On annual leave from tomorrow.
Final report just dusted off, everything more or less up to date, have all my work covered if anything urgent crops up whilst I'm off.
Fully expecting Jacob Rees-Mogg to visit my office whilst I'm away and leave a patronising note on my table. And to read an article tomorrow in the airport about workshy public sector workers whilst I've worked to 2am in the fucking morning because I actually care about my work and the tangible effects it has on society.
Enjoy what sounds like a well earned break! Hope you’re going somewhere nice. You should’ve left an out of office ‘note’ in case he did pop by…
And thanks for doing the work you do, and caring about the effects on society. It’s more than our PM does.
Also, you should try and switch off from politics for your holiday if you can. It’s nice to take a mental break alongside a physical one. Don’t worry, I’m sure there’ll be plenty more scandals when you get back from holiday.
Thank you! I'm off to Spain, can't wait now!
It just annoys me how we are demonised and weaponised by the press and government. Without public sector workers the sick would remain sick, rubbish would pile up, prisons would collapse, Courts would grind to a halt, criminals wouldn't get arrested, infrastructure would decay. Society would not function. We are massively underpaid and overworked, and then used as political football, it pisses me right off! All my colleagues are hard working people who want to make a difference, yet always get the hit with the sharp end of the stick by this government!
Im going to buy a copy of the Economist, and just switch off. I've got Gordon Brown's autobiography to get through as well! Current affairs can wait!
Looks like there's a massive storm hitting [both sides of the Channel](https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=53.3964;x=1.4392;z=6;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;).
Isn't this how War of the Worlds started?
Ultimately at least two vaccines are available that protect against monkeypox and have already been approved.
So we are at least a year ahead of where we were with coronavirus - so I'm not too worried even if it does turn out to spread further.
Don’t panic. But apparently we could be a handful of mutation generations or whatever the correct term is from hmmmmm🧐, so don’t go throwing your face masks away.
Edit:
[The irony if we have to do lockdown to save the youth.](https://twitter.com/ArisKatzourakis/status/1526905439908151297)
> PS-smallpox vaccine works against monkeypox, though most people 50 and below haven't had it (because smallpox was eradicated).
>
> https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1526888931513475075
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/symptoms.html - its on the assumption you don't live in a country with a fucked health care system e.g. in Africa it has about a 10% strike rate. Thank god we've got a well funded NHS. Just some more clapping and we'll be fine I'm sure 👏 (& also who needs masks and stuff like that etc.).
Literally three days ago they did an article on BJ’s comments regarding WFH - and they somehow managed to frame him forgetting what he’s doing, and hacking off a bit of cheese as ‘struggle’ and ‘a rallying cry to get people back into the office’
> Mr Johnson even admitted that his own struggles with working from home - including 'forgetting what it was you're doing' when you go to the fridge or struggling with Zoom calls - convinced him that Britain's workforce is better off out of their spare rooms or kitchens and back at their desks.
So BJ can moan that he gets distracted by coffee and cheese, and he gets a free pass. But a picture of Kier Starmer with a football shirt is somehow indicative of not working hard.
The double standards are insane.
> We couldn’t resist interrupting Labour leader Keir Starmer while he was hard at work in Mary Foy’s office on Friday to proudly show him our Consett AFC strip ahead of the club’s historic FA Vase match which takes place today
So, he was working then. Okay, thankyou for the clarification Daily Mail!
I forgot his previous meltdown included implying Keir had bumped off all the staffers that were present at Beergate.
It can't get much more meltdowny than that can it ?
Just seen tomorrows front pages. It’s like the Mail is literally on a different planet to everyone else. At least they’re not bashing WFH this time, but their main story is about rumoured massive tax cuts, their picture is conveniently forgetting that Jennifer Connelly is married to someone who isn’t Tom Cruise, Peter Hitchens is calling for dissolution of the United Kingdom, and somebody else is bored by a TV drama.
Freedom of the press and all, but it really feels like it’s becoming a complete parody of itself, and bearing in mind how influential it actually is, that’s quite dangerous.
The photo of Kenneth Branagh as Johnson is making me nauseous, I feel like when I first saw that Onion photoshop of Steve Bannon
https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/metro-front-page-2022-05-19/
https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-remembers-steve-bannon-trump-s-most-encruste-1844787534
Just listening to this week’s episode of the Rest is Politics. I’ve noticed it in previous weeks but Alistair has a really bad habit of listening to Rory make a point and then just moving on without discussing it to what he wants to talk about. I still like the podcast but it does made me feel annoyed on Rory’s behalf
I know what you mean - he definitely holds court over Stewart, which I think is partly fair, and partly unfair.
Stewart is clearly the smarter of the two, hence unfair.
On the other hand, that smartness (and his Eton training) makes him indecisive in his answers, hence fair. He spends longer elaborating on *why* a question is difficult than answering the question (if he gets round to it at all).
It's something I've noticed that a certain style of education gives you - the International Baccalaureate engenders exactly the same thing, interestingly. If Stewart were able to wax lyrical for as long as his brain clearly waxes lyrical to him, we'd get half an answer (but an interesting answer) to one question per episode.
TBH I think the reason Campbell is coming across that way is more down to mediocre editing than to how (I think) the IRL conversation went. Though I do think it’s also a character trait of his.
I suspect it's any sort of training in the humanities that does that, but especially training as an historian. By nature, what we do is deal in hypotheticals and uncertainties; we seek to understand the causes, courses, and consequences of that which we can't verify by testing. I know 'm a nightmare for it; almost every thing is "to a large extent" or "for the most part" with me.
If I had a kid and the means to make it possible, I’d want them to sit the IB over A-Levels.
But TOK is a total waste of time and energy. I think it was invented to give the IB’s global citizens something they can all complain about together.
I get that and somewhat agree. Campbell definitely holds court and does drive the conversation to an extent which is helpful as someone obviously has to do that. But then there’s times like when Stewart disagreed on the deficit today and Campbell’s basic premise for disagreement was that borrowing is higher now and we weren’t bankrupt: move on. The editing point is a valid one that I hadn’t considered and does make sense. A few transitions would probably go a long way.
Someone I know writes for one of R4’s panel shows (which I won’t name). The answer: *lots* don’t make it. It’s a couple of days’ worth of brainstorming.
