Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Even if Boris’s No 10 apartment refurbishment is funded by a charity a large slice of it will effect

123468

Comments

  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    Vaccination and seasonality are defeating it. The experience of the US States shows most of the rest is sacrificing chickens to the gods
    Vaccination and lockdown are defeating it. The experience of the US States doesn't show what your cherrypicking desperately wants it to say.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,694

    Same here - a few at work with young families used to go and told me they were great.

    They are probably fine inside if you like that kind of thing, but they don't look that great from the outside!
    My family love Centreparcs. I have to admit, it's superficially nice - but it's also utterly soulless, effectively imprisons you in a corporate version of a dull pine wood for the duration of your stay, necessitates you knowing in advance what activities you want to book in for at what times, and anything you do will work out at twice the price of the equivalent activities in the real world.
    And if you want to go in the school holidays its astronomically expensive.

    But as I say, I'm in a minority of one in my family in holding these views.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,827

    Are these Sunday's numbers? In England they're up 12,784 in total 5,496 first/ 7,288 second on a week ago
    Yes. In addition we were told that there would be two weeks of lower numbers due to supply. Strangely, lower numbers have occurred for 2 weeks.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795

    It's almost as if there was a pattern here....

    image
    You know, you keep making these faintly patronising comments as if I don't know that there's a day of the week effect. I am fully aware there is.

    Yet that return is poor even for a Tuesday (Sunday). I know this, you know this, there's no need for the snark.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520

    A couple of young families from work swore by Centre Parcs. It may be that standards have risen considerably in the last few years, as happened with cruise liners.
    I took my son there years ago, just me and him, he was 5, and I lost him. He went missing whilst cycling around. Found him safe and sound eventually. The absolute worst 2 hours of my life.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,188

    Same here - a few at work with young families used to go and told me they were great.

    They are probably fine inside if you like that kind of thing, but they don't look that great from the outside!
    They have fences to keep you out.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,888

    That turn-of-the-century bordello look is going to be all the rage isn't it?

    No?
    It's just the Red Wall look. Albeit slightly patterned.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794

    You know, you keep making these faintly patronising comments as if I don't know that there's a day of the week effect. I am fully aware there is.

    Yet that return is poor even for a Tuesday (Sunday). I know this, you know this, there's no need for the snark.
    I just don't think there's a need to look at any individual day's data in isolation. As long as the 7 day average is rising that's good news and it looks like it is.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited March 2021
    You can never be woke enough....you think you are, but you aren't.....

    Streaming platform Twitch has backtracked on a new policy to change its spelling of "women" after criticism from transgender communities.

    The company had said it would use the term "womxn" in order to be more gender neutral in its language.

    But LGBT communities online called the change transphobic because it suggested trans women were not women.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56251452

    The only solution to this kind of incompatibility, it just to rip up the whole English language and start again from scratch.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795

    Are these Sunday's numbers? In England they're up 12,784 in total 5,496 first/ 7,288 second on a week ago
    They are slightly less shite than last week, but that's in the context of last week being a particularly shite return by recent standards.

    Now, I hope and fully expect that things will rapidly improve (as we have been told). But, they have not improved yet and there is no sense in presenting today's return as anything other than underwhelming.

    It's poor, even controlling for the day of the week effect.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,611
    Selebian said:

    I went to one (Somerset) in mid 2000s and it actually wasn't that bad, accommodation wise (at least, the bit we stayed in). It all looked quite new, maybe it was. I've stayed in worse hotels. Should note that this was an ATP festival in closed season (April?) so it was not particularly busy and devoid of usual customers, just some drunk/stoned indie kids wandering around and Nick Cave sitting outside his chalet looking grumpy (think that's just his normal expression, so his accommodation might have been fine too).

    I wouldn't have wanted to go in summer, any kind of resort place for a holiday is my idea of hell.
    There is a festival dedicated to Adenosine triphosphate? Cool.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,131
    edited March 2021
    Cookie said:

    My family love Centreparcs. I have to admit, it's superficially nice - but it's also utterly soulless, effectively imprisons you in a corporate version of a dull pine wood for the duration of your stay, necessitates you knowing in advance what activities you want to book in for at what times, and anything you do will work out at twice the price of the equivalent activities in the real world.
    And if you want to go in the school holidays its astronomically expensive.

