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Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905


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I gave that pattern an "informative" emoji, because there isnt one for "Yes .......... well..........".

 

I just did a quick google of late-1970s Habitat catalogues, and they now look incredibly old-fashioned, somewhat stuffy in places, whereas at the time their things were considered clean-lined and an antidote to stuffy. That 1970s look has now been revived, of course, but to me it doesnt seem to work second time around, any more than platform shoes and luxuriant shoulder-length hair does.

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Is it possible to agree with an item of soft furnishings? So far, I’ve yet to meet a curtain that held an opinion about anything. Or, maybe the all hold very well thought through views on a whole range of matters, but we simply don’t know, because we haven’t found the key to human-fabric communications yet.

 

I must ask the cushions about this.

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2 hours ago, Ramblin Rich said:

And the van might be less fuel efficient

 

or electric...

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

So far, I’ve yet to meet a curtain that held an opinion about anything.

 

I find that when you open them, they never change their views.

 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Or, maybe the all hold very well thought through views on a whole range of matters, but we simply don’t know, because we haven’t found the key to human-fabric communications yet.

 

I must ask the cushions about this.

 

If it's talking to the soft furnishings you're after, the men in white coats can arrange suitable accommodation.

Edited by Compound2632
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3 hours ago, Ramblin Rich said:

the van might be less fuel efficient

 

My 14 year old 2.0L Diesel Ford Transit averages about 60mpg with a combination of town and country driving, slightly more town than country, but is very rarely fully loaded. No idea what sort of mileage cars get these days as it's been about 6 years since I last drove one, but that should give some idea of what vans can do (although I'm quite sure most don't)

 

Gary

 

EDIT: Just to add that most of my fleet are currently LPG which I believe is better for emissions, and will be replaced by electric when the time comes to upgrade

Edited by BlueLightning
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3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

late-1970s Habitat catalogues, and they now look incredibly old-fashioned, somewhat stuffy in places,

The rot of stripped pine pastoralism and all things Artsy Craftsy cottagey had started to take hold by then  (compare 'House & Garden' in say 1972-3 with any copy after the mid-1970s) - I grew up in the 1960s with full-on Danish modernism and my parents were always a bit sniffy about Habitat, preferring Elizabeth David and Divertimenti when we used to go on holiday in Chester. 

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Seems so.

 

I must have airbrushed some of it out of my memory, because what I recall is the simple, clean shapes - I could certainly only afford the most basic items at the time anyway. 
 

My parents favoured things from jumble sales, and things my dad made from bits of architectural salvage - it would be called upcycling now, but then it was just creativity to eke-out the meagre salary of a teacher of kids with SEN.

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Well, that was interesting.

 

I just spent three days touring Leicestershire (using ever-dwindling fuel) in order to find one garage that would sell me GBP 20 of diesel and a second that would sell me GBP 40's worth.  Enough to get home!

 

This was quite time-consuming, dull and stressful, and I woke up this morning in no mood to listen to government supporters* and the ERG's unofficial Pravda, the Daily Hate, lying and deflecting over the issue.

 

It is no good telling us that this is not a situation that has been made worse by the B-Thing because there are shortages of HGV drivers in certain European countries.  As the BBC pointed out this morning, those European countries nevertheless do not have a fuel delivery crisis because they can use drivers from other European countries. 

 

Of course, here the industry asked HMG to grant temporary visas to allow foreign drivers  to plug the gap, which might have averted the present crisis.  The government refused.  One can only assume that the doctrinaire xenophobia of the the current regime's voter base was an influential factor in HMG refusing to act. 

 

Now HMG is talking of deploying army drivers.  This is only after 4 days of queuing at those garages that remain open.  It will apparently take several days to train the soldiers before they start.  All this suggests that HMG was in denial over the seriousness of the problem and the predictable results of its own inaction.  Just like every delayed step the same administration dithered over in its pandemic response. 

