As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker then us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
Lets see what the enquiries produce. Or the police. Or both. If there was corruption (prima facie seems like it) then it must be followed up.
But it was an emergency. Starmer produced his list of suppliers too, don't forget.
I'm not defending illegal behaviour. But I think some have forgotten how fraught the crisis actually was.
Your defence is the defence Rochdale claimed Government supporters would use, earlier today. You can claim it was all Starmer's fault until the cows come home. Starmer had no authority, he was LOTO. In practical terms that means he was/is a nobody as far as Government procedure is concerned. He could have made lists as long as his arm, it wasn't his call.
"It was an emergency- give them a break". Sorry, but my point was in this "emergency" why couldn't NHS procurement officers short circuit the tendering process and go straight to China, just like the profiteering start-ups did?
I didn't claim it was all Starmer's fault. I don't know why the NHS procurement didn't go direct. All questions for the inquiries. If wrong doing has occurred no-one will be more delighted than me to see it punished. I am just against re-writing history with facts known only after the time.
Usual guff , lessons will be learned and all the crooks keep their ill gotten spoils after they have wasted 100M and several years paying another bunch of parasites to sit on their arses and talk about it.
Given the experience of an acquaintance who, working for the government, was forced out of her job for getting a Nightingale hospital completed on schedule*, I think the answer is fairly simple.
She did what every contractor does - if material isn't available from the main supplier immediately, you send someone in a van to Screwfix to get the bolts or whatever you need. Then you add the receipt to the project. Apparently this was Bad Form - she should have waited a week for the big shipment from the Chosen Suppliers.
That can make sense in rare circumstances: if the material actually has to meet a spec. If you just need 30mm plasterboard nails, then Screwfix is fine. If you need a nail, screw or nut/bolt that will actually meet a spec for a reason, then it almost never is.
Sadly, specs often get applied to things that they shouldn't be applied to, massively increasing costs.
Yup.
She got hammered (ha) for OKing (among other things) substituting stainless steel 3 inch wood screws for mild steel for putting up light studding wall frames. This was Wasting Money.
If she’s hammering screws, she’s doing it wrong.
My dad always calls nails, Manchester screws for some reason. No idea why. He did briefly work for Westinghouse in the 60's.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker then us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
Lets see what the enquiries produce. Or the police. Or both. If there was corruption (prima facie seems like it) then it must be followed up.
But it was an emergency. Starmer produced his list of suppliers too, don't forget.
I'm not defending illegal behaviour. But I think some have forgotten how fraught the crisis actually was.
Your defence is the defence Rochdale claimed Government supporters would use, earlier today. You can claim it was all Starmer's fault until the cows come home. Starmer had no authority, he was LOTO. In practical terms that means he was/is a nobody as far as Government procedure is concerned. He could have made lists as long as his arm, it wasn't his call.
"It was an emergency- give them a break". Sorry, but my point was in this "emergency" why couldn't NHS procurement officers short circuit the tendering process and go straight to China, just like the profiteering start-ups did?
I didn't claim it was all Starmer's fault. I don't know why the NHS procurement didn't go direct. All questions for the inquiries. If wrong doing has occurred no-one will be more delighted than me to see it punished. I am just against re-writing history with facts known only after the time.
Usual guff , lessons will be learned and all the crooks keep their ill gotten spoils after they have wasted 100M and several years paying another bunch of parasites to sit on their arses and talk about it.
Given the experience of an acquaintance who, working for the government, was forced out of her job for getting a Nightingale hospital completed on schedule*, I think the answer is fairly simple.
She did what every contractor does - if material isn't available from the main supplier immediately, you send someone in a van to Screwfix to get the bolts or whatever you need. Then you add the receipt to the project. Apparently this was Bad Form - she should have waited a week for the big shipment from the Chosen Suppliers.
That can make sense in rare circumstances: if the material actually has to meet a spec. If you just need 30mm plasterboard nails, then Screwfix is fine. If you need a nail, screw or nut/bolt that will actually meet a spec for a reason, then it almost never is.
Sadly, specs often get applied to things that they shouldn't be applied to, massively increasing costs.
Yup.
She got hammered (ha) for OKing (among other things) substituting stainless steel 3 inch wood screws for mild steel for putting up light studding wall frames. This was Wasting Money.
It didn't get enough attention yesterday because of the AC12 raid on Sturgeon. But the Scott Mince Benton story is beautiful. Caught red handed attempting to whore himself to a pretend gambling investor. Not just cash for questions but illegal access to unpublished reports.
What a spanner - doesn't he understand that you can't do that kind of thing? Extraordinarily he claims another 10 such lobbying operations are happening at any given time.
One of the joys of the Major era was buying the Sunday Times (which I used to do) and devouring mega scoops like the last Tory cash for questions scandal.
If I remember that and know you can't ask questions for cash, why don't actual MPs like Mr Mince?
Don't you think the Johnson years so debased the notion of political public service that Scott Benton loses the whip for five minutes and we just shrug our shoulders? In his case fate has taken a hand and as a result of boundary changes he most likely won't be standing next time.
Perhaps Scotland has taught us that there may be consequences for those suspected of pilfering the cash register, and expect a circus bigtop to be erected in the front gardens of suspects when the police come looking for bank statements. Maybe normal service is being resumed.
Or maybe not... how has no one involved in the PPE scandal had a blue tent erected on their lawn?
The stench of Tory corruption over PPE will be strong enough to allow for a big enquiry to be commissioned by PM Starmer.
The usual howler monkeys will screech about how Labour backed PPE companies who didn't have any PPE. Even if that was the case - and it isn't - what is the excuse for handing out £107m contracts to a company formed days ago by someone with no clue about PPE which had no clawback clauses?
When they failed to deliver useable PPE the money should have been returned. Even a boilerplate emergency contract would have that inserted into it.
No, what we have instead is open corruption. Cash for nothing, stolen from taxpayers and handed to the right people in exchange for nothing. With the excuse of "saving lives" even as the PPE shortage their unusable shit created killed medics.
There was one interview I saw last year. I can't recall the source.
A woman in her twenties was being interviewed, she had no prior experience of PPE supply but applied to join the fast track suppliers list. She explained she won a contract to supply a specified number of masks at her quoted price of circa £800k for the delivered consignment. She made an order through Ali Baba and her invoice from the Chinese Supplier was circa £400k. NHS procurement paid half the full fee on confirmation of their order to her, so she duly Swift paid her invoice to the Chinese supplier requesting a direct delivery to the prescribed NHS stores address. So are you still with me? This lady has at this point paid not a penny of her money to her supplier, she has only paid her supplier with NHS money. All she now has to do is wait for the shipment to arrive with NHS stores and the NHS will pay her a £400k free-money profit. Now I don't blame the lady, infact hats off to her. My question is; why did we need start-up companies with connections to Ministers taking an enormous cut of public funds behind the safety curtain of "an emergency", when NHS procurement officers could have themselves logged on to Ali Baba and ordered masks at half the price?
Because corruption. None of these Tory spivs knew anything about PPE - it all came off the likes of Ali Baba. So why not cut out the middleman and buy it direct? Or answer the phone to the reputable PPE companies who were repeatedly ignored?
I almost feel like a fool not doing this myself. I already had one company. Simply incorporate RP MaskPro Ltd, ask the NHS for £107m no questions asked, go on AliBaba, search "facemasks" and make a quick £50m profit. Hell, I'd have happily voted Conservative had they done so.
