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East Kilbride SNP MP defects to the Tories – politicalbetting.com

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  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,780
    MaxPB said:

    Nope, Lidl use the same loyalty pricing schemes and Aldi are introducing one before Xmas.
    Yes, but the price point at Lidl and Aldi start substantially below Sainsbury and Tesco. Its why the UK supermarkets bizarrely say the benchmark The discounters, It advertises the fact they would charge you much more if they could get away with it,
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,187
    edited October 2023
    ...

    Or you could just go to Lidl or Aldi where the price is the price and save all that time wasted on book keeping. Marketing pricing scams just so you dont get ripped off are one of the more unpleasant features of shopping .
    I refuse to buy anything that is Clubcard discounted/Nectar discounted. I don't want those barstewards second guessing my
    lifestyle habits. I have noticed the pre-discounted prices are generally higher than the Asda price, but less with the discount. As you say save time, effort and footsteps by using one of the German delicatessens.

    I overheard a conversation years ago at my children's junior school. A social climber from Southerndown was explaining that she would not shop at one of the German discounters and would rather use Tesco. A parent, who was from Germany chimed in " in Germany if one doesn't shop at Aldi or Lidl, they are either profligate or stupid".
  • MaxPB said:

    Been doing a bookkeeping exercise while watching the cricket this morning, we had a discussion last month about whether or not the ONS should include till level discounts in their measure of CPI (I think they should, other people say they shouldn't) so I decided to track a month of receipts and till/app discounts only available to people who shop with loyalty card discounts.

    I spent the month shopping absolutely as normal and made no effort to change what I buy based on the discounts available, so items I got discounted was coincidental.

    On average the full price shop per week for my household (we shop in Sainsbury's) was £108.67, after loyalty discounts that average fell to £101.54 and after personalised discounts it fell to the actual average of £99.28. My wife suggested we take the extra step of doing the nectar stuff as well so she went into the nectar app every week and added all of the available personalised offers, after taking those additional nectar points into account the average weekly shop would yield an average of 440 nectar points, worth £2.20 making the average weekly basket cost an equivalent of £97.08.

    We saved an average of 11% off our weekly shop sticker price basically by just using the Sainsbury's smart shop app and nectar app, again with no effort made to actually take advantage of these offers by substituting products when they have a personalised discount or loyalty discount applied. If we multiplied our monthly saving by 12 to get the annualised rate it's £600 per year and I'm sure if we planned the shop in advance based on the offers available or just switched products based on what's in store that number would go up a bit.

    Overall - it was piss easy to do a once a week login to an app to apply personalised offers and using the shopping app in store rather than going to the till or using the hand scanner. Anyone not doing these things is missing potentially an 11% discount from their weekly shop.

    Now that we've fallen into the habit I'm pretty sure we're going to keep it going, there's no real downside.

    For those people who are willing to vary the items they buy depending on what is currently on offer there are considerable savings to be made.

    We're constantly being told that the poor have a higher inflation rate than average but I'd say the people who really lose out are the lazy, the stupid and the inflexible.
  • MaxPB said:

    I don't think time rich comes into it, my wife would do the nectar stuff in the car as we were parking, or just before I left if I was going solo. We have a one year old and my wife is pregnant so it's not as though we are time rich in general. It's just two taps on her phone to load the app and then tap "add all personalised offers". If anything the smart shop app saves us a lot of time because we can just walk out of the shop after paying at the self service tills rather than queuing at the manned tills.
    A fortnight ago Sainsbury's here ripped out more tills so there is now mostly just the one open, with a very long queue. They've used the space for trolley-sized self-service points. This means there are now three self-service areas, for trolleys, baskets and self-scan.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,801

    ...

    I refuse to buy anything that is Clubcard discounted/Nectar discounted. I don't want those barstewards second guessing my
    lifestyle habits. I have noticed the pre-discounted prices are generally higher than the Asda price, but less with the discount. As you say save time, effort and footsteps by using one of the German delicatessens.
    If you pay by credit card then they already know your shopping habits. It's trivially easy for them to match payments to itemised lists.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795
    Looks like a massive defeat for the odious Lynton Crosby in Australia. Maybe Yes would have won were it not for his filthy paw prints on thr

    ...

    I refuse to buy anything that is Clubcard discounted/Nectar discounted. I don't want those barstewards second guessing my
    lifestyle habits. I have noticed the pre-discounted prices are generally higher than the Asda price, but less with the discount. As you say save time, effort and footsteps by using one of the German delicatessens.
    Agreed. I’ve been slow to the Teutonic shopping party but visited Lidl the other day and found it pretty good. Lots of excellent products and impressive wines. I’ll be back. The horrific double pricing scam At Sainsbury’s is alienating me (and I’d shopped there all my life).
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,281
    kle4 said:

    'More precisely summarise' is an amazing way of explaining cutting out a section like that, I may steal it for my own professional use.

    No, I didn't rewrite the whole thing, I was just more precisely summarising it.
    Then there's the classic from The Mikado; "I was merely adding artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative" aka 'telling a lie'....
  • MaxPB said:

    I don't think time rich comes into it, my wife would do the nectar stuff in the car as we were parking, or just before I left if I was going solo. We have a one year old and my wife is pregnant so it's not as though we are time rich in general. It's just two taps on her phone to load the app and then tap "add all personalised offers". If anything the smart shop app saves us a lot of time because we can just walk out of the shop after paying at the self service tills rather than queuing at the manned tills.
    So if you were time rich as well you could price compare to and visit the other supermarkets too.....
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,780

    ...

