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We have a problem in my neck of the woods with a crescendo of pavement fouling by dogs. I fear that some dog owners are relaxing their standards and I have wondered what to do about it. Should I write a cutting letter to our local rag questioning these people's literacy and trying to work on their consciences? Or should I try to embarrass them verbally?
Having thought about it (I always chew these things over) and having talked to several fine owners, who agreed with me and averred that the minority was giving them a bad name, I have decided that occasional friendly but pointed chats with these civilised dog walkers, who are members of the greater dog lover community after all, might be the best policy. And you meet people too.
Myself, I am a cat person. At the very least cats don't foul pavements.

Verulamius said:

On the April income tax receipts I would recommend that you look at the OBR analysis. April receipts are mainly PAYE and thus relate to earnings from March, during the 50% rate. It will be the May receipts which will be the first analysis of the impact of the 45% rate.

No, that may tell us how much money is raised in the month.

It doesn't tell us the impact, i.e. whether firms stay in Britain, or entrepreneurs are encouraged to start business here, etc.

Con 28 UKIP 23.

Con 27%
UKIP 20%

Neil said:

What a game of cricket, what an unbelievable finish. Can I bet on Ireland winning the series anywhere?

I was at Lords a few years ago when England tied with India. It was the best day of cricket I have ever been at.

From a spectator's point of view 50 over cricket is really hard to beat. You get a full day's entertainment, there is time for the game to ebb and flow and you get a result. Test cricket has a purity but for sheer entertainment if you have tickets for one day it is great. 20:20 is a bit too bash, bang wallop for me with too much defensive bowling.

I wonder if any of the Irish match will be on Sky?

Verulamius said:

On the April income tax receipts I would recommend that you look at the OBR analysis. April receipts are mainly PAYE and thus relate to earnings from March, during the 50% rate. It will be the May receipts which will be the first analysis of the impact of the 45% rate.

That would depend on whether the OBR are working on a cash or accrual basis. I don't know the answers to this (as it would depend on context) but from reading the OBR reports on the ONS Public Finance Bulletin, it would appear that they do take into account the difference between the two methods of accounting.

So income tax paid in April arising from work carried out in March would be entered as government income in March in accrual accounts with a balancing amount under 'debtors'.

Government accounts computed on a cash basis (eg Public Sector Current Budget) would work as you propose. Each PS Finances Bulletin has a headline table ("PSF 5 receipts and outlays on a cash basis - previously PSF6") which sets out the cash figures.

It should be possible to drill down through the Dataset spreadsheets to establish a final answer to this conundrum! I am far too lazy to do so, but my guess is that we are talking acrrued figures here.

Plato said:

welshowl said:

HYUFD said:

Harvard Test Your social intelligence
http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/#

27 out of 36. 26 is average apparently. Whew I'm normal!

I got 30/36 - it was most peculiar - had no idea if I was right or not most of the time.

Me neither. Think I got into the swing of it after about 10 by not thinking too hard about it .

tim said:

The first that many people knew about the ghastly murder in Woolwich was from the Twitter feed of an eye witness, Boya Dee, a south London musician and filmmaker.

His first tweets were so graphic that it seemed they could not be true. He even seemed to be having difficulty believing them himself. “Mate ive seen alot of shit im my time but that has to rank sumwhere in the top 3. I couldnt believe my eyes,” he tweeted.

Word of his tweets spread rapidly. He had around 10,000 followers when the atrocity took place: within a day, that figure had more than doubled. We now know how accurate his observations were.

Unsurprisingly, every media outlet in town was seeking to interview him, but he turned them all down, including one reportedly offering £75,000. “This story is not about ME And doesn’t need to be sensationalised anymore by me selling my story for a few bucks,” Boya Dee tweeted.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-mcsmiths-diary-woolwich-twitter-witness-boya-dee-refuses-to-sell-story-8630032.html

It was a sensational piece of twitter prose, first posted here on PB by BenM (Well done Ben!).

I would not be surprised to see it much quoted by academics of many disciplines.

I would certainly recommend it for immediate entry into the upcoming 'Oxford Book of 21st Century English Prose'.

Maybe Sean can provide the first official literary analysis in his next DT blog.

welshowl said:

Plato said:

welshowl said:

HYUFD said:

Harvard Test Your social intelligence
http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/#

27 out of 36. 26 is average apparently. Whew I'm normal!

I got 30/36 - it was most peculiar - had no idea if I was right or not most of the time.

Me neither. Think I got into the swing of it after about 10 by not thinking too hard about it .

31/36. I would like to know which ones I got wrong.

sam said:

welshowl said:

HYUFD said:

Harvard Test Your social intelligence
http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/#

27 out of 36. 26 is average apparently. Whew I'm normal!

33/36

No option for English on the which country are you from question. Standard

Blimey I'm bottom of the class; either that or we are all above averagely insightful in PB. Oh hang on......

On topic 31/15

@smithersjones2013

In the past Mike has awarded it to the person who posted first, such as with the US election competition.

HYUFD said:

Harvard Test Your social intelligence
http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/#

32... I struggled with some as what I thought they were feeling/whatever wasn't on the list!

AveryLP said:

Carola said:

HYUFD said:

Harvard Test Your social intelligence
http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/#

32... I struggled with some as what I thought they were feeling/whatever wasn't on the list!

I scored a paltry 18, Carola.

It was the women that got me. I interpreted all the looks as a come on.

Life is so difficult.

Surely going through life mistaking disdain for desire would keep a spring in your step

RodCrosby said:

28/36

What a stupid test. Many of the photos are ancient. How do the testers know what emotions the subjects are supposed to be experiencing. On some photos, I would have said none of the answers are right.

Try doing the test again. Sir Roderick.

This time imagine the faces are reactions to Returning Officer declarations at By Election counts.

You'll be fine, I'm sure.

Carola said:

AveryLP said:

Carola said:

HYUFD said:

Harvard Test Your social intelligence
http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/#

32... I struggled with some as what I thought they were feeling/whatever wasn't on the list!

I scored a paltry 18, Carola.

It was the women that got me. I interpreted all the looks as a come on.

Life is so difficult.

Surely going through life mistaking disdain for desire would keep a spring in your step

It is not mistaking emotional signals which worries me, but getting age to allow the spring in my step to defy the rules of gravity.

Con 31, UKIP 16

Con 31 UKIP 13

Con 33 UKIP 16

Con 30 Ukip 17

Con 28 UKIP 17

Con 27 UKIP 20