The government is expected to fire the starting gun this week on two by-elections that will give Rishi Sunak an early election-year test.
The contests are in Wellingborough and Kingswood, both safe Tory seats. But with Labour leading in the polls, either could inflict a damaging defeat on the prime minister months before the general election, almost certainly to be held later this year.
The Times understands that the writ needed to call a by-election will be moved for both seats on Thursday. After that, the vote must be held within 21 to 27 working days, with February 15 pencilled in by strategists.
Also, an irrelevant waste of everyone’s time. It doesn’t really matter whether China, Russia, the UK or France insist on a ceasefire, and we’re in the P5. The idea that anyone can get excited over a vote on what one city has to say in the U.S. seems bonkers to me.
But then that’s rather the point isn’t it: only the fringe nutters turn up to these things, because only they think they matter. So you end up with “nuclear free Basingstoke” or whatever.
They're wearing masks too, in 2024. Meanwhile a few states away their mirror images will be cheering along to deranged Trump speeches wearing T-shirts declaring they're proudly unvaccinated. American politics really does seem to have gone down the deepest of rabbitholes.
The government is expected to fire the starting gun this week on two by-elections that will give Rishi Sunak an early election-year test.
The contests are in Wellingborough and Kingswood, both safe Tory seats. But with Labour leading in the polls, either could inflict a damaging defeat on the prime minister months before the general election, almost certainly to be held later this year.
The Times understands that the writ needed to call a by-election will be moved for both seats on Thursday. After that, the vote must be held within 21 to 27 working days, with February 15 pencilled in by strategists.
Seattle Times ($) - Alaska Airlines flight at a different altitude could have been ‘catastrophic’
Several Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 passengers were hurt when a side of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 burst midflight last week — but injuries could have been much worse had circumstances been slightly different, according to local aviation medicine experts.
The aircraft was about 20 minutes into the flight, headed to Southern California, and had climbed about 16,000 feet when a door plug blew out and left a wide hole in the plane. If the MAX 9 had been at cruising altitude — around 30,000 to 40,000 feet — injuries might have been “catastrophic,” said Dr. William Bensinger, a Seattle aviation medical examiner who’s spent more than 40 years treating and evaluating pilots.
“The most concerning to me would be if someone was sitting in the seat next to the blowout,” Bensinger said. “Rapid decompression like that would cause air to rush out of the cabin, and if someone were sitting in that chair with their seatbelt off, they would get sucked out of the airplane. … It would have happened so fast you couldn’t react.”
On Flight 1282, no one was in the seat directly next to the blowout, but a 15-year-old was sitting in the window seat directly ahead of the hole as the air rushed out of the passenger cabin. His mother, sitting in the middle seat next to him, described to The Seattle Times seeing her son’s seat twisting backward toward the hole, his seat headrest ripped off and sucked into the void and her son’s arms jerked upward. . . .
She held on to her son tightly, hooking her arms beneath his arms and wrapped around his back. It wasn’t until after the flight, she said, that she noticed his clothing had been torn off his upper body.
The 10,000- to 20,000-foot difference in altitude means a significant difference in air pressure and available oxygen levels, according to Bensinger. At 16,000 feet, air pressure is “about 90% lower” than what people are used to at sea level, and passengers have about half the level of oxygen they’d normally have, he said. At 30,000 feet, even less oxygen is available in the air — and temperatures are much colder.
Cabins are generally pressurized between 4,000 and 8,000 feet, but if the door had blown out while the plane was at cruise level, people aboard would likely have had less than a minute before losing consciousness, Bensinger said. . . .
SSI - Boeing, its subcontractor(s) AND the FAA have MUCH explaining to do, to put it most mildly.
AND so does Alaska Airlines.
Why? Because they knew the airplane in question had a PROBLEM with pressurization . . . and actually kept it from flying over the Pacific Ocean from West Coast to Hawaii and back . . . yet kept it flying on other routes!
Note the plane was headed from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California. Incident occurred shortly after takeoff, when plane was only half way up to normal cruising altitude.
So IF it had happened say a hour later . . . .
Blimey. Are we used to always say you could trust a major western airline on safety checks and practices….
It must be a big opportunity for the Chinese aircraft industry.
Yes, we will take back control of the United States.
I would make an excellent Viceroy of America.
We didn't manage it in the last one, and we had a far better chance then. Arguably if we had offered the confederate states the protection of the British Empire we would have held the United States in permanent check, and been the pre-eminent world power for the 20th century at least.
No, because the southern States were an economic basket case. The UK was already declining relatively, and investing overseas too much. Having the CSA would have been another debit area.
And the matter of slavery. There'd have been another war of independence from the UK.
Arguably the relationship could have been a beneficial one in terms of economical synergies. Slavery was absolutely a big sticking block. The arrangement would and could not have been a conventional colonial one with planting of the flag.
Off topic: MoonRabbit - If you are interested in Lincoln and the US Civil War, may I suggest that you read some of the classic works on it, for example, Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, or Bruce Catton's Centennial trilogy.
Works of Sandburg and Caton are great reads, but also dated and less than definitive.
Reckon that Caton's narrative works now largely superseded by Shelby Foot's three-volume history. That is, until someone comes along and supersedes Foot!
For any PBer NOT (yet) aware of its existence, check out Ken Burns's best documentary series, "The Civil War" which features Foot pretty prominately.
Off topic: MoonRabbit - If you are interested in Lincoln and the US Civil War, may I suggest that you read some of the classic works on it, for example, Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, or Bruce Catton's Centennial trilogy.
Greg Goebel has a blog that covers it - or at least, it covered it in enough detail for me.
(He also covers planes quite well - e.g. the Hurricane https://www.airvectors.net/avhurr.html . I've corresponded with him in the past and he's a thoroughly decent bloke.)
Posted on the dead thread... I don't think many politicians or any party comes out of this PO scandal well. Nor does most of the press, with some exceptions. But for most of the extended period of time this scandal played out - pretty much my entire adult life - the public hasn't cared either. So perhaps you can understand why elected politicians didn't feel the need to involve themselves too deeply. I wonder whether the issue of complexity is the problem here. Although on one level the issue is simple - people lied to cover up problems with a product and tried to shift the blame for the problems onto innocent people - the details are quite complex, hard for the public or politicians to cut through especially when the experts can't be trusted. You see similar problems around other complex technical issues - epidemiology, trade with Europe - where politicians either deny responsibility or weaponise the complexity to deliberately misrepresent things. I wonder whether the real failure here lies with the House of Lords. Isn't the whole point of the unelected House that it is composed of people with expertise who can dig into complex issues, including ones that the public don't currently care about? Isn't this precisely the kind of issue that an effective HoL would have got stuck into a decade ago? Perhaps I've missed it but I don't think I've seen that kind of activity.
There was a debate on the adoption of the famous Lee-Enfield rifle, in the House of Lords, around the turn of the 20th Cent.
It is marvellous to read - former soldiers arguing from the point of view of practicality. Those wanting more accuracy vs reliability. Each listening to each other's arguments, presenting evidence, discussing alternatives. Lots of evident thinking.
