Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
If Starmer's family didn't have a TV it would almost certainly have been through choice.
One thing I have learned from pb is the amount of people with a weird obsession about the social background of lefty politicians. I never knew this was a thing, but it clearly is.
The obsession these days is how much people, especially from the left, can credibly accentuate that they came from a poor working class family and dragged themselves up by their bootstrap a la Four Yorkshireman. I hear it used all the time , often on Desert Island Discs
It isn't just Labour politicians. Michael Howard was very pleased with himself for a distinguished legal career via Llanelli Grammar School. Surely success through adversity is to be celebrated. Perhaps more so than the story of a phonecall from Buckingham Palace to the Conservative Party on the day of David Cameron's post graduation interview? An ultimately successful interview.
The Starmer analysis over the last twelve hours on PB has been nothing short of internet trolling. Hang him out to dry for being a LOTO who makes little attempt to oppose by all means, but the acidic personal attacks with little or no foundation, undermine the argument over his ineffectiveness as LOTO. He needs to shape up or ship out.
Attacks on Johnson and Corbyn are also often personal, but tend to ne based on lifetimes of bad behaviour in the public eye, which is wholly different.
Your mileage of "bad behaviour" may vary.
Some people consider decades of backing antisemites and supporting terrorists to be bad behaviour. Some people consider sex outside of marriage to be bad behaviour.
from BBC:- The two donations were made to the Conservatives over the last four years.
One was for a sum of £10,000 made in November 2019 by a company called Stridewell Estates. Government records indicate that the firm had been dissolved three years previously.
Business Insider reported that a spokesman for the company had previously suggested it could be a mistake.
The second donation was made in June 2017 by a company called Unionist Buildings Limited which had apparently been dissolved in January of that year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57325474
And the party has said both donations were correctly recorded
How can dissolved companies be making donations?
No different to 'dead' people voting in elections.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
The BT thing shares a secondary network which is (security bugs permitting) separated from your home network. They still do it. As another PAYG dinosaur (I don't see the need to send texts or read emails 24 hours a day) I sometimes found it useful, although I usually only have a very limited number of things I actually use data for when out and about. You can disable the connection sharing but you have to it via the BT website (which is the most concerning thing about the whole set up).
Note that if you are 'borrowing' an unknown network you should definitely use a VPN to make sure that your traffic cannot be read by anyone else.
The problem with these Amazon networks is that the scope is a bit different, and having your cameras piggyback automatically on someone else's connection seems like a big security risk.
If Starmer's family didn't have a TV it would almost certainly have been through choice.
One thing I have learned from pb is the amount of people with a weird obsession about the social background of lefty politicians. I never knew this was a thing, but it clearly is.
I was just commenting on the claim that Starmer says he didn't have a TV until his late teens. Now, I haven't seen the show, but I'm guessing that he was using this to demonstrate his working class credentials. So I think it's fair for these claims to be scrutinized.
Maybe see the show then. The TV thing was nothing to do with his w/c credentials. It was about his father - a rather cold, distant figure who wouldn't allow a TV in the house on principle. Eventually they got one, on which Keir was given special dispensation to watch MotD.
There seems to be an inverse correlation on here between people who watched the Starmer interview and willingness to comment on it.
Fair enough.
As someone who was desperate to have Sky Sports as a kid, I can empathize with Keir.
If Starmer's family didn't have a TV it would almost certainly have been through choice.
One thing I have learned from pb is the amount of people with a weird obsession about the social background of lefty politicians. I never knew this was a thing, but it clearly is.
The obsession these days is how much people, especially from the left, can credibly accentuate that they came from a poor working class family and dragged themselves up by their bootstrap a la Four Yorkshireman. I hear it used all the time , often on Desert Island Discs
It isn't just Labour politicians. Michael Howard was very pleased with himself for a distinguished legal career via Llanelli Grammar School. Surely success through adversity is to be celebrated. Perhaps more so than the story of a phonecall from Buckingham Palace to the Conservative Party on the day of David Cameron's post graduation interview? An ultimately successful interview.
The Starmer analysis over the last twelve hours on PB has been nothing short of internet trolling. Hang him out to dry for being a LOTO who makes little attempt to oppose by all means, but the acidic personal attacks with little or no foundation, undermine the argument over his ineffectiveness as LOTO. He needs to shape up or ship out.
Attacks on Johnson and Corbyn are also often personal, but tend to ne based on lifetimes of bad behaviour in the public eye, which is wholly different.
Attacks on Johnson and Corbyn are also often personal, but tend to ne based on lifetimes of bad behaviour in the public eye, which is wholly different
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Allotments can be a bit weird with rules. My one has a construction known as the crystal palace - built by a window fitter from hundreds of old window in extremely higgledy piggledy fashion. Completely outlawed now, but allow to remain as pre-existing. Now you have to ask to fit a shed or greenhouse (usually allowed tbf).
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
Let the grass go brown. It revives with the first proper rain.
I would have thought that the reservoirs must be pretty full at present.
I’ve just had to reseed it. That isn’t going to work.
In this, as in much else, you are a Special Case!
You're going to have to use your hose as little as you can. Water is incredibly cheap, even on a meter.
And build a bigger storage tank or reservoir as for rainwater harvesting for the garden part of your building work for next time :-) .
Many of the large tech companies are seriously failing to understand why people object to this stuff. It’s a complete privacy nightmare, by design, with hardware you’ve paid for - and it’s a change in functionality that the customer didn’t ask for, and appears to be forced on them under pain of their expensive hardware becoming a brick.
If you have a BT router you provide a hot spot for other BT users. I find this very useful. Invariably in built up areas you are in range of a BT router so have free access in exchange for you offering the same. Is this the same sort of thing? It has been available for several years. I make a lot of use of it.
Can one 'use' someone else's router without the password? Or with one's own password?
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Allotments can be a bit weird with rules. My one has a construction known as the crystal palace - built by a window fitter from hundreds of old window in extremely higgledy piggledy fashion. Completely outlawed now, but allow to remain as pre-existing. Now you have to ask to fit a shed or greenhouse (usually allowed tbf).
Allotment politics are worse than parish council politics. Extremely petty at times.
We have water butts on site fed from mains water, for which we have to pay water rates. Some plots are quite a distance from said water butts and hosepipes are banned.
I never actually use any because my plot consists entirely of "illegally" planted fruit bushes and trees.
As for allotment sheds - the more higgledy and decrepit the better.
from BBC:- The two donations were made to the Conservatives over the last four years.
One was for a sum of £10,000 made in November 2019 by a company called Stridewell Estates. Government records indicate that the firm had been dissolved three years previously.
Business Insider reported that a spokesman for the company had previously suggested it could be a mistake.
The second donation was made in June 2017 by a company called Unionist Buildings Limited which had apparently been dissolved in January of that year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57325474
And the party has said both donations were correctly recorded
Well clearly they couldn't have been can they? I'm guessing admin cockup rather than anything else, but how can they have been properly recorded if the companies had been dissolved prior to the donation. I assume some sort of mis-recording.
