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Le Pen is not mightier than the sword of truth – politicalbetting.com

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  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Pagan2 said:

    A doctor gets paid more for that as they get shift work allowances to etc and their career top end is a lot higher than the graduate software engineer
    Also don’t forget their employers pension contribution is a sizeable sum and they get annual incremements on top of their pay award until they hit the top pay band. Their holiday entitlement is also very good. There is more to a job than just the base salary.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808
    Pagan2 said:

    Also dont forget the better pensions most software engineers might get 5% from there firm as mandated by law....doctors and nurses will be getting 20% +
    So include pension contributions there you get

    software engineer 39,007 to 42,166
    doctor 39562 to 44764

    for example and software engineers dont generally get paid for extra hours in my experience
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    ydoethur said:

    Bernard Hepton, who plays the Inspector, was born on the same street in Bradford as JB Priestley.
    From Bradford. Probably explains his love of Rugby League.

    He’s superb in this. It’s very absorbing.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808
    Pagan2 said:

    So include pension contributions there you get

    software engineer 39,007 to 42,166
    doctor 39562 to 44764

    for example and software engineers dont generally get paid for extra hours in my experience
    I don't know any software engineers that have worked less hours because they reached the pension cap for sure
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,685
    "Is the US [Air Traffic] Controller crisis about to get worse?"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqa83PrZSVE
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    rcs1000 said:

    And the numbers are in (for Physics A Level, data is from 2013, but I'd be staggered if it had changed much):

    Mixed State School: 2.7% of girls
    Mixed Grammar School: 6.2%
    Girls Private School: 11.9%
    Single Sex Grammar School: 13.2%

    It suggests that societal pressures are a significant contributor to low uptake of the sciences. (I do need to check boys numbers throughout. What would be really interesting would be if boys uptake of Physics was lower in single sex schools than in mixed ones.)
    I stand corrected, there's definitely a statistically significant uplift from mixed grammar schools to single sex grammar schools which I'd say are the most comparable. I wonder whether there's a reverse effect for boys taking languages in mixed schools vs in single sex schools...
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,948
    New, um, poll. Or have we had this before (the fieldwork dates look quite old)?

    UK, Focaldata poll (ages 16 to 29):

    Support for democracy vs dictatorship

    Democracy: 57%
    Dictatorship: 27%

    Fieldwork: 4-12 February 2025
    Sample size: 2,039


    https://bsky.app/profile/europeelects.bsky.social/post/3llp2tsufyc2k

    27% probably think democratic governments are incompetent. They have yet to experience the true incompetence and corruption of the average dictatorship.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    Pagan2 said:

    I don't know any software engineers that have worked less hours because they reached the pension cap for sure
    I think you'd need to get to Senior II/III before it became an issue, maybe Tech Lead/Principal for smaller companies.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,538
    If we put to one side what drives men and women to be interested in different things, I do think there is an innate difference in the likelihood of someone being deeply interested in something. This website is a case in point.

    Also, take football. The number of women in football media has grown considerably over the last few decades. However, I've read World Soccer magazine for 20 years or so and in that time I don't recall reading an article written by a woman (there probably has been and I've forgotten, but I don't recall a regular contributor).

    Now, World Soccer is quite a high brow publication. I'd also say it leans left politically (it's hardly political (aside from FIFA antics!), but the then editor Gavin Hamilton decried Brexit in his introductory words after the vote). Certainly many of its writers/former writers are left-leaning going by their Twitter accounts.

    Most of the articles are on quite niche subjects, such as the oldest club in Spain, the Asian Champions League, or football on a Pacific island. The magazine also has a column dedicated to the women's game. That's written by Glenn Moore (e.g. https://x.com/GlennMoore7/status/1884160057493053859).

    Perhaps I'm prejudiced, but my instinct is that on the whole, women are a lot less likely to want to pursue a career in football journalism that isn't about what they were interested in as a kid (I don't for a minute believe Steve Menary grew up wanting to write about football on the Marshall Islands (https://x.com/SoccerFedMI/status/1893310551985369184), but he's clearly passionate for it now). Men, I think, are more likely to be very happy to carve out a niche in a subject they love.

    That's not to be critical of the women in the football media. I am, very obviously, insanely jealous of anyone who gets paid to watch Premier League or even EFL football. I have often wondered if I had enough love for football to do what some of the guys in World Soccer do. And the answer is, probably not.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808
    MaxPB said:

    I stand corrected, there's definitely a statistically significant uplift from mixed grammar schools to single sex grammar schools which I'd say are the most comparable. I wonder whether there's a reverse effect for boys taking languages in mixed schools vs in single sex schools...
    Even however it should be noted without the uplift it doesn't imply physics appeals to a lot of girls, I can sympathise as I hated physics myself
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808
    MaxPB said:

    I think you'd need to get to Senior II/III before it became an issue, maybe Tech Lead/Principal for smaller companies.
    I work with some in their late 40's, none of them are getting near a million
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    tlg86 said:

    If we put to one side what drives men and women to be interested in different things, I do think there is an innate difference in the likelihood of someone being deeply interested in something. This website is a case in point.

    Also, take football. The number of women in football media has grown considerably over the last few decades. However, I've read World Soccer magazine for 20 years or so and in that time I don't recall reading an article written by a woman (there probably has been and I've forgotten, but I don't recall a regular contributor).

    Now, World Soccer is quite a high brow publication. I'd also say it leans left politically (it's hardly political (aside from FIFA antics!), but the then editor Gavin Hamilton decried Brexit in his introductory words after the vote). Certainly many of its writers/former writers are left-leaning going by their Twitter accounts.

