It's a fucking pandemic. Of course it's devastating.
If there weren't these job losses, you'd be screaming that the government was making mountains of molehills.
Question: what would you have done differently to what Rishi Sunak has done to mitigate the hardship? I'm guessing "nothing much", because that is what we are hearing from the Labour Party. Nothing much.
Expected would have been a better word to use to describe it. How the recovery is handled is crucial.
Very true. However the scale of devastation makes a solid recovery by 2024 a very tough ask.
By the way how is that trade deal with the EU coming along? Oh and Japan, cheese anyone?
The pandemic is also going to bring about structural changes in working patterns, which might otherwise have been seen over a decade or two. There’s probably a decade’s worth of economic rebalancing that needs to happen, but for most people their quality of life will look more positive than the raw GDP statistics will indicate.
The quality of life vs GDP trade-off will be fascinating.
The best example is probably the government trying to get people to start commuting into London again, when all indications are that most people would rather not buy the £5k season tickets and hundreds of £3 coffees every year, when they can buy a £500 coffee machine and have the milkman leave an extra pint in the morning. Oh, and the extra three or four hours a day they now have back in their lives to see their kids grow up.
Most companies will likely end up with something of a hybrid system, with teams meeting up for three or four days a month and WFH otherwise - which will see people move further away from ‘work’, and see a rebalancing of the economy away from London over time.
I suspect the net result will be a drop in GDP, but for everyone except the train companies and coffee shops, life is measurably better.
Stainless steel? Also, you need a £40-50 grinder for that unless you want to get dusty pre-groubd stuff and woe betide anyone who wants a latte, cappuccino or cortissimo having to fumble around with heating up milk.
If you're going to look down on people, at least do it properly and don't recommend a stainless steel ill-shaped cafetiere.
I am not looking down on anyone. A good cafetière makes very good coffee. I have an Italian one handed down from my mother. No idea whether this JL version is any good but I really don’t think it necessary to pay £500 for a coffee machine. As for heating up milk, I would assume that most people have a small pan in their kitchen.
It really is not necessary to spend vast amounts of money on machines in the kitchen to make good coffee.
Of course it is not necessary. I bet you have spent over 500 pounds on something in the last two years that I would consider an unnecessary amount of money.
I have tried very many different ways of making cofee, and I find a good quality bean to cup espresso machine the best for me. By a long way better than a Moka.
We used to have a £400 De'longhi bean to cup coffee machine. One of the best purchases we ever made. Got it repaired after it broke down a couple of years after we'd bought it and got a full service report back including the count of the number of coffees it had made - the count was about 5000 cups of coffee by that time and we owned it for another few years before it died finally. We replaced it with a Dolce Gusto after it died, but I'd love to get another De'longhi in the future.
A bag of coffee beans goes a lot further and is a lot cheaper per coffee then than ongoing purchase of pods and a cheaper machine. The coffee is frankly a lot better too.
Its like the old story about a good pair of shoes being cheaper in the long run than many pairs of cheap shoes.
I did the maths once and it worked out cheaper in the long run getting a £400 quality bean to cup coffee machine than buying a cheap machine and pods.
Coffee Machine: £400 Coffee beans: £6.99 per kg 25g beans per cup = 40 coffee per kg = 17.5p per cup 6 cups per day (between a couple) = £1.05 per day Over 3 years: £1549.75
Dolce Gusto: £49.99 Espresso Pods: £4 per pack of 16 25p per cup £1.50 per day Over 3 years: £1692.49
If you drink more than 2-3 cups of coffee per day each then the bean to cup espresso machine becomes considerably cheaper in the long run, plus they typically last well over 3 years too. If you get a machine that makes cappuccinos then getting a £400-£500 machine that does that with fresh milk works out at considerably cheaper than buying a pod machine that only gets 8 cups of coffee out of a box of pods.
Johnson hasn't been a success as PM under these circumstances. I don't think he'll fight the next election. His unpopularity in Scotland is also an important factor.
It's a fucking pandemic. Of course it's devastating.
