I’m on a DLR at the moment, which is of course driverless and has been since its inception. It’s a completely segregated track system though, no level crossings.
Point of order:
The DLR is driverless, but it is not crewless. AIUI the trains cannot run in revenue service without a train captain (conductor) on board. Who has to be trained to be able to drive the trains manually (there are controls behind panels at either end), and (at least used to) have to open and close the doors at each station.
Therefore the savings from being 'driverless' are not quite as much as you might expect.
People discussing this really need to make distinctions between driverless and crewless: only the latter is truly automatic.
Yes it does of course have a conductor. During quiet times of day, like just now, they like to come and check people have touched in with their cards too.
It is to all intents and purposes driverless though. The braking, queuing and spacing of trains is all automated.
A completely crewless train would of course be a health and safety disaster.
But that's the point: because you still need a crew member on board, the cost savings are much reduced. A DLR train captain earns £42,000 a year (*). A tube driver earns £59,000. Whilst that is a £17,000 'saving' per train, the costs of full automation are in the many hundreds of millions.
It basically is not worth the cost except on new and self-contained systems.
(*) As far as I can tell.
Presumably the TCs need route familiarity, too. Relatively easy on DLR, 38km total route length, with little change. But elsewhere ...
A tube driver also gets 40 days holiday, and a pension package I cannot recall without going to look.
Don’t order gin and tonic, tho: it takes about an hour. With two staff doing it. I’ve no idea why
I prefer to listen to people who spend real time in a place, immersing, putting down roots, learning the language. They are the ones I pay attention to, not a dilettantish gadfly.
The infamous divide between the "authentic" and "inauthentic". According to whom, though?
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
I can't get all that fussed about the idea that Boris tried to land his mistress Carrie a six figure job in the F.O. It's a measure of how low things have sunk that none of us is surprised any more.
It's what came after the story broke which really stinks. The No.10 machine muscling into The Sunday Times to pull the story is the stuff of third world corruption.
How much more of this putrid situation must we endure?
This sort of scandal felled the Douglas- Home Government.
I am not comparing in any way Ms Symonds to Christine Keeler, nonetheless we have a Prime Minister who is so cavalier with blurring the lines between his national security sensitive professional life with his sexually incontinent private life that he really does appear to be a potential risk to national security.
Scratching a Times story is one thing, at least there are no super injunctions that should worry us...
Which bit is worse- that Downing Street took steps to discourage The Times from continuing to publish the story... or that The Times complied?
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Don’t order gin and tonic, tho: it takes about an hour. With two staff doing it. I’ve no idea why
I prefer to listen to people who spend real time in a place, immersing, putting down roots, learning the language. They are the ones I pay attention to, not a dilettantish gadfly.
The infamous divide between the "authentic" and "inauthentic". According to whom, though?
Seriously though, I have spent maybe half a dozen extended periods in places around the world. Really immersive ones. They have been a whole heap more authentic than the admittedly enjoyable journeys from airport lounge to airport lounge via a nudist beach here or a swivel chair there.
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
Diana Ross headlined a festival just outside our village last week...
Childerley Hall? A friend of mine was singing on the main stage the night before.
Yep, Childerley.
My cousin is playing Glastonbury this year with the band he is in.
Cool! I want to know which one of these you're related to..
VOCALS : GOBSHITE RAMBO
GUITAR : SKELEGOG
GUITAR : BUTCH MYSTIQUE
BASS : TACTILE SASQUATCH
My friend is the Brand New Heavies' current singer. She got me backstage at the last gig of theirs I went to; I ended up drinking quite heavily with the very friendly band for about an hour.
I couldn't possibly comment which one it is.
It's certainly not the (somewhat famous) Gobshite Rambo.
My cousin also co-wrote the score for an award-winning film featuring a (now) academy-award-winning actress.
Don’t order gin and tonic, tho: it takes about an hour. With two staff doing it. I’ve no idea why
I prefer to listen to people who spend real time in a place, immersing, putting down roots, learning the language. They are the ones I pay attention to, not a dilettantish gadfly.
