Mrs J and a friend just went to the theatre for the afternoon, and the car park cost £20 for five hours.
They're going to kill shops in Cambridge off.
(/ things were better in my day mode)
The problem, of course, is that lots and lots of people want to drive into and park in Cambridge, and there's just not enough space for everybody to do that. So the car park fees, among other things, try to encourage you to use other methods of transport to get into the city centre, and to not hog a space for five hours...
The tariff, incidentally, gets very expensive for five hours -- it's nearly twice the price of a four hour stay.
"The problem, of course, is that lots and lots of people want to drive into and park in Cambridge, and there's just not enough space for everybody to do that."
I'm unconvinced that's the case on a Sunday in winter; it certainly never used to be.
Although since their *stupid* decision to close Park Street car park (the most convenient car park in Cambridge), it's probably worse. It'll reopen in a few years, with massively reduced spaces and a blooming hotel on top of it.
The bus (and even park and ride) service into Cambridge is also rather pants on Sundays; if the demand to get into Cambridge is so heavy on a Sunday, why run reduced public transport?
7-0? As a United fan I have to find this piss funny. Superb performances match after match, then total capitulation at Anfield. And then bounce back probably. Football as comedy.
Thanks Malc, but the surgeon doesn’t want to see me for twelve months so it’s going to be a long job. I don’t think I’ll ever walk more than a few steps again. Shall be terrorising our town with an electric wheelchair by, I hope, the summer!
Some nice SUV versions about OKC, you will be able to off road as well. Good luck and best wishes.
A friend and I were planning time-trials when I joined him on one, but sadly he’s died.
After two weeks in Amesbury, I've been back on my usual route in Aldbourne. And learnt that my "usual route" is now killed. Due to cutbacks we've had to end and redistribute four of our normal routes, including mine
I've had lots of people mention that they haven't seen me for a couple of weeks (because of Amesbury) and I've had to tell them that they might not see me again. I've been quite to touched by some of the reactions to that; it seems I'm a pretty decent postie!
I've even had a few people open their door after I've delivered their letters because they've heard that I'm no longer their postie and they wanted to say thanks and goodbye
Tomorrow (my 45th birthday) I have to learn a new route, and I have no idea where
Aldbourne, that’s where The Daemons was filmed.
I was rather disappointed not to be asked any directions by obvious Whoitzers during my six moths there
But the Lab figures!! 54% say "not strict enough". What are people's reasons for thinking this? Were they surveyed while Partygate was on their minds, and they thought well if you're going to ask about strictness the police should certainly have been stricter with types like Boris Johnson? Or is there some other reason? What kind of additional strictness would they have liked?
My guess is this is partisan filtering on what you remember about the government restrictions. Most people if they sat down and worked through all the things the government did during the various stages of the pandemic would probably find some things they thought were done well, and some they thought were done badly, including time periods when the degree of restrictions seemed right, times when they were too loose and times when they were too strict. For instance a lot of people likely were pretty unhappy about Christmas 2020 when rules were brought in very late and screwed most peoples' plans, and I think there's a fair argument that being a bit stricter earlier would have let us avoid being extremely strict at the last minute. Eat Out to Help Out is another obvious policy many would point at as being 'not strict enough'.
But your partisan lean is going to give you a default 'government good' or 'government bad' gut opinion and then you remember examples that back it up enough to feel happy ticking whatever box it is in the survey.
The response wasn't amazing in any country in my opinion. I'd put ours solid lower half of the table hovering above the relegation zone.
Major failings (not the hindsight ones) were:
Not to restrict travel early on from China (then elsewhere) to delay the disease gaining a foothold. That was stupid.
Not to do face coverings earlier. I know this will be widely disputed, but we should have done non-ppe face coverings a lot earlier, this was just logical. As things progressed, I'd have got rid of them earlier too.
As hospitals got experienced with covid cases, we should have compiled blood test data to tell us what deficiencies were common across severe sufferers. This could have fed into advice on nutrition and supplementation for Covid robustness. 'Don't be fat or old' was stupidly simplistic and there was no need for it.
We should have re-opened networks of small hospitals and nursing homes up and down the country (rather than the useless Nightingales) dedicated to covid treatment and recovery, taking those patients out of normal hospitals. '40 new hospitals'. Nobody could have foreseen that the Nightingales wouldn't be needed, but we should have been quick to flip the policy and go the small local route when it became clear that they wouldn't.