The most laughable aspect was when it was suggested that Brexit supporting JCB could make ventilators ffs, and Dyson. None of this was necessary, there were loads of properly qualified ventilator manufacturers and contract manufacturers who were available. Fecking ludicrous.
The Mercedes F1 engine factory made ten thousand CPAP machines, within a month. Burberry also made tens of thousands of medical gowns, which the medics said were miles better than any gowns they’d ever seen before.
Right at the start of the pandemic, the worldwide supply chain was utter chaos. That doesn’t mean that the National Audit Office shouldn’t be looking into product not delivered and substandard product, irrespective of who was supplying it. Where there are issues of eg. brand new company that failed to deliver anything, then files should be passed to the Fraud Squad.
Much of the outrage, however, appears to be directed at people who delivered the agreed product at the agreed price, becuase they managed to get the ear of an NHS manager or a government minister. I can well imagine the Cabinet meeting in early March 2020, where everyone around the table was asked if they knew anyone who knew anyone (who knew anyone) who could get hold of PPE.
Oh dear, sorry but you have been duped by the populist propaganda machine. Maclaren already had a very impressive medical device business, so this was not a pivot on their behalf. Sorry to those that liked your post, but that is a fact.
As for Burberry, I have no knowledge of that, if it genuinely is an exception, so cannot comment. It is certainly a lot easier to make class 1 medical devices such as gowns if you have a knowledge of textiles, than the ludicrous assumption that a vacuum cleaner maker or JCB can make a class 3 medical device such as a ventilator. My original analysis is sound.
How did Maclaren go from making strollers to medical devices?
I mean, if McLaren had done it, that's a different matter...
"..than the ludicrous assumption that a vacuum cleaner maker or JCB can make a class 3 medical device such as a ventilator."
That's quite a ridiculous comment. For instance, JCB makes diesel engines (*). These are very high-precision complex devices. I went round the JCB factory at Rocester many times forty years ago, and even back then it was remarkably clean. Modern engineering tries as hard as possible to be clean, as muck dust and debris can cause issues. So yes, with care they can make these medical devices - and have the experience of making them in bulk.
I bet the engineers loved the task.
(*) There's an interesting (to me...) story about why they started making them.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
Lobbying.
Touchscreens / touch controls should be banned outright, whenever the engine is on, imo.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker then us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
Lets see what the enquiries produce. Or the police. Or both. If there was corruption (prima facie seems like it) then it must be followed up.
But it was an emergency. Starmer produced his list of suppliers too, don't forget.
I'm not defending illegal behaviour. But I think some have forgotten how fraught the crisis actually was.
Your defence is the defence Rochdale claimed Government supporters would use, earlier today. You can claim it was all Starmer's fault until the cows come home. Starmer had no authority, he was LOTO. In practical terms that means he was/is a nobody as far as Government procedure is concerned. He could have made lists as long as his arm, it wasn't his call.
"It was an emergency- give them a break". Sorry, but my point was in this "emergency" why couldn't NHS procurement officers short circuit the tendering process and go straight to China, just like the profiteering start-ups did?
I didn't claim it was all Starmer's fault. I don't know why the NHS procurement didn't go direct. All questions for the inquiries. If wrong doing has occurred no-one will be more delighted than me to see it punished. I am just against re-writing history with facts known only after the time.
Usual guff , lessons will be learned and all the crooks keep their ill gotten spoils after they have wasted 100M and several years paying another bunch of parasites to sit on their arses and talk about it.
Given the experience of an acquaintance who, working for the government, was forced out of her job for getting a Nightingale hospital completed on schedule*, I think the answer is fairly simple.
She did what every contractor does - if material isn't available from the main supplier immediately, you send someone in a van to Screwfix to get the bolts or whatever you need. Then you add the receipt to the project. Apparently this was Bad Form - she should have waited a week for the big shipment from the Chosen Suppliers.
That can make sense in rare circumstances: if the material actually has to meet a spec. If you just need 30mm plasterboard nails, then Screwfix is fine. If you need a nail, screw or nut/bolt that will actually meet a spec for a reason, then it almost never is.
Sadly, specs often get applied to things that they shouldn't be applied to, massively increasing costs.
Yup.
She got hammered (ha) for OKing (among other things) substituting stainless steel 3 inch wood screws for mild steel for putting up light studding wall frames. This was Wasting Money.
If she’s hammering screws, she’s doing it wrong.
My dad always calls nails, Manchester screws for some reason. No idea why. He did briefly work for Westinghouse in the 60's.
I am trying to remember which American fighter jet prototype was found to have a 5 inch wood screw which had bizarrely been used to secure an electronic box, which was mashed up inside. Not suprisingly.
I have a dim memory that might have been Britain in the 1940s or 1950s, possibly in production rather than prototype testing - but tbf that could have happened anywhere at any time.
Ms Vine complaining "Just paid £23.50 for two sausage rolls at Clapham junction station! Just a normal kiosk. Insane."
Must have been charged for something else by accident. Sausage rolls don't cost £11.75 each, even in Clapham.
I did buy the most expensive bacon roll I'd ever seen at Clapham Junction recently. £7.50 I think? If its the place I'm thinking off, coffee there is over £3 too. So two sausage baps and two coffees at £23.50 would fit....
Yeah, she doesn't know the difference between a sausage roll and sausage bap, and sees coffee as something she is entitled to for free, is the most likely explanation.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker than us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
To add to the insult, we are now paying for storage or destruction of that PPE, sometimes to the same companies.
Worth noting too that many of these contracts were signed in the summer of 2020, well after the initial panic on supplies.
It was naked troughing to bung government contracts to their mates.
It is being vigorously defended, tooth and nail on here today, just as Rochdale anticipated it would, by Government shills.
"It was an emergency", "the French stole our PPE", and "Starmer made a list, it was his fault". I'm sure the best is yet to come.
See another post re the French - they did steal PPE en route to us, because it was an emergency.
Contrary to myth, perhaps, today's most viewed Gruaniad story is about Sainsburys vacuum-packing mince to make it more compact, use less plastic, etc.
What various non-UK markets have supplied beef "grounds" in for years. I'm impressed that JS have done this as its a brave step. Various producers and packaging companies have proposed similar in the past and been told the consumer won't buy it.
I bought a 1kg pack of that (5% fat) last week, to make a bolognaise/lasagne.
I was disappointed.
Texture was rather different to normal. Ended up very mushy. Taste was ok, but texture was just wrong.
I won’t be buying it again. I recon enough other customers will make the same decision and Sainsbury’s will reverse ferret.
I’d go:
Reintroduce original packaging as an option for their standard mince within 6 months: 1/3
Withdraw the vacuum packs completely within 6 months: Evens
"Minnie" had the same experience, so given we have a choice of supermarkets we'll get our mince from elsewhere.
Also, presumably this packaging is "soft plastic" and therefore not recyclable at home?
We are lucky enough to have a good butcher and get most of our meat from there. If you have one and have time in your week I recommend giving supermarket meat a miss. Some may find it more expensive, but the quality is high and I find it worth it. Plus some supermarket products (e.g. chicken) have water added.
Yeah, time is the difficulty. We don't have the storage space - especially the fridge space, we don't cook much from frozen - to shop only once a week and we don't have time to do an extra trip midweek.
Supermarket bacon is bafflingly awful. It's worth going to the butcher for that alone. Supermarket sausages used to be brilliant but about 18 months ago changed and are now weird and unpleasant. Butcher's for those too nowadays. Supermarket steak is still pretty good but I'm sure they'll find a way to value engineer the quality away there too.
