take and bring back every day. On the day of the mocks it simply doesn't arrive without warning, explanation, apology or mitigation. No alternative provision provided. This is UK private business in a nutshell.
Pretty bad service. Isn't it a clear case of breach of contract?
Probably previously had a Polish driver. Who has now been sent home.
Sent home? What a load of nonsense.
All right; been told he's unwelcome here? That better.
If that was the case, why was there even a settled status scheme to allow all EU migrants to stay after Brexit?
Don't worry about it. Only started it to try and wind-up another poster. Maybe we ought to be able to post in green or something for posts which aren't supposed (or expected) to be taken too seriously.
Yes but unless the vaccines prove completely ineffective in protecting against hospitalisation or death from it there is no need for more lockdowns even if more people catch it.
Otherwise there will be riots if hasty lockdowns are imposed again
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
While helping destroy the TfL balance sheet
The passengers are the ones on strike at the moment. That's what is hurting TfL.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
It is also black majority while the majority of people who live in the remaining Commonwealth realms are of white British origin.
So no, Australia is not likely next either.
Er what?
It's a good point. How far would Oliver Cromwell have got without an indigenous black majority?
Black people aren't indigenous to Barbados either.
IIRC there are some Barbadians with Carib in their ancestry. Went to a very interesting u3a talk on Barbados and it's people some years ago. Given by the Vicar of Canvey Island, who himself has very mixed ancestry.
Eh? 41/33 equates to a pro-republic vote of 44.6% for the locally born. Which is as near as dammit to the 45% you told us a minute ago for the whole population. So you're now telling us that there is even more pro-republic sentiment than you told us a few moments ago.
The numbers are there in the article linked. Aus - 41/33 Other - 37/38
Overall - 40/34
Thanks. In other words, the non-Australian born make hardly any difference. So it's not much point in highlighting them is there?
A huge difference actually (from 8% pro monarchy lead with mainly white Australians of mostly British Isles origin to 1% lead for a republic for mainly non white Australians).
Though interesting to see that more non white Australian immigrants are pro monarchy than white Australians are for a republic
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
The debate there has certainly moved on a lot from when I lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s when becoming a Republic was part of the public debate but not massively popular, since it was seen as associated with less stable countries like Trinidad or Guyana and most Barbadians remained resolutely Anglophile (but much less keen on the US, interestingly). They've taken down their statue of Nelson, too (putting it in a museum) - the previous compromise was to turn the statue around. I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
The debate there has certainly moved on a lot from when I lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s when becoming a Republic was part of the public debate but not massively popular, since it was seen as associated with less stable countries like Trinidad or Guyana and most Barbadians remained resolutely Anglophile (but much less keen on the US, interestingly). They've taken down their statue of Nelson, too (putting it in a museum) - the previous compromise was to turn the statue around. I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
The majority of the Commonwealth realms already became republics or selected their own tribal monarchs in the reign of the Queen and her father George VIth, Barbados just another one which became a republic within the Commonwealth in the Queen's reign.
So Charles and William only really need to keep white majority Canada, Australia and NZ as Commonwealth realms based on what is left of any significance, which will be much easier than keeping non white majority Commonwealth nations as Commonwealth realms.
No, we're not ALL going to die, just millions and millions of us, the reeking corpses piled so high in the streets the rats and jackals vomit from their Christmas feasting. Stop scare-mongering
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
The debate there has certainly moved on a lot from when I lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s when becoming a Republic was part of the public debate but not massively popular, since it was seen as associated with less stable countries like Trinidad or Guyana and most Barbadians remained resolutely Anglophile (but much less keen on the US, interestingly). They've taken down their statue of Nelson, too (putting it in a museum) - the previous compromise was to turn the statue around. I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
They seem to subsist entirely on dry buttered toast and Riesling.
5 minutes would be too long for me. In my very controversial humble opinion they were a good band, but the most overrated of all time.
Sorry, you’re wrong about that.
They remind me of Dylan, and indeed Shakespeare, in that the more you look into the work, the more there is to look at.
One problem they have is their ridiculous ubiquity in the culture, rendering all their stuff like wallpaper.
I have actually tried not to listen for them for the past 20 years, but rediscovered them during lockdown, thus resulting in sheer jubilation and excitement once more.
It’s possible I will try to ignore them again for 20 years.
They're brilliant. By definition overrated simply because you can't be rated that high without being overrated. But brilliant.
Bizarre
do you like the Grateful Dead? They are the closest stab I can have at a guess as to what the beatles would have been like if they'd been any good. Try the "Best Of" album.
I do but I don't place that much above the Beatles last 4 or 5 years. Bob's my uber alles.