Thanks Malc, but the surgeon doesn’t want to see me for twelve months so it’s going to be a long job. I don’t think I’ll ever walk more than a few steps again. Shall be terrorising our town with an electric wheelchair by, I hope, the summer!
Some nice SUV versions about OKC, you will be able to off road as well. Good luck and best wishes.
A friend and I were planning time-trials when I joined him on one, but sadly he’s died.
It sounds tough. Chin up, Doctors don't know everything. Resolve to shock him with how spry you are next time you meet.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
On-topic: that's a huge disparity between Lab and Con voters on whether government restrictions were about right, too strict, or not strict enough during the pandemic. The Tory figures aren't surprising. Half think "about right", and the other half are almost evenly split between "too strict" and "not strict enough", with a slight tilt towards "too strict". So - basically a success with that part of the electorate.
But the Lab figures!! 54% say "not strict enough". What are people's reasons for thinking this? Were they surveyed while Partygate was on their minds, and they thought well if you're going to ask about strictness the police should certainly have been stricter with types like Boris Johnson? Or is there some other reason? What kind of additional strictness would they have liked?
Jail people for stopping during their daily runs and exchanging a few words with each other? Criminalise leaving your house without a vaccine passport?
You seem to have missed the fact that question is about "the government's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak" in general, not about the relatively short periods when there were lockdowns.
But of course, even in relation to the lockdown periods, people may have been thinking about policy towards residential care, which has been prominently in the news.
True, and by leaving strictness undefined the question doesn't distinguish between official measures and the enforcement of them.
But the Lab figures!! 54% say "not strict enough". What are people's reasons for thinking this? Were they surveyed while Partygate was on their minds, and they thought well if you're going to ask about strictness the police should certainly have been stricter with types like Boris Johnson? Or is there some other reason? What kind of additional strictness would they have liked?
My guess is this is partisan filtering on what you remember about the government restrictions. Most people if they sat down and worked through all the things the government did during the various stages of the pandemic would probably find some things they thought were done well, and some they thought were done badly, including time periods when the degree of restrictions seemed right, times when they were too loose and times when they were too strict. For instance a lot of people likely were pretty unhappy about Christmas 2020 when rules were brought in very late and screwed most peoples' plans, and I think there's a fair argument that being a bit stricter earlier would have let us avoid being extremely strict at the last minute. Eat Out to Help Out is another obvious policy many would point at as being 'not strict enough'.
But your partisan lean is going to give you a default 'government good' or 'government bad' gut opinion and then you remember examples that back it up enough to feel happy ticking whatever box it is in the survey.
Government bad doesn't imply not strict enough, though.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
After his geographical heroics over the Strait of Hormuz, I'm sure HYUFD can find a way
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
Come on now I didn't think I would have to mention Russia. Apparently it was a bombardier medical emergency plane.
Thanks Malc, but the surgeon doesn’t want to see me for twelve months so it’s going to be a long job. I don’t think I’ll ever walk more than a few steps again. Shall be terrorising our town with an electric wheelchair by, I hope, the summer!
Don't forget to mount blades from the wheel hubs like boudicea, makes sure you have plenty of space
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
Come on now I didn't think I would have to mention Russia. Apparently it was a bombardier medical emergency plane.
You didn't think you'd have to mention Russian airspace on PedanticBetting.com?
But the Lab figures!! 54% say "not strict enough". What are people's reasons for thinking this? Were they surveyed while Partygate was on their minds, and they thought well if you're going to ask about strictness the police should certainly have been stricter with types like Boris Johnson? Or is there some other reason? What kind of additional strictness would they have liked?
My guess is this is partisan filtering on what you remember about the government restrictions. Most people if they sat down and worked through all the things the government did during the various stages of the pandemic would probably find some things they thought were done well, and some they thought were done badly, including time periods when the degree of restrictions seemed right, times when they were too loose and times when they were too strict. For instance a lot of people likely were pretty unhappy about Christmas 2020 when rules were brought in very late and screwed most peoples' plans, and I think there's a fair argument that being a bit stricter earlier would have let us avoid being extremely strict at the last minute. Eat Out to Help Out is another obvious policy many would point at as being 'not strict enough'.
But your partisan lean is going to give you a default 'government good' or 'government bad' gut opinion and then you remember examples that back it up enough to feel happy ticking whatever box it is in the survey.