    But as I say, I'm in a minority of one in my family in holding these views.
    Center Parcs was a lot nicer when it first opened in the late 80s and early 90s than it is now. The problem is they've turned a lot of it into quasi-housing estates, whereas originally everyone had to stay in the same small chalets that were disguised by woodland. That was the original idea from the Netherlands.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,119
    edited March 2021
    Interesting football fixture in West Africa this afternoon


  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795
    MaxPB said:

    I just don't think there's a need to look at any individual day's data in isolation. As long as the 7 day average is rising that's good news and it looks like it is.
    It is, relative to the last seven days, which were the worst for a goodly while.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 29,845
    Nigelb said:

    It's just the Red Wall look. Albeit slightly patterned.
    To be fair, at least it is a change from the beige, grey and taupe that is all the rage with interior designers these days.
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818

    Vaccination and lockdown are defeating it. The experience of the US States doesn't show what your cherrypicking desperately wants it to say.
    LOL Lockdown is such a benefit Boris wants to make sure its the last one ever.

    See people like me are never letting go. We're going to keep saying there was a response to covid that didn't betray every single tory principle in the book and we're going to keep calling the modern tory party what it is. A repository for closet Blairites and careerist opportunists.

    So get used to it
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,188
    MattW said:

    They have fences to keep you out.
    Anyhoo, ex Change UK rock the Hi-de-Ho look. Anyone remember this person:


  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,792

    Well said. I'm just waiting for the moment that HMQ calls the leader who lost the election. For s##ts and giggles.
    But... that is what happens no? I'm sure that I kept hearing that Corbyn had won the 2017 GE after all... ;)
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,539

    Same here - a few at work with young families used to go and told me they were great.

    They are probably fine inside if you like that kind of thing, but they don't look that great from the outside!
    The decor is not Carrie Symonds, but functional, not uncomfortable, nicely set in whichever forest, full of agreeable enough people (PB elite may disagree), but not cheap compared to my more typical house rental. The gaps between our children were a bit awkward as the narrow age ranges on activities are (for understandable reasons) rigidly enforced - a younger kid won't go on the same, e.g. archery activity, as a slightly older kid, even for parents supervised activities. And also, as a result, there isn't too much for under 5s.

    For me, Center Parcs are probably best done a small number of times, a few years apart, and just for 3-4 days so the kids can do different things each time.

    I've not even imagined going back to a Pontins or Butlins as an adult (aiui, the army were based out of Southport Pontins when surge testing Liverpool last autumn).
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,928
    edited March 2021
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited March 2021
    We have no money cries the BBC....so we are going to bring back a channel that nobody watched.

    BBC Three will return as a fully-fledged TV channel in January 2022, six years after it moved online.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56251020

    Are there any actual people in BBC management switched on to the youth? THEY DON'T WATCH TRADITIONAL TELLY.....the idea of a channel that comes on the moving picture box between set times where you watch your favourite programmes, that something that Granny used to do.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited March 2021

    LOL Lockdown is such a benefit Boris wants to make sure its the last one ever.

    See people like me are never letting go. We're going to keep saying there was a response to covid that didn't betray every single tory principle in the book and we're going to keep calling the modern tory party what it is. A repository for closet Blairites and careerist opportunists.

    So get used to it
    And we'll keep telling you that US Republicans tried it your way, and as a result the House, Senate, and Presidency are now controlled by Democrats (the exact opposite of what you thought would happen, incidentally).

    The electorate really loved that 'principled' plan, didn't they?
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,311

    You can never be woke enough....you think you are, but you aren't.....

    Streaming platform Twitch has backtracked on a new policy to change its spelling of "women" after criticism from transgender communities.

    The company had said it would use the term "womxn" in order to be more gender neutral in its language.

    But LGBT communities online called the change transphobic because it suggested trans women were not women.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56251452

    The only solution to this kind of incompatibility, it just to rip up the whole English language and start again from scratch.

    How are countries with highly gender-dependent languages coping with this sort of thing?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited March 2021
    AnneJGP said:

    How are countries with highly gender-dependent languages coping with this sort of thing?
    In the article they mention the woke-ists that speak Spanish are trying to use new non-gender specific forms.

    The problem is that you are going to spend all this effort and then as the story shows, offend some other minority group. It is why the extremists of identity politics is just madness, it is impossible to have a logical consistent conclusion, woman is patriarchal, so we use womxn, but then trans women identity as women, so womxn is transphobic...

    The only outcome is rip everything up and start again from scratch.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,180
    isam said:

    Apparently it is the decision to send old people with Covid back to care homes, where it spread quickly and killed lots of other residents. This was at a time when no one knew much about Covid I guess.