    I refuse to buy anything that is Clubcard discounted/Nectar discounted. I don't want those barstewards second guessing my
    lifestyle habits. I have noticed the pre-discounted prices are generally higher than the Asda price, but less with the discount. As you say save time, effort and footsteps by using one of the German delicatessens.
    Its across the board most things are cheaper. I occasionally make a corned beef hash. A tin of corned beef was £1.79 in Lidl and over £3 in Morrisons. Its basically the same meat in a tin.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,089
    Taz said:

    Yes, I’ve read a few like that on the Beeb, which has also blamed online disinformation’ too. We probably need to get BBCVerify on the job.

    The Guardian also has been reporting it in those terms.

    I cannot say I’m surprised at either.
    After the uprising of the 17th of June
    The Secretary of the Writers' Union
    Had leaflets distributed on the Stalinallee
    Which stated that the people
    Had squandered the confidence of the government
    And could only win it back
    By redoubled work quotas.
    Would it not in that case
    Be simpler for the government
    To dissolve the people
    And elect another?
  • A fortnight ago Sainsbury's here ripped out more tills so there is now mostly just the one open, with a very long queue. They've used the space for trolley-sized self-service points. This means there are now three self-service areas, for trolleys, baskets and self-scan.
    And then they have the gall to moan about shop lifting as the police are under staffed......
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,881
    edited October 2023
    Sean_F said:

    That's the trend in every Western democracy. Rich people in big cities have now realized they're socialists. Working class voters in towns and rural districts have realised they're conservatives.
    Not socialists exactly, wealthy Wentworth for example voted Liberal over Labor on 2PP in the 2019 Australian election but Independent over Liberal and now has an Independent MP and Westminster voted Conservative against Corbyn even if its council has now voted for the more centrist Labour of Starmer. More the rich in big cities are now liberals not conservatives (and the same applies to some of the wealthiest parts of the commuter belt).

    The general trend across the western world is inner cities normally vote left liberal, rural areas normally vote conservative and small town and suburban areas are the swing areas. That is more the divide than class now.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,780

    Looks like a massive defeat for the odious Lynton Crosby in Australia. Maybe Yes would have won were it not for his filthy paw prints on thr

    Agreed. I’ve been slow to the Teutonic shopping party but visited Lidl the other day and found it pretty good. Lots of excellent products and impressive wines. I’ll be back. The horrific double pricing scam At Sainsbury’s is alienating me (and I’d shopped there all my life).
    Sainsburys have just lost the plot on wine pricing.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617

    And then they have the gall to moan about shop lifting as the police are under staffed......
    I misread and thought JohnL wrote "self-scam" ...
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,390
    ydoethur said:

    Their performances in India suggest they've forgotten cricket too.
    And England beat them in the footie too last night, with their B team. Not sure it was worth the schlep out to Wembley to see it, though.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,881
    stodge said:

    Over 80% counted in New Zealand.

    National have slipped back to just under 40% and 50 seats, Labour on 26.5% and 34 seats. Greens have 13, ACT 12, NZ First 8 and Maori 4 so that gives National-ACT 62 seats in the 121 seat Parliament with all other parties on 59.

    Labour leader Chris Hipkins has in the past hour conceded defeat to National leader Christopher Luxon but the evidence shows it's been less a vote for National as a vote against Labour.

    However, worth noting National seem to be doing very well in a number of previously safe Labour seats and the seat totals may well change as we get the seats counted.

    Looks like Nationals have clearly won most seats and Luxon will become NZ PM.

    Main question now whether they have enough for a majority with just the ACT or they need to add NZ First as well
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,683

    It's like BREXIT and Trump....."those fecking proles have got it wrong".
    Well they did on those two things and this one probably comes from the same locker. As for the reaction of the losers a balance needs to be struck. You should accept the result and (although tempting) avoid direct criticism of the electorate, but there's no obligation whatsoever to celebrate the triumph of what you consider to be ignorance laced with racism.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,587
    edited October 2023
    Aussie referendum heading to landslide territory now. Could be 60/40

    And likely to lose every state and territory bar Canberra

    That’s not a defeat that’s a kicking
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    Saturday cultural slot:

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/12/it-glows-restorer-removes-queasy-look-from-first-world-war-painting-gassed

    'Since it was unveiled just months after the end of the first world war, John Singer Sargent’s monumental painting Gassed has been hailed as an era-defining artwork, going on to be the most popular in the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London. [...] many viewers have admired Sargent’s uncharacteristic use of a greenish-yellow colour scheme, emphasising the flat khaki of the soldiers’ uniforms and perhaps even a queasy atmosphere tinged with poison gas, in which two men lean over to vomit.

    Now, a major new restoration of the painting has revealed that that was not the painter’s intention at all. After removing what they discovered to be a thick layer of 1970s varnish, conservators have revealed a dramatically different artwork, which they say “glows” with pinks, mauves and greens reminiscent of the impressionists, and which they believe the artist may have intended to be a more hopeful vision of the aftermath of war.

    “Until recently, everyone thought it was a yellow painting, and I think that has affected the way we viewed it,” said Rebecca Newell, the museum’s head of art. “But now we know that was just the varnish.”'
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,801

    So if you were time rich as well you could price compare to and visit the other supermarkets too.....
    Going to multiple supermarkets just seems like too much effort, one of the reasons we've stuck to Sainsbury's for all these years is that their own brand products are acceptably decent and not overpriced like Waitrose or M&S or poor quality like Tesco and Asda.

    What I also noticed in the 4 weeks is a level of grocery price deflation, for the same basket of items at the beginning of the exercise we paid £58.34 at the end we paid £57.52 for exactly the same items that were in the first and final shops.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,780
    kinabalu said:

    Well they did on those two things and this one probably comes from the same locker. As for the reaction of the losers a balance needs to be struck. You should accept the result and (although tempting) avoid direct criticism of the electorate, but there's no obligation whatsoever to celebrate the triumph of what you consider to be ignorance laced with racism.
    "but there's no obligation whatsoever to celebrate the triumph of what you consider to be ignorance laced with racism."

    not to worry theyre too busy celebrating murder in the Middle East

  • 957th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, btw. I for one welcome our glorious French overlords.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,881
    edited October 2023
    This Australian referendum result will also have implications for UK politics given the close parallels between Australian and UK politics recently.

