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COVID vaccination – the extraordinary political divide in the US – politicalbetting.com

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  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126
    kinabalu said:

    This Land: The Story of a Movement by Owen Jones is a good account of why Labour chose Corbyn and where and why it went wrong.

    Perfect for a 15 year old with an interest in today's politics.

    I'm amazed and disappointed, given the stated age and stereotypical politics of someone that age, that no one had suggested that joke 'Why Socialism works' book.

    But no, everyone has been serious, no doubt in an attempt to induct a new generation of political wonks.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477
    Mortimer said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    According to what I can make of their annual report, their biggest single contributor is the DFID. Good to know that I as a taxpayer am contributing to limit the choice of what I can buy in Tesco.

    Sigh.

    I'm going to get over it now. They will keep. :smile:
    I was slightly taken aback last week. In the relatively small Sainsbos near me, there is about a 9ft wide section of different mayonaises. I mean, really?
    Best to make your own (though I usually buy Hellman's if I'm honest).
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,833

    glw said:

    kle4 said:

    Under 6,000 cases from 900,000 tests:


    992k tests?!
    Pillar 2, which is the government Lighthouse Labs and other private labs, is doing a huge part of all the testing now. It's nuts just how huge that capacity has grown, as almost all of it is new.

    Hancock today was talking about sequencing scaling up even further from where it is now, so that we can ideally test every positive result. We already do far more sequencing than anybody else, and we intend to do even more.

    When this is all over the UK is going to have a ridiculously huge testing and genetic sequencing capability. I wonder what we will do with it, tear it down, mothball it, or is there are "peacetime" use?
    Difficult to say. Some people are quite excited about using this to promote a permanent cultural shift in attitudes to respiratory illnesses - basically, to try to break the culture of presenteeism and encourage people who come down with flu-like symptoms not to go to work and cough all over everybody, but to stay home and order a test. I think that the boffins would rather like to drive down rates of flu and Covid every Winter simply by persuading the sick to stay out of circulation until they get better, and thus consign the annual NHS Winter Crisis to the dustbin of history.

    Personally I don't think it has a chance of success even if attempted, because of a combination of crap sick pay and crap employers, but it's an idea that has some merit in theory.
    Why we allow bad employers to get away with the pathetic statutory sick pay I have no idea. Employers should pay at least the first week per year in full, themselves. Surely this would be a vote winner all round?
    There are two separate issues at work here. One is SSP - and there's no need to bash employers (which don't always operate on particularly large profit margins) over the head on this one. SSP is funded by the taxpayer; the Government simply needs to make it substantially more generous. As has been pointed out repeatedly during the pandemic, there's no point in telling people on low incomes who come down the Covid symptoms that it is their duty to self-isolate, if doing so means that they can no longer afford to feed themselves or their children. Many will keep going to work anyway because they are forced to.

    The other problem concerns employers who are paranoid about skiving, and operate Draconian sickness and absence policies accordingly. Even if sick pay is good, employees will nonetheless avoid calling in sick if breaching whatever limits their employer sets on acceptable levels of absence means being put onto an automated conveyor belt of health capability reviews and threatened with disciplinary sanctions. This does happen, even in otherwise quite reasonable businesses. I've both seen and suffered from it myself in the past. And that's without bringing the genuinely bad employers into the equation, too.

    Getting the contagious ill out of the workplace requires much better sick pay and reformed attitudes amongst business and the workforce alike. It'd be quite a challenge to take on.
    Why should the govt pay for SSP for a minority of bad employers when most employers pay for contractual sick pay themselves? Why should employees lose pay for being sick for a few days a year?

    It is a ridiculous anomaly in our system.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 36,001

    Do you think 1% for health workers is fair?

    https://twitter.com/GBRChris_A/status/1367919402650308608
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,932



    RobD said:

    .

    Scott_xP said:
    Let me guess, they want more spending?
    On the public sector of course
    Do you think 1% for health workers is fair?
    Some of the suggestions previously about a bonus/time off were also good. The dangerous thing is they might set a precedent that bumper pay rises are only due in after a major pandemic, because let’s not kid ourselves, they’d be asking for it regardless of what had happened this last year.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    Kitchen scissors. I've been doing mine for about 15 years. Lockdown made no difference. Sometimes its better than others.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    The UK today is tenth in deaths, and 17th in cases.

    17th is certainly the lowest we've been since last summer, possibly the lowest since it really kicked off here in Spring 2020

    Brazil is a nightmare: another 1,500 dead, and 73,000 cases. And they are surely undercounting
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,706
    Mortimer said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Yes not difficult to get it to an acceptable level, only takes about 10-15 minutes. Top tip is check you have the right length clippers before you start.....
    The sole single good thing that has come out of covid is I've realised I don't have to hand over money and make small talk in a barber's chair ever few weeks with someone who has completely the opposite political perspective to me, whilst they cut my hair in a way that's not really all that much better than if I clipper it myself.

    I'm probably a bit ropey on it around the back of the top of my head, but the only time I ever saw that bit was in a mirror in a barber's chair anyway, so...
    Yes I was thinking exactly this might be the case. Even if 20% fewer blokes go to the barber, there are going to be gaps on the high st. More gaps.

    Frankly, I'd say 40% of my mates are happier with their other halve's doing it.

