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The most selfish generation? – politicalbetting.com

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  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,633
    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    Mandy Rice Davies is waving at you...
    Talking of waving.

    I was walking today in Regents Park. A lovely day. As I approached the southern side there was a whole gaggle of children, chaperoned by a disarray of teachers. They were obviously something like an Islamic school trip - there were (hat tip to Jenrick) simply no white faces. A fair few headscarfed girls. Anyway, generally good to see children out and about, but I was a trifle disappointed that it seemed quite a monocultural expedition. And then one of the little girls just spontaneously smiled and waved at me.

    Despite my sometimes gloom, I think we're in good shape.
    I hope you waved back. I'm sure you did.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    DoctorG said:

    Carnyx said:

    Sandpit said:

    Second time around.

    How do you know that Manc isn't the airport for Prestwick?

    But, seriously, a most alarming report. I was very surprised anyone would want to land at Edinburgh (though the wind was possibly more or less along the runway, IIRC).
    What surprises me is storm Amy was worst in Scotland. So maybe a southern diversion should have been on the table very early on, even not bothering with an attempt at Prestwick
    Ireland shields England and Wales from the worst of the trans-Atlantic weather.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,100
    I think that would be a really sensible approach. I'm by no means wealthy in the accepted sense but I live sufficiently within my means to be able to help out several of my extended family, one of whom is a pensioner.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,439
    On the header, maybe I'm missing something but I cannot see the words 'responsibility for alleviating pensioner poverty' in any question that they asked.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 40,481

    Off-topic:

    I've just realised that Mark Blundell, ex-F1 and Cart driver, and Le-Mans winner, and one of my childhood heroes, lives just off the road where I take my son every week to go swimming. I've even run right past his place.

    No, I'm not going to turn into a stalker.

    Johnny Herbert used to frequent my local Indian takeaway. I saw him in the supermarket once, but I think he moved since
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 33,283
    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    Mandy Rice Davies is waving at you...
    Talking of waving.

    I was walking today in Regents Park. A lovely day. As I approached the southern side there was a whole gaggle of children, chaperoned by a disarray of teachers. They were obviously something like an Islamic school trip - there were (hat tip to Jenrick) simply no white faces. A fair few headscarfed girls. Anyway, generally good to see children out and about, but I was a trifle disappointed that it seemed quite a monocultural expedition. And then one of the little girls just spontaneously smiled and waved at me.

    Despite my sometimes gloom, I think we're in good shape.
    You can see the same round here, with the younger ones wearing high-vis jackets. Any White children are likely East European (and perhaps less numerous since Brexit). I don't think we had any school trips back in my day. Too risky with smog, bombs and dinosaurs, I expect.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 88,243
    edited October 9

    Carnyx said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education. Rather behaviour, slipping standards, kids effected by COVID lockdown still not ready to learn are the things that my friends who do have kids bang on about.

    It was the sort of thing the Tories used to go on about in the 1970s IIRC. Always been there bobbing around in the stream of discourse, albeiot sometimes mostly submerged.
    Gove (or Cummings/Gove) and the blob ring any bells?
    That's not quite the same claim. Their criticism was the "blob" stopped innovation and reform and teacher didn't want to change the way they did things. Farage is claiming something different, something very US centric about the Marxists and the trans teachers are indoctrinating the kids. That is straight Libs of TikTok type stuff.
    Michael Gove did try to rewrite the history syllabus out of those concerns.
    That is a fair point to an extent, but I don't think he was directly accusing all the teachers of being activists, rather he took umbrage with the way the narrative of history was being set out by those who wrote the curriculum. Bridget Phillipson has muttered about the same from the other end of the telescope, haven't followed if she has pulled the trigger on it.

    It seems with Gove, the I know history better and what is being taught is missing a load of important stuff I like.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421

    Three quarters of pensioners own their own home.

    The same can not be said about working people.

    Working people's wages should go to themselves first, before it goes to anyone else.

    Working people should not be worse off than those who are not working.

    I’m genuinely amazed people who have worked 40 plus years have paid off their mortgage whereas people who have been in the world of work a few years haven’t 😂😂😂😂
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 12,068
    kinabalu said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    Mandy Rice Davies is waving at you...
    Talking of waving.

    I was walking today in Regents Park. A lovely day. As I approached the southern side there was a whole gaggle of children, chaperoned by a disarray of teachers. They were obviously something like an Islamic school trip - there were (hat tip to Jenrick) simply no white faces. A fair few headscarfed girls. Anyway, generally good to see children out and about, but I was a trifle disappointed that it seemed quite a monocultural expedition. And then one of the little girls just spontaneously smiled and waved at me.

    Despite my sometimes gloom, I think we're in good shape.
    I hope you waved back. I'm sure you did.
    Alas I only managed a weak smile.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,409

    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    10m
    Trump on Autism:

    Trump: "There is a tremendous amount of proof as a non-doctor. I've studied this a long time."

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1976335190768423025


    Let's give him the Nobel for medicine as well!



  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 5,383
    Battlebus said:

    These findings fill me with incredulity.

    The sense of entitlement is unbelievable.

    Suspect that it's extremely believable. We all want more for less, and are happy to screw over the future to get what we want. Even me, and I'm lovely.

    The problem with the generation born between about 1945 and 1965 is not particularly that they are more fallen than the rest of us, it's that they are more numerous. So indulging them has been a viable business and political strategy throughout their lives.

    With consequences that can only be described as "Boomers, if you seek your memorial, look around." It sounds better in Latin, I'm sure, but I did go to a comprehensive.
    Boomers, si monumentum vestrum quaeritis, circumspicite.

    Says Google. But which party is going to start the conversation? Perhaps one way forward would be to insist that Care Home fees come out of the resident's capital either directly or as a future (interest bearing) charge. The boomers would have to make a decision about whether passing on wealth before a care home is needed is the best strategy or to hold the wealth and at lease have a choice about care.

    Do you trust your children?
    Is that not what happens now? You must pay until you have almost nothing left.

    If the government pay you'll either need top up fees or you'll get very little choice indeed.

    It needs some kind of insurance scheme. Pay £50k and stop worrying about it.

    That might actually get older people spending some money.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 11,253

    kinabalu said:

    Say what you like about Trump he does seem to have pulled off this Gaza peace deal with reports he is flying to Israel on Sunday

    I don't think Trump has pulled off this peace deal. I think the people who wrote it + US diplomats + changing circumstances have made it become possible. Trump has helped in that process.
    It could and should have happened a long time ago. The ceasefire and hostage release, I mean. A genuine lasting peace deal is something else. If that is in due course achieved, fantastic, and Trump will for once merit praise and plaudits.
    Indeed, I've been saying for years this war should end with the surrender of Hamas, their disarmament and removal from office and the release of all hostages.