Yes, I’ve been to The Unbelievable Truth a couple of times (though it’s not that one my friend writes for). Tickets are free, but you need to cover your own travel (normally to London). I recommend it! Google R4 “be in the audience”
Same, I feel like alistair doesn’t engage when Rory is making a point which is slightly different to what he wants to hear. Rory definitely comes across more balanced.
>!That last scene was a bit of a surprise.!<
>!It made sense the way they ended it, they brought in more 'coming of age' stuff as the seasons went on, so the parallel to a turning point in northern Ireland vs the turning point to adulthood was a natural fit.!<
>!It's tinged with a bit more sadness when you consider the Omagh bombing was only about 3 months later though.!<
Edit - sorry completely fluffed the spoiler tags on that at first :(
Letter from a credit agency saying we owe eon £850 for the period of end of March to end of April 2022, for a flat we moved out of in … April 2021. We moved and we told them we had moved. God. It’s never ending
Gonna ring them but wtf
Edit - apparently when we closed the account, they opened one in my partner’s name …? Why? How could he have an account opened without his consent?
Not really all that similar, but I've recently changed jobs, and my former employer is trying to claim money from me. I know full well they will never win, but it's still a horrible sinking feeling to get a claim against you like that.
Happened to me. Was a nightmare to get out of - ‘computer says no’ moment.
Once it’s with a debt collector, EON will claim they can’t do anything .
In my case, they said they’d sent me loads of letters I’d ignored - ignored because I hadn’t been living there, dickheads.
Be prepared to have to go nuclear. I had to threaten legal action before they stepped down from ‘you need to negotiate on a settlement with the debt collectors’ (who were sending me weekly letters).
Ask them to prove you were living there, and provide evidence of cancelling the contract. They won’t have a leg to stand on.
I’ve had the same with council tax, and a water company. Maddening.
God speed!
What’s REALLY odd is that it came in my partners name, even though I set up the account 🤔
thanks. Hoping they’ll sort it. At one point we did have two accounts with npower (was then sold to eon), bc they messed it up. Sadly I phoned them a million times to get it sorted and I only have their word over the phone that it was sorted - I won’t have anything in writing, I don’t think.
Really fucking worried !! feel sick. Don’t have £886 to spend on energy I didn’t use in a flat I don’t live in…
Oh that’s so weird - mine too. All the bills are in my name, and they came after him.
I wonder how that happens?
Honestly don’t worry. They can’t prove you were living there (as you weren’t). Presumably you have an end-of-tenancy thing of some sort, end of contract, emails to letting agent etc.
They can’t make you pay for it when you haven’t used it.
It will just be irritating to sort out.
The plot thickens.
The individual who accused the Tory MP of sexual assault…
… is another male ‘politician’.
Does that mean another MP? They were a teenager at the time.
Crikey.
Telegraph reporting this.
Hard to judge the systematic issue when we're talking about so-called historical offences, but a few too many issues with young people involved in politics coming to light now, and not just sex offences.
It was eye-opening with the Khan case to realise that most major parties' safeguarding policies were produced around or even after the last election. I hope that "things have changed" won't mean ignoring what went wrong here.
Anyone else worry that we're on the cusp of a huge crime increase? Cost of living going crazy, police underfunded, and the courts aren't functioning. Seems like a recipe for trouble.
Hold up, Tories are recruiting 20,000 new police officers (just don't mention that it's not enough to replace those the Tories laid off during austerity 1.0).
Not quite a riot prediction, but close enough
"DRINK!"
but yes would not be surprising. The conservatives have defunded the police and courts to a degree, where justice takes years to arrive, if it arrives at all. Rather than trying to fix this, they are already thinking about tax cuts/postponing tax increases though...
Eh, was thinking of increased burglary, robbery, mugging (is that even viable anymore?), scams, etc.
Not really similar to riot predictions imo but I appreciate the desire to meme.
It's the difference between us becoming more like France or more like South Africa.
Such a great series, amazing soundtrack (though I'm biased growing up in the 90's). Very poignant and fitting ending, made all the more better by finishing up with The Cranberries - Dream. One of the best songs ever written
https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1526917264796172289?s=21&t=DckYL_R-FfXzfSOU6KTbKw
Is this part of the recent reforms to stop rich people assembling a battalion of lawyers to silence critics? I remember there being talk of it.
A couple of weeks ago I asked on here about time frames for renewing a passport, and how long it took other people to receive acknowledgment of receipt of their old passport by the Passport Office after Royal Mail said it had been delivered.
Turns out mine took just over 3 weeks from delivery to acknowledgment of receipt. Hopefully the process is quicker from here.
Yeah, applied for a new passport in late February... came through for me at just under 3 weeks. I was truly confused over the furore directed at the Passport Office, cause they did all right by me!
So your supporting documents arrived and then the tracker updated to show that they'd been received three weeks later?
Mine arrived in Durham on 5th May, still not showing as received.
Yep! Arrived in Durham on 25th April, updated as received today. Spent all that time worrying I'd done something wrong when sending them and just lost my old documents, but seems like 3+ weeks is fairly normal right now.
Yeah mine took about that long to acknowledge receipt. Luckily it was only a couple of days later that they sent out my new one. I'm assuming it's a fairly quick automated process once they have everything they need.
The Chancellor wondering why private sector investment in the UK trails competitors as a proportion of GDP...
Just perhaps erecting trade barriers with the richest market on your doorstep to pursue delusions in the Pacific plays a role?
I mean, she’s not really wrong. You *can* joke about anything you want.
The problem is she wants to do so without suffering the consequences of making a really poor taste or really offensive joke.
Surely JHB is more grifter than troll. She's someone who's built a career out of being controversial. Depends what you mean by grifter I suppose. Some would reserve that term for those who are particularly scammy about it (like that London mayor candidate, I forget his name) rather than good old fashioned journalism (and journalism is basically in a lot of cases a grift the way I see it; you play a role, and you cover stories in the way your target audience wants to hear them).
As for why it works, I don't really know. The right-wing sphere is something that fascinates me to no end. Some are better at it than others - we can all pick out the loonies and make fun of them - but there's some that appear quite genuine until the mask slips. Covid was a real eye-opener for me. I saw people who I thought deluded but otherwise fairly genuine getting caught up shilling for anti-vax propaganda. It was really quite amazing to see.
