MakemineVanilla

2 hours ago, Designer1 said:

As I've said elsewhere, I think it's funny (and very, very telling) when someone uses Woke as a pejorative term.

It outs the throbbers nicely.

But surely, by othering the unwoke you are denying their humanity, which makes you unwoke?

4 hours ago, useless said:

'And you know, my child, in life there comes a time, still quite remote for you, when our weary eyes can tolerate only one light, that which a lovely night like this prepares and distills from the darkness, when our ears cannot listen to any other music but that which is played by the moonlight on the flute of silence.'

 From Du côté de chez Swann

That's all very well but try saying that to a disappointed fan in a piss-corner at Villa Park.

I was pleased with his performance against Wolves, which showed he is learning to adapt his game to the ways and means of Emery.

After watching Villa in the Premier League, the Championship now seems rather gungho by comparison.

He'll have to learn new habits and he's showing progress already.

The title of the thread seems to invite confessions of existential angst and regret, but isn't life always about moving on, as Shakespeare famously put it?

We all know that football is total bollocks but hey, seeing Brentford equalise when Man U think "it's all over", does provide the odd consolation.

Moreno is having a miserable time and it seems that teams are closing him down quicker, which means he's getting less space to operate in.

No doubt the gaffer will tell him that, if the cross isn't on be sure not to lose possession.

Emery's gestures suggested he thinks he's being too predictable.

17 hours ago, dubbs said:

So my own body decided to cock block me this morning. Literally just about to do the deed and my calf decides to get the most agonising cramp I've ever had.  I hate getting old, this never used to happen

If you had filmed it you could have called it, Missionary Impossible!

There's bound to be a sequal.

13 hours ago, Xela said:

Tears of joy comrade, tears of pure joy. 

10 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

I suspect we have to be careful and not presume the frivolous ones you’ll be seeing on their sunny instagram hols are representative of all of them. Very possibly, when you were working through your salad days, some of your contemporaries were drinking the money they had left once they’d bought that shiny Ford Capri. Just as right now, some kids will have a hand me down sofa and be working 6 days a week on a zero hours contract.

 

I make no moral judgement about people's personal choices; working your nuts off to buy an asset you will have to maintain and which someone else will get to realise, should not be considered more virtuous than buying a Ford Capri, or otherwise enjoying yourself.

Chomsky is of the opinion that house purchase was encouraged by the state because people with mortgages tend not to go on strike; an opinion I have heard echoed by several of my bosses.

Thatcher's expressed dream of a property-owning democracy was code for the exact same thing.

Selling off council houses was probably meant to achieve the same outcome - creating a docile insecure workforce with fewer political choices.

I would also suggest that the diminishing shelf-life of relationships these days, makes renting a more sensible option.

29 minutes ago, T-Dog said:

I think a lot of that depends on when 'the day' was, and that's not said in a shitty way - My mom worked nights when she was a single parent to make it happen, but she also retrained for a much better job at the same time. Not disregarding anyone's struggle, but I've seen the best and the worst of both sides through both sides of the family, and frankly, they're both in very different places, they're both doing well now, they've both got good kids (adults now) and they're both in a very nice position. 

I think we're in a point where we don't know what the future holds, which didn't exist 30 years ago. Get into public sector, big pension, job for life, get a trade, you'll make a fortune, get a degree, you'll work in the city. As a lad born early 80s, I did none of them (did Public Sector for 6 months in fairness but left) and I'm glad I didn't. I've seen every suggestion do well, but not without it's casualties. I think you just need to chase what you're enjoying most, as crusty as that sounds. 

Had a beer, gone off on a tangent here. Apologies.

What I was getting at, was whether Gen Z-ers who are trying to get on the housing ladder have greater sense of entitlement, when it comes to leisure and consumption, than previous generations.

For me personally, I had to work through my phase of fancy holidays and buying crap, before I could accumulate enough for a deposit on something absolutely minimal.

All my furniture was from junk shops and my vehicle was based on the logic of bangernomics.

Back in the day, I knew a young couple with two kids, who were buying an ordinary semi in Great Barr: he worked two jobs and she worked nights in a factory.

Would that be considered beyond the pale these days?