The response wasn't amazing in any country in my opinion. I'd put ours solid lower half of the table hovering above the relegation zone.
Major failings (not the hindsight ones) were:
Not to restrict travel early on from China (then elsewhere) to delay the disease gaining a foothold. That was stupid.
Not to do face coverings earlier. I know this will be widely disputed, but we should have done non-ppe face coverings a lot earlier, this was just logical. As things progressed, I'd have got rid of them earlier too.
As hospitals got experienced with covid cases, we should have compiled blood test data to tell us what deficiencies were common across severe sufferers. This could have fed into advice on nutrition and supplementation for Covid robustness. 'Don't be fat or old' was stupidly simplistic and there was no need for it.
We should have re-opened networks of small hospitals and nursing homes up and down the country (rather than the useless Nightingales) dedicated to covid treatment and recovery, taking those patients out of normal hospitals. '40 new hospitals'. Nobody could have foreseen that the Nightingales wouldn't be needed, but we should have been quick to flip the policy and go the small local route when it became clear that they wouldn't.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
Come on now I didn't think I would have to mention Russia. Apparently it was a bombardier medical emergency plane.
So the question is who needed a medevac from Moscow to Germany? Presumably someone very well-connected in Russia.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Ramzan Kadyrov is reported to be seriously ill.
(It's not him, though. He has had medical expertise flown in from the UAE and there are direct flights from DXB. He has been talking about competing with his dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin. Never annoy the emperor's chef, especially when he runs a private army.)
After two weeks in Amesbury, I've been back on my usual route in Aldbourne. And learnt that my "usual route" is now killed. Due to cutbacks we've had to end and redistribute four of our normal routes, including mine
I've had lots of people mention that they haven't seen me for a couple of weeks (because of Amesbury) and I've had to tell them that they might not see me again. I've been quite to touched by some of the reactions to that; it seems I'm a pretty decent postie!
I've even had a few people open their door after I've delivered their letters because they've heard that I'm no longer their postie and they wanted to say thanks and goodbye
Tomorrow (my 45th birthday) I have to learn a new route, and I have no idea where
Aldbourne, that’s where The Daemons was filmed.
I was rather disappointed not to be asked any directions by obvious Whoitzers during my six moths there
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
Come on now I didn't think I would have to mention Russia. Apparently it was a bombardier medical emergency plane.
So the question is who needed a medevac from Moscow to Germany? Presumably someone very well-connected in Russia.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
Come on now I didn't think I would have to mention Russia. Apparently it was a bombardier medical emergency plane.
So the question is who needed a medevac from Moscow to Germany? Presumably someone very well-connected in Russia.
Why would it have been granted?
Getting Putin out might have been allowed if he resigned first.
Easier to get him to The Hague from Nuremberg than from Moscow.
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Must be a bloody difficult trick to get to and from Moscow while staying in German and Latvian airspace.
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Every time I've been to the supermarket recently there's been tomatoes available.
Almost as if people who are willing to panic buy at the [often fake] word of a toilet paper or petrol shortage won't actually panic buy fruit and veg.
Next time the media wants to invent a story they should go with what stupid people who're willing to panic buy will go for, not healthy food.
I'm struggling to understand why he would want to get a fake Smog certificate. A genuine one costs $40-50 and takes about 15 minutes at pretty much any garage.
And the smog limits in California are not onerous - it's something like 3,000 ppm for carbon monoxide, vs 80 in the UK. Trust me, if you need to get a fake Smog certificate, your car should really not be on the roads.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
No issues in Waitrose this afternoon either.
Not fake news, but twitter bandwagonning and narrative framing in the echo chamber.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
No issues in Waitrose this afternoon either.
Not fake news, but twitter bandwagonning and narrative framing in the echo chamber.
There was a brief period when tomatoes and one or two other vegetables were hard to come by whether by dint of shortage or panic buying but it does seem the worst is over and life can return to what seems like normal.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Locally, the super cheap essentials ranges have been a bit thin on the ground. Tons of better quality stuff.
Latest COVID effect - Chinese bottle makers have reduced production a lot. Some say energy costs. Apparently this is a big issue for doubles and larger formats for French wine.
This make it clear that my policy on the Ukrainian border is the correct solution.
The one to remember who also died 70 years ago today is Prokofiev. He will be remembered with awe and appreciation (Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, and much much more) long after the execrated Stalin is forgotten.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
I've never seen any signs of a shortage of tomatoes. Quite the reverse, they've always seemed plentiful.