You could retire to a desert island with a playlist of Dylan covers, and never get bored. the only Beatles cover I can think of is hendrix doing Sgt pepper on one occasion, and he covered Wild Thing, so not much of an accolade. let's ponder the reasons for the discrepancy.
Probably because Dylan was a first rate songwriter but a second rate singer. Far easier to listen to a Dylan song and think "this is a great song but it would sound better sung in tune". When you listen to a Beatles song it's usually hard to think of how it could be improved. Many people have covered their songs, of course, notably Yesterday, but the originals are always the standards, with good reason.
Disagree. I prefer the dylan versions of Mr Tambourine Man, Mighty Quinn, bitw, you ain't going nowhere. Ambivalent about aatwt.
I still think the Dylan version of All Along the Watchtower is superior to that of Hendrix. There is a depth in the former that sounds like it comes from some ancient time, whereas the latter seems superficial.
Day 3 without power or water for many in sub zero temperatures. Doesn't seem to be an important issue for any bugger else though.
I was very surprised when I heard there were still lots of people unconnected after 24 hours.
I wonder whether it's the combination of the high winds with the cold weather that is causing difficulties. Such a strong storm from the north is unusual. Polar lows are normally weaker, and our strong storms are normally south-westers.
Or it could be that the county's infrastructure is creaking and more vulnerable.
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
The majority of the Commonwealth realms already became republics or selected their own tribal monarchs in the reign of the Queen and her father George VIth, Barbados just another one which became a republic within the Commonwealth in the Queen's reign.
So Charles and William only really need to keep white majority Canada, Australia and NZ as Commonwealth realms really based on what is left of any significance, which will be much easier than keeping non white majority Commonwealth nations as Commonwealth realms.
'Tribal monarchs'......what are you talking about?
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
The majority of the Commonwealth realms already became republics or selected their own tribal monarchs in the reign of the Queen and her father George VIth, Barbados just another one which became a republic within the Commonwealth in the Queen's reign.
So Charles and William only really need to keep white majority Canada, Australia and NZ as Commonwealth realms really based on what is left of any significance, which will be much easier than keeping non white majority Commonwealth nations as Commonwealth realms.
I think that you'll find that it isn't up to Charlie and Willie to 'keep' anywhere. Those democracies will decide their own constitutional arrangements in the fullness of time.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
The debate there has certainly moved on a lot from when I lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s when becoming a Republic was part of the public debate but not massively popular, since it was seen as associated with less stable countries like Trinidad or Guyana and most Barbadians remained resolutely Anglophile (but much less keen on the US, interestingly). They've taken down their statue of Nelson, too (putting it in a museum) - the previous compromise was to turn the statue around. I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
It was still quite an unpopular idea in 2015. I wonder if that changed, or is the lack of a referendum on the issue telling?
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
It is also black majority while the majority of people who live in the remaining Commonwealth realms are of white British origin.
So no, Australia is not likely next either.
Er what?
It's a good point. How far would Oliver Cromwell have got without an indigenous black majority?
Black people aren't indigenous to Barbados either.
IIRC there are some Barbadians with Carib in their ancestry. Went to a very interesting u3a talk on Barbados and it's people some years ago. Given by the Vicar of Canvey Island, who himself has very mixed ancestry.
I'm not sure that's right. Barbados was unoccupied when the English showed up, probably owing to exposure to disease from previous European visitors. Indigenous populations have contributed to the gene pool in other parts of the Eastern Caribbean though. Most Barbadians have a mixture of African and European ancestry, the latter both as a result of plantation rape as well as intermarriage with the relatively large white population (mostly Irish and Scottish indentured workers). There's also a small number of wealthy white families who own much of the private sector economy. It's a pretty interesting country, quite messed up in some ways but a lot to like about it. It's probably my favourite place west of Ireland.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
While helping destroy the TfL balance sheet
The passengers are the ones on strike at the moment. That's what is hurting TfL.
No, we're not ALL going to die, just millions and millions of us, the reeking corpses piled so high in the streets the rats and jackals vomit from their Christmas feasting. Stop scare-mongering
Yeh, never mind all that, what about Parmesan? Will it still be available?
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
While helping destroy the TfL balance sheet
The passengers are the ones on strike at the moment. That's what is hurting TfL.
And the more strikes there are, the more they will remain WfH mainly
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
The majority of the Commonwealth realms already became republics or selected their own tribal monarchs in the reign of the Queen and her father George VIth, Barbados just another one which became a republic within the Commonwealth in the Queen's reign.