    At the Australian general election last year Australians elected a Labor government and threw out the governing conservative Liberal-National government on a big swing. The conservative opposition in turn elected the hard right Peter Dutton as their leader, who was even more rightwing than the conservative PM who had been defeated.

    Up to now Labor PM Albanese has had a clear poll lead, albeit narrowed a bit in recent polls. However Dutton's decision to oppose Albanese's Voice referendum on a hard anti woke agenda seems to have been rewarded with this result.

    UK Tories will also take note, expect the Conservatives to go even harder right and anti woke in opposition if as is likely Sunak loses the next general election and Starmer becomes Labour PM
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,089
    theProle said:

    And with 500 odd empty spaces in the entire prison system, it's not as if they are going to be sending anyone down for it either.


    There’s a barge going spare, I understand.

    Why don’t we offshore prisons to a cheap location? I bet North Korea could do something cheap.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,683

    "but there's no obligation whatsoever to celebrate the triumph of what you consider to be ignorance laced with racism."

    not to worry theyre too busy celebrating murder in the Middle East
    Who are?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,453

    957th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, btw. I for one welcome our glorious French overlords.

    Cheese-eating surrender monkey....
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,801

    And England beat them in the footie too last night, with their B team. Not sure it was worth the schlep out to Wembley to see it, though.
    I just spent yesterday evening hoping that Maddison would come through uninjured. I don't understand the logic of in season friendlies against such weak opposition. I thought the nations league was supposed to sort this out but here we are with key players from teams fighting at the top and bottom risking injury on national duty for absolutely fuck all. I won't have the same issue for the match against Italy because that is at least a qualifier and has something to play for.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,587
    kinabalu said:

    Well they did on those two things and this one probably comes from the same locker. As for the reaction of the losers a balance needs to be struck. You should accept the result and (although tempting) avoid direct criticism of the electorate, but there's no obligation whatsoever to celebrate the triumph of what you consider to be ignorance laced with racism.
    You’ve not even read the proposals, is my bet
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 14,633
    edited October 2023

    This ought to be meat and drink for Starmer. And if Sunak REALLY wants to present himself as a break with the past he could take it seriously. What is stopping them? Do we have to wait for all the drama to finish playing out?
    Not sure.

    It's easy to see the case for waiting for the Inquiry to finish its work before commencing prosecutions but this has been going on for 20 years now and some of the crimes are so egregious that action now would be simple and unlikely to affect the Inquiry's work. What's more, it is obvious that the lack of cooperation from the key players, notably the Post Office and Fujitsu, is a clear stalling tactic. A couple of short sharp cases now might concentrate minds.

    You are right, it is a chance for Sunak, or SKS, to shine. We'll see. I'll be watching.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    MaxPB said:

    Going to multiple supermarkets just seems like too much effort, one of the reasons we've stuck to Sainsbury's for all these years is that their own brand products are acceptably decent and not overpriced like Waitrose or M&S or poor quality like Tesco and Asda.

    What I also noticed in the 4 weeks is a level of grocery price deflation, for the same basket of items at the beginning of the exercise we paid £58.34 at the end we paid £57.52 for exactly the same items that were in the first and final shops.
    Hmm, Which have just reported Sainsburys has edged above Waitrose for a standard Which sample basket, albeit before loyalty cards.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    Taz said:

    Is it any wonder fewer and fewer people trust mainstream media reporting when it doesn’t even pretend to be anything more than a series of opinion pieces presented as news.
    I hate to drag it up again for fear of being lynched but this was my complaint about the way the 'spanish kiss' story was reported. It is nothing to do with being on any side of an argument but you just expect the BBC to report on the story in an impartial and objective way. When they publish clickbait style opinion pieces it aggravates one side and undermines their claim to be a public service broadcaster. But publishing articles that present opinion in the guise of 'facts' is an even worse offence in my view that should be severely dealt with by the government.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,187

    Sainsburys have just lost the plot on wine pricing.
    Yes Lidl and Aldi sell cheap wine for those solitary moments on a park bench, like a litre and a half of Riocha for under a tenner, but they also supply excellent Pouilly Fume, Pouilly, Fusee, Chateau Neuf du Pap and Crozes Hermitage for between 10 and 15 quid from time to time.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,483
    HYUFD said:

    Also an utter humiliation for Wokeism down under, most Australians overwhelmingly rejecting a specific voice for Aborigines to the Australian Parliament despite almost all left liberals and urban elites in Australia pushing for it.

    That said, there still needs to be some means to better consult Aborigines, they being the original peoples' of Australia after all
    So a 'specific voice', then ?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,187
    MaxPB said:

    If you pay by credit card then they already know your shopping habits. It's trivially easy for them to match payments to itemised lists.
    Whatever you do, don't suggest payment in cash on PB...
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617

    There’s a barge going spare, I understand.

    Why don’t we offshore prisons to a cheap location? I bet North Korea could do something cheap.
    Er, not spare any more, but if it is any consolation I agree it is difficult to keep up on the barge home economics front. Mind, the court case brought by the Mayor of Portland may influence matters.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/10/home-office-send-asylum-seekers-back-bibby-stockholm-barge-legionella
  • ...

    I refuse to buy anything that is Clubcard discounted/Nectar discounted. I don't want those barstewards second guessing my
    lifestyle habits. I have noticed the pre-discounted prices are generally higher than the Asda price, but less with the discount. As you say save time, effort and footsteps by using one of the German delicatessens.