    What puzzles me is what would have happened if those people had not been sent back to their care homes, but stayed in hospital - wouldn't they have spread it like wildfire there and killed lots of other patients? I dont see how people say "it has caused x amount of deaths" without considering what would have happened had the covid carriers stayed in hospital
    It has nothing at all to do with the disease and everything to do with political point scoring. Just like why we have a thread today about soft furnishings. I'm waiting for someone to claim that Boris is 'literally murdering' huge sections of the population with flock!
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,694
    AnneJGP said:

    How are countries with highly gender-dependent languages coping with this sort of thing?
    Ludicrously:
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/french-woke-get-way-gender-inclusive-terms-will-turn-language/
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222
    Are shepherds key workers?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794
    AnneJGP said:

    How are countries with highly gender-dependent languages coping with this sort of thing?
    Just ignoring it all, as we should do.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,131
    Cookie said:

    Ludicrously:
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/french-woke-get-way-gender-inclusive-terms-will-turn-language/
    If Le Pen wins the election next year, this is the sort of thing that will be to blame.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited March 2021
    MaxPB said:

    Just ignoring it all, as we should do.
    The problem is big companies are buying into this shit. Coke, with their be less white, Twitch with womxn, Mr / Mrs Potato-head gone.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,119
    edited March 2021
    AnneJGP said:

    How are countries with highly gender-dependent languages coping with this sort of thing?
    There was an article recently on how this kind of messing about with language is causing grief for some communities, whose English isn't very good, when they visit hospitals etc - Not specifically "Womxn", but "chest feeding" and the like
  • Boris in positive territory in today's poll - 44/36 = +8
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    The problem is big companies are buying into this shit. Coke, with their be less white, Twitch with womxn, Mr / Mrs Potato-head gone.
    I don't think I've heard about this very much at all in the real world, away from PB.

    Not hanging out on Twitter helps.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,771

    We have no money cries the BBC....so we are going to bring back a channel that nobody watched.

    BBC Three will return as a fully-fledged TV channel in January 2022, six years after it moved online.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56251020

    Are there any actual people in BBC management switched on to the youth? THEY DON'T WATCH TRADITIONAL TELLY.....the idea of a channel that comes on the moving picture box between set times where you watch your favourite programmes, that something that Granny used to do.

    My 7yo is baffled by the notion that some TV is "on" "now".

    The BBC is still on her list of 3 favourite TV entertainment providers, though (Disney+, Netflix, BBC, in that order), because CBBC is still of outstanding quality.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222
    Cookie said:

    Ludicrously:
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/french-woke-get-way-gender-inclusive-terms-will-turn-language/
    French harder to learn? Then don't bother. English is far superior - and accepted everywhere.

    Just let your language wither, France.
  • ozymandiasozymandias Posts: 1,503

    We have no money cries the BBC....so we are going to bring back a channel that nobody watched.

    BBC Three will return as a fully-fledged TV channel in January 2022, six years after it moved online.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56251020

    Are there any actual people in BBC management switched on to the youth? THEY DON'T WATCH TRADITIONAL TELLY.....the idea of a channel that comes on the moving picture box between set times where you watch your favourite programmes, that something that Granny used to do.

    More episodes of "Look what I've done to my genitals, Mum!" or some other crap. Better than the usual "Strictly does Casualty Pottery Throw-Up" with Rylan that passes itself off as the usual BBC 1 shite these days.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,430

    Hmmmm

    image
    I assume its referring to the MSOA data, so way smaller than the data for the areas posted. So that my area is Wiltshire but that has currently at least 10 MSOA's with 'suppressed data', including my location.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794

    The problem is big companies are buying into this shit. Coke, with their be less white, Twitch with womxn, Mr / Mrs Potato-head gone.
    The Mr/Mrs potato head is weird because they are two different toys.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    edited March 2021

    I don't think I've heard about this very much at all in the real world, away from PB.

    Not hanging out on Twitter helps.
    As I say, the problem isn't that it is some idiots on Twitter arguing about which pronoun is right or wrong, big companies are doing this crap. Twitch (is Amazon) have got in trouble because they tried to go woke and instead offend another group of woke-ists.
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    MattW said:

    Anyhoo, ex Change UK rock the Hi-de-Ho look. Anyone remember this person:


    The primrose jacket looks as though it was ordered from the Theresa May 'Strong and Stable' Fashion Label.

    Not the first bad mistake Sarah has made.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,180
    Any body would think there's an election looming........
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222

    Boris in positive territory in today's poll - 44/36 = +8

    The Boris-love chips in the vaccines are working then.....
  • BromBrom Posts: 3,760

    The primrose jacket looks as though it was ordered from the Theresa May 'Strong and Stable' Fashion Label.