As ever it just proves they are a bunch of crooks and spivs. They just don't bother trying hard to hide it now as there are so many dumb people who support them regardless.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
Yes. It works and can be useful (less so for the late could of years as 4g coverage has improved).
If Starmer's family didn't have a TV it would almost certainly have been through choice.
One thing I have learned from pb is the amount of people with a weird obsession about the social background of lefty politicians. I never knew this was a thing, but it clearly is.
I was just commenting on the claim that Starmer says he didn't have a TV until his late teens. Now, I haven't seen the show, but I'm guessing that he was using this to demonstrate his working class credentials. So I think it's fair for these claims to be scrutinized.
Maybe see the show then. The TV thing was nothing to do with his w/c credentials. It was about his father - a rather cold, distant figure who wouldn't allow a TV in the house on principle. Eventually they got one, on which Keir was given special dispensation to watch MotD.
There seems to be an inverse correlation on here between people who watched the Starmer interview and willingness to comment on it.
Fair enough.
As someone who was desperate to have Sky Sports as a kid, I can empathize with Keir.
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
from BBC:- The two donations were made to the Conservatives over the last four years.
One was for a sum of £10,000 made in November 2019 by a company called Stridewell Estates. Government records indicate that the firm had been dissolved three years previously.
Business Insider reported that a spokesman for the company had previously suggested it could be a mistake.
The second donation was made in June 2017 by a company called Unionist Buildings Limited which had apparently been dissolved in January of that year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57325474
And the party has said both donations were correctly recorded
Both crooked donations were recorded correctly , nothing to see here move along, as Tories we record our desperately dodgy donations under fake companies correctly don't you know.
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Allotments can be a bit weird with rules. My one has a construction known as the crystal palace - built by a window fitter from hundreds of old window in extremely higgledy piggledy fashion. Completely outlawed now, but allow to remain as pre-existing. Now you have to ask to fit a shed or greenhouse (usually allowed tbf).
Allotment politics are worse than parish council politics. Extremely petty at times.
We have water butts on site fed from mains water, for which we have to pay water rates. Some plots are quite a distance from said water butts and hosepipes are banned.
I never actually use any because my plot consists entirely of "illegally" planted fruit bushes and trees.
As for allotment sheds - the more higgledy and decrepit the better.
Can't you attach a water butt to your ramshackle shed-like structure?
My drip-feed watering system is fed from a water butt, and I am just about to find out how long it takes to completely empty, to see if it will last a full week when I am away.
Both crooked donations were recorded correctly , nothing to see here move along, as Tories we record our desperately dodgy donations under fake companies correctly don't you know.
And they still look better than the SNP finances...
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
A comment on the Starmer interview, from a Labour supporter, and one of the few on here apparently who actually watched it (quite an effort given it was fronted by Piers Morgan).
It was very heavily, and rather badly, edited - you could spot the gaps easily, so it didn't flow well. Starmer came across well: very sincere, and with more of a sense of humour than many would have thought. It didn't tell us much at all, but will have done him no harm. Morgan put the focus on the sob stories; it wasn't Starmer bringing them up. But there were several lighter moments. The weakest bit was on what policies Starmer would prioritise; he really needs to focus on an identifiable political offer.
So, as a Starmer sceptic, I was a bit reassured that there's more to him than meets the eye (sort of the reverse of the PM). As part of a narrative to improve his ratings, it's obviously not a game-changer, but it goes in the plus column.
On topic I was out in Edinburgh last night. It was pretty quiet. We had to log in at the pub but there was no question of booking or indeed a time limit. They had put plastic screens up between the tables but it wasn't much of a problem given the numbers there. Table service and a tab. We ended up with 4 from 4 different households. I think that was technically illegal but no one cared. By the time we left there was no one else in the pub. In fairness it was a nice night and those establishments with outdoor facilities were probably doing better.
Myself and a friend then went into a restaurant for a meal.. No logging in at all. Staff wearing masks but that was it. Again there were maybe 3 tables being used so it wasn't exactly cheek by jowl.
I think Nicola is being even more delusional than normal in these anxious decisions about whether areas are in zone 1 or 2. No one gives a damn and most have already moved on. Those who are concerned are just not coming out which must be killing many of these establishments.
Remarkable that she didn't learn the lesson of the festive period when various parties were demanding that Nicola should let the bars and restaurants of Edinburgh let rip.
The position in December was very different because only a very small percentage of the population had been vaccinated then. The risk reward ratio is now completely different and that should be reflected in policy.
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Allotments can be a bit weird with rules. My one has a construction known as the crystal palace - built by a window fitter from hundreds of old window in extremely higgledy piggledy fashion. Completely outlawed now, but allow to remain as pre-existing. Now you have to ask to fit a shed or greenhouse (usually allowed tbf).
Allotment politics are worse than parish council politics. Extremely petty at times.
We have water butts on site fed from mains water, for which we have to pay water rates. Some plots are quite a distance from said water butts and hosepipes are banned.
I never actually use any because my plot consists entirely of "illegally" planted fruit bushes and trees.
As for allotment sheds - the more higgledy and decrepit the better.
Can't you attach a water butt to your ramshackle shed-like structure?
Many of the large tech companies are seriously failing to understand why people object to this stuff. It’s a complete privacy nightmare, by design, with hardware you’ve paid for - and it’s a change in functionality that the customer didn’t ask for, and appears to be forced on them under pain of their expensive hardware becoming a brick.
If you have a BT router you provide a hot spot for other BT users. I find this very useful. Invariably in built up areas you are in range of a BT router so have free access in exchange for you offering the same. Is this the same sort of thing? It has been available for several years. I make a lot of use of it.
Can one 'use' someone else's router without the password? Or with one's own password?
It needs your own password
Just had a look at the WiFi 'available' to me. There are 12 which are password protected, of which 5, including my own, are BT, 3 from a local (Essex/Suffolk) supplier, 3 Sky and 1 from TalkTalk. Then there are variety of ones where people have put their own names (Johns WiFi and the like.) Then there's an open access BT and the Library.
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Allotments can be a bit weird with rules. My one has a construction known as the crystal palace - built by a window fitter from hundreds of old window in extremely higgledy piggledy fashion. Completely outlawed now, but allow to remain as pre-existing. Now you have to ask to fit a shed or greenhouse (usually allowed tbf).
Allotment politics are worse than parish council politics. Extremely petty at times.
We have water butts on site fed from mains water, for which we have to pay water rates. Some plots are quite a distance from said water butts and hosepipes are banned.
I never actually use any because my plot consists entirely of "illegally" planted fruit bushes and trees.
As for allotment sheds - the more higgledy and decrepit the better.
Mine is mostly spuds with plenty of recently planted fruit trees and the odd other veg. Loads of highly scented rose bushes as well. Allotment sheds should look higgledy piggledy But our new committee are trying to get us as compliant to their hastily thought out rules as possible. This being Liverpool, I predict revolt, anarchy and a workers cooperative that will erupt into bloodshed by September.
Another lovely sunny morning; how soon before we get drought warnings,?Although I see that someone is advising us not to use mains water on our lawns.
14.7degC on my app!