So Charles and William only really need to keep white majority Canada, Australia and NZ as Commonwealth realms really based on what is left of any significance, which will be much easier than keeping non white majority Commonwealth nations as Commonwealth realms.
I think that you'll find that it isn't up to Charlie and Willie to 'keep' anywhere. Those democracies will decide their own constitutional arrangements in the fullness of time.
They will on balance of probability want to keep what they can as their realms when they become monarchs and not republics.
Even if that decision is left up to Commonwealth realms themselves.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
The debate there has certainly moved on a lot from when I lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s when becoming a Republic was part of the public debate but not massively popular, since it was seen as associated with less stable countries like Trinidad or Guyana and most Barbadians remained resolutely Anglophile (but much less keen on the US, interestingly). They've taken down their statue of Nelson, too (putting it in a museum) - the previous compromise was to turn the statue around. I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
It was still quite an unpopular idea in 2015. I wonder if that changed, or is the lack of a referendum on the issue telling?
It sounds like the BLM movement had a role in shaping the debate. I suspect it would have won a referendum but I don't know.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
While helping destroy the TfL balance sheet
The passengers are the ones on strike at the moment. That's what is hurting TfL.
And the more strikes there are, the more they will remain WfH mainly
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
If anyone would like a little light relief from Covigeddon and the bed wetters I can highly recommend Alan Bennett's "The Uncommon Reader" - as one critic observed "a bedtime story for grown ups"
On the one hand, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Clever name, hey, and clever to disguise a song about LSD as a playground ditty but you know what, it's a double bluff. It is catchy playground music for 6 year olds, just like everything else by the Beatles. Oh bla di.
On the other, Heroin by the Velvet Underground, who are so useless they don't even know you are meant to use coy codewords for what a song is "really about." And indeed Heroin is about heroin but like all great art it transcends its subject and is also about life, death, the universe and everything. Oh bla da.
Lennon denied it. He said Child came back from school with painting of Lucy in the sky with diamonds, he got it from that. I believe him because there is always understanding superimposed on art and historical fact about them get lost very quickly. Much like Blake’s satanic mill was a burned out mill where he lived, but everyone refuses to believe that when I tell them!
Thank you for liking that whoever did, but I don’t think it makes sense without adding why I believe people when interviewed about their work. I painted a picture called The Lights which people thought was creative and unique and liked the colours and I won a prize. But I was painting how I remembered the temporary traffic lights in a big puddle. If you interviewed me and I said that, people would choose to believe their own understanding of it likely more profound than that. Despite all my attempts at art that is really the only time I have been judged creative and unique, and it was temporary traffic lights on rainy day sat in bus going to physio. So to me that’s how I understand how it works.
Yes but unless the vaccines prove completely ineffective in protecting against hospitalisation or death from it there is no need for more lockdowns even if more people catch it.
If only you spent just a hundredth of the time you waste churning out drivel here, on just learning some very, very basic arithmetic ...
Cat Smith confirms that she is returning to the back benches. (Sky)
I vaguely recall she was little more than a make weight in Corbyn's shadow cabinet as she wasn't really any good, but was able to make up the numbers as she agreed with the then leadership.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
They also got TfL to agree to not advertise driver jobs outside of TfL.
This is the problem I have. Loads of money. But people like me can’t apply for the jobs.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
The debate there has certainly moved on a lot from when I lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s when becoming a Republic was part of the public debate but not massively popular, since it was seen as associated with less stable countries like Trinidad or Guyana and most Barbadians remained resolutely Anglophile (but much less keen on the US, interestingly). They've taken down their statue of Nelson, too (putting it in a museum) - the previous compromise was to turn the statue around. I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
That would equate to 46% of those actually voting in a referendum, to get rid of the monarchy.
So barely any change from the 45% of Australians who voted for a republic in 1999 even then
It is inevitable over the coming years many more countries will become republics as the monarchy declines post the death of the Queen
45/55 would mean that a republic only needs 5 percentage points to win. 46/54, 4. That's a fifth of a narrow lead already gone (ignoring MOE etc). And that is before HMtQ departs the scene, as you say.
I have no doubt the Queen's death will have a dramatic effect on the monarchy and its role in the world
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
The majority of the Commonwealth realms already became republics or selected their own tribal monarchs in the reign of the Queen and her father George VIth, Barbados just another one which became a republic within the Commonwealth in the Queen's reign.
So Charles and William only really need to keep white majority Canada, Australia and NZ as Commonwealth realms really based on what is left of any significance, which will be much easier than keeping non white majority Commonwealth nations as Commonwealth realms.
'Tribal monarchs'......what are you milking about?
