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No seat is safe: Tory by-election defences – politicalbetting.com

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  • Options
    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,976
    Farooq said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Farooq said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    darkage said:

    The irony about this outburst about the 4 day week is that the civil service have been allowing staff to do flexi time and compressed hours for at least the last 20 years. It is very common across the public sector.

    Whose outburst? I missed it - been driving all day.
    Probably mine but the outburst wasnt about compressed hours it was about south cambridgeshire which is doing a trial on staff working 80% of the time for 100% of the wage.

    My view was simple if productivity hasnt fallen then they were slacking 20% of the time if they can do the same work in 80% of the time
    That betrays a strange understanding of how people work and what makes them most efficient and productive.

    Nobody with whom I've ever worked (and I include myself) works 100% of the time. The brain requires breaks, diversions - indeed, one of the issues with WFH has been the absence of those diversions. Indeed, I'd go further and offer the thought the more people work the less productive they are.

    The Anglo-Saxon long hours culture is partly predicated on a notion if you work longer you get more done. The other part is the notion of management by attendance - if your manager can see you working you must be working and if you must be working you must be productive. That simply empowers inadequate management.

    You could probably reduce the working week to 25 hours without a huge impact in productivity and efficiency - presumably with AI (sorry @Leon) that might be an option.

    Putting it another way - why do less with more when you can do more with less?
    I call bollocks on this tbh. I say this because most of my life I have worked in an office. Since WFH my productivity has increased at least twofold as I dont get fucking idiots wanting to socialize and chat to me all the time. Thankfully I don't need to deal with those c**ts now.

    Many seem to see work as a social experience, a place to make friends, find partners...oh and sometimes they do a little work
    I've also spent most of my working life in an office and the attitude you have to work and colleagues is one I've seen but very rarely. Most people are happy to have a "social" element to the workplace (after all, we spend a good proportion of our lives there). There's always room for "Mr Grumpy" to sit in the corner...

    Where I do agree is the productivity rise caused by WfH. I worked from home before it became fashionable and I agree you can be much more productive though I'd argue your effectiveness declines over time without a distraction or two to force a mental reset.

    We now have organisations wanting their staff back in the office and expecting WfH levels of productivity and wondering why it isn't happening.
    Sorry I don't goto work to make friends, I have my own friends outside work. I don't care about you whatsoever I am only in your company because I work with you. I don't want to be your friend or lover. I don't care about your football team, I don't want to hear about what you did on the weekend, nor the latest conspiracy theory you bought into. You are not my friend, you will never be my friend so keep your personal life away from me. Harsh yes but why would I ever want to socialise with anyone I work with. I change jobs every 2 to 3 years. You are as ephemeral as a mayfly
    You sound like a right dick
    Shrugs why because I don't want to mix socially with people I work with? Why the fuck should it be expected of me. It is you that sounds like the complete dick enforcing your views I should like these people. They are random people. I get a job we come together to work why am I a complete dick for saying I have no other connection to them?
    "You are as ephemeral as a mayfly", that's why. Nobody should try to force you to make friends but that doesn't mean you should think of the humans you work with a little more than insects.

    Personally I find that good workplace relationships help with productivity. You always get a mix of abilities, and sometimes combining two people's skills is what's needed for the task. Developing an understanding helps people work together. Otherwise you're all just a bunch of artisans trying to compete with Henry Ford.
    My comment on mayflies was not implying they are insects, it was merely saying our intersection is brief and mercifully over in a short time
  • Options
    solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623
    EPG said:

    It's not just Rees-Mogg or old-fashioned bosses - practically all the major multinational companies are moving toward requiring more onsite time. Identifying the reasons why may be more enlightening than fretting about council staff. Maybe all of them know less about labour productivity than PB comments, but doubt it.

    From my experience, I'd say going completely WFH is as bad as being totally in-office.

    If you're some sort experienced, motivated, know-exactly-what-you're-doing lone wolf you can probably keep going indefinitely on your own when WFH, but trying to incorporate new team members and collaborate on new projects across a wide range of people just doesn't seem to work very well remotely. I'm not saying it's impossible and can't be done, but it is an area where some face-to-face time is actually beneficial.
  • Options
    stodgestodge Posts: 13,025
    Stokes got out to his first ball this morning - not sure we'd want history to repeat tomorrow.

    I suspect the Australian quick bowlers will make it a very torrid opening hour and we are basically two wickets from the tail.

    We can win from this position - 11/2 with Paddy Power.
  • Options
    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,339
    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    That's the shot, clearly grounded.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 32,359
    If there's a weirder collection of people than the regular posters on PB, I'd be surprised.

    Of course, some of us (e.g. me) are normal but most of the rest of you are pretty weird tbh.
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,206

    EPG said:

    It's not just Rees-Mogg or old-fashioned bosses - practically all the major multinational companies are moving toward requiring more onsite time. Identifying the reasons why may be more enlightening than fretting about council staff. Maybe all of them know less about labour productivity than PB comments, but doubt it.

    Do you have evidence for that?
    Since neither of us wants to compile or read a list of links to news articles, I will say that it is based on a mix of reading the Internet, plus conversations with managers and staff at multinational corporations.
  • Options
    solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623

    If there's a weirder collection of people than the regular posters on PB, I'd be surprised.

    Of course, some of us (e.g. me) are normal but most of the rest of you are pretty weird tbh.

    Noone's weirder that the normal person in a room full of weird people. Or something.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 59,141
    Pagan2 said:

    RobD said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Farooq said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    darkage said:

    The irony about this outburst about the 4 day week is that the civil service have been allowing staff to do flexi time and compressed hours for at least the last 20 years. It is very common across the public sector.

    Whose outburst? I missed it - been driving all day.
    Probably mine but the outburst wasnt about compressed hours it was about south cambridgeshire which is doing a trial on staff working 80% of the time for 100% of the wage.

    My view was simple if productivity hasnt fallen then they were slacking 20% of the time if they can do the same work in 80% of the time
    That betrays a strange understanding of how people work and what makes them most efficient and productive.

    Nobody with whom I've ever worked (and I include myself) works 100% of the time. The brain requires breaks, diversions - indeed, one of the issues with WFH has been the absence of those diversions. Indeed, I'd go further and offer the thought the more people work the less productive they are.

    The Anglo-Saxon long hours culture is partly predicated on a notion if you work longer you get more done. The other part is the notion of management by attendance - if your manager can see you working you must be working and if you must be working you must be productive. That simply empowers inadequate management.

    You could probably reduce the working week to 25 hours without a huge impact in productivity and efficiency - presumably with AI (sorry @Leon) that might be an option.

    Putting it another way - why do less with more when you can do more with less?
    I call bollocks on this tbh. I say this because most of my life I have worked in an office. Since WFH my productivity has increased at least twofold as I dont get fucking idiots wanting to socialize and chat to me all the time. Thankfully I don't need to deal with those c**ts now.