    Many people here have been opposing demanding the surrender of Hamas, calling demanding that "unrealistic" or "genocide" and other such bullshit.

    Much bloodshed could have been avoided if Hamas had surrendered and released the hostages sooner, but kudos to Israel for not accepting a ceasefire before they did. Good job.

    And no mythical "genocide".

    A lot of people here have egg on their face.
    How so?

    Why don't you read how Bibi harnessed Hamas for his own agenda?

    You spout absolute nonsense denying reality and then you claim everyone else looks ridiculous.
    Can we disleg Hamas as well as disarming them? No short cuts!
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,633
    Omnium said:

    kinabalu said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    Mandy Rice Davies is waving at you...
    Talking of waving.

    I was walking today in Regents Park. A lovely day. As I approached the southern side there was a whole gaggle of children, chaperoned by a disarray of teachers. They were obviously something like an Islamic school trip - there were (hat tip to Jenrick) simply no white faces. A fair few headscarfed girls. Anyway, generally good to see children out and about, but I was a trifle disappointed that it seemed quite a monocultural expedition. And then one of the little girls just spontaneously smiled and waved at me.

    Despite my sometimes gloom, I think we're in good shape.
    I hope you waved back. I'm sure you did.
    Alas I only managed a weak smile.
    Cmon. You didn’t get where you are today with weak smiles.

    Nice post anyway.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,886
    edited October 9
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    If you travel into SoMA then it is still a hellscape of zombies, as it has been for about 30 years.

    If you stick to Union Square, the Embarcadero, and Fisherman's Wharf then it is entirely possible you will go the whole day without having to even step over human faeces. Which is a massive turn around compared to just nine months ago.

    (There are still homeless people. Some of them are still fucked up. But their numbers have been significantly reduced.)
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,546
    FWIW, a guest columnist at the WaPo recently said that rare earths are available, in large quantities, in the waste dumps of mines for other metals.

    As I understand it, processing rare earths is more the bottle neck than mining -- and I have no doubt that there are people in the US -- and the UK -- who could solve that problem within two years, or less. (No doubt your Mr. Bond is already stealing Chinese secrets to help out. Or his current equivalent.

    Incidentally, that might make a good movie.)

    Whether your PM or our Loser have enough sense to get them started is not obvious. Doug Burgum probably could. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Burgum
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,886
    Ratters said:

    I can report no child indoctrination on politics in the first two years' of primary school. Keep tuned for further updates.

    The children in the class do seem to like rainbows though. It may just be because they have lots of different colours, but I'm keeping an eye out in case it's the start of a deep state liberal conspiracy.

    If a school does a lesson about 'treat other people with respect, irrespective of their sexual orientation and/or if they wish to use a different pronoun', is that forcing woke down kids' throats? Or is it just them making their own life easier, because you want to minimize conflict between kids?
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,512

    Battlebus said:

    These findings fill me with incredulity.

    The sense of entitlement is unbelievable.

    Suspect that it's extremely believable. We all want more for less, and are happy to screw over the future to get what we want. Even me, and I'm lovely.

    The problem with the generation born between about 1945 and 1965 is not particularly that they are more fallen than the rest of us, it's that they are more numerous. So indulging them has been a viable business and political strategy throughout their lives.

    With consequences that can only be described as "Boomers, if you seek your memorial, look around." It sounds better in Latin, I'm sure, but I did go to a comprehensive.
    Boomers, si monumentum vestrum quaeritis, circumspicite.

    Says Google. But which party is going to start the conversation? Perhaps one way forward would be to insist that Care Home fees come out of the resident's capital either directly or as a future (interest bearing) charge. The boomers would have to make a decision about whether passing on wealth before a care home is needed is the best strategy or to hold the wealth and at lease have a choice about care.

    Do you trust your children?
    Is that not what happens now? You must pay until you have almost nothing left.

    If the government pay you'll either need top up fees or you'll get very little choice indeed.

    It needs some kind of insurance scheme. Pay £50k and stop worrying about it.

    That might actually get older people spending some money.
    Yep.

    For both sides of my family, the grandparent who lived longest got Alzheimer's and necessarily ended up in a care home as they lived for a long time with it. Neither were exactly wealthy but owned modest homes in provincial towns. Everything they had was spent on care, down to whatever tiny amounts the government allow you to keep before paying.

    The current system is mad. If you get one disease you get millions spent on treatment for free. If you get another disease then you lose everything you saved your life for*.

    I would much rather social care was universal and a widely applied wealth tax was used to fund it. People might moan, but less than if they get unlucky in the disease lottery.

    * Ignoring very wealthy people who tax plan for this sort of thing.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919
    edited October 9
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    If you travel into SoMA then it is still a hellscape of zombies, as it has been for about 30 years.

    If you stick to Union Square, the Embarcadero, and Fisherman's Wharf then it is entirely possible you will go the whole day without having to even step over human faeces. Which is a massive turn around compared to just nine months ago.

    (There are still homeless people. Some of them are still fucked up. But their numbers have been significantly reduced.)
    I confess I didn't see a single zombie as I drove in on the skyway 208 fron Silicon Valley, it all looked rather beautiful

    I did myself a tour of Silicon Valley, beforehand. It is so very very much not what I espected. However, I am not sure WHAT I expected - perhaps a sequence of massive factories? An industrial park? A kind of desert with the odd lavishly landscaped laboratory? A futuristic city made of translucent jelly-steel?

    Anyway, whatever image I had in my tiny brain it didn't match what I saw. Silicon Valley is basically a huge and rather idyllic American suburb, green and affluent, with upmarket Whole Foods stores and Trader Joes, and little cafes and bars, and every so often there's a plate glass office block or yet another lush outpost of Stanford University, like a 1920s Art Deco Cambridge scattered around a very wealthy, rather sunny, far prettier version of Milton Keynes

    I'm sure you know this, I'm sure you've been there. It was quite a shock to me

    Edit to add: what makes it even weirder is that it is bounded by old growth forests and mountains, and then a magnificently empty windswept coast.... also a total surprise
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 53,097
    edited October 9
    Leon said:

    Even by Guardian standards this is a quite outrageously misleading headline


    “‘We don’t want to be a toy town’: has Brexit sunk this historic UK fishing fleet?”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/09/hastings-brexit-sunk-historic-uk-fishing-fleet

    If you read the text, what they mean by “Brexit” is actually Keir Starmer’s pathetic, treacherous fishing deal when he gave everything to the French for 12 years, in return for… nothing

    Which is your Boris’s deal, back when we held all the cards, simply extended.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,262

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    Well I'm maybe more currently involved. And I can confirm schools are rife with this stuff.
    Happy to report it's receded a little since 2021. But senior schools still basically have the Guardian as the centre ground, and the Corbyn worldview isn't unusual.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,886

    FWIW, a guest columnist at the WaPo recently said that rare earths are available, in large quantities, in the waste dumps of mines for other metals.

