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Tamworth – the next by-election? – politicalbetting.com

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  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,821

    Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, seems to be gaining traction. This was quite a take-down of Nicola (on cancer treatment). Wonder if the rush to an attempted referendum could backfire?

    https://twitter.com/Iainmackay8/status/1542502680572022784

    Gaining traction with Huggy Bear, husband, father of 3, Scottish & British, Rangers, F1, Not a fan of the SNP #no2np? Golly, bit of a turn up for the books and no mistake.

    Is Nicola still around? I was told that she was off to pastures new (PB 2020-2022).
    Sadly yes. No one wanted her, it turned out.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    DavidL said:

    Sadly yes. No one wanted her, it turned out.

    Not even the French?
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    edited July 2022
    DavidL said:

    Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, seems to be gaining traction. This was quite a take-down of Nicola (on cancer treatment). Wonder if the rush to an attempted referendum could backfire?

    https://twitter.com/Iainmackay8/status/1542502680572022784

    Gaining traction with Huggy Bear, husband, father of 3, Scottish & British, Rangers, F1, Not a fan of the SNP #no2np? Golly, bit of a turn up for the books and no mistake.

    Is Nicola still around? I was told that she was off to pastures new (PB 2020-2022).
    Sadly yes. No one wanted her, it turned out.
    Except Scottish voters, unfortunately from your serial backer of duffers pov.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,821
    Scott_xP said:

    DavidL said:

    Sadly yes. No one wanted her, it turned out.

    Not even the French?
    Err... not going to comment on that one.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,361

    DavidL said:

    kinabalu said:

    DougSeal said:

    What is it with people who take trolleys to the self-service checkout?

    Because these days there are self service trolley checkouts too?
    Every supermarket round my way has three or four options:

    Regular cashier (getting less and less these days)
    Self service basket
    Self service trolley
    And sometimes a seperate 'Scan and Go' (or whatever you call them).

    Obviously, don't take a trolley to a self service basket, but after that, everything pretty much seems okay.

    The thing that pisses me off is the random checks[1]. I learnt the hard way that if I wanted five packets of noodles and each one was a different flavour, then they all needed scanning. I couldn't scan one Chicken and hit five [2] and it'd be okay.

    Got selected for a random check. Of course, it failed and I had to take the whole lot (already bagged up nice and neat) through a cashier and unload the whole lot and rebag it. Got my own back however, as it rang through lower.... [3]

    [1] If I'm going to nick something, I'd damn well just going to nick it. A random check isn't going to stop me.
    [2] Yes yes, the accountant in me tells me they are using this for stock levels as well, so what I did I shouldn't have done, same price or not.
    [3] Forgot to put one item out (can't recall how) and only realised after I'd fished it out the bottom of the trolley at the car. Just sighed and drove off, couldn't be bothered.
    That was very unlucky. I've never been selected for a random check at Waitrose and just between the two of us I've occasionally been in a position where such a check would have had me with questions to answer. Nothing too venal or calculated, I hasten to add, just maybe the odd item that's slipped through the cracks.
    Really?

    When I was a child I once managed to take a bus into town and deliberately failed to catch the conductor's eye (this being a clue as to how long ago this was). I succeeded in my experiment but immediately went to the bus station office and insisted on paying the fare I had omitted to pay. I have tried to live to that standard my whole life, whether returning excess change or pointing out when a bill omitted something.

    I am genuinely surprised you would make a statement of such a thing.
    There are inevitably errors both sides with supermarket shopping.

    Take two scenarios:

    1. Shopper gets home and finds they have an item for free.
    2. Shopper gets home and finds they have been charged twice for an item.

    If the shopper is expected to contact the supermarket for 1 then the supermarkets must expect to refund in scenario 2. I really doubt they consistently would refund in that scenario, or many customers would feel comfortable requesting such a refund.

    Given the costs of processing the refund for both parties in time and possibly travel or phone for the customer, outweigh most supermarket items anyway, surely the right thing to do is assume scenarios 1 and 2 broadly match over time and ignore any discrepancies found?
    I've been given refunds by a supermarket when items that were scanned as part of an online delivery didn't turn up in the boxes of groceries that I emptied, and I confused a checkout assistant at Lidl once by going back to the checkout to pay for a cucumber that hadn't scanned.