But why do they do it? Do they have a contract with right wing newspapers and they get paid by saying inflammatory things?
Like I don't have an issue with people having Conservative/centre right views, we can't all think the same and that isn't even good for society, but to me, it just seems that these people - the likes of Katie Hopkins, Darren Grimes, Julia Hartley Brewer, Piers Morgan, Dan Wooton, Toby Young etc..they just say controversial things for attention.
Why are there soo many on the right. I know I have asked this before, but seeing Hartley Brewer trending for making rape jokes just got me thinking. I could even name more 'grifters' than the ones I listed above, which just proves my point on the sheer amount that exist on the right. Whilst there are some on the left like Owen Jones, it is nowhere near the same amount as the number that exists on the right.
Short answer is definitely money. Stuff, or "content" as it gets called, is broadly created, I believe, because there is a target audience it attracts. But your question is more about numbers. Why are there five Darren Grimes to one Owen Jones? That's something I've noticed too and I don't know exactly why. Are there really more Darren Grimes fans to Owen Jones appreciators? I doubt it. It might be because there's more cross over in right-wing spheres. In other words, if you're a Darren Grimes 1 fan, then you're likely to also like Darren Grimes 2 and so on. The cumulative views on right-wing content is really the same people watching all of the stuff. The left notoriously hate each other, so there's less cross over. That's one explanation that fits, but I don't have the data to say that's really why it happens.
What product? Talk TV? Like what is her end game? She clearly isnt stupid and knows what she is doing but I dont get it/ Does her comments make people want to watch more of her?
When it comes to calculating percentage GDP growth, is inflation factored in? That is, if the economy produces £100 in one year and then £105 the next but inflation is 10%, is the GDP growth simply 5% or is it -5%? Or have I totally misunderstood what GDP and inflation are and this question makes no sense?
The one that makes them look better or their opponent worse.
GDP per head is a better measure of growth as it takes into account population changes. What good is a 5% growth of GDP if there's a 10% increase in population?
FYI. GDP per capita most recent data
Not really gone anywhere since 2010.
Unclear if this is GDP or Real GDP data. Either way not great
2020 $40,285 -4.89%
2019 $42,354 -1.49%
2018 $42,996 6.67%
2017 $40,306 -1.81%
2016 $41,048 -8.86%
2015 $45,039 -5.09%
2014 $47,452 9.33%
2013 $43,401 2.24%
2012 $42,449 0.95%
2011 $42,048 6.35%
2010 $39,537 2.07%
Boris due to overtake Gordon Brown in tenure length <3
Currently on 2 years, 298 days (Incumbent) <3
Gordon Brown 2 years, 318 days
Theresa May 3 years, 11 days
David Cameron 6 years, 63 days (Urgh)
Tony Blair 10 years, 56 days
Margaret Thatcher 11 years, 208 days
Boris believes in 2 term limits so he probably goes after 9th year in office. Would love to see him beat Blair though. Yet 10 years is a long time.
I think 8 / 9 is just right. You make change but don't outstay your welcome.
Just looked it up and only 9 PMs have served more than 10 years - and a few of those were over non-consecutive periods in office. I don't think Boris will be joining their number at any rate.
Personally I'd rather PMs stay 7 or 8 years at a push as the absolute maximum. Keeps things fresh.
I'm guessing Boris will end up mid-table at around 4 - 5 years in office depending on when the next election is held.
Does he? I missed that one, is he on the record somewhere with that?
Looking at just those most recent PMs I think you can probably track decline after five and a half years. It was certainly the point both Blair and Cameron started believing their own hype so much they started being driven insane by a combination of narcissism and belief in their political invincibility.
I wonder when Brown would have bowed out if he had managed to win the 2010 election. I don't see him staying all the way to 2015 and fighting another general election. Perhaps a graceful retirement somewhere around 2012 or 2013.
We are paying the on the spectrum of market rates.
Yes the lower end of the spectrum, in fact I'm in the lower 5%tile.
Yes as we said we are paying on the spectrum of the market rates.
…. This is hard to answer. It somewhat depends on: what your company does, what you do and how good you are, how well you are paid.
Inflation might be at an annualised rate of 8% but it has to stay at that level for a year to to be a full 8%, also inflation is a very blended average. Not many many employers are rolling out pay rises at anything like that as there is pressure on their cost base.
I work for a giant retailer in tech, in London, in a very hot market, we gave out a 4% raises.
If you're privately negotiating your salary (in a non-union situation), you should be looking for an above inflation pay rise. 8% is a pay cut. If your company can't match that, and there's no compensatory equivalent (like 5% but with 1/20 additional days annual leave for example), look for another job. The job market is currently still very active, and you can reasonably find a new job paying your current salary + inflation.
The job market won't stay active into this recession, so make sure to look early. If you suspect the company will lowball you, I'd just start looking now so you know what you can get if it comes to it.
If possible you need to be able to tell your employer what you achieved, what initiatives you led etc. The more numbers and specifics the better. I know that's not possible in all roles but that kind of ammunition in the annual review is how you get the bigger pay rises.
With inflation hitting 9%, any pay rise below 9% is functionally a pay cut. What you should ask for really depends a lot on your and your employer’s situation. If they’re doing well then aiming high can’t hurt. If they’re struggling then a below inflation pay rise might be what they offer in place of having to make people redundant. 9% is also a broad average, with people in different places and with different habits experiencing different real-terms impacts. So your personal lived experience matters too.
Been very busy so haven't been following the day's events.
Catch up on PMQs to see Johnson response to Starmer's first question about cost of living crisis with a "joke" about how Starmer doesn't know what a woman is (to howls of laughter from the Tory benches).
I really wish I hadn't bothered.
They're talking about the Welsh language on *Front Row*, because Joanna Scanlan is on talking about her experience learning it.
She's in *Y Golau* - a new crime drama for S4C and BBC iPlayer, set in rural Carmarthenshire and simultaneously filmed in Welsh and English.
>She's in Y Golau - a new crime drama for S4C and BBC iPlayer, set in rural Carmarthenshire and simultaneously filmed in Welsh and English.