Lots of very serious amateur shooters around then. Had been reading a fascinating book abotu the railway that had to be set up to provide for the numbers coming to Bisley and around the range complex - currently remaindered. One of those superficially nerdy railway books that throws a great deal of light on the social and other history of its time. IIRC the interest of the noble peers comes over in that too.
When I was a youngster I used to be a butt marker at Bisley for pocket money (get your minds out of the gutter). My son did the same decades later. I can tell you if you have a headache it is no fun. On one occasion instead of the usual targets, we were raising those boards with the picture of an angry solider on them, and instead of using the fixed position targets that you raise up and down (which by the way are lethal if a weight falls off them) we were hand holding them using a wooden post so we could lift them in different positions. One bullet went through the post I was holding and not just the board. Did not half hurt my hands.
Yes, we will take back control of the United States.
I would make an excellent Viceroy of America.
We didn't manage it in the last one, and we had a far better chance then. Arguably if we had offered the confederate states the protection of the British Empire we would have held the United States in permanent check, and been the pre-eminent world power for the 20th century at least.
I've seen some crazy fantasies from right-wing loonies, but making the Confederate States a British Protectorate in order to stymie the USA has to beat them all.
How is it a 'crazy fantasy'? I'm not proposing that this should happen, it's a historical counterfactual of the type often discussed here. Just you being an unpleasant little turd as usual I suppose.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
You mean, the WORKER gave his paypacket to his wife. NOT the company gave it to her, which is what JM is saying.
Former true in many families. Latter is IMHO poppycock.
SSI@ - If you read the UnHerd article carefully, you will find similar practices to what I had mentioned, for example: "The Scottish savings meters evoke a 20th-century practice known colloquially in Ireland as “the manage”, where working-class women budgeted for their families by separating cash into envelopes and jars earmarked for special purposes — one for Christmas, one for electricity bills, another for new shoes. In poorer households, while men brought home most of the money, managing that money and making it meet the demands of a household was women’s work."
The government is expected to fire the starting gun this week on two by-elections that will give Rishi Sunak an early election-year test.
The contests are in Wellingborough and Kingswood, both safe Tory seats. But with Labour leading in the polls, either could inflict a damaging defeat on the prime minister months before the general election, almost certainly to be held later this year.
The Times understands that the writ needed to call a by-election will be moved for both seats on Thursday. After that, the vote must be held within 21 to 27 working days, with February 15 pencilled in by strategists.
The government is expected to fire the starting gun this week on two by-elections that will give Rishi Sunak an early election-year test.
The contests are in Wellingborough and Kingswood, both safe Tory seats. But with Labour leading in the polls, either could inflict a damaging defeat on the prime minister months before the general election, almost certainly to be held later this year.
The Times understands that the writ needed to call a by-election will be moved for both seats on Thursday. After that, the vote must be held within 21 to 27 working days, with February 15 pencilled in by strategists.
Seattle Times ($) - Alaska Airlines flight at a different altitude could have been ‘catastrophic’
Several Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 passengers were hurt when a side of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 burst midflight last week — but injuries could have been much worse had circumstances been slightly different, according to local aviation medicine experts.
The aircraft was about 20 minutes into the flight, headed to Southern California, and had climbed about 16,000 feet when a door plug blew out and left a wide hole in the plane. If the MAX 9 had been at cruising altitude — around 30,000 to 40,000 feet — injuries might have been “catastrophic,” said Dr. William Bensinger, a Seattle aviation medical examiner who’s spent more than 40 years treating and evaluating pilots.
“The most concerning to me would be if someone was sitting in the seat next to the blowout,” Bensinger said. “Rapid decompression like that would cause air to rush out of the cabin, and if someone were sitting in that chair with their seatbelt off, they would get sucked out of the airplane. … It would have happened so fast you couldn’t react.”
On Flight 1282, no one was in the seat directly next to the blowout, but a 15-year-old was sitting in the window seat directly ahead of the hole as the air rushed out of the passenger cabin. His mother, sitting in the middle seat next to him, described to The Seattle Times seeing her son’s seat twisting backward toward the hole, his seat headrest ripped off and sucked into the void and her son’s arms jerked upward. . . .
She held on to her son tightly, hooking her arms beneath his arms and wrapped around his back. It wasn’t until after the flight, she said, that she noticed his clothing had been torn off his upper body.
The 10,000- to 20,000-foot difference in altitude means a significant difference in air pressure and available oxygen levels, according to Bensinger. At 16,000 feet, air pressure is “about 90% lower” than what people are used to at sea level, and passengers have about half the level of oxygen they’d normally have, he said. At 30,000 feet, even less oxygen is available in the air — and temperatures are much colder.
Cabins are generally pressurized between 4,000 and 8,000 feet, but if the door had blown out while the plane was at cruise level, people aboard would likely have had less than a minute before losing consciousness, Bensinger said. . . .
SSI - Boeing, its subcontractor(s) AND the FAA have MUCH explaining to do, to put it most mildly.
AND so does Alaska Airlines.
Why? Because they knew the airplane in question had a PROBLEM with pressurization . . . and actually kept it from flying over the Pacific Ocean from West Coast to Hawaii and back . . . yet kept it flying on other routes!
Note the plane was headed from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California. Incident occurred shortly after takeoff, when plane was only half way up to normal cruising altitude.
So IF it had happened say a hour later . . . .
Blimey. Are we used to always say you could trust a major western airline on safety checks and practices….
Yes, it's terrible, but it actually reassures me ever so slightly. As bad as it is from Boeing, at least it could have been prevented. Only issue is, did the airline ignore it because they get false positives on the sensors? My guess is, no.
SSI@ - If you read the UnHerd article carefully, you will find similar practices to what I had mentioned, for example: "The Scottish savings meters evoke a 20th-century practice known colloquially in Ireland as “the manage”, where working-class women budgeted for their families by separating cash into envelopes and jars earmarked for special purposes — one for Christmas, one for electricity bills, another for new shoes. In poorer households, while men brought home most of the money, managing that money and making it meet the demands of a household was women’s work."
Thanks to viewcode for their contribution.
I clearly remember my mum with a long red metal tin with compartments into which she would insert notes from dad's weekly pay packet for various items of expenditure.
SSI@ - If you read the UnHerd article carefully, you will find similar practices to what I had mentioned, for example: "The Scottish savings meters evoke a 20th-century practice known colloquially in Ireland as “the manage”, where working-class women budgeted for their families by separating cash into envelopes and jars earmarked for special purposes — one for Christmas, one for electricity bills, another for new shoes. In poorer households, while men brought home most of the money, managing that money and making it meet the demands of a household was women’s work."
Thanks to viewcode for their contribution.
Again, all this refers to wives budgeting money handed over to the by their HUSBANDS - not by the company, as you said.