    I overheard a conversation years ago at my children's junior school. A social climber from Southerndown was explaining that she would not shop at one of the German discounters and would rather use Tesco. A parent, who was from Germany chimed in " in Germany if one doesn't shop at Aldi or Lidl, they are either profligate or stupid".
    I have my Clubcard/Nectar card saved on my phone, within my Samsung Pay app, so tapping the loyalty card takes no extra difficulty or time than tapping the payment. I couldn't care less what they think of my shopping habits.

    Some things are better at Aldi/Lidl, but not everything is.

    One thing I really like is Tesco's meal deal. If I want a coffee as I am driving about I can stop at Costa and get a Flat White for £3.20 . . . or I can go to the Tesco next door and get a Costa Flat White from their machine, a sandwich or pasta, and a snack all for £3.40

    No brainer that really. :)
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,546
    Carnyx said:

    I misread and thought JohnL wrote "self-scam" ...
    That's all interesting. The practice seems to have shifted to deep discounts on Loyalty or Members prices on a small number of items - Tesco made that shift a couple of years ago.

    Have you tried the "Too Good To Go" app - Aldi use it for whatever nearly out of date stuff they have, boxed up for £3 to £5 for nominally about £25-£40 worth of original prices? Probably most useful if you are going somewhere anyway.

    My local Coop Local has a multilevel scheme where discounts are 1/3 then 1/2 then 3/4 as it goes to the sell by date, then on the last evening at closing time it goes to the foodbank. The equivalent full Aldi price is somewhere between the 1/3 and 1/2 discount levels.



  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,163
    As we have diverted into which supermarket is better, Home Bargains sometimes do cheese toasties but always microwave chicken in egg fried rice, Tesco very inconsistently do cheese toasties but do a lovely sweet and sour chicken and do olives and sundried tomatoes, Waitrose do the chicken and olives but the sun-dried toms have been replaced with a sweet variety, M&S is off on its own planet, Sainsbury's do Alpro low-carb desserts and Jacob's small biscuits but no toasties/toms/olives. Morrisons used to be good but now have a bunch of kids outside and the local 24hr garage has loads of stuff but the toasties are often absent and it's difficult to get to.

    Shopping is confusing.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,085

    957th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, btw. I for one welcome our glorious French overlords.

    I’m sticking to them not being French. They were Normans (with some Bretons and Flemish) They spoke a version of French like the Americans and Aussies speak a version of English. Vassals of the King of France but acted independently for their gain not France’s. Not letting the French have this one.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,780

    Yes Lidl and Aldi sell cheap wine for those solitary moments on a park bench, like a litre and a half of Riocha for under a tenner, but they also supply excellent Pouilly Fume, Pouilly, Fusee, Chateau Neuf du Pap and Crozes Hermitage for between 10 and 15 quid from time to time.
    well its not just the park bench fun though that is, try getting a simple red for cooking a coq au vin. The wine is now more expensive than the rest of the ingredients
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    MattW said:

    That's all interesting. The practice seems to have shifted to deep discounts on Loyalty or Members prices on a small number of items - Tesco made that shift a couple of years ago.

    Have you tried the "Too Good To Go" app - Aldi use it for whatever nearly out of date stuff they have, boxed up for £3 to £5 for nominally about £25-£40 worth of original prices? Probably most useful if you are going somewhere anyway.

    My local Coop Local has a multilevel scheme where discounts are 1/3 then 1/2 then 3/4 as it goes to the sell by date, then on the last evening at closing time it goes to the foodbank. The equivalent full Aldi price is somewhere between the 1/3 and 1/2 discount levels.



    Have a look here - there does seem to be a shift in Sainsburys policy.

    https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/sainsburys-is-priciest-supermarket-for-a-big-shop-aA5kV0U84W50
  • MaxPB said:

    Going to multiple supermarkets just seems like too much effort, one of the reasons we've stuck to Sainsbury's for all these years is that their own brand products are acceptably decent and not overpriced like Waitrose or M&S or poor quality like Tesco and Asda.

    What I also noticed in the 4 weeks is a level of grocery price deflation, for the same basket of items at the beginning of the exercise we paid £58.34 at the end we paid £57.52 for exactly the same items that were in the first and final shops.
    Some may suggest that drop over a 4 week sample is not quite yet statistically significant. I use a mix of Sainsburys, Ocado and Morrisons, one of the benefits of the lack of loyalty is regularly getting £10 off £70 type offers to come back - I don't track it but probably have those for between a quarter to a third of my shops. M&S used to be in the mix too but prices gone up the most since the pandemic whilst quality has dropped back so are a rarity now.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,390

    957th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, btw. I for one welcome our glorious French overlords.

    Bah it's been downhill ever since these Tories invaded.
  • Carnyx said:

    Saturday cultural slot:

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/12/it-glows-restorer-removes-queasy-look-from-first-world-war-painting-gassed

    'Since it was unveiled just months after the end of the first world war, John Singer Sargent’s monumental painting Gassed has been hailed as an era-defining artwork, going on to be the most popular in the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London. [...] many viewers have admired Sargent’s uncharacteristic use of a greenish-yellow colour scheme, emphasising the flat khaki of the soldiers’ uniforms and perhaps even a queasy atmosphere tinged with poison gas, in which two men lean over to vomit.

    Now, a major new restoration of the painting has revealed that that was not the painter’s intention at all. After removing what they discovered to be a thick layer of 1970s varnish, conservators have revealed a dramatically different artwork, which they say “glows” with pinks, mauves and greens reminiscent of the impressionists, and which they believe the artist may have intended to be a more hopeful vision of the aftermath of war.

    “Until recently, everyone thought it was a yellow painting, and I think that has affected the way we viewed it,” said Rebecca Newell, the museum’s head of art. “But now we know that was just the varnish.”'