I'm off this afternoon to do my bit in the u3a's Open Day; getting us going again and recruiting new members now it looks as though meetings will be possible.
What are we supposed to do, piss on them?
(Normally I would have water butts but due to building works they’ve had to be moved and are currently empty.)
My allotment society has stopped us using on site water to water our plots. They have supplied us with (tiny) water butts with which to collect rainwater. How much rainwater they expect us to collect from a shed roof in summer has not been vouchsafed to us.
Thats insanity. My allotment has taps fed direct from groundwater.
It has not met with universal approval. However given the shenanigans our last committee performed, nobody has been beaten to a pulp with assorted fruit as yet.
Allotments can be a bit weird with rules. My one has a construction known as the crystal palace - built by a window fitter from hundreds of old window in extremely higgledy piggledy fashion. Completely outlawed now, but allow to remain as pre-existing. Now you have to ask to fit a shed or greenhouse (usually allowed tbf).
Allotment politics are worse than parish council politics. Extremely petty at times.
We have water butts on site fed from mains water, for which we have to pay water rates. Some plots are quite a distance from said water butts and hosepipes are banned.
I never actually use any because my plot consists entirely of "illegally" planted fruit bushes and trees.
As for allotment sheds - the more higgledy and decrepit the better.
Can't you attach a water butt to your ramshackle shed-like structure?
My wife's plot has an old tin bath collecting water from a metal garage door turned into a lean-to. New connections to the official water supply are not permitted.
Spending zero money used to be the allotment ethos, although there have been some recent members who don't quite get that and have been actually buying new stuff. Disgrace!
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
Doesn't it say all that needs to be said about Starmer that the one contributor who is consistently talking him up is @HYUFD ?
I am not completely convinced that he has Labour's best interests at heart.
Well I do think Starmer is a better Leader of the Opposition than Corbyn was. Starmer also seems a decent man whatever differences I may have with him politically.
I have also said the biggest threat to Johnson electorally would be Burnham (indeed I said Burnham would be Labour's best bet as leader even after the 2015 Labour defeat 6 years ago).
However as Burnham has said he will not stand for Parliament again before the next general election, Labour might as well stick with Starmer as I cannot see anyone else in the current PLP doing any better than he is
Given that the Leader of the Conservative party has now 'come out' as a Roman Catholic, it won't be the Tories.
Has he? I thought the No.10 spokesman declined to comment.
He has married an RC, but that doesn't automatically make him one. The requirement for an RC marriage is that the children are brought up RC, but both spouses don't need to be RC.
Only if there's special dispensation.
But the fact that he was baptised Catholic means he's a Catholic. Subsequent confirmation in the CofE is an irrelevance to them.
(In their eyes)
Same with the (frankly laughable) get-around as to the fact that they're marrying a double divorcee with an unconfirmed number of children - neither previous marriage recognised as legit as done in another church FFS.
God must spent half his time laughing at the stupid done in His name.
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Doesn't it say all that needs to be said about Starmer that the one contributor who is consistently talking him up is @HYUFD ?
I am not completely convinced that he has Labour's best interests at heart.
Well I do think Starmer is a better Leader of the Opposition than Corbyn was. Starmer also seems a decent man whatever differences I may have with him politically.
I have also said the biggest threat to Johnson electorally would be Burnham (indeed I said Burnham would be Labour's best bet as leader even after the 2015 Labour defeat 6 years ago).
However as Burnham has said he will not stand for Parliament before the next general election Labour might as well stick with Starmer as I cannot see anyone else in the current PLP doing any better than he is
If you value 'decency' your loyalty to the Party must come well above that to Johnson personally.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
BT had their chance to stick a router into my office and hotspot it. A stupid attitude to what is fast enough bandwith and an obsession with buying fixed lines means I have binned off the whole idea.
As 4G is faster and more stable than FTTC I'm going to stick a sim card in a router and stay in the 2020s by not bothering with a landline connection.
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Now waiting to be told I'm talking twaddle.
How old did you think I am?
?50
I wish, but thank you. I'm 66. Wish I was 30 again.
Doesn't it say all that needs to be said about Starmer that the one contributor who is consistently talking him up is @HYUFD ?
I am not completely convinced that he has Labour's best interests at heart.
Well I do think Starmer is a better Leader of the Opposition than Corbyn was. Starmer also seems a decent man whatever differences I may have with him politically.
I have also said the biggest threat to Johnson electorally would be Burnham (indeed I said Burnham would be Labour's best bet as leader even after the 2015 Labour defeat 6 years ago).
However as Burnham has said he will not stand for Parliament again before the next general election, Labour might as well stick with Starmer as I cannot see anyone else in the current PLP doing any better than he is
I agree. Massive improvement on Corbyn (what were the Labour Party thinking?). No obvious replacement within Parliament. Sincere and decent if a bit dull.
But not in the same class as Boris as a politician.
The resignations of Joanna Cherry and Douglas Chapman from senior SNP roles were a protest against secrecy by Peter Murrell about issues including how a £600,000 independence fund was spent.
Doesn't it say all that needs to be said about Starmer that the one contributor who is consistently talking him up is @HYUFD ?
I am not completely convinced that he has Labour's best interests at heart.
Well I do think Starmer is a better Leader of the Opposition than Corbyn was. Starmer also seems a decent man whatever differences I may have with him politically.
I have also said the biggest threat to Johnson electorally would be Burnham (indeed I said Burnham would be Labour's best bet as leader even after the 2015 Labour defeat 6 years ago).
However as Burnham has said he will not stand for Parliament before the next general election Labour might as well stick with Starmer as I cannot see anyone else in the current PLP doing any better than he is
If you value 'decency' your loyalty to the Party must come well above that to Johnson personally.
It does, I campaigned for Major in 1997, Hague in 2001, IDS and Howard and May in 2017, none exactly great results for the Tories. I am a Tory loyalist not a Johnson loyalist though as long as Boris remains popular I will remain loyal to him too
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Now waiting to be told I'm talking twaddle.
How old did you think I am?
My father wouldn't have a TV for ages. Said it would distracted from his children's education, although my study was carried out in another room. However I left home in September 1958 and when I came back at Christmas there was one installed in the living room. My sister, who did better than me academically, didn't leave home until a year later.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
On topic I was out in Edinburgh last night. It was pretty quiet. We had to log in at the pub but there was no question of booking or indeed a time limit. They had put plastic screens up between the tables but it wasn't much of a problem given the numbers there. Table service and a tab. We ended up with 4 from 4 different households. I think that was technically illegal but no one cared. By the time we left there was no one else in the pub. In fairness it was a nice night and those establishments with outdoor facilities were probably doing better.
Myself and a friend then went into a restaurant for a meal.. No logging in at all. Staff wearing masks but that was it. Again there were maybe 3 tables being used so it wasn't exactly cheek by jowl.
I think Nicola is being even more delusional than normal in these anxious decisions about whether areas are in zone 1 or 2. No one gives a damn and most have already moved on. Those who are concerned are just not coming out which must be killing many of these establishments.