    I'd find it very hard to let it slide either way. One time when a vending machine disbursed two chocolate bars for the price of one I felt compelled to pay the extra 35p so that the next person using the vending machine would benefit in my place.
    But surely you have had the experience of a vending machine not dispersing anything and you losing your money? If anything these scenarios are significantly rigged against the customer.
    Sometimes when that's happened to me I've risked double or quits and managed to get both that I've paid for the next time.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990

    Except Scottish voters, unfortunately from your serial backer of duffers pov.

    ...
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    'A source claimed that Mr Johnson had said in 2019, when he was running for leader, that he had the 'support of all the sex pests’ because he was backed by MPs with reputations for inappropriate behaviour - including Mr Pincher...' https://twitter.com/MoS_Politics/status/1543264066893922305
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    Scott_xP said:

    Except Scottish voters, unfortunately from your serial backer of duffers pov.

    ...
    Thanks for reinforcing my point on the quality of opposition you lot have backed.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    Just to be clear I have no interest in writing a novel. Or science fiction.

    Poor Daughter is still testing positive a week later and still coughing up (her words) "chunks of her lungs". Husband also still unwell.

    Perhaps they have been unlucky but this is still a nasty virus.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,260
    Applicant said:

    RobD said:

    Scott_xP said:
    Single market or not, it wouldn't have helped. See Amsterdam, for example.
    I'm mildly surprised that O'Leary doesn't have a clue how the last six years of British politics happened.
    O’Leary is an example of a business man whose instinct is that the first thing to try is to push down wages. I know several such - whose reaction to a constrained labour supply is that they have a moral right to infinite labour at minimum wage. Rather than “how do I adapt to world where wages are rising?”

    Ironically, on the airplane side, his business is built on reducing cost through investment in newer planes that need less maintenance and fuel.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,135

    kinabalu said:


    That was very unlucky. I've never been selected for a random check at Waitrose ......

    You what? Never? I get them all the time in the regular supermarkets. Is your lack of checks a Waitrose thing (I don't shop there) or my regular checks a 'You're probably a thieving scouser, you thieving scouser!' thing I wonder?
    Probably because it's a North London Waitrose, I think. Bet you wouldn't get checked either if you came here to do your shopping. Is it within striking distance for you?
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,402
    edited July 2022
    Just discovered I was at Uni with Chris Pincher. Can't say I remember him, but the name rings a bell now I know.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    dixiedean said:

    Just discovered I was at Uni with Chris Pincher. Can't say I remember him, but the name rings a bell now I know.

    Were you not his type?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,260
    edited July 2022
    Cyclefree said:

    Just to be clear I have no interest in writing a novel. Or science fiction.

    Poor Daughter is still testing positive a week later and still coughing up (her words) "chunks of her lungs". Husband also still unwell.

    Perhaps they have been unlucky but this is still a nasty virus.

    What about a plucky investigator/reformer of institutions and her travails in trying to bring The Light to various institutions?

    Try and inform the public at the same time as writing an amusing story - bit like GMF and Flashman with history.

    You could get a trilogy of trilogies out of that ,I reckon.

    As to COVID - good luck. Going the rounds again through friends and family here.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,135
    Pulpstar said:

    Surprised Gauff is out with how well she played in the prior round.
    Might be jabeur's year, grass not looking Swiatek's best surface

    Swiatek's been so dominant I thought she'd win this too. But looks not. Yes, the grass I suppose.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,402
    Scott_xP said:

    dixiedean said:

    Just discovered I was at Uni with Chris Pincher. Can't say I remember him, but the name rings a bell now I know.

    Were you not his type?
    Obviously not.
    Can't think why.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,377
    Just popped in to see what's going on.

    Very excited to see that supermarket checkout etiquette has been added to today's standing menu of Scottish independence and Tory sleaze. Nevertheless, think I'll go for a pint.
  • TheValiantTheValiant Posts: 1,874
    Applicant said:

    kinabalu said:


    That was very unlucky. I've never been selected for a random check at Waitrose ......