    I tend to visit the IWM when I’m in London (though not the last time), and JSS’s Gassed is obviously a fixture. Not sure if retrospectively psychoanalysing Sargent’s palette quite works for me, it’s not what I’d call an obviously hopeful painting even with glowing pinks.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,587
    edited October 2023
    On the important question of the moment

    Tesco delivery for weekly basics. M&S in person for nice food day by day
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    viewcode said:

    As we have diverted into which supermarket is better, Home Bargains sometimes do cheese toasties but always microwave chicken in egg fried rice, Tesco very inconsistently do cheese toasties but do a lovely sweet and sour chicken and do olives and sundried tomatoes, Waitrose do the chicken and olives but the sun-dried toms have been replaced with a sweet variety, M&S is off on its own planet, Sainsbury's do Alpro low-carb desserts and Jacob's small biscuits but no toasties/toms/olives. Morrisons used to be good but now have a bunch of kids outside and the local 24hr garage has loads of stuff but the toasties are often absent and it's difficult to get to.

    Shopping is confusing.

    I know the feelingony too well. We cycle between Waitrose, Morrison and Sainsburys for deliveries and the local Tesco to get some sort of balance. My impression is that some of the supermarkets have distinctly downgraded the quiality of stuff like pizzas and quiches.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    edited October 2023
    MaxPB said:

    Been doing a bookkeeping exercise while watching the cricket this morning, we had a discussion last month about whether or not the ONS should include till level discounts in their measure of CPI (I think they should, other people say they shouldn't) so I decided to track a month of receipts and till/app discounts only available to people who shop with loyalty card discounts.

    I spent the month shopping absolutely as normal and made no effort to change what I buy based on the discounts available, so items I got discounted was coincidental.

    On average the full price shop per week for my household (we shop in Sainsbury's) was £108.67, after loyalty discounts that average fell to £101.54 and after personalised discounts it fell to the actual average of £99.28. My wife suggested we take the extra step of doing the nectar stuff as well so she went into the nectar app every week and added all of the available personalised offers, after taking those additional nectar points into account the average weekly shop would yield an average of 440 nectar points, worth £2.20 making the average weekly basket cost an equivalent of £97.08.

    We saved an average of 11% off our weekly shop sticker price basically by just using the Sainsbury's smart shop app and nectar app, again with no effort made to actually take advantage of these offers by substituting products when they have a personalised discount or loyalty discount applied. If we multiplied our monthly saving by 12 to get the annualised rate it's £600 per year and I'm sure if we planned the shop in advance based on the offers available or just switched products based on what's in store that number would go up a bit.

    Overall - it was piss easy to do a once a week login to an app to apply personalised offers and using the shopping app in store rather than going to the till or using the hand scanner. Anyone not doing these things is missing potentially an 11% discount from their weekly shop.

    Now that we've fallen into the habit I'm pretty sure we're going to keep it going, there's no real downside.

    Interesting. The number I would use is the full £108.67, on the basis that the people right at the bottom of the pile, for whom food is a considerable part of their expenditure and who lead relatively chaotic lives, wouldn’t know what a spreadsheet was, and might not always shop at the same shop.

    IMHO supermarket pricing, especially of offers and loyalty card discounts, and of different prices in different areas and stores, all aggressively driven by data mining of their customers, should be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading, or whatever they call themselves these days.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,454
    Mr. JohnL, Norman*.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,483
    Leon said:

    The Yes people not taking it well (Guardian)


    "Over on SBS, Professor Marcia Langton had some very straight talk:

    'It’s very clear that reconciliation is dead. A majority of Australians have said no to an invitation from Indigenous Australia, with a minimal proposition, to give us a bare say in matters that affect our lives, advice that doesn’t need to be taken by the Parliament.

    And a proposition that the vast majority of retired High Court judges and constitutional experts affirmed as being constitutionally safe, sound, and moreover, elegant and practical.

    I think the No campaigners have a lot to answer for in poisoning Australia against this proposition and against Indigenous Australia.'"

    Translation: Australians are horrible racist scum, UGH

    Since the No campaign included leading indigenous voices, that doesn't quite follow.

  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617

    I tend to visit the IWM when I’m in London (though not the last time), and JSS’s Gassed is obviously a fixture. Not sure if retrospectively psychoanalysing Sargent’s palette quite works for me, it’s not what I’d call an obviously hopeful painting even with glowing pinks.
    Quite, I was thinking that. Maybe a contrast rather - as with larks singing and poppies blooming in the poetry.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,801

    Some may suggest that drop over a 4 week sample is not quite yet statistically significant. I use a mix of Sainsburys, Ocado and Morrisons, one of the benefits of the lack of loyalty is regularly getting £10 off £70 type offers to come back - I don't track it but probably have those for between a quarter to a third of my shops. M&S used to be in the mix too but prices gone up the most since the pandemic whilst quality has dropped back so are a rarity now.
    Yes well, that's the end of the monitoring so we'll never find out, though I might set two or three of the juniors in my team to do this exercise for a bit longer.
  • well its not just the park bench fun though that is, try getting a simple red for cooking a coq au vin. The wine is now more expensive than the rest of the ingredients
    When I used to shop at Costco I would get cooking wine for meals like that, a fraction of the cost as I believe there's much less tax on it.

    Unfortunately the supermarkets don't often stock that.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    HYUFD said:

    This Australian referendum result will also have implications for UK politics given the close parallels between Australian and UK politics recently.

    At the Australian general election last year Australians elected a Labor government and threw out the governing conservative Liberal-National government on a big swing. The conservative opposition in turn elected the hard right Peter Dutton as their leader, who was even more rightwing than the conservative PM who had been defeated.