    My gf, her mother and my mother have all offered to cut mine. I have politely declined. The mane survives. I saw it as a perfect excuse to finally have longer hair, whilst I can. Today I was compared to wolverine and, weirdly, King John, on a Zoom call.
    You don't get much Venn diagram overlap between Wolverine and King John, usually!
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410

    dixiedean said:

    glw said:

    kle4 said:

    Under 6,000 cases from 900,000 tests:


    992k tests?!
    Pillar 2, which is the government Lighthouse Labs and other private labs, is doing a huge part of all the testing now. It's nuts just how huge that capacity has grown, as almost all of it is new.

    Hancock today was talking about sequencing scaling up even further from where it is now, so that we can ideally test every positive result. We already do far more sequencing than anybody else, and we intend to do even more.

    When this is all over the UK is going to have a ridiculously huge testing and genetic sequencing capability. I wonder what we will do with it, tear it down, mothball it, or is there are "peacetime" use?
    Difficult to say. Some people are quite excited about using this to promote a permanent cultural shift in attitudes to respiratory illnesses - basically, to try to break the culture of presenteeism and encourage people who come down with flu-like symptoms not to go to work and cough all over everybody, but to stay home and order a test. I think that the boffins would rather like to drive down rates of flu and Covid every Winter simply by persuading the sick to stay out of circulation until they get better, and thus consign the annual NHS Winter Crisis to the dustbin of history.

    Personally I don't think it has a chance of success even if attempted, because of a combination of crap sick pay and crap employers, but it's an idea that has some merit in theory.
    Why we allow bad employers to get away with the pathetic statutory sick pay I have no idea. Employers should pay at least the first week per year in full, themselves. Surely this would be a vote winner all round?
    Not from employers!
    And that would lead to yet more pressure for presenteeism from bad employers.
    And more cost for the decent ones.
    I speak as an employer, a decent one, that offers the standard deal of you get paid when your sick for a few days as normal. And doesnt like subsidising the ones who cant be bothered.

    A lot of presenteeism is driven by people not being able to afford unpaid days off.
    Oh I agree. And wouldn't be such a problem if everyone was like you.
    Sadly they aren't.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,833
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    Once youve done the sides and back, there is probably a better way but do the front first as you like it, then for the rest of the top, grab hair between two fingers and scissor cut anything above finger level. Repeat until nothing above finger level found.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,672

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    I am not a vegetarian, but I am sure you are wrong. Meat can be replaced nutritionally by plant-based foods which don't have to be 'a wobbly slab of gloop'.

  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    edited March 2021
    DougSeal said:

    Andy_JS said:

    DougSeal said:

    isam said:

    Pro_Rata said:

    My Facebook promoting a most overrated band/artist thread, so rather than provoke hatred amongst a group of genuine strangers, I will state my nomination and provoke hatred in OGH's friendly little cantina.

    Weller, post-1982. What was the point of all that?

    Post 95 I’d say. But Wild Wood is a great album, Stanley Road not bad, and TSC made good songs

    I don’t really like the early Jam, apart from Inthe City and I got by in time - but Sound Affects is one of my favourite albums. When I joined UKIP I felt a bit like ‘Set the House Ablaze’ was too close to home.
    The Style Council. WYF was that all about? I remember in 88 or 89 when I started buying the Melody Maker they had a feature “Mick Talbot Fan Club Corner” which I maintain is the funniest thing I ever read.
    The Style Council were Paul Weller's new group after he disbanded The Jam at the end of 1982. Their first single was Speak Like A Child in March 1983. They were very big until about 1987.
    It was more of a rhetorical question but you are of course quite correct,
    Some of their songs are right up there with my favs - Speak Like A Child, Solid Bond, you’re The Best Thing, Long Hot Summer, My Ever Changing Moods, Shout to the Top, Walls come tumbling Down, Changing of The Guard, Paris Match, Man Of Great Promise. Weller is a great songwriter so there’s going to be some gems. There was also a lot of crap though, but that’s true of The Jam and his solo stuff too
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    You just mow it. I find it takes a fair few passes, typically going over the top both from front to back and back to front, before it's even all over, but there's nothing particularly difficult about most of the process. The only bit that I find a little fiddly is tidying up around the ears.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,870

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    I will have been a vegetarian for THIRTY years this coming autumn!
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,932
    Am I the only one that enjoys going to that barbers for the full treatment, cut shave etc.?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,236
    edited March 2021
    Books.

    Answering my own question, I think the most impactful book I have read about a nearly contemporary female political figure (again - adjacent to politics) is a biography of Helen Bamber, called "The Good Listener: Helen Bamber. A Life Against Cruelty."

    Bamber founded the The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Listener-Bamber-Against-Cruelty/dp/0571295266
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/may/11/women.voluntarysector

    If she reads that, she will know she has read it. Yet a very human story.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,617

    glw said:

    kle4 said:

    Under 6,000 cases from 900,000 tests:


    992k tests?!
    Pillar 2, which is the government Lighthouse Labs and other private labs, is doing a huge part of all the testing now. It's nuts just how huge that capacity has grown, as almost all of it is new.

    Hancock today was talking about sequencing scaling up even further from where it is now, so that we can ideally test every positive result. We already do far more sequencing than anybody else, and we intend to do even more.

    When this is all over the UK is going to have a ridiculously huge testing and genetic sequencing capability. I wonder what we will do with it, tear it down, mothball it, or is there are "peacetime" use?
    Difficult to say. Some people are quite excited about using this to promote a permanent cultural shift in attitudes to respiratory illnesses - basically, to try to break the culture of presenteeism and encourage people who come down with flu-like symptoms not to go to work and cough all over everybody, but to stay home and order a test. I think that the boffins would rather like to drive down rates of flu and Covid every Winter simply by persuading the sick to stay out of circulation until they get better, and thus consign the annual NHS Winter Crisis to the dustbin of history.