    Many seem to see work as a social experience, a place to make friends, find partners...oh and sometimes they do a little work
    I've also spent most of my working life in an office and the attitude you have to work and colleagues is one I've seen but very rarely. Most people are happy to have a "social" element to the workplace (after all, we spend a good proportion of our lives there). There's always room for "Mr Grumpy" to sit in the corner...

    Where I do agree is the productivity rise caused by WfH. I worked from home before it became fashionable and I agree you can be much more productive though I'd argue your effectiveness declines over time without a distraction or two to force a mental reset.

    We now have organisations wanting their staff back in the office and expecting WfH levels of productivity and wondering why it isn't happening.
    Sorry I don't goto work to make friends, I have my own friends outside work. I don't care about you whatsoever I am only in your company because I work with you. I don't want to be your friend or lover. I don't care about your football team, I don't want to hear about what you did on the weekend, nor the latest conspiracy theory you bought into. You are not my friend, you will never be my friend so keep your personal life away from me. Harsh yes but why would I ever want to socialise with anyone I work with. I change jobs every 2 to 3 years. You are as ephemeral as a mayfly
    You sound like a right dick
    Shrugs why because I don't want to mix socially with people I work with? Why the fuck should it be expected of me. It is you that sounds like the complete dick enforcing your views I should like these people. They are random people. I get a job we come together to work why am I a complete dick for saying I have no other connection to them?
    It’s not expected of you, but you seem to be closed to the prospect of it entirely. Who knows, some of your colleagues might actually be nice people who you’d like to socialise with after work.
    I did that in my first job, as soon as I quit the company after ten years.....well suddenly I had no friends. I was a traitor...this was back in the 80's I think I had 1 person that still went for a drink with me.

    Work relationships in my experience largely fall off when you stop working for the same company. They aren't your friend they are people with a shared work experience. These days I don't bother. Colleagues are just people I work with. I don't want to hear about their hobbies, their children, their family and really fail to care. I have a large friend group outside work I don't need them. I don't bother with work socials and haven't been to one for years. I just wish they would get the hint and stop trying to force their personal life with me
    I've had friendships continue after moving to a new workplace, and I would bet many others have too. That's not to say they all continue.

    I suspect your attitude is self-fulfilling. I would be very surprised if they hadn't got the hint already.
  • Options
    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,976

    Pagan2 said:

    Farooq said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    darkage said:

    The irony about this outburst about the 4 day week is that the civil service have been allowing staff to do flexi time and compressed hours for at least the last 20 years. It is very common across the public sector.

    Whose outburst? I missed it - been driving all day.
    Probably mine but the outburst wasnt about compressed hours it was about south cambridgeshire which is doing a trial on staff working 80% of the time for 100% of the wage.

    My view was simple if productivity hasnt fallen then they were slacking 20% of the time if they can do the same work in 80% of the time
    That betrays a strange understanding of how people work and what makes them most efficient and productive.

    Nobody with whom I've ever worked (and I include myself) works 100% of the time. The brain requires breaks, diversions - indeed, one of the issues with WFH has been the absence of those diversions. Indeed, I'd go further and offer the thought the more people work the less productive they are.

    The Anglo-Saxon long hours culture is partly predicated on a notion if you work longer you get more done. The other part is the notion of management by attendance - if your manager can see you working you must be working and if you must be working you must be productive. That simply empowers inadequate management.

    You could probably reduce the working week to 25 hours without a huge impact in productivity and efficiency - presumably with AI (sorry @Leon) that might be an option.

    Putting it another way - why do less with more when you can do more with less?
    I call bollocks on this tbh. I say this because most of my life I have worked in an office. Since WFH my productivity has increased at least twofold as I dont get fucking idiots wanting to socialize and chat to me all the time. Thankfully I don't need to deal with those c**ts now.

    Many seem to see work as a social experience, a place to make friends, find partners...oh and sometimes they do a little work
    I've also spent most of my working life in an office and the attitude you have to work and colleagues is one I've seen but very rarely. Most people are happy to have a "social" element to the workplace (after all, we spend a good proportion of our lives there). There's always room for "Mr Grumpy" to sit in the corner...

    Where I do agree is the productivity rise caused by WfH. I worked from home before it became fashionable and I agree you can be much more productive though I'd argue your effectiveness declines over time without a distraction or two to force a mental reset.

    We now have organisations wanting their staff back in the office and expecting WfH levels of productivity and wondering why it isn't happening.
    Sorry I don't goto work to make friends, I have my own friends outside work. I don't care about you whatsoever I am only in your company because I work with you. I don't want to be your friend or lover. I don't care about your football team, I don't want to hear about what you did on the weekend, nor the latest conspiracy theory you bought into. You are not my friend, you will never be my friend so keep your personal life away from me. Harsh yes but why would I ever want to socialise with anyone I work with. I change jobs every 2 to 3 years. You are as ephemeral as a mayfly
    You sound like a right dick
    Harsh but true.

    (I don't actually think Pagan is a dick, just a bit eccentric, but he does come across that way in that post.)
    Because I dont decide to connect socially with people I am randomly thrown together? I have plenty of friends I talk to all the time. I don't need work to have a social life. Too many make work their social life in my opinion and would be a lot happier if they didnt. A lesson I learned early in my working life
    And you are perfectly entitled to adopt that view, but it's very unusual.

    As I said, I don't think you are a dick but you do sometimes come across as, well... odd.
    Perhaps the odd is because I refuse to conform to your perception of what should be? That does not make you right. For example I have 5 friends known them from the 90's we all got together once a week to board game, we still do even though many of us moved away but we do it online now every week using boardgame sites and teamspeak. We still physically get together for birthdays, new year etc. None of them I met in a work environment.

    This summer I have a friend coming over from lousiana with her daughter to stay a couple of weeks we have been friends for years. She DJ's at a virtual night club and I do the hosting for her, we will be joined for the visit by a mutual friend from skegness.

    I have people I think of as family and think the same way of me in holland, the us and south africa because we are all here for each other.

    My point is I am not antisocial, I just don't feel a need to connect with you because I happen to work with you or feel any need to know about you outside work
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054
    EPG said:

    It's not just Rees-Mogg or old-fashioned bosses - practically all the major multinational companies are moving toward requiring more onsite time. Identifying the reasons why may be more enlightening than fretting about council staff. Maybe all of them know less about labour productivity than PB comments, but doubt it.

    Or alternatively, all of their managers are nervous about being seen to be no use.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,088

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    There have been occasional instances of players throwing the ball up in the air only to find the umpire didn't agree they had full control of it.

