"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
You should have demanded a pregnancy test - just in case.
If the invasion is not defeated, it is very likely to be repeated - as we saw from 2014.
Why won't it be repeated if it is defeated? For whatever value of 'defeated' you care to adopt.
Because Russia won't be in a position to repeat it.
Their army will have been destroyed, they'll be in no position to rebuild well, they've got little in the way of either economy or manufacturing capacity to replace that which has been lost any time soon. And Ukraine and her allies will be far better prepared than before too.
Russia likes to think of herself as a Great Power but the truth is she's not even a major power anymore, with a GDP lower than that of Canada or Italy.
Upper Volta (or Burkina Faso now) with nukes.
Very good point about Russia not being able to replace its losses while Ukraine can and is being supplied. MOreover, this war is proving very damaging for the arms export industry.
Putin needs some sort of get out quite soon.
Putin's had loads of opportunities to get out. He could have done it with his embarrassing withdrawal from Kyiv in March, or in autumn when they withdrew from Kherson. With the former, he might even have been able to keep hold of Crimea and the pre-2022 bits of the Donbass he had held.
Now for the IMV part: he didn't do it, because his mindset appears to be that Russia must 'win' because there is no alternative to Russia winning. He remembered the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the tragedy that happened to his country immediately afterwards. He also remembers Chechnya, and the fact a second attempt won it. I reckon he sees the current situation as the first Chechen war, and that a little push might turn it into the second.
I reckon he's wrong, but he's made bad move after bad move in this mess so far.
Yes, Putin will not voluntarily de-escalate.
He is playing for time. If he can keep things at a rough stalemate without the front collapsing, he will hope Western resolve starts to falter and the other side will start talking about getting round the table.
(Ok it’s barely even tangentially linked but you mention both sides “getting round the table and I do like this clip…)
On topic, Trump is malignant and utterly lacking in any morals or scruples whatsoever, but Biden is also a tone-deaf prat.
I can't think of any American President who could have pissed the NI Unionists off more yesterday, even if he'd celebrated the Easter Rising or the vision of Eamon de Valera.
I missed that. What are the DUP fuming about now?
It's not the DUP.
Biden praised the Black & Tans rather than the All Blacks yesterday.
Er, I thought the Unionists approved of the RIC and the Auxies?
Surely only thin skinned, humourless bigots could take offence at such a misspeak? Oh, I see.
I think the story was that Joe Biden was celebrating the fact that his distant relative Rob Kierney (Irish rugby player) had given the All Blacks 'a good hiding' (I think). Except he didn't say All Blacks, he said Black and Tans.
To be honest, I think the original would have been ruder (if I'm right). The latter is just an old man misspeaking. Again. Black and Tans appears to be trending on Bing now (don't judge me, it's my work home page).
Arlene Foster gave an interview with GB News saying Joe Biden hates the UK and it went 'viral', requiring his team to issue a denial. This was before the black and tan comment.
Yes, I don't think the DUP deserve much moral high ground from Biden's 'Black and Tan' gaffe given the slanderous 'anti-British' accusations they'd been pouring into the media about him hitherto.
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
As someone eligible for an Irish passport (not claimed it) - quite a few Irish people think he is wanker.
Golly, I really am totally amazed that PB’s chief anecdotalist has the skinny on what Irish people think.
It has various familiar themes. Ferries working long past their life expectancy breaking down regularly with no replacements on the horizon. A total lack of forward planning and a total indifference to the economic consequences of such incompetence.
On topic, Trump is malignant and utterly lacking in any morals or scruples whatsoever, but Biden is also a tone-deaf prat.
I can't think of any American President who could have pissed the NI Unionists off more yesterday, even if he'd celebrated the Easter Rising or the vision of Eamon de Valera.
I missed that. What are the DUP fuming about now?
It's not the DUP.
Biden praised the Black & Tans rather than the All Blacks yesterday.
Er, I thought the Unionists approved of the RIC and the Auxies?
Surely only thin skinned, humourless bigots could take offence at such a misspeak? Oh, I see.
I think the story was that Joe Biden was celebrating the fact that his distant relative Rob Kierney (Irish rugby player) had given the All Blacks 'a good hiding' (I think). Except he didn't say All Blacks, he said Black and Tans.
To be honest, I think the original would have been ruder (if I'm right). The latter is just an old man misspeaking. Again. Black and Tans appears to be trending on Bing now (don't judge me, it's my work home page).
Arlene Foster gave an interview with GB News saying Joe Biden hates the UK and it went 'viral', requiring his team to issue a denial. This was before the black and tan comment.
Bizarre times, as the country moves to the left on economic issues, Labour isn’t there, it’s moved right! Murdoch paper leading with half of Tory voters wanting energy to be nationalised. Just after Starmer has abandoned the existing Labour policy to do precisely that.
True, most voters want a move to the left on economics and towards national security on other issues.
King Charles could be the last monarch on a banknote as cash loses its crown
Digital payments dominate amid increasing obsolescence of cash
Halfway through 2024, King Charles III will become only the second monarch to see his portrait launched into circulation on British banknotes. It is feasible that his likeness will be the last one on a banknote that is ever actually used.
The use of cash is collapsing around the world. De La Rue, a firm which designs a third of the world’s banknotes, says global demand for physical currency has hit a 20-year low. Card, mobile and digital wallet payments are replacing traditional payment methods at a swift rate.
Globally, between 2018 and 2022, the value of global cash transactions fell from $11.6 trillion (£9.3 trillion) to $7.7 trillion, a drop of a third, according to financial services firm FIS.