    Up to now Labor PM Albanese has had a clear poll lead, albeit narrowed a bit in recent polls. However Dutton's decision to oppose Albanese's Voice referendum on a hard anti woke agenda seems to have been rewarded with this result.

    UK Tories will also take note, expect the Conservatives to go even harder right and anti woke in opposition if as is likely Sunak loses the next general election and Starmer becomes Labour PM

    My sense about this is that the political right will turn absolutely brutal and this referendum in Australia is a foreshadow of what is to come. The left have made a lot of the running since Brexit and have had their 'woke' revolution which has had the right on the backfoot. We can now expect new levels of horror, falsehoods and misinformation about the trans stuff, labour wanting to pay out trillions in slavery reparations, people being forced in to 15 minute city compounds, etc... all compounded by AI and deepfakes. Sadly it is just a near inevitable consequence of what happened before. Since all the rules got trashed, around the time of Brexit and Trump 1, things have just got progressively worse.

  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    Sandpit said:

    Interesting. The number I would use is the full £108.67, on the basis that the people right at the bottom of the pile, for whom food is a considerable part of their expenditure and who lead relatively chaotic lives, wouldn’t know what a spreadsheet was, and might not always shop at the same shop.

    IMHO supermarket pricing, especially of offers and loyalty card discounts, should be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading, or whatever they call themselves these days.
    On the last point, Which aren't too happy about the sector either: final section here

    https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/supermarkets/article/loyalty-cards-compared-a4ERY9a5NFJd#loyalty-pricing

  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,587
    kinabalu said:

    What you think I'd come on here, come onto possibly the most judicious and erudite discussion forum on the internet, and start pontificating on a topic before I'd first gained a thorough understanding of it from a range of quality unbiased sources?

    Unbelievably crass and offensive suggestion.
    I quite admire your brave allegation of “ignorance”, in the circumstances
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,546
    Carnyx said:

    I know the feelingony too well. We cycle between Waitrose, Morrison and Sainsburys for deliveries and the local Tesco to get some sort of balance. My impression is that some of the supermarkets have distinctly downgraded the quiality of stuff like pizzas and quiches.
    I've noted that in my usual Pub Lunch spot - roast of the quantity (and perhaps quality - sample of one) reduced.

    In the suggestion box I said offer £1 extra for a larger portion.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Carnyx said:

    On the last point, Which aren't too happy about the sector either: final section here

    https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/supermarkets/article/loyalty-cards-compared-a4ERY9a5NFJd#loyalty-pricing

    Good to see. Nice to be on the same side as Which? magazine.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    I would personally take the view that a 10% saving on shopping necessitated by needing to sign up to various loyalty programmes and which then affects your decision about where to shop and what to buy just isn't worth spending mental energy on. I've always had this view that it is better to focus on strategic projects that can transform your life, like getting a new job, making the right decision about where to live, working on your pension, fixing issues in your family etc.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,298
    darkage said:

    I hate to drag it up again for fear of being lynched but this was my complaint about the way the 'spanish kiss' story was reported. It is nothing to do with being on any side of an argument but you just expect the BBC to report on the story in an impartial and objective way. When they publish clickbait style opinion pieces it aggravates one side and undermines their claim to be a public service broadcaster. But publishing articles that present opinion in the guise of 'facts' is an even worse offence in my view that should be severely dealt with by the government.
    This is now very common at the BBC. What makes it worse is that they love to hide behind the veneer of “impartiality” when it suits them.

    I wouldn’t mind, aside from the fact that we are all essentially forced to fund its output.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,546
    edited October 2023
    Since we are doing supermarkets, does anyone have any good recommendations?

    Supper last night was a "sweet potato and butternut squash rosti" from Aldi, which is I think at £5 for two is their approach to "value added", and it was very tasty.

    (Apologies to any annoyed PBers - we can add food recommendations to the list of subjects-which-should-be-banned-on-PB. :smile: )
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,483

    well its not just the park bench fun though that is, try getting a simple red for cooking a coq au vin. The wine is now more expensive than the rest of the ingredients
    If you're really on a budget, substituting well brewed tea along with a dash of sugar gives much the same effect in a lot of recipes which require wine.
    Possibly not your coq au vin, though.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,683
    Leon said:

    I quite admire your brave allegation of “ignorance”, in the circumstances
    Your full throated opposition to this Australian proposal supported by progressive liberal opinion in Australia - and your gleeful response to its demise - is based on your forensic reading of the detailed proposition then, is it?

    That's one of them there rhetorical questions.
  • JPJ2JPJ2 Posts: 380
    I suggest the final act that led to the certain deselection of Lisa Cameron was her writing to Alistair Jack requesting that he intervened to block the GRR Holyrood bill which had been supported by all parties except the Tories.

    Apparently she hunted for a fig leaf for her actions by requesting that Jack somehow should achieve this without damaging devolution.

    If the Tories know what is good for them (they rarely do in Scotland), I would let Lisa Cameron fade away at the next election or she will prove to be as successful for them as the ludicrous appointment of Michelle Mone to the Lords when even few Tories thought that appointment made sense.

    Of course, Lisa Cameron may end up in the Lords, something for which as an SNP member she could not have achieved. It would have had her thrown out of the party anyway , as SNP will not allow its members to give political cover to that unelected institution.
  • MattW said:

    Since we are doing supermarkets, does anyone have any good recommendations.

    Supper last night was a "sweet potato and butternut squash rosti" from Aldi, which is I think their approach to value added, and it was very tasty.

    Sweet chili chicken pizza from Tesco or Aldi.

    Adding a few chickpeas and a little chorizo makes it even better.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 30,062
    edited October 2023

    Mr. JohnL, Norman*.