    I'll have a look at the clip but on principle I suspect the umps have got this one right. (I also suspect Starc didn't know the rule well enough.)
    Thinking about it I think that's correct, bit odd to accuse him of cheating tbh.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 32,359
    edited July 2023
    I know it won't happen but, ffs, if England somehow contrive to win from here we are NEVER going to hear the end of it from Leon- 'I was there!' -damus.
  • Options
    Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 13,560
    tlg86 said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    That's the shot, clearly grounded.
    That certainly suggests he doesn't fully know the law. He could easily have rotated his hand to keep the ball off the ground.

    At the very least you'd have to say he gave the umpire the a decision to make, and a chance to get it wrong.

    As an ex-referee I find it annoying when players do things that force the ref to make a judgement call when they could easily have avoided doing so. I've no sympathy then if the ref gives it against them.

    If Starc rolls over, or just rolls his hand, there is no question of the catch being disallowed. He didn't have to give the umpire an awkward one to decide, so he really can't moan that the decision has gone against him.
  • Options
    pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,223

    Can someone do a big rain dance for tomorrow in London?

    Estimated probability of rain in London tomorrow, according to forecasts:

    Met Office: <5%
    BBC Weather: 0%

    Not convinced that donning robes and prancing around in a sacred circle will change this. Might be fun though.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 32,359

    RobD said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Farooq said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    darkage said:

    The irony about this outburst about the 4 day week is that the civil service have been allowing staff to do flexi time and compressed hours for at least the last 20 years. It is very common across the public sector.

    Whose outburst? I missed it - been driving all day.
    Probably mine but the outburst wasnt about compressed hours it was about south cambridgeshire which is doing a trial on staff working 80% of the time for 100% of the wage.

    My view was simple if productivity hasnt fallen then they were slacking 20% of the time if they can do the same work in 80% of the time
    That betrays a strange understanding of how people work and what makes them most efficient and productive.

    Nobody with whom I've ever worked (and I include myself) works 100% of the time. The brain requires breaks, diversions - indeed, one of the issues with WFH has been the absence of those diversions. Indeed, I'd go further and offer the thought the more people work the less productive they are.

    The Anglo-Saxon long hours culture is partly predicated on a notion if you work longer you get more done. The other part is the notion of management by attendance - if your manager can see you working you must be working and if you must be working you must be productive. That simply empowers inadequate management.

    You could probably reduce the working week to 25 hours without a huge impact in productivity and efficiency - presumably with AI (sorry @Leon) that might be an option.

    Putting it another way - why do less with more when you can do more with less?
    I call bollocks on this tbh. I say this because most of my life I have worked in an office. Since WFH my productivity has increased at least twofold as I dont get fucking idiots wanting to socialize and chat to me all the time. Thankfully I don't need to deal with those c**ts now.

    Many seem to see work as a social experience, a place to make friends, find partners...oh and sometimes they do a little work
    I've also spent most of my working life in an office and the attitude you have to work and colleagues is one I've seen but very rarely. Most people are happy to have a "social" element to the workplace (after all, we spend a good proportion of our lives there). There's always room for "Mr Grumpy" to sit in the corner...

    Where I do agree is the productivity rise caused by WfH. I worked from home before it became fashionable and I agree you can be much more productive though I'd argue your effectiveness declines over time without a distraction or two to force a mental reset.

    We now have organisations wanting their staff back in the office and expecting WfH levels of productivity and wondering why it isn't happening.
    Sorry I don't goto work to make friends, I have my own friends outside work. I don't care about you whatsoever I am only in your company because I work with you. I don't want to be your friend or lover. I don't care about your football team, I don't want to hear about what you did on the weekend, nor the latest conspiracy theory you bought into. You are not my friend, you will never be my friend so keep your personal life away from me. Harsh yes but why would I ever want to socialise with anyone I work with. I change jobs every 2 to 3 years. You are as ephemeral as a mayfly
    You sound like a right dick
    Shrugs why because I don't want to mix socially with people I work with? Why the fuck should it be expected of me. It is you that sounds like the complete dick enforcing your views I should like these people. They are random people. I get a job we come together to work why am I a complete dick for saying I have no other connection to them?
    It’s not expected of you, but you seem to be closed to the prospect of it entirely. Who knows, some of your colleagues might actually be nice people who you’d like to socialise with after work.
    I actually married a work colleague from our Edinburgh Office in 1964, and next year we celebrate our diamond wedding anniversary !!!!
    Nice one!

    Thinking about it, I met Mrs P at work - her work at least.

    She was a nurse on the ward I was a patient on.
  • Options
    pm215pm215 Posts: 961


    If you're some sort experienced, motivated, know-exactly-what-you're-doing lone wolf you can probably keep going indefinitely on your own when WFH, but trying to incorporate new team members and collaborate on new projects across a wide range of people just doesn't seem to work very well remotely. I'm not saying it's impossible and can't be done, but it is an area where some face-to-face time is actually beneficial.

    I suspect something of a bathtub curve, where:

    * those new to the workforce are more in favour of at least some in office time because they benefit from the ad-hoc training, mentoring and network-building that happens more easily face-to-face
    * those a bit further along in their career are least happy with in-office and most in favour of wfh, as they've already gained enough skills to be largely self-sufficient and have shouldered responsibilities and workload that means they value the "get your head down and get the work done" the wfh environment can make easier
    * as you get more senior again your job has more of the team leading, mentorship, collaboration aspects and balance shifts back to favouring at least some in-office work
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 59,029

    Visegrád 24
    @visegrad24
    ·
    9m
    Please make sure to use your daily ration of tweets on Visegrad24 tweets!
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 59,141


    Visegrád 24
    @visegrad24
    ·
    9m
    Please make sure to use your daily ration of tweets on Visegrad24 tweets!

    You can only read a certain number of tweets per day? Wow.
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,206
    ydoethur said:

    EPG said:

    It's not just Rees-Mogg or old-fashioned bosses - practically all the major multinational companies are moving toward requiring more onsite time. Identifying the reasons why may be more enlightening than fretting about council staff. Maybe all of them know less about labour productivity than PB comments, but doubt it.

    Or alternatively, all of their managers are nervous about being seen to be no use.
    As I wrote, it is indeed possible that PB comments has secretly solved human resources management without telling anyone, but I wanted to focus on the possibility that they hadn't.
  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016
    Andy_JS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    eek said:

    Pagan2 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    https://news.sky.com/story/minister-tells-council-to-immediately-end-four-day-week-experiment-over-value-for-money-concerns-12912909

    "A minister has ordered a local council to end its experiment with a four-day week "immediately" over concerns about the "value for money" for local taxpayers.

    South Cambridgeshire District Council, the first local authority in the UK to undertake such a trial, had announced plans to extend it until April.

    Local government minister Lee Rowley wrote to Liberal Democrat council leader Bridget Smith to "ask that you end your experiment immediately" and say he had concerns about the "value for money" for local taxpayers.

    ...

    "There is no good reason to end this trial, which is already bringing many benefits to council workers, local residents and saving the council money."