Last year, cash accounted for just 16pc of transactions worldwide. By 2026, global cash transactions will be worth only $6 trillion, making up just one in 10 payments, FIS has forecast.
By this measure, the UK is ahead of the curve: last year, cash already accounted for only a tenth of point of sale transactions.
In the 10 years to 2031, cash payments will slump by another 52pc, according to UK Finance, the lender trade body. Debit card payments, already the dominant method for settling up, will have surged by nearly a quarter in that time.
“We are going to have to start preparing for a very, very low cash society,” says John Howells, chief executive of Link, the UK’s cash machine network.
“Cash will be a store for safety, but as a means of payment it is already dropping fast, and that is going to continue. I think in 15 or 20 years’ time that could have virtually disappeared.”
There is some very precise definition wording going on “second monarch to see his portrait launched into circulation”
What does that actually mean?
Clearly there have been more than 2 monarchs with their picture on bank notes
Apparently, it's technically false (there were some Scottish and Treasury banknotes with various King Georges on them) but true in practice. The first Bank of England notes that doubled up as Royal ID cards were issued in the 1960s. Presumably before that, it was considered undignified; who knows what transactions the monarch may have been involved in.
It has various familiar themes. Ferries working long past their life expectancy breaking down regularly with no replacements on the horizon. A total lack of forward planning and a total indifference to the economic consequences of such incompetence.
Given the possible sea states, operating aging, increasingly unreliable ferries is an accident waiting to happen.
On topic, Trump is malignant and utterly lacking in any morals or scruples whatsoever, but Biden is also a tone-deaf prat.
I can't think of any American President who could have pissed the NI Unionists off more yesterday, even if he'd celebrated the Easter Rising or the vision of Eamon de Valera.
I missed that. What are the DUP fuming about now?
It's not the DUP.
Biden praised the Black & Tans rather than the All Blacks yesterday.
Er, I thought the Unionists approved of the RIC and the Auxies?
Surely only thin skinned, humourless bigots could take offence at such a misspeak? Oh, I see.
I think the story was that Joe Biden was celebrating the fact that his distant relative Rob Kierney (Irish rugby player) had given the All Blacks 'a good hiding' (I think). Except he didn't say All Blacks, he said Black and Tans.
To be honest, I think the original would have been ruder (if I'm right). The latter is just an old man misspeaking. Again. Black and Tans appears to be trending on Bing now (don't judge me, it's my work home page).
Arlene Foster gave an interview with GB News saying Joe Biden hates the UK and it went 'viral', requiring his team to issue a denial. This was before the black and tan comment.
On topic, Trump is malignant and utterly lacking in any morals or scruples whatsoever, but Biden is also a tone-deaf prat.
I can't think of any American President who could have pissed the NI Unionists off more yesterday, even if he'd celebrated the Easter Rising or the vision of Eamon de Valera.
I missed that. What are the DUP fuming about now?
It's not the DUP.
Biden praised the Black & Tans rather than the All Blacks yesterday.
Er, I thought the Unionists approved of the RIC and the Auxies?
Surely only thin skinned, humourless bigots could take offence at such a misspeak? Oh, I see.
I think the story was that Joe Biden was celebrating the fact that his distant relative Rob Kierney (Irish rugby player) had given the All Blacks 'a good hiding' (I think). Except he didn't say All Blacks, he said Black and Tans.
To be honest, I think the original would have been ruder (if I'm right). The latter is just an old man misspeaking. Again. Black and Tans appears to be trending on Bing now (don't judge me, it's my work home page).
Arlene Foster gave an interview with GB News saying Joe Biden hates the UK and it went 'viral', requiring his team to issue a denial. This was before the black and tan comment.
King Charles could be the last monarch on a banknote as cash loses its crown
Digital payments dominate amid increasing obsolescence of cash
Halfway through 2024, King Charles III will become only the second monarch to see his portrait launched into circulation on British banknotes. It is feasible that his likeness will be the last one on a banknote that is ever actually used.
The use of cash is collapsing around the world. De La Rue, a firm which designs a third of the world’s banknotes, says global demand for physical currency has hit a 20-year low. Card, mobile and digital wallet payments are replacing traditional payment methods at a swift rate.
Globally, between 2018 and 2022, the value of global cash transactions fell from $11.6 trillion (£9.3 trillion) to $7.7 trillion, a drop of a third, according to financial services firm FIS.
Last year, cash accounted for just 16pc of transactions worldwide. By 2026, global cash transactions will be worth only $6 trillion, making up just one in 10 payments, FIS has forecast.
By this measure, the UK is ahead of the curve: last year, cash already accounted for only a tenth of point of sale transactions.
In the 10 years to 2031, cash payments will slump by another 52pc, according to UK Finance, the lender trade body. Debit card payments, already the dominant method for settling up, will have surged by nearly a quarter in that time.
“We are going to have to start preparing for a very, very low cash society,” says John Howells, chief executive of Link, the UK’s cash machine network.
“Cash will be a store for safety, but as a means of payment it is already dropping fast, and that is going to continue. I think in 15 or 20 years’ time that could have virtually disappeared.”
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
On topic, Trump is malignant and utterly lacking in any morals or scruples whatsoever, but Biden is also a tone-deaf prat.
I can't think of any American President who could have pissed the NI Unionists off more yesterday, even if he'd celebrated the Easter Rising or the vision of Eamon de Valera.
I missed that. What are the DUP fuming about now?
It's not the DUP.
Biden praised the Black & Tans rather than the All Blacks yesterday.
Er, I thought the Unionists approved of the RIC and the Auxies?
Surely only thin skinned, humourless bigots could take offence at such a misspeak? Oh, I see.