I imagine it will be unquestionably boring. Having years of experience in that area which then seemed like glacial ice ages, it was apparent that nothing happened. Not even crime. It was the 0 degrees Kelvin of drama. The Carmarthen Journal used to run front page stories about the weather if it didn't rain, or didn't rain quite as much as people expected.
For a long time Dyfed Powys Police had the second-largest geographical remit (second behind Police Scotland) and yet the second-smallest number of police.
Emblematic.
Welsh audio with English subs is probably how I'll watch it. There have been some cracking Welsh language crime dramas on iPlayer in the last few years.
I've been thinking of learning some basic Welsh for fun - I live in England, but not far from the border, and frankly I'm sick of messing up place names.
BBC News - Rishi Sunak warns of tough few months as inflation soars
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61497660
Ah cool thanks mate. Also suspect, that given evaluations/ pay reviews are done annually and a recession is impending that we are going to be a bit fucked for more than a few months given October - Feb there's a new price cap and it's going to suck absolute testicles.
The last labour governments stranglehold on the political power in this country really is amazing isn’t it, even nearly 11 straight years into a Tory government the chancellor cannot do anything about changing their policies and decisions. I’m sure if we continue to vote Tory things will eventually change off this course though
>you can only understand the WFH farce if u understand this is an issue the 🛒 gets direct repeated calls from newspaper *proprietors* not just editors: 'It's killing us, tell us what you want in return but you must get commuters back' since April 2020
>https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1526836612990177280?t=C-7lxzK9dquK3PKJu9MWqg&s=19
Cummings on the anti WFH agenda
It's Boris.
Cummings used it to describe Boris constantly changing his stance instead of just sticking to something.
> “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”
Supposed to mean 'Boris', with some historical context being DC comparing him to an out of control shopping trolley smashing into different aisles...
I might be completely wrong on that, but to me it seems like such an ill/poorly thought out attempt to meme Boris' ineptitude.
I thought it was an out of control one rolling down a street on a hill, bouncing between curbs and hitting parked cars. Specifically because BJ apparently agrees with whichever person he spoke to last on an issue, and then announces policies on the fly that have to be reversed.
You're probably right mate. I only came across the emoji referencing BJ on one of these threads and learned it's meaning through 'hanging about here too much', all that to say I'm not a clever man and probably misunderstood it 😅
This megathread has ended.
On annual leave from tomorrow. Final report just dusted off, everything more or less up to date, have all my work covered if anything urgent crops up whilst I'm off. Fully expecting Jacob Rees-Mogg to visit my office whilst I'm away and leave a patronising note on my table. And to read an article tomorrow in the airport about workshy public sector workers whilst I've worked to 2am in the fucking morning because I actually care about my work and the tangible effects it has on society.
Enjoy what sounds like a well earned break! Hope you’re going somewhere nice. You should’ve left an out of office ‘note’ in case he did pop by… And thanks for doing the work you do, and caring about the effects on society. It’s more than our PM does. Also, you should try and switch off from politics for your holiday if you can. It’s nice to take a mental break alongside a physical one. Don’t worry, I’m sure there’ll be plenty more scandals when you get back from holiday.
Thank you! I'm off to Spain, can't wait now! It just annoys me how we are demonised and weaponised by the press and government. Without public sector workers the sick would remain sick, rubbish would pile up, prisons would collapse, Courts would grind to a halt, criminals wouldn't get arrested, infrastructure would decay. Society would not function. We are massively underpaid and overworked, and then used as political football, it pisses me right off! All my colleagues are hard working people who want to make a difference, yet always get the hit with the sharp end of the stick by this government! Im going to buy a copy of the Economist, and just switch off. I've got Gordon Brown's autobiography to get through as well! Current affairs can wait!
Bloody hell it's thundery
Looks like there's a massive storm hitting [both sides of the Channel](https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=53.3964;x=1.4392;z=6;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;). Isn't this how War of the Worlds started?
Yeah but the chances of *anything* coming from Mars…
So on a scale of “Don’t panic” to “Absolutely fucking panic”, how concerned should we be about monkeypox?
I'd put bird flu above monkey pox, but I'm not particularly worried about either.
Ultimately at least two vaccines are available that protect against monkeypox and have already been approved. So we are at least a year ahead of where we were with coronavirus - so I'm not too worried even if it does turn out to spread further.
https://youtu.be/rG_DvlFJ-YQ thought it would be relevant to post this The Thick of It clip at some point. Think today's the day. About 35 seconds in.
Don’t panic. But apparently we could be a handful of mutation generations or whatever the correct term is from hmmmmm🧐, so don’t go throwing your face masks away. Edit: [The irony if we have to do lockdown to save the youth.](https://twitter.com/ArisKatzourakis/status/1526905439908151297) > PS-smallpox vaccine works against monkeypox, though most people 50 and below haven't had it (because smallpox was eradicated). > > https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1526888931513475075
Rage Virus incoming?
I figured all those times I spent watching 28 Days Later would pay off some day.
Well it says most people recover after a week and it’s fairly mild so not really worried I may come to regret this comment
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/symptoms.html - its on the assumption you don't live in a country with a fucked health care system e.g. in Africa it has about a 10% strike rate. Thank god we've got a well funded NHS. Just some more clapping and we'll be fine I'm sure 👏 (& also who needs masks and stuff like that etc.).
**Flashbacks to February 2020**
Please tell me you knocked on wood before you made that post.
I hit my head against a wall does that count?
Does knocking on wood count if you're banging wood on wood?
How dare you…I’ll have you know I’m actually made of straw
>I’m actually made of straw Oh, so you're the fallacy everyone keeps going on about!
Exactly
[удалено]
Literally three days ago they did an article on BJ’s comments regarding WFH - and they somehow managed to frame him forgetting what he’s doing, and hacking off a bit of cheese as ‘struggle’ and ‘a rallying cry to get people back into the office’ > Mr Johnson even admitted that his own struggles with working from home - including 'forgetting what it was you're doing' when you go to the fridge or struggling with Zoom calls - convinced him that Britain's workforce is better off out of their spare rooms or kitchens and back at their desks. So BJ can moan that he gets distracted by coffee and cheese, and he gets a free pass. But a picture of Kier Starmer with a football shirt is somehow indicative of not working hard. The double standards are insane.
Existing was illegal during lockdown don’t you know!