 

Blaming the industry is deflecting; they asked HMG for a solution, HMG refused it. Blaming the motorist for wanting to fill their tanks is deflecting (since this delivery crisis began, where I have seen a garage, I have not seen one where it is possible to fill one's tank). The simple fact is that fuel at filling stations runs out sooner or later if they do not receive the scheduled re-deliveries. 

 

HMG might not be the ultimate or root cause of what is happening, but I am convinced that it is the failings of HMG that have failed to avert the problem and have, rather, exacerbated it.  Typical of this lot, with their rather tenuous relationship with truth, they are lying about what is happening and why, and blaming everyone but themselves for it. Mendacious moral cowards and absolute morons.

 

I have said before (several times, sorry) that the present sorry excuse for a government is a mere pack of rogues and charlatans. Here, surely, is a further example, if one were needed. 

 

* We had some Toady from the Transport Select Committee this morning; the BBC reports that no government ministers will make themselves available for comment.

 

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When this calms down, it will be interesting to see what the figures show. If there has been a huge, short-term spike in fuel sold, we will know it was panic-buying; if there is a dip in fuel sold, we will know it was a supply constraint.

 

My money is firmly on the former, which, unusually, puts me in the position of believing HMG about this narrow and particular part of the HGV driver issue - that it has been a case of a tiny constraint made into a big problem by a combination of supplier/haulier briefing, the usual gross irresponsibility of newspapers, and the operation of ordinary human psychology.

 

But, if the figures show the opposite, I won’t argue with them.

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On 25/09/2021 at 15:41, Nearholmer said:

My parents favoured things from jumble sales, and things my dad made from bits of architectural salvage - it would be called upcycling now, but then it was just creativity to eke-out the meagre salary of a teacher of kids with SEN.

 

ESN in those days wasn't it? Thank goodness we've moved on.

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1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

* We had some Toady from the Transport Select Committee this morning; the BBC reports that no government ministers will make themselves available for comment.

 

Most of us will be answerable for our actions before the throne of judgement. For government ministers, the House of Commons is nearer at hand; if they manage to dodge that by sacrificing some underling* there is the court of Public Opinion. Ultimately, contempt of any of these courts is unwise.

 

*A primitive and largely outmoded form of religion.

 

35 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

When this calms down, it will be interesting to see what the figures show. If there has been a huge, short-term spike in fuel sold, we will know it was panic-buying; if there is a dip in fuel sold, we will know it was a supply constraint.

 

My money is firmly on the former, which, unusually, puts me in the position of believing HMG about this narrow and particular part of the HGV driver issue - that it has been a case of a tiny constraint made into a big problem by a combination of supplier/haulier briefing, the usual gross irresponsibility of newspapers, and the operation of ordinary human psychology.

 

But, if the figures show the opposite, I won’t argue with them.

 

But the panic buying in itself is a supply constraint. If I can't get petrol this week, I won't be making planned trips to Cambridge on Friday and Milton Keynes on Sunday, so there will be a dip in fuel sold because consumption is forced down.

 

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11 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Just been checking out some of the videos showing whats going on in the UK with the fuel shortage.

 

Looks pretty hairy.

 

 

 

 

 

It's worse that that. Brits are JUMPING QUEUES now:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-pulls-knife-queue-jumper-074408602.html

(For non-Londoners, the knife thing is just Normal for Welling).

 

 

Edited by Ian Simpson
Changes "people" to "Brits" to stress how far social order has broken down. We're all doomed ...
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17 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

so there will be a dip in fuel sold because consumption is forced down.

 Consumption has been  depressed for the past 18 months, anyway.

 

The pingdemic, fewer miles travelled, reduction in personal commuting, more ecumenical cars, even the tickling of electric cars all conspire to depress fuel consumption overall.

 

Personally I cannot blame the GB government at all. [Except with hindsight]....It wouldn't matter what colour or flavour of government we had, the results would be the same.  At least we have a government?  Unlike Germany at present, where the 'winning' political party will be hamstrung for lorry-knows how long whilst they try to come to some agreement with the more extreme political parties, in order to form some sort of government?