    You what? Never? I get them all the time in the regular supermarkets. Is your lack of checks a Waitrose thing (I don't shop there) or my regular checks a 'You're probably a thieving scouser, you thieving scouser!' thing I wonder?

    Someone in Tesco told me once that in December they increase random checks to 25%.

    One thing that often seems to trigger them is removing a scanned item.
    I have noticed that. I make a mistake and I know, straight away, I'm getting a check if I put the item back.
    Booze also increases the likelihood of a check as well.

    I've learnt how to game the system a little. No booze. Don't put something back, and try and stay in a 'time limit'. Buy two items and take six hours from getting the scanner? You're getting a check.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    Just popped in to see what's going on.

    Very excited to see that supermarket checkout etiquette has been added to today's standing menu of Scottish independence and Tory sleaze. Nevertheless, think I'll go for a pint.

    Hang around as I think we’re going to try and get to the bottom of this Brexit malarkey in a bit
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    dixiedean said:

    Just discovered I was at Uni with Chris Pincher. Can't say I remember him, but the name rings a bell now I know.

    I was shocked to find I was in the same year as Liz Truss. I knew I should never have taken that year off.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,377
    kinabalu said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Surprised Gauff is out with how well she played in the prior round.
    Might be jabeur's year, grass not looking Swiatek's best surface

    Swiatek's been so dominant I thought she'd win this too. But looks not. Yes, the grass I suppose.
    Yes, it's not a good idea to be stoned if you want to win a tennis match.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,135
    edited July 2022
    DavidL said:

    kinabalu said:

    DougSeal said:

    What is it with people who take trolleys to the self-service checkout?

    Because these days there are self service trolley checkouts too?
    Every supermarket round my way has three or four options:

    Regular cashier (getting less and less these days)
    Self service basket
    Self service trolley
    And sometimes a seperate 'Scan and Go' (or whatever you call them).

    Obviously, don't take a trolley to a self service basket, but after that, everything pretty much seems okay.

    The thing that pisses me off is the random checks[1]. I learnt the hard way that if I wanted five packets of noodles and each one was a different flavour, then they all needed scanning. I couldn't scan one Chicken and hit five [2] and it'd be okay.

    Got selected for a random check. Of course, it failed and I had to take the whole lot (already bagged up nice and neat) through a cashier and unload the whole lot and rebag it. Got my own back however, as it rang through lower.... [3]

    [1] If I'm going to nick something, I'd damn well just going to nick it. A random check isn't going to stop me.
    [2] Yes yes, the accountant in me tells me they are using this for stock levels as well, so what I did I shouldn't have done, same price or not.
    [3] Forgot to put one item out (can't recall how) and only realised after I'd fished it out the bottom of the trolley at the car. Just sighed and drove off, couldn't be bothered.
    That was very unlucky. I've never been selected for a random check at Waitrose and just between the two of us I've occasionally been in a position where such a check would have had me with questions to answer. Nothing too venal or calculated, I hasten to add, just maybe the odd item that's slipped through the cracks.
    Really?

    When I was a child I once managed to take a bus into town and deliberately failed to catch the conductor's eye (this being a clue as to how long ago this was). I succeeded in my experiment but immediately went to the bus station office and insisted on paying the fare I had omitted to pay. I have tried to live to that standard my whole life, whether returning excess change or pointing out when a bill omitted something.

    I am genuinely surprised you would make a statement of such a thing.
    I'm not quite as scrupulous as that but I'm not totally terrible either.

    Eg one item in a big shop just won't scan and everyone's busy. Or you've done the shop, forgot the chewing gum, and now there's a big queue again.

    This is what I meant with my 'confession'. If nobody on here has ever done similar I'd be surprised and extremely impressed.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    This thread has

    lost in straight sets to Alize Cornet

  • BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 2,747
    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, seems to be gaining traction. This was quite a take-down of Nicola (on cancer treatment). Wonder if the rush to an attempted referendum could backfire?

    https://twitter.com/Iainmackay8/status/1542502680572022784

    He's doing much, much better than I expected. From a Unionist perspective this is hopeful.
    Yes, that is good. She looks oddly rattled. Or maybe it is odd because she is rarely rattled

    it’s about time someone took her apart; it’s not like there is a lack of targets to aim at. The SNP record is dreadful, they’ve been in power far too long and need a spell in opposition. Just like the Tories
    She hates being questioned and invariably looks pretty annoyed if anyone has the temerity to lob a tricky one. So far as I can tell, she possesses zero sense of humour - the possession of which is arguably Boris's saving grace.