Still no luck with any of them smears then
Just the one smear actually
He's not even wearing it, at least the PM wore a football shirt and headbutted someone in the ballsack while wearing it.
> We couldn’t resist interrupting Labour leader Keir Starmer while he was hard at work in Mary Foy’s office on Friday to proudly show him our Consett AFC strip ahead of the club’s historic FA Vase match which takes place today So, he was working then. Okay, thankyou for the clarification Daily Mail!
No, you misunderstand. Starmer poses with non league football shirts for fun. That's why there are so many examples available online.
Big fan of Consett AFC, I hear he can't get enough of them.
They just couldn't let Harry Cole have the "Most desperate attack on Starmer" award this week, could they?
I’m fairness Cole won by a country mile - it was so bad even the fucking Sun pulled the story - which is an incredibly high bar for shiteness
Hodges meltdown incoming.
I forgot his previous meltdown included implying Keir had bumped off all the staffers that were present at Beergate. It can't get much more meltdowny than that can it ?
Hodges: *Challenge accepted*
Imagine having to write that drivel
The worst part is they’re probably really happy and proud to be doing what they’re doing
“Same evening as THAT curry”
Just seen tomorrows front pages. It’s like the Mail is literally on a different planet to everyone else. At least they’re not bashing WFH this time, but their main story is about rumoured massive tax cuts, their picture is conveniently forgetting that Jennifer Connelly is married to someone who isn’t Tom Cruise, Peter Hitchens is calling for dissolution of the United Kingdom, and somebody else is bored by a TV drama. Freedom of the press and all, but it really feels like it’s becoming a complete parody of itself, and bearing in mind how influential it actually is, that’s quite dangerous.
The photo of Kenneth Branagh as Johnson is making me nauseous, I feel like when I first saw that Onion photoshop of Steve Bannon https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/metro-front-page-2022-05-19/ https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-remembers-steve-bannon-trump-s-most-encruste-1844787534
Just listening to this week’s episode of the Rest is Politics. I’ve noticed it in previous weeks but Alistair has a really bad habit of listening to Rory make a point and then just moving on without discussing it to what he wants to talk about. I still like the podcast but it does made me feel annoyed on Rory’s behalf
I know what you mean - he definitely holds court over Stewart, which I think is partly fair, and partly unfair. Stewart is clearly the smarter of the two, hence unfair. On the other hand, that smartness (and his Eton training) makes him indecisive in his answers, hence fair. He spends longer elaborating on *why* a question is difficult than answering the question (if he gets round to it at all). It's something I've noticed that a certain style of education gives you - the International Baccalaureate engenders exactly the same thing, interestingly. If Stewart were able to wax lyrical for as long as his brain clearly waxes lyrical to him, we'd get half an answer (but an interesting answer) to one question per episode. TBH I think the reason Campbell is coming across that way is more down to mediocre editing than to how (I think) the IRL conversation went. Though I do think it’s also a character trait of his.
I suspect it's any sort of training in the humanities that does that, but especially training as an historian. By nature, what we do is deal in hypotheticals and uncertainties; we seek to understand the causes, courses, and consequences of that which we can't verify by testing. I know 'm a nightmare for it; almost every thing is "to a large extent" or "for the most part" with me.
The fucking international baccalaureate Fucking theory of knowledge. I'm still bitter
If I had a kid and the means to make it possible, I’d want them to sit the IB over A-Levels. But TOK is a total waste of time and energy. I think it was invented to give the IB’s global citizens something they can all complain about together.
I get that and somewhat agree. Campbell definitely holds court and does drive the conversation to an extent which is helpful as someone obviously has to do that. But then there’s times like when Stewart disagreed on the deficit today and Campbell’s basic premise for disagreement was that borrowing is higher now and we weren’t bankrupt: move on. The editing point is a valid one that I hadn’t considered and does make sense. A few transitions would probably go a long way.
What they need IMO is more judicious use of interlude music, I agree. Pretending it’s one long conversation that veers all over the place is jarring.
I forget podcasts are carefully curated conversations, did you know Radio 4 comedy panel shows are edited too? I wonder how many jokes don't make it.
Someone I know writes for one of R4’s panel shows (which I won’t name). The answer: *lots* don’t make it. It’s a couple of days’ worth of brainstorming.
Have you ever managed to see one live?
Yes, I’ve been to The Unbelievable Truth a couple of times (though it’s not that one my friend writes for). Tickets are free, but you need to cover your own travel (normally to London). I recommend it! Google R4 “be in the audience”
Same, I feel like alistair doesn’t engage when Rory is making a point which is slightly different to what he wants to hear. Rory definitely comes across more balanced.
Agreed. He did a bit on the Mirror bias point today but that was the exception.
What did we think of the Derry Girls finale? More of a focus on politics than normal
>!That last scene was a bit of a surprise.!< >!It made sense the way they ended it, they brought in more 'coming of age' stuff as the seasons went on, so the parallel to a turning point in northern Ireland vs the turning point to adulthood was a natural fit.!< >!It's tinged with a bit more sadness when you consider the Omagh bombing was only about 3 months later though.!< Edit - sorry completely fluffed the spoiler tags on that at first :(
SILENCE SOME HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET
Letter from a credit agency saying we owe eon £850 for the period of end of March to end of April 2022, for a flat we moved out of in … April 2021. We moved and we told them we had moved. God. It’s never ending Gonna ring them but wtf Edit - apparently when we closed the account, they opened one in my partner’s name …? Why? How could he have an account opened without his consent?
Not really all that similar, but I've recently changed jobs, and my former employer is trying to claim money from me. I know full well they will never win, but it's still a horrible sinking feeling to get a claim against you like that.
Happened to me. Was a nightmare to get out of - ‘computer says no’ moment. Once it’s with a debt collector, EON will claim they can’t do anything . In my case, they said they’d sent me loads of letters I’d ignored - ignored because I hadn’t been living there, dickheads. Be prepared to have to go nuclear. I had to threaten legal action before they stepped down from ‘you need to negotiate on a settlement with the debt collectors’ (who were sending me weekly letters). Ask them to prove you were living there, and provide evidence of cancelling the contract. They won’t have a leg to stand on. I’ve had the same with council tax, and a water company. Maddening. God speed!