I think the story was that Joe Biden was celebrating the fact that his distant relative Rob Kierney (Irish rugby player) had given the All Blacks 'a good hiding' (I think). Except he didn't say All Blacks, he said Black and Tans.
To be honest, I think the original would have been ruder (if I'm right). The latter is just an old man misspeaking. Again. Black and Tans appears to be trending on Bing now (don't judge me, it's my work home page).
Arlene Foster gave an interview with GB News saying Joe Biden hates the UK and it went 'viral', requiring his team to issue a denial. This was before the black and tan comment.
Fuck me, 2 out of the last 3 US presidents hate the UK, what are the chances?! Still, we’ll always have Donald.
Quite high I'd say. Relations between the two countries have been chequered in the past.
I wen to school with a kid whose family claimed to have a set of teaspoons from the Whitehouse. IIRC the story was that when they looted the place before burning it down, that was the share their ancestor got.
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
As someone eligible for an Irish passport (not claimed it) - quite a few Irish people think he is wanker.
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
We don't just comment on English affairs, here.
He looks like he's a pensioner that's been fished out of a rural pub in deepest darkest County Sligo and shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit.
Same is probably true of Michael Higgins.
Like recent male Conservative Prime Ministers, on average, in other words.
John Major David Cameron Rishi Sunak
Hmm can’t say any of them really match “pensioner that's been fished out of a rural pub in deepest darkest County Sligo and shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit.”
I said "on average". You're leaving out Boris Johnson as a very heavy counterweight.
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
Talking of Chinese in early California reminds me of this -
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
There is a solution to this problem! Find a volunteer who is willing to drive it to some highland getaway for a fortnight and make full use of it...
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store
Meanwhile, while working on that fresh slate, Yousless has decided to appoint Sue Ruddick, currently chief operations officer, as temporary chief executive. That would be the Sue Ruddick who claimed to have reported an act of physical aggression against her by Alex Salmond: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55994968
An interesting choice to investigate any possible wrongdoing by the previous office holder.
I have noticed around the toon more and more food and drink places are card only.
As a tourist in London over Christmas, half the bars not taking cash was really annoying.
I can understand why they do what they do, only one lot of handling fees to pay etc, but for perhaps 10% of their customers, more in tourist areas, these things really annoy people.
On a totally unrelated note, saw lots of empty tip jars in the pubs that didn’t take cash. Can’t imagine the staff being too happy with the situation either.
Bless WaPo for this scoop about the leaker but why in hell are these fascist facts coming out only so far down in the story? Why isn’t headline, Well-armed Racist, Antisemitic Traitor Grooms Teens In Support of Russia? Alright, too much. But Jesus, not by too much. 2/ https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet/status/1646473651154198529
King Charles could be the last monarch on a banknote as cash loses its crown
Digital payments dominate amid increasing obsolescence of cash
Halfway through 2024, King Charles III will become only the second monarch to see his portrait launched into circulation on British banknotes. It is feasible that his likeness will be the last one on a banknote that is ever actually used.
The use of cash is collapsing around the world. De La Rue, a firm which designs a third of the world’s banknotes, says global demand for physical currency has hit a 20-year low. Card, mobile and digital wallet payments are replacing traditional payment methods at a swift rate.
Globally, between 2018 and 2022, the value of global cash transactions fell from $11.6 trillion (£9.3 trillion) to $7.7 trillion, a drop of a third, according to financial services firm FIS.
Last year, cash accounted for just 16pc of transactions worldwide. By 2026, global cash transactions will be worth only $6 trillion, making up just one in 10 payments, FIS has forecast.
By this measure, the UK is ahead of the curve: last year, cash already accounted for only a tenth of point of sale transactions.
In the 10 years to 2031, cash payments will slump by another 52pc, according to UK Finance, the lender trade body. Debit card payments, already the dominant method for settling up, will have surged by nearly a quarter in that time.
“We are going to have to start preparing for a very, very low cash society,” says John Howells, chief executive of Link, the UK’s cash machine network.
“Cash will be a store for safety, but as a means of payment it is already dropping fast, and that is going to continue. I think in 15 or 20 years’ time that could have virtually disappeared.”
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
As someone eligible for an Irish passport (not claimed it) - quite a few Irish people think he is wanker.
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
We don't just comment on English affairs, here.
He looks like he's a pensioner that's been fished out of a rural pub in deepest darkest County Sligo and shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit.
Same is probably true of Michael Higgins.
Like recent male Conservative Prime Ministers, on average, in other words.
John Major David Cameron Rishi Sunak
Hmm can’t say any of them really match “pensioner that's been fished out of a rural pub in deepest darkest County Sligo and shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit.”
I said "on average". You're leaving out Boris Johnson as a very heavy counterweight.
1 out of 4 makes for a strange average. Or are you going on weight (muscles only)?
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
There is a solution to this problem! Find a volunteer who is willing to drive it to some highland getaway for a fortnight and make full use of it...
What about a travel journalist, who can do a piece on drinking/shagging his way round Scotland? There was a chap who is into his creature comforts, and claims to need a comfortable bed wherever he goes...... what was his name again?
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Well quite. Why would you spend so much on an asset that sits idle for 11 months of the year?
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
By people who cut their teeth in California
I think the company store idea is older than that - wasn't it present in some UK mining villages, in the early 19th cent?
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
As someone eligible for an Irish passport (not claimed it) - quite a few Irish people think he is wanker.
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
We don't just comment on English affairs, here.
He looks like he's a pensioner that's been fished out of a rural pub in deepest darkest County Sligo and shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit.
Same is probably true of Michael Higgins.