    Blackford can be a bit more personable, but I suspect he regretted agreeing to this interview. Well and truly Paxoed by Bernard Ponsonby who, interestingly, is STV. BBC would never so presume with an SNP pol.

    https://twitter.com/STVNews/status/1540015531314614273
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,249

    DavidL said:

    kinabalu said:

    DougSeal said:

    What is it with people who take trolleys to the self-service checkout?

    Because these days there are self service trolley checkouts too?
    Every supermarket round my way has three or four options:

    Regular cashier (getting less and less these days)
    Self service basket
    Self service trolley
    And sometimes a seperate 'Scan and Go' (or whatever you call them).

    Obviously, don't take a trolley to a self service basket, but after that, everything pretty much seems okay.

    The thing that pisses me off is the random checks[1]. I learnt the hard way that if I wanted five packets of noodles and each one was a different flavour, then they all needed scanning. I couldn't scan one Chicken and hit five [2] and it'd be okay.

    Got selected for a random check. Of course, it failed and I had to take the whole lot (already bagged up nice and neat) through a cashier and unload the whole lot and rebag it. Got my own back however, as it rang through lower.... [3]

    [1] If I'm going to nick something, I'd damn well just going to nick it. A random check isn't going to stop me.
    [2] Yes yes, the accountant in me tells me they are using this for stock levels as well, so what I did I shouldn't have done, same price or not.
    [3] Forgot to put one item out (can't recall how) and only realised after I'd fished it out the bottom of the trolley at the car. Just sighed and drove off, couldn't be bothered.
    That was very unlucky. I've never been selected for a random check at Waitrose and just between the two of us I've occasionally been in a position where such a check would have had me with questions to answer. Nothing too venal or calculated, I hasten to add, just maybe the odd item that's slipped through the cracks.
    Really?

    When I was a child I once managed to take a bus into town and deliberately failed to catch the conductor's eye (this being a clue as to how long ago this was). I succeeded in my experiment but immediately went to the bus station office and insisted on paying the fare I had omitted to pay. I have tried to live to that standard my whole life, whether returning excess change or pointing out when a bill omitted something.

    I am genuinely surprised you would make a statement of such a thing.
    There are inevitably errors both sides with supermarket shopping.

    Take two scenarios:

    1. Shopper gets home and finds they have an item for free.
    2. Shopper gets home and finds they have been charged twice for an item.

    If the shopper is expected to contact the supermarket for 1 then the supermarkets must expect to refund in scenario 2. I really doubt they consistently would refund in that scenario, or many customers would feel comfortable requesting such a refund.

    Given the costs of processing the refund for both parties in time and possibly travel or phone for the customer, outweigh most supermarket items anyway, surely the right thing to do is assume scenarios 1 and 2 broadly match over time and ignore any discrepancies found?
    I've been given refunds by a supermarket when items that were scanned as part of an online delivery didn't turn up in the boxes of groceries that I emptied, and I confused a checkout assistant at Lidl once by going back to the checkout to pay for a cucumber that hadn't scanned.

    I'd find it very hard to let it slide either way. One time when a vending machine disbursed two chocolate bars for the price of one I felt compelled to pay the extra 35p so that the next person using the vending machine would benefit in my place.
    That's rather like the principle that if you run over a pheasant you're not allowed to take it home and cook it, but anyone following may do so with a clear conscience.
  • theakestheakes Posts: 930
    Probably be two on the same day again, the other obviously Somerton and Frome.
    Now here is a question, will Labour get a clear run in Tamworth. Somehow the figures from the last election suggest they will not, and if the LIb Dems get a 15-20% protest swing from the Tories and are seen as being in second place, however far behind, things might get tasty.
    Somerton and Frome looks to to be a Lib Dem walk in, even taking into account the Greens local strength in Frome town wards.
This discussion has been closed.