    As I understand it, processing rare earths is more the bottle neck than mining -- and I have no doubt that there are people in the US -- and the UK -- who could solve that problem within two years, or less. (No doubt your Mr. Bond is already stealing Chinese secrets to help out. Or his current equivalent.

    Incidentally, that might make a good movie.)

    Whether your PM or our Loser have enough sense to get them started is not obvious. Doug Burgum probably could. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Burgum

    I knew Doug when he ran Great Plains, and was highly impressed by him. The problem is that when one gets sucked into Trump world, then suddenly loyalty to the Don becomes everything. I don't know if he can avoid that death spiral.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,233
    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 26,119

    Leon said:

    I’m in a San Francisco hotel that has robot room service. But the robots are the slightly boring kind, like dumb 3CPOs, or glorified Roombas

    Much more interesting is this. Just launched an hour ago

    https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1976272678618308864?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    I remember once @Benpointer saying “wake me up when a robot can stack my dishwasher”

    Well, here it is, Ben. About two years after you asked for it. These will soon start appearing in posh hotels, then exponentially spread

    Except it still can't stack your dishwasher. That demo is all tele-operatored or mimic the teleoperated demostration. The marketing copy is very careful in using phrases like "designed to operate in". It makes no claims beyond its a platform that has the potential to be trained to do x. But teleoperated robot arms / robot arms that are shown a task and asked to repeat have been able to manipulate plates, glasses etc for quite a long time, the huge difficult is the robot doing it all itself and generalising away from mimicing.

    What they are showing off is that the robot is now containing a lot more sensors and the hands have better dystextia that can be potentially leveraged to learn to do tasks.
    (translation: it's still a mechanical turk)
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 30,827

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very US and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    A teacher writes:

    Have these people actually met any real children?

    If teachers could indoctrinate kids, there are many things higher up my list than lefty wokeism.

    Starting with bringing a calculator to physics lessons.
    With mine it's try not to eat the glue, don't piss on the floor and please stop licking tables.
    Then we can talk about building a Socialist utopia.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 53,097
    edited October 9
    Poor Sean, stuck in some anonymous American hotel, unhappy that the robots aren’t yet sophisticated enough - although that surely can’t really be the appropriate word - to wank him off.

    They’ll need to work on robots with smaller hands.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 7,404
    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Even by Guardian standards this is a quite outrageously misleading headline


    “‘We don’t want to be a toy town’: has Brexit sunk this historic UK fishing fleet?”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/09/hastings-brexit-sunk-historic-uk-fishing-fleet

    If you read the text, what they mean by “Brexit” is actually Keir Starmer’s pathetic, treacherous fishing deal when he gave everything to the French for 12 years, in return for… nothing

    Which is your Boris’s deal, extended.
    It's actually better, because it explicitly de-couples fishing from other matters. In 12 years we can, allegedly, simply let it expire with no trade consequences. Though I'm sure the EU have a plan up their sleeve for that.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    Well I'm maybe more currently involved. And I can confirm schools are rife with this stuff.
    Happy to report it's receded a little since 2021. But senior schools still basically have the Guardian as the centre ground, and the Corbyn worldview isn't unusual.
    Can you give examples of 'this stuff' ?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 20,498

    Would it be practical to get some sort of political consensus regarding the percentage of the population that should receive the state pension? I understand that the current figure is probably just under 20%. Suppose everyone agreed that the number should not exceed 20%, and if that looked like it was likely to happen then the pensionable age would be increased accordingly.

    For a variety of reasons (not least the NHS and personal understanding of health initiatives) we live in an ageing society. When Lloyd George introduced the Old Age Penion in 1909, it was payable to people aged over 75. Over the years we reduced it to 60 for some people, and have now raised it to 66 for everyone, but the expectation was that it would be paid to a few people, in exceptional circumstances, not to a fifth of the population.

    I would suggest fixing the percentage of GDP that we want to spend on the state pension. Then we can argue over the tradeoffs between universality, generosity and retirement age, but within an envelope so that it remains affordable.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 11,253

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919
    IanB2 said:

    Poor Sean, stuck in some anonymous American hotel, unhappy that the robots aren’t yet sophisticated enough - although that surely can’t really be the appropriate word - to wank him off.

    They’ll need to work on robots with smaller hands.

    You'll be happy to hear the Chinese are ALREADY producing robot dogs, so your unusual sexual needs can be satisfied right now, for about $5k
  • Would it be practical to get some sort of political consensus regarding the percentage of the population that should receive the state pension? I understand that the current figure is probably just under 20%. Suppose everyone agreed that the number should not exceed 20%, and if that looked like it was likely to happen then the pensionable age would be increased accordingly.

    For a variety of reasons (not least the NHS and personal understanding of health initiatives) we live in an ageing society. When Lloyd George introduced the Old Age Penion in 1909, it was payable to people aged over 75. Over the years we reduced it to 60 for some people, and have now raised it to 66 for everyone, but the expectation was that it would be paid to a few people, in exceptional circumstances, not to a fifth of the population.

    I would suggest fixing the percentage of GDP that we want to spend on the state pension. Then we can argue over the tradeoffs between universality, generosity and retirement age, but within an envelope so that it remains affordable.
    Isn't that how they do it in Denmark.

    Also rising the state pension age to always be 15 years less than life expectancy ?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 45,858

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
    Doesn't make sense. National and local government have strict maxima for how long you can stay on sick pay before they replace you.

    I suspect two separate periods of sickness, some years apart.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 20,641


    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    10m
    Trump on Autism:

    Trump: "There is a tremendous amount of proof as a non-doctor. I've studied this a long time."

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1976335190768423025


    Let's give him the Nobel for medicine as well!



    Call me skeptical about his ‘studies’. At least Leon reads lots of posts on Reddit.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 20,181

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    Not as much as RFK's science teachers are.

