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The Pension Triple lock abolition looks brave – politicalbetting.com

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  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    Carnyx said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    Bet he wasn't the one who got pawed. Or worse.
    How long will it be, I wonder, before some of his former female colleagues pipe up about his behaviour?
  • Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    Yeah there is probably some truth in that, based on accounts from friends and relatives of some of the young people they work with, where a certain amount of mental toughness seems to be lacking. I've not really experienced it myself though.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454

    On topic, hurrah but Rishi needs to go further.

    Start applying NI on pensioner salaries.

    Just get rid of NI and increase income tax as it’s a total waste of time
  • The trouble with the 'triple lock must end' drive is what is the amount that pensions should go up each year?

    Inflation?

    Wages?

    What is the answer?
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    The issue is not coping with hard work. Or stress. Which lots of women are well able to do and in fact do every single day of their lives.

    The issue is the idea that sexually assaulting your colleagues is somehow an acceptable way of dealing with that stress and women should learn to put up with what are, bluntly, crimes.

    A doctor who does not understand that this behaviour is wrong and criminal has no business being a doctor, frankly.
  • On topic, hurrah but Rishi needs to go further.

    Start applying NI on pensioner salaries.

    End higher rate tax relief on pension contributions.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,148
    edited September 2023
    Carnyx said:

    MattW said:

    I see Angela Rayner is proposing to outlaw zero hours contracts.
    I seem to recall that for some, ZHCs are actually rather useful. I’m sure they can be open to abuse, but is banning them the right way ahead?

    No - that's Rayner's Trade Union sponsors talking imo.

    Every researched number I have ever seen says most workers like them.
    This TUC polling says more workers on them don’t like them: https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/two-thirds-zero-hours-workers-want-jobs-guaranteed-hours-tuc-polling-reveals The polling methodology is given and looks solid.

    Edit: You were presumably referring to this polling, https://fullfact.org/economy/how-many-people-zero-hours-contracts-want-more-hours/ , that says most people on ZHCs don’t want more hours, which isn’t the same as asking them whether they’re happy with the contract they’re on. I might not want more hours, but still be unhappy with the lack of a minimum number of hours specified.
    Too many right-wingers here and elsewhere are either ignorant of what the TUs fought against, or wan t to go back to it to terrorise the workers (and make things cheaper for their donors). The so-called good old days of having to wait around till the last minute and find you weren't employed at [edit] all that day and could starve for all the e3mployer cared: such as London dockers having to wait outside the office.
    It's 2 sides though isn't it? I think Trades Unions have been, and in some ways still are, rotten from the top, and that the Thatcherite reforms were just necessary to save the Unions from themselves.

    Even in 1984-5 I remember King Arthur sending his mobile thugs down the motorway to make war on Nottinghamshire miners. Now we all know what a nasty piece of work he is ... all those years and years of frivolous legal action against the Union he destroyed to make them pay rent for the flat he wanted to keep in the Barbican, and the rest.

    Then Ken McCluskey p*ssing away £2m of UNITE funds in pursuit of a Labour MP, when he had been offered the opportunity to make a free apology. Plus the £70m lost on the hotel, and the attempts to manipulate the Labour Party.

    By contrast I always found workplace Unions excellent, if the local idealogues were avoided.

    I'll leave that one there...
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918

    On topic, hurrah but Rishi needs to go further.

    Start applying NI on pensioner salaries.

    End higher rate tax relief on pension contributions.
    We need to be encouraging more private pension contributions, not discouraging it
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918

    On topic, hurrah but Rishi needs to go further.

    Start applying NI on pensioner salaries.

    Just get rid of NI and increase income tax as it’s a total waste of time
    Rubbish. NI should be hypothecated for the state pension and contributory unemployment benefits as it was set up to fund
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,148
    Anyway - things to do. Have a good day, all.
  • Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Even ignoring the absurd justification of sexual assault and bullying, the evidence is quite clear that learning is closely correlated to restful sleep. Are stressed out junior doctors or students working 80 hour weeks really learning more than those learning in a 40 hour week environment. I very much doubt it.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    HYUFD said:

    Taz said:
    William Hague of course being such an expert in how to win general elections he led the Conservatives to their second worst defeat in 150 years in 2001
    If you wish that stat to stay unchanged then maybe listen to him ?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,148
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    The issue is not coping with hard work. Or stress. Which lots of women are well able to do and in fact do every single day of their lives.

    The issue is the idea that sexually assaulting your colleagues is somehow an acceptable way of dealing with that stress and women should learn to put up with what are, bluntly, crimes.

    A doctor who does not understand that this behaviour is wrong and criminal has no business being a doctor, frankly.
    Is this letter perhaps the Times proving the point of their original article?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    The issue is not coping with hard work. Or stress. Which lots of women are well able to do and in fact do every single day of their lives.

    The issue is the idea that sexually assaulting your colleagues is somehow an acceptable way of dealing with that stress and women should learn to put up with what are, bluntly, crimes.

    A doctor who does not understand that this behaviour is wrong and criminal has no business being a doctor, frankly.
    The old goat is likely retired.
    Thank goodness.
  • HYUFD said:

    On topic, hurrah but Rishi needs to go further.

    Start applying NI on pensioner salaries.