    Most of the articles are on quite niche subjects, such as the oldest club in Spain, the Asian Champions League, or football on a Pacific island. The magazine also has a column dedicated to the women's game. That's written by Glenn Moore (e.g. https://x.com/GlennMoore7/status/1884160057493053859).

    Perhaps I'm prejudiced, but my instinct is that on the whole, women are a lot less likely to want to pursue a career in football journalism that isn't about what they were interested in as a kid (I don't for a minute believe Steve Menary grew up wanting to write about football on the Marshall Islands (https://x.com/SoccerFedMI/status/1893310551985369184), but he's clearly passionate for it now). Men, I think, are more likely to be very happy to carve out a niche in a subject they love.

    That's not to be critical of the women in the football media. I am, very obviously, insanely jealous of anyone who gets paid to watch Premier League or even EFL football. I have often wondered if I had enough love for football to do what some of the guys in World Soccer do. And the answer is, probably not.

    That's an interesting post, thanks.

    As a matter of interest, what's football attendance like by gender? Or TV viewing?

    Traditionally, it was very male, but I know that they've been keen to attract more women to watching matches live or on TV, for obvious reasons (as has F1...).
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867
    On Topic: Looks like Marine is done for! But it could be a case of "be careful what you wish for" when it comes to the French easbalishment as Bardella may end up being much more electable?

    Off Topic: Good evening PB. What a lovely day its been! 😎
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808

    That's an interesting post, thanks.

    As a matter of interest, what's football attendance like by gender? Or TV viewing?

    Traditionally, it was very male, but I know that they've been keen to attract more women to watching matches live or on TV, for obvious reasons (as has F1...).

    I went to a tech conference once that was a lot of developers but covered by the tech press, pretty much all the developers were male, all the tech journalists attending female.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,307
    edited March 31
    The BBC leading with photos of rubbish piling up in Birmingham is, shall we say, suboptimal for the government (regardless of the how’s and whys that it is happening).

    A bit of a generational trigger image, that - and not ideal for a Labour govt.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 30,205
    HYUFD said:

    Give it a few years 'On average, a GP partner takes home approximately £110,000.' Whereas 'The estimated total pay for a Senior Software Engineer is £73,305 per year'

    https://www.medical-interviews.co.uk/topic/gp-partnerships#:~:text=On average, a GP partner,of England (£120,000).

    https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/senior-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0,24.htm

    GP partnerships are disappearing as practices consolidate. A salaried GP is around £80,000.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,538
    edited March 31
    On science, I've just remembered that in Year 8, our classes were split into boys and girls, but then they didn't carry it on (perhaps because teachers who got the boys complained!).

    But in Year 11, there was only one triple-award science class of 27, so that had to be mixed (and us boys were awful. Sorry girls...).
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    Pagan2 said:


    I went to a tech conference once that was a lot of developers but covered by the tech press, pretty much all the developers were male, all the tech journalists attending female.
    I'll have to ask a (female) friend what the current ACCU C++ conference in Bristol is like wrt that. (She is a senior developer, and far better than me at C++)...

    But journalism and engineering are different professions.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,095

    GP partnerships are disappearing as practices consolidate. A salaried GP is around £80,000.
    Even then higher still than a senior software engineer and a surgeon in a hospital makes £92k on average but a significant number earn over £100k

    https://uk.indeed.com/career/surgeon/salaries
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,931
    TimS said:

    New, um, poll. Or have we had this before (the fieldwork dates look quite old)?

    UK, Focaldata poll (ages 16 to 29):

    Support for democracy vs dictatorship

    Democracy: 57%
    Dictatorship: 27%

    Fieldwork: 4-12 February 2025
    Sample size: 2,039


    https://bsky.app/profile/europeelects.bsky.social/post/3llp2tsufyc2k

    27% probably think democratic governments are incompetent. They have yet to experience the true incompetence and corruption of the average dictatorship.

    The remaining 16% are in the gulag so can't express an opinion either way?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,295
    TimS said:

    New, um, poll. Or have we had this before (the fieldwork dates look quite old)?

    UK, Focaldata poll (ages 16 to 29):

    Support for democracy vs dictatorship

    Democracy: 57%
    Dictatorship: 27%

    Fieldwork: 4-12 February 2025
    Sample size: 2,039


    https://bsky.app/profile/europeelects.bsky.social/post/3llp2tsufyc2k

    27% probably think democratic governments are incompetent. They have yet to experience the true incompetence and corruption of the average dictatorship.

    Young men will be very heavily overrepresented in the 27% I predict.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867

    The BBC leading with photos of rubbish piling up in Birmingham is, shall we say, suboptimal for the government (regardless of the how’s and whys that it is happening).

    A bit of a generational trigger image, that - and not ideal for a Labour govt.

    Gravediggers going on strike next?
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 857
    TimS said:

    New, um, poll. Or have we had this before (the fieldwork dates look quite old)?

    UK, Focaldata poll (ages 16 to 29):

    Support for democracy vs dictatorship

    Democracy: 57%
    Dictatorship: 27%

    Fieldwork: 4-12 February 2025
    Sample size: 2,039


    https://bsky.app/profile/europeelects.bsky.social/post/3llp2tsufyc2k

    27% probably think democratic governments are incompetent. They have yet to experience the true incompetence and corruption of the average dictatorship.

    Maybe the 27% are classics students and are rightly fans of Quintus Fabius Maximus.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808

    I'll have to ask a (female) friend what the current ACCU C++ conference in Bristol is like wrt that. (She is a senior developer, and far better than me at C++)...

    But journalism and engineering are different professions.
    The last being my whole point....journalism is talking to people, coding is talking to the computer.