    Not the first bad mistake Sarah has made.
    Was my least favourite MP after her unlikely journey from 'pro Brexit backbencher' to EU flag waving FBPE spokesperson a week before the vote. That choice really didn't work out for her career.
  • The Boris-love chips in the vaccines are working then.....
    Something is and it is annoying quite a few
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,180
    AnneJGP said:

    How are countries with highly gender-dependent languages coping with this sort of thing?
    En España es un problema! :smiley:
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,694

    And we'll keep telling you that US Republicans tried it your way, and as a result the House, Senate, and Presidency are now controlled by Democrats (the exact opposite of what you thought would happen, incidentally).

    The electorate really loved that 'principled' plan, didn't they?
    The fact that people don't agree with you doesn't necessarily make you wrong.

    Contrarian's plan is probably a vote loser. But that doesn't mean it is or isn't the right approach.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,754

    I see we've had the Boris is responsible for 10s of thousands of deaths brigade on here again today. For the life of me I cannot see how this is possible - and I give him very little credit for vaccines either. Unless there was a meeting where someone said for example 'if we discharge all these oldies into care homes we risk spreading the virus into a vulnerable group'. I would be very very very surprised if this is the case and expect that in general advice from scientific advisers was followed. Isn't this just s case of people making decisions with the best available information?

    You do have something of a point, and it is made more credible by you not buying the idea that he was single headedly responsible for the fact we have one of the world's most advanced pharma industries, and consequently first rate advice in this area.

    The point that does need to be made is that ministers are responsible for identifying problems either in advance or quickly afterward an apparent crisis and should respond with robust solutions. On this measure the government has been incompetent with respect to care homes and with respect to international travel restrictions. A lot of the problem comes from the top. Johnson is a vacillator, with an awful track record in office. His apologists are blinded to his leadership weakness by the fact that he won a "landslide" as though the latter is all that matters.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,131
    MaxPB said:

    The Mr/Mrs potato head is weird because they are two different toys.
    Also, you can make them anything you want already....Mr Potato head can be trans if you want, be a man, a woman, a womxn. Up to you, just stick a different hair / eyes / mouth etc on it.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,770

    I don't think I've heard about this very much at all in the real world, away from PB.

    Not hanging out on Twitter helps.
    It is easy to ignore. No need to take it seriously. A company can market its toys, or a soda company its sugary water however they choose. It is just marketing fashion.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,827
    █████████ but ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,218

    There is a festival dedicated to Adenosine triphosphate? Cool.
    Well, I always assumed that was what it stood for. What else could it have been? Don't think it was advanced train protection.

    Although, you might have thought they would have invited a livelier lineup... Not a great deal of energy on display.
  • Whilst we're talking internal decor, it was a relief that there is nothing in the Palace of RP that is so awful as to need swift replacement. However, I note with some amusement that shared comments about the (electric) shower not being much cop now has Mrs RP getting quotes for a new bathroom...

    What I am most exercised about is the fekking boiler which appears to have drunk about £250 of oil in just under a month. Fault in the control system means it needs to be manually switched on and off in the external boiler house and with its age it's probably got the same thermal efficiency as a string vest on a Bigg Market drunken night out.

    Looking at replacement ideas have stumbled upon biomass. Apparently I can get over £18k of funding to install a biomass boiler! Sounds fab...
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    MattW said:

    Anyhoo, ex Change UK rock the Hi-de-Ho look. Anyone remember this person:


    Wasn’t she the one of the dancing instructors?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,032
    Completely off topic, Merck has agreed a deal with J&J to manufacture the Janssens vaccine under license. This will more than double the number of J&J doses manufactured this year to around a billion. The first vaccines should roll off the production line in May.

    This means that Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and J&J are all expecting to produce around a billion (or more doses) this year.

    Completely off topic (number two). Moderna expects to make $18bn in revenue from CV19 vaccines this year. This is from a company that had never sold a product before.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222

    Also, you can make them anything you want already....Mr Potato head can be trans if you want, be a man, a woman, a womxn. Up to you, just stick a different hair / eyes / mouth etc on it.
    Doubtless, that notion will trigger somebody.....
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,430

    They are slightly less shite than last week, but that's in the context of last week being a particularly shite return by recent standards.

    Now, I hope and fully expect that things will rapidly improve (as we have been told). But, they have not improved yet and there is no sense in presenting today's return as anything other than underwhelming.