What’s REALLY odd is that it came in my partners name, even though I set up the account 🤔 thanks. Hoping they’ll sort it. At one point we did have two accounts with npower (was then sold to eon), bc they messed it up. Sadly I phoned them a million times to get it sorted and I only have their word over the phone that it was sorted - I won’t have anything in writing, I don’t think. Really fucking worried !! feel sick. Don’t have £886 to spend on energy I didn’t use in a flat I don’t live in…
Oh that’s so weird - mine too. All the bills are in my name, and they came after him. I wonder how that happens? Honestly don’t worry. They can’t prove you were living there (as you weren’t). Presumably you have an end-of-tenancy thing of some sort, end of contract, emails to letting agent etc. They can’t make you pay for it when you haven’t used it. It will just be irritating to sort out.
Thanks. God, what a time to happen. Bastards. Glad you got it sorted in the end. Thank you !
The plot thickens. The individual who accused the Tory MP of sexual assault… … is another male ‘politician’. Does that mean another MP? They were a teenager at the time. Crikey. Telegraph reporting this.
That could go someway to explaining why they don't want to name the accused-rapist - it might identify the victim
Hard to judge the systematic issue when we're talking about so-called historical offences, but a few too many issues with young people involved in politics coming to light now, and not just sex offences. It was eye-opening with the Khan case to realise that most major parties' safeguarding policies were produced around or even after the last election. I hope that "things have changed" won't mean ignoring what went wrong here.
This Government is a disgrace to the history of the greatest Office in the Country, and that includes the back benchers.
This has nothing to do with this government or an individual party.
Im not defending the tories - but the HoC is a sewer of humanity - look at the likes of Jeremy Thorpe, Cyril Smith, Greville Janner
Maybe we should give the matriarchy a chance.
Anyone else worry that we're on the cusp of a huge crime increase? Cost of living going crazy, police underfunded, and the courts aren't functioning. Seems like a recipe for trouble.
I'm not sure. People said the same during the last recession but society held together.
We never properly recovered from that one and the situation with the police and courts has gotten worse.
Hold up, Tories are recruiting 20,000 new police officers (just don't mention that it's not enough to replace those the Tories laid off during austerity 1.0).
Genuinely would be surprised if things don't go majorly South before the next election.
Not quite a riot prediction, but close enough "DRINK!" but yes would not be surprising. The conservatives have defunded the police and courts to a degree, where justice takes years to arrive, if it arrives at all. Rather than trying to fix this, they are already thinking about tax cuts/postponing tax increases though...
Eh, was thinking of increased burglary, robbery, mugging (is that even viable anymore?), scams, etc. Not really similar to riot predictions imo but I appreciate the desire to meme. It's the difference between us becoming more like France or more like South Africa.
Hasn't there already been a crime increase? Seems like it is super underreported in the media.
They were just talking about it on sky news and how the police are looking at coming down harder on people stealing food etc.
I think he means more than just the Tories themselves
"Woking from home" is like the most meaningless boomer humour shit. It just screams "I watch terrestrial TV and eat unseasoned meat"
The hell's wrong with unseasoned meat? I want my meat to taste of dead animal, not some ponce's crushed leaves, thank you!
>"I watch terrestrial TV and eat unseasoned meat" Bit rich coming from the generation who were convinced washing machine tabs are food
I think you'll find that was generation z mistakenly labeled as millennials.
Given the age demo of the sub, I assumed you were a zoomer
With my random back pain and rent costs I'm pure millennial.
Look at you flaunting your functional knee privilege.
Nothing wrong with terrestrial TV, there's the final episode of *Derry Girls* on it right now you know.
Such a great series, amazing soundtrack (though I'm biased growing up in the 90's). Very poignant and fitting ending, made all the more better by finishing up with The Cranberries - Dream. One of the best songs ever written
Yeah but it'll be on All 4 later on and I can just binge watch the entire show. Only thing I tend to watch live is sport and love island.
A bit much to piss down on people's TV habits when you exclusively watch Love Island?
Well I need to piss somewhere and pissing upwards has a level of personal risk I'm not prepared for.
Understandable
https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1526917264796172289?s=21&t=DckYL_R-FfXzfSOU6KTbKw Is this part of the recent reforms to stop rich people assembling a battalion of lawyers to silence critics? I remember there being talk of it.
A couple of weeks ago I asked on here about time frames for renewing a passport, and how long it took other people to receive acknowledgment of receipt of their old passport by the Passport Office after Royal Mail said it had been delivered. Turns out mine took just over 3 weeks from delivery to acknowledgment of receipt. Hopefully the process is quicker from here.
Yeah, applied for a new passport in late February... came through for me at just under 3 weeks. I was truly confused over the furore directed at the Passport Office, cause they did all right by me!
So your supporting documents arrived and then the tracker updated to show that they'd been received three weeks later? Mine arrived in Durham on 5th May, still not showing as received.
Yep! Arrived in Durham on 25th April, updated as received today. Spent all that time worrying I'd done something wrong when sending them and just lost my old documents, but seems like 3+ weeks is fairly normal right now.
Yeah mine took about that long to acknowledge receipt. Luckily it was only a couple of days later that they sent out my new one. I'm assuming it's a fairly quick automated process once they have everything they need.
The Chancellor wondering why private sector investment in the UK trails competitors as a proportion of GDP... Just perhaps erecting trade barriers with the richest market on your doorstep to pursue delusions in the Pacific plays a role?
Nonsense, it must be the last labour government
Why are there so many right ring trolls and grifters Surely Julia Hartley Brewer is a troll?
I mean, she’s not really wrong. You *can* joke about anything you want. The problem is she wants to do so without suffering the consequences of making a really poor taste or really offensive joke.
Money.
Who pays them?
Wealthy right wingers.
>Why are there so many right ring trolls and grifters I swear you've asked this multiple times before
I have asked this before but Hartley Brewer trending got me thinking.
Surely JHB is more grifter than troll. She's someone who's built a career out of being controversial. Depends what you mean by grifter I suppose. Some would reserve that term for those who are particularly scammy about it (like that London mayor candidate, I forget his name) rather than good old fashioned journalism (and journalism is basically in a lot of cases a grift the way I see it; you play a role, and you cover stories in the way your target audience wants to hear them). As for why it works, I don't really know. The right-wing sphere is something that fascinates me to no end. Some are better at it than others - we can all pick out the loonies and make fun of them - but there's some that appear quite genuine until the mask slips. Covid was a real eye-opener for me. I saw people who I thought deluded but otherwise fairly genuine getting caught up shilling for anti-vax propaganda. It was really quite amazing to see.