 

The biggest cause of the current woes is down to one thing!

 

Greed!

 

Greed on the part of consumers.

 

Greed on the part of the various industries.

 

Everybody will be happy as long as no-one upsets the applecart.

 

Well, thanks to the media [or, the use of the media?] an apple cart has been upset.

 

I bet the next upset will be, when the Exchequer realises it is losing a lot of revenue from VED on cars, so will start charging VED for electric cars [they still wear out the roads, just the same as petrol car]....

 

Being financially comfortable [as distinct from, bumping along the bottom from one payday to the next?] brings a certain smugness of attitude. 

Like It or not, it's unavoidable.

Thus, can we afford to take the moral high ground. Thus we can afford to 'buy' an electric car. Thus we can feel good about what we see as 'doing our bit?'

 

Imagine how we'd feel, being compelled to pay VED, for example, all of a sudden?

 

It will happen.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

When this calms down, it will be interesting to see what the figures show. If there has been a huge, short-term spike in fuel sold, we will know it was panic-buying; if there is a dip in fuel sold, we will know it was a supply constraint.

 

My money is firmly on the former, which, unusually, puts me in the position of believing HMG about this narrow and particular part of the HGV driver issue - that it has been a case of a tiny constraint made into a big problem by a combination of supplier/haulier briefing, the usual gross irresponsibility of newspapers, and the operation of ordinary human psychology.

 

But, if the figures show the opposite, I won’t argue with them.

 

I agree about the spike in sales.  I think there is no doubt that panic buying has caused widespread stockouts.

 

However for me the test will be how quickly we get back to normality.  We are fast approaching the point where everyone's tank is pretty full so purchasing will return to a level which reflects actual consumption.   If it is a week maybe even two weeks for forecourts to return to normal, then there were plenty of HGV drivers and it was just a media story that caused panic.  If it takes longer to restock the forecourts it means the issue was genuinely the ability to move fuel from the refineries to the petrol stations.   Based on current information my money is on the latter.

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1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

the court of Public Opinion

I think you omitted the words "ill informed" there...

 

The court of Public Opinion gave us Brexit, and Borishambles. Do you really want to rely on this?

 

36 minutes ago, alastairq said:

Personally I cannot blame the GB government at all. [Except with hindsight]....It wouldn't matter what colour or flavour of government we had, the results would be the same.  At least we have a government?  Unlike Germany at present, where the 'winning' political party will be hamstrung for lorry-knows how long whilst they try to come to some agreement with the more extreme political parties, in order to form some sort of government?

 

The biggest cause of the current woes is down to one thing!

 

Greed!

 

Greed on the part of consumers.

 

Greed on the part of the various industries.

 

Everybody will be happy as long as no-one upsets the applecart.

I agree with some of that.

 

Coalitions are a fact of life in most European democracies, and Germany is no exception. They are used to it, and like us, they have a permanent civil service. Better  few months of sorting things out than the chaotic freefall we have in this country.

 

HMG is partly to blame: the shortage of drivers was entirely foreseeable as a consequence of Brexit, and it was the Government's role to make sure we were prepared for it, if necessary by threatening to temporarily nationalise the road haulage industry unless they started training new HGV drivers, and not returning to private ownership until that training had been paid off. Or, in a true laissez faire fashion, there is always the option to do nothing, and let the market drive things. that's the market that doesn't believe in investment for the future, but in asset divestment for the present.

 

Which takes us back to greed. Most of our problems are down to greed: greed for possessions (more things), greed for profits (lower purchase price, higher selling price), and greed for power (by giving people what they have been manipulated to believe they want, rather than what a long-term view suggests they need).

This was true back in 2001 (the last fuel "crisis") and also in the run up to 2008 (financial crisis brought about by a "light touch" regulatory process, which allowed people to buy more things but via credit, not earnings).