Which supermarket? Morrisons used to be very good but their butcher section has been hammered recently. The collapse in quality is really noticeable.
Sainsburys and Tesco are both rubbish at bacon. Can't speak for Sainsbury's sausages, but Tesco Finest sausages used to be brilliant. But about 18 months ago they changed them - they made them gluten free and they changed the skin to something weird to the touch which grills unevenly.
Ms Vine complaining "Just paid £23.50 for two sausage rolls at Clapham junction station! Just a normal kiosk. Insane."
Must have been charged for something else by accident. Sausage rolls don't cost £11.75 each, even in Clapham.
I did buy the most expensive bacon roll I'd ever seen at Clapham Junction recently. £7.50 I think? If its the place I'm thinking off, coffee there is over £3 too. So two sausage baps and two coffees at £23.50 would fit....
Yeah, she doesn't know the difference between a sausage roll and sausage bap, and sees coffee as something she is entitled to for free, is the most likely explanation.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
She was complaining about the exchange rate at an airport. Which just means she hasn't learned yet that you never change money at an airport.
It didn't get enough attention yesterday because of the AC12 raid on Sturgeon. But the Scott Mince Benton story is beautiful. Caught red handed attempting to whore himself to a pretend gambling investor. Not just cash for questions but illegal access to unpublished reports.
What a spanner - doesn't he understand that you can't do that kind of thing? Extraordinarily he claims another 10 such lobbying operations are happening at any given time.
One of the joys of the Major era was buying the Sunday Times (which I used to do) and devouring mega scoops like the last Tory cash for questions scandal.
If I remember that and know you can't ask questions for cash, why don't actual MPs like Mr Mince?
Don't you think the Johnson years so debased the notion of political public service that Scott Benton loses the whip for five minutes and we just shrug our shoulders? In his case fate has taken a hand and as a result of boundary changes he most likely won't be standing next time.
Perhaps Scotland has taught us that there may be consequences for those suspected of pilfering the cash register, and expect a circus bigtop to be erected in the front gardens of suspects when the police come looking for bank statements. Maybe normal service is being resumed.
Or maybe not... how has no one involved in the PPE scandal had a blue tent erected on their lawn?
The stench of Tory corruption over PPE will be strong enough to allow for a big enquiry to be commissioned by PM Starmer.
The usual howler monkeys will screech about how Labour backed PPE companies who didn't have any PPE. Even if that was the case - and it isn't - what is the excuse for handing out £107m contracts to a company formed days ago by someone with no clue about PPE which had no clawback clauses?
When they failed to deliver useable PPE the money should have been returned. Even a boilerplate emergency contract would have that inserted into it.
No, what we have instead is open corruption. Cash for nothing, stolen from taxpayers and handed to the right people in exchange for nothing. With the excuse of "saving lives" even as the PPE shortage their unusable shit created killed medics.
There was one interview I saw last year. I can't recall the source.
A woman in her twenties was being interviewed, she had no prior experience of PPE supply but applied to join the fast track suppliers list. She explained she won a contract to supply a specified number of masks at her quoted price of circa £800k for the delivered consignment. She made an order through Ali Baba and her invoice from the Chinese Supplier was circa £400k. NHS procurement paid half the full fee on confirmation of their order to her, so she duly Swift paid her invoice to the Chinese supplier requesting a direct delivery to the prescribed NHS stores address. So are you still with me? This lady has at this point paid not a penny of her money to her supplier, she has only paid her supplier with NHS money. All she now has to do is wait for the shipment to arrive with NHS stores and the NHS will pay her a £400k free-money profit. Now I don't blame the lady, infact hats off to her. My question is; why did we need start-up companies with connections to Ministers taking an enormous cut of public funds behind the safety curtain of "an emergency", when NHS procurement officers could have themselves logged on to Ali Baba and ordered masks at half the price?
Because corruption. None of these Tory spivs knew anything about PPE - it all came off the likes of Ali Baba. So why not cut out the middleman and buy it direct? Or answer the phone to the reputable PPE companies who were repeatedly ignored?
I almost feel like a fool not doing this myself. I already had one company. Simply incorporate RP MaskPro Ltd, ask the NHS for £107m no questions asked, go on AliBaba, search "facemasks" and make a quick £50m profit. Hell, I'd have happily voted Conservative had they done so.
The most laughable aspect was when it was suggested that Brexit supporting JCB could make ventilators ffs, and Dyson. None of this was necessary, there were loads of properly qualified ventilator manufacturers and contract manufacturers who were available. Fecking ludicrous.
The Mercedes F1 engine factory made ten thousand CPAP machines, within a month. Burberry also made tens of thousands of medical gowns, which the medics said were miles better than any gowns they’d ever seen before.
Right at the start of the pandemic, the worldwide supply chain was utter chaos. That doesn’t mean that the National Audit Office shouldn’t be looking into product not delivered and substandard product, irrespective of who was supplying it. Where there are issues of eg. brand new company that failed to deliver anything, then files should be passed to the Fraud Squad.
Much of the outrage, however, appears to be directed at people who delivered the agreed product at the agreed price, becuase they managed to get the ear of an NHS manager or a government minister. I can well imagine the Cabinet meeting in early March 2020, where everyone around the table was asked if they knew anyone who knew anyone (who knew anyone) who could get hold of PPE.
Oh dear, sorry but you have been duped by the populist propaganda machine. Maclaren already had a very impressive medical device business, so this was not a pivot on their behalf. Sorry to those that liked your post, but that is a fact.
As for Burberry, I have no knowledge of that, if it genuinely is an exception, so cannot comment. It is certainly a lot easier to make class 1 medical devices such as gowns if you have a knowledge of textiles, than the ludicrous assumption that a vacuum cleaner maker or JCB can make a class 3 medical device such as a ventilator. My original analysis is sound.
Not McLaren, the Mercedes F1 engine factory at Brixworth. They reverse-engineered an existing certified design of CPAP, that one of their team found on eBay, and managed to make them in quantity within days.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
Lobbying.
Touchscreens / touch controls should be banned outright, whenever the engine is on, imo.
That might be a valid point but it would be impossible to do most things on a modern car if you did that (as I have just found out). No radio, no heating, no airconditioning. Almost everything is touchscreen.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker then us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
Lets see what the enquiries produce. Or the police. Or both. If there was corruption (prima facie seems like it) then it must be followed up.
But it was an emergency. Starmer produced his list of suppliers too, don't forget.
I'm not defending illegal behaviour. But I think some have forgotten how fraught the crisis actually was.
Your defence is the defence Rochdale claimed Government supporters would use, earlier today. You can claim it was all Starmer's fault until the cows come home. Starmer had no authority, he was LOTO. In practical terms that means he was/is a nobody as far as Government procedure is concerned. He could have made lists as long as his arm, it wasn't his call.
"It was an emergency- give them a break". Sorry, but my point was in this "emergency" why couldn't NHS procurement officers short circuit the tendering process and go straight to China, just like the profiteering start-ups did?
I didn't claim it was all Starmer's fault. I don't know why the NHS procurement didn't go direct. All questions for the inquiries. If wrong doing has occurred no-one will be more delighted than me to see it punished. I am just against re-writing history with facts known only after the time.
Usual guff , lessons will be learned and all the crooks keep their ill gotten spoils after they have wasted 100M and several years paying another bunch of parasites to sit on their arses and talk about it.
Given the experience of an acquaintance who, working for the government, was forced out of her job for getting a Nightingale hospital completed on schedule*, I think the answer is fairly simple.