Like recent male Conservative Prime Ministers, on average, in other words.
John Major David Cameron Rishi Sunak
Hmm can’t say any of them really match “pensioner that's been fished out of a rural pub in deepest darkest County Sligo and shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit.”
I said "on average". You're leaving out Boris Johnson as a very heavy counterweight.
1 out of 4 makes for a strange average. Or are you going on weight (muscles only)?
About right to match "shoved awkwardly into a brand new suit", though.
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
Wondered the same about Chris Law's minibus I mentioned yesterday.
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
Probably fine apart from the battery. Chance of a stuck injector or lifter but it would still start and come good. My E63 hadn't run for 8 years when I picked it up in Croatia. Drove it back to the UK on various combinations of 8, 9 and 10 cylinders with no insurance, MoT or tax. 🤘
Absolutely not, King William will follow and then King George will outlive us all.
We certainly don't want President Johnson or President Blair
You may not, but lots of people would rather not have someone in a position simply by act of birth.
Its the 21st century.
About 25% of the population don't admittedly but even Corbyn won more than that in 2019.
A ceremonial constitutional monarch and head of state world renowned is far better than a divisive elected party political head of state or a nonentity ceremonial President.
Plenty of people still have jobs by birth, from farmers to family business owners anyway
Can you explain why? Do we need a head of state that is not the PM?
As the PM is head of government NOT head of state which should be above party politics.
See the US, Brazil or effectively France for the problems that come when the head of government is also head of state and the divisions that produces
Absent a monarch, what is the best approach here? The Irish model?
No, Higgins is an ex Irish Labour politician himself and little known outside Ireland.
Phew, a relief that PB whining about pols in a country in which the whiner does not live has moved on from France. Scotland and Germany still to come no doubt.
We don't just comment on English affairs, here.
‘Wanker’ being the top quality commentary we’ve come to expect,
You’ll be calling next for Guardian-esque letter writing campaigns to the voters in countries not your own. Tbf that’s about as close to regime change as the mangy old UK could manage nowadays.
Deary me. How long are you going to remain in this dyspeptic, geriatric, humourless ultra-sulk?
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Well quite. Why would you spend so much on an asset that sits idle for 11 months of the year?
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Love to know what comedian hires a coach.
Most of them have a car and occasionally a driver.
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
By people who cut their teeth in California
I think the company store idea is older than that - wasn't it present in some UK mining villages, in the early 19th cent?
I believe it was.
In many ways that pattern continued into more recent times with many of the mining villages planned and built around the pit, with local sports (and pubs) run by the "Miner's Welfare", even if the miners weren't owned in the same way.
It was one of the reasons that the mine closures were so devastating.
Many welfare clubs survived for a while on what was essentially trust money but the number left is dwindling.
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
Wondered the same about Chris Law's minibus I mentioned yesterday.
RVs are notoriously unreliable at the best of times. The engine will likely run, but the rest of it will be a right mess of dry bits that are wet, and wet bits that are dry!
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Well quite. Why would you spend so much on an asset that sits idle for 11 months of the year?
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Love to know what comedian hires a coach.
Most of them have a car and occasionally a driver.
Wrong political party for a coach. You're thinking of Mr Johnson.
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
There is a solution to this problem! Find a volunteer who is willing to drive it to some highland getaway for a fortnight and make full use of it...
What about a travel journalist, who can do a piece on drinking/shagging his way round Scotland? There was a chap who is into his creature comforts, and claims to need a comfortable bed wherever he goes...... what was his name again?
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Is there a lot of evidence that the SNP are good with money?
Ha. No.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
There is a solution to this problem! Find a volunteer who is willing to drive it to some highland getaway for a fortnight and make full use of it...
What about a travel journalist, who can do a piece on drinking/shagging his way round Scotland? There was a chap who is into his creature comforts, and claims to need a comfortable bed wherever he goes...... what was his name again?
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
Been a while since I donated blood, but last time I did there was one form and a few of the questions were marked as being for women only. So it does sound like a change to accommodate people who have all the sexual reproduction biology that we associate with the female of the species, but who don't want to be called a woman.
Some people are daft, but when it's just a case of a question on a form is it worth the aggro?
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
By people who cut their teeth in California
I think the company store idea is older than that - wasn't it present in some UK mining villages, in the early 19th cent?
I believe it was.
In many ways that pattern continued into more recent times with many of the mining villages planned and built around the pit, with local sports (and pubs) run by the "Miner's Welfare", even if the miners weren't owned in the same way.
It was one of the reasons that the mine closures were so devastating.
Many welfare clubs survived for a while on what was essentially trust money but the number left is dwindling.
One near me. Got excellent facilities. Two full size football pitches. Four all weather. An excellent and cheap, if smallish gym/weight room. Thriving bar. Nursery. Youth club. Community rooms for hire.
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
It feels like performative "being turned away", tbh - we'll no doubt see a lot more of that in 3 weeks time.
Also - gay men and heterosexual men are not mutually exclusive, hence being snipped does not in itself obviate a sexuality question. Think of the numbers of married men who have been gay on the side.
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
Been a while since I donated blood, but last time I did there was one form and a few of the questions were marked as being for women only. So it does sound like a change to accommodate people who have all the sexual reproduction biology that we associate with the female of the species, but who don't want to be called a woman.
Some people are daft, but when it's just a case of a question on a form is it worth the aggro?
The former IT chief of TSB who presided over the systems meltdown that crippled the high street bank five years ago has been fined £81,620 by the Bank of England for his failings.