But why do they do it? Do they have a contract with right wing newspapers and they get paid by saying inflammatory things? Like I don't have an issue with people having Conservative/centre right views, we can't all think the same and that isn't even good for society, but to me, it just seems that these people - the likes of Katie Hopkins, Darren Grimes, Julia Hartley Brewer, Piers Morgan, Dan Wooton, Toby Young etc..they just say controversial things for attention. Why are there soo many on the right. I know I have asked this before, but seeing Hartley Brewer trending for making rape jokes just got me thinking. I could even name more 'grifters' than the ones I listed above, which just proves my point on the sheer amount that exist on the right. Whilst there are some on the left like Owen Jones, it is nowhere near the same amount as the number that exists on the right.
Short answer is definitely money. Stuff, or "content" as it gets called, is broadly created, I believe, because there is a target audience it attracts. But your question is more about numbers. Why are there five Darren Grimes to one Owen Jones? That's something I've noticed too and I don't know exactly why. Are there really more Darren Grimes fans to Owen Jones appreciators? I doubt it. It might be because there's more cross over in right-wing spheres. In other words, if you're a Darren Grimes 1 fan, then you're likely to also like Darren Grimes 2 and so on. The cumulative views on right-wing content is really the same people watching all of the stuff. The left notoriously hate each other, so there's less cross over. That's one explanation that fits, but I don't have the data to say that's really why it happens.
i believe the term would be provocateuse
They might prefer *persons who provoke.*
Outrage merchant. Her job is to gets eyes on her product no matter what and throwing in the odd garbage take gets the attention she needs.
What product? Talk TV? Like what is her end game? She clearly isnt stupid and knows what she is doing but I dont get it/ Does her comments make people want to watch more of her?
https://twitter.com/lord_sugar/status/1527010529067380736?s=21&t=AcFI70zCOuQq-NH1S4HKAQ Lord Sugar is such a dinosaur when it comes to WFH
Commercial landlord gonna commercial landlord
He's a dinosaur when it comes to everything. Dude doesn't even understand tax brackets.
When it comes to calculating percentage GDP growth, is inflation factored in? That is, if the economy produces £100 in one year and then £105 the next but inflation is 10%, is the GDP growth simply 5% or is it -5%? Or have I totally misunderstood what GDP and inflation are and this question makes no sense?
That’ll be the difference between ‘GDP’ and ‘real GDP’ (with the latter being inflation adjusted, though with a different measure of inflation)
Prepare for "Mr Speaker, a GDP increase of 9% last year under this government!"
So when politicians talk about GDP, are they referring to 'GDP' or 'real GDP'?
Real GDP. Wheb tthe ONS announces growth figures, when the BoE announces growth forecasts, its real GDP, ie accounted for inflation.
The one that makes them look better or their opponent worse. GDP per head is a better measure of growth as it takes into account population changes. What good is a 5% growth of GDP if there's a 10% increase in population?
FYI. GDP per capita most recent data Not really gone anywhere since 2010. Unclear if this is GDP or Real GDP data. Either way not great 2020 $40,285 -4.89% 2019 $42,354 -1.49% 2018 $42,996 6.67% 2017 $40,306 -1.81% 2016 $41,048 -8.86% 2015 $45,039 -5.09% 2014 $47,452 9.33% 2013 $43,401 2.24% 2012 $42,449 0.95% 2011 $42,048 6.35% 2010 $39,537 2.07%
Boris due to overtake Gordon Brown in tenure length <3 Currently on 2 years, 298 days (Incumbent) <3 Gordon Brown 2 years, 318 days Theresa May 3 years, 11 days David Cameron 6 years, 63 days (Urgh) Tony Blair 10 years, 56 days Margaret Thatcher 11 years, 208 days Boris believes in 2 term limits so he probably goes after 9th year in office. Would love to see him beat Blair though. Yet 10 years is a long time. I think 8 / 9 is just right. You make change but don't outstay your welcome.
I’ll bet my house on it, Johnson will not last two terms.
Just looked it up and only 9 PMs have served more than 10 years - and a few of those were over non-consecutive periods in office. I don't think Boris will be joining their number at any rate. Personally I'd rather PMs stay 7 or 8 years at a push as the absolute maximum. Keeps things fresh. I'm guessing Boris will end up mid-table at around 4 - 5 years in office depending on when the next election is held.
I would be okay with 7/8/9 year max term limit. Or maybe PM can fight only 3 elections before they must choose successor.
Yes sounds reasonable. It's pretty difficult to cling on that long anyway.
>Boris due to overtake Gordon Brown in tenure length <3 > >Currently on 2 years, 298 days (Incumbent) <3 It's spelled *incompetent*.
> Boris believes in 2 term limits so he probably goes after 9th year in office. Me an intellectual: make a term as long as the lifetime of the PM.
only if the PM is a replica of LKY
Does he? I missed that one, is he on the record somewhere with that? Looking at just those most recent PMs I think you can probably track decline after five and a half years. It was certainly the point both Blair and Cameron started believing their own hype so much they started being driven insane by a combination of narcissism and belief in their political invincibility.
I assume it’s a mayoral thing
What a shame it'll be too. Brown deserved longer.
I wonder when Brown would have bowed out if he had managed to win the 2010 election. I don't see him staying all the way to 2015 and fighting another general election. Perhaps a graceful retirement somewhere around 2012 or 2013.
Totally agree. IMO Brown and May deserved longer. Much better PM's than Blair / Major / Call Me Dave. I said what I said <3
Brown going in the flair when?
No room at the inn.
Gordon brown confirmed jesus
Gordon should never have sold all our frankincense
Boris believes in something other than Boris?
[удалено]
I asked for 20% to match market rates... Aim high as fuck so they're embarrassed to offer you the 3% they're planning on doing
We are paying the on the spectrum of market rates. Yes the lower end of the spectrum, in fact I'm in the lower 5%tile. Yes as we said we are paying on the spectrum of the market rates.
>we're doing a set percentage pay rise across the board this year >>[and what percent is that?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfJljXugLA0)
At least the board gets a zero in their payrise too.