She did what every contractor does - if material isn't available from the main supplier immediately, you send someone in a van to Screwfix to get the bolts or whatever you need. Then you add the receipt to the project. Apparently this was Bad Form - she should have waited a week for the big shipment from the Chosen Suppliers.
That can make sense in rare circumstances: if the material actually has to meet a spec. If you just need 30mm plasterboard nails, then Screwfix is fine. If you need a nail, screw or nut/bolt that will actually meet a spec for a reason, then it almost never is.
Sadly, specs often get applied to things that they shouldn't be applied to, massively increasing costs.
Yup.
She got hammered (ha) for OKing (among other things) substituting stainless steel 3 inch wood screws for mild steel for putting up light studding wall frames. This was Wasting Money.
How many candidates are Reform UK standing in the locals? In Southampton they are only fielding 5 candidates out of the 17 wards each electing 3 councillors. If they're only giving 1/3 of the electorate the chance to vote for them then it doesn't point to a decent national share of the vote.
Ms Vine complaining "Just paid £23.50 for two sausage rolls at Clapham junction station! Just a normal kiosk. Insane."
Must have been charged for something else by accident. Sausage rolls don't cost £11.75 each, even in Clapham.
I did buy the most expensive bacon roll I'd ever seen at Clapham Junction recently. £7.50 I think? If its the place I'm thinking off, coffee there is over £3 too. So two sausage baps and two coffees at £23.50 would fit....
Yeah, she doesn't know the difference between a sausage roll and sausage bap, and sees coffee as something she is entitled to for free, is the most likely explanation.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
She was complaining about the exchange rate at an airport. Which just means she hasn't learned yet that you never change money at an airport.
Or, come to think of it, she bought the soss rolls (edit: and the money?) on exes to have something to moan about in her column? I don't read it, so have no idea if they have manifested themselves therein.
Given how unpopular the government is, for Labour to contest just 77% of seats, and fail even to put up a single candidate in 15% of wards, is pisspoor.
Quite a lot of Conservatives will be elected by default.
It's the year where rural English districts tend to do all-out elections. Lots of seats where Labour really don't have a chance and may not even have a handful of activists.
It's not a good show, but I get the pragmatic reality.
To a degree, but they dont have to expend that much resource to put up paper candidates. Even in deepest Toryshire there must be someone willing to be a name on a ballot.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker then us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
Lets see what the enquiries produce. Or the police. Or both. If there was corruption (prima facie seems like it) then it must be followed up.
But it was an emergency. Starmer produced his list of suppliers too, don't forget.
I'm not defending illegal behaviour. But I think some have forgotten how fraught the crisis actually was.
Your defence is the defence Rochdale claimed Government supporters would use, earlier today. You can claim it was all Starmer's fault until the cows come home. Starmer had no authority, he was LOTO. In practical terms that means he was/is a nobody as far as Government procedure is concerned. He could have made lists as long as his arm, it wasn't his call.
"It was an emergency- give them a break". Sorry, but my point was in this "emergency" why couldn't NHS procurement officers short circuit the tendering process and go straight to China, just like the profiteering start-ups did?
I didn't claim it was all Starmer's fault. I don't know why the NHS procurement didn't go direct. All questions for the inquiries. If wrong doing has occurred no-one will be more delighted than me to see it punished. I am just against re-writing history with facts known only after the time.
Usual guff , lessons will be learned and all the crooks keep their ill gotten spoils after they have wasted 100M and several years paying another bunch of parasites to sit on their arses and talk about it.
Given the experience of an acquaintance who, working for the government, was forced out of her job for getting a Nightingale hospital completed on schedule*, I think the answer is fairly simple.
She did what every contractor does - if material isn't available from the main supplier immediately, you send someone in a van to Screwfix to get the bolts or whatever you need. Then you add the receipt to the project. Apparently this was Bad Form - she should have waited a week for the big shipment from the Chosen Suppliers.
That can make sense in rare circumstances: if the material actually has to meet a spec. If you just need 30mm plasterboard nails, then Screwfix is fine. If you need a nail, screw or nut/bolt that will actually meet a spec for a reason, then it almost never is.
Sadly, specs often get applied to things that they shouldn't be applied to, massively increasing costs.
Yup.
She got hammered (ha) for OKing (among other things) substituting stainless steel 3 inch wood screws for mild steel for putting up light studding wall frames. This was Wasting Money.
If she’s hammering screws, she’s doing it wrong.
My dad always calls nails, Manchester screws for some reason. No idea why. He did briefly work for Westinghouse in the 60's.
Zero chance of getting the votes to impeach the fncker, but he should be kicked off the court.
Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From GOP Donor https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow … In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.
If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.
For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.
The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said…
But does it violate the most important law and judicial rule of all - his politics are correct?
Hope you are being sarcastic with this comment. In reality, I suspect it's depressingly close to the truth.
I have zero doubt it is.
It may have held up reasonably well much of the time, but make something explicitly political and it will inevitably become even more political.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
Is it able to spy on you, by automatically sending data back to the company?
Ms Vine complaining "Just paid £23.50 for two sausage rolls at Clapham junction station! Just a normal kiosk. Insane."
Must have been charged for something else by accident. Sausage rolls don't cost £11.75 each, even in Clapham.
I did buy the most expensive bacon roll I'd ever seen at Clapham Junction recently. £7.50 I think? If its the place I'm thinking off, coffee there is over £3 too. So two sausage baps and two coffees at £23.50 would fit....
Yeah, she doesn't know the difference between a sausage roll and sausage bap, and sees coffee as something she is entitled to for free, is the most likely explanation.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
Maybe she was waiting in the queue for Dover. 90 mins queues just for le douane this morning, and the holiday hasn't begun.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
You will .....its like getting Sky Q and a completely new remote.. it takes a bit of figuring out but you get there....
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
I read a review of the car I bought written by Jeremy Clarkson. It was hilarious. He commented as to how the car decided it could go around the corner better than him and while he went through the screens trying to work out how to turn that off, it didn't matter that he wasn't looking at the road as the car was doing all the driving. He also commented that it no longer mattered what the 0 - 60 was or the handling but only how many usb ports it had.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker than us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
To add to the insult, we are now paying for storage or destruction of that PPE, sometimes to the same companies.
Worth noting too that many of these contracts were signed in the summer of 2020, well after the initial panic on supplies.
It was naked troughing to bung government contracts to their mates.
It is being vigorously defended, tooth and nail on here today, just as Rochdale anticipated it would, by Government shills.
"It was an emergency", "the French stole our PPE", and "Starmer made a list, it was his fault". I'm sure the best is yet to come.
See another post re the French - they did steal PPE en route to us, because it was an emergency.
Contrary to myth, perhaps, today's most viewed Gruaniad story is about Sainsburys vacuum-packing mince to make it more compact, use less plastic, etc.
What various non-UK markets have supplied beef "grounds" in for years. I'm impressed that JS have done this as its a brave step. Various producers and packaging companies have proposed similar in the past and been told the consumer won't buy it.
I bought a 1kg pack of that (5% fat) last week, to make a bolognaise/lasagne.
I was disappointed.
Texture was rather different to normal. Ended up very mushy. Taste was ok, but texture was just wrong.
I won’t be buying it again. I recon enough other customers will make the same decision and Sainsbury’s will reverse ferret.
I’d go:
Reintroduce original packaging as an option for their standard mince within 6 months: 1/3
Withdraw the vacuum packs completely within 6 months: Evens
"Minnie" had the same experience, so given we have a choice of supermarkets we'll get our mince from elsewhere.