    It's poor, even controlling for the day of the week effect.
    And yet we've vaccinated over 20 million people since the start. Its not that long ago that some were suggesting vaccines were the next nuclear fusion - (always 30 years away). I will admit to obsessing over data, and checking cases etc every day at 4, but I really do think that the weekend effect is huge in these numbers, so worrying that a number is poor is over the top. The total for the week would be my minimum sample size.
    Its like the BBC constantly comparing one days cases and deaths to the previous day, rather than the week. I think that they are starting to get this right now, but its taken a year.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,827
    Foxy said:

    It is easy to ignore. No need to take it seriously. A company can market its toys, or a soda company its sugary water however they choose. It is just marketing fashion.
    Don't worry. Constable Savage will be arresting people for wearing loud shirts in built up areas, just as normal.

    Probably tasering people for describing coffee as black, though, after his diversity course....
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794
    rcs1000 said:

    Completely off topic, Merck has agreed a deal with J&J to manufacture the Janssens vaccine under license. This will more than double the number of J&J doses manufactured this year to around a billion. The first vaccines should roll off the production line in May.

    This means that Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and J&J are all expecting to produce around a billion (or more doses) this year.

    Completely off topic (number two). Moderna expects to make $18bn in revenue from CV19 vaccines this year. This is from a company that had never sold a product before.

    AZ just made $1bn from selling their Moderna stake!

    Good news about Merck licencing the J&J vaccine for production. I do wonder whether J&J mixed with AZ for two doses might be absolutely brilliant because there will be no vector immunity.
  • Whilst we're talking internal decor, it was a relief that there is nothing in the Palace of RP that is so awful as to need swift replacement. However, I note with some amusement that shared comments about the (electric) shower not being much cop now has Mrs RP getting quotes for a new bathroom...

    What I am most exercised about is the fekking boiler which appears to have drunk about £250 of oil in just under a month. Fault in the control system means it needs to be manually switched on and off in the external boiler house and with its age it's probably got the same thermal efficiency as a string vest on a Bigg Market drunken night out.

    Looking at replacement ideas have stumbled upon biomass. Apparently I can get over £18k of funding to install a biomass boiler! Sounds fab...

    Just a genuine query but didn't your survey comment on the oil boiler?
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,218
    Andy_JS said:

    If Le Pen wins the election next year, this is the sort of thing that will be to blame.
    But 'Le' Pen will be banned, surely? :wink:
  • PhilPhil Posts: 2,534

    Also, you can make them anything you want already....Mr Potato head can be trans if you want, be a man, a woman, a womxn. Up to you, just stick a different hair / eyes / mouth etc on it.
    The woke people I happen to follow on Twitter thought the womxn thing was hilarious. Not a term they would have chosen in a million years (IIRC it has a 70s RadFem heritage - taking "men" out of the name for "women" etc etc).

    Meanwhile I’m sure the Mr/Mrs Potato-Head thing is a subtle bit of right-wing trolling by the relevant brand managers: what better way to get your product into the press (for free!) right now than a spot of gender re-branding to trigger the right-wing press? It’s perfect.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,032

    As I say, the problem isn't that it is some idiots on Twitter arguing about which pronoun is right or wrong, big companies are doing this crap. Twitch (is Amazon) have got in trouble because they tried to go woke and instead offend another group of woke-ists.
    I'm with @Philip_Thompson on this - in the real world, I've seen close to nothing. And every time someone's stupid PowerPoint leaks, while it makes Twitter mad, it makes it less likely an actual company does this kind of "training".
  • isamisam Posts: 41,119
    edited March 2021

    Boris in positive territory in today's poll - 44/36 = +8

    Sir Keir has 31 Gross Positives.

    Very close to Ed Miliband at the same stage of his leadership

    Boris' 44 is pretty similar to Cameron

    I guess if the result at the next GE were the same as Dave vs Ed, Labour would consider that progress though
  • isam said:

    Apparently it is the decision to send old people with Covid back to care homes, where it spread quickly and killed lots of other residents. This was at a time when no one knew much about Covid I guess.

    What puzzles me is what would have happened if those people had not been sent back to their care homes, but stayed in hospital - wouldn't they have spread it like wildfire there and killed lots of other patients? I dont see how people say "it has caused x amount of deaths" without considering what would have happened had the covid carriers stayed in hospital
    They knew precisely what would happen when they discharged Covid suspect patients into care homes untested - that evidence has already been made public. The alternative was to test them first before release - only send in the negative ones. Yes, some would have been false negatives, but it would have both reduced infection rates and shown that they gave a shit.

    Or, just come clean. "The NHS was at risk of collapse. We had no alternative but to clear the hospitals, it was a hard decision, we took it in good faith, it was the least worst option". That would be fine. Instead we initially get utter denial, then "yes we did it, perfectly safe", then "you can't blame us".