Remarkable that she didn't learn the lesson of the festive period when various parties were demanding that Nicola should let the bars and restaurants of Edinburgh let rip.
The position in December was very different because only a very small percentage of the population had been vaccinated then. The risk reward ratio is now completely different and that should be reflected in policy.
Presumably we can dispense with the views of those who weren't able to work out the risk ratio in December?
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Now waiting to be told I'm talking twaddle.
How old did you think I am?
My father wouldn't have a TV for ages. Said it would distracted from his children's education, although my study was carried out in another room. However I left home in September 1958 and when I came back at Christmas there was one installed in the living room. My sister, who did better than me academically, didn't leave home until a year later.
A friend was the same with his infant son. It lasted till the child's first teacher mentioned the boy seemed behind on the alphabet which the rest of the class had picked up from Sesame Street.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Robert Dingwall has been nicknamed “Robert Dingbat” in government due to his rent-a-quote activity over the past year or so. Whitehall officials have been bemused that a part-time professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University is presented in some sections of the media as a pandemic expert just because he sits on one government advisory group and loves talking to journalists.
He is an expert on sociology of risk with decades of research experience. Seems an ideal person to inject some balance into the discussion to me.
If he is the same one I just looked at on Twitter then he has the ring of stars flag and describes himself as a rejoiner. I would think he is no friend of whatever our present PM says.
He's been arguing for 21st to go ahead as planned as we need to learn to live with endemic covid just as we do with flu.
As Whitty and the PM both seem to agree, I'm not sure what he is supposed to be saying that is against the PM?
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Now waiting to be told I'm talking twaddle.
How old did you think I am?
My father wouldn't have a TV for ages. Said it would distracted from his children's education, although my study was carried out in another room. However I left home in September 1958 and when I came back at Christmas there was one installed in the living room. My sister, who did better than me academically, didn't leave home until a year later.
A friend was the same with his infant son. It lasted till the child's first teacher mentioned the boy seemed behind on the alphabet which the rest of the class had picked up from Sesame Street.
My wife and I didn't have a TV for the first few months of our marriage in 1962, but when our first child was on the way we got one. And when our second was on the way we got a colour one; one of the first colour TV's the local dealer, next door to my pharmacy, supplied.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Yup, IIRC the latest legal advice was that you could be liable. The law was setup so that the I-don't-secure-my-wifi excuse wouldn't work - and since you have the option to turn off the BT public access, this meant you are responsible for it!
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
Just 1.6m watched Piers and Starmer last night. That's very low for a Life Stories episode.
If Starmer had appeared on The Chase at teamtime he could have reached an extra million viewers...
Yes but is also being covered on the newspapers, the front page of the BBC news website etc, so the key points that came out will have a wider reach than just those who watched the programme.
At the end of the day though Starmer's fate and Boris' fate will depend on the state of the economy in 2024 and no resurgence of Covid and Starmer being a more acceptable alternative than Corbyn if it goes downhill, not on Life Stories last night
EG in pubs: bar service will be allowed and no social restrictions BUT track and trace will remain, no standing or seating by the bar, masks required when ordering at the bar and when moving around the pub.
Similar rules in restaurants, indoor places like cinemas etc.
Prudent sensible provisions.
Is that what you're expecting, or wanting, or have seen somewhere?
Its not good enough. Seating at the bar is part of a pub. Masks are not.
Its time to get back to normal. If someone unvaccinated doesn't want to go to a pub operating like normal, they have a simple choice: don't go there!
I was at a pub in the Peak District at the weekend, the tables were well spread out and ordering by app. It all worked neatly, but the Test and Trace App was being ignored. I think no one is using if anymore.
I think ordering by app and table service will be the norm in pubs for while. It works and people like it.
It might be the norm for some not very busy pubs with lots of space.
Come down South and I'll show you a proper boozer, which is so busy that you queue for 5 minutes to get a pint. If you're lucky....
The talk at my book group yesterday was how local pubs are hiking up their prices to offset losses. One is charging £7 a pint.
Bloody hell! Where is that? If they did that near me there would be a pitchfork wielding mob. My local was charging £5:20 for two pints of bitter last week.
I’m currently sat in a pub having lunch. The cost of the pint - £9.50 at today’s exchange rate. In a couple of hours it will be “happy hour”, when the pint will only be £6.25.
(I console myself with the fact I’m not paying 40% in income tax).
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
The side connection has a different IP address and BT knows who the user is. Really bad stuff is generally blocked in any case and anyone using a VPN to access it will be double insulated from your network.
If you are truly paranoid about other people using your broadband for nefarious things, you should turn wifi off and cable up the house.
Robert Dingwall has been nicknamed “Robert Dingbat” in government due to his rent-a-quote activity over the past year or so. Whitehall officials have been bemused that a part-time professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University is presented in some sections of the media as a pandemic expert just because he sits on one government advisory group and loves talking to journalists.
He is an expert on sociology of risk with decades of research experience. Seems an ideal person to inject some balance into the discussion to me.
If he is the same one I just looked at on Twitter then he has the ring of stars flag and describes himself as a rejoiner. I would think he is no friend of whatever our present PM says.
He's been arguing for 21st to go ahead as planned as we need to learn to live with endemic covid just as we do with flu.
As Whitty and the PM both seem to agree, I'm not sure what he is supposed to be saying that is against the PM?
Looking at it, you are right. I wonder who is calling him those names if that is the case?
Just 1.6m watched Piers and Starmer last night. That's very low for a Life Stories episode.
If Starmer had appeared on The Chase at teamtime he could have reached an extra million viewers...
Interesting to compare with how many poll respondents say they watched
I never bitched about his performance, having not watched it @Northern_Al - I said the twitter comments were positive but all from people who had Labour or Remain type things in their bio, ie the people who were well disposed towards him anyway
Interesting thread on Indian variant and transmission:
Tom Wenseleers @TWenseleers · 1h Sanger Institute sequence data from UK were updated yesterday, so here some analyses, also for the Indian data & for cases exported out of India. Conclusion: increased transmissibility of Indian variant of concern B.1.617.2 over Kent variant B.1.1.7 likely+some immune escape.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Yup, IIRC the latest legal advice was that you could be liable. The law was setup so that the I-don't-secure-my-wifi excuse wouldn't work - and since you have the option to turn off the BT public access, this meant you are responsible for it!
You don't actually own the BT public access service, surely?
Obviously the 'open up your network to the world and blame anything that happens on someone else' excuse is wearing a bit thin, but this is a bit different.
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
We only had B&W TVs until I was 11. I was reminded of this watching Gods of Snooker and remembering that when we watched the famous Davis-Taylor final all the balls were grey. Even when we got a colour TV it was a portable. My parents were the kind of parents who disapproved of TV - "Commercial" frowned on in particular. I have rebelled against this and we have a massive TV. I also listen to Magic in the car, which would never have happened when I was a kid, although we also didn't have a car. Our kids watch too much TV, they are currently working their way through every episode of Death in Paradise.
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
No, it is giving away (some of) the control we recently took back. That is the problem with any of these agreements, including our membership of the EU: they include clauses which limit our future choices. The pro-EU argument on this revolved around "pooling" sovereignty but that was, probably rightly, seen as nonsense.