French mustard and cornflour, however, have been bastards to get.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
I *think* that some regional buyers are doing a buyers strike against the higher prices. I don’t think it will work - the inflation is real.
Against Biden, DeSantis does better with voters earning over $100k a year than Trump, while Trump does slightly better with voters earning under $100k a year
I think we can reasonably assume, were he to formally declare his intention to run, DeSantis would get a boost and it could be neck and neck between him and Trump. I see the first scheduled tv debate is set for mid August and without sight of the primary timetable it'll be hard to gauge where the early advantage might sit.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Considering the amount of detailed reportage on this subject its comedy that you think its fake news.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Considering the amount of detailed reportage on this subject its comedy that you think its fake news.
Well clearly something is up with some supply chains. But it's also apparent that there are plenty of tomatoes in the country and some supermarkets are doing absolutely fine. It's clearly not the case that tomatoes are unavailable.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
Sainsbury’s willing to pay a reasonable price v Tesco buyers being their usual arsey selves?
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
But the Lab figures!! 54% say "not strict enough". What are people's reasons for thinking this? Were they surveyed while Partygate was on their minds, and they thought well if you're going to ask about strictness the police should certainly have been stricter with types like Boris Johnson? Or is there some other reason? What kind of additional strictness would they have liked?
My guess is this is partisan filtering on what you remember about the government restrictions. Most people if they sat down and worked through all the things the government did during the various stages of the pandemic would probably find some things they thought were done well, and some they thought were done badly, including time periods when the degree of restrictions seemed right, times when they were too loose and times when they were too strict. For instance a lot of people likely were pretty unhappy about Christmas 2020 when rules were brought in very late and screwed most peoples' plans, and I think there's a fair argument that being a bit stricter earlier would have let us avoid being extremely strict at the last minute. Eat Out to Help Out is another obvious policy many would point at as being 'not strict enough'.
But your partisan lean is going to give you a default 'government good' or 'government bad' gut opinion and then you remember examples that back it up enough to feel happy ticking whatever box it is in the survey.
The response wasn't amazing in any country in my opinion. I'd put ours solid lower half of the table hovering above the relegation zone.
Major failings (not the hindsight ones) were:
Not to restrict travel early on from China (then elsewhere) to delay the disease gaining a foothold. That was stupid.
Not to do face coverings earlier. I know this will be widely disputed, but we should have done non-ppe face coverings a lot earlier, this was just logical. As things progressed, I'd have got rid of them earlier too.
As hospitals got experienced with covid cases, we should have compiled blood test data to tell us what deficiencies were common across severe sufferers. This could have fed into advice on nutrition and supplementation for Covid robustness. 'Don't be fat or old' was stupidly simplistic and there was no need for it.
We should have re-opened networks of small hospitals and nursing homes up and down the country (rather than the useless Nightingales) dedicated to covid treatment and recovery, taking those patients out of normal hospitals. '40 new hospitals'. Nobody could have foreseen that the Nightingales wouldn't be needed, but we should have been quick to flip the policy and go the small local route when it became clear that they wouldn't.
Agree with all your points. However, persuading bureaucrats that small and local is better than huge and remote will be a challenge.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
Sainsbury’s willing to pay a reasonable price v Tesco buyers being their usual arsey selves?
That is my guess. Though I'd also note that tomatoes in Sainsburys didn't seem to have gone up in price. I wondered if there were maybe a difference in country of origin. I've just been to the fridge to check where my Sainsburys tomatoes have come from. Worcestershire. How are they growing tomatoes in Worcestershire in late winter? Greenhouses, I suppose.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Considering the amount of detailed reportage on this subject its comedy that you think its fake news.
There don't appear to be any statistics on what the supply shortfall is.
If imports are down by 20% then it is likely that places will sometimes run out, but most people will still be able to buy tomatoes as normal.
If imports are down by 80% then it is a very different situation, with most people unable to lay eyes on a tomato.
While there has been much talk of a "shortage" I haven't seen any quantification of the severity of the shortage.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Because our first PM after electronic voting would be Boaty McBoatface.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Because our first PM after electronic voting would be Boaty McBoatface.
You say that like it would be some kind of disimprovement.
My personal experience is it's peppers that have been in far shorter supply than tomatoes.