The infamous divide between the "authentic" and "inauthentic". According to whom, though?
It is a genuinely fascinating question. Probably because it has no answer
Eg France
I have been to France at least 20 times in my life. From quick weekends in Paris to long road trips around the southwest or Savoie or Corsica. I’ve been to France Outremer - Guadeloupe etc. I’ve been to every major French city
Add it all together and I’ve probably spent a year of my life in France: but in little bits and all over. Does that make me better or worse informed about France than someone who has actually lived three years in, say, Pau? Or Nancy?
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Don’t order gin and tonic, tho: it takes about an hour. With two staff doing it. I’ve no idea why
I prefer to listen to people who spend real time in a place, immersing, putting down roots, learning the language. They are the ones I pay attention to, not a dilettantish gadfly.
The infamous divide between the "authentic" and "inauthentic". According to whom, though?
Seriously though, I have spent maybe half a dozen extended periods in places around the world. Really immersive ones. They have been a whole heap more authentic than the admittedly enjoyable journeys from airport lounge to airport lounge via a nudist beach here or a swivel chair there.
The craziest thing you’ve done is ride down the Mekong in a fucking canoe, you daft apeth. You’re a lightweight
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
Diana Ross headlined a festival just outside our village last week...
Childerley Hall? A friend of mine was singing on the main stage the night before.
Yep, Childerley.
My cousin is playing Glastonbury this year with the band he is in.
Ooooh I’ve listened to them before, they’re good. The singer’s that actor who’s very good but whose name escapes me. He does a lot of Shane Meadows stuff.
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
If “canoeing down the Mekong” is the most “batshit crazy thing” @Heathener has ever done, I suggest there is quite a difference between us
Indeed. I'm not a druggy and never have been.
But if you could see the rapids and whirlpools, the ferocious force of that mighty river as it tumbles thousands of feet off the Tibetan plateau you would know why I said it. The locals thought we were utterly nuts and certain to die.
I have lived through some incredibly dangerous situations: armed and drunk child soldiers at a night checkpoint in the Congo, being attacked by a lynch mob whilst reporting in an African war zone, having another gun held to my head in during a coup d'etat, going so wild and 'native' that I once never left an African village for over a year and dreamt in the local language, lived through a cholera epidemic that wiped out half our village ... forgetting for a while how to speak my own tongue.
But doing what we did on the Mekong where a BBC journalist died a few months before we tried it? It was wild. What didn't help was that the local wooden canoe was not intended for the big river. It was barely a centimetre thick.
The whirlpools and rapids we rode were staggering. Saw death closer than at any time in a life of much danger.
Don’t order gin and tonic, tho: it takes about an hour. With two staff doing it. I’ve no idea why
I prefer to listen to people who spend real time in a place, immersing, putting down roots, learning the language. They are the ones I pay attention to, not a dilettantish gadfly.
The infamous divide between the "authentic" and "inauthentic". According to whom, though?
It is a genuinely fascinating question. Probably because it has no answer
Eg France
I have been to France at least 20 times in my life. From quick weekends in Paris to long road trips around the southwest or Savoie or Corsica. I’ve been to France Outremer - Guadeloupe etc. I’ve been to every major French city
Add it all together and I’ve probably spent a year of my life in France: but in little bits and all over. Does that make me better or worse informed about France than someone who has actually lived three years in, say, Pau? Or Nancy?
I really dunno
People who have lived their whole lives in France can't necessarily agree on much about the country, so the whole question is moot, as even if you have the requisite experience it doesn't necessarily make you an authority on the country in a practical sense.
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Maybe that's why he irritates me so much!
One of you is an animal, and the other is a tick.
Which is which?
But ticks are animals ... *logic failure, does not compute*
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
Diana Ross headlined a festival just outside our village last week...
Childerley Hall? A friend of mine was singing on the main stage the night before.