If there weren't these job losses, you'd be screaming that the government was making mountains of molehills.
Question: what would you have done differently to what Rishi Sunak has done to mitigate the hardship? I'm guessing "nothing much", because that is what we are hearing from the Labour Party. Nothing much.
Expected would have been a better word to use to describe it. How the recovery is handled is crucial.
Very true. However the scale of devastation makes a solid recovery by 2024 a very tough ask.
By the way how is that trade deal with the EU coming along? Oh and Japan, cheese anyone?
The pandemic is also going to bring about structural changes in working patterns, which might otherwise have been seen over a decade or two. There’s probably a decade’s worth of economic rebalancing that needs to happen, but for most people their quality of life will look more positive than the raw GDP statistics will indicate.
The quality of life vs GDP trade-off will be fascinating.
The best example is probably the government trying to get people to start commuting into London again, when all indications are that most people would rather not buy the £5k season tickets and hundreds of £3 coffees every year, when they can buy a £500 coffee machine and have the milkman leave an extra pint in the morning. Oh, and the extra three or four hours a day they now have back in their lives to see their kids grow up.
Most companies will likely end up with something of a hybrid system, with teams meeting up for three or four days a month and WFH otherwise - which will see people move further away from ‘work’, and see a rebalancing of the economy away from London over time.
I suspect the net result will be a drop in GDP, but for everyone except the train companies and coffee shops, life is measurably better.
If you make coffee at home once a day, maybe, but my "non-espresso" coffee method of choice is the air-press of the cafetiere.
No, just get a Nespresso machine. Easy, and the pods don't go stale. Possibly the greatest device ever made.
I do have a Bialetti Moka pot for camping.
Nespresso makes shite coffee though.
O(ne difference between Swiss and British supermarkets is that every Swiss upermarket has a grinding machine on the way out, so most people buy beans and get a fresh grind to take home with them.
Me, I drink Sainsbury Gold instant, so I'm just a peasant. But it did look pretty cool. In the same way, you can make instant orange juice, chucking oranges into a mixer and decnating the results into a takeaway beaker. The general idea is that going to the supermarket should be fun.
Interestingly mock exams are actually known as 'Pre Public Exams' hence they're referred to as PPE's. Looks like PPE is going to shaft the government twice
Mocks aren't standardised and most people don't bother working for them.
I think this is a genuinely really bad idea.
It also brings in massive issues of whether it advantages female students, who often work diligently for the mocks, over male students who sometimes ease off until closer to the exams.
Ofqual would be mad to get involved with this, it must surely leave them wide open to legal challenge?
My school conducts mocks in exam conditions, with invigilators, and internal moderation. Many schools do not. There is no way to quality assure this robustly. Williamson is a moron.
It's a fucking pandemic. Of course it's devastating.
If there weren't these job losses, you'd be screaming that the government was making mountains of molehills.
Question: what would you have done differently to what Rishi Sunak has done to mitigate the hardship? I'm guessing "nothing much", because that is what we are hearing from the Labour Party. Nothing much.
Expected would have been a better word to use to describe it. How the recovery is handled is crucial.
Very true. However the scale of devastation makes a solid recovery by 2024 a very tough ask.
By the way how is that trade deal with the EU coming along? Oh and Japan, cheese anyone?
The pandemic is also going to bring about structural changes in working patterns, which might otherwise have been seen over a decade or two. There’s probably a decade’s worth of economic rebalancing that needs to happen, but for most people their quality of life will look more positive than the raw GDP statistics will indicate.
The quality of life vs GDP trade-off will be fascinating.
The best example is probably the government trying to get people to start commuting into London again, when all indications are that most people would rather not buy the £5k season tickets and hundreds of £3 coffees every year, when they can buy a £500 coffee machine and have the milkman leave an extra pint in the morning. Oh, and the extra three or four hours a day they now have back in their lives to see their kids grow up.
Most companies will likely end up with something of a hybrid system, with teams meeting up for three or four days a month and WFH otherwise - which will see people move further away from ‘work’, and see a rebalancing of the economy away from London over time.