I can confirm no tomatoes of any sort in Oadby Sainsbury this week, but cherry tomatoes from Morocco in the Co-op. No peppers in either.
Incidentally no turnips in either 😱
A traffic light selection of peppers and a trio of cucumbers added to our Riverford order for Tuesday to complement our regular four heads of celery. Tomatoes available too but we have some already.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Online voting here would be a catastrophe.
The first problem is public faith in the democratic process; it's already declining, and adding something like online voting into the mix would make things even worse. After every election, you'd have conspiracy theories about the winning party meddling with the online votes.
The second problem is that there's already an issue with fraudulent voting via postal votes, and implementing online voting would make that problem worse. I've personally spoken to family patriarchs in Birmingham who brag about how they vote for everyone in the household. Postal votes make it easier, but voting via email or online form would exacerbate it.
And third, online voting would have to be maintained and secured by our collapsing civil service, and I don't have any faith in their ability to do it properly.
Given all these massive issues, I suspect the Tories will try to push it through before the next election.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Surely a better question is why do they have it in Estonia. It's a hacker's convention.
Reform 39 +4 EKRE 17 -2 Centre 15 -11 Estonia 200 14 +14 Social Democratic Party 9 -1 Isamaa 8 -4
Means Kaja Kallas will lead the new coalition which will probably be Reform-E200 and SDE
Good result
Yes, a complete transformation with the E-votes counted. I'd argue a very good result for E200 as well and a disaster for Centre (traditionally, I believe, a more pro-Russian party). Not a good result for the more right-wing parties either.
Just for accuracy, it's Reform 38 according to Estonia TV but that makes little difference.
A triumph for Kallas who can now form whatever coalition she wants - she could keep the old Government going or bring in E200.
One or two questions as to why the e-votes took three hours to count.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Surely a better question is why do they have it in Estonia. It's a hacker's convention.
Votes here are safer than your bank account. It too late here to go into why it works, I´ll try to get round to a thread sometime. Dismissing online voting is stupid when you obviously dont understand how it works.
Reform 39 +4 EKRE 17 -2 Centre 15 -11 Estonia 200 14 +14 Social Democratic Party 9 -1 Isamaa 8 -4
Means Kaja Kallas will lead the new coalition which will probably be Reform-E200 and SDE
Good result
Yes, a complete transformation with the E-votes counted. I'd argue a very good result for E200 as well and a disaster for Centre (traditionally, I believe, a more pro-Russian party). Not a good result for the more right-wing parties either.
Just for accuracy, it's Reform 38 according to Estonia TV but that makes little difference.
A triumph for Kallas who can now form whatever coalition she wants - she could keep the old Government going or bring in E200.
One or two questions as to why the e-votes took three hours to count.
In the end the e-votes were only delayed 20 minutes or so, which given the record vote is not sinister,
I remember shouting "So shut the fecking pubs you fecking twat" at Bozo when he addressed the nation to say that Covid was so serious that he would be doing nothing about it.
That week of delay allowed the first wave to be so much worse.
I remember shouting "So shut the fecking pubs you fecking twat" at Bozo when he addressed the nation to say that Covid was so serious that he would be doing nothing about it.
That week of delay allowed the first wave to be so much worse.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
Sainsbury’s willing to pay a reasonable price v Tesco buyers being their usual arsey selves?
Could be. I *think* the patchwork thing relates to the regional preferences/behaviours of buyers.
I'v personally encountered people in business whose reaction to prices and wage rises is denial. They flat out cannot believe or accept that certain jobs are no longer flat minimum wage, for example. I've seen examples of people stopping products - they have chased minimum price/minimum quality and that is what they do.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Surely a better question is why do they have it in Estonia. It's a hacker's convention.
Votes here are safer than your bank account. It too late here to go into why it works, I´ll try to get round to a thread sometime. Dismissing online voting is stupid when you obviously dont understand how it works.
I would be very interested in hearing how it works there, since people often propose methods here that would be disastrous, and don't seem to bring up Estonia as an example.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
Sainsbury’s willing to pay a reasonable price v Tesco buyers being their usual arsey selves?
Could be. I *think* the patchwork thing relates to the regional preferences/behaviours of buyers.
I'v personally encountered people in business whose reaction to prices and wage rises is denial. They flat out cannot believe or accept that certain jobs are no longer flat minimum wage, for example. I've seen examples of people stopping products - they have chased minimum price/minimum quality and that is what they do.