    Council leader Ms Smith replied to request a meeting with ministers to discuss the matter, saying independently reviewed data showed "performance was maintained at the level shortly before the trial, while some areas of performance data saw significant improvement compared to recent data."

    Perhaps a 4 day week should be accompanied by an equivalent reduction in council tax.
    I think the objection is to the trial for tax payers that working hours were cut by 20% but wages are still at 100%, so basically a 20% pay rise for all those workers
    Yep but if productivity is the same as before and customer satisfaction is equal or better what exactly is the problem?

    And from what I've read both of the above seem to be true - and other places have shown similar results..
    The only way productivity can remain the same though is if they were wasting 20% of their working time doing stuff other than what they were being paid too.

    Example Someone working on a council tax enquiry line, lets say each enquiry takes 10 minutes on average to resolve. Now there is no way you can make that faster. So under a 5 day week they would have done 40 * 6 = 240 calls. On a 4 day week they can do a maximum of 32*6 calls for 192.

    Now if after each call they were spending a few minutes gassing with colleagues and now they don't and just do them back to back yes productivity can remain the same. However the answer is not reduce the working days but reduce the skiving off.

    I went down slough council offices a couple of times when I lived there and you could see it in action. They would call a number, deal with a client then spend a few minutes chatting to the colleague beside them before calling another number. It was bloody infuriating.

    A lot of things you cannot do faster so I am sorry no I don't believe productivity is the same just that they were poorly managed. Now in a trial I am sure they will give it their all to show productivity doesn't drop. Who wouldn't to keep a 4 day week....however once the 4 day week is embedded and accepted I fully expect them to return to dallying between tasks.

    This is not just a public sector issue you see the same in the private sector, people scrolling on their phones when they are meant to be doing what they are paid for etc or chatting round the coffee machine.
    When did it become okay for people to use their personal phones while doing a job? I'm sure it wasn't allowed in most jobs when phones first became available.
    They would be when work asked you to install software on your phone to do your job, like generating authentication codes to log in to stuff. They're getting gratis use of my personal possession.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,519

    RobD said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Farooq said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    stodge said:

    Pagan2 said:

    darkage said:

    The irony about this outburst about the 4 day week is that the civil service have been allowing staff to do flexi time and compressed hours for at least the last 20 years. It is very common across the public sector.

    Whose outburst? I missed it - been driving all day.
    Probably mine but the outburst wasnt about compressed hours it was about south cambridgeshire which is doing a trial on staff working 80% of the time for 100% of the wage.

    My view was simple if productivity hasnt fallen then they were slacking 20% of the time if they can do the same work in 80% of the time
    That betrays a strange understanding of how people work and what makes them most efficient and productive.

    Nobody with whom I've ever worked (and I include myself) works 100% of the time. The brain requires breaks, diversions - indeed, one of the issues with WFH has been the absence of those diversions. Indeed, I'd go further and offer the thought the more people work the less productive they are.

    The Anglo-Saxon long hours culture is partly predicated on a notion if you work longer you get more done. The other part is the notion of management by attendance - if your manager can see you working you must be working and if you must be working you must be productive. That simply empowers inadequate management.

    You could probably reduce the working week to 25 hours without a huge impact in productivity and efficiency - presumably with AI (sorry @Leon) that might be an option.

    Putting it another way - why do less with more when you can do more with less?
    I call bollocks on this tbh. I say this because most of my life I have worked in an office. Since WFH my productivity has increased at least twofold as I dont get fucking idiots wanting to socialize and chat to me all the time. Thankfully I don't need to deal with those c**ts now.

    Many seem to see work as a social experience, a place to make friends, find partners...oh and sometimes they do a little work
    I've also spent most of my working life in an office and the attitude you have to work and colleagues is one I've seen but very rarely. Most people are happy to have a "social" element to the workplace (after all, we spend a good proportion of our lives there). There's always room for "Mr Grumpy" to sit in the corner...

    Where I do agree is the productivity rise caused by WfH. I worked from home before it became fashionable and I agree you can be much more productive though I'd argue your effectiveness declines over time without a distraction or two to force a mental reset.

    We now have organisations wanting their staff back in the office and expecting WfH levels of productivity and wondering why it isn't happening.
    Sorry I don't goto work to make friends, I have my own friends outside work. I don't care about you whatsoever I am only in your company because I work with you. I don't want to be your friend or lover. I don't care about your football team, I don't want to hear about what you did on the weekend, nor the latest conspiracy theory you bought into. You are not my friend, you will never be my friend so keep your personal life away from me. Harsh yes but why would I ever want to socialise with anyone I work with. I change jobs every 2 to 3 years. You are as ephemeral as a mayfly
    You sound like a right dick
    Shrugs why because I don't want to mix socially with people I work with? Why the fuck should it be expected of me. It is you that sounds like the complete dick enforcing your views I should like these people. They are random people. I get a job we come together to work why am I a complete dick for saying I have no other connection to them?
    It’s not expected of you, but you seem to be closed to the prospect of it entirely. Who knows, some of your colleagues might actually be nice people who you’d like to socialise with after work.
    I actually married a work colleague from our Edinburgh Office in 1964, and next year we celebrate our diamond wedding anniversary !!!!
    Nice one!

    Thinking about it, I met Mrs P at work - her work at least.

    She was a nurse on the ward I was a patient on.
    I was technically Mrs J's boss (project manager) at the place we met. She's now my boss. ;)

    I think were were destined to be together: the company was a startup, and when I first joined there were not enough phone lines on the switchboards. Therefore I shared a number with this rather pleasant Turkish lass, and fielded calls from her then-boyfriend....
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731
    Farooq said:

    darkage said:

    What I would say about Council's is that if you are good at your job and start working too fast then they let you know and ask you to slow down. However this is not just Councils. It is similar in the private sector, where you get asked to stretch out projects to earn more money for the company. In my experience there are very few work situations which are entirely driven by trying maximise productivity in any objective sense.

    I've worked in both the public and private sector, and, in most of my placings, I've been extremely efficient.

    I have never, ever, not even once, been told to slow down. Even when I worked as a consultant where it's clearly in my company's interests to fill in time. Never.
    TBF, we don’t know how slow you are, though…
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 59,029
    Please make it stop...



    Will Hazell
    @whazell
    Exclusive @Telegraph

    : Liz Truss is to take her agenda global with the launch of a new international taskforce - The Growth Commission - to investigate the causes of sluggish growth
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097

    I know it won't happen but, ffs, if England somehow contrive to win from here we are NEVER going to hear the end of it from Leon- 'I was there!' -damus.

    I was at Headingley in 2019 I rarely mention it.