Yep, Childerley.
My cousin is playing Glastonbury this year with the band he is in.
Ooooh I’ve listened to them before, they’re good. The singer’s that actor who’s very good but whose name escapes me. He does a lot of Shane Meadows stuff.
I'll pass your praise onto him.
Yep, Paddy Considine. A much-underrated actor IMO.
Coincidentally, I went to school with Shane Meadows. The odd thing is I cannot remember him, but I do remember the stigma that sadly surrounded him. I always wonder if he'd remember me.
It was not one of the private schools I went to, but a state middle school. So the most famous person I went to school with was from the state school...
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
If “canoeing down the Mekong” is the most “batshit crazy thing” @Heathener has ever done, I suggest there is quite a difference between us
Indeed. I'm not a druggy and never have been.
But if you could see the rapids and whirlpools, the ferocious force of that mighty river as it tumbles thousands of feet off the Tibetan plateau you would know why I said it. The locals thought we were utterly nuts and certain to die.
I have lived through some incredibly dangerous situations: armed and drunk child soldiers at a night checkpoint in the Congo, being attacked by a lynch mob whilst reporting in an African war zone, having another gun held to my head in during a coup d'etat, going so wild and 'native' that I once never left an African village for over a year and dreamt in the local language ... forgetting for a while how to speak my own tongue.
But doing what we did on the Mekong where a BBC journalist died a few months before we tried it? It was wild.
Lol. Fair play, If you have done all that then: total respect
Perhaps we are more similar than we realise, or would like to think, which is why we irritate each other
Tho I suspect the reason I irritate you at this precise moment is more that I am in Dilijan Armenia and you are in Surrey
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
A friend and her sister have tickets to Glastonbury, but sister's partner has caught Covid, so it's very much in the balance whether she can go. Apparently tickets are non-transferable (presumably to stop touts), so my friend, a woman in her 60s, has a choice of attending on her own (she's shy and feels it would look very strange) or not go at all (which would be such a shame). Any advice from our hivemind for single attendees?
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
If “canoeing down the Mekong” is the most “batshit crazy thing” @Heathener has ever done, I suggest there is quite a difference between us
Indeed. I'm not a druggy and never have been.
But if you could see the rapids and whirlpools, the ferocious force of that mighty river as it tumbles thousands of feet off the Tibetan plateau you would know why I said it. The locals thought we were utterly nuts and certain to die.
I have lived through some incredibly dangerous situations: armed and drunk child soldiers at a night checkpoint in the Congo, being attacked by a lynch mob whilst reporting in an African war zone, having another gun held to my head in during a coup d'etat, going so wild and 'native' that I once never left an African village for over a year and dreamt in the local language ... forgetting for a while how to speak my own tongue.
But doing what we did on the Mekong where a BBC journalist died a few months before we tried it? It was wild.
Lol. Fair play, If you have done all that then: total respect
Perhaps we are more similar than we realise, or would like to think, which is why we irritate each other
Tho I suspect the reason I irritate you at this precise moment is more that I am in Dilijan Armenia and you are in Surrey
Thank you, peace.
And you are right: that is the thing which irritates me more than anything. I've lived abroad most of my life and now I am stuck in Surrey, green with envy at you
In important global news, the largest freshwater fish ever recorded has been caught in the Mekong. It is not, surprisingly, one of the giant catfish but a freshwater stingray:
I once canoed with a friend down the Mekong from the upper reaches in a rickety local canoe. It's the most batshit crazy thing I've ever done.
“The creatures outside looked from Leon to Heathener, and from Heathener to Leon, and from Leon to Heathener again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
If “canoeing down the Mekong” is the most “batshit crazy thing” @Heathener has ever done, I suggest there is quite a difference between us
Indeed. I'm not a druggy and never have been.
But if you could see the rapids and whirlpools, the ferocious force of that mighty river as it tumbles thousands of feet off the Tibetan plateau you would know why I said it. The locals thought we were utterly nuts and certain to die.