Also doesn't rule out shortages anyway. Some buyers just pull out earlier in the auction, so to speak.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Surely a better question is why do they have it in Estonia. It's a hacker's convention.
Votes here are safer than your bank account. It too late here to go into why it works, I´ll try to get round to a thread sometime. Dismissing online voting is stupid when you obviously dont understand how it works.
I'm sure they are safer than my bank account, but hostile nation states and their cyber teams don't care about my bank account or want to hack it. If they did want to, I'm pretty sure they could. They do however care about what happens in elections.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Surely a better question is why do they have it in Estonia. It's a hacker's convention.
Votes here are safer than your bank account. It too late here to go into why it works, I´ll try to get round to a thread sometime. Dismissing online voting is stupid when you obviously dont understand how it works.
I'm sure they are safer than my bank account, but hostile nation states and their cyber teams don't care about my bank account or want to hack it. If they did want to, I'm pretty sure they could. They do however care about what happens in elections.
Maybe. But they haven't done a super job given those results.
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
Sainsbury’s willing to pay a reasonable price v Tesco buyers being their usual arsey selves?
Could be. I *think* the patchwork thing relates to the regional preferences/behaviours of buyers.
I'v personally encountered people in business whose reaction to prices and wage rises is denial. They flat out cannot believe or accept that certain jobs are no longer flat minimum wage, for example. I've seen examples of people stopping products - they have chased minimum price/minimum quality and that is what they do.
Also doesn't rule out shortages anyway. Some buyers just pull out earlier in the auction, so to speak.
That's what I mean - buyers simply refusing to pay the prices.
But the Lab figures!! 54% say "not strict enough". What are people's reasons for thinking this? Were they surveyed while Partygate was on their minds, and they thought well if you're going to ask about strictness the police should certainly have been stricter with types like Boris Johnson? Or is there some other reason? What kind of additional strictness would they have liked?
My guess is this is partisan filtering on what you remember about the government restrictions. Most people if they sat down and worked through all the things the government did during the various stages of the pandemic would probably find some things they thought were done well, and some they thought were done badly, including time periods when the degree of restrictions seemed right, times when they were too loose and times when they were too strict. For instance a lot of people likely were pretty unhappy about Christmas 2020 when rules were brought in very late and screwed most peoples' plans, and I think there's a fair argument that being a bit stricter earlier would have let us avoid being extremely strict at the last minute. Eat Out to Help Out is another obvious policy many would point at as being 'not strict enough'.
But your partisan lean is going to give you a default 'government good' or 'government bad' gut opinion and then you remember examples that back it up enough to feel happy ticking whatever box it is in the survey.
The response wasn't amazing in any country in my opinion. I'd put ours solid lower half of the table hovering above the relegation zone.
Major failings (not the hindsight ones) were:
Not to restrict travel early on from China (then elsewhere) to delay the disease gaining a foothold. That was stupid.
Not to do face coverings earlier. I know this will be widely disputed, but we should have done non-ppe face coverings a lot earlier, this was just logical. As things progressed, I'd have got rid of them earlier too.
As hospitals got experienced with covid cases, we should have compiled blood test data to tell us what deficiencies were common across severe sufferers. This could have fed into advice on nutrition and supplementation for Covid robustness. 'Don't be fat or old' was stupidly simplistic and there was no need for it.
We should have re-opened networks of small hospitals and nursing homes up and down the country (rather than the useless Nightingales) dedicated to covid treatment and recovery, taking those patients out of normal hospitals. '40 new hospitals'. Nobody could have foreseen that the Nightingales wouldn't be needed, but we should have been quick to flip the policy and go the small local route when it became clear that they wouldn't.
Agree with all your points. However, persuading bureaucrats that small and local is better than huge and remote will be a challenge.
It is also a fairly fundamental misunderstanding of cottage hospitals etc. They usually have no permanent medical staff, just a weekly ward round by a physician and concentrate on rehab. They are not equipped to treat acutely ill patients, and incidentally are usually full.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
This is before the Online votes which will be released in about 5 minutes Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
Why can't we have online voting in the UK?
Surely a better question is why do they have it in Estonia. It's a hacker's convention.
Votes here are safer than your bank account. It too late here to go into why it works, I´ll try to get round to a thread sometime. Dismissing online voting is stupid when you obviously dont understand how it works.