See the difference. And IF there's any actual evidence for companies directly paying workers wives instead of workers themselves, I'm all ears.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
Bafflingly, for this wine club advert, @thetimes forgot to approach the science desk for recommendations - despite including lesser luminaries like @Sathnam and @rcolvile
Our tip: "Son of Red Shiraz". £6.99 and 14%. Best performer on alc-per-pound index
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Posted on the dead thread... I don't think many politicians or any party comes out of this PO scandal well. Nor does most of the press, with some exceptions. But for most of the extended period of time this scandal played out - pretty much my entire adult life - the public hasn't cared either. So perhaps you can understand why elected politicians didn't feel the need to involve themselves too deeply. I wonder whether the issue of complexity is the problem here. Although on one level the issue is simple - people lied to cover up problems with a product and tried to shift the blame for the problems onto innocent people - the details are quite complex, hard for the public or politicians to cut through especially when the experts can't be trusted. You see similar problems around other complex technical issues - epidemiology, trade with Europe - where politicians either deny responsibility or weaponise the complexity to deliberately misrepresent things. I wonder whether the real failure here lies with the House of Lords. Isn't the whole point of the unelected House that it is composed of people with expertise who can dig into complex issues, including ones that the public don't currently care about? Isn't this precisely the kind of issue that an effective HoL would have got stuck into a decade ago? Perhaps I've missed it but I don't think I've seen that kind of activity.
There was a debate on the adoption of the famous Lee-Enfield rifle, in the House of Lords, around the turn of the 20th Cent.
It is marvellous to read - former soldiers arguing from the point of view of practicality. Those wanting more accuracy vs reliability. Each listening to each other's arguments, presenting evidence, discussing alternatives. Lots of evident thinking.
Lots of very serious amateur shooters around then. Had been reading a fascinating book abotu the railway that had to be set up to provide for the numbers coming to Bisley and around the range complex - currently remaindered. One of those superficially nerdy railway books that throws a great deal of light on the social and other history of its time. IIRC the interest of the noble peers comes over in that too.
When I was a youngster I used to be a butt marker at Bisley for pocket money (get your minds out of the gutter). My son did the same decades later. I can tell you if you have a headache it is no fun. On one occasion instead of the usual targets, we were raising those boards with the picture of an angry solider on them, and instead of using the fixed position targets that you raise up and down (which by the way are lethal if a weight falls off them) we were hand holding them using a wooden post so we could lift them in different positions. One bullet went through the post I was holding and not just the board. Did not half hurt my hands.
When I was in my mid-teens our local sub-post office also sold guns and ammunition. Incidentally, it was never robbed. However at the back there was a rifle club with a range where I used to go occasionally. Very enjoyable, although I wasn’t very good.
The government is expected to fire the starting gun this week on two by-elections that will give Rishi Sunak an early election-year test.
The contests are in Wellingborough and Kingswood, both safe Tory seats. But with Labour leading in the polls, either could inflict a damaging defeat on the prime minister months before the general election, almost certainly to be held later this year.
The Times understands that the writ needed to call a by-election will be moved for both seats on Thursday. After that, the vote must be held within 21 to 27 working days, with February 15 pencilled in by strategists.
The Commons has yet to vote on whether to accept the Committee recommendation that he should be suspended for 35 days, after which a possible recall ballot can be organised.
We like to space out our pleasures, rather than greedily have them all at once.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Not unusual in working class communities back then afaik.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
You are in our thoughts. Why don’t you set up a Go Fund Me to pay for a well earned holiday after you have gone through all of that, just so we don’t have to?
Thanks, it’s dark and lonely work, but someone has to do it. It’s actually quite nice to get some sympathy
This glut of gigs is making it hard for me to do my one main summer ambition: a trip through the Stans. Uzbek, Kazakh, and onwards. I shall squeeze it in somehow
Enjoy Turkmenistan, where you will see, er, the world's largest carpet.
Isn't there also that big hole that's been on fire for decades?
Leon's not there yet..
Well they said "big hole" and he ran off to buy tickets. He didn't catch the "...on fire for decades" part but I'm sure he'll work around it.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he ever so drunk, that his employer gave his pay packet to the missus, instead of to him?
Sorta doubt it.
Note that practice of workers turning over their pay, etc. to their spouses is NOT restricted to coal minters, etc. from yesteryear . . . drunk or sober.
My point is that saying that mine owners (or whatever) regularly paid out to wives because their husbands were drunken sots, is (as far as I can tell) without factual basis.
SSI@ - If you read the UnHerd article carefully, you will find similar practices to what I had mentioned, for example: "The Scottish savings meters evoke a 20th-century practice known colloquially in Ireland as “the manage”, where working-class women budgeted for their families by separating cash into envelopes and jars earmarked for special purposes — one for Christmas, one for electricity bills, another for new shoes. In poorer households, while men brought home most of the money, managing that money and making it meet the demands of a household was women’s work."
Thanks to viewcode for their contribution.
Again, all this refers to wives budgeting money handed over to the by their HUSBANDS - not by the company, as you said.
See the difference. And IF there's any actual evidence for companies directly paying workers wives instead of workers themselves, I'm all ears.
Not quite that same thing but that is how soldiers fighting overseas and their families back home were both paid separately, at least for Britain but I imagine all countries had something similar.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
Costa - anodyne coffee doesn't taste of anything. Pret - super salty food slathered in mayonnaise. Greggs - sausage rolls made by the angels in heaven, sprinkled with distilled nectar of the gods. And eaten by the likes of me but you can't have everything.
SSI@ - If you read the UnHerd article carefully, you will find similar practices to what I had mentioned, for example: "The Scottish savings meters evoke a 20th-century practice known colloquially in Ireland as “the manage”, where working-class women budgeted for their families by separating cash into envelopes and jars earmarked for special purposes — one for Christmas, one for electricity bills, another for new shoes. In poorer households, while men brought home most of the money, managing that money and making it meet the demands of a household was women’s work."
Thanks to viewcode for their contribution.
Again, all this refers to wives budgeting money handed over to the by their HUSBANDS - not by the company, as you said.
See the difference. And IF there's any actual evidence for companies directly paying workers wives instead of workers themselves, I'm all ears.
Not quite that same thing but that is how soldiers fighting overseas and their families back home were both paid separately, at least for Britain but I imagine all countries had something similar.
True, but hardly same thing as saying, that UK (and US) turned over ALL of a soldier's pay to his wife, is it?
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he by any chance a drunken miner? (Ducking for cover!)
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Not unusual in working class communities back then afaik.
Very common.
Certainly WAY more common, that employers skipping the worker entirely and turning over the paypacket to his missus.
Also, an irrelevant waste of everyone’s time. It doesn’t really matter whether China, Russia, the UK or France insist on a ceasefire, and we’re in the P5. The idea that anyone can get excited over a vote on what one city has to say in the U.S. seems bonkers to me.
But then that’s rather the point isn’t it: only the fringe nutters turn up to these things, because only they think they matter. So you end up with “nuclear free Basingstoke” or whatever.
There is something remarkable about the way Israel just keeps going and ignores all this, regarding the people in the video as idiots, fifth columnists and suckers for woke propoganda.
I am not a fan of Russia and not a massive supporter of Israel. But sometimes it is reflect on these countries and their willingness to fight as a reminder of how the world really works, in contrast to the naïve pacifism and cowardice found in the west.
What's worse for Rishi? His moment in the sunlight for the government's quick and generous action to fix the PO scandal is overshadowed by his supposed allies in the media banging on about what Kier Starmer knew?
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he ever so drunk, that his employer gave his pay packet to the missus, instead of to him?
Sorta doubt it.
Note that practice of workers turning over their pay, etc. to their spouses is NOT restricted to coal minters, etc. from yesteryear . . . drunk or sober.