    Personally I don't think it has a chance of success even if attempted, because of a combination of crap sick pay and crap employers, but it's an idea that has some merit in theory.
    Why we allow bad employers to get away with the pathetic statutory sick pay I have no idea. Employers should pay at least the first week per year in full, themselves. Surely this would be a vote winner all round?
    There are two separate issues at work here. One is SSP - and there's no need to bash employers (which don't always operate on particularly large profit margins) over the head on this one. SSP is funded by the taxpayer; the Government simply needs to make it substantially more generous. As has been pointed out repeatedly during the pandemic, there's no point in telling people on low incomes who come down the Covid symptoms that it is their duty to self-isolate, if doing so means that they can no longer afford to feed themselves or their children. Many will keep going to work anyway because they are forced to.

    The other problem concerns employers who are paranoid about skiving, and operate Draconian sickness and absence policies accordingly. Even if sick pay is good, employees will nonetheless avoid calling in sick if breaching whatever limits their employer sets on acceptable levels of absence means being put onto an automated conveyor belt of health capability reviews and threatened with disciplinary sanctions. This does happen, even in otherwise quite reasonable businesses. I've both seen and suffered from it myself in the past. And that's without bringing the genuinely bad employers into the equation, too.

    Getting the contagious ill out of the workplace requires much better sick pay and reformed attitudes amongst business and the workforce alike. It'd be quite a challenge to take on.
    Not all workers are the same.

    For some if they're not at work someone else will do what they would have done.

    For some if they're not at work then the work piles up on their desk and they have to work harder when they return.

    Guess which worker has an incentive not to be off sick.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209
    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,127
    RobD said:

    Am I the only one that enjoys going to that barbers for the full treatment, cut shave etc.?

    Nope. Me too. A proper hour or so in the barber's is my indulgence. Come out feeling 2inches taller!
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,101
    edited March 2021



    RobD said:

    .

    Scott_xP said:
    Let me guess, they want more spending?
    On the public sector of course
    Do you think 1% for health workers is fair?
    You have to consider it in the broader context of the enormous economic damage done to large parts of the economy, especially hospitality, tourism and retail with tens of thousands of job loses, furlough payments and huge support packages

    In an ideal world you would be more generous, but it also has to be fair to all those who through no fault of their own have lost far more than those in the public sector with guaranteed employment and pensions

    It is one of many complex issues that we will have to address as the years pass and to be honest, I do support the triple lock and it should go in 2022, as it also would be just fair
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,617



    RobD said:

    .

    Scott_xP said:
    Let me guess, they want more spending?
    On the public sector of course
    Do you think 1% for health workers is fair?
    Which health workers ?

    Front line in a covid ward has been different to working in a telephone only GP's and different to those who have been furloughed.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126
    Seen that Coming to America sequel named, er, Coming 2 America.

    It's ok. Certainly got a bit of the star wars sequel 'must do x from the first film to please fanboys' vibe, but it had some decent enough chuckles.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,204
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    You should leave the top. Nothing too terrible can happen up there.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,213
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    Just by feel. Requires patience and several passes over.
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,127
    rcs1000 said:

    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
    Alan Clark's diaries are an absolute must read for modern politicos. Only a few from his day left in the commons, but it was FASCINATING reading them around the time of the Parliamentary Brexit shenanagins. Lots of young MPs and aides spotted by AC were featuring in the news regularly.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,672
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    You should leave the top. Nothing too terrible can happen up there.
    Just be grateful if you've still got hair on the top.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477
    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    RobD said:

    Am I the only one that enjoys going to that barbers for the full treatment, cut shave etc.?

    I don't enjoy the cutting, it is boring. I do enjoy the clean smart feeling afterwards, following a professional barbering. Long shaggy hair was an amusing novelty in lockdown 1, now I am bored of looking like a hobo

    I will be straight back after lockdown

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    I'm a big fan of meat, but that seems extreme.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    Thanks for all the DIY haircut tips. Rug rethink tomorrow
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    You should leave the top. Nothing too terrible can happen up there.
    Just be grateful if you've still got hair on the top.
    Given my family genetics it doesn't seem like I need to worry overmuch about losing my hair, which I wonder is why I've always been happy to lop it all off anyway - no sense of needing to display it while I've still got some!
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477
    kle4 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    I'm a big fan of meat, but that seems extreme.
    Extreme how?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126
    edited March 2021
    Leon said:

    RobD said:

    Am I the only one that enjoys going to that barbers for the full treatment, cut shave etc.?

    I don't enjoy the cutting, it is boring. I do enjoy the clean smart feeling afterwards, following a professional barbering. Long shaggy hair was an amusing novelty in lockdown 1, now I am bored of looking like a hobo

    I will be straight back after lockdown

    Perhaps you should save the self hair cut for day of your vaccination - truly a transformative day, inside and out.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209
    Nigelb said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Omnium said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The whole saga is ridiculous. Both Airbus and Boeing receive massive subsidies, and then each complains the ones the other recieves.
    Yep but the EU subsidies Airbus in ways that the US Government won't (outright cash) while the US does it via paying multiple times the odds for Government Projects.
    Oh, Boeing is subsidised in more ways than that!
    They have strayed into British Leyland territory, but I don't know the finances. Care to elaborate?
    They also get direct R&D grants and the US government guarantees Boeing will get paid by certain less creditworthy customers.
    Tbf, European countries also give Airbus export guarantees and finance as well.
    Oh, Airbus is appallingly subsidised too - quite probably more in aggregate that Boeing.