Also, presumably this packaging is "soft plastic" and therefore not recyclable at home?
We are lucky enough to have a good butcher and get most of our meat from there. If you have one and have time in your week I recommend giving supermarket meat a miss. Some may find it more expensive, but the quality is high and I find it worth it. Plus some supermarket products (e.g. chicken) have water added.
Yeah, time is the difficulty. We don't have the storage space - especially the fridge space, we don't cook much from frozen - to shop only once a week and we don't have time to do an extra trip midweek.
Supermarket bacon is bafflingly awful. It's worth going to the butcher for that alone. Supermarket sausages used to be brilliant but about 18 months ago changed and are now weird and unpleasant. Butcher's for those too nowadays. Supermarket steak is still pretty good but I'm sure they'll find a way to value engineer the quality away there too.
Which supermarket? Morrisons used to be very good but their butcher section has been hammered recently. The collapse in quality is really noticeable.
Don't forget that you can find out who is producing the own brand meat products by looking up the producer code in the oval on the back of pack.
If they are godawful and you want to buy an equivalent from a different supermarket, quick check that its actually from someone different...
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
I read a review of the car I bought written by Jeremy Clarkson. It was hilarious. He commented as to how the car decided it could go around the corner better than him and while he went through the screens trying to work out how to turn that off, it didn't matter that he wasn't looking at the road as the car was doing all the driving. He also commented that it no longer mattered what the 0 - 60 was or the handling but only how many usb ports it had.
Getting to sound like someone in 1910 complaining that the driver isn't out in the open up front any more.
Ms Vine complaining "Just paid £23.50 for two sausage rolls at Clapham junction station! Just a normal kiosk. Insane."
Must have been charged for something else by accident. Sausage rolls don't cost £11.75 each, even in Clapham.
I did buy the most expensive bacon roll I'd ever seen at Clapham Junction recently. £7.50 I think? If its the place I'm thinking off, coffee there is over £3 too. So two sausage baps and two coffees at £23.50 would fit....
Yeah, she doesn't know the difference between a sausage roll and sausage bap, and sees coffee as something she is entitled to for free, is the most likely explanation.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
She was complaining about the exchange rate at an airport. Which just means she hasn't learned yet that you never change money at an airport.
If you are travelling vaguely regularly one of the alt-bank cards that does forex just off the market rates with no fees is a must. Revolut, for example.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
The regulator doesn’t know what phone you have.
I agree that these big screens that do everything should never have been certified - but we are where we are.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
My impression is that's because the regulators are years behind the manufactures in terms of the technology and its implications on its usage.
Manu: "We want to put a large effing screen in our cars that you can play games on whilst driving." Regu: "That might be distracting to drivers." Manu: "Can you prove that?" Regu: "We don't have data yet." Manu: "Then we're doing it, or we'll sue!"
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
It's not illegal to operate a phone mounted in a cradle while driving, whether for calls or navigation. What's illegal is to HOLD and use them while driving:
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
The regulator doesn’t know what phone you have.
I agree that these big screens that do everything should never have been certified - but we are where we are.
There's surely no reason why their use couldn't have been banned at the same time as phones, though.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Peak budget car must surely be 2008-2020.
The Fiat panda, 108/c1/aygo, Hyundai i10 etc.
Cost almost nothing to buy, cheap to insure, little to go wrong. Fast enough for normal use within the speed limit. Built to historically high safety standards. After ~100 years of development the industry had refined the mechanics and ironed out the most common issues of rust etc so they last forever or until an accident.
My dad bought a brand new Fiat panda for £4.9k in 2011. He got himself a bargain, there.
I inherited it when he died and see no reason why it can’t keep going for another 5 years+.
My car is an 18 plate Hyundai I10. It’s great for what I want it for and it is low mileage. It will do me til we both retire,
My wife has an Audi. We will change in three years for our final car to last us the rest of our lives.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
It's not illegal to operate a phone mounted in a cradle while driving, whether for calls or navigation. What's illegal is to HOLD and use them while driving:
When the law was changed a couple of years ago I'm sure they said that "holding" includes touching at all, because then it's not hands-free. There used to be a derogation for using it as a sat nav but I think that changed last year.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Peak budget car must surely be 2008-2020.
The Fiat panda, 108/c1/aygo, Hyundai i10 etc.
Cost almost nothing to buy, cheap to insure, little to go wrong. Fast enough for normal use within the speed limit. Built to historically high safety standards. After ~100 years of development the industry had refined the mechanics and ironed out the most common issues of rust etc so they last forever or until an accident.
My dad bought a brand new Fiat panda for £4.9k in 2011. He got himself a bargain, there.
I inherited it when he died and see no reason why it can’t keep going for another 5 years+.
My car is an 18 plate Hyundai I10. It’s great for what I want it for and it is low mileage. It will do me til we both retire,
My wife has an Audi. We will change in three years for our final car to last us the rest of our lives.
Mrs J has an Hyundai i20. It's a great little car, and ideal for her commute. I've been driving for thirty years now, and have had five cars in that time - all second hand (*), two or three years old. Each car has been 'better' than the last one. Comfier, more economic, better-built.
Although as I started with an ex-utilities Land Rover 110 and moved on to an Escort, the first couple of steps were not hard to improve on...
Incidentally, as I much prefer automatics due to my bad leg, I'm hoping the rise of EVs will increase second-hand choice considerably.
(*) M=rs J bought the Hyundai new to celebrate a new job with a longer commute.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
The regulator doesn’t know what phone you have.
I agree that these big screens that do everything should never have been certified - but we are where we are.
There's surely no reason why their use couldn't have been banned at the same time as phones, though.
Car touchscreens (Well the one in my Peugeot 308) is about 3 times the width of my phone.
It's definitely safer than my phone to adjust heating, radio, check mpg etc than say browse PB (Not that I've ever do that) whilst driving.
Bigger buttons More limited function Doesn't move.
Ms Vine complaining "Just paid £23.50 for two sausage rolls at Clapham junction station! Just a normal kiosk. Insane."
Must have been charged for something else by accident. Sausage rolls don't cost £11.75 each, even in Clapham.
I did buy the most expensive bacon roll I'd ever seen at Clapham Junction recently. £7.50 I think? If its the place I'm thinking off, coffee there is over £3 too. So two sausage baps and two coffees at £23.50 would fit....
Yeah, she doesn't know the difference between a sausage roll and sausage bap, and sees coffee as something she is entitled to for free, is the most likely explanation.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
She was complaining about the exchange rate at an airport. Which just means she hasn't learned yet that you never change money at an airport.
Or, come to think of it, she bought the soss rolls (edit: and the money?) on exes to have something to moan about in her column? I don't read it, so have no idea if they have manifested themselves therein.
Or the other way round, and she moaned about the sausage/bread combos in her column so she could then claim them back as a business expense. Same as Gary Lineker presenting Match of the Day in his underpants turns them into a costume and hence claimable.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker than us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
To add to the insult, we are now paying for storage or destruction of that PPE, sometimes to the same companies.
Worth noting too that many of these contracts were signed in the summer of 2020, well after the initial panic on supplies.
It was naked troughing to bung government contracts to their mates.
It is being vigorously defended, tooth and nail on here today, just as Rochdale anticipated it would, by Government shills.
"It was an emergency", "the French stole our PPE", and "Starmer made a list, it was his fault". I'm sure the best is yet to come.
See another post re the French - they did steal PPE en route to us, because it was an emergency.
