Things that piss you off that shouldn't

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

At least that was from scratch. This is just a refurb.

Presumably they're using the same contractors that made that briefing room at number 10 for over 2 million quid

The room that Boris said he didn’t like and would stop using right after it was finished.

What a prick.

[villa4europe]

24 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

At least that was from scratch. This is just a refurb.

Presumably they're using the same contractors that made that briefing room at number 10 for over 2 million quid

Dunno, they've paid an architect firm £7m for 6 months worth of work

That firm announced profits of 30% for the year

They didn't say which tory MP owned them 

Edited November 18, 2021 by villa4europe

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Government - Were going to build a high speed railway line

Press - Controversial plans to build high speed rail.   Waste of money.  Should invest in local services

Government - Were cancelling the high speed railway line and investing in local services 

Press - Controversial cancellation of railway line. Towns let down, Government should apologise.  Disgrace.

 

Are 'press' of one mind, speaking with one voice?

[bobzy]

13 hours ago, KentVillan said:

 

I mean.

Obviously feel sorry for anyone who has to witness something like that. Not sure my first reaction would be to sue for "unspecified sums" and announce it at a press conference, accompanied by a notorious ambulance chasing lawyer.

Same as this shit:

“More than 125 people who were caught up in the deadly Astroworld music festival crush have sued rapper Travis Scott and other organisers for $750m (£556m).”

(Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59331525)

 

Money money money money money. 

[sidcow]

15 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Are 'press' of one mind, speaking with one voice?

Pretty much. Some local Northern press were obviously all pro HS2 from the start but pretty much all national press were anti HS2 and it's a controversial waste of money and now running with the disgraceful cancellation line. 

[Genie]

Wasn’t there a big review of HS2 not so long ago, and Boris profoundly announced it was still going ahead as planned.

He had the opportunity as part of the review to say it was being scaled back for whatever reason they wanted, but no, it’s happening.

Then later on, being scaled back.

 

[sidcow]

19 minutes ago, Genie said:

Wasn’t there a big review of HS2 not so long ago, and Boris profoundly announced it was still going ahead as planned.

He had the opportunity as part of the review to say it was being scaled back for whatever reason they wanted, but no, it’s happening.

Then later on, being scaled back.

 

I think the leg to Leeds has always been a doubt, never quite 100% confirmed. 

I don't really understand why they play all these games Boris won't be around by the time spades ever get into the ground. I would just flag everything though and let someone else worry about paying for it in 20 years time

Edited November 18, 2021 by sidcow

[HanoiVillan]

18 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Pretty much. Some local Northern press were obviously all pro HS2 from the start but pretty much all national press were anti HS2 and it's a controversial waste of money and now running with the disgraceful cancellation line. 

So you're saying yourself, there have been different perspectives on HS2, including a difference between regional and national media. Why wouldn't media outlets try to reflect the concerns of people who may have supported the project?

Further, it's the job of the press to question the government, not simply meekly accept whatever they do. Even if you're of the opinion that they've now reached the right decision, people may have made plans or decisions about investments in areas in expectation of this line etc etc.

[HanoiVillan]

29 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Same as this shit:

“More than 125 people who were caught up in the deadly Astroworld music festival crush have sued rapper Travis Scott and other organisers for $750m (£556m).”

(Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59331525)

 

Money money money money money. 

I have to be honest, I absolutely do not understand this perspective. You're damn right that if I had been put into mortal danger by a profit-making company seeking to further their profits, that I would be expecting financial compensation, and I would not be feeling in the slightest bit bad about doing so.

[a m ole]

Yeah, having seen his history with regards to the safety of his fans and how events unfolded at the festival - they deserve everything coming to them. Entirely different to Mamie Mitchell.

Edited November 18, 2021 by a m ole

[villa4europe]

3 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I have to be honest, I absolutely do not understand this perspective. You're damn right that if I had been put into mortal danger by a profit-making company seeking to further their profits, that I would be expecting financial compensation, and I would not be feeling in the slightest bit bad about doing so.

You'd be asking for £4.5m??

If I was injured, as in physical injuries then yes, mental distress? Not so sure

I was 100m away from the vicinity and it caused me to panic and now I want £1m to calm me down and stop my nightmares... Get in the sea 

[a m ole]

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

I was 100m away from the vicinity and it caused me to panic and now I want £1m to calm me down and stop my nightmares... Get in the sea

Absolutely, but is that what’s happening here?

[villa4europe]

5 minutes ago, a m ole said:

Absolutely, but is that what’s happening here?

Out the 125 people making a claim it's impossible to tell, 10 people died and 300 were injured

Don't see how you can directly sue Scott though

[Mic09]

30 minutes ago, Genie said:

Wasn’t there a big review of HS2 not so long ago, and Boris profoundly announced it was still going ahead as planned.

He had the opportunity as part of the review to say it was being scaled back for whatever reason they wanted, but no, it’s happening.

Then later on, being scaled back.

 

Best thing is, most office workers can now work partly (or fully!) from home. This trend will only continue.

It makes so much sense to spend £120bn on it - especially as the standard train journey to London takes 90 minutes.

I used to catch the early train in New Street to get to the City and always got there for 8:45. 

No respect for public finances or the environmental impact of it. 

I really do not understand this investment, and if there is some logic behind it, I would love for someone to explain it to me. I am open minded. 

[a m ole]

1 minute ago, villa4europe said:

Out the 125 people making a claim it's impossible to tell, 10 people died and 300 were injured

Don't see how you can directly sue Scott though

It’s his festival, it’s named after his album.

In addition to that, he has a track record for encouraging fans to bypass security and rush the stage. Was arrested for it in 2017.