    Girls seem to prefer the former and boys the latter
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,672
    edited March 31
    For a very serious topic, here is a brief account by women of the torture they were subjected to when taken prisoner by the Russians, as POWs.

    It's a few minutes, and reminds me (if anyone has read such) of the account of Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas of his experiences of ritual humiliation when held by the Gestapo in WW2 - recounted in his book "The White Rabbit".

    https://youtu.be/dOEQXegQ74U?t=2398

    There are more detailed accounts in the Telegraph, in a publicly readable article (I think):
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/ukraine-female-prisoners-of-war-russia-putin-prisons/

    This is the type of account, of which they will be well aware if it is published, to which Mr Trump and Mr Vance have determined not to pay any attention or give any weight.

    (It's also the 3rd anniversary of the release of images of the slaughter in Bucha. That is also being given no weight.)
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,366
    tlg86 said:

    On science, I've just remembered that in Year 8, our classes were split into boys and girls, but then they didn't carry it on (perhaps because teachers who got the boys complained!).

    But in Year 11, there was only one triple-award science class of 27, so that had to be mixed (and us boys were awful. Sorry girls...).

    One of the central mysteries of teenage boys.

    All the awful stuff they do because they want to impress the girls which the girls don't find impressive...

    Evolution will no doubt catch up eventually.

    (I suspect that the caveman explanation is that, in very ancient times, the boys didn't have to impress the girls so much as scare off the other boys.)
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,774
    Taz said:

    From Bradford. Probably explains his love of Rugby League.

    He’s superb in this. It’s very absorbing.
    Toby Esterhase in Tinker Tailor; the Commandant in Colditz...
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    tlg86 said:

    On science, I've just remembered that in Year 8, our classes were split into boys and girls, but then they didn't carry it on (perhaps because teachers who got the boys complained!).

    But in Year 11, there was only one triple-award science class of 27, so that had to be mixed (and us boys were awful. Sorry girls...).

    We had a mixed sixth form because half of year didn't make the cut in both schools and it wasn't feasible to keep us separate for classes of 10 or 12 boys, shockingly everyone's grades went down quite substantially at AS level to the point where the school used to pre-emptively book resits for most of us in January because they knew we'd fuck up lower sixth and make it up the following year after getting the shock of Bs and Cs on our exam results day.
  • glwglw Posts: 10,367

    "Is the US [Air Traffic] Controller crisis about to get worse?"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqa83PrZSVE

    If Donald Trump is still President then the answer is almost certainly yes.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,295
    tlg86 said:

    If we put to one side what drives men and women to be interested in different things, I do think there is an innate difference in the likelihood of someone being deeply interested in something. This website is a case in point.

    Also, take football. The number of women in football media has grown considerably over the last few decades. However, I've read World Soccer magazine for 20 years or so and in that time I don't recall reading an article written by a woman (there probably has been and I've forgotten, but I don't recall a regular contributor).

    Now, World Soccer is quite a high brow publication. I'd also say it leans left politically (it's hardly political (aside from FIFA antics!), but the then editor Gavin Hamilton decried Brexit in his introductory words after the vote). Certainly many of its writers/former writers are left-leaning going by their Twitter accounts.

    Most of the articles are on quite niche subjects, such as the oldest club in Spain, the Asian Champions League, or football on a Pacific island. The magazine also has a column dedicated to the women's game. That's written by Glenn Moore (e.g. https://x.com/GlennMoore7/status/1884160057493053859).

    Perhaps I'm prejudiced, but my instinct is that on the whole, women are a lot less likely to want to pursue a career in football journalism that isn't about what they were interested in as a kid (I don't for a minute believe Steve Menary grew up wanting to write about football on the Marshall Islands (https://x.com/SoccerFedMI/status/1893310551985369184), but he's clearly passionate for it now). Men, I think, are more likely to be very happy to carve out a niche in a subject they love.

    That's not to be critical of the women in the football media. I am, very obviously, insanely jealous of anyone who gets paid to watch Premier League or even EFL football. I have often wondered if I had enough love for football to do what some of the guys in World Soccer do. And the answer is, probably not.

    Your comment reminds me of reading this book a few years ago.

    "The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap
    Susan Pinker"

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161976933-the-sexual-paradox
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    ohnotnow said:

    Meanwhile, here in .ac.uk, we're trying to hire people on juuuust above minimum wage and expecting them (or to be more specific 'management' are expecting them) to just pick up 1/2 million-long lines of code in apps that have been 10-20 years in the making.

    It's getting almost embarrassing.
    That was pretty much how I got into the industry, when I was studying geo eng at uni. A friend knew I was good with computers, and got me a contracting role, which led me to another company that was trying to maintain their priceless data on a >20-year old Bull mainframe. They were basically a data company, but didn't want to spend any money on the systems that held the data. So they got contractors in to maintain an increasingly perilous hand-coded database. It had been created before SQL and RDBMS's were popular, and converted from some other language to C in the early 80s. It as code from the depths of Hades, the tenth circle of Hell...

    I learnt a heck of a lot. Mainly how not to code. Oh, and the replacement system at a related company, introduced in 1994, was not Y2K compliant... :)

    I would like to see more of this: taking young people for apprentice-style roles.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,672
    Taz said:

    Around 10% of the show exists in the BBC archive, talking pictures TV shows what little exists of it quite regularly.
    Here's a short selection of openings, including the early one when he was whistling "Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner".

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NWVEYdNxLE
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    Pagan2 said:

    The last being my whole point....journalism is talking to people, coding is talking to the computer.