I suspect the net result will be a drop in GDP, but for everyone except the train companies and coffee shops, life is measurably better.
If you make coffee at home once a day, maybe, but my "non-espresso" coffee method of choice is the air-press of the cafetiere.
No, just get a Nespresso machine. Easy, and the pods don't go stale. Possibly the greatest device ever made.
I do have a Bialetti Moka pot for camping.
Yes, Nespresso is great. At 35-40p per cup it's incredible value too.
It is great I agree, though in the long-run bean to cup is probably considerably cheaper than 35p-40p per cup.
Nespresso is fantastic for occasional coffee drinkers who like a quality coffee. Bean to cup is fantastic for those who like to drink a lot of quality coffee. Instant and a kettle is fantastic for people who think Fosters is a beer.
That's the thing about PB value tips. I think we are all (not only Mike) biased towards the fun of going for a long shot, as it's so good when it comes off. But usually a value bet is simply a euphemism for a mistake that might have come off but didn't.
I did the maths once and it worked out cheaper in the long run getting a £400 quality bean to cup coffee machine than buying a cheap machine and pods.
Coffee Machine: £400 Coffee beans: £6.99 per kg 25g beans per cup = 40 coffee per kg = 17.5p per cup 6 cups per day (between a couple) = £1.05 per day Over 3 years: £1549.75
Dolce Gusto: £49.99 Espresso Pods: £4 per pack of 16 25p per cup £1.50 per day Over 3 years: £1692.49
If you drink more than 2-3 cups of coffee per day each then the bean to cup espresso machine becomes considerably cheaper in the long run, plus they typically last well over 3 years too. If you get a machine that makes cappuccinos then getting a £400-£500 machine that does that with fresh milk works out at considerably cheaper than buying a pod machine that only gets 8 cups of coffee out of a box of pods.
You simply cannot buy good coffee beans for £6.99/kg. Expect to pay £16.99 as a minimum.
An Aeropress (£30) is a fantastic way to make coffee. Get yourself a little grinder too.
On coffee: moka pot and hand grinder, but you have to buy espresso on occasion if you demand it. On scripts: has Mr Riley-Smith noticed that it's not normal for a "chat" to be photographed (as opposed to a scripted PR event)?
One could say the same about the entire shorlist. The problem is that the Mason tendency has switched from moaning about Trump to smashing up Main Street USA.
I did the maths once and it worked out cheaper in the long run getting a £400 quality bean to cup coffee machine than buying a cheap machine and pods.
Coffee Machine: £400 Coffee beans: £6.99 per kg 25g beans per cup = 40 coffee per kg = 17.5p per cup 6 cups per day (between a couple) = £1.05 per day Over 3 years: £1549.75
Dolce Gusto: £49.99 Espresso Pods: £4 per pack of 16 25p per cup £1.50 per day Over 3 years: £1692.49
If you drink more than 2-3 cups of coffee per day each then the bean to cup espresso machine becomes considerably cheaper in the long run, plus they typically last well over 3 years too. If you get a machine that makes cappuccinos then getting a £400-£500 machine that does that with fresh milk works out at considerably cheaper than buying a pod machine that only gets 8 cups of coffee out of a box of pods.
You simply cannot buy good coffee beans for £6.99/kg. Expect to pay £16.99 as a minimum.
An Aeropress (£30) is a fantastic way to make coffee. Get yourself a little grinder too.
It depends where you buy them from. I used to get mine from Costco and yes you could get good beans at that price. I bought my beans in bulk but the beans last and stay fresh until you open the bag.
Though I also screwed up my numbers for the bean to cup calculation. 25g is not how much coffee should go into a cup, that would be one heck of a strong cup. I was thinking a shot of spirits is 25ml and a single espresso is often 25ml but that includes water.
7.5g is more of a single espresso or 15g for a double espresso. So you can triple the price of the beans but make it 3x as many cups of coffee per kg of beans and it will still come out at the same numbers as before.