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
The side connection has a different IP address and BT knows who the user is. Really bad stuff is generally blocked in any case and anyone using a VPN to access it will be double insulated from your network.
If you are truly paranoid about other people using your broadband for nefarious things, you should turn wifi off and cable up the house.
The separate IP address point is great in theory, but then again I suspect it was pretty obvious why the subpostmasters were not guilty, if you could trust courts to understand how computers work.
I think probably turning off the bt piggyback and having a strong wpa2 or whatever it is password is adequate security.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Yup, IIRC the latest legal advice was that you could be liable. The law was setup so that the I-don't-secure-my-wifi excuse wouldn't work - and since you have the option to turn off the BT public access, this meant you are responsible for it!
You don't actually own the BT public access service, surely?
Obviously the 'open up your network to the world and blame anything that happens on someone else' excuse is wearing a bit thin, but this is a bit different.
The problem was that, in theory, the fact that it had gone through your router would make you liable for what was downloaded/uploaded. Despite the fact that you have no traffic control apart from turning the BT public WiFi on/off.
Interestingly(?), she is a lesbian in a civil partnership.
The DUP’s hellfire and brimstone religious views represent only a tiny, tiny minority of unionists.
It would not at all surprise me to see the Alliance top the poll next year, or even the UUP.
SF will probably top the poll at the moment even on a reduced voteshare since 2017 as the Nationalist vote is only split 2 ways between them and the more moderate SDLP.
Both the Alliance and UUP should be up on 2017 but the problem for Unionists in terms of topping the poll at Stormont is their vote is split 3 ways now between the moderate UUP, the hardline DUP and the ultra hardline TUV
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Yup, IIRC the latest legal advice was that you could be liable. The law was setup so that the I-don't-secure-my-wifi excuse wouldn't work - and since you have the option to turn off the BT public access, this meant you are responsible for it!
You don't actually own the BT public access service, surely?
Obviously the 'open up your network to the world and blame anything that happens on someone else' excuse is wearing a bit thin, but this is a bit different.
It’s quite possible you’d be relying on BT’s recordkeeping if it got to court though.
Technically, I’d have assumed that the home connection and the public connection in the router have different IP addresses, but assumptions can be dangerous!
Presumably OFCOM approved the router config for that type of scenario, before deploying them?
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
No, it is giving away (some of) the control we recently took back. That is the problem with any of these agreements, including our membership of the EU: they include clauses which limit our future choices. The pro-EU argument on this revolved around "pooling" sovereignty but that was, probably rightly, seen as nonsense.
CPTPP is much more akin to the EEC we joined - and would have stayed in.
If the CPTPP has aspirations to become a nation state, with flags and anthems and armies, you may have a point. Until them, very happy to move to such a trade grouping and away from the nascent United States of Europe.
Mr. Cockney, I raised an eyebrow at the juxtaposition of BBC red button headlines last night.
"0 deaths" was followed by "Start of the third wave in Scotland".
Indeed.
The media have a lot to answer for. Sky News have spent the last couple of months breathlessly and endlessly trumpeting every scare mongering scientist they can drag in front of camera. Often it's the same people again and again and again which then appears on the website under 'BREAKING NEWS'.
And it's all very well for the Daily Mail to carry the Zero banner but they too have been up and down like a whore's drawers (Rowan Atkinson): one minute demonstrating for our freedom, the next telling us that cases are rising sharply. They even declared last week that deaths had risen by an alarming 16%. The raw data behind that was an increase from 6 deaths to 7 deaths. Stop for a moment and consider the utter absurdity of that.
There's only one statistic which matters: vaccinations. These brilliant vaccines work. We need to trust them and get everybody jabbed asap.
Then back to life, back to big Government butting out of our lives and putting the media back in their box.
Depending on which figures you look at, either two or four people who had been double jabbed have died from this new variant. That’s out of a very substantial number of cases.
Therefore either this new variant is not especially serious - evidence not supported by the figures from India - or vaccines are very highly effective against it - if not in spreading it, at least in reducing its severity.
In neither case should we be talking about delaying opening up.
Have we established the dead double jabbed cases where definitely two or more weeks beyond their second jab, which seems crucial to me.
Well, I haven’t personally.
There are cases of vaccine failure, even with double dose. It’s hardly surprising therefore if these people who have sadly died despite being double jabbed are another example of it. That’s one reason why to stop people getting ill we need to jab as many people as possible.
I agree. I doubt anyone is arguing that we shouldn't vaccinate as many people as possible. Well, except Lozza Fox. But the question is should we be locking down again because of the new variant while we do more vaccination and I think the government is right to not make a decision yet, but is clearly minded to not reintroduce further restrictions and indeed to stick to 21st deadline on new stuff.
Ultimately, unless there is a huge spike in hospitalisations I don’t see lockdown being extended.
Credit where credit is due, Johnson has not reacted by locking down too soon and too hard. Far from it. He’s always locked down too little, too late. Arguably, his worst mistake in the whole pandemic was not closing schools on December 1st and while I vehemently disagreed with that decision and it was clearly the wrong decision, it does show he doesn’t lock down for the sake of it.
Arguably the worst was way back in spring 2020, allowing the Cheltenham festival to go ahead, the Liverpoool CL match, the Bath half etc.
We lost the battle very early on.
But it still would have crept in and spread. I no longer believe it would have been possible to do a New Zealand and hermetically seal our borders. And if the Kiwis and Aussies don't hurry up and get their populations vaccinated then I know where I'd rather be right now. A hermetically sealed country is no way to exist.
I like your 'credit where credit's due' line. We made mistakes early on, mostly rectified them and since then have steered a pretty good course through these troubled waters whilst pouring all of our effort into brilliant vaccine development and roll out. We were the first country in the world to administer the Pfizer jab, a moment of searing optimism that has continued.
I'm sorry for people who can't bring themselves to acknowledge this success. Genuinely sorry. They must be very miserable.
Discussed repeatedly, but more people travelled on the tube every day, in more cramped conditions, with far worse ventilation, than all that weeks big sporting events combined. And then commuted back to thousands of different towns and villages.
I think there's a difference between Cheltenham and the Liverpool game.
The spectators at Cheltenham wouldn't have stayed in their homes if it had been cancelled but would have been doing alternative things - with a fair few thousand travelling on the tube every day.
Whereas for the Liverpool game that likely brought it an extra dollop of covid from Madrid.
Yes about 3000 extra from Madrid that week for the Liverpool game. In pre covid times about 700,000 people per week travel between Spain and the UK. It was normal life that spread the disease around, not mass sport events.
EG in pubs: bar service will be allowed and no social restrictions BUT track and trace will remain, no standing or seating by the bar, masks required when ordering at the bar and when moving around the pub.
Similar rules in restaurants, indoor places like cinemas etc.
Prudent sensible provisions.
Is that what you're expecting, or wanting, or have seen somewhere?
Its not good enough. Seating at the bar is part of a pub. Masks are not.