    End higher rate tax relief on pension contributions.
    We need to be encouraging more private pension contributions, not discouraging it
    Keeping standard rate tax relief on pension contributions should be enough to encourage private pension provision. Higher rate tax relief is just a subsidy for the well-paid. Salary sacrifice means they will still reduce their higher rate tax burden.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,633
    Nigelb said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    The issue is not coping with hard work. Or stress. Which lots of women are well able to do and in fact do every single day of their lives.

    The issue is the idea that sexually assaulting your colleagues is somehow an acceptable way of dealing with that stress and women should learn to put up with what are, bluntly, crimes.

    A doctor who does not understand that this behaviour is wrong and criminal has no business being a doctor, frankly.
    The old goat is likely retired.
    Thank goodness.
    Retired 2020, mid covid, the snowflake.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Carnyx said:

    MattW said:

    I see Angela Rayner is proposing to outlaw zero hours contracts.
    I seem to recall that for some, ZHCs are actually rather useful. I’m sure they can be open to abuse, but is banning them the right way ahead?

    No - that's Rayner's Trade Union sponsors talking imo.

    Every researched number I have ever seen says most workers like them.
    This TUC polling says more workers on them don’t like them: https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/two-thirds-zero-hours-workers-want-jobs-guaranteed-hours-tuc-polling-reveals The polling methodology is given and looks solid.

    Edit: You were presumably referring to this polling, https://fullfact.org/economy/how-many-people-zero-hours-contracts-want-more-hours/ , that says most people on ZHCs don’t want more hours, which isn’t the same as asking them whether they’re happy with the contract they’re on. I might not want more hours, but still be unhappy with the lack of a minimum number of hours specified.
    Too many right-wingers here and elsewhere are either ignorant of what the TUs fought against, or wan t to go back to it to terrorise the workers (and make things cheaper for their donors). The so-called good old days of having to wait around till the last minute and find you weren't employed at [edit] all that day and could starve for all the e3mployer cared: such as London dockers having to wait outside the office.
    Ironically, the COVID related employment “reset” seems to have smashed a lot of that business model.

    Banning ZHCs caused serious problems in California for contractors - the people doing small pieces of commissioned work.

    The “not wanting more hours” thing is related to the demented system of harsh penalties for people on benefits who exceed the allowed hours.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,148
    edited September 2023

    The trouble with the 'triple lock must end' drive is what is the amount that pensions should go up each year?

    Inflation?

    Wages?

    What is the answer?

    Maintaining the triple lock until the State Pension reaches a more sensible level, and then a percentage link to either average earnings or minimum wage, perhaps. That will be a return to something like the system before the link was broken in the Thatcher period (?).

    Or jump the increase, and break the link now.

    Or adopt a basket of methods, as the Dutch, where there are several elements.
  • Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Good of the Times to publish it. I'm sure they don't agree with it, and by putting it out there they are exposing this bloke to well-deserved public ridicule.

    Smart.
  • HYUFD said:

    On topic, hurrah but Rishi needs to go further.

    Start applying NI on pensioner salaries.

    End higher rate tax relief on pension contributions.
    We need to be encouraging more private pension contributions, not discouraging it
    But is the issue of people saving an insufficient amount for their pensions actually about higher rate taxpayers failing to save enough, or is it the lower rate taxpayers who have less disposable income and get less relief (20% rather than 40%) than their higher income neighbours for each pound they put in?

    It's all very well saying "we need to be encouraging more private pension contributions" but more by who? If a millionaire with an ample pension pot decides to pile more in, then I'm agnostic about it - good for them if that's what they want to do, but it doesn't make any difference to pensioner poverty in 20 years time.

    I'm someone who has personally put quite a lot into my pension to make use of the 40% relief over the years. But I'm not convinced that it's good policy to allow me quite such generous relief. Maybe, indeed, some of that should specifically go to lower rate contributors... perhaps they should get the 20% relief AND the Government throw in 5%?

    Clearly, taking away or reducing a relief won't be popular with beneficiaries, but your argument that the current higher rate relief is for the greater good rather than merely nice for the higher rate taxpayer is a bit weak.
  • Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    That fella clearly doesn't want to keep his job.
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,149
    edited September 2023

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    That fella clearly doesn't want to keep his job.
    The letter makes clear he retired three years ago. He's an unpleasant, sexist dinosaur, not an idiot.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Good of the Times to publish it. I'm sure they don't agree with it, and by putting it out there they are exposing this bloke to well-deserved public ridicule.

    Smart.
    He’s also misspelt “insensitive” in his sign off, maybe the Times just couldn’t read his writing.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    A

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Good of the Times to publish it. I'm sure they don't agree with it, and by putting it out there they are exposing this bloke to well-deserved public ridicule.

    Smart.
    I agree. This letter illustrates the problem.

    If nothing else, if I were running a hypothetical NHS professional standards agency, that his former department needs looking at. If this is his idea of normalised behaviour….
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    MattW said:

    The trouble with the 'triple lock must end' drive is what is the amount that pensions should go up each year?

    Inflation?

    Wages?

    What is the answer?

    Maintaining the triple lock until the State Pension reaches a more sensible level, and then a percentage link to either average earnings or minimum wage, perhaps. That will be a return to something like the system before the link was broken in the Thatcher period (?).

    Or jump the increase, and break the link now.