    Yes we can blame you.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556

    Whilst we're talking internal decor, it was a relief that there is nothing in the Palace of RP that is so awful as to need swift replacement. However, I note with some amusement that shared comments about the (electric) shower not being much cop now has Mrs RP getting quotes for a new bathroom...

    What I am most exercised about is the fekking boiler which appears to have drunk about £250 of oil in just under a month. Fault in the control system means it needs to be manually switched on and off in the external boiler house and with its age it's probably got the same thermal efficiency as a string vest on a Bigg Market drunken night out.

    Looking at replacement ideas have stumbled upon biomass. Apparently I can get over £18k of funding to install a biomass boiler! Sounds fab...

    This whole 'being a laird' thing sounds easier than I thought...
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    As I say, the problem isn't that it is some idiots on Twitter arguing about which pronoun is right or wrong, big companies are doing this crap. Twitch (is Amazon) have got in trouble because they tried to go woke and instead offend another group of woke-ists.
    Big companies seek free publicity, news at 10.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,754
    Brom said:

    Was my least favourite MP after her unlikely journey from 'pro Brexit backbencher' to EU flag waving FBPE spokesperson a week before the vote. That choice really didn't work out for her career.
    Any worse than the journey that Boris Johnson made from one article to the other on Brexit. "Eeny meany, ere er er, mo; catch a er ere er by his toe, if I squeals, let in Gove. Oh, crikey, I'd better er er er pretend to believe in this pile of dog shit. It's going to be great! That's it, get self-harm done, and bugger the er er er blasted consequences! The integrity of the UK? Oh fuck the UK! Advance the agenda of Vladimir Putin? Oh fuck the British national interest, and fuck business too. Hey that's a jolly good er er er slogan, what?"
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,032
    MaxPB said:

    AZ just made $1bn from selling their Moderna stake!

    Good news about Merck licencing the J&J vaccine for production. I do wonder whether J&J mixed with AZ for two doses might be absolutely brilliant because there will be no vector immunity.
    That's a very interesting idea - albeit not one I know enough about. My gut (dangerous thing, guts) tells me that showing the immune system two slightly different invaders is probably a better idea than showing them two of the same.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,284
    Carnyx said:

    You do know Henry VIII of England is dead?
    Not in our hearts.
  • logical_songlogical_song Posts: 10,014
    Selebian said:

    But 'Le' Pen will be banned, surely? :wink:
    Jean Marie is a bloke, but not woke.
  • We have no money cries the BBC....so we are going to bring back a channel that nobody watched.

    BBC Three will return as a fully-fledged TV channel in January 2022, six years after it moved online.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56251020

    Are there any actual people in BBC management switched on to the youth? THEY DON'T WATCH TRADITIONAL TELLY.....the idea of a channel that comes on the moving picture box between set times where you watch your favourite programmes, that something that Granny used to do.

    BBC Three was an early adopter of a trend which has significantly ramped up. My YouTube Premium subscription allows me to watch a whole load of fantastically well made stuff which would in the past only have been made to go on TV. Why bother putting it on a channel? Available to stream on iPlayer is hardly an inconvenience, especially for that demographic.
  • They knew precisely what would happen when they discharged Covid suspect patients into care homes untested - that evidence has already been made public. The alternative was to test them first before release - only send in the negative ones. Yes, some would have been false negatives, but it would have both reduced infection rates and shown that they gave a shit.

    Or, just come clean. "The NHS was at risk of collapse. We had no alternative but to clear the hospitals, it was a hard decision, we took it in good faith, it was the least worst option". That would be fine. Instead we initially get utter denial, then "yes we did it, perfectly safe", then "you can't blame us".

    Yes we can blame you.
    As you are in Scotland is your comment directed at Sturgeon whose record on nursing homes is abymissal
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,032
    @MaxPB - do you know if the UK's Moderna doses (that have apparently arrived recently) come from the Lonza plant in Switzerland?
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,988

    Whilst we're talking internal decor, it was a relief that there is nothing in the Palace of RP that is so awful as to need swift replacement. However, I note with some amusement that shared comments about the (electric) shower not being much cop now has Mrs RP getting quotes for a new bathroom...

    What I am most exercised about is the fekking boiler which appears to have drunk about £250 of oil in just under a month. Fault in the control system means it needs to be manually switched on and off in the external boiler house and with its age it's probably got the same thermal efficiency as a string vest on a Bigg Market drunken night out.