    Yet another failed bit of indoctrination.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,887
    I would like some POST SPEECH POLLING on the Tories PLEASE.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 20,641

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421
    Looks like the inept JLR are about to restart producing their mediocre vehicles.
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,512
    rcs1000 said:

    Ratters said:

    I can report no child indoctrination on politics in the first two years' of primary school. Keep tuned for further updates.

    The children in the class do seem to like rainbows though. It may just be because they have lots of different colours, but I'm keeping an eye out in case it's the start of a deep state liberal conspiracy.

    If a school does a lesson about 'treat other people with respect, irrespective of their sexual orientation and/or if they wish to use a different pronoun', is that forcing woke down kids' throats? Or is it just them making their own life easier, because you want to minimize conflict between kids?
    I expect you gathered, but to be clear, my previous comment was intended with heavy irony.

    Primary schools tend to focus their life lessons on being kind to others. I think a lot of people could learn a lot from that simple principle, and answers how to respond to your questions.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 45,858
    edited October 9

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
    ...
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,233

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
    If he had said 'find' instead of 'make' I would have given him some leeway but we all know the outcome was always what he wanted it to be.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 53,097

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    It’s unreasonable that we all have to endlessly suffer Sean’s inferiority complex.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 40,902

    These findings fill me with incredulity.

    The sense of entitlement is unbelievable.

    A special 50% tax rate on defined benefit pension income over £40k is what we need.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 12,068

    I would like some POST SPEECH POLLING on the Tories PLEASE.

    I'm sure the finest wines known to humanity were delivered last time you engaged caps lock.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 26,119
    Taz said:

    Looks like the inept JLR are about to restart producing their mediocre vehicles.

    But why? How could the technique of not making any cars other that one single model that can only be afforded by aggressively heterosexual (at least on the surface) oil sheiks then making an advert that's only attractive to Karl Lagerfeld possibly fail?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,886

    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    Well I'm maybe more currently involved. And I can confirm schools are rife with this stuff.
    Happy to report it's receded a little since 2021. But senior schools still basically have the Guardian as the centre ground, and the Corbyn worldview isn't unusual.
    Can you give examples of 'this stuff' ?
    I think people see what they want to see. (As with so many things in life.)

    At my daughter's school (a hotbed of lefty liberalism, where Kamala's stepdaughter went), one of the books they read was Persepolis.

    It's about a young girl growing up in Tehran around the revolution, and then her life as she flees with her family to Vienna, and then returns as an adult to Iran, before fleeing again.

    It's a book that is on lots of US banned book lists. Female protaganist and allegedly glorifies teenage promiscuity and drug use. Denigrates religion.

    On the other hand, the message my daughter got from it was "holy shit the Islamic revolution in Iran/Persia was fucked up. I am so glad i live in the US and not Persia".

    People see what they want to see. And there are more clicks and retweets from causing outrage.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    Siri, show me someone who dishes it but cannot take it.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,262
    edited October 9

    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    Well I'm maybe more currently involved. And I can confirm schools are rife with this stuff.
    Happy to report it's receded a little since 2021. But senior schools still basically have the Guardian as the centre ground, and the Corbyn worldview isn't unusual.
    Can you give examples of 'this stuff' ?
    Well:
    a) the school play they performed at daughter 2's school last Feb - 'the Empress' - the title of which could have been 'English people are all evil' ('weirdly, in the 1890s, one of the Indian characters says "what can you expect of a nation of slave owners'),
    b) the way history is taught at daughter 1's school, which appears to be 'the British are evil and immigration is great',
    c) the material on the walls at the other local school for the open day 2 years back, which genuinely was 40% the range of sexualities and gender identities you can choose from, 25% don't be racist and the remainder covering things you might like to learn or do during your five years there,
    d) our visit to the local private school, which was if anything even woker

    Just as examples.

    The local primary schools are pretty well-balanced though.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421
    MaxPB said:

    These findings fill me with incredulity.

    The sense of entitlement is unbelievable.

    A special 50% tax rate on defined benefit pension income over £40k is what we need.
    What would that raise though ?

    Hardly anything I’d expect.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,886

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
    Sadly, I don't think RFK is a fan of Karl Popper.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,409

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
    The Bulwark
    @BulwarkOnline
    ·
    51m

    RFK: "There's two studies which show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they were given Tylenol."
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 7,404

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
    The Bulwark
    @BulwarkOnline
    ·
    51m

    RFK: "There's two studies which show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they were given Tylenol."
    See there's another solution to that particular problem...
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 4,199

    Leon said:

    I’m in a San Francisco hotel that has robot room service. But the robots are the slightly boring kind, like dumb 3CPOs, or glorified Roombas

    Much more interesting is this. Just launched an hour ago

    https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1976272678618308864?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    I remember once @Benpointer saying “wake me up when a robot can stack my dishwasher”

    Well, here it is, Ben. About two years after you asked for it. These will soon start appearing in posh hotels, then exponentially spread

    Except it still can't stack your dishwasher. That demo is all tele-operatored or mimic the teleoperated demostration. The marketing copy is very careful in using phrases like "designed to operate in". It makes no claims beyond its a platform that has the potential to be trained to do x. But teleoperated robot arms / robot arms that are shown a task and asked to repeat have been able to manipulate plates, glasses etc for quite a long time, the huge difficult is the robot doing it all itself and generalising away from mimicing.

    What they are showing off is that the robot is now containing a lot more sensors and the hands have better dystextia that can be potentially leveraged to learn to do tasks.
    I was in a *Newcastle* hotel recently that had robots delivering room service - sounds similar to the Roomba-esque ones Leon describes. When I saw it it was repeatedly bouncing off the wrong door, so seems like it's not exactly perfect.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,233

    Leon said:

    I’m in a San Francisco hotel that has robot room service. But the robots are the slightly boring kind, like dumb 3CPOs, or glorified Roombas

    Much more interesting is this. Just launched an hour ago

    https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1976272678618308864?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    I remember once @Benpointer saying “wake me up when a robot can stack my dishwasher”

    Well, here it is, Ben. About two years after you asked for it. These will soon start appearing in posh hotels, then exponentially spread

    Except it still can't stack your dishwasher. That demo is all tele-operatored or mimic the teleoperated demostration. The marketing copy is very careful in using phrases like "designed to operate in". It makes no claims beyond its a platform that has the potential to be trained to do x. But teleoperated robot arms / robot arms that are shown a task and asked to repeat have been able to manipulate plates, glasses etc for quite a long time, the huge difficult is the robot doing it all itself and generalising away from mimicing.