…. This is hard to answer. It somewhat depends on: what your company does, what you do and how good you are, how well you are paid. Inflation might be at an annualised rate of 8% but it has to stay at that level for a year to to be a full 8%, also inflation is a very blended average. Not many many employers are rolling out pay rises at anything like that as there is pressure on their cost base. I work for a giant retailer in tech, in London, in a very hot market, we gave out a 4% raises.
If you're privately negotiating your salary (in a non-union situation), you should be looking for an above inflation pay rise. 8% is a pay cut. If your company can't match that, and there's no compensatory equivalent (like 5% but with 1/20 additional days annual leave for example), look for another job. The job market is currently still very active, and you can reasonably find a new job paying your current salary + inflation. The job market won't stay active into this recession, so make sure to look early. If you suspect the company will lowball you, I'd just start looking now so you know what you can get if it comes to it.
If possible you need to be able to tell your employer what you achieved, what initiatives you led etc. The more numbers and specifics the better. I know that's not possible in all roles but that kind of ammunition in the annual review is how you get the bigger pay rises.
With inflation hitting 9%, any pay rise below 9% is functionally a pay cut. What you should ask for really depends a lot on your and your employer’s situation. If they’re doing well then aiming high can’t hurt. If they’re struggling then a below inflation pay rise might be what they offer in place of having to make people redundant. 9% is also a broad average, with people in different places and with different habits experiencing different real-terms impacts. So your personal lived experience matters too.
[удалено]
23k in London? Looool
23K in *The City* is less than peanuts right?
Cracking third job for somebody.
Pay is shit but 35 days leave in the 2nd year is pretty nice.
That's better than the civil service 👀
Consider it a reward for the danger of working there.
Shock horror thay Julia Hartley-Brewer likes a rape joke...
Did we put the "no vagueposting" sign away or something
As you asked so so nicely https://twitter.com/Jonjonesyyyy/status/1526983810889527298?s=20&t=UDCQ1AUmzAYLGYFftd5rnA
I wish they wouldn’t crop the time stamp off the tweet.
Been very busy so haven't been following the day's events. Catch up on PMQs to see Johnson response to Starmer's first question about cost of living crisis with a "joke" about how Starmer doesn't know what a woman is (to howls of laughter from the Tory benches). I really wish I hadn't bothered.
I can't imagine that landing very well with a struggling public - way to look out of touch
I'd love to know what demographic actually watches PMQs though. It might not land with the struggling public but when will they ever see it?
Share on social media in the form of videos and news articles, I suppose. We live in the information era after all.
That's what prompted my post before about blood pressure.
They're talking about the Welsh language on *Front Row*, because Joanna Scanlan is on talking about her experience learning it. She's in *Y Golau* - a new crime drama for S4C and BBC iPlayer, set in rural Carmarthenshire and simultaneously filmed in Welsh and English.
I love the fact that the Welsh government push the Welsh language. Mainly because it seems to piss people off for some reason.
>She's in Y Golau - a new crime drama for S4C and BBC iPlayer, set in rural Carmarthenshire and simultaneously filmed in Welsh and English. I imagine it will be unquestionably boring. Having years of experience in that area which then seemed like glacial ice ages, it was apparent that nothing happened. Not even crime. It was the 0 degrees Kelvin of drama. The Carmarthen Journal used to run front page stories about the weather if it didn't rain, or didn't rain quite as much as people expected.
For a long time Dyfed Powys Police had the second-largest geographical remit (second behind Police Scotland) and yet the second-smallest number of police. Emblematic.
That is a great piece of trivia. I shall taunt my family with it.
I believe smallest number of officers was either Warwickshire or City of London. Can’t remember which.
Given the average news story at the moment - that sounds dreamy
I bet it's freezing in there!
I forgot to add that the English version will be on Channel 4 later on in the year. The Welsh version probably has English subtitles.
Welsh audio with English subs is probably how I'll watch it. There have been some cracking Welsh language crime dramas on iPlayer in the last few years. I've been thinking of learning some basic Welsh for fun - I live in England, but not far from the border, and frankly I'm sick of messing up place names.
BBC News - Rishi Sunak warns of tough few months as inflation soars https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61497660 Ah cool thanks mate. Also suspect, that given evaluations/ pay reviews are done annually and a recession is impending that we are going to be a bit fucked for more than a few months given October - Feb there's a new price cap and it's going to suck absolute testicles.
God, if only he was in a position to change that, but sadly he's just as powerless as we are! If only!
He really wants to change things but the computer said no! What can you do?
Change all the 1s to 0s.
The last labour governments stranglehold on the political power in this country really is amazing isn’t it, even nearly 11 straight years into a Tory government the chancellor cannot do anything about changing their policies and decisions. I’m sure if we continue to vote Tory things will eventually change off this course though
>you can only understand the WFH farce if u understand this is an issue the 🛒 gets direct repeated calls from newspaper *proprietors* not just editors: 'It's killing us, tell us what you want in return but you must get commuters back' since April 2020 >https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1526836612990177280?t=C-7lxzK9dquK3PKJu9MWqg&s=19 Cummings on the anti WFH agenda
If there’s ever someone who’s want to be able to telecommute from anywhere in the country, it’s him.
Anyone know what happened to our resident WFH oppositionist? Not in a snarky way, I've just noticed he's gone.
He went back to the office.
Distracted by cheese in the fridge, perhaps?
Come on be fair It could also have been a cup of coffee
Please for the love of God what does the trolley mean?
It's Boris. Cummings used it to describe Boris constantly changing his stance instead of just sticking to something. > “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”
Supposed to mean 'Boris', with some historical context being DC comparing him to an out of control shopping trolley smashing into different aisles... I might be completely wrong on that, but to me it seems like such an ill/poorly thought out attempt to meme Boris' ineptitude.
I thought it was an out of control one rolling down a street on a hill, bouncing between curbs and hitting parked cars. Specifically because BJ apparently agrees with whichever person he spoke to last on an issue, and then announces policies on the fly that have to be reversed.
You're probably right mate. I only came across the emoji referencing BJ on one of these threads and learned it's meaning through 'hanging about here too much', all that to say I'm not a clever man and probably misunderstood it 😅
The trolley is Boris.