My point is that saying that mine owners (or whatever) regularly paid out to wives because their husbands were drunken sots, is (as far as I can tell) without factual basis.
Indeed, sound like coal-baron propaganda to me.
My dad was in the demo and building trade. A majority of his men would take monthly cheques, but a sizable minority wanted cash weekly. This was a major inconvenience for my dad, as it meant dealing with lots of cash every week (sometimes I used to calculate how many of each type of note and coin he would need).
Some wanted paying weekly as they would spend the money quickly, and have nothing on the Tuesday or Wednesday (Thursday was payday). If they got paid monthly, then they would have a week with no money, rather than a couple of days. And yes, going to the pub outside the factory gates on the Thursday night after payday was a notable thing.
Of the ones who got cheques, or cash paid directly into bank accounts; ISTR that two men had the cheques paid in their wife's name, as the men did not have bank accounts. No idea about the bank accounts.
So it did happen. This was in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
You mean, the WORKER gave his paypacket to his wife. NOT the company gave it to her, which is what JM is saying.
Former true in many families. Latter is IMHO poppycock.
I was listening to a Radio 4 documentary about Guinness a while back and they were discussing how in Nigeria Guinness was “The Drink” for the miners and it was quite expensive and so when the wives protested that their husbands were leaving work on pay day and blowing the wage on Guinness the mine owners agreed to pay the wages to the wives so they could stop the problem.
Apparently there are large sections of the populace in Nigeria who consider Guinness a Nigerian drink and have no concept of it being Irish.
On topic, is the logic right? Normally, with such a question, you would be the opposing side to have the higher score. For example, if you asked Man City and non-Man City fans "Do City dominate the Premiership too much?" you would expect to see non-City fans having a higher 'yes' score. Similarly, if you see Trump as an insurrectionist and prone to causing Civil War, then you would expect Democrats / Independents to answer yes more to the likelihood of Civil War question.
I think what this really shows is dissatisfaction with US political life at the moment so not surprising that Republicans are voting higher given they are out of power at the federal level.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he by any chance a drunken miner? (Ducking for cover!)
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he ever so drunk, that his employer gave his pay packet to the missus, instead of to him?
Sorta doubt it.
Note that practice of workers turning over their pay, etc. to their spouses is NOT restricted to coal minters, etc. from yesteryear . . . drunk or sober.
My point is that saying that mine owners (or whatever) regularly paid out to wives because their husbands were drunken sots, is (as far as I can tell) without factual basis.
Indeed, sound like coal-baron propaganda to me.
My dad was in the demo and building trade. A majority of his men would take monthly cheques, but a sizable minority wanted cash weekly. This was a major inconvenience for my dad, as it meant dealing with lots of cash every week (sometimes I used to calculate how many of each type of note and coin he would need).
Some wanted paying weekly as they would spend the money quickly, and have nothing on the Tuesday or Wednesday (Thursday was payday). If they got paid monthly, then they would have a week with no money, rather than a couple of days. And yes, going to the pub outside the factory gates on the Thursday night after payday was a notable thing.
Of the ones who got cheques, or cash paid directly into bank accounts; ISTR that two men had the cheques paid in their wife's name, as the men did not have bank accounts. No idea about the bank accounts.
So it did happen. This was in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
In USA back in the day, cash payment of wages was commonplace. Which of course was a logistical challenge for many employers.
One strategy was to cut down on number of $1-bills required for paydays, was to use $2-bills as much as possible.
Which in turn resulted in curious custom among miners, of tearing off a corner of a $2-bill so that it would NOT be mistaken for a $1-bill.
DPP deals with 100s of cases a week, you can’t expect management to personally deal with and know every single one of them
This comes down to the question I asked this morning: what is the DPP's role? If he was in charge, should the buck stop with him, or should some nameless grunt get blamed?
Having said that: he became DPP in 2008. The scandal gained prominence in 2009, so it's perfectly possible that those three cases occurred before then, which would be much more excusable than if the prosecutions were at the end of his term in 2013.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
Depends which ones really. Not a fan of Norman, Dyke or Abbot. Rusedski's ok and can only have sympathy for Louganis. LeMond my favourite of the Greggs.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
You mean, the WORKER gave his paypacket to his wife. NOT the company gave it to her, which is what JM is saying.
Former true in many families. Latter is IMHO poppycock.
I was listening to a Radio 4 documentary about Guinness a while back and they were discussing how in Nigeria Guinness was “The Drink” for the miners and it was quite expensive and so when the wives protested that their husbands were leaving work on pay day and blowing the wage on Guinness the mine owners agreed to pay the wages to the wives so they could stop the problem.
Apparently there are large sections of the populace in Nigeria who consider Guinness a Nigerian drink and have no concept of it being Irish.
Did NOT realize that Jim Miller is Nigerian? The things you learn on PB!
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he by any chance a drunken miner? (Ducking for cover!)
No - he didn't drink other than the occasional pint.
He was lowly paid and had no financial acumen whatsoever. Mum didn't work (other than occasional part time in a nursery) but was good enough to organise our meagre income so we just got by.
Very common in our area. Working class to lower-middle class Midlands. Peter Bone constituency!
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
You mean, the WORKER gave his paypacket to his wife. NOT the company gave it to her, which is what JM is saying.
Former true in many families. Latter is IMHO poppycock.
It was traditional, in Wigan at least, for the miners to put their pay in their wife's pinny as they came out of the gates. The wife would then open it and dispense a week's worth of spending money to the husband.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
The sandwich and drink meal deal at Gregg's is a darn sight more tasty, attractive, filling, fresh and healthy than the one you'd get at a supermarket. I'm a big fan of the ham, egg, salad and mayo. In a proper bun. With real, juicy slices of tomato and more than one measly slice of ham.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
For me it's the custard doughnuts. You feel sick afterwards but that's a price worth paying. I have about ten in a typical year.
Guenther Steiner leaves Haas. He has been replaced by Ayao Komatsu, who I hope will DIG IN and MINE the team's resources. If they can get up the table, then they'll BUCKET loads of money.
Seattle Times - Trump, Haley, DeSantis, others to compete in WA’s presidential primary
The lineup has been set for Washington’s March 12 presidential primary.
Republicans will choose between former President Donald Trump or one of four rivals: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; or biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
For Democrats, President Joe Biden will appear on the ballot alongside two longshot rivals: the self-help author Marianne Williamson and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota.
The candidate names were formally submitted by the state Democratic and Republican parties to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office before a Tuesday deadline.
Voters will receive primary ballots in the mail after Feb. 23.
Under state law, voters can participate in either the Democratic or Republican primary on March 12 but not both. They must sign a statement on the ballot envelope declaring a party affiliation in order for votes to be counted. . . .
DPP deals with 100s of cases a week, you can’t expect management to personally deal with and know every single one of them
The Horizon scandal was already a national story for anyone paying attention.
Neither were the Conservative/LD Coalition Government paying attention
If Starmer has to go for being DPP, we should also be looking for a new Foreign Secretary.
Bit different. The politicians can play the "we were told it was all okay" card. The public servants can't.
I don't see that at all. The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him. Surely if that is appropriate the same applies to the PM of the day. If Cameron is entitled to use the "I was told it was all Ok" card, so are the DPPs.