    Or adopt a basket of methods, as the Dutch, where there are several elements.
    Perhaps we should link pension increases to pensioner productivity?

    “Right. I see that you’ve played 32% more games of bowls this year. Your bus travel mileage is down, though. And no cruise booked? Tut tut….”
  • A

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Good of the Times to publish it. I'm sure they don't agree with it, and by putting it out there they are exposing this bloke to well-deserved public ridicule.

    Smart.
    I agree. This letter illustrates the problem.

    If nothing else, if I were running a hypothetical NHS professional standards agency, that his former department needs looking at. If this is his idea of normalised behaviour….
    Good point.

    Indeed, maybe we've all misjudged Dr Hilton and this is just a very clever way of whistleblowing on his old employer without alienating former colleagues? Or maybe he's just a prick.
  • Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    Yeah there is probably some truth in that, based on accounts from friends and relatives of some of the young people they work with, where a certain amount of mental toughness seems to be lacking. I've not really experienced it myself though.
    Mental toughness is one thing.

    Learning to cope with senior colleagues assaulting you should not be a requirement of any job.

    FFS! Does this still need saying? In 2023?
    No, exactly. It's quite incredible the attitudes that exist still in some quarters.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660
    Today sees me embark on the first of 3 ridiculously priced trips bought in the "Northern Flash sale".
    Sheffield to Huddersfield £1 advance singles in both directions so £2 in total

    Watching Huddersfield U21s vs Newcastle U21s

    Sheffield to Manchester on Friday 22/9/23 50p single and £2 single back (a couple of football options)

    Leeds to Morecambe £1.00 outward £1.50 return on Sunday 1/10/23

    I missed the 10p tickets and the 50p ones went very quick too

    Incredible event
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    Yeah there is probably some truth in that, based on accounts from friends and relatives of some of the young people they work with, where a certain amount of mental toughness seems to be lacking. I've not really experienced it myself though.
    Mental toughness is one thing.

    Learning to cope with senior colleagues assaulting you should not be a requirement of any job.

    FFS! Does this still need saying? In 2023?
    “Does this still need saying? In 2023?”

    Yes, it does.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    MattW said:

    Taz said:

    MattW said:

    I see the "Don't Close Ticket Offices" petition has passed 100k signatures.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542

    I’d be interested to know how many of the signatories actually use ticket offices as opposed to just like the idea of them.

    Our local ticket office was closed. It was the re opened after a backlash against it then closed again a few months later as hardly anyone used it.
    The numbers are that ticket offices do about 170 million tickets per year. The Govt have been leading with "12% of tickets", but I think it is more like 17% of businesses.

    But for many disabled people it is the difference as to whether they can use the rail system or not.

    Some types of ticket and other services are not available via the machines, some people cannot use the machines, and it is not uncommon to be stranded for hours at railway stations. The ticket office has to be the help point.

    That is perhaps why disabled peoples' organisations were not even consulted when the proposal was first cooked up in the corridors of power.

    See the commentary coming eg from Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson on this. She had to move house to be near a useable railway station.

    And that's ignoring the basic legal duties to which the railway service is subject around providing equality of access, and often ignores.

    At my local London Mainline Station (around 300k passengers per year) I suspect many disabled people stopped bothering years ago, as to change from Platform 1 to Platform 2 requires a half-hour train journey out and then back to either Nottingham or Chesterfield to use the lifts there to replace the crossing facility that was removed from our station in 1994 and not replaced.

    The Govt will get their nuts roasted on this one.
    Tickets can be purchased on your phone though, through the app. It’s actually easier, quicker and more accessible than a physical office.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485

    Taz said:

    MattW said:

    I see the "Don't Close Ticket Offices" petition has passed 100k signatures.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542

    I’d be interested to know how many of the signatories actually use ticket offices as opposed to just like the idea of them.

    Our local ticket office was closed. It was the re opened after a backlash against it then closed again a few months later as hardly anyone used it.
    I use them each time I travel to buy my ticket. Or to ask about the service and any delays.

    Smartcards and apps don't work for me.
    Er, why not? Is there something wrong with your phone?
  • Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    That fella clearly doesn't want to keep his job.
    The letter makes clear he retired three years ago. He's an unpleasant, sexist dinosaur, not an idiot.
    He's bound to be some sort of director/chair/ consultant. He's spent all those years being the man, he'll be lording it somewhere.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249

    A

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Good of the Times to publish it. I'm sure they don't agree with it, and by putting it out there they are exposing this bloke to well-deserved public ridicule.

    Smart.
    I agree. This letter illustrates the problem.

    If nothing else, if I were running a hypothetical NHS professional standards agency, that his former department needs looking at. If this is his idea of normalised behaviour….
    Good point.

    Indeed, maybe we've all misjudged Dr Hilton and this is just a very clever way of whistleblowing on his old employer without alienating former colleagues? Or maybe he's just a prick.
    My experience of humans suggest the latter, quite strongly.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249

    MattW said:

    Taz said:

    MattW said:

    I see the "Don't Close Ticket Offices" petition has passed 100k signatures.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542

    I’d be interested to know how many of the signatories actually use ticket offices as opposed to just like the idea of them.