    I just get annoyed that both of them bitch about the other being subsidised while trousering billions of government money.
    Yeah I know it's ridiculous. It's like doper Dwain Chambers complaining he's got to race against doper Justin Gatlin.
    The upfront costs and risks of developing new generations of large airliners is large enough to make it extremely difficult to do so without some form if government support. Though there are very large profits to be made if really successful, you have to stay in the game to be in the game.

    And if we and/or the US leave it to the market, then the Chinese will be happy to take up the slack. It’s a strategic industry, which employs very large numbers of skilled workers, and there’s no easy alternative to the current setup.
    The point is not whether they deserve subsidies (they don't), but that they both bitch about the other recieving subsidies while trousering billions of taxpayers dollars and Euros.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126

    kle4 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    I'm a big fan of meat, but that seems extreme.
    Extreme how?
    Merely the tone. I've no objection to plant based meat substitutes in theory, but I'm not interested in it to know if any of the points were sound.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    Scott_xP said:
    The text of the article says it’s not possible to tell what is due to Brexit and what is due to the pandemic.
    [sarcasm=on]

    Lucky for the Brexiteers that Covid only started on Brexit Day otherwise people might wonder why trade was better pre-Brexit....

    [sarcasm=off]
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,213
    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Omnium said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The whole saga is ridiculous. Both Airbus and Boeing receive massive subsidies, and then each complains the ones the other recieves.
    Yep but the EU subsidies Airbus in ways that the US Government won't (outright cash) while the US does it via paying multiple times the odds for Government Projects.
    Oh, Boeing is subsidised in more ways than that!
    They have strayed into British Leyland territory, but I don't know the finances. Care to elaborate?
    They also get direct R&D grants and the US government guarantees Boeing will get paid by certain less creditworthy customers.
    Tbf, European countries also give Airbus export guarantees and finance as well.
    Oh, Airbus is appallingly subsidised too - quite probably more in aggregate that Boeing.

    I just get annoyed that both of them bitch about the other being subsidised while trousering billions of government money.
    Yeah I know it's ridiculous. It's like doper Dwain Chambers complaining he's got to race against doper Justin Gatlin.
    The upfront costs and risks of developing new generations of large airliners is large enough to make it extremely difficult to do so without some form if government support. Though there are very large profits to be made if really successful, you have to stay in the game to be in the game.

    And if we and/or the US leave it to the market, then the Chinese will be happy to take up the slack. It’s a strategic industry, which employs very large numbers of skilled workers, and there’s no easy alternative to the current setup.
    The point is not whether they deserve subsidies (they don't), but that they both bitch about the other recieving subsidies while trousering billions of taxpayers dollars and Euros.
    I’ve made that point myself - and that they will require more to get through the current mess. Which realisation has likely prompted the cessation of hostilities.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,932

    Scott_xP said:
    The text of the article says it’s not possible to tell what is due to Brexit and what is due to the pandemic.
    [sarcasm=on]

    Lucky for the Brexiteers that Covid only started on Brexit Day otherwise people might wonder why trade was better pre-Brexit....

    [sarcasm=off]
    But the restrictions were significantly tightened during December.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,996
    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209
    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Omnium said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The whole saga is ridiculous. Both Airbus and Boeing receive massive subsidies, and then each complains the ones the other recieves.
    Yep but the EU subsidies Airbus in ways that the US Government won't (outright cash) while the US does it via paying multiple times the odds for Government Projects.
    Oh, Boeing is subsidised in more ways than that!
    They have strayed into British Leyland territory, but I don't know the finances. Care to elaborate?
    They also get direct R&D grants and the US government guarantees Boeing will get paid by certain less creditworthy customers.
    Tbf, European countries also give Airbus export guarantees and finance as well.
    Oh, Airbus is appallingly subsidised too - quite probably more in aggregate that Boeing.

    I just get annoyed that both of them bitch about the other being subsidised while trousering billions of government money.
    Yeah I know it's ridiculous. It's like doper Dwain Chambers complaining he's got to race against doper Justin Gatlin.
    The upfront costs and risks of developing new generations of large airliners is large enough to make it extremely difficult to do so without some form if government support. Though there are very large profits to be made if really successful, you have to stay in the game to be in the game.

    And if we and/or the US leave it to the market, then the Chinese will be happy to take up the slack. It’s a strategic industry, which employs very large numbers of skilled workers, and there’s no easy alternative to the current setup.
    The point is not whether they deserve subsidies (they don't), but that they both bitch about the other recieving subsidies while trousering billions of taxpayers dollars and Euros.
    I’ve made that point myself - and that they will require more to get through the current mess. Which realisation has likely prompted the cessation of hostilities.
    I would also point out that Rolls Royce and GE Aerospace seem to manage to make jet engines without government subsidy. (Admittedly, that is a fairly new occurrence.)
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 36,001

    I thank you! :lol:

    Delete your account...
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,236
    edited March 2021
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    I have 2 hinged mirrors each side of the whb in one bathroom. They are cupboard doors hinged on different sides.

    The only but I find difficult is the corners at the back.

