Just now, sheepyvillian said:

Everyone knew he was the wrong choice except for the idiots who made the decision to appoint him.

As a casual observer (England ain't my team), I wonder how many other viable options were there?

3 hours ago, Seat68 said:

Must get a different Father Christmas here in Stafford, he drinks Whiskey, the good stuff as well. 

Same in my house. And he has a thirst too. Can sometimes polish off half a bottle on Christmas Eve, the greedy bugger. 
 

(We don’t have kids). 

3 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

You give far too much credit. He hasn’t even read the material he’s commenting on. How can it be in good faith at all?

It's not. It never is. Yet many keep putting money in the meter. 

17 hours ago, useless said:

Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs)
An examination of the history of the U.S. through archival footage and contrasting views of society, incorporating audiovisual material ranging from political campaign films to animated cartoons to children’s phonograph records, featuring Al Jolson, Mickey Mouse, the young Jack Smith, and a half-dozen American presidents.
Very good, I enjoyed it a great deal

 

Where'd you find this? Meant to watch it back when it came out but had forgotten all about it.

Two related things.

Watching the football with the missus. She says she's interested in the match but spends the whole time watching TikTok's at full volume meaning I have to keep nudging up the volume on the telly.

Watching anything on telly. She says she's interested in what's on but spends the whole time with her phone in hand, facebooking, TikTokking, Insta-ing. I briefly glance at my phone and she's all "what you doing?".

Doesn't really P me off but she can't see how it's something I might find a bit off-putting. 

29 minutes ago, Genie said:

No.

You can still book a holiday and not work.

But you could also, if you wanted, book a 2 week trip away, work the first week from the resort and take the second week as holiday.

Or you could visit friends or family abroad without having to use all your holiday allowance as you’re still working from wherever it is.

It’s a nice touch. I’m sure it’ll get scrapped at some point when the inevitable piss taking occurs.

We've instituted a similar scheme at ours too. We've quite an international workforce so it made sense. The only bone of contention is that line managers don't have to make accommodations for time differences so if you're working and you're invited to a meeting by your boss, you're going to have to be present. Mostly people are pretty good about working around time zones though so it's not been an issue yet.

2 minutes ago, Genie said:

I am absolutely certain that WFH in my line of work has made things FAR more efficient. 

Same here. We were pushing for it before Covid but there were several other Directors who were holding-out. It'd never work, they'd say. They needed eyes-on their teams at all times.

We did a somewhat unscientific study last year and think we are about 40% more productive and 22% happier as a workforce. Everyone works predominantly from home but comes in to one of the offices when required or when they want. 

I think it fair to say, my infatuation with LauraK has somewhat diminished over the last few years. This article spells out why:

Quote

Laura Kuenssberg’s Time as BBC Political Editor has been a Catastrophic, Systemic Failure

Thanks to managers at the BBC, the outgoing Kuenssberg repeated lies rather than challenging them, says former BBC journalist Patrick Howse

Laura Kuenssberg’s tenure as the BBC’s political editor, beginning in July 2015 and ending in the coming weeks, was a catastrophe.

On her watch, lies were not just permitted, they were amplified and given credibility by Britain’s state broadcaster. At least partly as a result of this, the UK Government now routinely lies with impunity. The country’s international standing has been irreparably harmed, and trust in the political system has been trashed.

I don’t hold Kuenssberg entirely responsible for this state of affairs – I think that BBC managers carry a large amount of the blame because they chose the wrong person, for the wrong job. 

I saw Kuenssberg in action close up when I worked for the BBC in Westminster for a year either side of the 2010 General Election. She was confident, ambitious, and good at her particular job – which at that time was to supply live commentary for the news channel about every development in the Westminster bubble, every day.

She did so fluently and energetically. She loved being on air, she loved being the first to get a story, and she could be trusted to ‘wing it’. In other words, she was a good continuous news reporter, always available to fill airtime. 

After a spell at ITV, Kuenssberg was chosen to be the BBC’s political editor, replacing Nick Robinson in the summer of 2015. She was picked because of the qualities that I have outlined above. Unfortunately, these were not the qualities the BBC should have been looking for to fill that post at that time.

1 hour ago, bickster said:

If I went to a gig and it sounded just like the album, I'd feel cheated, I'd know they weren't playing live

Ray Lamontagne, Hammersmith Apollo, 2004. 
Not really my kind of thing but the album didn’t make my ears bleed and a pal was keen so I thought I’d go to keep him company. 
Stage setup was eight chairs in a semi circle. There was no support and eventually the chairs were filled by people with instruments. They tuned up for five minutes and then started the first song off the album. Then the second, then the third. They basically played the whole album in order and at the conclusion of the last, Ray mumbled a thank you into the microphone and they all shuffled off. I think it was an £80 ticket too. By a mile the most expensive gig I’d been to at that point. Never again.  

On 08/09/2023 at 13:09, PussEKatt said:

Thanks guys.As I said I am going to do the golden triangle and was thinking about adding Calcutta to the tour,thanks again.Much appreciated.

I loved Kolkata. Plenty to see and do there. I'd not be bothered about visiting Goa again though but maybe my memory is tainted by the group I was with. 

8 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I haven’t got the sound up properly at the moment so can’t hear the commentators properly. Sounded like they were suggesting the TMO might not have had replays? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick 

I interpreted it that the commentators were saying they didn’t have access to replays but were at the mercy of the TV Director. Surely the TMO can’t be in the same position. 

Tell you what, I’m sick of Edith Piaf already. 