Tonga for example has its own Monarch, King Tupou VIth, while being a member state of the Commonwealth
The country (Portugal) has detected 13 cases of the new Omicron variant among players and staff of Lisbon-based Belenenses SAD football club.
The variant is believed to have spread during a match over the weekend, which went ahead despite the team already being hit with Covid-19.
Only nine Belenenses players began Saturday’s match against Benfica, with others isolating after a defender, Cafu Phete, tested positive after returning from South Africa.
When just seven Belenenses players began the second half, the match was abandoned. Benfica were leading 7-0.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
While helping destroy the TfL balance sheet
The passengers are the ones on strike at the moment. That's what is hurting TfL.
And the more strikes there are, the more they will remain WfH mainly
They could hand out free mince pies on the tube, bus and train. Folk will still be working from home, at least for part of the week. The nature of work has changed permanently for many. Transport operators, coffee & sandwich chains and clothing retailers need to adapt.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
It is also black majority while the majority of people who live in the remaining Commonwealth realms are of white British origin.
So no, Australia is not likely next either.
Er what?
It's a good point. How far would Oliver Cromwell have got without an indigenous black majority?
Black people aren't indigenous to Barbados either.
IIRC there are some Barbadians with Carib in their ancestry. Went to a very interesting u3a talk on Barbados and it's people some years ago. Given by the Vicar of Canvey Island, who himself has very mixed ancestry.
I'm not sure that's right. Barbados was unoccupied when the English showed up, probably owing to exposure to disease from previous European visitors. Indigenous populations have contributed to the gene pool in other parts of the Eastern Caribbean though. Most Barbadians have a mixture of African and European ancestry, the latter both as a result of plantation rape as well as intermarriage with the relatively large white population (mostly Irish and Scottish indentured workers). There's also a small number of wealthy white families who own much of the private sector economy. It's a pretty interesting country, quite messed up in some ways but a lot to like about it. It's probably my favourite place west of Ireland.
Agree with your second paragraph, but wikipedia suggests some indigenes were brought in from other islands.
They seem to subsist entirely on dry buttered toast and Riesling.
5 minutes would be too long for me. In my very controversial humble opinion they were a good band, but the most overrated of all time.
Sorry, you’re wrong about that.
They remind me of Dylan, and indeed Shakespeare, in that the more you look into the work, the more there is to look at.
One problem they have is their ridiculous ubiquity in the culture, rendering all their stuff like wallpaper.
I have actually tried not to listen for them for the past 20 years, but rediscovered them during lockdown, thus resulting in sheer jubilation and excitement once more.
It’s possible I will try to ignore them again for 20 years.
They're brilliant. By definition overrated simply because you can't be rated that high without being overrated. But brilliant.
Bizarre
do you like the Grateful Dead? They are the closest stab I can have at a guess as to what the beatles would have been like if they'd been any good. Try the "Best Of" album.
I do but I don't place that much above the Beatles last 4 or 5 years. Bob's my uber alles.
You could retire to a desert island with a playlist of Dylan covers, and never get bored. the only Beatles cover I can think of is hendrix doing Sgt pepper on one occasion, and he covered Wild Thing, so not much of an accolade. let's ponder the reasons for the discrepancy.
Probably because Dylan was a first rate songwriter but a second rate singer. Far easier to listen to a Dylan song and think "this is a great song but it would sound better sung in tune". When you listen to a Beatles song it's usually hard to think of how it could be improved. Many people have covered their songs, of course, notably Yesterday, but the originals are always the standards, with good reason.
Disagree. I prefer the dylan versions of Mr Tambourine Man, Mighty Quinn, bitw, you ain't going nowhere. Ambivalent about aatwt.
Hopeton Lewis & the Gaylettes did my favourite version of Mighty Quinn. I love hearing Jamaicans sing about an eskimo!
That's blooming obvious Change Management - tell people what you are doing and why you are doing it. Something that clearly the husband hadn't explained to his wife.
Quite; I don't think that he'd realised the implications. And if it had been a male inspector it probably wouldn't have mattered so much. It was 'this woman inspecting my house' that irritated my colleague. Who was a very pleasant, sensible and competent person to work with; part of her duties involved inspecting other peoples workplaces, too.
in the 50s district nurses used to come round to check that kids were being given enough fruit juice etc. - almost textbook Nanny State. My mother was incensed, not so much by the intrusion but by the implication that she wouldn't have thought of it herself. (A small child at the time, I thought it wasn't unreasonable, and appreciated someone nudging her on my behalf.)
You had fruit juice in the 50s? That wasn’t a thing until the late 80s, unless you count posh starters in pubs or frozen concentrate.