Its time to get back to normal. If someone unvaccinated doesn't want to go to a pub operating like normal, they have a simple choice: don't go there!
I was at a pub in the Peak District at the weekend, the tables were well spread out and ordering by app. It all worked neatly, but the Test and Trace App was being ignored. I think no one is using if anymore.
I think ordering by app and table service will be the norm in pubs for while. It works and people like it.
It might be the norm for some not very busy pubs with lots of space.
Come down South and I'll show you a proper boozer, which is so busy that you queue for 5 minutes to get a pint. If you're lucky....
The talk at my book group yesterday was how local pubs are hiking up their prices to offset losses. One is charging £7 a pint.
Bloody hell! Where is that? If they did that near me there would be a pitchfork wielding mob. My local was charging £5:20 for two pints of bitter last week.
I’m currently sat in a pub having lunch. The cost of the pint - £9.50 at today’s exchange rate. In a couple of hours it will be “happy hour”, when the pint will only be £6.25.
(I console myself with the fact I’m not paying 40% in income tax).
Looking forward to going back to see my family in Bangkok and paying about £1.50......
Now I feel really old as I remember nagging my Dad to buy a TV that could get BBC2 when it came out (and the same for colour TV)
Buy a TV?
We rented our first colour TV
I have to keep adjusting my age profile of people. You have just gone up a couple of decades Scott. And I mean that as a compliment.
Ditto to you; non bbc2 enabled TVs is a seriously cool concept.
Yep they weren't. Can't remember why. There was something about the number of 'lines' on you TV I think (or did that have something to do with colour?). I'm just making stuff up now. 405 and 600 and something rings bells. The other thing of course is they were preprogrammed with a button for each (of the 2) stations.
Now waiting to be told I'm talking twaddle.
How old did you think I am?
My father wouldn't have a TV for ages. Said it would distracted from his children's education, although my study was carried out in another room. However I left home in September 1958 and when I came back at Christmas there was one installed in the living room. My sister, who did better than me academically, didn't leave home until a year later.
A friend was the same with his infant son. It lasted till the child's first teacher mentioned the boy seemed behind on the alphabet which the rest of the class had picked up from Sesame Street.
My wife and I didn't have a TV for the first few months of our marriage in 1962, but when our first child was on the way we got one. And when our second was on the way we got a colour one; one of the first colour TV's the local dealer, next door to my pharmacy, supplied.
TV as prophylactic? Not tonight darling, Dr Kildare is on?
At today’s #CPTPP Commission, hosted by @nishy03, we decided to commence an accession process with the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic heft of the #CPTPP will be strengthened through the accession of high quality, high ambition economies.
No, it is giving away (some of) the control we recently took back. That is the problem with any of these agreements, including our membership of the EU: they include clauses which limit our future choices. The pro-EU argument on this revolved around "pooling" sovereignty but that was, probably rightly, seen as nonsense.
CPTPP is much more akin to the EEC we joined - and would have stayed in.
If the CPTPP has aspirations to become a nation state, with flags and anthems and armies, you may have a point. Until them, very happy to move to such a trade grouping and away from the nascent United States of Europe.
A problem that the pro-EU side failed to grapple with was handling (and admitting) the change from the EEC to the EU.
Up to the 80s, the EEC was an economic project - yes, there was some stuff about ever closer union etc, but that was just some fine language.
After 1989, the change was dramatic. The mistake was claiming that nothing had changed, since this was obviously untrue.
If Starmer's family didn't have a TV it would almost certainly have been through choice.
One thing I have learned from pb is the amount of people with a weird obsession about the social background of lefty politicians. I never knew this was a thing, but it clearly is.
I was just commenting on the claim that Starmer says he didn't have a TV until his late teens. Now, I haven't seen the show, but I'm guessing that he was using this to demonstrate his working class credentials. So I think it's fair for these claims to be scrutinized.
I look forward to your similar level scrutiny of the PM!
To be fair though it is those on the left who tend to angst about peoples class etc. So it is not surprising their own background gets scrutinised to see how much of a hypocrite they are being
EG in pubs: bar service will be allowed and no social restrictions BUT track and trace will remain, no standing or seating by the bar, masks required when ordering at the bar and when moving around the pub.
Similar rules in restaurants, indoor places like cinemas etc.
Prudent sensible provisions.
Is that what you're expecting, or wanting, or have seen somewhere?
Its not good enough. Seating at the bar is part of a pub. Masks are not.
Its time to get back to normal. If someone unvaccinated doesn't want to go to a pub operating like normal, they have a simple choice: don't go there!
I was at a pub in the Peak District at the weekend, the tables were well spread out and ordering by app. It all worked neatly, but the Test and Trace App was being ignored. I think no one is using if anymore.
I think ordering by app and table service will be the norm in pubs for while. It works and people like it.
It might be the norm for some not very busy pubs with lots of space.
Come down South and I'll show you a proper boozer, which is so busy that you queue for 5 minutes to get a pint. If you're lucky....
The talk at my book group yesterday was how local pubs are hiking up their prices to offset losses. One is charging £7 a pint.
Bloody hell! Where is that? If they did that near me there would be a pitchfork wielding mob. My local was charging £5:20 for two pints of bitter last week.
I’m currently sat in a pub having lunch. The cost of the pint - £9.50 at today’s exchange rate. In a couple of hours it will be “happy hour”, when the pint will only be £6.25.
(I console myself with the fact I’m not paying 40% in income tax).
Looking forward to going back to see my family in Bangkok and paying about £1.50......
Before the pandemic I was doing some work with a company in Manila, and spent the night in Bangkok after there was a volcano that went off in the Philippines. Both wonderful countries, and with very cheap beer - even in the airport!
(Just checked the date of the volcano eruption, Jan 12th 2020. That was the last time I was on a plane, 17 months ago!)
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Yup, IIRC the latest legal advice was that you could be liable. The law was setup so that the I-don't-secure-my-wifi excuse wouldn't work - and since you have the option to turn off the BT public access, this meant you are responsible for it!
You don't actually own the BT public access service, surely?
Obviously the 'open up your network to the world and blame anything that happens on someone else' excuse is wearing a bit thin, but this is a bit different.
It’s quite possible you’d be relying on BT’s recordkeeping if it got to court though.
Technically, I’d have assumed that the home connection and the public connection in the router have different IP addresses, but assumptions can be dangerous!
Presumably OFCOM approved the router config for that type of scenario, before deploying them?
I would assume that you would get screwed, and after a long battle, having lost your job, house (maybe even access to your children).... might or might not be vindicated.
Interestingly(?), she is a lesbian in a civil partnership.
The DUP’s hellfire and brimstone religious views represent only a tiny, tiny minority of unionists.
It would not at all surprise me to see the Alliance top the poll next year, or even the UUP.
SF will probably top the poll at the moment even on a reduced voteshare since 2017 as the Nationalist vote is only split 2 ways between them and the more moderate SDLP.
Both the Alliance and UUP should be up on 2017 but the problem for Unionists in terms of topping the poll at Stormont is their vote is split 3 ways now between the moderate UUP, the hardline DUP and the ultra hardline TUV
Yes, currently SF top the poll (although they too are losing ground to the SDLP and perhaps the Alliance).