    Girls seem to prefer the former and boys the latter
    Google's synopsis:
    "In 2022, the UK journalism workforce was predominantly male, with 59% of journalists being men, a shift from 2020 when women held the majority. There's also a notable decline in female journalists in the UK since 2020. "
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,808

    That was pretty much how I got into the industry, when I was studying geo eng at uni. A friend knew I was good with computers, and got me a contracting role, which led me to another company that was trying to maintain their priceless data on a >20-year old Bull mainframe. They were basically a data company, but didn't want to spend any money on the systems that held the data. So they got contractors in to maintain an increasingly perilous hand-coded database. It had been created before SQL and RDBMS's were popular, and converted from some other language to C in the early 80s. It as code from the depths of Hades, the tenth circle of Hell...

    I learnt a heck of a lot. Mainly how not to code. Oh, and the replacement system at a related company, introduced in 1994, was not Y2K compliant... :)

    I would like to see more of this: taking young people for apprentice-style roles.
    Increasingly (experience of my last two companies) they are taking on apprentices rather than software grad as the latter still need significant train almost as much as an apprentice from scratch
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,653
    ydoethur said:

    Bernard Hepton, who plays the Inspector, was born on the same street in Bradford as JB Priestley.
    There is a decent BBC Radio version of his earlier (but quite related) 'Dangerous Corner' :

    https://archive.org/details/1-j.-b.-priestley-dangerous-corner

    Also his "I have been here before" which is a bit less known :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L0ppOY34Ug

    And possibly my favourite dramatisation of his work 'Salt is Leaving' :

    https://archive.org/details/j.-b.-priestly-salt-is-leaving

  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,538

    That's an interesting post, thanks.

    As a matter of interest, what's football attendance like by gender? Or TV viewing?

    Traditionally, it was very male, but I know that they've been keen to attract more women to watching matches live or on TV, for obvious reasons (as has F1...).
    Those are surprisingly hard questions to answer.

    https://thefsa.org.uk/news/national-supporters-survey-2023-more-stats/

    Gender breakdown

    Male – 83.8%
    Female – 14.5%
    Non-binary/other – 0.7%


    But that's who answered that survey, so perhaps not representative. That said, 15% feels about right in terms of Arsenal.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 14,012
    TimS said:

    New, um, poll. Or have we had this before (the fieldwork dates look quite old)?

    UK, Focaldata poll (ages 16 to 29):

    Support for democracy vs dictatorship

    Democracy: 57%
    Dictatorship: 27%

    Fieldwork: 4-12 February 2025
    Sample size: 2,039


    https://bsky.app/profile/europeelects.bsky.social/post/3llp2tsufyc2k

    27% probably think democratic governments are incompetent. They have yet to experience the true incompetence and corruption of the average dictatorship.

    There is a real problem in comprehending what the 27% mean when they declare support for dictatorship. With 'democracy' there is a common understanding that a population have a peaceful means of getting rid of a leader/government/parliament they don't like.

    Are we to suppose that the 27% who support dictatorship honestly believe there is a peaceful way of replacing one the population come to loathe? Or am I to suppose that they know there isn't, but prefer having an irremovable leader who leads them into famine, war, plague and holocausts?

    I think this is meaningless without deeper digging.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,653

    Google's synopsis:
    "In 2022, the UK journalism workforce was predominantly male, with 59% of journalists being men, a shift from 2020 when women held the majority. There's also a notable decline in female journalists in the UK since 2020. "
    Possibly women are just better are spotting a job in decline. They've probably all become prompt engineers...
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    Pagan2 said:

    Increasingly (experience of my last two companies) they are taking on apprentices rather than software grad as the latter still need significant train almost as much as an apprentice from scratch
    20 to 25 years ago, I extensively recruited graduate software engineers. Bizarrely. I generally found that geography graduates were better than comp sci graduates. Less bizarrely, physicists were better than both. Despite being in Cambridge, Oxbridge comp sci graduates were fairly awful.

    My rationale behind this was that geographers or physicists who applied to a popular tech company for a job had a genuine interest in the subject, and coded as a hobby on top of their degree. Whereas many of the comp sci graduates were in it because it was cool and might be a good earner.

    Put simply, people not studying comp sci would generally have more of a passion for the topic.

    20 years is an eternity in tech, so the situation may well have improved. Or got worse...
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,653

    That was pretty much how I got into the industry, when I was studying geo eng at uni. A friend knew I was good with computers, and got me a contracting role, which led me to another company that was trying to maintain their priceless data on a >20-year old Bull mainframe. They were basically a data company, but didn't want to spend any money on the systems that held the data. So they got contractors in to maintain an increasingly perilous hand-coded database. It had been created before SQL and RDBMS's were popular, and converted from some other language to C in the early 80s. It as code from the depths of Hades, the tenth circle of Hell...

    I learnt a heck of a lot. Mainly how not to code. Oh, and the replacement system at a related company, introduced in 1994, was not Y2K compliant... :)

    I would like to see more of this: taking young people for apprentice-style roles.
    I'd like that too. But sadly, we want ('we') people with masters degrees, and want to pay them £1, and expect them to out-perform the top googlers on day one.

    And the expectations of 'the magic AI thing' are making it worse.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,538

    One of the central mysteries of teenage boys.

    All the awful stuff they do because they want to impress the girls which the girls don't find impressive...

    Evolution will no doubt catch up eventually.

    (I suspect that the caveman explanation is that, in very ancient times, the boys didn't have to impress the girls so much as scare off the other boys.)
    Funny what you remember. On our last day, our Chemistry teacher (fantastic woman) stuck one of these labels on the forehead of friend of mine:


  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867
    Do we think Virginia Giuffre/Roberts really only has 4 days to live?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,630
    GIN1138 said:

    Do we think Virginia Giuffre/Roberts really only has 4 days to live?