I'm sure they are safer than my bank account, but hostile nation states and their cyber teams don't care about my bank account or want to hack it. If they did want to, I'm pretty sure they could. They do however care about what happens in elections.
It's also worth considering that online fraud is rampant and crippling, especially for vulnerable people - why on earth would we want to extend that to elections?
I'm beginning to think tomatogeddon is fake news. Three weeks running I've been to Sainsbury's on a Sunday and they've had plenty of stock of many varieties each time. Our order from Natoora arrived with no issues either. This time they had Spanish plum tomatoes and some Italian ones as well.
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Minor exceptions to a systematic problem = conclusve evidence for PB Brexiters.
The pattern I’m seeing is problems with the ultra cheap stuff.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Interesting, given the c. 20% price inflation of the ultra cheap stuff, which also implies similar issues.
Interestingly, I went to both Tesco and Sainsburys today (in Sale, GM). Tesco had two rather sad trays of dispriting looking tomatoes, together with lots of angrily empty trays. In Sainsbury's you couldn't move for tomatoes. Tomatoes of all qualities and varieties. It was as if they had just been offered an unrefusable deal on tomatoes and were struggling to accommodate all the stock.
Sainsbury’s willing to pay a reasonable price v Tesco buyers being their usual arsey selves?
Could be. I *think* the patchwork thing relates to the regional preferences/behaviours of buyers.
I'v personally encountered people in business whose reaction to prices and wage rises is denial. They flat out cannot believe or accept that certain jobs are no longer flat minimum wage, for example. I've seen examples of people stopping products - they have chased minimum price/minimum quality and that is what they do.
Yeah, we are getting that in the NHS. A flat out denial that certain jobs cannot be filled at current wages.
Comments
I'm unconvinced that's the case on a Sunday in winter; it certainly never used to be.
Although since their *stupid* decision to close Park Street car park (the most convenient car park in Cambridge), it's probably worse. It'll reopen in a few years, with massively reduced spaces and a blooming hotel on top of it.
The bus (and even park and ride) service into Cambridge is also rather pants on Sundays; if the demand to get into Cambridge is so heavy on a Sunday, why run reduced public transport?
Major failings (not the hindsight ones) were:
Not to restrict travel early on from China (then elsewhere) to delay the disease gaining a foothold. That was stupid.
Not to do face coverings earlier. I know this will be widely disputed, but we should have done non-ppe face coverings a lot earlier, this was just logical. As things progressed, I'd have got rid of them earlier too.
As hospitals got experienced with covid cases, we should have compiled blood test data to tell us what deficiencies were common across severe sufferers. This could have fed into advice on nutrition and supplementation for Covid robustness. 'Don't be fat or old' was stupidly simplistic and there was no need for it.
We should have re-opened networks of small hospitals and nursing homes up and down the country (rather than the useless Nightingales) dedicated to covid treatment and recovery, taking those patients out of normal hospitals. '40 new hospitals'. Nobody could have foreseen that the Nightingales wouldn't be needed, but we should have been quick to flip the policy and go the small local route when it became clear that they wouldn't.
https://twitter.com/JanR210/status/1632116270412754945
A flight from Frankfurt to Moscow and then back to Nuremburg only going over German and Latvian airspace it seems. I know pb has a few nautical experts!
Unless the front in Ukraine has collapsed in truly calamitous fashion.
#triumphofhopeoverexperience.
(It's not him, though. He has had medical expertise flown in from the UAE and there are direct flights from DXB. He has been talking about competing with his dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin. Never annoy the emperor's chef, especially when he runs a private army.)
Looking back in ten years time, how many former conservative government ministers (including PM’s) will have been found guilty of a crime?
I’d go;
0: 4/6
1 or 2: 4/1
3+ 4/1
Spent time in prison;
0: 1/3
1 or 2: 7/1
3+ 7/1
Thank you
Erik Seven HagJürgen Klopp.Easier to get him to The Hague from Nuremberg than from Moscow.
But it won't have happened.
"Exactly 70 years ago #OTD 5th March 1953 was THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT’s London gala screening! "
https://twitter.com/MrTimDunn/status/1632418451653361667
Maybe all of the tomatoes are in London or more likely just the media making shit up as usual.
Almost as if people who are willing to panic buy at the [often fake] word of a toilet paper or petrol shortage won't actually panic buy fruit and veg.