Poots is a disaster. There’s a decent chance of the unionist vote swinging behind Alliance or the UUP to avoid a SF victory.
That kind of shit has been a on-going problem. BT had a thing for setting your router to provide public Wifi by default... not sure they aren't still doing that. Any customers of BT here?
I'm a customer, perfectly satisfied and not bothered by that. The near-ubiquity of accessible BT routers is a big factor why I use them. If download rate was an issue I might be concerned, but it's fine.
It's the lack of informed consent that is an issue,.
I would opt out if my house were less isolated - not on bandwidth issues but because I'd hate to have to prove to the plod that it was a random passer by, not me, downloading extreme pornography over my broadband
Yup, IIRC the latest legal advice was that you could be liable. The law was setup so that the I-don't-secure-my-wifi excuse wouldn't work - and since you have the option to turn off the BT public access, this meant you are responsible for it!
You don't actually own the BT public access service, surely?
Obviously the 'open up your network to the world and blame anything that happens on someone else' excuse is wearing a bit thin, but this is a bit different.
It’s quite possible you’d be relying on BT’s recordkeeping if it got to court though.
Technically, I’d have assumed that the home connection and the public connection in the router have different IP addresses, but assumptions can be dangerous!
Presumably OFCOM approved the router config for that type of scenario, before deploying them?
I would assume that you would get screwed, and after a long battle, having lost your job, house (maybe even access to your children).... might or might not be vindicated.
Yes, it’s potentially very dangerous, and I’d avoid it at all costs.
What Amazon are doing on the other hand, and where this conversation started, is rediculously bonkers. If I have my Amazon device on my own wifi router, it appears that it will share my wifi login with the Amazon device in the house next door. Which, if my connection is metered 4G, and next door’s device is a 4k camera, could cause me to receive a massive bill.
Everyone needs to start turning on MAC whitelisting in their routers - which isn’t a problem for me, because I do that anyway. But I’m an IT security guy, and 99.99% of other people aren’t.
EG in pubs: bar service will be allowed and no social restrictions BUT track and trace will remain, no standing or seating by the bar, masks required when ordering at the bar and when moving around the pub.
Similar rules in restaurants, indoor places like cinemas etc.
Prudent sensible provisions.
Is that what you're expecting, or wanting, or have seen somewhere?
Its not good enough. Seating at the bar is part of a pub. Masks are not.
Its time to get back to normal. If someone unvaccinated doesn't want to go to a pub operating like normal, they have a simple choice: don't go there!
I was at a pub in the Peak District at the weekend, the tables were well spread out and ordering by app. It all worked neatly, but the Test and Trace App was being ignored. I think no one is using if anymore.
I think ordering by app and table service will be the norm in pubs for while. It works and people like it.
It was already being trialled in some restaurants in Socal pre-pandemic. It takes a little of the human engagement out of the process (you just have someone come round with a specials list) but reduces risk of error and allows restaurants to reduce costs.
Mr. Cockney, I raised an eyebrow at the juxtaposition of BBC red button headlines last night.
"0 deaths" was followed by "Start of the third wave in Scotland".
Indeed.
The media have a lot to answer for. Sky News have spent the last couple of months breathlessly and endlessly trumpeting every scare mongering scientist they can drag in front of camera. Often it's the same people again and again and again which then appears on the website under 'BREAKING NEWS'.
And it's all very well for the Daily Mail to carry the Zero banner but they too have been up and down like a whore's drawers (Rowan Atkinson): one minute demonstrating for our freedom, the next telling us that cases are rising sharply. They even declared last week that deaths had risen by an alarming 16%. The raw data behind that was an increase from 6 deaths to 7 deaths. Stop for a moment and consider the utter absurdity of that.
There's only one statistic which matters: vaccinations. These brilliant vaccines work. We need to trust them and get everybody jabbed asap.
Then back to life, back to big Government butting out of our lives and putting the media back in their box.
Depending on which figures you look at, either two or four people who had been double jabbed have died from this new variant. That’s out of a very substantial number of cases.
Therefore either this new variant is not especially serious - evidence not supported by the figures from India - or vaccines are very highly effective against it - if not in spreading it, at least in reducing its severity.
In neither case should we be talking about delaying opening up.
Have we established the dead double jabbed cases where definitely two or more weeks beyond their second jab, which seems crucial to me.
Well, I haven’t personally.
There are cases of vaccine failure, even with double dose. It’s hardly surprising therefore if these people who have sadly died despite being double jabbed are another example of it. That’s one reason why to stop people getting ill we need to jab as many people as possible.
I agree. I doubt anyone is arguing that we shouldn't vaccinate as many people as possible. Well, except Lozza Fox. But the question is should we be locking down again because of the new variant while we do more vaccination and I think the government is right to not make a decision yet, but is clearly minded to not reintroduce further restrictions and indeed to stick to 21st deadline on new stuff.
Ultimately, unless there is a huge spike in hospitalisations I don’t see lockdown being extended.
Credit where credit is due, Johnson has not reacted by locking down too soon and too hard. Far from it. He’s always locked down too little, too late. Arguably, his worst mistake in the whole pandemic was not closing schools on December 1st and while I vehemently disagreed with that decision and it was clearly the wrong decision, it does show he doesn’t lock down for the sake of it.
Arguably the worst was way back in spring 2020, allowing the Cheltenham festival to go ahead, the Liverpoool CL match, the Bath half etc.
We lost the battle very early on.
But it still would have crept in and spread. I no longer believe it would have been possible to do a New Zealand and hermetically seal our borders. And if the Kiwis and Aussies don't hurry up and get their populations vaccinated then I know where I'd rather be right now. A hermetically sealed country is no way to exist.
I like your 'credit where credit's due' line. We made mistakes early on, mostly rectified them and since then have steered a pretty good course through these troubled waters whilst pouring all of our effort into brilliant vaccine development and roll out. We were the first country in the world to administer the Pfizer jab, a moment of searing optimism that has continued.
I'm sorry for people who can't bring themselves to acknowledge this success. Genuinely sorry. They must be very miserable.
Discussed repeatedly, but more people travelled on the tube every day, in more cramped conditions, with far worse ventilation, than all that weeks big sporting events combined. And then commuted back to thousands of different towns and villages.
I think there's a difference between Cheltenham and the Liverpool game.
The spectators at Cheltenham wouldn't have stayed in their homes if it had been cancelled but would have been doing alternative things - with a fair few thousand travelling on the tube every day.
Whereas for the Liverpool game that likely brought it an extra dollop of covid from Madrid.
Yes about 3000 extra from Madrid that week for the Liverpool game. In pre covid times about 700,000 people per week travel between Spain and the UK. It was normal life that spread the disease around, not mass sport events.
Wasn't Madrid an early epicentre of covid in Spain ?
And it was the initial lockdown which accelerated the spread in Spain as people left Madrid for their holiday homes ?
Comments
Some people consider decades of backing antisemites and supporting terrorists to be bad behaviour.
Some people consider sex outside of marriage to be bad behaviour.