    Nope, but it’s caught the attention, like so much else she’s done over the years.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 4,653
    tlg86 said:

    Funny what you remember. On our last day, our Chemistry teacher (fantastic woman) stuck one of these labels on the forehead of friend of mine:


    On my last day, a guy took a razorblade out of his sock and slashed a big 'smile' from one eye, across the mouth, to the other eye of a fellow student. Rather took the vibe out of the disco night.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Nigelb said:

    Toby Esterhase in Tinker Tailor; the Commandant in Colditz...
    Secret Army too, and he reprised Esterhase in Smiley’s People too.

    A look at his IMDB shows a fantastic career.

    Lived to a ripe old age too.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    algarkirk said:

    There is a real problem in comprehending what the 27% mean when they declare support for dictatorship. With 'democracy' there is a common understanding that a population have a peaceful means of getting rid of a leader/government/parliament they don't like.

    Are we to suppose that the 27% who support dictatorship honestly believe there is a peaceful way of replacing one the population come to loathe? Or am I to suppose that they know there isn't, but prefer having an irremovable leader who leads them into famine, war, plague and holocausts?

    I think this is meaningless without deeper digging.
    One of the interesting things about dictators is that they can, rarely, be neutral, or even positive.

    I can recommend Iain Dale's book "The Dictators". It gives pocket biographies of many dictators through history, and a precious few were probably positive. Take the Kang Shai-Chek quote: "If when I die, I am still a dictator, I will certainly go down into the oblivion of all dictators. If, on the other hand, I succeed in establishing a truly stable foundation for a democratic government, I will live forever in every home in China."

    Kang Shai-Chek was certainly a dictator. Was Taiwan (or China...) better off for him, or without him?

    And will Xi Jinping, who many call a dictator, be positive to China?
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    ohnotnow said:

    On my last day, a guy took a razorblade out of his sock and slashed a big 'smile' from one eye, across the mouth, to the other eye of a fellow student. Rather took the vibe out of the disco night.
    The old Glasgow Smile !
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 51,272

    20 to 25 years ago, I extensively recruited graduate software engineers. Bizarrely. I generally found that geography graduates were better than comp sci graduates. Less bizarrely, physicists were better than both. Despite being in Cambridge, Oxbridge comp sci graduates were fairly awful.

    My rationale behind this was that geographers or physicists who applied to a popular tech company for a job had a genuine interest in the subject, and coded as a hobby on top of their degree. Whereas many of the comp sci graduates were in it because it was cool and might be a good earner.

    Put simply, people not studying comp sci would generally have more of a passion for the topic.

    20 years is an eternity in tech, so the situation may well have improved. Or got worse...
    You can ruin any subject by being taught it. It's why I have long had a jaded view of education, despite being in the education business. I love history, geography, film and literature mostly because I have never had to pass a serious exam in them.

  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867

    Nope, but it’s caught the attention, like so much else she’s done over the years.
    Indeed!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,774
    Taz said:

    Secret Army too, and he reprised Esterhase in Smiley’s People too.

    A look at his IMDB shows a fantastic career.

    Lived to a ripe old age too.
    One of the TV faces of my youth.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,307
    edited March 31
    GIN1138 said:

    On Topic: Looks like Marine is done for! But it could be a case of "be careful what you wish for" when it comes to the French easbalishment as Bardella may end up being much more electable?

    Off Topic: Good evening PB. What a lovely day its been! 😎

    The BBC have stated that a Bardella candidacy loses the RN a lot of their appeal.

    I cannot see how they reach that conclusion.

    He polls almost as well as her in the first round - I can’t see there have been any head to head polls for round 2 but with an RN bounce now looking likely it feels like he could conceivably do as well as her.

    And what if he tries the Trumpski/Vance gambit some in the GOP have been dreaming about - he promises once elected he pardons MLP and makes her PM? Run it as a joint campaign.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,638

    The BBC have stated that a Bardella candidacy loses the RN a lot of their appeal.

    I cannot see how they reach that conclusion.

    He polls almost as well as her in the first round - I can’t see there have been any head to head polls for round 2 but with an RN bounce now looking likely it feels like he could conceivably do as well as her.

    And what if he tries the Trumpski/Vance gambit some in the GOP have been dreaming about - he promises once elected he pardons MLP and makes her PM? Run it as a joint campaign.
    Yes, I think it's unclear whether it is good or bad for RN. But if she's guilty, what alternative is there? You can't go letting people off because you dislike them and want to look fair minded.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,695
    Can I just say, faffing about writing computer programmes cannot in any way be regarded as Engineering.

  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,711
    edited March 31

    Can I just say, faffing about writing computer programmes cannot in any way be regarded as Engineering.

    May Tony Hoare and Edsger Dijkstra rough you up in a blind alley.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    The BBC have stated that a Bardella candidacy loses the RN a lot of their appeal.

    I cannot see how they reach that conclusion.

    He polls almost as well as her in the first round - I can’t see there have been any head to head polls for round 2 but with an RN bounce now looking likely it feels like he could conceivably do as well as her.

    And what if he tries the Trumpski/Vance gambit some in the GOP have been dreaming about - he promises once elected he pardons MLP and makes her PM? Run it as a joint campaign.
    I would say that Bardella potentially has much more upside because he doesn't have the baggage of the Le Pen name. It could be the moment France votes for the far right which is a pretty scary thought.