I do nonetheless believe Starmer owes us an explanation.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
You mean, the WORKER gave his paypacket to his wife. NOT the company gave it to her, which is what JM is saying.
Former true in many families. Latter is IMHO poppycock.
It was traditional, in Wigan at least, for the miners to put their pay in their wife's pinny as they came out of the gates. The wife would then open it and dispense a week's worth of spending money to the husband.
Yep, not in Wigan and not in the pinny at the gates as such but all my coalfield grandparents operated this way.
DPP deals with 100s of cases a week, you can’t expect management to personally deal with and know every single one of them
The Horizon scandal was already a national story for anyone paying attention.
Neither were the Conservative/LD Coalition Government paying attention
If Starmer has to go for being DPP, we should also be looking for a new Foreign Secretary.
Bit different. The politicians can play the "we were told it was all okay" card. The public servants can't.
I don't see that at all. The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him. Surely if that is appropriate the same applies to the PM of the day. If Cameron is entitled to use the "I was told it was all Ok" card, so are the DPPs.
I do nonetheless believe Starmer owes us an explanation.
I didn't say Starmer has to go (and, obviously, he won't). But I would be interested to know if the DPP of the day was aware of this issue? Starmer is a professional lawyer and it's the job of the professionals to get into the detail.
Obviously, he can't get involved in every individual case. But it wasn't just one case. Yes, the vast majority were brought by the Post Office rather than the CPS, but I'd have thought it would be the job of the DPP to be aware of systemic issues like this.
" The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him."
The argument is that Starmer has to go because Tory apparatchiks are terrified of a Labour government and they're now clutching at things so much smaller than straws that you almost need a microscope to see them.
DPP deals with 100s of cases a week, you can’t expect management to personally deal with and know every single one of them
The Horizon scandal was already a national story for anyone paying attention.
Neither were the Conservative/LD Coalition Government paying attention
If Starmer has to go for being DPP, we should also be looking for a new Foreign Secretary.
Bit different. The politicians can play the "we were told it was all okay" card. The public servants can't.
I don't see that at all. The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him. Surely if that is appropriate the same applies to the PM of the day. If Cameron is entitled to use the "I was told it was all Ok" card, so are the DPPs.
I do nonetheless believe Starmer owes us an explanation.
I didn't say Starmer has to go (and, obviously, he won't). But I would be interested to know if the DPP of the day was aware of this issue? Starmer is a professional lawyer and it's the job of the professionals to get into the detail.
Obviously, he can't get involved in every individual case. But it wasn't just one case. Yes, the vast majority were brought by the Post Office rather than the CPS, but I'd have thought it would be the job of the DPP to be aware of systemic issues like this.
After it became prominent enough to feature in things like the BBC report that @tlg86 posted, did nobody in the CPS ask any questions? Were there no meetings to establish their position on it?
" The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him."
The argument is that Starmer has to go because Tory apparatchiks are terrified of a Labour government and they're now clutching at things so much smaller than straws that you almost need a microscope to see them.
Yet at the same time they say he's just a technocrat who won't change anything. Something doesn't quite add up.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he ever so drunk, that his employer gave his pay packet to the missus, instead of to him?
Sorta doubt it.
Note that practice of workers turning over their pay, etc. to their spouses is NOT restricted to coal minters, etc. from yesteryear . . . drunk or sober.
My point is that saying that mine owners (or whatever) regularly paid out to wives because their husbands were drunken sots, is (as far as I can tell) without factual basis.
Indeed, sound like coal-baron propaganda to me.
My dad was in the demo and building trade. A majority of his men would take monthly cheques, but a sizable minority wanted cash weekly. This was a major inconvenience for my dad, as it meant dealing with lots of cash every week (sometimes I used to calculate how many of each type of note and coin he would need).
Some wanted paying weekly as they would spend the money quickly, and have nothing on the Tuesday or Wednesday (Thursday was payday). If they got paid monthly, then they would have a week with no money, rather than a couple of days. And yes, going to the pub outside the factory gates on the Thursday night after payday was a notable thing.
Of the ones who got cheques, or cash paid directly into bank accounts; ISTR that two men had the cheques paid in their wife's name, as the men did not have bank accounts. No idea about the bank accounts.
So it did happen. This was in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
Again back in the late 80s/early 90s, I worked in IT, producing the payroll for manual workers. They were paid weekly (us white-collar workers were paid fortnightly!). At Xmas/New year, because of holidays, the manual workers usually got 2 weeks pay (1 in advance). One year, because of the way the holiday dates fell, it was proposed they should be paid for 3 weeks (2 weeks in advance). They declined, for fear of spending the money too quickly.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
I have got the pret coffee subscription, which is unlimited hot drinks for £30 a month, even though I am only in London 1-2 days per week. I am getting good value for money from it. Also it can be used in departures at Stansted/Gatwick/Heathrow which is massively useful. If you go to Pret and get a sandwich/salad, crisps and coffee it works out cheaper than a Tesco Meal deal and the food is fresher and healthier. Lots of tradesmen doing the same thing but perhaps this is a London thing. Pret is ubiquitous in London.
Regarding Greggs, the problem I have is the food is very processed and low quality, full of fat and sugar, it doesn't make you feel particularly satisfied. Costa has ok if overpriced coffee but the food is totally plastic and unsatisfying. I probably go to McDonalds more than I should. But it can work as an evening meal for less than £7, often a good option if you want to keep costs down.
Convenience food in the UK is quite difficult. In Finland you can go to the supermarket and get coffee for 1 euro. They also have pretty good salad bars and bakeries. Often better, cheaper and healthier than the options in the UK.
DPP deals with 100s of cases a week, you can’t expect management to personally deal with and know every single one of them
The Horizon scandal was already a national story for anyone paying attention.
Neither were the Conservative/LD Coalition Government paying attention
If Starmer has to go for being DPP, we should also be looking for a new Foreign Secretary.
Bit different. The politicians can play the "we were told it was all okay" card. The public servants can't.
I don't see that at all. The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him. Surely if that is appropriate the same applies to the PM of the day. If Cameron is entitled to use the "I was told it was all Ok" card, so are the DPPs.
I do nonetheless believe Starmer owes us an explanation.
I didn't say Starmer has to go (and, obviously, he won't). But I would be interested to know if the DPP of the day was aware of this issue? Starmer is a professional lawyer and it's the job of the professionals to get into the detail.
Obviously, he can't get involved in every individual case. But it wasn't just one case. Yes, the vast majority were brought by the Post Office rather than the CPS, but I'd have thought it would be the job of the DPP to be aware of systemic issues like this.
Farage wants his scalp as will the Conservatives and their client media.
To be honest the entire political class should fall on their swords. However the Conservatives in office since 2010 seemingly can shrug their shoulders and carry on regardless because the client media say they can.
Another good poll for Labour from Savanta albeit with old fieldwork (January 5-7).Interesting though to see a sharp fall in the Labour lead across the 2024 polls to date from 24 with YouGov to 16 with Redfield & Wilton though as we know that's right up there with comparing apples with bulldozers.
Let's see where the midweek polls take us and see if the PO story is getting any real traction in terms of changing votes and minds. It's unclear currently.