    Our local ticket office was closed. It was the re opened after a backlash against it then closed again a few months later as hardly anyone used it.
    The numbers are that ticket offices do about 170 million tickets per year. The Govt have been leading with "12% of tickets", but I think it is more like 17% of businesses.

    But for many disabled people it is the difference as to whether they can use the rail system or not.

    Some types of ticket and other services are not available via the machines, some people cannot use the machines, and it is not uncommon to be stranded for hours at railway stations. The ticket office has to be the help point.

    That is perhaps why disabled peoples' organisations were not even consulted when the proposal was first cooked up in the corridors of power.

    See the commentary coming eg from Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson on this. She had to move house to be near a useable railway station.

    And that's ignoring the basic legal duties to which the railway service is subject around providing equality of access, and often ignores.

    At my local London Mainline Station (around 300k passengers per year) I suspect many disabled people stopped bothering years ago, as to change from Platform 1 to Platform 2 requires a half-hour train journey out and then back to either Nottingham or Chesterfield to use the lifts there to replace the crossing facility that was removed from our station in 1994 and not replaced.

    The Govt will get their nuts roasted on this one.
    Tickets can be purchased on your phone though, through the app. It’s actually easier, quicker and more accessible than a physical office.
    Thank you for pouring gasoline over your head. Im not sure that smoking a cigar while doing so was an optimal move, though.

    #EndCash
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660

    MattW said:

    Taz said:

    MattW said:

    I see the "Don't Close Ticket Offices" petition has passed 100k signatures.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542

    I’d be interested to know how many of the signatories actually use ticket offices as opposed to just like the idea of them.

    Our local ticket office was closed. It was the re opened after a backlash against it then closed again a few months later as hardly anyone used it.
    The numbers are that ticket offices do about 170 million tickets per year. The Govt have been leading with "12% of tickets", but I think it is more like 17% of businesses.

    But for many disabled people it is the difference as to whether they can use the rail system or not.

    Some types of ticket and other services are not available via the machines, some people cannot use the machines, and it is not uncommon to be stranded for hours at railway stations. The ticket office has to be the help point.

    That is perhaps why disabled peoples' organisations were not even consulted when the proposal was first cooked up in the corridors of power.

    See the commentary coming eg from Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson on this. She had to move house to be near a useable railway station.

    And that's ignoring the basic legal duties to which the railway service is subject around providing equality of access, and often ignores.

    At my local London Mainline Station (around 300k passengers per year) I suspect many disabled people stopped bothering years ago, as to change from Platform 1 to Platform 2 requires a half-hour train journey out and then back to either Nottingham or Chesterfield to use the lifts there to replace the crossing facility that was removed from our station in 1994 and not replaced.

    The Govt will get their nuts roasted on this one.
    Tickets can be purchased on your phone though, through the app. It’s actually easier, quicker and more accessible than a physical office.
    I buy mine that way but have yet to find an app that assists Mrs BJ and her powerchair onto the train
  • MattW said:

    Rather nice stamp from the Italian Post Office.



    Beautiful. I was quite surprised to see the French are naming an airport after her. She was our Queen but was held in high affection and esteem in many places. We were lucky to have her.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    edited September 2023
    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660
    edited September 2023
    Outbound Wednesday, 13 September
    01h 16m, 0 changes


    15:35 Sheffield

    Northern


    16:51 Huddersfield


    1x Sale Advance Single

    Specified train only. No refunds.


    1x Adult


    No seats reserved

    Return Wednesday, 13 September
    01h 17m, 0 changes


    21:12 Huddersfield

    Northern


    22:29 Sheffield


    1x Sale Advance Single

    Specified train only. No refunds.


    1x Adult


    No seats reserved

    Transaction Date:

    4 September 2023

    Card Type:

    Visa Credit

    Card Number:

    **** **** **** 8862

    Order Details

    Outbound
    Adult - Sale Advance Single

    £1.00

    Return
    Adult - Sale Advance Single

    £1.00

    Other costs
    Booking Fee

    £0.00

    Total amount: £2.00
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,075

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    I refer you to my previous remarks about pathologising normal human variation.

  • Transaction Date:

    4 September 2023

    Card Type:

    Visa Credit

    Card Number:

    **** **** **** 8862

    Order Details

    Outbound
    Adult - Sale Advance Single

    £1.00

    Return
    Adult - Sale Advance Single

    £1.00

    Other costs
    Booking Fee

    £0.00

    Total amount: £2.00

    Yeah but it is Northern.
  • MattW said:

    The trouble with the 'triple lock must end' drive is what is the amount that pensions should go up each year?

    Inflation?

    Wages?

    What is the answer?

    Maintaining the triple lock until the State Pension reaches a more sensible level, and then a percentage link to either average earnings or minimum wage, perhaps. That will be a return to something like the system before the link was broken in the Thatcher period (?).

    Or jump the increase, and break the link now.

    Or adopt a basket of methods, as the Dutch, where there are several elements.
    I think I'm right in saying that the triple lock was inserted into the Coalition Agreement by Steve Webb, who'd been a professor of social policy before becoming a Lib Dem MP. The Cameron policy at the 2010 election was merely to link pensions to average wages, but the Coalition Agreement includes the "triple guarantee".