Here's an excerpt from a Commons debate in 1952, mentioning am apple juice industry in the uk delivering 200k gallons a year throughout the war years:
The pure unfermented apple juice industry—in which I have no vested interest—commenced in this country in 1936 as a direct outcome of the very considerable wastage of apples, as a result both of glut crops and of the development of the grading of apples for market. The consumption of the product grew very slowly, but at the beginning of the last war consumption had reached about 200,000 gallons a year, and the Minister of Food froze the production at that figure for the duration of the war. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1952-04-23/debates/50d4f33b-e8b6-454e-9fc8-ad1acb9b0856/Canteens(AppleJuice)
Fruit was off-ration. But perhaps exotic fruit (oranges !) were unobtanium.
(Presumably NP is talking about Denmark?)
Those were the days, back when an MP would make a point of saying they had no vested interest in the subject under discussion.
I don't recall 'a lot' of apples, or apple juice from those days, but they were available, in season. Oranges were virtually unobtainable. Seem to recall 'sometimes' having one at Christmas. And as for bananas.......
Is it me or does now seem an odd time for a reshuffle?
I think it might be Starmer being proactive. Although we don't know yet, if the rumours are true and Thomas-Symonds is being moved then it makes sense. He's virtually unknown, and although he shadows Priti Patel he's failed to exploit her travails over Channel crossings and other matters. Nice chap, but invisible. I suspect Starmer's looking for somebody to take Patel apart. Could well be Cooper, who's given Patel a hard time at Select Committee hearings.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
It is also black majority while the majority of people who live in the remaining Commonwealth realms are of white British origin.
So no, Australia is not likely next either.
Er what?
It's a good point. How far would Oliver Cromwell have got without an indigenous black majority?
Black people aren't indigenous to Barbados either.
IIRC there are some Barbadians with Carib in their ancestry. Went to a very interesting u3a talk on Barbados and it's people some years ago. Given by the Vicar of Canvey Island, who himself has very mixed ancestry.
I'm not sure that's right. Barbados was unoccupied when the English showed up, probably owing to exposure to disease from previous European visitors. Indigenous populations have contributed to the gene pool in other parts of the Eastern Caribbean though. Most Barbadians have a mixture of African and European ancestry, the latter both as a result of plantation rape as well as intermarriage with the relatively large white population (mostly Irish and Scottish indentured workers). There's also a small number of wealthy white families who own much of the private sector economy. It's a pretty interesting country, quite messed up in some ways but a lot to like about it. It's probably my favourite place west of Ireland.
Agree with your second paragraph, but wikipedia suggests some indigenes were brought in from other islands.
That's interesting, I never heard that when I lived there. The Caribbean is a beautiful part of the world but their societies were forged in evil and that has cast a long shadow.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
They also got TfL to agree to not advertise driver jobs outside of TfL.
This is the problem I have. Loads of money. But people like me can’t apply for the jobs.
You can, you just need to start at a Station.
Hey that's no different from the current career path for a policeman. You start as a Special or as a Community support officer.
For anyone looking for optimism beyond the endless cover versions of that S African GP with her mild patients, one hypothesis Francois Balloux was touching on (I can't find the tweet now) was that vaccination might conceivably send the virus down an evolutionary path that favours variants that spread in the upper respiratory tract rather than deeper in the system. Essentially because vaccinated people are successfully wiping out the virus once it heads deeper into the lungs and circulation but are not so good at stopping the initial infection in the nose and throat.
Hence an immune-evading variant like Omicron might conceivably do well because it exploits this upper respiratory weakness and doesn't bother with the deeper more dangerous stuff.
It's a nice idea with some apparent logic and of course Prof Balloux knows his stuff, though is generally on the more glass half full / anti NPI end of the spectrum.
A reasonable best case scenario might well be that a variant - this one or another - with relatively mild symptoms, resistance to neutralising antibodies but susceptible to T-cell and other immune responses, rips through the world population at pace displacing all the nastier earlier variants. The various worse case scenarios have already been pondered on at length so I'll not depress myself and others by repeating them here. Time will tell.
Day 3 without power or water for many in sub zero temperatures. Doesn't seem to be an important issue for any bugger else though.
I was very surprised when I heard there were still lots of people unconnected after 24 hours.
I wonder whether it's the combination of the high winds with the cold weather that is causing difficulties. Such a strong storm from the north is unusual. Polar lows are normally weaker, and our strong storms are normally south-westers.
Or it could be that the county's infrastructure is creaking and more vulnerable.
No phone lines either in an area with little to no mobile coverage. Still. I suppose it will be said it's their own fault for living there. Most people who want to mitigate a storm will own a JCB.