    What they are showing off is that the robot is now containing a lot more sensors and the hands have better dystextia that can be potentially leveraged to learn to do tasks.
    I was in a *Newcastle* hotel recently that had robots delivering room service - sounds similar to the Roomba-esque ones Leon describes. When I saw it it was repeatedly bouncing off the wrong door, so seems like it's not exactly perfect.
    Which hotel was that?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,886
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    If you travel into SoMA then it is still a hellscape of zombies, as it has been for about 30 years.

    If you stick to Union Square, the Embarcadero, and Fisherman's Wharf then it is entirely possible you will go the whole day without having to even step over human faeces. Which is a massive turn around compared to just nine months ago.

    (There are still homeless people. Some of them are still fucked up. But their numbers have been significantly reduced.)
    I confess I didn't see a single zombie as I drove in on the skyway 208 fron Silicon Valley, it all looked rather beautiful

    I did myself a tour of Silicon Valley, beforehand. It is so very very much not what I espected. However, I am not sure WHAT I expected - perhaps a sequence of massive factories? An industrial park? A kind of desert with the odd lavishly landscaped laboratory? A futuristic city made of translucent jelly-steel?

    Anyway, whatever image I had in my tiny brain it didn't match what I saw. Silicon Valley is basically a huge and rather idyllic American suburb, green and affluent, with upmarket Whole Foods stores and Trader Joes, and little cafes and bars, and every so often there's a plate glass office block or yet another lush outpost of Stanford University, like a 1920s Art Deco Cambridge scattered around a very wealthy, rather sunny, far prettier version of Milton Keynes

    I'm sure you know this, I'm sure you've been there. It was quite a shock to me

    Edit to add: what makes it even weirder is that it is bounded by old growth forests and mountains, and then a magnificently empty windswept coast.... also a total surprise
    Yes: that is the little towns of Silicon Valley - the Palo Altos and Los Altos and Mountain Views. And yes, there is the mountains and the coast. It's all delightful. And quite absurdly expensive.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 30,827

    DoctorG said:

    Carnyx said:

    Sandpit said:

    Second time around.

    How do you know that Manc isn't the airport for Prestwick?

    But, seriously, a most alarming report. I was very surprised anyone would want to land at Edinburgh (though the wind was possibly more or less along the runway, IIRC).
    What surprises me is storm Amy was worst in Scotland. So maybe a southern diversion should have been on the table very early on, even not bothering with an attempt at Prestwick
    Ireland shields England and Wales from the worst of the trans-Atlantic weather.
    We use Cumbria as well.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 16,262
    dixiedean said:

    DoctorG said:

    Carnyx said:

    Sandpit said:

    Second time around.

    How do you know that Manc isn't the airport for Prestwick?

    But, seriously, a most alarming report. I was very surprised anyone would want to land at Edinburgh (though the wind was possibly more or less along the runway, IIRC).
    What surprises me is storm Amy was worst in Scotland. So maybe a southern diversion should have been on the table very early on, even not bothering with an attempt at Prestwick
    Ireland shields England and Wales from the worst of the trans-Atlantic weather.
    We use Cumbria as well.
    Arguably Cumbria is part of England and Wales.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,409
    Nick Fuentes planning to become a refugee and leave the US if Dems come to power in 2028.

  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 26,119
    edited October 9
    ...
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,859
    rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    Well I'm maybe more currently involved. And I can confirm schools are rife with this stuff.
    Happy to report it's receded a little since 2021. But senior schools still basically have the Guardian as the centre ground, and the Corbyn worldview isn't unusual.
    Can you give examples of 'this stuff' ?
    I think people see what they want to see. (As with so many things in life.)

    At my daughter's school (a hotbed of lefty liberalism, where Kamala's stepdaughter went), one of the books they read was Persepolis.

    It's about a young girl growing up in Tehran around the revolution, and then her life as she flees with her family to Vienna, and then returns as an adult to Iran, before fleeing again.

    It's a book that is on lots of US banned book lists. Female protaganist and allegedly glorifies teenage promiscuity and drug use. Denigrates religion.

    On the other hand, the message my daughter got from it was "holy shit the Islamic revolution in Iran/Persia was fucked up. I am so glad i live in the US and not Persia".

    People see what they want to see. And there are more clicks and retweets from causing outrage.
    They made a pretty good film adaptation of Persepolis.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,546
    Serious bettors may want to read this WaPo article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/interactive/2025/parlay-popularity-odds-sportsbooks/

    (Though I am certain that many of you already know this.)
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,409
    rcs1000 said:

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    I’d like to hope that’s a poor way of saying ‘more investigation is needed’, which is fair, but sadly I don’t think so.
    Sadly, I don't think RFK is a fan of Karl Popper.
    He was antifa wasn't he?

    Lock him up.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 35,048
    Taz said:

    Looks like the inept JLR are about to restart producing their mediocre vehicles.

    Should they just be LR being as J no longer make any vehicles?
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 4,199

    Leon said:

    I’m in a San Francisco hotel that has robot room service. But the robots are the slightly boring kind, like dumb 3CPOs, or glorified Roombas

    Much more interesting is this. Just launched an hour ago

    https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1976272678618308864?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    I remember once @Benpointer saying “wake me up when a robot can stack my dishwasher”

    Well, here it is, Ben. About two years after you asked for it. These will soon start appearing in posh hotels, then exponentially spread

    Except it still can't stack your dishwasher. That demo is all tele-operatored or mimic the teleoperated demostration. The marketing copy is very careful in using phrases like "designed to operate in". It makes no claims beyond its a platform that has the potential to be trained to do x. But teleoperated robot arms / robot arms that are shown a task and asked to repeat have been able to manipulate plates, glasses etc for quite a long time, the huge difficult is the robot doing it all itself and generalising away from mimicing.