    You have to say it was a pretty cunning move and I think he knew damned well what he was doing. It will have to be, and will be, removed eventually of course. But not before quite a few years where the basic state pension reverses what was a long period of decline relative to wages. He's an ex-MP now - swept away with most of the rest in 2015, but he's still having an impact through a possibly rather late insertion into the Coalition Agreement and may continue to do so for some years yet - a lot of pensioners owe the bloke a pint.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660

    Transaction Date:

    4 September 2023

    Card Type:

    Visa Credit

    Card Number:

    **** **** **** 8862

    Order Details

    Outbound
    Adult - Sale Advance Single

    £1.00

    Return
    Adult - Sale Advance Single

    £1.00

    Other costs
    Booking Fee

    £0.00

    Total amount: £2.00

    Yeah but it is Northern.
    It is but they are nationalized now so massively improved!!
  • Is abolishing the pensions triple lock brave, or is it desperate?

    The Truss Calamity showed how close Britain was to exhausting the patience of its creditors. If you feel a desperate need to close the gap between income and expenditure it makes sense to target the largest items of expenditure. That's pensions and the NHS.

    I'm a desperate situation not increasing pensions quite as fast as the triple lock is probably the easier of the available options. Options that are becoming ever more limited by fiscal reality.

    This fiscal reality is not going to be changed by the election of a Labour government. Such a government will have to either grasp the nettle of raising taxes, or it will find itself forced into the same desperate choices.
  • TheValiantTheValiant Posts: 1,874
    Kim tells Putin he opposes all forms of imperalism.

    I assume the Declaration of War from North Korea on Russia will follow later today?
  • alednamalednam Posts: 186

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Paper tickets useful for the 6% of adults—a large proportion of whom are over 70--who don't own a phone.
  • On a happier note...

    S'vastopol is burning down, burning down
    S'vastopol is burning down, burning down
    Oh dear Putin
  • Braille on prescription medication won't benefit the vast majority. That doesn't mean it should be abolished.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660
    edited September 2023

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    The latest Guards ticket machines cant scan some paper ones so its a cursory glance and you can go from Penzance to Wick on a Sheffield to Dore and Totley £1.60 paper ticket

    Only mugs bin paper!!

    Trainline still charge a commission so you are being ripped off. If you use an app at least use TicketySplit
  • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/uk-fails-ban-pesticides-outlawed-use-in-eu

    In unsurprising Brexit news, the government is taking advantage of our Brexit freedoms to poison our water supply, kill the pollinators that we rely on and damage human health in pursuit of agribusiness profits.

    The EU adopts the precautionary principle. The UK takes a product specific risk based approach. That will throw up different results.

    But your presentation assumes that bans = good. That’s not always the case.
  • Nigelb said:

    S Korea forestation - much planted since the war.


    I thought that was “fore station” … and was looking for the ticket office
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,075

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
  • Farooq said:

    Is abolishing the pensions triple lock brave, or is it desperate?

    The Truss Calamity showed how close Britain was to exhausting the patience of its creditors. If you feel a desperate need to close the gap between income and expenditure it makes sense to target the largest items of expenditure. That's pensions and the NHS.

    I'm a desperate situation not increasing pensions quite as fast as the triple lock is probably the easier of the available options. Options that are becoming ever more limited by fiscal reality.

    This fiscal reality is not going to be changed by the election of a Labour government. Such a government will have to either grasp the nettle of raising taxes, or it will find itself forced into the same desperate choices.

    Maybe it's neither. Maybe it's just sensible.
    Politicians don't do sensible things that will lose them loads of votes. So that's a very unlikely explanation for a decision like this.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660
    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Good point
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,134
    I think the Triple Lock, along with Social Care, is one of those things where serious reform will only come when both main parties agree on it.
  • Today sees me embark on the first of 3 ridiculously priced trips bought in the "Northern Flash sale".
    Sheffield to Huddersfield £1 advance singles in both directions so £2 in total

    Watching Huddersfield U21s vs Newcastle U21s

    Sheffield to Manchester on Friday 22/9/23 50p single and £2 single back (a couple of football options)

    Leeds to Morecambe £1.00 outward £1.50 return on Sunday 1/10/23

    I missed the 10p tickets and the 50p ones went very quick too

    Incredible event

    Give us a wave on 1/10 as you go through Clapham, up the hill on the left…
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660

    Nigelb said:

    S Korea forestation - much planted since the war.


    I thought that was “fore station” … and was looking for the ticket office
    Car Parks shut
  • Taz said:

    They should tie it to being a certain percentage of annual earnings. You can increase that percentage over time until it reaches say 67%.

    The issue isn’t the triple lock per de - it’s the perceived unfairness that they get inflation protection and a minimum floor. So get rid of those 2 and position it as “job done, worked well… this is the plan going forward”

    But that requires 2 years of speeches to sell and an ounce of political sense
  • HYUFD said:

    Taz said:
    William Hague of course being such an expert in how to win general elections he led the Conservatives to their second worst defeat in 150 years in 2001
    Hardly a massive blemish on Hague's career. I'm not sure the Tories led by Jesus Christ himself would have made much of a dent in Tony Blair's majority, at least not until the scales fell from the voters' eyes with Iraq.
    Considering Jesus Christ was a sandle wearing antiestablishment rebel who overthrew money tables, said that it was easier for a donkey to get through the eye of a needle than the rich to get into heaven, overturned cultural mores, hung out with the poor and prostitutes and had a "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" attitude, Jesus Christ would be more likely to belong to the Greens than the Tories.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    An entire square of recently shuttered shops, bars, restaurants in Mende, France. Much of the town centre is the same



    Brexit is so bad it’s actually hitting southern France
  • Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    Is abolishing the pensions triple lock brave, or is it desperate?