    I was at Anfield for the 4 nil against Barca and the 7 nil against Man U and I hardly ever mention those either.
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    solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623

    Andy_JS said:

    Pagan2 said:

    eek said:

    Pagan2 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    https://news.sky.com/story/minister-tells-council-to-immediately-end-four-day-week-experiment-over-value-for-money-concerns-12912909

    "A minister has ordered a local council to end its experiment with a four-day week "immediately" over concerns about the "value for money" for local taxpayers.

    South Cambridgeshire District Council, the first local authority in the UK to undertake such a trial, had announced plans to extend it until April.

    Local government minister Lee Rowley wrote to Liberal Democrat council leader Bridget Smith to "ask that you end your experiment immediately" and say he had concerns about the "value for money" for local taxpayers.

    ...

    "There is no good reason to end this trial, which is already bringing many benefits to council workers, local residents and saving the council money."

    Council leader Ms Smith replied to request a meeting with ministers to discuss the matter, saying independently reviewed data showed "performance was maintained at the level shortly before the trial, while some areas of performance data saw significant improvement compared to recent data."

    Perhaps a 4 day week should be accompanied by an equivalent reduction in council tax.
    I think the objection is to the trial for tax payers that working hours were cut by 20% but wages are still at 100%, so basically a 20% pay rise for all those workers
    Yep but if productivity is the same as before and customer satisfaction is equal or better what exactly is the problem?

    And from what I've read both of the above seem to be true - and other places have shown similar results..
    The only way productivity can remain the same though is if they were wasting 20% of their working time doing stuff other than what they were being paid too.

    Example Someone working on a council tax enquiry line, lets say each enquiry takes 10 minutes on average to resolve. Now there is no way you can make that faster. So under a 5 day week they would have done 40 * 6 = 240 calls. On a 4 day week they can do a maximum of 32*6 calls for 192.

    Now if after each call they were spending a few minutes gassing with colleagues and now they don't and just do them back to back yes productivity can remain the same. However the answer is not reduce the working days but reduce the skiving off.

    I went down slough council offices a couple of times when I lived there and you could see it in action. They would call a number, deal with a client then spend a few minutes chatting to the colleague beside them before calling another number. It was bloody infuriating.

    A lot of things you cannot do faster so I am sorry no I don't believe productivity is the same just that they were poorly managed. Now in a trial I am sure they will give it their all to show productivity doesn't drop. Who wouldn't to keep a 4 day week....however once the 4 day week is embedded and accepted I fully expect them to return to dallying between tasks.

    This is not just a public sector issue you see the same in the private sector, people scrolling on their phones when they are meant to be doing what they are paid for etc or chatting round the coffee machine.
    When did it become okay for people to use their personal phones while doing a job? I'm sure it wasn't allowed in most jobs when phones first became available.
    They would be when work asked you to install software on your phone to do your job, like generating authentication codes to log in to stuff. They're getting gratis use of my personal possession.
    I share your frustration on that one.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,839
    pigeon said:


    Estimated probability of rain in London tomorrow, according to forecasts:

    Met Office: 5%
    BBC Weather: 0%

    Not convinced that donning robes and prancing around in a sacred circle will change this. Might be fun though.

    We can dance if we want to!

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x811f9t
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    OmniumOmnium Posts: 9,919

    Please make it stop...



    Will Hazell
    @whazell
    Exclusive @Telegraph

    : Liz Truss is to take her agenda global with the launch of a new international taskforce - The Growth Commission - to investigate the causes of sluggish growth

    Nuts.

    It's not the case that everything she ever said was wrong. It is the case that she has so maligned her own wisdom that she will be forever wrong.
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    StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 15,001
    RobD said:


    Visegrád 24
    @visegrad24
    ·
    9m
    Please make sure to use your daily ration of tweets on Visegrad24 tweets!

    You can only read a certain number of tweets per day? Wow.
    Twitter has applied a temporary limit to the number of tweets users can read in a day, owner Elon Musk has said.

    In a tweet, Mr Musk said unverified accounts can read up to 600 posts a day.

    Verified accounts are limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, while newly unverified accounts can only see 300 posts per day, he added.

    Mr Musk said the temporary limits were to address "extreme levels" of data scraping and system manipulation.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66077195
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    geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,240

    pigeon said:


    Estimated probability of rain in London tomorrow, according to forecasts:

    Met Office: 5%
    BBC Weather: 0%

    Not convinced that donning robes and prancing around in a sacred circle will change this. Might be fun though.

    We can dance if we want to!

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x811f9t
    on pin heads usually

  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016
    RobD said:


    Visegrád 24
    @visegrad24
    ·
    9m
    Please make sure to use your daily ration of tweets on Visegrad24 tweets!

    You can only read a certain number of tweets per day? Wow.
    "Kama
    @Kama_Kamilia
    TWITTER USER #1884639. PLEASE VISIT YOUR LOCAL TWITTER COMMISSARIAT TO RECEIVE YOUR DAILY TWITTER RATION. TWITTER RATIONS ARE NOT A LEGAL TENDER AND CANNOT BE SOLD NOR TRADED. GLORY TO OUR OMNIPRESENT CHAIRMAN AND COMRADE MELON BUSK.
    "

    Not linking to it so that you won't use up any of your twitter ration on it.

    Wonder what hour of the day Scott will run out by?
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    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731
    kle4 said:

    33.3 Making a catch

    The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement.


    Wasn't aware of this.

    Well, yes.
    If, for example, you jump to catch the ball in the air, you catch it, and your movement takes you across the boundary, it’s a six. I thought everyone knew that ?

    Hence the recentish trend to throw the ball back up, run back inside the boundary, and catch it again.
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    FossFoss Posts: 703
    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.
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    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,735
    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Meanwhile, after five days, the perfect weather day arrives in Norway. For some inexplicable reason the dog didn’t make it into this one.

    Beautiful!

    Where exactly?
    Ulvik
  • Options
    solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623
    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    It'd be ironic if it resulted in twitter posters going back to the old "I've actually only got a limited number of characters to play with here" posting mentality, as opposed to "even though there's a character limit I can just string together a large number of tweets to get my essay out".
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    I think of reactivating my MySpace account.
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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,568
    ..
    Farooq said:

    What stage are we at on Farooq’s copium model?

    This is going well.
    That was unlucky.
    It is a good job that England bat deep.
    We'll get them when we field
    It looks like its going to rain, that will save us
    Well 2-0 is recoverable <<<<<
    We've lost but we've got two tests to avoid the whitewash
    It'll be a different story in Australia</p>
    You unaccountably left out:

    Cheating Aussies therefore we have the moral victory.
  • Options
    FossFoss Posts: 703

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    I think of reactivating my MySpace account.
    That was purged a decade ago.
  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016
    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
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    geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,240
    Anyone know how to watch Wimbledon abroad in Europe?
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    Foss said:

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    I think of reactivating my MySpace account.
    That was purged a decade ago.
    I've brought back MySpace, after a fashion with my new profile pic.
  • Options
    If i'm not much mistaken, the new restrictions on access to twitter have helped reduced the violence in France so far today.