    If you get it too short you will look like a brooding teazle.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    I'm a big fan of meat, but that seems extreme.
    Extreme how?
    Merely the tone. I've no objection to plant based meat substitutes in theory, but I'm not interested in it to know if any of the points were sound.
    I don't think the tone was extreme at all. It frustrates me a little when people who claim to be on the side of science completely miss the inherent complexity of food and how it interacts with the body. There is an ideal make up of micro-nutrients in food, which our bodies have evolved to thrive upon. A whole food like a chicken can't be swapped for a cement of soy bean secretion just because they have the same percentage of protein in them, any more than a Vermeer painting can be compared to a coat of Dulux quick dry matt emulsion.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,870

    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
    Er, because meat is NOT necessary to the human diet?
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914

    Scott_xP said:
    To govern is to make difficult decisions
    Sure is. Nurses or Osborne Little wallpaper for the Johnson's. Tough one.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209

    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
    I'd go with: "It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can"

    You seem to have this weird belief that man without meat is somehow enfeebled and on a rapid path to the mortuary.

    Yet the evidence is that eating less meat correlates with longer lifespans: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12936945/

    So, either you are using the word "nutritionally" in a way that is unfamiliar to me, or you're talking utter shit.
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    edited March 2021
    Thanks, everyone, for all the excellent book suggestions -- I will peruse the reviews on Amazon & make some choices tomorrow.

    One of the lovely things about buying presents for 16 year olds is you remember the long-forgotten books you read when you were 16.

    I definitely remember reading (as a teenager) & enjoying "My Life with Nye" by Jennie Lee and Golda Meir's autobiography "My Life". I guess they were just lying about my parents' house, as I don't own copies of the books anymore. I had almost forgotten about them.

    I discovered my niece was very interested in politics when she saw me posting to pb.com, and she said with eyes gleaming, "That looks a very interesting site ..."
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477

    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
    Er, because meat is NOT necessary to the human diet?
    Er, I didn't say it was. I did say it isn't replaceable by the current crop of 'plant based' alternatives, because it isn't - they don't have even a pale shadow of its nutritional profile. That's what this pernicious organisation is trying to impose.

    Of course you can do without meat - hopefully with a generous allowance of eggs, butter, yoghurt, cheese, and other similarly nutrient dense foods. You're just aiming for a healthy diet without a significant weapon in your arsenal. I don't disrespect you for doing it, but I have no respect for people claiming that 'plant based' alternatives are healthier than meat when they basically have no idea what's in them apart from the fact that they come in a green box.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,693
    My book suggestion for a 16 year old would be Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126

    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
    Er, because meat is NOT necessary to the human diet?
    I think his point was about whether the current meat-substitutes were capable of, well, substituting for meat, not whether it was possible to be a vegetarian. I'm not sure anyone could sustain that argument.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126


    I discovered my niece was very interested in politics when she saw me posting to pb.com, and she said with eyes gleaming, "That looks a very interesting site ..."

    She would learn a great deal. Possibly even about politics. But more likely about Cricket.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,870
    edited March 2021

    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21

    Meghan is the Wallis Simpson de nos jours.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,438
    kle4 said:


    I discovered my niece was very interested in politics when she saw me posting to pb.com, and she said with eyes gleaming, "That looks a very interesting site ..."

    She would learn a great deal. Possibly even about politics. But more likely about Cricket.
    And the real date of the start of summer. Don’t forget that...
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Scott_xP said:

    Do you think 1% for health workers is fair?

    https://twitter.com/GBRChris_A/status/1367919402650308608
    Day rate for a partner at BCG. They aren’t cheap.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,468
    edited March 2021
    glw said:

    kle4 said:

    Under 6,000 cases from 900,000 tests:


    992k tests?!
    Pillar 2, which is the government Lighthouse Labs and other private labs, is doing a huge part of all the testing now. It's nuts just how huge that capacity has grown, as almost all of it is new.

    Hancock today was talking about sequencing scaling up even further from where it is now, so that we can ideally test every positive result. We already do far more sequencing than anybody else, and we intend to do even more.

    When this is all over the UK is going to have a ridiculously huge testing and genetic sequencing capability. I wonder what we will do with it, tear it down, mothball it, or is there are "peacetime" use?
    Sequencing is the next big value thing - genomic, proteinomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data is what will enable us to design and produce high value biologics using synthetic biology. Currently, China (and BGI in particular) dominate in this field. It is great that the UK might come out with at least a chance of cashing in on high value biological data.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
    I always liked The Door Wherein I Went (mainly for the grammatically correct use of the word “wherein”)
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,870
    Charles said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Do you think 1% for health workers is fair?

    https://twitter.com/GBRChris_A/status/1367919402650308608
    Day rate for a partner at BCG. They aren’t cheap.
    "The Grabbing Hands grab all they can
    Everything Counts in large amounts"
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21

    All that means is that someone has complained and they are reviewing

    Same as “police are investigating” stories
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209
    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
    I always liked The Door Wherein I Went (mainly for the grammatically correct use of the word “wherein”)
    I haven't read it. Should I?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,672

    Scott_xP said:
    To govern is to make difficult decisions
    ... and then to u-turn them a week or two later :wink:
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209
    kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
    Er, because meat is NOT necessary to the human diet?
    I think his point was about whether the current meat-substitutes were capable of, well, substituting for meat, not whether it was possible to be a vegetarian. I'm not sure anyone could sustain that argument.
    If he had simply said that, that would be one thing.

    But he said that "It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop"

    Which is something entirely different.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477
    edited March 2021
    rcs1000 said:

    I am really quite apalled by this Tesco story:
    https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1367951689874108422

    Groups like 'Shareaction' need to be investigated for financial links to any agribusiness concerns. So called 'plant based alternatives' to meat are simply a way for big companies to undermine peoples' access to nutrition in order to make more profits.

    Animal flesh is a complex and highly digestible mixture of essential fats, proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can.