    The Truss Calamity showed how close Britain was to exhausting the patience of its creditors. If you feel a desperate need to close the gap between income and expenditure it makes sense to target the largest items of expenditure. That's pensions and the NHS.

    I'm a desperate situation not increasing pensions quite as fast as the triple lock is probably the easier of the available options. Options that are becoming ever more limited by fiscal reality.

    This fiscal reality is not going to be changed by the election of a Labour government. Such a government will have to either grasp the nettle of raising taxes, or it will find itself forced into the same desperate choices.

    Maybe it's neither. Maybe it's just sensible.
    Politicians don't do sensible things that will lose them loads of votes. So that's a very unlikely explanation for a decision like this.
    It doesn't have to lose anyone loads of votes. It just needs good comms.
    So it will lose loads of votes then.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Leon said:

    An entire square of recently shuttered shops, bars, restaurants in Mende, France. Much of the town centre is the same



    Brexit is so bad it’s actually hitting southern France

    Is that a tourist town in the off season? I've been to a few places where, after the season closed, they did the Big Rebuild of the centre, ready for next year - but businesses hadn't moved in yet. So they spent a part of the year empty
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,153

    HYUFD said:

    Taz said:
    William Hague of course being such an expert in how to win general elections he led the Conservatives to their second worst defeat in 150 years in 2001
    Hardly a massive blemish on Hague's career. I'm not sure the Tories led by Jesus Christ himself would have made much of a dent in Tony Blair's majority, at least not until the scales fell from the voters' eyes with Iraq.
    Considering Jesus Christ was a sandle wearing antiestablishment rebel who overthrew money tables, said that it was easier for a donkey to get through the eye of a needle than the rich to get into heaven, overturned cultural mores, hung out with the poor and prostitutes and had a "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" attitude, Jesus Christ would be more likely to belong to the Greens than the Tories.
    So, you're saying he wouldn't be a big Marjorie Taylor Greene fan?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,633

    Nigelb said:

    S Korea forestation - much planted since the war.


    I thought that was “fore station” … and was looking for the ticket office
    You can't see the wood for the trees.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,153
    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Do screenshots not count?
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,660

    Today sees me embark on the first of 3 ridiculously priced trips bought in the "Northern Flash sale".
    Sheffield to Huddersfield £1 advance singles in both directions so £2 in total

    Watching Huddersfield U21s vs Newcastle U21s

    Sheffield to Manchester on Friday 22/9/23 50p single and £2 single back (a couple of football options)

    Leeds to Morecambe £1.00 outward £1.50 return on Sunday 1/10/23

    I missed the 10p tickets and the 50p ones went very quick too

    Incredible event

    Give us a wave on 1/10 as you go through Clapham, up the hill on the left…
    9.49am will pm u when we leave Giggleswick!
  • Leon said:

    An entire square of recently shuttered shops, bars, restaurants in Mende, France. Much of the town centre is the same



    Brexit is so bad it’s actually hitting southern France

    Dillon's Corner in Skibbereen has closed. It's a veritable wasteland out there.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    boulay said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Good of the Times to publish it. I'm sure they don't agree with it, and by putting it out there they are exposing this bloke to well-deserved public ridicule.

    Smart.
    He’s also misspelt “insensitive” in his sign off, maybe the Times just couldn’t read his writing.
    "Insensitivist" (which is what it looked like at first glance) is now a word.
  • Penddu2Penddu2 Posts: 689
    I am getting my rugby predictions in early for this weekends games-
    - Thurs - France v Uruguay
    - Fri - New Zealand v Namibia
    - Sun - South Africa v Romania
    These three games will be walkovers for Fra, NZ & SA - with potential for record scores.

    - Sat - Samoa v Chile
    - Sat - Ireland v Tonga
    - Sat - Wal v Portugal
    - Sun - England v Japan
    These four games will be comfortable wins for Sam, Ire, Wal & Jap, but with 20-40 point margins 'only'

    The only real competive game this weekend is Australia v Fiji....and that will be an absolute cracker. More on this game to follow.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    That fella clearly doesn't want to keep his job.
    The letter makes clear he retired three years ago. He's an unpleasant, sexist dinosaur, not an idiot.
    He's bound to be some sort of director/chair/ consultant. He's spent all those years being the man, he'll be lording it somewhere.
    Probably in charge of whistleblowing, knowing the NHS ......
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,296
    kinabalu said:

    I think the Triple Lock, along with Social Care, is one of those things where serious reform will only come when both main parties agree on it.

    What are some examples of contentious issues where both parties agreed so they got resolved? I can think of abortion law perhaps?

    Generally I think British politics makes big changes (minimum wage, privatisation, austerity etc ) when one party wins decisively and can do what they want.
  • Penddu2Penddu2 Posts: 689
    Australia Fiji will be similar to Wales Fiji game - Australia's more organised game being battered by Fiji physicality and flair. Fiji will have a point to prove and I think they will edge it by 5 points!
    Which makes the group very interesting .....
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310

    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    Yeah there is probably some truth in that, based on accounts from friends and relatives of some of the young people they work with, where a certain amount of mental toughness seems to be lacking. I've not really experienced it myself though.
    Mental toughness is one thing.