    Looking at replacement ideas have stumbled upon biomass. Apparently I can get over £18k of funding to install a biomass boiler! Sounds fab...

    As someone who used specify, design, and install Biomass heating systems, I would personally recommend thinking seriously about the higher-end European brands. Biomass boilers have a lot of moving parts and obviously high temperatures so you want good materials for longevity. Certainly don't go (without further consideration) for whatever installers offer you by default as that will probably be whatever product they get the highest discount on.

    Most biomass boilers in this country went in purely for the subsidy when the RHI was quite frankly ridiculous. The value will depend on the cost of oil which is hard to predict.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,188
    The one that has been baffling me this week has been the "Irishman and a Dead Horse" story.

    A bloke perched on a recently dead horse whilst he was making a phone call, as there was nowhere else to perch.

    And ...?

    Yet the entire industry has put on dust and ashes, and gone into pre-emptive self-hating meltdown like a deranged sociology lecturer.

    Huh?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795

    And yet we've vaccinated over 20 million people since the start. Its not that long ago that some were suggesting vaccines were the next nuclear fusion - (always 30 years away). I will admit to obsessing over data, and checking cases etc every day at 4, but I really do think that the weekend effect is huge in these numbers, so worrying that a number is poor is over the top. The total for the week would be my minimum sample size.
    Its like the BBC constantly comparing one days cases and deaths to the previous day, rather than the week. I think that they are starting to get this right now, but its taken a year.
    Indeed, but it's worth noting that the last couple of weeks are a good chalk off where we need to be.

    Again (and I know you are not saying this) I am happy to forecast a sharp uptick – yet keeping a note of the daily and weekly numbers is instructive. We do need to get cracking.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,090
    Phil said:

    The woke people I happen to follow on Twitter thought the womxn thing was hilarious. Not a term they would have chosen in a million years (IIRC it has a 70s RadFem heritage - taking "men" out of the name for "women" etc etc).

    Meanwhile I’m sure the Mr/Mrs Potato-Head thing is a subtle bit of right-wing trolling by the relevant brand managers: what better way to get your product into the press (for free!) right now than a spot of gender re-branding to trigger the right-wing press? It’s perfect.
    It's almost certainly that, but it risks storing up trouble for the firm (and others like it) in the long-term when there's a political backlash to it.

    My views on it are similar to David Baddiel.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,180

    Also, you can make them anything you want already....Mr Potato head can be trans if you want, be a man, a woman, a womxn. Up to you, just stick a different hair / eyes / mouth etc on it.
    Exactly - you can 'mash' it up as you see fit!
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,032
    isam said:

    Sir Keir has 31 Gross Positives.

    Very close to Ed Miliband at the same stage of his leadership

    Boris' 44 is pretty similar to Cameron

    I guess if the result at the next GE were the same as Dave vs Ed, Labour would consider that progress though
    Of course: if they took the Conservative majority from 80 to 10, that would be enormous progress. Not enough, admittedly to get into number 10, but enough to make the Conservatives life very interesting.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,131
    Never look at the figures from a single day. Look at the weekly numbers.
  • Just a genuine query but didn't your survey comment on the oil boiler?
    Of course! Said it was "old and shit" - hence the plan to get it replaced sharpish. I had already researched Scottish government cash being available, but am genuinely surprised at the combined ScotGov/OFGEM largesse for Biomass. That the programmer appears to have thrown a 7 was new news.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,430

    Whilst we're talking internal decor, it was a relief that there is nothing in the Palace of RP that is so awful as to need swift replacement. However, I note with some amusement that shared comments about the (electric) shower not being much cop now has Mrs RP getting quotes for a new bathroom...

    What I am most exercised about is the fekking boiler which appears to have drunk about £250 of oil in just under a month. Fault in the control system means it needs to be manually switched on and off in the external boiler house and with its age it's probably got the same thermal efficiency as a string vest on a Bigg Market drunken night out.

    Looking at replacement ideas have stumbled upon biomass. Apparently I can get over £18k of funding to install a biomass boiler! Sounds fab...

    Unsolicited advice, but here goes - consider ground source heat pump. Advised my uncle to get it for his new build near Elgin - they love it, house always warm. I'd make sure you have a real fire somewhere (I believe you may have posted that you do) for when the leccy fails...
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,988
    edited March 2021

    Unsolicited advice, but here goes - consider ground source heat pump. Advised my uncle to get it for his new build near Elgin - they love it, house always warm. I'd make sure you have a real fire somewhere (I believe you may have posted that you do) for when the leccy fails...
    However a ground source heat pump is a terrible idea for an older property without good insulation, which I believe @RochdalePioneers's home is.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794
    rcs1000 said:

    @MaxPB - do you know if the UK's Moderna doses (that have apparently arrived recently) come from the Lonza plant in Switzerland?