    A casual observer might think that your post is also pseuo-science of the worst kind.
    Apart from the typo, perhaps you could casually point out what is incorrect, non, or 'pseudo' scientific about what I wrote?
    I'd go with: "It cannot be replaced nutritionally by a wobbly slab of 'plant-based' gloop, and it is pseuo-science of the worst kind to suggest that it can"

    You seem to have this weird belief that man without meat is somehow enfeebled and on a rapid path to the mortuary.

    Yet the evidence is that eating less meat correlates with longer lifespans: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12936945/

    So, either you are using the word "nutritionally" in a way that is unfamiliar to me, or you're talking utter shit.

    -----------------------

    I mean the word 'nutritionally' in its exact sense.

    A ) Meat contains important nutrients, in high quantities.
    B ) The nutrients from meat are easier for the human body to absorb than those found in vegetables

    Whilst both of these statements are unlikely to be heard much in polite circles, I don't think they are actually a matter of scientific debate - they are simply true. If you want to dispute them, I'll Google some sources. These are just facts.

    C ) A meat substitute probably won't contain the same mixture of proteins, zinc, iron, selenium, and phosphorus, vitamin A and B-complex vitamins, because those won't occur in the same way in strained goo. At best, they'll chuck some synthetic vitamins and iron in there to try and mitigate its barren nutritional profile
    D ) Whatever is in there won't be as bioavailable, because there won't be the same enzymes and amino acids that occur in meat, to help our bodies break them down.

    You are highlighting an uncontrolled study of lifestyle vegetarians, but I am simply telling you what's in meat, and what's not in soy sludge.

    You can eat unhealthy meat. An abused, diseased, poorly nourished animal is not going to be a healthy meal. Added to that, bad ways of processing meat, and cooking it, meat can be some unhealthy shit. I am not disputing that. I am merely suggesting it is mad to throw the baby out with the bathwater by rushing headlong to 'plant-based alternatives', without realising the nutritional value of meat in the diet and the job that those 'alternatives' actually have to do. All the chat I've seen is making them 'taste like bacon'.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,672
    MattW said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    I have 2 hinged mirrors each side of the whb in one bathroom. They are cupboard doors hinged on different sides.

    The only but I find difficult is the corners at the back.

    If you get it too short you will look like a brooding teazle.
    I have Mrs P. She's a lot neater solution than two hinged mirrors.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
    I always liked The Door Wherein I Went (mainly for the grammatically correct use of the word “wherein”)
    I haven't read it. Should I?
    It’s not the easiest book and a bit dated but philosophically among the most interesting works by a leading politician. As he was my mentor though, I am somewhat biased!

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004H6PHW4/ref=cm_cr_othr_mb_show_all_top?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,213
    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Nigelb said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Omnium said:

    rcs1000 said:

    eek said:

    rcs1000 said:

    The whole saga is ridiculous. Both Airbus and Boeing receive massive subsidies, and then each complains the ones the other recieves.
    Yep but the EU subsidies Airbus in ways that the US Government won't (outright cash) while the US does it via paying multiple times the odds for Government Projects.
    Oh, Boeing is subsidised in more ways than that!
    They have strayed into British Leyland territory, but I don't know the finances. Care to elaborate?
    They also get direct R&D grants and the US government guarantees Boeing will get paid by certain less creditworthy customers.
    Tbf, European countries also give Airbus export guarantees and finance as well.
    Oh, Airbus is appallingly subsidised too - quite probably more in aggregate that Boeing.

    I just get annoyed that both of them bitch about the other being subsidised while trousering billions of government money.
    Yeah I know it's ridiculous. It's like doper Dwain Chambers complaining he's got to race against doper Justin Gatlin.
    The upfront costs and risks of developing new generations of large airliners is large enough to make it extremely difficult to do so without some form if government support. Though there are very large profits to be made if really successful, you have to stay in the game to be in the game.

    And if we and/or the US leave it to the market, then the Chinese will be happy to take up the slack. It’s a strategic industry, which employs very large numbers of skilled workers, and there’s no easy alternative to the current setup.
    The point is not whether they deserve subsidies (they don't), but that they both bitch about the other recieving subsidies while trousering billions of taxpayers dollars and Euros.
    I’ve made that point myself - and that they will require more to get through the current mess. Which realisation has likely prompted the cessation of hostilities.
    I would also point out that Rolls Royce and GE Aerospace seem to manage to make jet engines without government subsidy. (Admittedly, that is a fairly new occurrence.)
    Hardly.
    Their military business - aero engines; propulsion systems for naval vessels; nuclear - is all for government customers, and not exactly on a free market basis...

    And the platforms for their civil business are the self same Boeing and Airbus whose subsidised status you’ve just been describing.

    And again, they get launch aid for the hugely expensive development of new generations of powerplants.

    And Rolls simply wouldn’t exist if government hadn’t bailed it out half a century back.
  • kle4 said:


    I discovered my niece was very interested in politics when she saw me posting to pb.com, and she said with eyes gleaming, "That looks a very interesting site ..."

    She would learn a great deal. Possibly even about politics. But more likely about Cricket.
    And the real date of the start of summer. Don’t forget that...
    And pizza toppings.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    TimT said:

    glw said:

    kle4 said:

    Under 6,000 cases from 900,000 tests:


    992k tests?!
    Pillar 2, which is the government Lighthouse Labs and other private labs, is doing a huge part of all the testing now. It's nuts just how huge that capacity has grown, as almost all of it is new.

    Hancock today was talking about sequencing scaling up even further from where it is now, so that we can ideally test every positive result. We already do far more sequencing than anybody else, and we intend to do even more.