The penalty imposed on Carlos Abarca by the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is one of the few instances of the watchdog punishing an individual for a breach of the senior managers regime, a set of rules introduced following the 2008 financial crash to ensure bosses are held accountable for their actions.
The calamity at TSB, which resulted in chaos for the group’s 5.2 million customers, was caused when the bank in April 2018 switched its IT systems to a platform called Proteo run by Spanish lender Sabadell, which had bought the British business for £1.7 billion in 2015.
King Charles could be the last monarch on a banknote as cash loses its crown
Digital payments dominate amid increasing obsolescence of cash
Halfway through 2024, King Charles III will become only the second monarch to see his portrait launched into circulation on British banknotes. It is feasible that his likeness will be the last one on a banknote that is ever actually used.
The use of cash is collapsing around the world. De La Rue, a firm which designs a third of the world’s banknotes, says global demand for physical currency has hit a 20-year low. Card, mobile and digital wallet payments are replacing traditional payment methods at a swift rate.
Globally, between 2018 and 2022, the value of global cash transactions fell from $11.6 trillion (£9.3 trillion) to $7.7 trillion, a drop of a third, according to financial services firm FIS.
Last year, cash accounted for just 16pc of transactions worldwide. By 2026, global cash transactions will be worth only $6 trillion, making up just one in 10 payments, FIS has forecast.
By this measure, the UK is ahead of the curve: last year, cash already accounted for only a tenth of point of sale transactions.
In the 10 years to 2031, cash payments will slump by another 52pc, according to UK Finance, the lender trade body. Debit card payments, already the dominant method for settling up, will have surged by nearly a quarter in that time.
“We are going to have to start preparing for a very, very low cash society,” says John Howells, chief executive of Link, the UK’s cash machine network.
“Cash will be a store for safety, but as a means of payment it is already dropping fast, and that is going to continue. I think in 15 or 20 years’ time that could have virtually disappeared.”
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
By people who cut their teeth in California
I think the company store idea is older than that - wasn't it present in some UK mining villages, in the early 19th cent?
I see the Telegraph is engaging in the politics of envy.
The junior doctors’ leader has apologised for “undermining” the strike action by going on holiday.
Dr Rob Laurenson, co-chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors’ committee, will not be appearing on picket lines this week after he took several days off to attend a wedding.
In a message to colleagues, shared in an online forum, the trainee GP said: “I can see that you feel undermined and I am really sorry my actions have contributed to that.”
Some 47,000 junior doctors are walking out this week for 96 hours in a dispute over pay.
The 28-year-old, who is a director in his family’s multi-million pound investment firm, has been criticised for taking the week off meaning he will not be financially penalised, while his colleagues lose hundreds of pounds in wages.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Well quite. Why would you spend so much on an asset that sits idle for 11 months of the year?
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Love to know what comedian hires a coach.
Most of them have a car and occasionally a driver.
Football clubs generally don't either - maybe PL teams do? but below that coach travel seems to be generally provided as part of a sponsorship deal.
Interesting update from Tom Cooper, who posts regularly on the war and appears to be (you never know these days) a pro-Ukraine blogger who reads social media from both sides and tries to get a factual picture. He sometimes adds (IMO) tiresome sarcasm and quotes people saying rude things, but I've found him a useful source.
TLDR: the Russians are gaining an edge in the air war, and inching marginally forward on the ground, but all pretty deadlocked. Cooper does not expect that a major Ukrainian counter-offensive will succeed, but also isn't expecting any significant Russian breakthrough. He regularly comments that the media are too keen on flashy things like modern fighter jets and underrate the importance of things like ammunition supply.
The former IT chief of TSB who presided over the systems meltdown that crippled the high street bank five years ago has been fined £81,620 by the Bank of England for his failings.
The penalty imposed on Carlos Abarca by the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is one of the few instances of the watchdog punishing an individual for a breach of the senior managers regime, a set of rules introduced following the 2008 financial crash to ensure bosses are held accountable for their actions.
The calamity at TSB, which resulted in chaos for the group’s 5.2 million customers, was caused when the bank in April 2018 switched its IT systems to a platform called Proteo run by Spanish lender Sabadell, which had bought the British business for £1.7 billion in 2015.
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Well quite. Why would you spend so much on an asset that sits idle for 11 months of the year?
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Love to know what comedian hires a coach.
Most of them have a car and occasionally a driver.
In the States they do, where they’re on the road for nine months of the year, and tour with half a dozen people.
The former IT chief of TSB who presided over the systems meltdown that crippled the high street bank five years ago has been fined £81,620 by the Bank of England for his failings.
The penalty imposed on Carlos Abarca by the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is one of the few instances of the watchdog punishing an individual for a breach of the senior managers regime, a set of rules introduced following the 2008 financial crash to ensure bosses are held accountable for their actions.
The calamity at TSB, which resulted in chaos for the group’s 5.2 million customers, was caused when the bank in April 2018 switched its IT systems to a platform called Proteo run by Spanish lender Sabadell, which had bought the British business for £1.7 billion in 2015.
Convert the offices into flats. Each employee gets one of the flats - complete with desk etc - to live in while they work at the company.
That way, everyone is 100% WFH. And 100% in the office. And the commercial real estate market doesn't collapse.
How nice would you be to your boss if they could kick you out on the street?
Company flat... Company Town.... add in a Company Gym and a Company Shop?
I’m just reading a history of Palo Alto and how the Anglos screwed the independent Chinese farmers and Mexicali miners by introducing a company shop policy
Oh yeah. A pattern copied round the world....
By people who cut their teeth in California
I think the company store idea is older than that - wasn't it present in some UK mining villages, in the early 19th cent?