I have lived through some incredibly dangerous situations: armed and drunk child soldiers at a night checkpoint in the Congo, being attacked by a lynch mob whilst reporting in an African war zone, having another gun held to my head in during a coup d'etat, going so wild and 'native' that I once never left an African village for over a year and dreamt in the local language ... forgetting for a while how to speak my own tongue.
But doing what we did on the Mekong where a BBC journalist died a few months before we tried it? It was wild.
Lol. Fair play, If you have done all that then: total respect
Perhaps we are more similar than we realise, or would like to think, which is why we irritate each other
Tho I suspect the reason I irritate you at this precise moment is more that I am in Dilijan Armenia and you are in Surrey
Thank you, peace.
And you are right: that is the thing which irritates me more than anything. I've lived abroad most of my life and now I am stuck in Surrey, green with envy at you
Were you/are you, a TV journalist then?
I’ve no wish to doxx you, as I’ve no wish to be doxxed, but that’s quite a list of scary moments unless you had to seek them out professionally?
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
Diana Ross headlined a festival just outside our village last week...
Childerley Hall? A friend of mine was singing on the main stage the night before.
Yep, Childerley.
My cousin is playing Glastonbury this year with the band he is in.
Oooh I'm going to that. They're on mid evening Thursday in one of the wooded areas so should be quite busy as the main stages at Glastonbury don't start until Friday. Currently packing my bags to set off on Wednesday.
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
A friend and her sister have tickets to Glastonbury, but sister's partner has caught Covid, so it's very much in the balance whether she can go. Apparently tickets are non-transferable (presumably to stop touts), so my friend, a woman in her 60s, has a choice of attending on her own (she's shy and feels it would look very strange) or not go at all (which would be such a shame). Any advice from our hivemind for single attendees?
The tickets have photos of the attendee that are matched against ID so definitely non-transferable unfortunately. I'd recommend going along to be honest even if it is on her own as there's people of all ages there and in my experience (as a 29 year old man so I can't speak for everyone's experience) it's quite a welcoming environment to meet people.
Not enough houses = charge as much as they want or you're homeless
The key point - which is not a very complicated one - is that housing prices are set ultimately by supply and demand.
And history suggests, it's much more pleasant to bring house prices into line by increasing supply, than by reducing incomes (and therefore demand).
WRT renting: there are good reasons for people to rent. Owning a home is great if it's somewhere you plan on being for a long, long time. It's not such a great idea if you think your needs might change in the near future, or that you may need to move somewhere else. It's also (almost) always going to be the case that people moving out of home/university aren't immediately in a place (financially) to buy their own home.
The former Governor of Missouri has made a crazy militaristic campaign video where he talks about "RINO Hunting": We are sick and tired of the Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left.
How did the composition of the public sector change over that period?
As those are percentage salary changes, that should be corrected for automatically.
I don't think it would. If you get rid of a load of high-earning civil servants then it could bring average pay down, even if everyone gets a pay rise.
Likewise, if you outsource a bunch of low paid cleaners to Capita, it would have the opposite effect.
To be fair the "Leftist alliance" contained some centrist (but environmentally concerned) Greens, some loony Marxists, some really loony Marxists, and the traditional Party Socialists.
It fracturing should not be a surprise.
It is, however, good news for Macron. Because both the Greens and the PS Deputies are much more likely to work with him than Melanchon's lot or the Communists.
What is the monthly rent? How long has it been at the previous level eg has it been changed since before Covid? Have they been on a lower introductory rent?
I've just been chatting to people on that thread, and one has just explained that his large increase is a recovery from a large pandemic discount.
Ooh! I’ve just been given two tickets to see Diana Ross at the O2 on Friday. I’m told they were rather expensive tickets too - £250 each. I should probably try to sell them to pay next month’s rent, but that might upset the donor if they found out so I’m going!