Contrary to myth, perhaps, today's most viewed Gruaniad story is about Sainsburys vacuum-packing mince to make it more compact, use less plastic, etc.
What various non-UK markets have supplied beef "grounds" in for years. I'm impressed that JS have done this as its a brave step. Various producers and packaging companies have proposed similar in the past and been told the consumer won't buy it.
I bought a 1kg pack of that (5% fat) last week, to make a bolognaise/lasagne.
I was disappointed.
Texture was rather different to normal. Ended up very mushy. Taste was ok, but texture was just wrong.
I won’t be buying it again. I recon enough other customers will make the same decision and Sainsbury’s will reverse ferret.
I’d go:
Reintroduce original packaging as an option for their standard mince within 6 months: 1/3
Withdraw the vacuum packs completely within 6 months: Evens
"Minnie" had the same experience, so given we have a choice of supermarkets we'll get our mince from elsewhere.
Also, presumably this packaging is "soft plastic" and therefore not recyclable at home?
We are lucky enough to have a good butcher and get most of our meat from there. If you have one and have time in your week I recommend giving supermarket meat a miss. Some may find it more expensive, but the quality is high and I find it worth it. Plus some supermarket products (e.g. chicken) have water added.
Yeah, time is the difficulty. We don't have the storage space - especially the fridge space, we don't cook much from frozen - to shop only once a week and we don't have time to do an extra trip midweek.
Supermarket bacon is bafflingly awful. It's worth going to the butcher for that alone. Supermarket sausages used to be brilliant but about 18 months ago changed and are now weird and unpleasant. Butcher's for those too nowadays. Supermarket steak is still pretty good but I'm sure they'll find a way to value engineer the quality away there too.
Sausages are one thing where I will always buy the premium range on. There's a butcher reasonably close to me but he closes at 2pm (and isn't open on a Sunday) so it's a trip we'll have to plan.
Coop outdoor reared steaky bacon is OK. It's not their posh stuff either.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
It's not illegal to operate a phone mounted in a cradle while driving, whether for calls or navigation. What's illegal is to HOLD and use them while driving:
When the law was changed a couple of years ago I'm sure they said that "holding" includes touching at all, because then it's not hands-free. There used to be a derogation for using it as a sat nav but I think that changed last year.
You can use devices with hands-free access, as long as you do not hold them at any time during usage. Hands-free access means using, for example:
a Bluetooth headset voice command a dashboard holder or mat a windscreen mount a built-in sat nav The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker than us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
To add to the insult, we are now paying for storage or destruction of that PPE, sometimes to the same companies.
Worth noting too that many of these contracts were signed in the summer of 2020, well after the initial panic on supplies.
It was naked troughing to bung government contracts to their mates.
It is being vigorously defended, tooth and nail on here today, just as Rochdale anticipated it would, by Government shills.
"It was an emergency", "the French stole our PPE", and "Starmer made a list, it was his fault". I'm sure the best is yet to come.
See another post re the French - they did steal PPE en route to us, because it was an emergency.
Contrary to myth, perhaps, today's most viewed Gruaniad story is about Sainsburys vacuum-packing mince to make it more compact, use less plastic, etc.
What various non-UK markets have supplied beef "grounds" in for years. I'm impressed that JS have done this as its a brave step. Various producers and packaging companies have proposed similar in the past and been told the consumer won't buy it.
I bought a 1kg pack of that (5% fat) last week, to make a bolognaise/lasagne.
I was disappointed.
Texture was rather different to normal. Ended up very mushy. Taste was ok, but texture was just wrong.
I won’t be buying it again. I recon enough other customers will make the same decision and Sainsbury’s will reverse ferret.
I’d go:
Reintroduce original packaging as an option for their standard mince within 6 months: 1/3
Withdraw the vacuum packs completely within 6 months: Evens
"Minnie" had the same experience, so given we have a choice of supermarkets we'll get our mince from elsewhere.
Also, presumably this packaging is "soft plastic" and therefore not recyclable at home?
We are lucky enough to have a good butcher and get most of our meat from there. If you have one and have time in your week I recommend giving supermarket meat a miss. Some may find it more expensive, but the quality is high and I find it worth it. Plus some supermarket products (e.g. chicken) have water added.
Yeah, time is the difficulty. We don't have the storage space - especially the fridge space, we don't cook much from frozen - to shop only once a week and we don't have time to do an extra trip midweek.
Supermarket bacon is bafflingly awful. It's worth going to the butcher for that alone. Supermarket sausages used to be brilliant but about 18 months ago changed and are now weird and unpleasant. Butcher's for those too nowadays. Supermarket steak is still pretty good but I'm sure they'll find a way to value engineer the quality away there too.
Sausages are one thing where I will always buy the premium range on. There's a butcher reasonably close to me but he closes at 2pm (and isn't open on a Sunday) so it's a trip we'll have to plan.
Coop outdoor reared steaky bacon is OK. It's not their posh stuff either.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
The regulator doesn’t know what phone you have.
I agree that these big screens that do everything should never have been certified - but we are where we are.
There's surely no reason why their use couldn't have been banned at the same time as phones, though.
Car touchscreens (Well the one in my Peugeot 308) is about 3 times the width of my phone.
It's definitely safer than my phone to adjust heating, radio, check mpg etc than say browse PB (Not that I've ever do that) whilst driving.
Bigger buttons More limited function Doesn't move.
Bigger buttons, I'll give you, but a properly mounted phone doesn't move. In terms of function I'm thinking of equivalent function - sat nav or radio/music playlists.
The big difference to my mind is that the inbuilt touchscreen is below steering wheel level so you need to look away from the road for much longer for each button press than to a windscreen-mounted phone.
As mentioned earlier I bought a new car. The damn thing is more intelligent than me (now waiting for the obvious replies). I'm gobsmacked by what it can do, most of which is a waste of time.
Yes I've got a new one after 29 years. I does so much stuff. Feels like a plane cockpit. I don't expect to ever learn more than 10% of it.
I was saying something similar the other day. Cars reached their apogee about 15 years ago. So much has been added since, so pointlessly.
I was listening to a bunch of car journalists on a podcast a few weeks ago, and they came to the agreement that “Peak Car” was the 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Since then, cars have got heavier, more automated, and less fun.
Bonus negative points for the modern screens with no buttons, which save money but distract the hell out of the driver when he wants to adjust the heater.
Even worse, the touch-screens are on the wrong side for most British drivers.
I do often wonder why touching the screen on a phone mounted in a cradle while driving is explicitly illegal but using an integrated touch screen for exactly the same purpose is not.
It’s because the car system has been expliticly certified as safe by the regulator, whereas your phone hasn’t.
Then the regulator is crap at their job - the touchscreen in my car is much more distracting to use than a windscreen-mounted phone used to be.
It's not illegal to operate a phone mounted in a cradle while driving, whether for calls or navigation. What's illegal is to HOLD and use them while driving:
When the law was changed a couple of years ago I'm sure they said that "holding" includes touching at all, because then it's not hands-free. There used to be a derogation for using it as a sat nav but I think that changed last year.
You can use devices with hands-free access, as long as you do not hold them at any time during usage. Hands-free access means using, for example:
a Bluetooth headset voice command a dashboard holder or mat a windscreen mount a built-in sat nav The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
From the link
Ah, ok, thanks. So the marketing of the law doesn't accord with the wording. Interesting.
Given how unpopular the government is, for Labour to contest just 77% of seats, and fail even to put up a single candidate in 15% of wards, is pisspoor.
Quite a lot of Conservatives will be elected by default.