The Truck Act 1831 made it illegal to pay employees in tokens that were only redeemable at the company store. A long time indeed.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
It feels like performative "being turned away", tbh - we'll no doubt see a lot more of that in 3 weeks time.
Also - gay men and heterosexual men are not mutually exclusive, hence being snipped does not in itself obviate a sexuality question. Think of the numbers of married men who have been gay on the side.
Does it make a difference to the procedure, or the advice provided afterwards?
One of the data protection principles is to keep the amount of data collected to the minimum necessary. Why do they need to know your sexuality for a vasectomy?
Interestingly, if you pump the word "British" into your AI porn generator, the girl often has slightly goofy teeth - but goofy in an adorable and also sexy way, because it actually makes them more believable as images - because there is a flaw. Too many of the fake AI girls are simply too perfect to be credible
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
Apparently neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Peter Murrell can drive. Neither can the Transport Secretary Kevin Stewart. Imagine that in a country like Scotland with its huge rural hinterland and lack of public transport options. Not the curiousity to learn and get about their own country - beyond the Central Belt. Possibly explains the current tone-deafness to what so many people think and the SNP obsession with keeping the Greens onside. The growing political division in Scotland driven by geography is something to keep an eye on.
There were comments earlier about the expensive camper van not being used.
It never moved, but does that mean it was never used???
I can conceive why there is nothing to see here. Bought as a campaign vehicle. Drive around the Highlands and Islands offering both transport and a base. No election on at the moment, change in leadership so it needs parking up somewhere until the next use. Available driveway from a trusted person, park it there.
Convincing...?
No. Given the tiny amount of time such a vehicle would actually be used for campaigning, it would much, much cheaper to rent as required.
Well quite. Why would you spend so much on an asset that sits idle for 11 months of the year?
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Love to know what comedian hires a coach.
Most of them have a car and occasionally a driver.
Football clubs generally don't either - maybe PL teams do? but below that coach travel seems to be generally provided as part of a sponsorship deal.
I' not sure that PL teams use coaches that much (probably from airport to hotel, hotel to Ground, ground to airport) i know from when I encounter the London teams they always seem to have a Kings Ferry coach nearby (that firm's main business is commuter coaches from Medway to London).
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
Interestingly, if you pump the word "British" into your AI porn generator, the girl often has slightly goofy teeth - but goofy in an adorable and also sexy way, because it actually makes them more believable as images - because there is a flaw. Too many of the fake AI girls are simply too perfect to be credible
Leon, your man on the spot
That's true in real life too. Many Americans have teeth too perfect to be credible. A bit of a gap between the front teeth or an overbite can be quite attractive.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
I see the Telegraph is engaging in the politics of envy.
The junior doctors’ leader has apologised for “undermining” the strike action by going on holiday.
Dr Rob Laurenson, co-chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors’ committee, will not be appearing on picket lines this week after he took several days off to attend a wedding.
In a message to colleagues, shared in an online forum, the trainee GP said: “I can see that you feel undermined and I am really sorry my actions have contributed to that.”
Some 47,000 junior doctors are walking out this week for 96 hours in a dispute over pay.
The 28-year-old, who is a director in his family’s multi-million pound investment firm, has been criticised for taking the week off meaning he will not be financially penalised, while his colleagues lose hundreds of pounds in wages.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
If you get excited by porn you might need a real life girlfriend/partner other than Madam Palm and her five sisters.
(Don't worry, I'm going out for a meeting in a minute)
There is one guy who is dedicating his life, it seems, to producing the PERFECT image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court. You can see him honing his prompts over time. He is getting there. Eventually - if he continues on trend - he will produce a better, sexier image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court than anything that real porn could produce, thus putting a tiny tiny niche genre of real porn out of business
I see the Telegraph is engaging in the politics of envy.
The junior doctors’ leader has apologised for “undermining” the strike action by going on holiday.
Dr Rob Laurenson, co-chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors’ committee, will not be appearing on picket lines this week after he took several days off to attend a wedding.
In a message to colleagues, shared in an online forum, the trainee GP said: “I can see that you feel undermined and I am really sorry my actions have contributed to that.”
Some 47,000 junior doctors are walking out this week for 96 hours in a dispute over pay.
The 28-year-old, who is a director in his family’s multi-million pound investment firm, has been criticised for taking the week off meaning he will not be financially penalised, while his colleagues lose hundreds of pounds in wages.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
If you get excited by porn you might need a real life girlfriend/partner other than Madam Palm and her five sisters.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
If you get excited by porn you might need a real life girlfriend/partner other than Madam Palm and her five sisters.
This may come as a surprise, but it is possible to thoroughly enjoy both. Indeed, at the very same time is fun
(Don't worry, I'm going out for a meeting in a minute)
There is one guy who is dedicating his life, it seems, to producing the PERFECT image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court. You can see him honing his prompts over time. He is getting there. Eventually - if he continues on trend - he will produce a better, sexier image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court than anything that real porn could produce, thus putting a tiny tiny niche genre of real porn out of business
Didn't Martin Elliot & Fiona Butler perfect that one in 1976 ?
(Don't worry, I'm going out for a meeting in a minute)
There is one guy who is dedicating his life, it seems, to producing the PERFECT image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court. You can see him honing his prompts over time. He is getting there. Eventually - if he continues on trend - he will produce a better, sexier image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court than anything that real porn could produce, thus putting a tiny tiny niche genre of real porn out of business
Everyone needs a hobby I guess.
Did this guy imprint on that poster of the tennis player scratching her bum as a teenager?