    Immigration and economic issues don't disappear because MLP can't run for president. Putting up a new face, IMO, will end up being beneficial for RN after a short adjustment period.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397

    Can I just say, faffing about writing computer programmes cannot in any way be regarded as Engineering.

    An interesting claim. IMV the specification, design, writing and testing is engineering. That's why pure coding is not IMO engineering, but software development is.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,856

    Can I just say, faffing about writing computer programmes cannot in any way be regarded as Engineering.

    Social engineering is where it's at. If a bridge falls down, a few people are affected, but if society falls down, it affects us all.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,397
    A really important question for PB:

    What is the name for the little loop on a watch strap in which you insert the scrag end of the strap? Because the one on my Garmin's broken. I reckon the extra drag of the loose bit of strap was the reason I was slower in the pool today, and not the drinks I had last night. :)

    And am I the only person who (incorrectly?) uses 'scrag end' for that part of the strap?
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,924

    Can I just say, faffing about writing computer programmes cannot in any way be regarded as Engineering.

    If is flying a plane or running a chemical plant, I disagree.

    If it is an app on Android...
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,307
    rkrkrk said:

    Yes, I think it's unclear whether it is good or bad for RN. But if she's guilty, what alternative is there? You can't go letting people off because you dislike them and want to look fair minded.
    From my understanding, and I will admit my knowledge of French politics is limited, everyone had sort of come to a consensus that if found guilty it was likely the court would give her a short ban but was unlikely to want to make her ineligible for 2027. There’s some policy reasoning behind that - similar to how SCOTUS played the insurrection clause (I know, it was SCOTUS, but they did give a unanimous verdict) - it’s easy to see courts having a certain queasiness about the judiciary being seen to prevent a leading candidate in an upcoming election from standing.

    Of course, they didn’t go that route, so they are where they are. I suspect this benefits RN, in all honesty - and I wish it didn’t.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,739

    An interesting claim. IMV the specification, design, writing and testing is engineering. That's why pure coding is not IMO engineering, but software development is.
    +1 - most of my life is spent nowadays telling halfwits in India that they I don't want them to put the same code in X different places, it should be a child function you call on demand.

    wouldn't be so bad but the people we have a expensive, supposed to be good (they really aren't) and I could have done the entire project in 4 weeks by myself without any of them.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 38,140

    What is the name for the little loop on a watch strap in which you insert the scrag end of the strap?

    Google tells me it's called...

    ...a loop.

    possibly a keeper loop, or some other variation including the word, loop
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,233

    Yes. And your point is? That there is some intrinsic, genetic reason why women are massively less able to be bricklayers than men?
    Even in the mechanised age, there is still a requirement for strength on building sites.

    Women have a lot less strength, on average. Especially upper body strength.

    Hence - https://rowinglevel.com/rowing-times/2000m-times
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,324

    Desperate for answers on what went wrong on Election Day, finger-pointing among Democrats and media pundits has been swift. Many — in private — are holding President Joe Biden responsible. Others are blaming the operatives who have run the party’s last several campaigns. But some are pointing to an issue with far less power in American politics: transgender rights.

    “The Democrats have to stop pandering to the far left,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told The New York Times on Wednesday. “I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports.”

    Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., shared a similar view, telling the Times on Thursday: “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face. I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”


    https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/democrats-blame-partys-position-transgender-rights-part-harris-loss-rcna179370
    Right.

    But you said Harris was banging on about transgender rights when she should have campaigned on other things. Do you have any evidence that she spent time campaigning on transgender rights? Because so far as I can tell she avoided the issue as far as possible and it was the Republicans who spent a lot of time and money campaigning on the issue.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,672
    edited March 31

    20 to 25 years ago, I extensively recruited graduate software engineers. Bizarrely. I generally found that geography graduates were better than comp sci graduates. Less bizarrely, physicists were better than both. Despite being in Cambridge, Oxbridge comp sci graduates were fairly awful.

    My rationale behind this was that geographers or physicists who applied to a popular tech company for a job had a genuine interest in the subject, and coded as a hobby on top of their degree. Whereas many of the comp sci graduates were in it because it was cool and might be a good earner.

    Put simply, people not studying comp sci would generally have more of a passion for the topic.

    20 years is an eternity in tech, so the situation may well have improved. Or got worse...
    I'd say that a Graduate Software Engineer is a graduate with a degree in software engineering. A geography degree makes someone a Graduate Geographer.

    My 1980s degree is actually in software engineering - under the title of Information Systems Engineering. The core was about engineering principles applied to software systems, rather than "programming".
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,672

    A really important question for PB:

    What is the name for the little loop on a watch strap in which you insert the scrag end of the strap? Because the one on my Garmin's broken. I reckon the extra drag of the loose bit of strap was the reason I was slower in the pool today, and not the drinks I had last night. :)

    And am I the only person who (incorrectly?) uses 'scrag end' for that part of the strap?

    Isn't scrag end a particular inexpensive joint of lamb?

    The thing on the end of a watch strap into which you insert the loose end, is surely a "buckle"? Or "loop"?

    What do you call the loose end of the belt in your trouser waste band?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,672
    They recovered the armoured vehicle in Lithuania that went into the swamp:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oSyJMFZKD0
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,774

    I rarely post these days, but saddened to see an interesting thread ruined by one poster horribly misrepresenting another. Whether you agree or disagree with @MaxPB he on no occasion said (or even implied) that women are inferior. @JosiasJessop should retract and apologise immediately, but he probably won’t. Another grim PB spectacle.

    Another storm in a teacup.
    @Cyclefree 's response was on point.

    People chat shit all the time on PB.

    The obvious response to "so you're saying that" is "no, I'm not". Which ends the argument.