8 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Work for 50 years, half of your waking hours for 5 days a week and you can expect to retire for 6-12 years before you die, But you might spend that time living in poverty. Wonderful.

40% of UK pensioners are living in poverty.

Tory MP David Willets wrote a book called The Pinch, which was an attempt to make a case to shaft the boomer generation.

He basically framed boomers as a kulak class, his party could target for benefit cuts.

Definitely an instance of the politics of envy, his party claimed to despise.

I think the problem is that the media tend to frame boomers as all having moved into the property-owning middle-class, and forget that the vast majority did unskilled jobs, which paid very little money, and didn't provide the luxury of a final-salary pension.

These are the people who would have been made unemployed during Thatcher's jobs cull.

I think this offers a fair summation of the death of the post-war consensus:

Superb tonight - a perfect lesson in how to play it simple.

44 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Feels like a less dispiriting end than handing it over to the Pleasant View Care Facility plc..

 

Don't worry, if Labour get in, Assisted Dying will become available.

Starmer is a big fan apparently - it's the first time he can say he has a cure for poverty and mean it.

England played some quality football but never seem to run out of donkeys at the back and lack quality in front of goal.

Toney took his penalty superbly but he missed enough chances to remind us that England without Kane are very much a blunt instrument.

Chilwell was very poor.

1 hour ago, villa89 said:

Assuming you have a reasonable standard of health. 

40% of people over 65 have a limiting long-term illness or disability (4.5 million), which is expected to rise to 6 million by 2030.

Most of the people I know who carry on working, mostly in retail, after they qualify for a pension, only do it because the combination of both a wage and a state pension add up to the best income they've ever had.

Make "double-dipping" illegal and the incentive is removed; experienced workers are lost.

As the man said, if you want your kids to visit you when you are old, make sure they know you have a few bob salted away!

14 hours ago, Genie said:

More people willing to nail their colours to Reform than Conservatives.

 

You might be right:

On 23/03/2024 at 14:46, Davkaus said:

I think the problem the younger generations have is twofold

 

I think the main problem for the younger generation will be the lowering of their standard of living due to the sacrifices resulting from the move to a Carbon Neutral economy.

The boomers tried a bit of minimalism voluntarily when they went through their hippie phase but had the luxury of changing their minds.

Whether Gen Z will have the same luxury, remains to be seen.

Every generation has a problem they have to solve or deal with, whether it is actual Nazis, the imminent threat of nuclear annihilation, or environmental catastrophe.

5 minutes ago, bickster said:

Why would repairing and maintaining a world heritage site be getting special treatment? 

Litotes, old chap, litotes!

It sounds like Wales is getting special treatment, as they are also repairing the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

The engineer claimed that the joints are sealed with "welsh flannel", which I can quite believe.

I am reading a Kissinger biography and it really is very chastening.

While we are arguing about who is the nicest person, the confabulating geriatric or Orange man, the big wheels are probably discussing which cities they would willingly sacrifice (30m people), in a "limited" nuclear exchange with the Ruskis.

I think I'll stick with the trivia.

Yesterday's team-selection looked like your typical occasion when the England committee decide to hand out a load of token caps.

This is politically astute because if they lose the manager can claim to have tried other players, which justifies his actual preferred selection.

There were just too many new caps in the team for players who might have convinced the media of their worthiness but have failed to convince the fans.

New caps deserve to be introduced in a stronger team than last night.

The Brazilians and the referee just wanted it more.

Even so, it will be interesting to see if Kane and Saka are fit enough to turn out for their clubs.

PS Watkins didn't get any decent service and Konsa did brilliantly against Vinícius.

I don't think the England team created a single chance, or I can't recall it.

9 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

 

Even Reform are the establishment now apparently.

The leadership are a bunch of grifters, who seem to be using the Meloni tactic of coming on strong to get noticed and will gradually move towards the centre, depending on the polling.

Anyone who got a touch of the ring-twitters when Watkins went off against Ajax, will have realised why Rogers was signed.

He was affordable and creates competition between himself and Duran, and obviously the other way round.

Like most forwards, he doesn't know how to tackle.

He's not ready yet but neither was David Platt in his first season.

If Emery and his coaches can improve Bailey they can certainly improve Rogers.