Savanta are usually one of the better Conservative pollsters and Labour will be happy to see their biggest lead since October last year. Savanta is a UK rather than GB pollster so the swing is 15.5% from Conservative to Labour which is still in "solid majority" territory before tactical voting.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
You are in our thoughts. Why don’t you set up a Go Fund Me to pay for a well earned holiday after you have gone through all of that, just so we don’t have to?
Thanks, it’s dark and lonely work, but someone has to do it. It’s actually quite nice to get some sympathy
This glut of gigs is making it hard for me to do my one main summer ambition: a trip through the Stans. Uzbek, Kazakh, and onwards. I shall squeeze it in somehow
Enjoy Turkmenistan, where you will see, er, the world's largest carpet.
Isn't there also that big hole that's been on fire for decades?
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
I have got the pret coffee subscription, which is unlimited hot drinks for £30 a month, even though I am only in London 1-2 days per week. I am getting good value for money from it. Also it can be used in departures at Stansted/Gatwick/Heathrow which is massively useful. If you go to Pret and get a sandwich/salad, crisps and coffee it works out cheaper than a Tesco Meal deal and the food is fresher and healthier. Lots of tradesmen doing the same thing but perhaps this is a London thing. Pret is ubiquitous in London.
Regarding Greggs, the problem I have is the food is very processed and low quality, full of fat and sugar, it doesn't make you feel particularly satisfied. Costa has ok if overpriced coffee but the food is totally plastic and unsatisfying. I probably go to McDonalds more than I should. But it can work as an evening meal for less than £7, often a good option if you want to keep costs down.
Convenience food in the UK is quite difficult. In Finland you can go to the supermarket and get coffee for 1 euro. They also have pretty good salad bars and bakeries. Often better, cheaper and healthier than the options in the UK.
Have you actually tried the Greggs custard doughnuts though? Apologies if you have but this post has the air of somebody who hasn't.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
The sandwich and drink meal deal at Gregg's is a darn sight more tasty, attractive, filling, fresh and healthy than the one you'd get at a supermarket. I'm a big fan of the ham, egg, salad and mayo. In a proper bun. With real, juicy slices of tomato and more than one measly slice of ham.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
I have got the pret coffee subscription, which is unlimited hot drinks for £30 a month, even though I am only in London 1-2 days per week. I am getting good value for money from it. Also it can be used in departures at Stansted/Gatwick/Heathrow which is massively useful. If you go to Pret and get a sandwich/salad, crisps and coffee it works out cheaper than a Tesco Meal deal and the food is fresher and healthier. Lots of tradesmen doing the same thing but perhaps this is a London thing. Pret is ubiquitous in London.
Regarding Greggs, the problem I have is the food is very processed and low quality, full of fat and sugar, it doesn't make you feel particularly satisfied. Costa has ok if overpriced coffee but the food is totally plastic and unsatisfying. I probably go to McDonalds more than I should. But it can work as an evening meal for less than £7, often a good option if you want to keep costs down.
Convenience food in the UK is quite difficult. In Finland you can go to the supermarket and get coffee for 1 euro. They also have pretty good salad bars and bakeries. Often better, cheaper and healthier than the options in the UK.
Have you actually tried the Greggs custard doughnuts though? Apologies if you have but this post has the air of somebody who hasn't.
I'm ignoring that thug Topping. I adore the Pret sandwiches. Could live on them.
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Was he ever so drunk, that his employer gave his pay packet to the missus, instead of to him?
Sorta doubt it.
Note that practice of workers turning over their pay, etc. to their spouses is NOT restricted to coal minters, etc. from yesteryear . . . drunk or sober.
My point is that saying that mine owners (or whatever) regularly paid out to wives because their husbands were drunken sots, is (as far as I can tell) without factual basis.
Indeed, sound like coal-baron propaganda to me.
My dad was in the demo and building trade. A majority of his men would take monthly cheques, but a sizable minority wanted cash weekly. This was a major inconvenience for my dad, as it meant dealing with lots of cash every week (sometimes I used to calculate how many of each type of note and coin he would need).
Some wanted paying weekly as they would spend the money quickly, and have nothing on the Tuesday or Wednesday (Thursday was payday). If they got paid monthly, then they would have a week with no money, rather than a couple of days. And yes, going to the pub outside the factory gates on the Thursday night after payday was a notable thing.
Of the ones who got cheques, or cash paid directly into bank accounts; ISTR that two men had the cheques paid in their wife's name, as the men did not have bank accounts. No idea about the bank accounts.
So it did happen. This was in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
Again back in the late 80s/early 90s, I worked in IT, producing the payroll for manual workers. They were paid weekly (us white-collar workers were paid fortnightly!). At Xmas/New year, because of holidays, the manual workers usually got 2 weeks pay (1 in advance). One year, because of the way the holiday dates fell, it was proposed they should be paid for 3 weeks (2 weeks in advance). They declined, for fear of spending the money too quickly.
A friend of mine in Australia worked with someone (in 2000) who got paid twice weekly. He was addicted to "the pokies" (fruit machines to us) and he woud often spend his whole wages on a Friday and Saturday night. His employer had come to the arrangement that he gets paid half on Monday, when he would in theory at least spend the majority on rent and food.
" The argument is Starmer has to go because the buck stopped with him."
The argument is that Starmer has to go because Tory apparatchiks are terrified of a Labour government and they're now clutching at things so much smaller than straws that you almost need a microscope to see them.
Yet at the same time they say he's just a technocrat who won't change anything. Something doesn't quite add up.
They're so terrified they're not bothered whether their various attack lines are self-consistent?
FPT: Andy_JS linking to an interesting piece in UnHerd reminded me of this practice, about a century ago in the US. Mines (and perhaps some factories) paid men's wages to their wives. Typically, the wife would come down to the mine with his lunch at noon on Saturdays, collect her husband's pay, and give him enough back so he could get drunk that night.
Most people then thought that it was risky for a miner to have his full week's pay with him, while he was drinking.
Do you have citation for your "paid . . . their wives" factoid? Sounds like bullshit to me.
I am not @Jim_Miller, but my source is: my grandparents. Or more specifically you gave your paypacket unopened to your wife. The past was a very different place.
As soon as my dad got back from work on a Friday he would simply hand his pay packet to my mum. He wouldn't even look in it.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
Not unusual in working class communities back then afaik.
Very common.
Certainly WAY more common, that employers skipping the worker entirely and turning over the paypacket to his missus.
One on which Lee Anderson might be interesting - I think he has 2 generations before him down the mines.
Is literally everyone now happy with the government overriding the courts to overturn all the PO convictions btw? It's the sort of "principle" point where I'd expect somebody to rebel. Probably David Davis.
When exactly did Starmer metamorphosise from being a really boring man in a suit with a nasal whine who had no chance of ever being PM to the personification of evil, as evidenced by his attempt to imprison innocent sub-postmasters while at the same time liberating overseas killers from the death penalty?
The opinion polls certainly owe us an explanation.
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
The sandwich and drink meal deal at Gregg's is a darn sight more tasty, attractive, filling, fresh and healthy than the one you'd get at a supermarket. I'm a big fan of the ham, egg, salad and mayo. In a proper bun. With real, juicy slices of tomato and more than one measly slice of ham.