It's the year where rural English districts tend to do all-out elections. Lots of seats where Labour really don't have a chance and may not even have a handful of activists.
It's not a good show, but I get the pragmatic reality.
Back in the nineties, though, Labour were more or less matching the Conservatives in terms of candidate numbers in shire elections.
Despite their poll lead, it's very difficult to see Labour matching their results from 1993-97, and shortage of candidates is one reason. During that period, Labour actually gained overall majorities in places like Fenland, Castle Point, and Hertsmere!
Given how unpopular the government is, for Labour to contest just 77% of seats, and fail even to put up a single candidate in 15% of wards, is pisspoor.
Quite a lot of Conservatives will be elected by default.
It's the year where rural English districts tend to do all-out elections. Lots of seats where Labour really don't have a chance and may not even have a handful of activists.
It's not a good show, but I get the pragmatic reality.
Back in the nineties, though, Labour were more or less matching the Conservatives in terms of candidate numbers in shire elections.
Despite their poll lead, it's very difficult to see Labour matching their results from 1993-97, and shortage of candidates is one reason. During that period, Labour actually gained overall majorities in places like Fenland, Castle Point, and Hertsmere!
Indeed checking the numbers, Labour contested many more seats than the Conservatives in 1995, and slightly more in 1999, as well as an identical number in 1991 (2023 is part of the same cycle).
Labour are not actually treating these elections as if they expect to make big gains.
It didn't get enough attention yesterday because of the AC12 raid on Sturgeon. But the Scott Mince Benton story is beautiful. Caught red handed attempting to whore himself to a pretend gambling investor. Not just cash for questions but illegal access to unpublished reports.
What a spanner - doesn't he understand that you can't do that kind of thing? Extraordinarily he claims another 10 such lobbying operations are happening at any given time.
One of the joys of the Major era was buying the Sunday Times (which I used to do) and devouring mega scoops like the last Tory cash for questions scandal.
If I remember that and know you can't ask questions for cash, why don't actual MPs like Mr Mince?
Don't you think the Johnson years so debased the notion of political public service that Scott Benton loses the whip for five minutes and we just shrug our shoulders? In his case fate has taken a hand and as a result of boundary changes he most likely won't be standing next time.
Perhaps Scotland has taught us that there may be consequences for those suspected of pilfering the cash register, and expect a circus bigtop to be erected in the front gardens of suspects when the police come looking for bank statements. Maybe normal service is being resumed.
Or maybe not... how has no one involved in the PPE scandal had a blue tent erected on their lawn?
The stench of Tory corruption over PPE will be strong enough to allow for a big enquiry to be commissioned by PM Starmer.
The usual howler monkeys will screech about how Labour backed PPE companies who didn't have any PPE. Even if that was the case - and it isn't - what is the excuse for handing out £107m contracts to a company formed days ago by someone with no clue about PPE which had no clawback clauses?
When they failed to deliver useable PPE the money should have been returned. Even a boilerplate emergency contract would have that inserted into it.
No, what we have instead is open corruption. Cash for nothing, stolen from taxpayers and handed to the right people in exchange for nothing. With the excuse of "saving lives" even as the PPE shortage their unusable shit created killed medics.
There was one interview I saw last year. I can't recall the source.
A woman in her twenties was being interviewed, she had no prior experience of PPE supply but applied to join the fast track suppliers list. She explained she won a contract to supply a specified number of masks at her quoted price of circa £800k for the delivered consignment. She made an order through Ali Baba and her invoice from the Chinese Supplier was circa £400k. NHS procurement paid half the full fee on confirmation of their order to her, so she duly Swift paid her invoice to the Chinese supplier requesting a direct delivery to the prescribed NHS stores address. So are you still with me? This lady has at this point paid not a penny of her money to her supplier, she has only paid her supplier with NHS money. All she now has to do is wait for the shipment to arrive with NHS stores and the NHS will pay her a £400k free-money profit. Now I don't blame the lady, infact hats off to her. My question is; why did we need start-up companies with connections to Ministers taking an enormous cut of public funds behind the safety curtain of "an emergency", when NHS procurement officers could have themselves logged on to Ali Baba and ordered masks at half the price?
Did the order actually arrive? And was it actually suitable for use?
I believe it did, and there was no mention that it failed any specification tests. So let's assume it was all good. We the taxpayer still spent on a 100% mark up for a minimum of effort.
Yes, you do wonder why no-one in the NHS etc purchasing team couldn't have just placed the order.
I hope this stuff comes out in the enquiries. There may be reasonable answers (possible - don't laugh at the back) but it would be good to hear them.
I doubt Alibaba is on the list of their preferred suppliers.
In theory she should have been liable if the order didn't turn up or was unsuitable (not exactly uncommon). An insurance premium of 100% might not be far off given the normal failure rate.
The problem is not that this happened, it is what happened when the supplies turned out to be unsuitable. Was anyone pursued for costs?
I don't think I'd have made a 50/50 gamble on a random Chinese supplier getting it right first time.
I believe the order was delivered and the product adequate. Everyone fulfilled their obligation at an additional cost to the NHS of £400k.
And Rochdale's earlier point is no one reimbursed the NHS for unusable Chinese tat.
In my anecdote, the lady in question gambled with taxpayers' money not her own, and quite legitimately. It paid off for her.
One would assume that the NHS procurement teams were doing that *as well*
There was a specific team to contract with third parties. This lady tried it on and got away with it. Good for her.
It’s very easy to criticise with hindsight but the reality is we wanted as much PPE as we could get as fast as we could get it and didn't particularly care how much it cost
Obviously NHS procurement are totally useless. If those Bozos could go online and find it then why was it an issue for supposedly procurement professionals. One of teh reasons the NHS is a money pit is the useless organisation and obviously useless departments who cannot do the job they are paid for. Seems all they can do is send large cheques to any Tom, Dick or Harry.
Yeah they just hand over large amounts of state money to businesspeople chosen at random by sticking a pin in the telephone directory, or who happen to have emailed them on a given morning. It's not as if anything else is going on. They're incompetent only. Useless. Silly sods. Repeat after me: incompetence, incompetence, incompetence. Yes it involves large amounts of state money getting paid to private interests, while the actual public service crumbles into dust or at least never improves. But nothing else is going on. Incompetence. Silly bureaucratic sods. Hearts in the right places. But silly sods. Incompetent.
Aren't you watching my videos? Its like a widescreen TV not rotated at all. All Tesla screens now landscape, the original Model S and X screens were portrait.
Each car has been 'better' than the last one. Comfier, more economic, better-built.
I went from an Austin 'mini' Metro to an original Mini
Major step backwards...
Much as I love minis (and full disclosure we own a 1972 mini clubman estate) they are god awful cars. Even by the end in 2000 they were still awful.
But charming, and we love raising cash in Devon in ours each August BH.
For 1959 they were the future. They handle brilliantly. Yes they are crude by anything past 1975 standards but they oversteer with no body roll into fast corners. If you don't believe me watch Nick Swift seeing off Alfa GTVs and Lotus Cortinas into anything but a straight line at Goodwood. My first car was a 1978 Mini Clubman 1100 Estate in Russet Brown (well it was my Mum's actually). As a 17 year old I found the best technique to overtaking Reps in 1.6L Cortinas on long straight roads was to sit on their rear bumper and pull out of their slipstream and fly by. If that wasn't possible written notice to overtake was required. I drive like your grandma now, so no heroics these days.
On topic, we owe the SNP a huge debt of gratitude for yesterday's events.
If Police Scotland were to arrest to Nicola Sturgeon I'm not sure the internet could cope.