    When this is all over the UK is going to have a ridiculously huge testing and genetic sequencing capability. I wonder what we will do with it, tear it down, mothball it, or is there are "peacetime" use?
    Sequencing is the next big value thing - genomic, proteinomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data is what will enable us to design and produce high value biologics using synthetic biology. Currently, China (and BGI in particular) dominate in this field. It is great that the UK might come out with at least a chance of cashing in on high value biological data.
    BGI is a bit at the commodity end though. Really sexy companies are those like Quest’s Blueprint Genetics or the UK’s Congenica.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,204
    Watching the Newsnight show on a bit of a delay, bit frustrating to see 76.3% over 65 uptake in Central Blackburn MSOA given how Pendle in the NW has fared.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207

    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21

    Unlike the SNP.........
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    edited March 2021
    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,822
    Pulpstar said:

    Watching the Newsnight show on a bit of a delay, bit frustrating to see 76.3% over 65 uptake in Central Blackburn MSOA given how Pendle in the NW has fared.

    I think Blackburn with Darwen has been the hardest hit District in the country. Amazing there's anyone there left to get it. Maybe that's why they're not bothering with the vac.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,204
    Leon said:

    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.

    Where would you put the dividing line ?
    BMI > 30, 40 inch waistline ?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    I suggest a tax on obesity. Unless you have a doctor’s note explaining WHY you have to eat seventeen pork pies for lunch, for every BMI point over 28 you get an extra 3 percent tax, or a similar deduction in your benefits. Over BMI 32 make it 6 percent.

    Between BMI 25-28 have disincentives. Make food pricier for them.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,429
    Floater said:

    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21

    Unlike the SNP.........
    Yes. TUD clearly doesn’t even detect the irony. His party is led by a woman who brought new and vivid meaning to the word ‘vindictive’, by conspiring for several years to have a friend, mentor and colleague clapped in irons and ruined for the rest of his life.

  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,996
    Floater said:

    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21

    Unlike the SNP.........
    There's a vote allowing people to decide to keep or get rid in a couple of months, when are the emotional gimps, benefit junkies and 'friends' of paedos doing that?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486
    Leon

    DuraAce is an antivax Trump supporter and Trump ramper.

    Funny old world.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,822
    MattW said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    My hair is insane and ridiculous. Has anyone ever successfully cut their own hair? Is it possible?

    Relatively cheap clippers seem to do an ok job. You'll always miss bits though.

    Not if you’re thorough. I’ve had three self administered no.4 clips in the last nine months, and it works pretty well.

    How do you do the top?

    I reckon I can clipper the sides and back, but the top seems v tricky
    I have 2 hinged mirrors each side of the whb in one bathroom. They are cupboard doors hinged on different sides.

    The only but I find difficult is the corners at the back.

    If you get it too short you will look like a brooding teazle.
    Two weeks after the pandemic started I shaved it all down to 1mm all over. I wish I'd done it 20 years ago; it's the best haircut I've ever had. I've also saved myself £10 a month.
    In order to get the back right, I just use my hands, which can feel much better than my eyes can see if I've missed a bit.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477

    Floater said:

    The British state, not a bunch of vindictive cnuts, no siree.
    https://twitter.com/telegraph/status/1367955104834478085?s=21

    Unlike the SNP.........
    There's a vote allowing people to decide to keep or get rid in a couple of months, when are the emotional gimps, benefit junkies and 'friends' of paedos doing that?
    As a description of the charity commission, this is one of the stronger ones I've heard.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,486

    kle4 said:


    I discovered my niece was very interested in politics when she saw me posting to pb.com, and she said with eyes gleaming, "That looks a very interesting site ..."

    She would learn a great deal. Possibly even about politics. But more likely about Cricket.
    And the real date of the start of summer. Don’t forget that...
    She would have to commit an awful lot of time to that particular pursuit. I suggest YBarddCwsc starts her out on something more concise, like Lord Falconer’s resignations, or the storied history of AV.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,083
    edited March 2021
    I bought clippers at the start of pandemic and it really isn't that hard to do an ok job of a simple faded buzz cut. Again loads of tutorials on the YouTubes.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    edited March 2021
    Leon said:

    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.

    I'm afraid it's not going to be at all easy to discriminate against them politically - their demographic carries great weight...
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,288
    Cookie said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Watching the Newsnight show on a bit of a delay, bit frustrating to see 76.3% over 65 uptake in Central Blackburn MSOA given how Pendle in the NW has fared.

    I think Blackburn with Darwen has been the hardest hit District in the country. Amazing there's anyone there left to get it. Maybe that's why they're not bothering with the vac.
    35th area for deaths. Again, an impression from being super high during the low bits.

    NW has, marginally, the worst death rate of any region or nation but regionally Fylde, Wyre, Blackpool, Burnley, Carlisle, Tameside, Wigan, Sefton, Rochdale and Knowsley have suffered higher death rates than Blackburn wD on current count.
  • londonpubmanlondonpubman Posts: 3,639
    Leon said:

    I suggest a tax on obesity. Unless you have a doctor’s note explaining WHY you have to eat seventeen pork pies for lunch, for every BMI point over 28 you get an extra 3 percent tax, or a similar deduction in your benefits. Over BMI 32 make it 6 percent.

    Between BMI 25-28 have disincentives. Make food pricier for them.

    Agreed. Most people on UC are fat lumps paid for by the taxpayers who will never look for a job in their lives.