    Yes, they did. Apparently due to be distributed soon after they've been certified.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,180
    isam said:

    Sir Keir has 31 Gross Positives.

    Very close to Ed Miliband at the same stage of his leadership

    Boris' 44 is pretty similar to Cameron

    I guess if the result at the next GE were the same as Dave vs Ed, Labour would consider that progress though
    Which poll is this?
  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,792
    MattW said:

    The one that has been baffling me this week has been the "Irishman and a Dead Horse" story.

    A bloke perched on a recently dead horse whilst he was making a phone call, as there was nowhere else to perch.

    And ...?

    Yet the entire industry has put on dust and ashes, and gone into pre-emptive self-hating meltdown like a deranged sociology lecturer.

    Huh?

    WTAF? Is that really all that story is about? I have to say that I totally assumed he'd been shooting the horse whilst on the phone, or got caught saying 'yeah I'm just sending Red Rum to the glue factory - useless piece of sh*t, wasn't ever going to win anything' or something like that. At which point the reaction is a bit over the top (in my opinion) but understandable.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,281
    rcs1000 said:

    That's a very interesting idea - albeit not one I know enough about. My gut (dangerous thing, guts) tells me that showing the immune system two slightly different invaders is probably a better idea than showing them two of the same.
    Definitely - the issue with "two doses the same" is the immune system responds to the vector in the second dose and nukes it before it can react to what you want it to react to - which is why a trial of AZ & Sputnik is underway:

    https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-astrazeneca-announcing-clinical-trial-programme-to-assess-combination-of-the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-and-the-sputnik-v-vaccine/
  • As someone who used specify, design, and install Biomass heating systems, I would personally recommend thinking seriously about the higher-end European brands. Biomass boilers have a lot of moving parts and obviously high temperatures so you want good materials for longevity. Certainly don't go (without further consideration) for whatever installers offer you by default as that will probably be whatever product they get the highest discount on.

    Most biomass boilers in this country went in purely for the subsidy when the RHI was quite frankly ridiculous. The value will depend on the cost of oil which is hard to predict.
    Thanks, will keep that in mind! Have got a "buy Bosch" policy at the moment for appliances for the same reasoning - buy cheap, buy twice etc
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    MattW said:

    The one that has been baffling me this week has been the "Irishman and a Dead Horse" story.

    A bloke perched on a recently dead horse whilst he was making a phone call, as there was nowhere else to perch.

    And ...?

    Yet the entire industry has put on dust and ashes, and gone into pre-emptive self-hating meltdown like a deranged sociology lecturer.

    Huh?

    I was a bit confused. It’s like they all assumed there’d be a massive controversy and acted as if it had happened. In reality, it’s a recently dead animal and no one cares. He has to sit somewhere to ring the glue factory.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 22,124
    I know we have some real “music” fans on here after the discussion the other night.

    If you like Coldplay, you’ll love “Jackie Weaver’s Kicked Him Out” by Helifonix feat. Jackie Weaver.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/02/zoom-legend-jackie-weaver-cuts-first-dance-track
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    Brom said:



    Was my least favourite MP after her unlikely journey from 'pro Brexit backbencher' to EU flag waving FBPE spokesperson a week before the vote. That choice really didn't work out for her career.

    The accolade of My Least Favourite MP in the 2017-2019 Parliament is not an easy one to decide.

    I don't much like Sarah for the reasons you say, but she may not even make the top 50 in my list of least favourite MPs in the 2017-2019 Parliament.

    I think Dominic Grieve might be one of my least favourite MPs in the 2017-2019 Parliament -- serial & gratuitous lying dressed up as smarmy principle. Perhaps not top, but he's certainly in the Hateful Eight.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,297
    MattW said:

    Nothing structural, them.

    And the bonus of keeping the existing central heating :smile: .
    Kept the boiler and radiators, but re-plumbed it all, relocated the boiler, and put a extra radiator in the bathroom.

    I'm a bit puzzled why this should cost so much more down South - the materials should cost about the same. Presumably trademans rates are higher (because of the cost of housing?), but it still seems long way adrift!

    I also only paid £90k for the house about 8 years ago, so it's cost me about £130k all up (it was done up about 2 years ago after I decided it really was beyond DIY level to do properly). Why anyone in their right mind lives in the SE I've no idea...!
This discussion has been closed.