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,233
    s
    eek said:

    +1 - most of my life is spent nowadays telling halfwits in India that they I don't want them to put the same code in X different places, it should be a child function you call on demand.

    wouldn't be so bad but the people we have a expensive, supposed to be good (they really aren't) and I could have done the entire project in 4 weeks by myself without any of them.
    They aren’t halfwits. They just don’t know. And knowing is the expensive bit.

    Some years ago, I worked for a company that had development teams, around the world, working on the same software platform. Perfect time for a comparison.

    The cheapest development was in London - in cost per delivered feature. Eastern Europe was next. US was a way down the list. India was dead last. By a distance.

    As Neville Shute Norway put it - an engineer is someone who can do for a shilling what any damn fool can do for a pound.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 27,530
    kamski said:

    Right.

    But you said Harris was banging on about transgender rights when she should have campaigned on other things. Do you have any evidence that she spent time campaigning on transgender rights? Because so far as I can tell she avoided the issue as far as possible and it was the Republicans who spent a lot of time and money campaigning on the issue.
    So Dems bang on about trans rights, Harris keeps quiet and the GOP say that a vote for Harris is a vote for 'they/them' while a vote for Trump is a vote for 'you'.

    Guess what conclusion the voters draw ?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,774
    A Texas children's hospital is now treating children for vitamin A toxicity after RFK Jr. touted the vitamin as a measles treatment.
    https://x.com/HuffPost/status/1905920689602691517
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 27,530
    TimS said:

    New, um, poll. Or have we had this before (the fieldwork dates look quite old)?

    UK, Focaldata poll (ages 16 to 29):

    Support for democracy vs dictatorship

    Democracy: 57%
    Dictatorship: 27%

    Fieldwork: 4-12 February 2025
    Sample size: 2,039


    https://bsky.app/profile/europeelects.bsky.social/post/3llp2tsufyc2k

    27% probably think democratic governments are incompetent. They have yet to experience the true incompetence and corruption of the average dictatorship.

    They also assume that the dictatorship will be one of preference.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,324
    rcs1000 said:

    Here's the thing: even a small innate differences can result in big differences in choices. Let's say (making up numbers here) than men are 20% more likely to be into hard sciences than women.

    What happens then is that - because women prefer to hang out with other women, and men prefer to hang out with other men - the Physics class ends up with a male teacher, 18 boys and 2 girls. Which in turn perpetuates the disparity.

    And it's why - when you go to single sex schools - there's a much smaller gap in terms of girls' choices than in mixed schools. Simply, the societal impact might well be a lot larger than any innate one.
    That's a good point. There are no doubt some innate differences between how the average woman and the average man thinks. But the same is true about left- and right-handed people. In some ways, their brains tend to work a bit differently, and you can find higher proportions of left or right handed people in certain professions. But differences are less obvious, and less contentious, because being left or right handed isn't such a big part of people's identity, and they generally aren't compounded by these kinds of societal effects.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 27,530
    Nigelb said:

    A Texas children's hospital is now treating children for vitamin A toxicity after RFK Jr. touted the vitamin as a measles treatment.
    https://x.com/HuffPost/status/1905920689602691517

    There's a distinction between types of anti-vaxxers.

    One type is the 'do nothing, let mother nature take her course' religious nutter.

    Another is the quack salesman who supports treatment but only of the variety they're flogging.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 38,140
    @couts.bsky.social‬

    NEW: Several top US officials were put on administrative leave after denying DOGE access to the federal payroll system that, among many other things, issues paychecks to Supreme Court justices.

    https://bsky.app/profile/couts.bsky.social/post/3llpatsv4y22n
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867
    isam said:

    😳



    https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/4524/politicalbetting-com-blog-archive-more-gloomy-by-election-news-for-ukip-and-the-ld-surge-continu/p6
    Isam!!!!! :open_mouth:
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,711
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyw8jw11jwo

    "Has the government really 'returned' 24,000 people?"
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,362
    carnforth said:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyw8jw11jwo

    "Has the government really 'returned' 24,000 people?"

    Highest number of crossings on record, too.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867
    Nigelb said:

    Another storm in a teacup.
    @Cyclefree 's response was on point.

    People chat shit all the time on PB.

    The obvious response to "so you're saying that" is "no, I'm not". Which ends the argument.

    This particular storm in a teacup passed me by as I've been out and about enjoying the sunshine most of the day :D
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,609

    A really important question for PB:

    What is the name for the little loop on a watch strap in which you insert the scrag end of the strap? Because the one on my Garmin's broken. I reckon the extra drag of the loose bit of strap was the reason I was slower in the pool today, and not the drinks I had last night. :)

    And am I the only person who (incorrectly?) uses 'scrag end' for that part of the strap?

    The one on my old Garmin broke, it was very annoying as I have small wrists so the watch strap had a long scrag end. The elastic bands holding asparagus bunches together are a good substitute, the ones for spring onions, less so
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,295

    They fuck you up your mum and dad.
    Steven Pinker says they don't make any difference other than through genetics.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,324
    edited March 31

    So Dems bang on about trans rights, Harris keeps quiet and the GOP say that a vote for Harris is a vote for 'they/them' while a vote for Trump is a vote for 'you'.

    Guess what conclusion the voters draw ?
    Trans rights may well have been a vote winner for Trump, I'm just disputing that Harris chose to campaign on the issue, and that she lost because she was 'banging on about abortion and trans rights' and if only someone in the Democratic party had told her to campaign on some other issues she might have won. I'm not convinced that Democrats generally were either - which Democrats are you referring to in the 2024 election campaigns? Republicans definitely were banging on about trans rights.