A friend and her sister have tickets to Glastonbury, but sister's partner has caught Covid, so it's very much in the balance whether she can go. Apparently tickets are non-transferable (presumably to stop touts), so my friend, a woman in her 60s, has a choice of attending on her own (she's shy and feels it would look very strange) or not go at all (which would be such a shame). Any advice from our hivemind for single attendees?
The tickets have photos of the attendee that are matched against ID so definitely non-transferable unfortunately. I'd recommend going along to be honest even if it is on her own as there's people of all ages there and in my experience (as a 29 year old man so I can't speak for everyone's experience) it's quite a welcoming environment to meet people.
Comments
Which is which?
Seriously though, I have spent maybe half a dozen extended periods in places around the world. Really immersive ones. They have been a whole heap more authentic than the admittedly enjoyable journeys from airport lounge to airport lounge via a nudist beach here or a swivel chair there.
It's certainly not the (somewhat famous) Gobshite Rambo.
My cousin also co-wrote the score for an award-winning film featuring a (now) academy-award-winning actress.
That side of my family's got all the talent.
Eg France
I have been to France at least 20 times in my life. From quick weekends in Paris to long road trips around the southwest or Savoie or Corsica. I’ve been to France Outremer - Guadeloupe etc. I’ve been to every major French city
Add it all together and I’ve probably spent a year of my life in France: but in little bits and all over. Does that make me better or worse informed about France than someone who has actually lived three years in, say, Pau? Or Nancy?
I really dunno
But if you could see the rapids and whirlpools, the ferocious force of that mighty river as it tumbles thousands of feet off the Tibetan plateau you would know why I said it. The locals thought we were utterly nuts and certain to die.
I have lived through some incredibly dangerous situations: armed and drunk child soldiers at a night checkpoint in the Congo, being attacked by a lynch mob whilst reporting in an African war zone, having another gun held to my head in during a coup d'etat, going so wild and 'native' that I once never left an African village for over a year and dreamt in the local language, lived through a cholera epidemic that wiped out half our village ... forgetting for a while how to speak my own tongue.
But doing what we did on the Mekong where a BBC journalist died a few months before we tried it? It was wild. What didn't help was that the local wooden canoe was not intended for the big river. It was barely a centimetre thick.
The whirlpools and rapids we rode were staggering. Saw death closer than at any time in a life of much danger.
Yep, Paddy Considine. A much-underrated actor IMO.
Coincidentally, I went to school with Shane Meadows. The odd thing is I cannot remember him, but I do remember the stigma that sadly surrounded him. I always wonder if he'd remember me.
It was not one of the private schools I went to, but a state middle school. So the most famous person I went to school with was from the state school...
Perhaps we are more similar than we realise, or would like to think, which is why we irritate each other
Tho I suspect the reason I irritate you at this precise moment is more that I am in Dilijan Armenia and you are in Surrey
And you are right: that is the thing which irritates me more than anything. I've lived abroad most of my life and now I am stuck in Surrey, green with envy at you
I’ve no wish to doxx you, as I’ve no wish to be doxxed, but that’s quite a list of scary moments unless you had to seek them out professionally?
And history suggests, it's much more pleasant to bring house prices into line by increasing supply, than by reducing incomes (and therefore demand).
WRT renting: there are good reasons for people to rent. Owning a home is great if it's somewhere you plan on being for a long, long time. It's not such a great idea if you think your needs might change in the near future, or that you may need to move somewhere else. It's also (almost) always going to be the case that people moving out of home/university aren't immediately in a place (financially) to buy their own home.
It fracturing should not be a surprise.
It is, however, good news for Macron. Because both the Greens and the PS Deputies are much more likely to work with him than Melanchon's lot or the Communists.
He is right about that, and I will add a simple test for a healthy housing market: At least a few builders and landlords must fail, regularly.
What is the monthly rent? How long has it been at the previous level eg has it been changed since before Covid? Have they been on a lower introductory rent?
I've just been chatting to people on that thread, and one has just explained that his large increase is a recovery from a large pandemic discount.