The key to a great sandwich is to use the supermarket jobs as a BASE
So you buy the M&S smoked salmon and cream cheese, but then you buy another packet of salmon to stuff in it, as well as the salmon already in there. £3? £4?
Shove it in, drizzle over the squeezed lemon and cracked black pepper. Now that is a superb fat sandwich, full of flavour, nutrition and protein, and much better for you than two unadorned sarnies, and about the same price
What options were open to Sir Keir with the Post Office scandal? Could he have said, 'Private Eye and Computer Weekly say this stuff might be a bit dodgy so I'm going to cancel the prosecution'? But wouldn't that be setting himself up as judge and jury? Surely it wasn't in his remit to launch any kind of inquiry. What, O what, should he have done?
Is literally everyone now happy with the government overriding the courts to overturn all the PO convictions btw? It's the sort of "principle" point where I'd expect somebody to rebel. Probably David Davis.
Off topic: MoonRabbit - If you are interested in Lincoln and the US Civil War, may I suggest that you read some of the classic works on it, for example, Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, or Bruce Catton's Centennial trilogy.
Works of Sandburg and Caton are great reads, but also dated and less than definitive.
Reckon that Caton's narrative works now largely superseded by Shelby Foot's three-volume history. That is, until someone comes along and supersedes Foot!
For any PBer NOT (yet) aware of its existence, check out Ken Burns's best documentary series, "The Civil War" which features Foot pretty prominately.
Is literally everyone now happy with the government overriding the courts to overturn all the PO convictions btw? It's the sort of "principle" point where I'd expect somebody to rebel. Probably David Davis.
Well, I'm not totally convinced by it, though I'm open to persuasion. I worry that it sets a precedent that could be used again some time in the future for a less worthy cause.
Is literally everyone now happy with the government overriding the courts to overturn all the PO convictions btw? It's the sort of "principle" point where I'd expect somebody to rebel. Probably David Davis.
Funnily enough, David Davis has been a big campaigner on this:
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
You are in our thoughts. Why don’t you set up a Go Fund Me to pay for a well earned holiday after you have gone through all of that, just so we don’t have to?
Thanks, it’s dark and lonely work, but someone has to do it. It’s actually quite nice to get some sympathy
This glut of gigs is making it hard for me to do my one main summer ambition: a trip through the Stans. Uzbek, Kazakh, and onwards. I shall squeeze it in somehow
Enjoy Turkmenistan, where you will see, er, the world's largest carpet.
Isn't there also that big hole that's been on fire for decades?
The Knapper’s Gazette has just commissioned me to go America, as it happens. Also Brittany, Colombia, Italy, the French Caribbean, Bangkok, the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh, and Moldova
Busy season ahead
"the most expensive hotel in Phnom Penh"
Truly living the life. And yes, yes I'm sure it's fantastic now with a rooftop pool and any number of cocktails, blah, blah.
Phnom Penh is fucking brilliant now. One of the most entertaining cities on the planet
And I’ve been to a few entertaining cities
It has all the hedonistic languor of Bangkok in about 1990, with the buzz of a young Chinese city in 2003, with the sizzle of Saigon in 2010. And brilliant food. And no one gives a fuck, it is quite lawless. And excellent French wine is possibly cheaper here than in France
But no Greggs. Forget it.
Why do people actually like Greggs. I don't get it.
You are George Osborne AICMFP. Greggs is like McDonalds. Cheap, consistent and reasonably good.
But it's just a slightly seedy chain of bakeries? I went in a Greggs once - the coffee was rank and the meat slice thing OK but greasy. At least McDonalds is a restaurant. I'm clearly missing something.
You are missing what I have just told you. If you go to Greggs, any Greggs, you know what you are getting and bar the odd omnishambles budget, you know how much it will cost. Ideal for a breakfast or lunchtime snack at work.
But you could say the same of Costas, Pret etc and they a squillion times nicer.
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
You bet they are more expensive. If you're a tradesman looking to grab something in a town you don't know well, you're barely getting change from a tenner for a latte and a panini at Costa whereas you're getting a couple of sausage rolls and a basic tea or coffee at Greggs for half the price. And, frankly, you're getting convenience to eat easily on the go and a satisfying, greasy hit to keep you going.
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
The sandwich and drink meal deal at Gregg's is a darn sight more tasty, attractive, filling, fresh and healthy than the one you'd get at a supermarket. I'm a big fan of the ham, egg, salad and mayo. In a proper bun. With real, juicy slices of tomato and more than one measly slice of ham.
Yes, we will take back control of the United States.
I would make an excellent Viceroy of America.
We didn't manage it in the last one, and we had a far better chance then. Arguably if we had offered the confederate states the protection of the British Empire we would have held the United States in permanent check, and been the pre-eminent world power for the 20th century at least.
I've seen some crazy fantasies from right-wing loonies, but making the Confederate States a British Protectorate in order to stymie the USA has to beat them all.
How is it a 'crazy fantasy'? I'm not proposing that this should happen, it's a historical counterfactual of the type often discussed here. Just you being an unpleasant little turd as usual I suppose.
Because the Southern states would have had even less regard for an imperial Britain holding power over them than taking their chances with the North.
Comments
Reckon that Caton's narrative works now largely superseded by Shelby Foot's three-volume history. That is, until someone comes along and supersedes Foot!
For any PBer NOT (yet) aware of its existence, check out Ken Burns's best documentary series, "The Civil War" which features Foot pretty prominately.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries)
https://vc.airvectors.net/twcdiv.html
(He also covers planes quite well - e.g. the Hurricane https://www.airvectors.net/avhurr.html . I've corresponded with him in the past and he's a thoroughly decent bloke.)
Former true in many families. Latter is IMHO poppycock.
"The Scottish savings meters evoke a 20th-century practice known colloquially in Ireland as “the manage”, where working-class women budgeted for their families by separating cash into envelopes and jars earmarked for special purposes — one for Christmas, one for electricity bills, another for new shoes. In poorer households, while men brought home most of the money, managing that money and making it meet the demands of a household was women’s work."
Thanks to viewcode for their contribution.
See the difference. And IF there's any actual evidence for companies directly paying workers wives instead of workers themselves, I'm all ears.
I think the club was correct in not asking the science desk for a recommendation
https://twitter.com/whippletom/status/1744694681026416800
Bafflingly, for this wine club advert,
@thetimes
forgot to approach the science desk for recommendations - despite including lesser luminaries like
@Sathnam
and
@rcolvile
Our tip: "Son of Red Shiraz". £6.99 and 14%. Best performer on alc-per-pound index
Edit: maybe more expensive though I guess.
However at the back there was a rifle club with a range where I used to go occasionally. Very enjoyable, although I wasn’t very good.
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1745004605006606718?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet
We like to space out our pleasures, rather than greedily have them all at once.
What a shock - NOT.
He earned it, she managed it. That was the deal. A comparative advantage type thing I guess.
CPS carried out 11 prosecutions of postmasters where 'notable evidence' was connected to Horizon
Three of the cases took place when Keir Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions - Labour says Starmer was unaware
A further 27 cases prosecuted by CPS have been identified by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
https://x.com/steven_swinford/status/1745129770327629937?s=46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQzrB3kuqck
Sorta doubt it.