    What they are showing off is that the robot is now containing a lot more sensors and the hands have better dystextia that can be potentially leveraged to learn to do tasks.
    I was in a *Newcastle* hotel recently that had robots delivering room service - sounds similar to the Roomba-esque ones Leon describes. When I saw it it was repeatedly bouncing off the wrong door, so seems like it's not exactly perfect.
    Which hotel was that?
    The Maldron in the city centre.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,724

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
    SSP is time limited to 26 weeks. After that its Universal Credit but not if they are over the state retirement age (Its a working age benefit_. So they may be on some form of contractual payment while sick but it won't be SSP (for long) or UC. But it is the Mail reporting this .....
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,887
    Youtube reactions to Kemi's speech were interesting. The News Agents was very complimentary. James O'Brien doing a live reaction however, and getting angrier and angrier by the second, was an exquisite treat that any righty will want to savour.

    https://youtu.be/p-fd-4wx8Tg?si=4q6f8N_CxpbgbLNV
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,233

    Leon said:

    I’m in a San Francisco hotel that has robot room service. But the robots are the slightly boring kind, like dumb 3CPOs, or glorified Roombas

    Much more interesting is this. Just launched an hour ago

    https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1976272678618308864?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    I remember once @Benpointer saying “wake me up when a robot can stack my dishwasher”

    Well, here it is, Ben. About two years after you asked for it. These will soon start appearing in posh hotels, then exponentially spread

    Except it still can't stack your dishwasher. That demo is all tele-operatored or mimic the teleoperated demostration. The marketing copy is very careful in using phrases like "designed to operate in". It makes no claims beyond its a platform that has the potential to be trained to do x. But teleoperated robot arms / robot arms that are shown a task and asked to repeat have been able to manipulate plates, glasses etc for quite a long time, the huge difficult is the robot doing it all itself and generalising away from mimicing.

    What they are showing off is that the robot is now containing a lot more sensors and the hands have better dystextia that can be potentially leveraged to learn to do tasks.
    I was in a *Newcastle* hotel recently that had robots delivering room service - sounds similar to the Roomba-esque ones Leon describes. When I saw it it was repeatedly bouncing off the wrong door, so seems like it's not exactly perfect.
    Which hotel was that?
    The Maldron in the city centre.
    Thanks, I usually stay at The Vermont/Malmaison/Hotel du Vin when I am in the city.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    'Knowing' a place is difficult. I can give my personal impressions of my nearest city, Cambridge, and describe it as a really great place. I know a couple of people whose views are less positive, and for good reason.

    I hated Margate when I first visited it in the summer of 1995. Every shop was selling football kit, and it was filled with drunken yobs. I passed through in the winter of 2002 and thought it was much better. Likewise, I walked along Blackpool seafront and loved it; a few streets further back were rather less lovable.

    Places can change street by street. One street is fine, the next; less so. Even the same street can change, if it is long enough. Also, somewhere that is perfectly safe in daylight might become ominous, or even dangerous, at night.

    Which is why visiting an area for a couple of days, staying in a nice hotel, doing touristy things, and proclaiming "this is how the area is!" can give a rather false view.

    You can get two totally different impressions of a place, even from people who live there. And both can be factually correct.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421

    Taz said:

    Looks like the inept JLR are about to restart producing their mediocre vehicles.

    Should they just be LR being as J no longer make any vehicles?
    When I worked there in 2013 they were launching the X760 and if it flopped that was very much on the cards

    It flopped BTW
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,887

    Youtube reactions to Kemi's speech were interesting. The News Agents was very complimentary. James O'Brien doing a live reaction however, and getting angrier and angrier by the second, was an exquisite treat that any righty will want to savour.

    https://youtu.be/p-fd-4wx8Tg?si=4q6f8N_CxpbgbLNV

    The Spectator on the other hand hasn't even touched it.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421

    Leon said:

    I’m in a San Francisco hotel that has robot room service. But the robots are the slightly boring kind, like dumb 3CPOs, or glorified Roombas

    Much more interesting is this. Just launched an hour ago

    https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1976272678618308864?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    I remember once @Benpointer saying “wake me up when a robot can stack my dishwasher”

    Well, here it is, Ben. About two years after you asked for it. These will soon start appearing in posh hotels, then exponentially spread

    Except it still can't stack your dishwasher. That demo is all tele-operatored or mimic the teleoperated demostration. The marketing copy is very careful in using phrases like "designed to operate in". It makes no claims beyond its a platform that has the potential to be trained to do x. But teleoperated robot arms / robot arms that are shown a task and asked to repeat have been able to manipulate plates, glasses etc for quite a long time, the huge difficult is the robot doing it all itself and generalising away from mimicing.

    What they are showing off is that the robot is now containing a lot more sensors and the hands have better dystextia that can be potentially leveraged to learn to do tasks.
    I was in a *Newcastle* hotel recently that had robots delivering room service - sounds similar to the Roomba-esque ones Leon describes. When I saw it it was repeatedly bouncing off the wrong door, so seems like it's not exactly perfect.
    Which hotel was that?
    The Maldron in the city centre.
    Thanks, I usually stay at The Vermont/Malmaison/Hotel du Vin when I am in the city.
    Great Sunday Lunch at Hotel Du Vin.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 45,858
    Battlebus said:

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
    SSP is time limited to 26 weeks. After that its Universal Credit but not if they are over the state retirement age (Its a working age benefit_. So they may be on some form of contractual payment while sick but it won't be SSP (for long) or UC. But it is the Mail reporting this .....
    Also, decades ago, there was a movement from the Treasury to restrict sick pay by public sector employers, both in terms of sick pay and in sacking the sick after a given period, typically 12 months. So any hint of being on sick pay for years and years is not credible.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 56,192

    I would like some POST SPEECH POLLING on the Tories PLEASE.

    POST-SPEECH.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 7,404
    Carnyx said:

    Battlebus said:

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
    SSP is time limited to 26 weeks. After that its Universal Credit but not if they are over the state retirement age (Its a working age benefit_. So they may be on some form of contractual payment while sick but it won't be SSP (for long) or UC. But it is the Mail reporting this .....
    Also, decades ago, there was a movement from the Treasury to restrict sick pay by public sector employers, both in terms of sick pay and in sacking the sick after a given period, typically 12 months. So any hint of being on sick pay for years and years is not credible.
    A friend of mine signed off from teaching got, IIRC, six months full pay followed by six months half pay followed by nothing.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,890

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    Not as much as RFK's science teachers are.

    Yet another failed bit of indoctrination.
    It is incredible that these morons have achieved nearly unchallenged power in the US. They will of course fail , but at what cost?

    The unrelenting stupidity, crass vulgarity and staggering ignorance is just tedious, but enough of the media scum who promote these fools.