[Genie]

22 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Don't see how you can directly sue Scott though

He could have stopped the show as it was clear that lifeless bodies were being pulled from the crowd.

I’ve also seen a video of a couple of fans who climbed to the side of the stage and were screaming for it to be stopped as there were people dead at the front.

It sounds quite likely he saw trouble and carried on. 
In the example of Oasis a few pages back, Liam stops the show due to a problem at the front. I’m sure other artists will have also stopped their shows due to crowd issues.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Genie

[HanoiVillan]

There is a very long and very bad track record for stories like this, where people get themselves ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGED about people suing companies.

An introduction to a longer article on a different topic, but worth quoting on this:

The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism

'During the 1990s, the media convinced Americans that frivolous lawsuits were out of control.

The canonical example was the 1994 “McDonald’s hot coffee” case. In the mythic version, a woman spilled coffee on herself while driving, received minor injuries and then got rich by suing the fast food chain that sold it to her. In reality, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck wasn’t driving, suffered third-degree burns over 10% of her body and only decided to sue after McDonald’s refused to pay for her medical care. Liebeck’s jury award of $2.9 million made headlines, but the punitive damages were almost immediately knocked down to $640,000. She ended up settling with McDonald’s for even less.

Looking back nearly 30 years later, the most remarkable thing about the McDonald’s case is that all of these debunking details were available at the time. The very first AP story about the case noted Liebeck’s severe burns and McDonald’s refusal to pay damages. Within weeks of the verdict, the Wall St. Journal published an A1 story in which jurors said they had initially been skeptical of Liebeck’s motives, but changed their minds after learning that McDonald’s sold its coffee so close to boiling that it had caused at least 700 other severe burn cases in the previous decade.

The real story of the McDonald’s case was always available, it just didn’t matter. By the time the Liebeck verdict came down, Americans had already spent nearly a decade hearing about ambulance-chasing lawyers, “jackpot justice” awards and the debilitating “tort tax” on American businesses. As early as 1986, Ronald Reagan speeches included a laugh line about a woman who sued her doctor after a CAT scan robbed her of her psychic powers. (In reality, the woman had an allergic reaction to a surgical dye, suffered severe headaches for the rest of her life and had her lawsuit thrown out. She never received a dime.) 

This pre-existing narrative explains why the exaggerated version of the McDonald’s case was so durable. Sure, some of the details didn’t check out and the facts turned out to be a bit more complicated than they seemed. But still, journalists argued at the time, we know frivolous lawsuits are a problem in America.

But they weren’t. Civil cases were actually falling throughout the 1990s. Seven-digit payouts attracted headlines, but they were vanishingly rare — just 3% of plaintiffs got punitive damages at all; the median award was $38,000 — and nearly always got overturned on appeal.'

from: https://michaelhobbes.substack.com/p/moral-panic-journalism

[blandy]

3 hours ago, sidcow said:

Government - Were going to build a high speed railway line

Press - Controversial plans to build high speed rail.   Waste of money.  Should invest in local services

Government - Were cancelling the high speed railway line and investing in local services 

Press - Controversial cancellation of railway line. Towns let down, Government should apologise.  Disgrace.

 

It's bolitics really, but that's not accurate.

PM Cameron: We're gonna do HS2 and connect up London to Brum and to Manchester and then to Leeds...

Environmentalists, People living on the route: That's bad.

Press: These people say it's bad. These other people say it's good.

(Later) Johnson: We're definitely doing it and gonna "level up" the North and good things are gonna happen.

(Now): We're not going to do it to Leeds etc. I never said we were... good things are gonna happen

Press: Controversial cancellation of railway line. 

 

[villa4europe]

25 minutes ago, blandy said:

It's bolitics really, but that's not accurate.

PM Cameron: We're gonna do HS2 and connect up London to Brum and to Manchester and then to Leeds...

Environmentalists, People living on the route: That's bad.

Press: These people say it's bad. These other people say it's good.

(Later) Johnson: We're definitely doing it and gonna "level up" the North and good things are gonna happen.

(Now): We're not going to do it to Leeds etc. I never said we were... good things are gonna happen

Press: Controversial cancellation of railway line. 

 

they're doing an absolutely shocking job of getting that message across

i would guess the vast majority of people still think this is about brummies getting to london 20 minutes quicker when they go for shopping trips

[sidcow]

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

Best thing is, most office workers can now work partly (or fully!) from home. This trend will only continue.

It makes so much sense to spend £120bn on it - especially as the standard train journey to London takes 90 minutes.

I used to catch the early train in New Street to get to the City and always got there for 8:45. 

No respect for public finances or the environmental impact of it. 

I really do not understand this investment, and if there is some logic behind it, I would love for someone to explain it to me. I am open minded. 

When the nation has ground to a complete standstill in 15 years time I don't think putting forward as an excuse "well people stopped using trains for a bit in that Coronavirus pandemic" is going to wash.

And for the 10,000th time it's NOT about getting to London 20 minutes quicker, it's about releasing capacity on the rails for more local services and freight lines.  The trains are packed to capacity and they can't run any more on the rails.  

This argument about being hardly any time saving really pisses me off.  It's about creating massive additional capacity on the railways so we don't have to keep flying/driving/carrying stuff on lorries and instead transport us and stuff in a really environmentally friendly way and as it happens, extremely quickly between places.

Before Coronavirus we were creaking.  Look at the number of stories about chaos on the tracks.   Coronavirus is a mere blip on the journey.  In 5 years we'll be creaking again, HS2 even as planned won't be here anywhere near before that time.

Edited November 18, 2021 by sidcow