    Learning to cope with senior colleagues assaulting you should not be a requirement of any job.

    FFS! Does this still need saying? In 2023?
    No, exactly. It's quite incredible the attitudes that exist still in some quarters.
    "Some quarters"

    Parliament
    The police
    The fire service
    The army
    The navy
    The RAF
    The law
    Medicine

    Might be quicker to list those quarters where this does not happen.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,405
    Penddu2 said:

    I am getting my rugby predictions in early for this weekends games-
    - Thurs - France v Uruguay
    - Fri - New Zealand v Namibia
    - Sun - South Africa v Romania
    These three games will be walkovers for Fra, NZ & SA - with potential for record scores.

    - Sat - Samoa v Chile
    - Sat - Ireland v Tonga
    - Sat - Wal v Portugal
    - Sun - England v Japan
    These four games will be comfortable wins for Sam, Ire, Wal & Jap, but with 20-40 point margins 'only'

    The only real competive game this weekend is Australia v Fiji....and that will be an absolute cracker. More on this game to follow.

    Are you trolling? I think Eng v Japan may be a tough game, but 30 to 40 point win?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    That fella clearly doesn't want to keep his job.
    The letter makes clear he retired three years ago. He's an unpleasant, sexist dinosaur, not an idiot.
    He's bound to be some sort of director/chair/ consultant. He's spent all those years being the man, he'll be lording it somewhere.
    Probably in charge of whistleblowing, knowing the NHS ......
    Chairman of the Trust Sexual Harassment Board, shirley?

    “By God, this Board is well-named!”
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    edited September 2023

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Incredibly naive of you to think that a single website always gives the correct ticket and optimal costing given the state of the railway industry.

    We're not all London commuters, and that is the key issue. It may sound pathetic that only 12% or whatever journeys use a TO, but given that most joirneys are repetitive ratrun commuting ...
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:

    In today's Times -



    The implication that stress makes you commit sexual assault/ rape colleagues is 😱. Very many women do stressful jobs without turning to sexual abuse to relieve their "stress". My niece is a consultant anaesthetist at a major teaching hospital who suffered an appalling amount of stress working during Covid and who managed to do so without sexually assaulting colleagues.

    Maybe it is men like the doctor writing this letter - who seemingly cannot cope with this "stress" - who are wrong for this profession. Or, indeed, all the other professions with a problem with men assaulting their female colleagues or clients.

    There are letters/emails you write - which you then print off, read, screw up and throw in the bin. If you send them you make a fool of yourself - or worse.

    This was one of those letters.

    Tldr; Women... Man up! Incredible stuff, someone actually wrote that.
    And the Times thought it right to publish it too.

    Buried in the ludicrous 1970's views, there is a point somewhere about expectations of hard work in medical training and the workplace. Clearly people need to go into training and jobs with full understanding of what is required.

    At Bath we have an issue with students who need extra time to complete exams, based on declarations of disability. I'd estimate around 40% of our pharmacy students receive extra time (for things such as dyslexia etc).

    All well and good, although I think many are playing the system. But I doubt that Boots or the Hospital trust who employs them is going to give them extra time to sort the ward round, or 10 minutes rest every hour. At some point people do need to man/woman up.
    Yeah there is probably some truth in that, based on accounts from friends and relatives of some of the young people they work with, where a certain amount of mental toughness seems to be lacking. I've not really experienced it myself though.
    Mental toughness is one thing.

    Learning to cope with senior colleagues assaulting you should not be a requirement of any job.

    FFS! Does this still need saying? In 2023?
    No, exactly. It's quite incredible the attitudes that exist still in some quarters.
    "Some quarters"

    Parliament
    The police
    The fire service
    The army
    The navy
    The RAF
    The law
    Medicine

    Might be quicker to list those quarters where this does not happen.
    “I humble myself before God, and there the list ends.”

    — Sam Houston
  • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/uk-fails-ban-pesticides-outlawed-use-in-eu

    In unsurprising Brexit news, the government is taking advantage of our Brexit freedoms to poison our water supply, kill the pollinators that we rely on and damage human health in pursuit of agribusiness profits.

    The EU adopts the precautionary principle. The UK takes a product specific risk based approach. That will throw up different results.

    But your presentation assumes that bans = good. That’s not always the case.
    "Thirteen of the 36 chemicals are considered highly hazardous pesticides under UN definitions used to identify the most harmful substances. Four of these are highly toxic to bees, one contaminates water and one is highly toxic to aquatic organisms."

    When it comes to pouring potentially toxic chemicals into our water supply or unleashing them on insect species that are critical to our food crops the precautionary principle sounds like a good one to me. Presumably you are "Still Waters" because the fish are all dead?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    The latest Guards ticket machines cant scan some paper ones so its a cursory glance and you can go from Penzance to Wick on a Sheffield to Dore and Totley £1.60 paper ticket

    Only mugs bin paper!!