    They came from France; they spoke French; they used le bouton de citation.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,546
    edited October 2023
    Sandpit said:

    Good to see. Nice to be on the same side as Which? magazine.
    Of "club" cards, I like the Coop Membership, which I think is 5% of your spend to local charities, and significant discounts on a smallish selection of products, not unlike Tesco.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398

    This is now very common at the BBC. What makes it worse is that they love to hide behind the veneer of “impartiality” when it suits them.

    I wouldn’t mind, aside from the fact that we are all essentially forced to fund its output.
    The problem I have is that they still do a lot of very good work - but then they mess it up with stories like this. If there is no unifying idea about impartiality and objectivity (however problematic these concepts are) then there is no difference between them and GB News. So why are we required to fund it? On balance for me the good stuff still justifies the BBC but I understand why many people say it should be defunded.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Breakthrough for India, Azam out for 50. Looks like the Pakistan score is going to be in the region of 300.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,187

    Sweet chili chicken pizza from Tesco or Aldi.

    Adding a few chickpeas and a little chorizo makes it even better.
    No pineapple?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,453
    Lidl has a horrible smell. It is a deeply unpleasant space. A retail experience run by Dementors....

    And they have the Aisle of Shite.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,587
    Frieze Art Fair

    Always fun but far too many paintings this year

    Tho they have this



    Also, I have to ask, would a fair entirely filled by a variety of works - of multiple sizes and genres - created by AI, be discernibly different? I really doubt it
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,085

    well its not just the park bench fun though that is, try getting a simple red for cooking a coq au vin. The wine is now more expensive than the rest of the ingredients
    There was an interesting article in the Guardian or somewhere the other week, I can’t be bothered to find it, about how good, and good value, a lot of boxed wines are now and that they keep very well too (I seem to recall three weeks v three days for a bottle).

    Maybe the way forward if you cook a lot with wine (especially now it’s autumn/winter where you are likely to make more dishes that require it) is to buy an acceptable box of red to keep for cooking so that every penny you spend on a bottle is going in your glass.

    I know you are supposed to use the same quality wine to cook with as you will be drinking but not always possible or sensible.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,281
    It's "just one poll".....

    Today’s Savanta poll is a doomsday scenario for the SNP, not only would Labour sweep the central belt, but the Tories would retain their seats too.

    @ElectCalculus model on new boundaries:

    LAB 28 (+27)
    SNP 19 (-29)
    CON 6 (NC)
    LDM 4 (NC)


    https://x.com/AFK103/status/1713104130267599185?s=20

    A 21pt lead for the SNP last June in @Savanta_UK’s polling for
    @TheScotsman has now completely eroded.

    The decline started well before Sturgeon’s resignation/Yousaf’s election, but has seemingly accelerated since.


    https://x.com/ChrisHopkins92/status/1713111707021607357?s=20

    Not sure calling Labour "Red Tories" is going to work, with an SNP MP defecting to the Tories.....

  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,085
    Leon said:

    Frieze Art Fair

    Always fun but far too many paintings this year

    Tho they have this



    Also, I have to ask, would a fair entirely filled by a variety of works - of multiple sizes and genres - created by AI, be discernibly different? I really doubt it

    That’s shit.
  • JPJ2JPJ2 Posts: 380
    Forgot to point out, when writing about Lisa Cameron, that in terms of politically motivated threats (which I condemn), and which is always blamed on the SNP/independence supporters by unionists, as is so often the case, the real World experience indicates they are more sinned against than sinning
    e.g. William Curtis jailed for over 5 years for online threats to Nicola Sturgeon.

    The only significant actual physical violence being provided (there were successful prosecutions) was by unionists against nationalists in George Square after the 2014 referendum.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    boulay said:

    That’s shit.
    The one on the left is. The one on the right is pish, as the Scots might say.
  • No pineapple?
    Data on how many pizzas have pineapple on might be interesting in comparing different times and places.

    I remember when chicken dhansaks had pineapple but they don't seem to now.

    Perhaps adding pineapple to something is a way of making an entry level into some type of new food.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    edited October 2023
    Sandpit said:

    The one on the left is. The one on the right is pish, as the Scots might say.
    Surely the one on the left is shite *and* pish?

    *PBPunctilio*
  • Data on how many pizzas have pineapple on might be interesting in comparing different times and places.

    I remember when chicken dhansaks had pineapple but they don't seem to now.

    Perhaps adding pineapple to something is a way of making an entry level into some type of new food.
    Sainsbury's has small pots of fresh pineapple chunks as part of its meal deal.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,546

    Sweet chili chicken pizza from Tesco or Aldi.

    Adding a few chickpeas and a little chorizo makes it even better.

    No pineapple?
    Thanks.

    I usually make all my pizzas at home. Will try chicken, sweet 'n' sour sauce and chorizo. This weekend I'm trying out the new super-large 7" pizza pan for the air fryer!

    No pineapple as iirc it is on the "don't" list for a medication.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Good use of the review from India.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,699

    For those people who are willing to vary the items they buy depending on what is currently on offer there are considerable savings to be made.

    We're constantly being told that the poor have a higher inflation rate than average but I'd say the people who really lose out are
    the lazy, the stupid and the inflexible.
    I wouldnt be surprised if there is a correlation between “the lazy, the stupid and the inflexible” and “the poor”

    The direction of causation would be interesting!
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,699

    Its across the board most things are cheaper. I occasionally make a corned beef
    hash. A tin of corned beef was £1.79 in Lidl and over £3 in Morrisons. Its basically the same meat in a tin.
    Neigh it isn’t.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,361

    I wouldnt be surprised if there is a correlation between “the lazy, the stupid and the inflexible” and “the poor”

    The direction of causation would be interesting!
    I didn't realise senior civil servants were poor.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,115
    Kuldeep, what a bowler. I find it almost impossible to see past India for the CWC. Tremendous batsmen and a frightening and varied bowling attack, playing at home. Just can't see anyone else getting close.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,450

    It's "just one poll".....