Really was the worst storm I remember in this country. Far worse than the London one in the 80's. And we only caught the edge.
"In the thirteen polls conducted since May's election — specifically those asking the 2014 question, 'Should Scotland be an independent country?' — the No side has been ahead in eleven. When Scots are asked instead whether they want to remain in or leave the UK, the Union is even further ahead — 16 percentage points in the most recent survey."
In other words, if the UK Government takes control of IndyRef instead of ceding it to Holyrood, and insists on its own favoured wording: "Should Scotland remain in the UK? Yes or No", then it's a real mountain for the pro-Indy crowd. Taking over the "Yes" mantra would be an act of quite Borisovian chutzpah.
Is it me or does now seem an odd time for a reshuffle?
Starmer obviously feels he is on the ascendancy after the last couple of weeks, so why not strike while the iron is hot (before it goes cold again)? There is much dead wood to remove after all.
I am not sure the reshuffle needs to make the headlines, so long as the replacements can get a hearing and make their mark quickly. A feature so far missing from the SC (Reeves excepted).
Is it me or does now seem an odd time for a reshuffle?
Starmer obviously feels he is on the ascendancy after the last couple of weeks, so why not strike while the iron is hot (before it goes cold again)? There is much dead wood to remove after all.
I am not sure the reshuffle needs to make the headlines, so long as the replacements can get a hearing and make their mark quickly. A feature so far missing from the SC (Reeves excepted).
The real question is how many new jobs is Rayner going to have at the end of all this?
Just wondering has anybody tried a sneaky booster jab bookage today i.e. have they done what they often do and update the backend before an announcement so that under 40s and 5 monthers can book?
Am asking for a friend as I have already had my third and they are wondering if they could cancel their 6 month booster and rebook for 5.
Is it me or does now seem an odd time for a reshuffle?
Starmer obviously feels he is on the ascendancy after the last couple of weeks, so why not strike while the iron is hot (before it goes cold again)? There is much dead wood to remove after all.
I am not sure the reshuffle needs to make the headlines, so long as the replacements can get a hearing and make their mark quickly. A feature so far missing from the SC (Reeves excepted).
The real question is how many new jobs is Rayner going to have at the end of all this?
Idle hands make light of Corbyn's work. The more jobs the better.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
They also got TfL to agree to not advertise driver jobs outside of TfL.
This is the problem I have. Loads of money. But people like me can’t apply for the jobs.
You can, you just need to start at a Station.
Hey that's no different from the current career path for a policeman. You start as a Special or as a Community support officer.
Or indeed any number of private sector jobs. You simply start by being an offspring of one of the directors or their mates.
Time to privatise and stop subsidising TFL then @HYUFD?
To stop subsidising the large pay packets of striking tube drivers certainly as strikes will certainly not help it back into a healthy financial position post lockdown
The ability to take collective action and to have collective bargaining has certainly helped to enhance the pay and conditions of the drivers.
Unity is strength.
They also got TfL to agree to not advertise driver jobs outside of TfL.
This is the problem I have. Loads of money. But people like me can’t apply for the jobs.
You can, you just need to start at a Station.
Hey that's no different from the current career path for a policeman. You start as a Special or as a Community support officer.
Is that right? I thought the community support officer was a separate channel.
Congratulations to Barbados who shrug the yoke of imperialism and become a republic from midnight tonight. Australia next, I reckon.
It is also black majority while the majority of people who live in the remaining Commonwealth realms are of white British origin.
So no, Australia is not likely next either.
Er what?
It's a good point. How far would Oliver Cromwell have got without an indigenous black majority?
Black people aren't indigenous to Barbados either.
IIRC there are some Barbadians with Carib in their ancestry. Went to a very interesting u3a talk on Barbados and it's people some years ago. Given by the Vicar of Canvey Island, who himself has very mixed ancestry.
I'm not sure that's right. Barbados was unoccupied when the English showed up, probably owing to exposure to disease from previous European visitors. Indigenous populations have contributed to the gene pool in other parts of the Eastern Caribbean though. Most Barbadians have a mixture of African and European ancestry, the latter both as a result of plantation rape as well as intermarriage with the relatively large white population (mostly Irish and Scottish indentured workers). There's also a small number of wealthy white families who own much of the private sector economy. It's a pretty interesting country, quite messed up in some ways but a lot to like about it. It's probably my favourite place west of Ireland.
Agree with your second paragraph, but wikipedia suggests some indigenes were brought in from other islands.
That's interesting, I never heard that when I lived there. The Caribbean is a beautiful part of the world but their societies were forged in evil and that has cast a long shadow.