(Note that's not a prediction, more of an observation.)
Whilst it was a good day for popcorn sales, if our gallant law enforcement officers really want to dig people's gardens, perhaps they could start looking for the few billion by various Tory cronies for PPE which was never delivered.
Yes, the police should definitely only investigate the people you oppose most politically.
The police should investigate ALL of these outrages. The issue is that the outrages outed so far all come from the Tory VIP lane.
Had Labour done this I would be howling just as hard.
Government VIP lane. There is a difference.
A lot was done too fast, with little scrutiny. We should be going after any one who failed to supply or supplied substandard product. But never forget the pressure of the time - the NHS was desperate and the government was being assailed on all sides. Our erstwhile friends and allies the French stole PPE on its was to us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I am sorry Tubbs, but "it was an emergency" is a weak defence for 24 carat gold corruption.
The French "stealing" our PPE is a a bit rich, it may be immoral but it is how international trade works. A cargo of oil for example is often sold several times as it floats before it reaches the final destination. I am guessing as much with the PPE. If the French promise the supplier significantly more money to get a consignment quicker than us, we just get bumped down to the next shipment, or the one after that.
It's like moving house so your kids quickly climb up the list to get to the Grammar School of your choice, ahead of those previously higher on the list than yourself, who couldn't afford so to do.
To add to the insult, we are now paying for storage or destruction of that PPE, sometimes to the same companies.
Worth noting too that many of these contracts were signed in the summer of 2020, well after the initial panic on supplies.
It was naked troughing to bung government contracts to their mates.
It is being vigorously defended, tooth and nail on here today, just as Rochdale anticipated it would, by Government shills.
"It was an emergency", "the French stole our PPE", and "Starmer made a list, it was his fault". I'm sure the best is yet to come.
See another post re the French - they did steal PPE en route to us, because it was an emergency.
Contrary to myth, perhaps, today's most viewed Gruaniad story is about Sainsburys vacuum-packing mince to make it more compact, use less plastic, etc.
What various non-UK markets have supplied beef "grounds" in for years. I'm impressed that JS have done this as its a brave step. Various producers and packaging companies have proposed similar in the past and been told the consumer won't buy it.
I bought a 1kg pack of that (5% fat) last week, to make a bolognaise/lasagne.
I was disappointed.
Texture was rather different to normal. Ended up very mushy. Taste was ok, but texture was just wrong.
I won’t be buying it again. I recon enough other customers will make the same decision and Sainsbury’s will reverse ferret.
I’d go:
Reintroduce original packaging as an option for their standard mince within 6 months: 1/3
Withdraw the vacuum packs completely within 6 months: Evens
"Minnie" had the same experience, so given we have a choice of supermarkets we'll get our mince from elsewhere.
Also, presumably this packaging is "soft plastic" and therefore not recyclable at home?
We are lucky enough to have a good butcher and get most of our meat from there. If you have one and have time in your week I recommend giving supermarket meat a miss. Some may find it more expensive, but the quality is high and I find it worth it. Plus some supermarket products (e.g. chicken) have water added.
Yeah, time is the difficulty. We don't have the storage space - especially the fridge space, we don't cook much from frozen - to shop only once a week and we don't have time to do an extra trip midweek.
Supermarket bacon is bafflingly awful. It's worth going to the butcher for that alone. Supermarket sausages used to be brilliant but about 18 months ago changed and are now weird and unpleasant. Butcher's for those too nowadays. Supermarket steak is still pretty good but I'm sure they'll find a way to value engineer the quality away there too.
Which supermarket? Morrisons used to be very good but their butcher section has been hammered recently. The collapse in quality is really noticeable.
Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Whitworth
I mean, if McLaren had done it, that's a different matter...
"..than the ludicrous assumption that a vacuum cleaner maker or JCB can make a class 3 medical device such as a ventilator."
That's quite a ridiculous comment. For instance, JCB makes diesel engines (*). These are very high-precision complex devices. I went round the JCB factory at Rocester many times forty years ago, and even back then it was remarkably clean. Modern engineering tries as hard as possible to be clean, as muck dust and debris can cause issues. So yes, with care they can make these medical devices - and have the experience of making them in bulk.
I bet the engineers loved the task.
(*) There's an interesting (to me...) story about why they started making them.
Touchscreens / touch controls should be banned outright, whenever the engine is on, imo.
I note she was also complaining about the poor exchange rate for the £.
Perhaps she should not have spent her life vigourously supporting those who have brought us to this point.
Can't speak for Sainsbury's sausages, but Tesco Finest sausages used to be brilliant. But about 18 months ago they changed them - they made them gluten free and they changed the skin to something weird to the touch which grills unevenly.
EDIT: Look at the reviews:
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/280002909
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ij3g8kscdeA
Genuinely one of my favourite videos of the whole pandemic. As a massive F1 fan, this was utterly inspiring.
"Election Maps UK
@ElectionMapsUK
🚨🗳️ || TOTAL NUMBER OF CANDIDATES #LE2023:
🌳 CON: 7,512 (93%)
🌹 LAB: 6,232 (77%)
🔶 LDM: 4,816 (60%)
🌍 GRN: 3,322 (41%)
👩 INDs: 1,870 (23%)
🏘️ LOCs: 827 (10%)
➡️ RFM: 471 (6%)
🧑🔧 TUSC: 254 (3%)
🏰 HER: 64 (1%)
💷 UKIP: 45 (1%)
🔓 FAL: 40 (0%)
🏵️ YOR: 38 (0%)
🔴 SDP: 36 (0%)"
It may have held up reasonably well much of the time, but make something explicitly political and it will inevitably become even more political.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/06/queues-dover-port-easter-weekend-travel-delays
If they are godawful and you want to buy an equivalent from a different supermarket, quick check that its actually from someone different...
I agree that these big screens that do everything should never have been certified - but we are where we are.
Manu: "We want to put a large effing screen in our cars that you can play games on whilst driving."
Regu: "That might be distracting to drivers."
Manu: "Can you prove that?"
Regu: "We don't have data yet."
Manu: "Then we're doing it, or we'll sue!"
https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law
My car is an 18 plate Hyundai I10. It’s great for what I want it for and it is low mileage. It will do me til we both retire,
My wife has an Audi. We will change in three years for our final car to last us the rest of our lives.
Although as I started with an ex-utilities Land Rover 110 and moved on to an Escort, the first couple of steps were not hard to improve on...
Incidentally, as I much prefer automatics due to my bad leg, I'm hoping the rise of EVs will increase second-hand choice considerably.
(*) M=rs J bought the Hyundai new to celebrate a new job with a longer commute.
It's definitely safer than my phone to adjust heating, radio, check mpg etc than say browse PB (Not that I've ever do that) whilst driving.
Bigger buttons
More limited function
Doesn't move.
Major step backwards...
a Bluetooth headset
voice command
a dashboard holder or mat
a windscreen mount
a built-in sat nav
The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
From the link
The big difference to my mind is that the inbuilt touchscreen is below steering wheel level so you need to look away from the road for much longer for each button press than to a windscreen-mounted phone.
Like a widescreen tv rotated 90 degrees.
Despite their poll lead, it's very difficult to see Labour matching their results from 1993-97, and shortage of candidates is one reason. During that period, Labour actually gained overall majorities in places like Fenland, Castle Point, and Hertsmere!
It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Metro
Ah, my coat.
But charming, and we love raising cash in Devon in ours each August BH.
Labour are not actually treating these elections as if they expect to make big gains.