    Trainline still charge a commission so you are being ripped off. If you use an app at least use TicketySplit
    The commission is only a quid!
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    rcs1000 said:

    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Do screenshots not count?
    Yes, of course they do.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    The idea we will still be using paper tickets ten, even five, years from now seems outlandish to me. It's an obsolete system.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,405
    Penddu2 said:

    I am getting my rugby predictions in early for this weekends games-
    - Thurs - France v Uruguay
    - Fri - New Zealand v Namibia
    - Sun - South Africa v Romania
    These three games will be walkovers for Fra, NZ & SA - with potential for record scores.

    - Sat - Samoa v Chile
    - Sat - Ireland v Tonga
    - Sat - Wal v Portugal
    - Sun - England v Japan
    These four games will be comfortable wins for Sam, Ire, Wal & Jap, but with 20-40 point margins 'only'

    The only real competive game this weekend is Australia v Fiji....and that will be an absolute cracker. More on this game to follow.

    Betfair has Japan at 14.5. I assume you have filled your boots...
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    rcs1000 said:

    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Do screenshots not count?
    Yes, of course they do.
    You are an expert on AtW?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    You do realise you can send the tickets via email as proof of purchase? That's what 90% of people in business do, daily.

    PB really is a weird bastion of eccentric luddites .
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    rcs1000 said:

    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Do screenshots not count?
    Yes, of course they do.
    And you have to have a printer, and maintain it, to do that.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918
    rkrkrk said:

    kinabalu said:

    I think the Triple Lock, along with Social Care, is one of those things where serious reform will only come when both main parties agree on it.

    What are some examples of contentious issues where both parties agreed so they got resolved? I can think of abortion law perhaps?

    Generally I think British politics makes big changes (minimum wage, privatisation, austerity etc ) when one party wins decisively and can do what they want.
    It was the Liberal David Steel who proposed the abortion decriminilisation with support from Wilson's Labour government, most Conservative MPs didn't vote for it
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    alednam said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Paper tickets useful for the 6% of adults—a large proportion of whom are over 70--who don't own a phone.
    It would probably make more sense to spend the money on reducing digital exclusion rather than retaining offices almost nobody uses.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    alednam said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Paper tickets useful for the 6% of adults—a large proportion of whom are over 70--who don't own a phone.
    It would probably make more sense to spend the money on reducing digital exclusion rather than retaining offices almost nobody uses.
    "almost nobody" - once you exclude commuter ratrunners, it becomes a much higher proportion. You're parroting the Government line.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918

    HYUFD said:

    Taz said:
    William Hague of course being such an expert in how to win general elections he led the Conservatives to their second worst defeat in 150 years in 2001
    Hardly a massive blemish on Hague's career. I'm not sure the Tories led by Jesus Christ himself would have made much of a dent in Tony Blair's majority, at least not until the scales fell from the voters' eyes with Iraq.
    Considering Jesus Christ was a sandle wearing antiestablishment rebel who overthrew money tables, said that it was easier for a donkey to get through the eye of a needle than the rich to get into heaven, overturned cultural mores, hung out with the poor and prostitutes and had a "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" attitude, Jesus Christ would be more likely to belong to the Greens than the Tories.
    Moses would definitely be a Tory though
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    Some days, I wonder how people manage to post on PB.

    Do they dictate their posts to their secretaries, who then do all the awkward computer stuff?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    ....
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918
    kinabalu said:

    I think the Triple Lock, along with Social Care, is one of those things where serious reform will only come when both main parties agree on it.

    The only party which can risk ending the Triple Lock is Labour, as most over 65s haven't voted Labour since 1997
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,664

    On a happier note...

    S'vastopol is burning down, burning down
    S'vastopol is burning down, burning down
    Oh dear Putin

    Fire confirmed...

    https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#t:adv;d:today;@33.5,44.6,13.0z
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    Carnyx said:

    rcs1000 said:

    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Do screenshots not count?
    Yes, of course they do.
    And you have to have a printer, and maintain it, to do that.
    No, you don't. You just email them. For crying out loud.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918
    edited September 2023
    Nigelb said:

    HYUFD said:

    Taz said:
    William Hague of course being such an expert in how to win general elections he led the Conservatives to their second worst defeat in 150 years in 2001
    If you wish that stat to stay unchanged then maybe listen to him ?
    Hague seems to want the Tories to lose the over 65 vote, that really would see them face a 1997 rout or worse.

    Over 65s are the only age group mostly still voting Conservative
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    Carnyx said:

    rcs1000 said:

    viewcode said:

    Trainline smartphone app works a treat, I’m sure there are others. No confusion, always splits the ticket if it’s cheaper, no stupid bits of paper to stuff in your pocket and lose.

    I haven’t bought a paper ticket for yonks. What exactly is the point of them?

    Access to Work requires proof of travel.
    Do screenshots not count?
    Yes, of course they do.
    And you have to have a printer, and maintain it, to do that.
    No, you don't. You just email them. For crying out loud.
    Do you actually use AtW?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    Some days, I wonder how people manage to post on PB.

    Do they dictate their posts to their secretaries, who then do all the awkward computer stuff?

    Some of us were adapting computers to do what we wanted beforer you were probably out of nappies.

    It's insane to confide every thing - banking, tickets, records you need for tax etc - to a single electronic instrument vullerable to theft and breakdown.
This discussion has been closed.