No different to 'dead' people voting in elections.
Note that if you are 'borrowing' an unknown network you should definitely use a VPN to make sure that your traffic cannot be read by anyone else.
The problem with these Amazon networks is that the scope is a bit different, and having your cameras piggyback automatically on someone else's connection seems like a big security risk.
As someone who was desperate to have Sky Sports as a kid, I can empathize with Keir.
https://twitter.com/uuponline/status/1399986357683040263
Translation: it's OK when I do it...
And build a bigger storage tank or reservoir as for rainwater harvesting for the garden part of your building work for next time :-) .
I abolished my lawn years ago.
We have water butts on site fed from mains water, for which we have to pay water rates. Some plots are quite a distance from said water butts and hosepipes are banned.
I never actually use any because my plot consists entirely of "illegally" planted fruit bushes and trees.
As for allotment sheds - the more higgledy and decrepit the better.
We rented our first colour TV
My drip-feed watering system is fed from a water butt, and I am just about to find out how long it takes to completely empty, to see if it will last a full week when I am away.
/tmi
https://twitter.com/dantehanwannon/status/1399953637552451592
It was very heavily, and rather badly, edited - you could spot the gaps easily, so it didn't flow well. Starmer came across well: very sincere, and with more of a sense of humour than many would have thought. It didn't tell us much at all, but will have done him no harm. Morgan put the focus on the sob stories; it wasn't Starmer bringing them up. But there were several lighter moments. The weakest bit was on what policies Starmer would prioritise; he really needs to focus on an identifiable political offer.
So, as a Starmer sceptic, I was a bit reassured that there's more to him than meets the eye (sort of the reverse of the PM). As part of a narrative to improve his ratings, it's obviously not a game-changer, but it goes in the plus column.
Allotment sheds should look higgledy piggledy
But our new committee are trying to get us as compliant to their hastily thought out rules as possible. This being Liverpool, I predict revolt, anarchy and a workers cooperative that will erupt into bloodshed by September.
Spending zero money used to be the allotment ethos, although there have been some recent members who don't quite get that and have been actually buying new stuff. Disgrace!
I have also said the biggest threat to Johnson electorally would be Burnham (indeed I said Burnham would be Labour's best bet as leader even after the 2015 Labour defeat 6 years ago).
However as Burnham has said he will not stand for Parliament again before the next general election, Labour might as well stick with Starmer as I cannot see anyone else in the current PLP doing any better than he is
God must spent half his time laughing at the stupid done in His name.
Now waiting to be told I'm talking twaddle.
How old did you think I am?
As 4G is faster and more stable than FTTC I'm going to stick a sim card in a router and stay in the 2020s by not bothering with a landline connection.
I wish, but thank you. I'm 66. Wish I was 30 again.
But not in the same class as Boris as a politician.
https://twitter.com/ShaunLintern/status/1400004559645315072?s=20
https://twitter.com/Mike_Blackley/status/1400005863243403265?s=20
My sister, who did better than me academically, didn't leave home until a year later.
75% of the adult population = just over 59% of the actual population
https://twitter.com/EPPGroup/status/1400006888973029378
If Starmer had appeared on The Chase at teamtime he could have reached an extra million viewers...
75% of *adult* population. 60% of overall population.
Children can get Covid, spread Covid & can have long term symptoms. I worry we've essentially just abandoned children by not caring if they get Covid.
Also with new Delta variant, 2nd dose matters & that's 39% of pop.
https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1400005676219482112?s=20
As Whitty and the PM both seem to agree, I'm not sure what he is supposed to be saying that is against the PM?
And when our second was on the way we got a colour one; one of the first colour TV's the local dealer, next door to my pharmacy, supplied.
At the end of the day though Starmer's fate and Boris' fate will depend on the state of the economy in 2024 and no resurgence of Covid and Starmer being a more acceptable alternative than Corbyn if it goes downhill, not on Life Stories last night
In a couple of hours it will be “happy hour”, when the pint will only be £6.25.
(I console myself with the fact I’m not paying 40% in income tax).
If you are truly paranoid about other people using your broadband for nefarious things, you should turn wifi off and cable up the house.
I never bitched about his performance, having not watched it @Northern_Al - I said the twitter comments were positive but all from people who had Labour or Remain type things in their bio, ie the people who were well disposed towards him anyway
Tom Wenseleers
@TWenseleers
·
1h
Sanger Institute sequence data from UK were updated yesterday, so here some analyses, also for the Indian data & for cases exported out of India. Conclusion: increased transmissibility of Indian variant of concern B.1.617.2 over Kent variant B.1.1.7 likely+some immune escape.
https://twitter.com/TWenseleers/status/1399989400063426560
Obviously the 'open up your network to the world and blame anything that happens on someone else' excuse is wearing a bit thin, but this is a bit different.
Andrew Lilico
@andrew_lilico
·
16m
A 73% transmission advantage is huge - large enough to mean we may have a problem.
Houston, we may have a problem.
@andrew_lilico
·
11m
It leaves us hoping the Indian Variant doesn't have a 73% transmission advantage.
The DUP’s hellfire and brimstone religious views represent only a tiny, tiny minority of unionists.
It would not at all surprise me to see the Alliance top the poll next year, or even the UUP.
Our kids watch too much TV, they are currently working their way through every episode of Death in Paradise.
I’ll leave PBers to figure out how old that makes me.
I think probably turning off the bt piggyback and having a strong wpa2 or whatever it is password is adequate security.
Ratings in the summer months are poor compared to darker months. He’d have been better going in November.
Both the Alliance and UUP should be up on 2017 but the problem for Unionists in terms of topping the poll at Stormont is their vote is split 3 ways now between the moderate UUP, the hardline DUP and the ultra hardline TUV
Technically, I’d have assumed that the home connection and the public connection in the router have different IP addresses, but assumptions can be dangerous!
Presumably OFCOM approved the router config for that type of scenario, before deploying them?
If the CPTPP has aspirations to become a nation state, with flags and anthems and armies, you may have a point. Until them, very happy to move to such a trade grouping and away from the nascent United States of Europe.
Up to the 80s, the EEC was an economic project - yes, there was some stuff about ever closer union etc, but that was just some fine language.
After 1989, the change was dramatic. The mistake was claiming that nothing had changed, since this was obviously untrue.
(Just checked the date of the volcano eruption, Jan 12th 2020. That was the last time I was on a plane, 17 months ago!)
Poots is a disaster. There’s a decent chance of the unionist vote swinging behind Alliance or the UUP to avoid a SF victory.
What Amazon are doing on the other hand, and where this conversation started, is rediculously bonkers. If I have my Amazon device on my own wifi router, it appears that it will share my wifi login with the Amazon device in the house next door. Which, if my connection is metered 4G, and next door’s device is a 4k camera, could cause me to receive a massive bill.
Everyone needs to start turning on MAC whitelisting in their routers - which isn’t a problem for me, because I do that anyway. But I’m an IT security guy, and 99.99% of other people aren’t.
And it was the initial lockdown which accelerated the spread in Spain as people left Madrid for their holiday homes ?