I love Barbados. Probably more than nearly any other island around there. I always do a quick check for any potential danger (I use the word very broadly) by doing a per capital GDP check. The lower it is the greater the problem for tourists might be. Barbados I believe has a relatively high per capital GDP certainly vs many of the other caribbean islands.
They seem to subsist entirely on dry buttered toast and Riesling.
5 minutes would be too long for me. In my very controversial humble opinion they were a good band, but the most overrated of all time.
Sorry, you’re wrong about that.
They remind me of Dylan, and indeed Shakespeare, in that the more you look into the work, the more there is to look at.
One problem they have is their ridiculous ubiquity in the culture, rendering all their stuff like wallpaper.
I have actually tried not to listen for them for the past 20 years, but rediscovered them during lockdown, thus resulting in sheer jubilation and excitement once more.
It’s possible I will try to ignore them again for 20 years.
They're brilliant. By definition overrated simply because you can't be rated that high without being overrated. But brilliant.
Bizarre
do you like the Grateful Dead? They are the closest stab I can have at a guess as to what the beatles would have been like if they'd been any good. Try the "Best Of" album.
I do but I don't place that much above the Beatles last 4 or 5 years. Bob's my uber alles.
You could retire to a desert island with a playlist of Dylan covers, and never get bored. the only Beatles cover I can think of is hendrix doing Sgt pepper on one occasion, and he covered Wild Thing, so not much of an accolade. let's ponder the reasons for the discrepancy.
Probably because Dylan was a first rate songwriter but a second rate singer. Far easier to listen to a Dylan song and think "this is a great song but it would sound better sung in tune". When you listen to a Beatles song it's usually hard to think of how it could be improved. Many people have covered their songs, of course, notably Yesterday, but the originals are always the standards, with good reason.
Disagree. I prefer the dylan versions of Mr Tambourine Man, Mighty Quinn, bitw, you ain't going nowhere. Ambivalent about aatwt.
I still think the Dylan version of All Along the Watchtower is superior to that of Hendrix. There is a depth in the former that sounds like it comes from some ancient time, whereas the latter seems superficial.
Me too. Although it is such a great cover it is almost pointless comparing with the original. Best to treat as a completely different song
TfL is the perfect example of strong unions representing their workers.
And the result is a strong career path with good pay, running the finest public network in the UK. People that actually use the Underground think it's good on the whole, just needs some work - but the Tories aren't going to help with that
Just wondering has anybody tried a sneaky booster jab bookage today i.e. have they done what they often do and update the backend before an announcement so that under 40s and 5 monthers can book?
Am asking for a friend as I have already had my third and they are wondering if they could cancel their 6 month booster and rebook for 5.
Rayner vs Starmer briefing war in full flow now...
Shadow Cabinet source: "This is all very curious. Angela has been telling us she would sort a reshuffle for months and that Keir couldn't do it without her. And now it happens she's saying she knew nothing about it."
Comments
He won't change his mind, however wrong he is shown to be.
Which will be used if exams don't take place. And no provision for results.
You have to watch out for his shifts of definition and his careful destruction of mathelatical precision.
The Queen is hugely respected and is the only thing holding the monarchy together
Aus - 41/33
Other - 37/38
Overall - 40/34
I believe him because there is always understanding superimposed on art and historical fact about them get lost very quickly. Much like Blake’s satanic mill was a burned out mill where he lived, but everyone refuses to believe that when I tell them!
"Michael Mina
@michaelmina_lab
Monitoring wastewater for viral load estimates outbreak size
In just a few weeks, in Pretoria S. Africa (north of Johannesburg) viral load detected in wastewater has reached similar levels as the peak of Delta
This at least indicates that transmission may be remarkably swift"
It is gonna race around the world, and everyone will encounter it, or catch it.
There's no real indication that it will be very mild. This means a whole lot of dead and diseased people, just from the sheer number of infections
https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1465126369608744968?s=20
Otherwise there will be riots if hasty lockdowns are imposed again
Given by the Vicar of Canvey Island, who himself has very mixed ancestry.
Much of his analysis is excellent. Some of his resolutions to problems are reminiscent of Nikita Krushev nonetheless.
Though interesting to see that more non white Australian immigrants are pro monarchy than white Australians are for a republic
@bbclaurak
·
15m
Labour spokesperson now officially confirms a reshuffle is underway
I think becoming a Republic is a move that makes sense for Barbados. I remain a lukewarm monarchist in terms of our own constitutional arrangements.