Interestingly, if you pump the word "British" into your AI porn generator, the girl often has slightly goofy teeth - but goofy in an adorable and also sexy way, because it actually makes them more believable as images - because there is a flaw. Too many of the fake AI girls are simply too perfect to be credible
Leon, your man on the spot
That's true in real life too. Many Americans have teeth too perfect to be credible. A bit of a gap between the front teeth or an overbite can be quite attractive.
Yeah, real life American porn is often off-putting for that reason. Glossy but somehow unbelievable
AI porn knows this, and is cleverly heading for "slightly flawed", as it is supercharged by ten million bored men working hard on their prompts
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
If you get excited by porn you might need a real life girlfriend/partner other than Madam Palm and her five sisters.
This may come as a surprise, but it is possible to thoroughly enjoy both. Indeed, at the very same time is fun
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
If you get excited by porn you might need a real life girlfriend/partner other than Madam Palm and her five sisters.
Porn is tremendously profitable, even when it is given away free. You may be indifferent to it - but clearly many people find it quite an appealing use of their time. I think Leon is engaging in slight hyperbole about no-one ever having sex again - though better porn will no doubt chip into the time and effort spent on that particular leisure activity. It also has the potential to eat substantially into the time spent on other activities - not least if WFH continues to be a thing. Happily, we have an expert - whose dedication to researching the subject is such that he has in the past wanked himself into hospital - on hand to advise us.
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
It feels like performative "being turned away", tbh - we'll no doubt see a lot more of that in 3 weeks time.
Also - gay men and heterosexual men are not mutually exclusive, hence being snipped does not in itself obviate a sexuality question. Think of the numbers of married men who have been gay on the side.
ONtopic, AI generated porn is getting better by the day. As some of us predicted. And this IS a betting website
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
You have really led a sheltered life.
I have been credibly accused of many things. "Sheltered life" is not one of them
If you get excited by porn you might need a real life girlfriend/partner other than Madam Palm and her five sisters.
Porn is tremendously profitable, even when it is given away free. You may be indifferent to it - but clearly many people find it quite an appealing use of their time. I think Leon is engaging in slight hyperbole about no-one ever having sex again - though better porn will no doubt chip into the time and effort spent on that particular leisure activity. It also has the potential to eat substantially into the time spent on other activities - not least if WFH continues to be a thing. Happily, we have an expert - whose dedication to researching the subject is such that he has in the past wanked himself into hospital - on hand to advise us.
Thankyou! Finally someone acknowledges my selfless work in this arena, keeping you all abreast
One thing I do not understand is anime porn. Weird lurid quasi Japanese porn elves with dragon-snakes *doing things* to them, etc etc
Yet clearly a lot of people find these images genuinely arousing because an awful lot of these images are being carefully generated by hard-working prompters. It may account for the falling birth rates in Tokyo
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
It feels like performative "being turned away", tbh - we'll no doubt see a lot more of that in 3 weeks time.
Also - gay men and heterosexual men are not mutually exclusive, hence being snipped does not in itself obviate a sexuality question. Think of the numbers of married men who have been gay on the side.
(Don't worry, I'm going out for a meeting in a minute)
There is one guy who is dedicating his life, it seems, to producing the PERFECT image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court. You can see him honing his prompts over time. He is getting there. Eventually - if he continues on trend - he will produce a better, sexier image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court than anything that real porn could produce, thus putting a tiny tiny niche genre of real porn out of business
"A male GP has been prevented from donating blood to the Scottish NHS after he refused to confirm whether or not he was pregnant.
Steffen McAndrew, who works in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, said he had been turned away from a blood donation centre in nearby Ayr after he refused to answer a “bonkers” question about if he was carrying a baby."
I'm as antiwoke as the next man, but I'll allow that that might fall into the category of a slightly lazily designed form rather than anyone pushing the trans agenda, even if they wanted to. One form for everyone is bound to create some redundancy. That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
This isn't the first time it's happened. This report is from June last year.
It feels like performative "being turned away", tbh - we'll no doubt see a lot more of that in 3 weeks time.
Also - gay men and heterosexual men are not mutually exclusive, hence being snipped does not in itself obviate a sexuality question. Think of the numbers of married men who have been gay on the side.
Wouldn't that be bisexuality ?
Sure, but they'd be the overlap in the Venn diagram between gay and hetero - the vasectomy query rather assumed that the overlap set was empty ... edit: more correctly in the operational and practical medical sense that gay = having sex with men, and hetero having sex with women.
Interestingly, if you pump the word "British" into your AI porn generator, the girl often has slightly goofy teeth - but goofy in an adorable and also sexy way, because it actually makes them more believable as images - because there is a flaw. Too many of the fake AI girls are simply too perfect to be credible
Leon, your man on the spot
That's true in real life too. Many Americans have teeth too perfect to be credible. A bit of a gap between the front teeth or an overbite can be quite attractive.
Yeah, real life American porn is often off-putting for that reason. Glossy but somehow unbelievable
AI porn knows this, and is cleverly heading for "slightly flawed", as it is supercharged by ten million bored men working hard on their prompts
Comments
That said, I was quite taken aback to be asked if I was pregnant when filling in the forms when I went for a vasectomy. (I was also asked about my sexuality, which again seemed redundant - vasectomies being pretty much by definition a procedure for heterosexual men.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wCem9EZb-YA&pp=ygUdRWQgbWlsaWJhbmQgZ2V0IHJvdW5kIGEgdGFiZWw=
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/male-blood-donor-turned-away-after-refusing-to-answer-whether-he-was-pregnant/
It has various familiar themes. Ferries working long past their life expectancy breaking down regularly with no replacements on the horizon. A total lack of forward planning and a total indifference to the economic consequences of such incompetence.