I wonder whether Biden was seriously considering Susan Rice, or if he made up his mind about Harris a long time ago.
We know Biden had Gretchen Whitmer fly to see him, so it could not have been in the bag for Kamala Harris just a few days ago.
If Biden needed a written reminder not to bear grudges against Harris, this is probably a case of head winning over heart. My guess would be that private polling or focus groups or just plain old politics swung it in the end.
That's the thing about PB value tips. I think we are all (not only Mike) biased towards the fun of going for a long shot, as it's so good when it comes off. But usually a value bet is simply a euphemism for a mistake that might have come off but didn't.
One could say the same about the entire shorlist. The problem is that the Mason tendency has switched from moaning about Trump to smashing up Main Street USA.
The problem is that Mr Mason doesn't know what he is talking about as he is reporting from an echo chamber thousands of Miles away from the actual people
It’s alright - holding cabinet meetings in Scotland will soon sort that out. Nee bother.
I'm quite heartened by what is definitely a renewed focus on Scotland - Rishi's visit, Cabinet meetings, leadership change, Boris's interview - even his holiday. It's an entirely valid argument that you don't think it will work, but at least it's showing up to the party.
Comments
A bag of coffee beans goes a lot further and is a lot cheaper per coffee then than ongoing purchase of pods and a cheaper machine. The coffee is frankly a lot better too.
Its like the old story about a good pair of shoes being cheaper in the long run than many pairs of cheap shoes.
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/08/11/trump-administration-collaborates-with-moderna-produce-100-million-doses-covid-19-investigational-vaccine.html
https://twitter.com/AndyBiotech/status/1293319982089216002
https://covid.joinzoe.com/data#levels-over-time
Coffee Machine: £400
Coffee beans: £6.99 per kg
25g beans per cup = 40 coffee per kg = 17.5p per cup
6 cups per day (between a couple) = £1.05 per day
Over 3 years: £1549.75
Dolce Gusto: £49.99
Espresso Pods: £4 per pack of 16
25p per cup
£1.50 per day
Over 3 years: £1692.49
If you drink more than 2-3 cups of coffee per day each then the bean to cup espresso machine becomes considerably cheaper in the long run, plus they typically last well over 3 years too. If you get a machine that makes cappuccinos then getting a £400-£500 machine that does that with fresh milk works out at considerably cheaper than buying a pod machine that only gets 8 cups of coffee out of a box of pods.
Now, any bets at which point on in the next 48 hours, Gavin Williamson will have to revise the shambolic A level grading policy AGAIN?
I think this is a genuinely really bad idea.
Me, I drink Sainsbury Gold instant, so I'm just a peasant. But it did look pretty cool. In the same way, you can make instant orange juice, chucking oranges into a mixer and decnating the results into a takeaway beaker. The general idea is that going to the supermarket should be fun.
Ofqual would be mad to get involved with this, it must surely leave them wide open to legal challenge?
My school conducts mocks in exam conditions, with invigilators, and internal moderation. Many schools do not. There is no way to quality assure this robustly. Williamson is a moron.
Nespresso is fantastic for occasional coffee drinkers who like a quality coffee.
Bean to cup is fantastic for those who like to drink a lot of quality coffee.
Instant and a kettle is fantastic for people who think Fosters is a beer.
And its just a choice. If the predicted grade, or actual exam, is better then go with that.
An Aeropress (£30) is a fantastic way to make coffee. Get yourself a little grinder too.
On scripts: has Mr Riley-Smith noticed that it's not normal for a "chat" to be photographed (as opposed to a scripted PR event)?
7.5g is more of a single espresso or 15g for a double espresso. So you can triple the price of the beans but make it 3x as many cups of coffee per kg of beans and it will still come out at the same numbers as before.
https://twitter.com/andrew_lilico/status/1293171162634215424?s=21
If Biden needed a written reminder not to bear grudges against Harris, this is probably a case of head winning over heart. My guess would be that private polling or focus groups or just plain old politics swung it in the end.