    I also think that abortion was probably a vote-winning issue for Harris.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,774
    America's business community is slowly waking up to the realization that the king has gone mad.
    https://x.com/Noahpinion/status/1906198836688867392
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,366
    Nigelb said:

    America's business community is slowly waking up to the realization that the king has gone mad.
    https://x.com/Noahpinion/status/1906198836688867392

    Bit bloody late.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,867
    edited March 31
    OMG! What the hell was Sir Ed Davey MP doing with that hobby horse? 😂
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,307

    Bit bloody late.
    Trump will be good for business they said….
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 38,140
    Nigelb said:

    America's business community is slowly waking up to the realization that the king has gone mad.
    https://x.com/Noahpinion/status/1906198836688867392

    America will be Trump's 7th bankruptcy
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 27,530
    kamski said:

    Trans rights may well have been a vote winner for Trump, I'm just disputing that Harris chose to campaign on the issue, and that she lost because she was 'banging on about abortion and trans rights' and if only someone in the Democratic party had told her to campaign on some other issues she might have won. I'm not convinced that Democrats generally were either - which Democrats are you referring to in the 2024 election campaigns? Republicans definitely were banging on about trans rights.

    I also think that abortion was probably a vote-winning issue for Harris.
    People who thought strongly about abortion, one way or another, were going to vote one way or the other.

    People who don't wondered instead why politicians are talking about abortion instead of 'everyday life issues'.

    As to trans, after the election but the general principle applies:

    US Senate Democrats block bill to ban trans athletes from women’s sports Democratic senator says trans athletes ‘deserve an ally’ after Republican-led bill quashed in razor-sharp 51-45 vote

    US Senate Democrats banded together to torpedo a Republican bill that would ban transgender athletes from women’s sports, defeating the legislation in a razor-sharp party-line vote of 51-45 on Monday evening.

    The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, led by Tommy Tuberville, a senator from Alabama, crashed before reaching the 60 votes needed to advance, halting the proposal that had passed the House in January.

    A New York Times/Ipsos poll from January found 79% of Americans opposed transgender female athletes competing in women’s sports, a statistic Republicans hoped would bolster their position. Democrats, however, swiftly branded the bill a cynical political distraction.


    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/04/democrats-block-trans-athletes-bill

    This is now ingrained in the public mind - Dems are for trans rights and the GOP are against them. The problem for the Dems is that they're assumed (whether accurately or not) to be on the deeply unpopular side of the issue.

    What the Dems need is for the whole trans issue to disappear, which it will not if they keep playing into the GOP's hands on the issue.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,739

    s

    They aren’t halfwits. They just don’t know. And knowing is the expensive bit.

    Some years ago, I worked for a company that had development teams, around the world, working on the same software platform. Perfect time for a comparison.

    The cheapest development was in London - in cost per delivered feature. Eastern Europe was next. US was a way down the list. India was dead last. By a distance.

    As Neville Shute Norway put it - an engineer is someone who can do for a shilling what any damn fool can do for a pound.
    This is a supposedly Microsoft Inner Circle Partner. My first step on this project was to point out that it doesn't take 16 hours to do work I can do myself in 10 minutes when all you are doing is adding 10 fields on a form in the order we've asked you to.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 38,140

    s

    They aren’t halfwits. They just don’t know. And knowing is the expensive bit.

    Some years ago, I worked for a company that had development teams, around the world, working on the same software platform. Perfect time for a comparison.

    The cheapest development was in London - in cost per delivered feature. Eastern Europe was next. US was a way down the list. India was dead last. By a distance.

    As Neville Shute Norway put it - an engineer is someone who can do for a shilling what any damn fool can do for a pound.
    We just migrated an application written by a team in India from an on-prem data centre to the cloud.

    It is the jankiest app in the entire portfolio

    It was supposed to be a multi-tier application, with three distinct environments, but they just used any server for anything. They wrote some code on one server, then did a fileshare to all the others to distribute it...

    We moved the QA servers, then they complained because one of them had production code on it.

    Chaos.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,344
    Nigelb said:

    Another storm in a teacup.
    @Cyclefree 's response was on point.

    People chat shit all the time on PB.

    The obvious response to "so you're saying that" is "no, I'm not". Which ends the argument.

    Leon is in Bokhara, I believe MaxPB is in Florence.
    There’s something weirdly comforting that they’d still rather spend an evening bickering on the internet than enjoy their locale.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,095
    kamski said:

    Trans rights may well have been a vote winner for Trump, I'm just disputing that Harris chose to campaign on the issue, and that she lost because she was 'banging on about abortion and trans rights' and if only someone in the Democratic party had told her to campaign on some other issues she might have won. I'm not convinced that Democrats generally were either - which Democrats are you referring to in the 2024 election campaigns? Republicans definitely were banging on about trans rights.

    I also think that abortion was probably a vote-winning issue for Harris.
    The pro life evangelical and RC vote at least matched the pro choice female vote given the Trump and GOP win
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,856
    How does the BBC feel about this government promotion of Netflix?

    https://x.com/10downingstreet/status/1906803720127750169
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    Leon is in Bokhara, I believe MaxPB is in Florence.
    There’s something weirdly comforting that they’d still rather spend an evening bickering on the internet than enjoy their locale.
    Unfortunately my daughter caught some vomiting bug so I've been stuck with her in the Airbnb all day but she seemed better an hour ago, or at least she hadn't thrown up for a couple of hours. The better half won the coin toss and got the day out and about visiting the various cafes, bars and restaurants of Florence while I had to make do with Glovo...
This discussion has been closed.