Edit, and its not going to get better: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65244668
Still, we’ll always have Donald.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/withdrawn-banknotes
Probably the last US President who had a positive view of the UK was GWB.
But buying a vehicle that gets used twice a decade for a few weeks is tearing up money on an epic scale.
If it has really been sat on that driveway fro 2 years - is it still drivable?
https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/disgraceful-persecution-of-a-boy
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
An interesting choice to investigate any possible wrongdoing by the previous office holder.
I can understand why they do what they do, only one lot of handling fees to pay etc, but for perhaps 10% of their customers, more in tourist areas, these things really annoy people.
On a totally unrelated note, saw lots of empty tip jars in the pubs that didn’t take cash. Can’t imagine the staff being too happy with the situation either.
https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet/status/1646473651154198529
Was your mouth out.
If you’re a football club, a band, or a comedian, then I can see why it’s worth buying a bus and hiring a driver. For anyone else, there’s plenty of companies who will rent you one.
Here's how Trump's campaign responded to an inquiry from Josh Dawsey about their misleading fundraising pitch in November 2020.
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1646487601472319490
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1646492825616371712
Most of them have a car and occasionally a driver.
In many ways that pattern continued into more recent times with many of the mining villages planned and built around the pit, with local sports (and pubs) run by the "Miner's Welfare", even if the miners weren't owned in the same way.
It was one of the reasons that the mine closures were so devastating.
Many welfare clubs survived for a while on what was essentially trust money but the number left is dwindling.
Survey shows nearly half of Spaniards approve of polyamory
In a poll, 47 per cent agreed a person ‘can have two or more affective sexual relationships at the same time’
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/survey-shows-nearly-half-of-spaniards-approve-of-polyamory-nnzp8fgd8
It is either multiamory or polyphilia.
Mixing Greek and Latin roots is just wrong.
Some people are daft, but when it's just a case of a question on a form is it worth the aggro?
Thriving bar. Nursery. Youth club. Community rooms for hire.
The former IT chief of TSB who presided over the systems meltdown that crippled the high street bank five years ago has been fined £81,620 by the Bank of England for his failings.
The penalty imposed on Carlos Abarca by the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is one of the few instances of the watchdog punishing an individual for a breach of the senior managers regime, a set of rules introduced following the 2008 financial crash to ensure bosses are held accountable for their actions.
The calamity at TSB, which resulted in chaos for the group’s 5.2 million customers, was caused when the bank in April 2018 switched its IT systems to a platform called Proteo run by Spanish lender Sabadell, which had bought the British business for £1.7 billion in 2015.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tsb-it-meltdown-fine-bank-of-england-carlos-abarca-w53mmddrj
The junior doctors’ leader has apologised for “undermining” the strike action by going on holiday.
Dr Rob Laurenson, co-chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors’ committee, will not be appearing on picket lines this week after he took several days off to attend a wedding.
In a message to colleagues, shared in an online forum, the trainee GP said: “I can see that you feel undermined and I am really sorry my actions have contributed to that.”
Some 47,000 junior doctors are walking out this week for 96 hours in a dispute over pay.
The 28-year-old, who is a director in his family’s multi-million pound investment firm, has been criticised for taking the week off meaning he will not be financially penalised, while his colleagues lose hundreds of pounds in wages.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/13/junior-doctors-strike-nhs-leader-apologises-holiday/
The best of it is basically indistinguishable from real porn, except perhaps it might be better? I did a test this morning when I "toggled" between one and the other, Real porn and AI porn. It was a properly difficult decision as to which was more arousing. Real porn just about won, because real porn has videos and AI porn doesn't yet - but it will
At that point no one will ever have actual sex again
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/ukraine-war-13-april-2023
TLDR: the Russians are gaining an edge in the air war, and inching marginally forward on the ground, but all pretty deadlocked. Cooper does not expect that a major Ukrainian counter-offensive will succeed, but also isn't expecting any significant Russian breakthrough. He regularly comments that the media are too keen on flashy things like modern fighter jets and underrate the importance of things like ammunition supply.
Cheaper than flights and hotels.
Yes it was 5 years ago.
It's tetralogy.
One of the data protection principles is to keep the amount of data collected to the minimum necessary. Why do they need to know your sexuality for a vasectomy?
Leon, your man on the spot
The bad news is they scored nine between them.
Ryan Higgins, in one innings, has scored two more runs than the entire Middlesex top four combined have managed in their three innings this year.
(Shame he's playing for them not a proper side like Gloucs. Wonder if he's regretting his move back?)
(Don't worry, I'm going out for a meeting in a minute)
There is one guy who is dedicating his life, it seems, to producing the PERFECT image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court. You can see him honing his prompts over time. He is getting there. Eventually - if he continues on trend - he will produce a better, sexier image of a naked British girl on a grass tennis court than anything that real porn could produce, thus putting a tiny tiny niche genre of real porn out of business
Did this guy imprint on that poster of the tennis player scratching her bum as a teenager?
AI porn knows this, and is cleverly heading for "slightly flawed", as it is supercharged by ten million bored men working hard on their prompts
I think Leon is engaging in slight hyperbole about no-one ever having sex again - though better porn will no doubt chip into the time and effort spent on that particular leisure activity. It also has the potential to eat substantially into the time spent on other activities - not least if WFH continues to be a thing.
Happily, we have an expert - whose dedication to researching the subject is such that he has in the past wanked himself into hospital - on hand to advise us.
Yet clearly a lot of people find these images genuinely arousing because an awful lot of these images are being carefully generated by hard-working prompters. It may account for the falling birth rates in Tokyo