    If that's true, then very good.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054
    geoffw said:

    Anyone know how to watch Wimbledon abroad in Europe?

    This should tell you:

    https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/tv_schedules.html
  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016
    My twitter ration is being used up reading tweets complaining about the twitter ration from the people I follow on twitter.
  • Options
    FossFoss Posts: 703

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
    We know that this time last year they were developing/testing on production. It’s not unreasonable to assume that the Ops side of things were/are just as messed up.
  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016
    eek said:

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
    Twitter was using a fair amount of Google's services for hosting (remember at the scale of twitter you don't have many options and it's cheaper to co-locate edge servers then do stuff in house).

    And guess when the old contract with Google ran out (yesterday), guess who owes Google a large sum of money and guess whose project to move services from google back in house is running late,
    Doesn't surprise me. But, of course, blame it on "bots".
  • Options
    geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,240
    ydoethur said:

    geoffw said:

    Anyone know how to watch Wimbledon abroad in Europe?

    This should tell you:

    https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/tv_schedules.html
    Tx

  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016
    geoffw said:

    Anyone know how to watch Wimbledon abroad in Europe?

    I use Proton VPN so that the BBC will let me listen to TMS. I would assume that a VPN would persuade the BBC that you were in country and could watch the tennis on iPlayer.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731

    My twitter ration is being used up reading tweets complaining about the twitter ration from the people I follow on twitter.

    Elon porting the Tesla range anxiety feature to Twitter ?
  • Options
    ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,058
    If anyone is after some entertainment while twitter is gubbed - I came across this earlier :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOc2MzvqbN0

    "Prince - Jazz Funk Sessions 1977 Instrumental".
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054
    edited July 2023

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
    There are three further options.

    He's telling what he believes to be the truth, but is wrong, because either he hasn't been told the truth or he doesn't understand it.

    So he could be mistaken and incompetent or stupid and incompetent.

    Or, of course, he could have been told a pack of lies but lied about what he's been told.

    So he could be lying, stupid, mistaken and incompetent.
  • Options
    DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 25,056
    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    300 messages is less than half the daily ration of pb posts. It sounds high but is quite low.

    But as I posted earlier, what Elon Musk has done does not fit with what users reported. There were partial outages long after the supposed fix. Likely something else broke.
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    Screenshots?
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,953
    Possible by-election coming up in Tamworth.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,519
    eek said:

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
    Twitter was using a fair amount of Google's services for hosting (remember at the scale of twitter you don't have many options and it's cheaper to co-locate edge servers then do stuff in house).

    And guess when the old contract with Google ran out (yesterday), guess who owes Google a large sum of money and guess whose project to move services from google back in house is running late,
    As ever, Musk lies.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    ydoethur said:

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    Screenshots?
    Might be an option.

    Although somebody else says this is a temporary glitch.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054
    edited July 2023

    Possible by-election coming up in Tamworth.

    Have the Tories picked a replacement? If not, I do hope they pick an outside candidate. Pincher has a nest of friends in the local party there who are even more predatory than he is.
  • Options
    LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 16,016

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    If he stops websites like the Guardian embedding tweets then it would be the end of journalism as we know it. And the only way he can stop people cheating and reading more tweets than their ration.
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    EPGEPG Posts: 6,206
    pigeon said:

    I know I spend quite a lot of my time on here bemoaning the state's excessive devotion to the needs and wishes of the minted elderly - but by no means all people of pensionable age fall into that category, of course. Tales of woe from those condemned to work til they drop, such is this lady:

    Dee, 67, who lives in Accrington in Lancashire, left school at 14. She worked in factories, hairdressing shops and bars, and did secretarial temp work all over the country before she took a job at HM Revenue and Customs, where she worked full-time for 23 years.

    Last year, in May, she began her retirement, but after only a few weeks she realised that she could not afford it because of the rising cost of living. “I had two months off, then I had to return to work,” she says. “I rent my home and I can survive on my state pension of around £800 a month and two small private pensions, but I cannot live. My rent and household bills alone come to just under £700.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/01/its-exhausting-but-i-think-im-going-to-have-to-keep-working-the-over-65s-who-cant-afford-to-retire

    I freely admit that, ever since we paid off the mortgage, the entire aim of my working life has been to start running down the number of hours I'm forced to work as soon as possible. You can try to construct a rationale for why your work is important - I do a good job, it improves the functioning of my employer's business, and that helps to make it more likely that other people as well as me will keep their jobs and prosper - but at root there's no intrinsic value to the work that most of us do. It's done because we have to, of course, we would give it up at the drop of a hat if we won a large enough lottery prize, and the sooner that we don't have to bother anymore, the better. Dragging yourself out at an anti-social time in the morning to spend long hours in and office, or a factory, or driving round and round all over the place, is simply tedious, and knackering, and must start to erode years off your life expectancy as you get older and less capable of putting up with the relentless grind of it all.

    I feel very sorry for people who simply cannot afford to stop, and there are going to be more and more of them in the future. Thinking about the low quality of defined contribution pensions and the excruciatingly high rents than anybody who can't afford to buy a home is going to have to keep paying for their entire lives, you have to expect that the proportion of the elderly population hobbling through their 70s and 80s in the workplace is bound to rise with the passing of the years.

    Of course winning the lottery would be worthless if nobody worked in exchange for your millions, suggesting that they are indeed doing something of value, if not that they have to like it.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054

    ydoethur said:

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    Screenshots?
    Might be an option.

    Although somebody else says this is a temporary glitch.
    It would seem rather stupid to push tweets out of Wordpress sites, given how many business websites - including mine - rely on it. It would definitely weaken their reach.

    But - since when has Musk acted sensibly?
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 28,325

    Possible by-election coming up in Tamworth.

    Chris Pincher?
    What's he done now?
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    ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,058
    ydoethur said:

    EPG said:

    It's not just Rees-Mogg or old-fashioned bosses - practically all the major multinational companies are moving toward requiring more onsite time. Identifying the reasons why may be more enlightening than fretting about council staff. Maybe all of them know less about labour productivity than PB comments, but doubt it.

    Or alternatively, all of their managers are nervous about being seen to be no use.
    I had a conversation with someone 'on high' this week was very much of the 'on site' persuasion. Quite an extrovert and had the total conviction that people in an office all 'bounced ideas off each other', draw amazing plans on whiteboards, 'generated energy' etc.

    I was really curious as to whether that was their *actual* experience, or whether it was just a perception as an extrovert that an hour spent with people babbling over each other's conversations amounted to the same thing.

    The last meeting I was at where people used a whiteboard - I let them dribble away for over an hour drawing flowcharts until they were sated - then pointed out that there was no way to 'escape' the loop from the first part of the flowchart, so the remaining 90% was entirely redundant.