    Scrap the handouts for these people, then we can give NHS staff 10% increase which they deserve! 👍
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,822
    Book suggestions: Personally I would avoid anything too serious on politics unless you are seriously sure of the recipients leanings. My uncle used to by me 20th century history: Postwar by Tony Judt, and Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm stick in the memory.
    And honestly, how does a 15 year old 'hate Thatcher'?
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,822
    Pro_Rata said:

    Cookie said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Watching the Newsnight show on a bit of a delay, bit frustrating to see 76.3% over 65 uptake in Central Blackburn MSOA given how Pendle in the NW has fared.

    I think Blackburn with Darwen has been the hardest hit District in the country. Amazing there's anyone there left to get it. Maybe that's why they're not bothering with the vac.
    35th area for deaths. Again, an impression from being super high during the low bits.

    NW has, marginally, the worst death rate of any region or nation but regionally Fylde, Wyre, Blackpool, Burnley, Carlisle, Tameside, Wigan, Sefton, Rochdale and Knowsley have suffered higher death rates than Blackburn wD on current count.
    Down to age profiles, I expect. BwD has had the most positive tests (which I agree is not a perfect indicator). Fylde has had relatively few positives but is full of old people - so more deaths.
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    Cookie said:



    And honestly, how does a 15 year old 'hate Thatcher'?

    At a guess, her mother has spent 15 years telling her that Thatcher was evil.

    There is a powerful folk memory in the Valleys that is passed down from generation to generation. We are brought up on the stories of the Miner's Strike and Aberfan and the Tonypandy Massacre and the Shootings of the Llanelli Railway strikers.

    (Tony Judt is a good idea).
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,671
    edited March 2021
    Leon said:

    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.

    Next up: A global famine brought on by volcanic dust, when we will have to maintain a supply of food at great cost to make sure that all the thin people don't starve...
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126
    Cookie said:


    And honestly, how does a 15 year old 'hate Thatcher'?

    They can't. They might have developed antipathy for the policies they have read about, sympathy for people they know they feel were affected by those policies, but if they were to say hate? Performative silliness.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,126
    Leon said:

    I suggest a tax on obesity. Unless you have a doctor’s note explaining WHY you have to eat seventeen pork pies for lunch, for every BMI point over 28 you get an extra 3 percent tax, or a similar deduction in your benefits. Over BMI 32 make it 6 percent.

    Between BMI 25-28 have disincentives. Make food pricier for them.

    I'm on the cusp, so not too sure about that!
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,477

    Leon said:

    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.

    I'm afraid it's not going to be at all easy to discriminate against them politically - their demographic carries great weight...
    Are you suggesting that they have more gravitas?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,598

    Leon said:

    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.

    I'm afraid it's not going to be at all easy to discriminate against them politically - their demographic carries great weight...
    Are you suggesting that they have more gravitas?
    You need the stones to take them on.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,598

    Leon said:

    The government really has to get tough on the fatties from now on. This plague has shown us that obesity and severe overweightness are not a joke. Not a ‘different size of beautiful’. An ugly fat blobster of a human looks ugly for a reason. They are ugly inside. And coz they can’t stop eating f*cking chocolate eclairs and pizza they have cost this country 400 BILLION and decimated the economy. Literally

    Enough. And enough talk of incentives to go on a bloody diet. PUNISH them for being fat. Exclude them from pubs and restaurants. Exclude them from public transport so they HAVE to use their horrible fat pimply legs. UGH

    I’m entirely serious. We tolerated these lard-arses too long. Now they have ruined the nation’s bank balance and we all have to pay for their swinish greed.

    Payback.

    Next up: A global famine brought on by volcanic dust, when we will have to maintain a supply of food at great cost to make sure that all the thin people don't starve...
    Leading to a planet populated by slimmers of the year.

    Very, very smug slimmers of the year.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,052
    edited March 2021
    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
    I always liked The Door Wherein I Went (mainly for the grammatically correct use of the word “wherein”)
    I haven't read it. Should I?
    It’s not the easiest book and a bit dated but philosophically among the most interesting works by a leading politician. As he was my mentor though, I am somewhat biased!

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004H6PHW4/ref=cm_cr_othr_mb_show_all_top?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

    Nigel Lawson's memoirs were hands down the best political memoirs I've ever read. Tell her he was one of the people that helped bring the Iron Lady down.

    Also they are mostly an easy read as you'd expect from a former journalist.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209
    Fishing said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Lennon said:


    Help, please, pb brains trust,

    What is the best book on politics to buy for my 15 year old niece, whose birthday is later this month ?

    (She dislikes Thatcher & Boris).

    For a modern and very readable introduction type book I really enjoyed Isabel Hardman's one 'Why we get the wrong politicians'. I also really liked reading Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, but almost certainly not enough politics in it.
    Dennis Healey's autobiography was also fun - and contained a cameo appearance by a very young Paddy Ashdown.

    Other choices: Rab Butler's The Art of the Possible

    And if she doesn't mind going back in history, the Roy Jenkins history books are all fun, particulary Mr Balfour's Poodle.
    I always liked The Door Wherein I Went (mainly for the grammatically correct use of the word “wherein”)
    I haven't read it. Should I?
    It’s not the easiest book and a bit dated but philosophically among the most interesting works by a leading politician. As he was my mentor though, I am somewhat biased!

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004H6PHW4/ref=cm_cr_othr_mb_show_all_top?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

    Nigel Lawson's memoirs were hands down the best political memoirs I've ever read. Tell her he was one of the people that helped bring the Iron Lady down.

    Also they are mostly an easy read as you'd expect from a former journalist.
    Completely agree, anyone with an interest in finance or government needs to read them.
This discussion has been closed.