Note that practice of workers turning over their pay, etc. to their spouses is NOT restricted to coal minters, etc. from yesteryear . . . drunk or sober.
My point is that saying that mine owners (or whatever) regularly paid out to wives because their husbands were drunken sots, is (as far as I can tell) without factual basis.
Indeed, sound like coal-baron propaganda to me.
I have had a written mailshot through the post from Labour / Keir Starmer.
Feels expensive given current postal prices. Labour targetting Ashfield?
Pret - super salty food slathered in mayonnaise.
Greggs - sausage rolls made by the angels in heaven, sprinkled with distilled nectar of the gods. And eaten by the likes of me but you can't have everything.
Equally they should know I voted Labour in 2019 (because I wasn’t voting for Bozo) so I’m not sure where those details have been lost
Certainly WAY more common, that employers skipping the worker entirely and turning over the paypacket to his missus.
I am not a fan of Russia and not a massive supporter of Israel. But sometimes it is reflect on these countries and their willingness to fight as a reminder of how the world really works, in contrast to the naïve pacifism and cowardice found in the west.
Some wanted paying weekly as they would spend the money quickly, and have nothing on the Tuesday or Wednesday (Thursday was payday). If they got paid monthly, then they would have a week with no money, rather than a couple of days. And yes, going to the pub outside the factory gates on the Thursday night after payday was a notable thing.
Of the ones who got cheques, or cash paid directly into bank accounts; ISTR that two men had the cheques paid in their wife's name, as the men did not have bank accounts. No idea about the bank accounts.
So it did happen. This was in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
Apparently there are large sections of the populace in Nigeria who consider Guinness a Nigerian drink and have no concept of it being Irish.
But my address has an A version for next door and a B version up the road.
Phoned up ST.
They asked me to walk it up the road
No problem if it gets it fixed.
Far better than the famously useless power company that transferred next door's power supply to me and it took 18 months to resolve.
Would you expect the DPP to be aware of them all?
I think what this really shows is dissatisfaction with US political life at the moment so not surprising that Republicans are voting higher given they are out of power at the federal level.
"FEARS as TOP UK journal ISLAMIFIED by ARAB fund."
Secondly, are you going to Pret to line your stomach for or during a night on the lash? That's a big market for some Greggs (although depends on site). As suggested, they have round the clock appeal - just in commercial terms, you want a steady trade for breakfast, lunch and, at the right location, after work - that makes good use of your property and staff.
You originally made the point about McDonalds at least being a restaurant. But, often, people don't want that. Clearly, you can take a McDonalds away too, but eating out of the bag on the street is trickier, as is doing it at your desk or the place where you're installing a new bathroom.
One strategy was to cut down on number of $1-bills required for paydays, was to use $2-bills as much as possible.
Which in turn resulted in curious custom among miners, of tearing off a corner of a $2-bill so that it would NOT be mistaken for a $1-bill.
Also belief that $2-bill inherently unlucky.
Having said that: he became DPP in 2008. The scandal gained prominence in 2009, so it's perfectly possible that those three cases occurred before then, which would be much more excusable than if the prosecutions were at the end of his term in 2013.
He was lowly paid and had no financial acumen whatsoever. Mum didn't work (other than occasional part time in a nursery) but was good enough to organise our meagre income so we just got by.
Very common in our area. Working class to lower-middle class Midlands. Peter Bone constituency!
The wife would then open it and dispense a week's worth of spending money to the husband.
If Starmer has to go for being DPP, we should also be looking for a new Foreign Secretary.
I'm a big fan of the ham, egg, salad and mayo. In a proper bun. With real, juicy slices of tomato and more than one measly slice of ham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ2FLuFVGMg
I believe the Seema Misra case is one that the CPS prosecuted.
Guenther Steiner leaves Haas. He has been replaced by Ayao Komatsu, who I hope will DIG IN and MINE the team's resources. If they can get up the table, then they'll BUCKET loads of money.
(Anyone who gets the 'jokes' is as sad as me...)
The lineup has been set for Washington’s March 12 presidential primary.
Republicans will choose between former President Donald Trump or one of four rivals: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; or biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
For Democrats, President Joe Biden will appear on the ballot alongside two longshot rivals: the self-help author Marianne Williamson and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota.
The candidate names were formally submitted by the state Democratic and Republican parties to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office before a Tuesday deadline.
Voters will receive primary ballots in the mail after Feb. 23.
Under state law, voters can participate in either the Democratic or Republican primary on March 12 but not both. They must sign a statement on the ballot envelope declaring a party affiliation in order for votes to be counted. . . .
I do nonetheless believe Starmer owes us an explanation.
Obviously, he can't get involved in every individual case. But it wasn't just one case. Yes, the vast majority were brought by the Post Office rather than the CPS, but I'd have thought it would be the job of the DPP to be aware of systemic issues like this.
They were paid weekly (us white-collar workers were paid fortnightly!).
At Xmas/New year, because of holidays, the manual workers usually got 2 weeks pay (1 in advance).
One year, because of the way the holiday dates fell, it was proposed they should be paid for 3 weeks (2 weeks in advance).
They declined, for fear of spending the money too quickly.
Regarding Greggs, the problem I have is the food is very processed and low quality, full of fat and sugar, it doesn't make you feel particularly satisfied. Costa has ok if overpriced coffee but the food is totally plastic and unsatisfying. I probably go to McDonalds more than I should. But it can work as an evening meal for less than £7, often a good option if you want to keep costs down.
Convenience food in the UK is quite difficult. In Finland you can go to the supermarket and get coffee for 1 euro. They also have pretty good salad bars and bakeries. Often better, cheaper and healthier than the options in the UK.
To be honest the entire political class should fall on their swords. However the Conservatives in office since 2010 seemingly can shrug their shoulders and carry on regardless because the client media say they can.
Another good poll for Labour from Savanta albeit with old fieldwork (January 5-7).Interesting though to see a sharp fall in the Labour lead across the 2024 polls to date from 24 with YouGov to 16 with Redfield & Wilton though as we know that's right up there with comparing apples with bulldozers.
Let's see where the midweek polls take us and see if the PO story is getting any real traction in terms of changing votes and minds. It's unclear currently.
Savanta are usually one of the better Conservative pollsters and Labour will be happy to see their biggest lead since October last year. Savanta is a UK rather than GB pollster so the swing is 15.5% from Conservative to Labour which is still in "solid majority" territory before tactical voting.
And that hot wrap thing they do.
The opinion polls certainly owe us an explanation.
So you buy the M&S smoked salmon and cream cheese, but then you buy another packet of salmon to stuff in it, as well as the salmon already in there. £3? £4?
Shove it in, drizzle over the squeezed lemon and cracked black pepper. Now that is a superb fat sandwich, full of flavour, nutrition and protein, and much better for you than two unadorned sarnies, and about the same price
And while it's a fairly comprehensive history, there are some large lacunae. Douglass, for example, isn't mentioned even once.
https://x.com/timmyvoe240886/status/1745142890865496340?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHjwKDNEOX8
Perhaps not 'crazy', but it is fantasy.