    Made myself very popular. Again.
  • Options
    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited July 2023
    Jon Cruddas joining the growing chorus of anger in the Labour Party at Neal Lawson's possible expulsion, and from both the right and left of the party. I think Starmer needs to urgently backpedal of this, on behalf of some of his overzealous staff, and possibly also even reshuffle a few people, too.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/01/rightwing-illiberal-labour-mp-jon-cruddas-condemns-keir-starmers-witch-hunt

  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    Screenshots?
    Might be an option.

    Although somebody else says this is a temporary glitch.
    It would seem rather stupid to push tweets out of Wordpress sites, given how many business websites - including mine - rely on it. It would definitely weaken their reach.

    But - since when has Musk acted sensibly?
    Indeed.

    It's bloody annoying, I've got an afternoon thread that trolls the SNP shares my brilliant betting wisdom on Scottish affairs that could be buggered by Elon.
  • Options
    StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 15,001
    edited July 2023
    ydoethur said:

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
    There are three further options.

    He's telling what he believes to be the truth, but is wrong, because either he hasn't been told the truth or he doesn't understand it.

    So he could be mistaken and incompetent or stupid and incompetent.

    Or, of course, he could have been told a pack of lies but lied about what he's been told.

    So he could be lying, stupid, mistaken and incompetent.
    Readers will have to make their own judgement as to whether any given statement represents
    (a) what happened
    (b) what he believed happened
    (c) what he would have liked to have to have happened
    (d) what he wanted others to believe happened
    (e) what he wanted others to believe that he believed happened


    (The Editor's Note to the Hacker Diaries)

    These days, we are more advanced and also have to consider
    (f) what he wanted others to believe that he would have liked to have happened
    (g) what he wanted others to believe he wanted others to believe happened

    In Musk's case, we're probably at (e) or (f), to the extent that Musk believes in the existence of other people at all.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,953
    dixiedean said:

    Possible by-election coming up in Tamworth.

    Chris Pincher?
    What's he done now?
    Committee report due
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    dixiedean said:

    Possible by-election coming up in Tamworth.

    Chris Pincher?
    What's he done now?
    Report by the Parliamentary Commissioner on his behaviour is to be published in the next few days and is said to be so damning it will trigger his resignation or a recall.
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,670

    Foss said:

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    I think of reactivating my MySpace account.
    That was purged a decade ago.
    I've brought back MySpace, after a fashion with my new profile pic.
    That's a funny way to spell OnlyFans...
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 25,495
    Today's Cold War Steve...


  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,519
    Off-topic:

    An 18 year old Dutch driver, Dilano van't Hoff, died today at a crash at the Spa racing circuit, in what appeared to be very wet conditions.

    Perhaps it's time to start considering whether, like the old Nürburgring, the track is too unsafe for racing.

    RIP.
  • Options
    ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,058

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    That's what you get for trying to skim your millions off of Musk's impoverished bank balance by embedding and linking to his company.

    Commie.
  • Options
    Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,364
    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    Just watched it. Even without the law, you'd have to do some serious mental contortions to say that should be classed as catch - the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731
    ydoethur said:

    Foss said:

    If they keep those limits in the longer term it’s going to have a massive effect on both general campaigning and the sudden spread of outrage-of-the-minute topics.

    The thing that strikes me is that the small number of people he kept employed at the company can't tell the difference between someone doom-scrolling their twitter feed and a bot scraping the website, so instead they're implementing a crude limit on activity for all accounts.

    And yet he's certain that it's bots scraping the website. Right.

    Either he's telling the truth, in which case they're incompetent, or he's lying and incompetent.
    There are three further options.

    He's telling what he believes to be the truth, but is wrong, because either he hasn't been told the truth or he doesn't understand it.

    So he could be mistaken and incompetent or stupid and incompetent.

    Or, of course, he could have been told a pack of lies but lied about what he's been told.

    So he could be lying, stupid, mistaken and incompetent.
    There’s also this.
    This is hilarious. It appears that Twitter is DDOSing itself. The Twitter home feed's been down for most of this morning. Even though nothing loads, the Twitter website
    never stops trying and trying. In the first video, notice the error message that I'm being
    rate limited. Then notice the jiggling scrollbar on the right. The second video shows why it's jiggling. Twitter is firing off about 10 requests a second to itself to try and fetch content that never arrives because Elon's latest genius innovation is to block people from being able to read
    Twitter without logging in. This likely created some hellish conditions that the engineers never envisioned and so we get this comedy of errors resulting in the most epic of self-owns…


    $44bn amateur hour.
  • Options
    FossFoss Posts: 703
    @BBCNews tweets about 80 times a day. I wonder how many people will be willing to expend that much of their allowance on them?
  • Options
    DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 25,056

    Jon Cruddas joining the growing chorus of anger in the Labour Party at Neal Lawson's possible expulsion, and from both the right and left of the party. I think Starmer needs to urgently backpedal of this, on behalf of some of his overzealous staff, and possibly also even reshuffle a few people, too.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/01/rightwing-illiberal-labour-mp-jon-cruddas-condemns-keir-starmers-witch-hunt

    Yes but might there be a problem if the same rules are needed to get rid of trots?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,549
    ohnotnow said:

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    That's what you get for trying to skim your millions off of Musk's impoverished bank balance by embedding and linking to his company.

    Commie.
    Not commie. Capitalist.
  • Options
    ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,058
    Carnyx said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    That's what you get for trying to skim your millions off of Musk's impoverished bank balance by embedding and linking to his company.

    Commie.
    Not commie. Capitalist.
    Capitalist, commie, free-speech absolutist, libertarian - much of a muchness.
  • Options
    RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,670

    Off-topic:

    An 18 year old Dutch driver, Dilano van't Hoff, died today at a crash at the Spa racing circuit, in what appeared to be very wet conditions.

    Perhaps it's time to start considering whether, like the old Nürburgring, the track is too unsafe for racing.

    RIP.

    It isn't the track that was the issue. Its that they let them race in that weather...
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 48,346
    WHY is the catching law so obscurantist?

    It should be, first, if the ball touches the grass or ground, within ten seconds of the catcher's fingers first making contact: Not Out

    Everything else is detail
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,953
    Twitter is a menace, of course, but also provides (provided?) the only way to access communities of expertise.

    If it dies, a lot of value goes with it.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    ohnotnow said:

    Carnyx said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Well this is annoying.

    Looks like you cannot embed Tweets into Wordpress sites.

    PB runs on Wordpress so no more Tweets in thread headers.

    That's what you get for trying to skim your millions off of Musk's impoverished bank balance by embedding and linking to his company.

    Commie.
    Not commie. Capitalist.
    Capitalist, commie, free-speech absolutist, libertarian - much of a muchness.
    I'm a One Nation Thatcherite.