Doesn't seem to be an important issue for any bugger else though.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/29/nelson-blm-and-new-voices-how-barbados-came-to-cut-ties-to-crown
So Charles and William only really need to keep white majority Canada, Australia and NZ as Commonwealth realms based on what is left of any significance, which will be much easier than keeping non white majority Commonwealth nations as Commonwealth realms.
She had a few tries at it on R4 this morning; the closest she got was "sec-you-terry"
I wonder whether it's the combination of the high winds with the cold weather that is causing difficulties. Such a strong storm from the north is unusual. Polar lows are normally weaker, and our strong storms are normally south-westers.
Or it could be that the county's infrastructure is creaking and more vulnerable.
Edit; inexplicable predictive text.
Most Barbadians have a mixture of African and European ancestry, the latter both as a result of plantation rape as well as intermarriage with the relatively large white population (mostly Irish and Scottish indentured workers). There's also a small number of wealthy white families who own much of the private sector economy. It's a pretty interesting country, quite messed up in some ways but a lot to like about it. It's probably my favourite place west of Ireland.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tfl-financial-crisis-tube-line-closed-bankruptcy-b968230.html?itm_source=Internal&itm_channel=homepage_trending_article_component&itm_campaign=trending_section&itm_content=3
Even if that decision is left up to Commonwealth realms themselves.
Despite all my attempts at art that is really the only time I have been judged creative and unique, and it was temporary traffic lights on rainy day sat in bus going to physio.
So to me that’s how I understand how it works.
This is the problem I have. Loads of money. But people like me can’t apply for the jobs.
The variant is believed to have spread during a match over the weekend, which went ahead despite the team already being hit with Covid-19.
Only nine Belenenses players began Saturday’s match against Benfica, with others isolating after a defender, Cafu Phete, tested positive after returning from South Africa.
When just seven Belenenses players began the second half, the match was abandoned. Benfica were leading 7-0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8oWCOhzAx0
Illustrious company. The only WWII banana story I know.
https://www.evelynwaugh.org.uk/styled-48/index.html
Hey that's no different from the current career path for a policeman. You start as a Special or as a Community support officer.
Hence an immune-evading variant like Omicron might conceivably do well because it exploits this upper respiratory weakness and doesn't bother with the deeper more dangerous stuff.
It's a nice idea with some apparent logic and of course Prof Balloux knows his stuff, though is generally on the more glass half full / anti NPI end of the spectrum.
A reasonable best case scenario might well be that a variant - this one or another - with relatively mild symptoms, resistance to neutralising antibodies but susceptible to T-cell and other immune responses, rips through the world population at pace displacing all the nastier earlier variants. The various worse case scenarios have already been pondered on at length so I'll not depress myself and others by repeating them here. Time will tell.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/29/storm-arwen-homes-in-north-of-england-without-power-for-third-night
No phone lines either in an area with little to no mobile coverage.
Still. I suppose it will be said it's their own fault for living there. Most people who want to mitigate a storm will own a JCB.
Really was the worst storm I remember in this country. Far worse than the London one in the 80's. And we only caught the edge.
https://stephendaisley.substack.com/p/nicola-sturgeon-will-never-deliver
This bit is actually quite interesting:
"In the thirteen polls conducted since May's election — specifically those asking the 2014 question, 'Should Scotland be an independent country?' — the No side has been ahead in eleven. When Scots are asked instead whether they want to remain in or leave the UK, the Union is even further ahead — 16 percentage points in the most recent survey."
In other words, if the UK Government takes control of IndyRef instead of ceding it to Holyrood, and insists on its own favoured wording: "Should Scotland remain in the UK? Yes or No", then it's a real mountain for the pro-Indy crowd. Taking over the "Yes" mantra would be an act of quite Borisovian chutzpah.
Anyway, of course, it's not gonna happen....
I am not sure the reshuffle needs to make the headlines, so long as the replacements can get a hearing and make their mark quickly. A feature so far missing from the SC (Reeves excepted).
He accepted the result of the referendum.
And it’s the dead wood being targeted, too,
Good.
Am asking for a friend as I have already had my third and they are wondering if they could cancel their 6 month booster and rebook for 5.
Excellent
You simply start by being an offspring of one of the directors or their mates.
So Rayner making a fuss about nothing
How long did you live there?
And the result is a strong career path with good pay, running the finest public network in the UK. People that actually use the Underground think it's good on the whole, just needs some work - but the Tories aren't going to help with that
Shadow Cabinet source: "This is all very curious. Angela has been telling us she would sort a reshuffle for months and that Keir couldn't do it without her. And now it happens she's saying she knew nothing about it."
https://twitter.com/REWearmouth/status/1465302260855021568?s=20