Next time the media wants to invent a story they should go with what stupid people who're willing to panic buy will go for, not healthy food.
And the smog limits in California are not onerous - it's something like 3,000 ppm for carbon monoxide, vs 80 in the UK. Trust me, if you need to get a fake Smog certificate, your car should really not be on the roads.
Not fake news, but twitter bandwagonning and narrative framing in the echo chamber.
Latest COVID effect - Chinese bottle makers have reduced production a lot. Some say energy costs. Apparently this is a big issue for doubles and larger formats for French wine.
This make it clear that my policy on the Ukrainian border is the correct solution.
French mustard and cornflour, however, have been bastards to get.
According to various relatives and friends it also seems to be regional. Which suggests that it is buying policies by the supermarkets vs rising costs vs product supply chains which have been squeezed so much they have become especially fragile.
Trying to follow the Estonian election - my Estonian not really up to much though I think Jaoskondi might mean Polling District) of which there seem to be 405. Valimised = Election (maybe).
It seems extremely cold and wintry currently in Estonia - the weather forecast suggests it'll be below freezing there all week with snow.
It looks as though EKRE are doing very well and Reform rather less well than some of the polling suggested.
The current seat projections have EKRE on 29, Reform on 22, Centre on 21, E200 on 10, Isamaa on 9 and the Social Democrats on 8 so the current Government loses its majority winning just 39 seats.
Trump 47%
DeSantis 36%
General Election
Biden 39%
Trump 38%
Biden 36%
DeSantis 36%
https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1632477247469649920?s=20
Record turnout and record online voting. first time more votes cast online than at the polling stations
Also it is indeed brass monkeys outside
"Why trans kids are now ‘coming out’ as animals"
I'm surprised she doesn't know the background of the term "coming out". I thought she was supposed to be posh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debutante_ball
Meanwhile is this the scariest post yet from hubby Dom?
https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1632092194185043968
"if id been 'in charge', hancock wd have been dead or in jail"
Though I'd also note that tomatoes in Sainsburys didn't seem to have gone up in price.
I wondered if there were maybe a difference in country of origin. I've just been to the fridge to check where my Sainsburys tomatoes have come from. Worcestershire. How are they growing tomatoes in Worcestershire in late winter? Greenhouses, I suppose.
If imports are down by 20% then it is likely that places will sometimes run out, but most people will still be able to buy tomatoes as normal.
If imports are down by 80% then it is a very different situation, with most people unable to lay eyes on a tomato.
While there has been much talk of a "shortage" I haven't seen any quantification of the severity of the shortage.
Incidentally no turnips in either 😱
Serious spinal damage plus prostate cancer can terrible things.
Reform 39 +4
EKRE 17 -2
Centre 15 -11
Estonia 200 14 +14
Social Democratic Party 9 -1
Isamaa 8 -4
Means Kaja Kallas will lead the new coalition which will probably be Reform-E200 and SDE
Good result
The first problem is public faith in the democratic process; it's already declining, and adding something like online voting into the mix would make things even worse. After every election, you'd have conspiracy theories about the winning party meddling with the online votes.
The second problem is that there's already an issue with fraudulent voting via postal votes, and implementing online voting would make that problem worse. I've personally spoken to family patriarchs in Birmingham who brag about how they vote for everyone in the household. Postal votes make it easier, but voting via email or online form would exacerbate it.
And third, online voting would have to be maintained and secured by our collapsing civil service, and I don't have any faith in their ability to do it properly.
Given all these massive issues, I suspect the Tories will try to push it through before the next election.
Just for accuracy, it's Reform 38 according to Estonia TV but that makes little difference.
A triumph for Kallas who can now form whatever coalition she wants - she could keep the old Government going or bring in E200.
One or two questions as to why the e-votes took three hours to count.
https://twitter.com/danwaterfield/status/1632398297930383361
I remember shouting "So shut the fecking pubs you fecking twat" at Bozo when he addressed the nation to say that Covid was so serious that he would be doing nothing about it.
That week of delay allowed the first wave to be so much worse.
I'v personally encountered people in business whose reaction to prices and wage rises is denial. They flat out cannot believe or accept that certain jobs are no longer flat minimum wage, for example. I've seen examples of people stopping products - they have chased minimum price/minimum quality and that is what they do.
But they haven't done a super job given those results.
Bloody tiny cherry ones. Yuck!
"I'd rather have no tomatoes than pay above X" ??