    Think Ken Clarke but with better shoes.
  • Options
    ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,058
    ydoethur said:

    ohnotnow said:

    ydoethur said:

    EPG said:

    It's not just Rees-Mogg or old-fashioned bosses - practically all the major multinational companies are moving toward requiring more onsite time. Identifying the reasons why may be more enlightening than fretting about council staff. Maybe all of them know less about labour productivity than PB comments, but doubt it.

    Or alternatively, all of their managers are nervous about being seen to be no use.
    I had a conversation with someone 'on high' this week was very much of the 'on site' persuasion. Quite an extrovert and had the total conviction that people in an office all 'bounced ideas off each other', draw amazing plans on whiteboards, 'generated energy' etc.

    I was really curious as to whether that was their *actual* experience, or whether it was just a perception as an extrovert that an hour spent with people babbling over each other's conversations amounted to the same thing.

    The last meeting I was at where people used a whiteboard - I let them dribble away for over an hour drawing flowcharts until they were sated - then pointed out that there was no way to 'escape' the loop from the first part of the flowchart, so the remaining 90% was entirely redundant.

    Made myself very popular. Again.
    My experience as a senior teacher may not be typical, but I found when I did have free time - which wasn't much - I was ordered to attend a whole load of utterly pointless meetings that wasted my time but made it look as though the Deputy Heads above me were using theirs.

    It didn't seem to occur to them that I might have been able to use that time more productively preparing resources for the following year or training colleagues in the vast amount of new content the egregious Gove's botched reforms forced on us.

    I think a low point was when a number of us were forced to attend a meeting where we were asked to draw on an outline of a body what we thought a new staff dress code should be. Which lasted up until the moment I had to warn the head concerned - who made Pincher look like a choirboy - that his obsession with female staff wearing short skirts might actually get him a police caution.
    I was once sent on a 10 day training course by my manager on 'Team Leadership'. I did not have a team, or any prospect of one in the next decade or so.

    I asked him why he'd sent me on it and he said he thought it was funny.

    How. I. Laughed.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054
    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    His wife's one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, I'm sure she'll catch his balls before they get near the ground.
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 25,495

    Twitter is a menace, of course, but also provides (provided?) the only way to access communities of expertise.

    If it dies, a lot of value goes with it.

    Something will appear and take its place - the problem is none of the options are there yet mastodon is user unfriendly while Bluesky is slowly ramping up...
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    His wife's one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, I'm sure she'll catch his balls before they get near the ground.
    But the Aussies have a long history of ball tampering.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,519

    Off-topic:

    An 18 year old Dutch driver, Dilano van't Hoff, died today at a crash at the Spa racing circuit, in what appeared to be very wet conditions.

    Perhaps it's time to start considering whether, like the old Nürburgring, the track is too unsafe for racing.

    RIP.

    It isn't the track that was the issue. Its that they let them race in that weather...
    It's both; F1's driven in similar, and Spa is the sort of track where the weather changes very rapidly, and it can be dry on one part of the circuit and wet at another. The problem, as can be seen in the tragic video, is lack of run-off. As it was with Hubert's crash.

    In today's crash, if there had been more run-off on the outside of the track it might have been avoided. Instead, cars have nowhere to go except back onto the racing line. (all IMO).
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731

    Twitter is a menace, of course, but also provides (provided?) the only way to access communities of expertise.

    If it dies, a lot of value goes with it.

    I agree; I really like(d) Twitter.

    Musk has musked it up,
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,549
    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    Ironic really, given that vegetables tend to attract apostrophes in the normal high street.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054

    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    His wife's one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, I'm sure she'll catch his balls before they get near the ground.
    But the Aussies have a long history of ball tampering.
    I'm sure Alyssa Healy wouldn't do such a thing.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 115,097
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    His wife's one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, I'm sure she'll catch his balls before they get near the ground.
    But the Aussies have a long history of ball tampering.
    I'm sure Alyssa Healy wouldn't do such a thing.
    Steve Smith tampered with his balls using sandpaper, it made him cry.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731
    eek said:

    Twitter is a menace, of course, but also provides (provided?) the only way to access communities of expertise.

    If it dies, a lot of value goes with it.

    Something will appear and take its place - the problem is none of the options are there yet mastodon is user unfriendly while Bluesky is slowly ramping up...
    I don’t know if this is amusing or disturbing, but Meta is developing a Twitter competitor service.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 68,054

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    His wife's one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, I'm sure she'll catch his balls before they get near the ground.
    But the Aussies have a long history of ball tampering.
    I'm sure Alyssa Healy wouldn't do such a thing.
    Steve Smith tampered with his balls using sandpaper, it made him cry.
    Well, serve him right. Why couldn't he use saliva like a normal person?
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 63,731

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    kle4 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Sounds like it should have been out to me. Players throw the ball up in the air all the time before they've finished moving, and the ball usually hits the ground rather than being caught by someone else.

    The law does not say you stop moving, it says 'has complete control' over your movement. If you catch, land on your feet whilst moving, and throw the ball in the air immediately then you did have control, however immediately you threw the ball.

    This seems a clear case of people just not knowing what the law says, and getting angry it does not say what they think it says. It doesn't seem that controversial to me, as for example we see all the time people catching a ball clearly, hitting the ground, and the ball popping out without it counting as a catch - because they did not have control.

    Glemm McGrath can moan all he likes, but you can't just rub the ball on the ground after you catch - the moment is not dead.

    …the balls being scraped along the ground for an eternity.
    A perfect illustration of why the apostrophe is not yet redundant.
    Sounds painful, BTW.

    His wife's one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, I'm sure she'll catch his balls before they get near the ground.
    But the Aussies have a long history of ball tampering.
    I'm sure Alyssa Healy wouldn't do such a thing.
    Steve Smith tampered with his balls using sandpaper, it made him cry.
    But he now always puts in a polished performance.
  • Options
    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited July 2023

    Jon Cruddas joining the growing chorus of anger in the Labour Party at Neal Lawson's possible expulsion, and from both the right and left of the party. I think Starmer needs to urgently backpedal of this, on behalf of some of his overzealous staff, and possibly also even reshuffle a few people, too.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/01/rightwing-illiberal-labour-mp-jon-cruddas-condemns-keir-starmers-witch-hunt

    Yes but might there be a problem if the same rules are needed to get rid of trots?
    I think some of his core staff are showing signs of having gone a bit power-drunk, to be honest.

    There have also always been question marks over a minority of people expelled in the purges of Corbynites, and this sort of behaviour will only bring those back, really. Starmer needs to carefully steer back towards the centre of the party, and not allow himself to be outridden by the some of the most illiberal, ultra-Blairite faction, who seem to have got a bit carried away in their determination to take out the slightest sign of the old regime. I've always said that the purgative, Johnson-like mentality, has always been a problem in Labour, amongst both Corbynites and Blairites, and now we're seeing some of the first signs of the Blairite excesses coming back.
This discussion has been closed.