  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764

    Youtube reactions to Kemi's speech were interesting. The News Agents was very complimentary. James O'Brien doing a live reaction however, and getting angrier and angrier by the second, was an exquisite treat that any righty will want to savour.

    https://youtu.be/p-fd-4wx8Tg?si=4q6f8N_CxpbgbLNV

    The Spectator on the other hand hasn't even touched it.
    I caught fifteen minutes of it yesterday as I was driving, and whilst the delivery wasn't great (it wasn't terrible either...), she did seem to actually have some policies that she could elucidate. Which was better than what I remember of Starmer's speech.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 32,887

    I would like some POST SPEECH POLLING on the Tories PLEASE.

    POST-SPEECH.
    Either will be fine.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,537
    carnforth said:

    Carnyx said:

    Battlebus said:

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
    SSP is time limited to 26 weeks. After that its Universal Credit but not if they are over the state retirement age (Its a working age benefit_. So they may be on some form of contractual payment while sick but it won't be SSP (for long) or UC. But it is the Mail reporting this .....
    Also, decades ago, there was a movement from the Treasury to restrict sick pay by public sector employers, both in terms of sick pay and in sacking the sick after a given period, typically 12 months. So any hint of being on sick pay for years and years is not credible.
    A friend of mine signed off from teaching got, IIRC, six months full pay followed by six months half pay followed by nothing.
    Similar in my NHS Trust.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 4,199

    I would like some POST SPEECH POLLING on the Tories PLEASE.

    POST-SPEECH.
    Maybe it's delivered by Royal Mail.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 45,858
    carnforth said:

    Carnyx said:

    Battlebus said:

    Carnyx said:

    A Gogglebox star has been appearing on the Channel 4 show while being signed off from his NHS day job with stress.

    Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a week.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15176721/Gogglebox-star-80-hit-Channel-4-signed-stress-62k-year-NHS-job.html

    Now this is a very weird story not for the headline reason. First all the promo online says he was retired, which you would expect from somebody who is 80 YEARS OLD. Something doesn't add up here.

    The obvious explanation is that he went on long term sick leave, which IIRC could generate automatic retirement after 6 or 12 months at that age (I forget which is usual). So hje'd indeed be retired now. Conflated ot telescoped by the DM writers, deliberately or otherwise?

    Apr 28, 2018
    https://x.com/DCHStrust/status/990168889567965184

    So at 73 he was definitely still employed with them but on the sick. He started on the show 12 years ago.
    Presumably they are just paying him SSP which isn’t very generous. But it’s also ridiculous you can stay on long term sick that long and your employer has to lump it
    SSP is time limited to 26 weeks. After that its Universal Credit but not if they are over the state retirement age (Its a working age benefit_. So they may be on some form of contractual payment while sick but it won't be SSP (for long) or UC. But it is the Mail reporting this .....
    Also, decades ago, there was a movement from the Treasury to restrict sick pay by public sector employers, both in terms of sick pay and in sacking the sick after a given period, typically 12 months. So any hint of being on sick pay for years and years is not credible.
    A friend of mine signed off from teaching got, IIRC, six months full pay followed by six months half pay followed by nothing.
    That's pretty much the sort of thing I remember as being Treasury approved. There was no, or very little, scope for management to vary that.

    I also think there were provisions to deal with people coming back briefly and then going off sick again, i.e to make sure the clock did not reset, but happily I never had to delve into the details.

  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Cicero said:

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    Not as much as RFK's science teachers are.

    Yet another failed bit of indoctrination.
    It is incredible that these morons have achieved nearly unchallenged power in the US. They will of course fail , but at what cost?

    The unrelenting stupidity, crass vulgarity and staggering ignorance is just tedious, but enough of the media scum who promote these fools.
    What if they are not morons, or fools, or ignorant, but very knowing of what they're doing? And they do it because they benefit from it?

    My own view is that RFK Jr knows what he's saying is b/s, and he doesn't care that he's going to kill loads of people because he gets advantage from it. In fact, he's already killed loads of people, or contributed to it, e.g. in Samoa.

    Calling some of these people fools excuses their evil.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    If you travel into SoMA then it is still a hellscape of zombies, as it has been for about 30 years.

    If you stick to Union Square, the Embarcadero, and Fisherman's Wharf then it is entirely possible you will go the whole day without having to even step over human faeces. Which is a massive turn around compared to just nine months ago.

    (There are still homeless people. Some of them are still fucked up. But their numbers have been significantly reduced.)
    I confess I didn't see a single zombie as I drove in on the skyway 208 fron Silicon Valley, it all looked rather beautiful

    I did myself a tour of Silicon Valley, beforehand. It is so very very much not what I espected. However, I am not sure WHAT I expected - perhaps a sequence of massive factories? An industrial park? A kind of desert with the odd lavishly landscaped laboratory? A futuristic city made of translucent jelly-steel?

    Anyway, whatever image I had in my tiny brain it didn't match what I saw. Silicon Valley is basically a huge and rather idyllic American suburb, green and affluent, with upmarket Whole Foods stores and Trader Joes, and little cafes and bars, and every so often there's a plate glass office block or yet another lush outpost of Stanford University, like a 1920s Art Deco Cambridge scattered around a very wealthy, rather sunny, far prettier version of Milton Keynes

    I'm sure you know this, I'm sure you've been there. It was quite a shock to me

    Edit to add: what makes it even weirder is that it is bounded by old growth forests and mountains, and then a magnificently empty windswept coast.... also a total surprise
    Yes: that is the little towns of Silicon Valley - the Palo Altos and Los Altos and Mountain Views. And yes, there is the mountains and the coast. It's all delightful. And quite absurdly expensive.
    I am unsurprised to find that it is pricey. It is one of the few places I've been to in America where, despite all the many drawbacks - from guns to zombies to San Fran fog to car culture - I've thought, Wow, yeah, I could live here

    And you're only half an hour from a great city (with actual train connections)
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
    Indeed. Some people are very happy to dish it but when they get a little back they really don’t like it.

    Somewhat thin skinned.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
    My 'arguments' are based in reality..

    Are you saying you did not claim that one of your books inspired Anders Breivik?
    Are you saying that you did not have two women pregnant at the same time,?
    Are you saying you never said that one of the mothers took their daughter to Australia?
    Are you saying you did not leave the other mother when the child was young?

    I could go on about the stuff you've said in the past, but I'll save you the embarrassment.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Taz said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
    Indeed. Some people are very happy to dish it but when they get a little back they really don’t like it.

    Somewhat thin skinned.
    Thank you for your contribution. It is valued. :)
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,537
    Foss said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    Well I'm maybe more currently involved. And I can confirm schools are rife with this stuff.
    Happy to report it's receded a little since 2021. But senior schools still basically have the Guardian as the centre ground, and the Corbyn worldview isn't unusual.
    Can you give examples of 'this stuff' ?
    I think people see what they want to see. (As with so many things in life.)