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

This is a tax that you expect from the tories. 

Odd that. Given the whole thing is a Tory initiative. 

18 minutes ago, ml1dch said:

Isn't that exactly what is happening? The scrappage scheme that pays people to get rid of older vehicles and acquire newer ones?

In theory. But if you’re living at the poorer end of the scale  and have an old banger to get you around, you scrap it and get your two grand. Then you’ve got two grand burning a hole in your pocket but you have to find a replacement car for that amount that is compliant. Oh, and if you’re on benefits, that two grand will be viewed as income and your benefits will be impacted accordingly. 
 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for ULEZ even though I live in the newly expanded zone but like most things these days, it’s those who can least afford it that are getting squeezed again. 

4 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Is the mass delusion over yet? Or was it meant to last less than a year? (I mean gawd bless you maam. The greatest Briton what as ever lived)

Giles Brandreth on BBC Breakfast this very morning with his corgi jumper. 

1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Wasn't a good week for him!  

The pressure will start to begin now.

If he delivers nothing this season he will be gone.

Chatting with my uncle who follows (follows) Rangers. Seems to think he's living on borrowed time and the majority of the fans want him gone. 

53 minutes ago, bickster said:

National day of mourning north of the border, incredulous looks from England

How very dare you. Those of us from North Britain know how important he was. A true legend. 

VT is slipping. 24 hours later and still no mention of this one:

Perennial VT favourite Dibnah's introduction to the public consciousness.

29 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

 

That's the very issue I have, my mother has had 3 strokes, (steady boys) and is diabetic. I know that these warnings should be heeded, I will, that's a definite but it will be done begrudgingly.

It might sound a bit hokey but I kinda game-ified the process. I gave myself targets to beat and the sense of competition gave me an occasional push. 
I must confess though, at the time I had little interest in addressing the issues. I think the big push was seeing that I was causing worry to people I loved. That was enough for me to get moving, but then again I am an inveterate people-pleaser. 

1 hour ago, Seat68 said:

I have let myself go, purely because I wanted to, eating what I like, drinking regularly, not much exercise outside of the dog walk twice a day. I put on weight and for the most part I was OK with that. Fat and happy etc. I stress, I am fat. Not in the way some of the posters here say I put 8 lbs on since Christmas and I am a right bloater. I am 5ft 11, and nudging 19stone. I am fat.

I have suffered with gout for quite a number of years so went to the doctor to see what could be done preventatively about it. I had my blood taken and then had the results, went in today and basically I am a wreck. I have gout so they have prescribed life long medication for that, I am also Pre Diabetic prediabetic (for searches) so that needs to be addressed, and when they took my blood pressure, it was through the roof. So now I am having 7 days BP monitoring.

I know all of this can be remedied with lifestyle changes, I have no urge to go back to the running, and dieting I was obsessively doing years ago, but need to make some significant changes now.

Sounds very similar to me a couple of years ago. Infection (ignored) led to sepsis. All lifestyle-related, pre-diabetes, joint problems, picking up every bug doing the rounds. The good news is you don’t have to go hard at it to turn things around. I cut out most of the sugar, started doing a bit more exercise and cut back on the take-aways. Reversed the diabetes and although I’m still obese, I feel much better about my general level of health. With the relatively small amount of progress I’ve made, I’m actually enjoying eating more healthily and actually look forward to seeing my trainer. 
None of it is rocket science and the GP made me track everything with a coach through the Oviva app. I don’t think I learned anything I didn’t already know about my unhealthy lifestyle but it was helpful to have someone to hold me to account on the decisions I was making. 
Good luck with whatever you decide to do to tackle the issue. 

1 hour ago, bickster said:

Lammo leaving is down to lammo, he'll be back 1 day a week next year, wants time out

I like Garveys show but two hours stretches it a bit thats all but its no biggie as I rarely listen then unless I'm having a bath

I hate Keavney but Charles is actually worse but that 1-4 slot has been populated by arses for a very long time

Tom R and that new show with Deb grant is awful

But the whole thing is going downhill as they bring in more and more music I hate that already has a home on other BBC radio stations

All this 6 Music chat and nobody has yet mentioned the worst? Mary Anne Hobgoblin. I don't want rave/trance music in the middle of the morning and genuinely can't imagine who does.

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Hope we have a buyback for when he outscores Tammy in Serie A

I suspect Tammy's numbers might be (negatively) impacted by Roma's latest arrival.

I love a good documentary. I don't think I've ever watched one that made me shout at the telly as much as this one though. 

Long story short - the protagonist (conman) pretends to set up a high school with an elite Football (gridiron) programme. He brings in all these young kids with promises of glory and exposure and then does them dirty. 

I think it's only available on Max(HBO) at the moment but I'm sure there would be other ways to find it (edited to add - suggestions it might be on Sky/Now already). Highly recommended.

30 minutes ago, Genie said:

Knock at the door just now:

Hi, I’m canvassing on behalf of the Conservative party ahead of the upcoming election.

Me: No thank you

Can I leave you a leaflet?

Me: No you **** can’t.

Closes door.

I'm hoping for a repeat of a couple of years ago where I saw a guy trying to gain access to our block of flats. I stopped him getting in, asked what he wanted and as he was trying to deliver Tory leaflets, I politely told him I'd take as many as he could spare so I could share them with my neighbours and put them up around work. He handed over most of what he had with a smile. I guess I'd done him a big favour handing out those leaflets for him. Straight in the recycling, obviously.