    Today’s Savanta poll is a doomsday scenario for the SNP, not only would Labour sweep the central belt, but the Tories would retain their seats too.

    @ElectCalculus model on new boundaries:

    LAB 28 (+27)
    SNP 19 (-29)
    CON 6 (NC)
    LDM 4 (NC)


    https://x.com/AFK103/status/1713104130267599185?s=20

    A 21pt lead for the SNP last June in @Savanta_UK’s polling for
    @TheScotsman has now completely eroded.

    The decline started well before Sturgeon’s resignation/Yousaf’s election, but has seemingly accelerated since.


    https://x.com/ChrisHopkins92/status/1713111707021607357?s=20

    Not sure calling Labour "Red Tories" is going to work, with an SNP MP defecting to the Tories.....

    The Tories might even pick up a seat or two from the SNP, if these numbers hold to the next election.
  • JPJ2JPJ2 Posts: 380
    Carlotta Vance says,

    "Not sure calling Labour "Red Tories" is going to work, with an SNP MP defecting to the Tories"

    Perhaps you are making a logical error here. I have seen this argument advanced elsewhere, but my point is that Cameron has had to leave the SNP precisely because they are NOT Tories, so that she can pursue Tory policies.

    Labour supporters do not have to leave Labour to support Tory policies but can rely on Starmer who has declared his party to be the real Tories.

    You make a perhaps a temporarily useful propaganda point, but one with little traction.



  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,780

    Neigh it isn’t.
    Of horse it is
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,699
    Sandpit said:

    Interesting. The number I would use is the full £108.67, on the basis that the people right at the bottom of the pile, for whom food is a considerable part of their expenditure and who lead relatively chaotic lives, wouldn’t know what a spreadsheet was, and might not always shop at the same shop.

    IMHO supermarket pricing, especially of offers and loyalty card discounts, and of different prices in different areas and stores, all aggressively driven by data mining of their customers, should be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading, or whatever they
    call themselves these days.
    CMA - short for “cover my arse”
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,115
    Sean_F said:

    The Tories might even pick up a seat or two from the SNP, if these numbers hold to the next election.



    I am not sure that is the 29 that Yousless had in mind...

    And I agree, it could well get worse if the Tory vote falls only slightly whilst the SNP vote collapses.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,587
    Incredible. Guardian on the Aussie vote



    “Calls grow for national week of silence

    So far, the Central Land Council, Congress and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council are among the groups who have shared the statement calling for a national week of silence, given the referendum result.”

    Translator: “how dare you vote No, you racists. As a punishment for your evilness you have to shut up for a week”

    I mean, no wonder they lost
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    DavidL said:

    Kuldeep, what a bowler. I find it almost impossible to see past India for the CWC. Tremendous batsmen and a frightening and varied bowling attack, playing at home. Just can't see anyone else getting close.

    Bumrah not too bad either. Collapse from the visitors in the last few overs.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,683
    The RWC starts this weekend then. Not my fave sport but I'm going to watch. It's an intriguing quartet of matches, none of them no-brainers to call. Each one is Europe vs RoW with the European team as marginal betting favourite. I've done the following acca: England, Wales, New Zealand, France. The 4 timer plus 4 trebles in case I get one wrong.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Leon said:

    Incredible. Guardian on the Aussie vote



    “Calls grow for national week of silence

    So far, the Central Land Council, Congress and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council are among the groups who have shared the statement calling for a national week of silence, given the referendum result.”

    Translator: “how dare you vote No, you racists. As a punishment for your evilness you have to shut up for a week”

    I mean, no wonder they lost

    How are they all going to react if Trump gets elected again?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,361
    Sandpit said:

    Bumrah not too bad either. Collapse from the visitors in the last few overs.
    Pakistan unravelling faster than a policy idea from Sam Freedman.
  • More on the death of Ali Qadhi, the Hamas commander who led the militant group's attack on southern Israel a week ago.

    The Israeli military said that "aircraft killed Ali Qadi, a company commander of the Hamas 'Nukhba' (elite) commando force".

    According to the Israel Defense Force, the 37-year-old was one of around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas.

    In 2005, Qadi was arrested for the kidnap and murder of an Israeli man who was reported to have worked for the Shin Bet internal security agency.


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67108364

    Israel's willingness to accept these prisoner swaps merely increases its future problems.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,699

    Of horse it is
    May be a bit?
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,613
    HYUFD said:

    This Australian referendum result will also have implications for UK politics given the close parallels between Australian and UK politics recently.

    At the Australian general election last year Australians elected a Labor government and threw out the governing conservative Liberal-National government on a big swing. The conservative opposition in turn elected the hard right Peter Dutton as their leader, who was even more rightwing than the conservative PM who had been defeated.

    Up to now Labor PM Albanese has had a clear poll lead, albeit narrowed a bit in recent polls. However Dutton's decision to oppose Albanese's Voice referendum on a hard anti woke agenda seems to have been rewarded with this result.

    UK Tories will also take note, expect the Conservatives to go even harder right and anti woke in opposition if as is likely Sunak loses the next general election and Starmer becomes Labour PM

    Are there implications? The UK doesn’t have an indigenous oppressed population, so there’s no direct parallel to this referendum. Also, most parties in the UK have learnt their lesson and never want to have another referendum on anything again. Starmer is not going to hold a referendum on anything (unless absolutely forced to by the Scottish nationalists, but polling suggests that’s not going to happen either).
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,361
    edited October 2023
    ydoethur said:

    I didn't realise senior civil servants were poor.
    To clarify - by 'poor' in this context, I mean 'lacking money.'

    I know they're poor in the sense of 'utterly useless.'
This discussion has been closed.