    At my daughter's school (a hotbed of lefty liberalism, where Kamala's stepdaughter went), one of the books they read was Persepolis.

    It's about a young girl growing up in Tehran around the revolution, and then her life as she flees with her family to Vienna, and then returns as an adult to Iran, before fleeing again.

    It's a book that is on lots of US banned book lists. Female protaganist and allegedly glorifies teenage promiscuity and drug use. Denigrates religion.

    On the other hand, the message my daughter got from it was "holy shit the Islamic revolution in Iran/Persia was fucked up. I am so glad i live in the US and not Persia".

    People see what they want to see. And there are more clicks and retweets from causing outrage.
    They made a pretty good film adaptation of Persepolis.
    It's a brilliant film.

    Anyone who thinks it is about drug use or promiscuity needs to give their head a wobble. Those feature, and even more so does the Islamic revolution, but its also about love, exile, duty, family and homesickness.

    It is a great set text for older children.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,919

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
    My 'arguments' are based in reality..

    Are you saying you did not claim that one of your books inspired Anders Breivik?
    Are you saying that you did not have two women pregnant at the same time,?
    Are you saying you never said that one of the mothers took their daughter to Australia?
    Are you saying you did not leave the other mother when the child was young?

    I could go on about the stuff you've said in the past, but I'll save you the embarrassment.
    I refer you to the latest comment from @TSE
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421

    Taz said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
    Indeed. Some people are very happy to dish it but when they get a little back they really don’t like it.

    Somewhat thin skinned.
    Thank you for your contribution. It is valued. :)
    Unlike any of yours, soy boy 🤣
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,633

    Cicero said:

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    Not as much as RFK's science teachers are.

    Yet another failed bit of indoctrination.
    It is incredible that these morons have achieved nearly unchallenged power in the US. They will of course fail , but at what cost?

    The unrelenting stupidity, crass vulgarity and staggering ignorance is just tedious, but enough of the media scum who promote these fools.
    What if they are not morons, or fools, or ignorant, but very knowing of what they're doing? And they do it because they benefit from it?

    My own view is that RFK Jr knows what he's saying is b/s, and he doesn't care that he's going to kill loads of people because he gets advantage from it. In fact, he's already killed loads of people, or contributed to it, e.g. in Samoa.

    Calling some of these people fools excuses their evil.
    Mad or bad. Hard to know and it can be a mixture. It's kind of worse in a sense when somebody peddling utter shit knows that they are.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421
    kinabalu said:

    Cicero said:

    My science teachers would be weeping at this.

    RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1976331109534191644

    Not as much as RFK's science teachers are.

    Yet another failed bit of indoctrination.
    It is incredible that these morons have achieved nearly unchallenged power in the US. They will of course fail , but at what cost?

    The unrelenting stupidity, crass vulgarity and staggering ignorance is just tedious, but enough of the media scum who promote these fools.
    What if they are not morons, or fools, or ignorant, but very knowing of what they're doing? And they do it because they benefit from it?

    My own view is that RFK Jr knows what he's saying is b/s, and he doesn't care that he's going to kill loads of people because he gets advantage from it. In fact, he's already killed loads of people, or contributed to it, e.g. in Samoa.

    Calling some of these people fools excuses their evil.
    Mad or bad. Hard to know and it can be a mixture. It's kind of worse in a sense when somebody peddling utter shit knows that they are.
    RFK Jr is married to Cheryl Hines, so he’s not a total dud.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,764
    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The Farage claims of all the teachers are indoctorinating our kids and are activists again seems very MAGA and "Online" where the likes of "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts bang on constantly about it.

    I don't have kids, but I don't get that the "reds under the beds" scare is something that is part of the UK political discussion around education.

    Yes, it is. And I have kids
    You have adult kids. And you did not have much to do with your kids when they were at school.
    lol

    I picked up my elder daughter from primary school about 150 days a year for five years
    And your other daughter? :)

    Besides, if that is true, AIUI your daughter is now at uni, which means those days are at least ten years ago. You've got f-all idea what is being taught at school, but it's zero surprise you're shitting out the MAGA talking points.
    My younger daughter has always lived in Australia, so school pick ups were a bit tricky. I still managed to visit her once a year however, until Covid, so we now have a decent relationship, considering

    I have - I hope! - a very good relationship with my older daughter, such that she and I can go on week long holidays together - just us, and we're entirely happy. We are interested in the same things - especially history - she is highly intelligent and reads voraciously (yay!) - we have a shared sense of humour. She's also one of the nicest, kindest people I know. I only have this relationship because I made sure I stayed close to her all the way through her childhood, despite being absent from her household and not partnered to her mum

    However I couldn't do school pick ups every day because unlike you I am not a beta cuck and I have a high paying but high pressured job that takes me all over the world

    Speaking of which, I am sitting on the 17th floor of a hotel tower in San Francisco, and I need to crack on with the day, finding out if San Francisco really is being reborn, or still a hellscape of zombies

    Later
    I am not a 'beta cuck'. In saying that, you are saying that my wife is having affairs. She takes than as an insult. You have done this before.

    Fuck off, little man.
    lol

    You started this by saying that I was a terrible father that never saw his kids. It's right there on this thread. I wasn't even talking to you, but you waded in with ad hominem remarks, as anyone with eyes can see

    Now when I simply give it back to you, you whine like a.... beta cuck. QED
    I was right, as you said. You got two women pregnant at roughly the same time, then try to blame the other for taking their daughter to Australia. You stayed with the mother of one until they were one, and then your narcissism made you leave.

    Of course, that all could be a lie you've invented, given your story of how one of your books partly inspired a neo-Nazi mass-murderer. That's probably preferable, as the stories you have given in the past are *interesting*. No wonder you ?joke? about having past posts removed...
    This is such a bizarre heap of mentally unbalanced weirdness, I am going to pass over it without comment or rebuttal

    But, there is a lesson for you here. If you can't take personalised arguments - and it seems, on this evidence, that you can't - then don't start them
    Indeed. Some people are very happy to dish it but when they get a little back they really don’t like it.

    Somewhat thin skinned.
    Thank you for your contribution. It is valued. :)
    Unlike any of yours, soy boy 🤣
    "Soy boy"?

    What's that meant to mean? It's obviously an insult, but not one I've come across before.
  • TazTaz Posts: 21,421


    Nice new tattoo
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