 

I think we get the governments we deserve. Looking at the current shower in power, it doesn't say much about our society, does it? (Although, 40 odd years ago, someone famously said that there is no such thing as "society", merely lots of different groups with vested interests, and that same someone set about dismantling the welfare state and look where we are now...)

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28 minutes ago, Regularity said:

I think you omitted the words "ill informed" there...

 

The court of Public Opinion gave us Brexit, and Borishambles. Do you really want to rely on this?

 

I added Public Opinion at a second read-through of my post; perhaps my first wording was better. It's a double-edged sword. Alciun wrote to Charlemagne in 798: "Beware of those who say vox populi, vox Dei; because the tumult of the crowd is close to insanity." - but he was toadying to a divinely-anointed monarch.

 

 

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I'm no sort of expert on German politics but from what I read the most likely outcome is a move from slightly right of centre to slightly left of centre. Unless they just change from a CDU/SDP coalition to an SDP/CDU coalition, either of the larger parties will have to do a deal with both the Greens and the FDP (small-government Gladstonian liberals) to get a majority, which will constrain any very radical changes. Meanwhile the civil service and the state governments will keep things going much as usual.

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3 hours ago, Welchester said:

ESN in those days wasn't it?


He worked with lads c11-18+, who were termed, in the words of the relevant act, ‘maladjusted’*, then later specifically with profoundly autistic children.

 

’Maladjusted’ was a bit of a catch-all term for children who either persistently truanted, or were highly disruptive at school and got excluded, or acquired a criminal record. The basic approach was to take them away from the deprived urban, and sometimes violent backgrounds, that they came from, take them deep into the country, and use a calm environment, and lots of practical activity (the school had a quite extensive farm, for instance), to bring them round and equip them with skills. For a high percentage it seemed to work very well, turning very unhappy ‘delinquents’ into steady young men, mostly in trade apprenticeships or agricultural apprenticeships - some of them stayed in touch until my father died. But, it wasn’t all roses, I remember for instance three of the boys ‘taking and driving away’ the principal’s car, then trashing it and badly injuring themselves in a high-speed crash. The ring-leader of that actually went on to become a very successful breeder of Hereford cattle though, so life is complicated!

 

One thing different then was drugs: there effectively were none except fags and booze for working class boys. Nowadays, most of the kids would have various grades of drug problem on top of the rest of the troubles in their lives.

 

apologies for pursuing a diversion (from what, it can be hard to tell here).

 

PS: I realised after writing this, that I made things sound slightly like a past golden age in terms of helping kids from challenging backgrounds. It wasn’t, as this paper from 1966 makes clear. https://www.bmj.com/content/1/5485/440 The system ‘saved’ a lot of kids, but it also completely failed a lot of others, and the quality of provision was massively varied between schools.
 

* The 1944 act seems to have used ESN to define children who were incapable of normal educational attainment, and ‘maladjusted’ to define children who were capable normal attainment, but were developmentally defeated by their backgrounds. A distinction that probably seemed enlightened at the time, but tended to lead to over-simplification and pigeon-holing.


 

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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You might think that the British system over recent decades has encouraged governments to make dramatic gestures rather than pragmatic compromises. For instance with B****t the government might have said that given the referendum result they were obliged to leave the EU, but given the narrow margin they would remain as closely aligned as possible. Although looking at the situation in Scotland, maybe it's a result of the British approach to politics as a team sport rather than of the voting system as such 

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Well, Sir Keir has pledged to end the charitable status of of private schools. So, I shall be voting for the party most likely to keep him out of power in 2024.

 

We might now need a cartoon of someone aiming a pair of AK47s at his feet, because that's the aspirant middle classes out of the Labour camp for good and proper, however corrupt and incompetent the present administration shows itself to be.  Having already lost the "socially conservative" Red Wall voters with all the PLP's half-hearted Remoaning, that just leaves Sir Keir with nurses, state school teachers, and his fellow wealthy middle class Islingtonians who have the luxury of picking and choosing highly selective grant-maintained schools for their own privileged children.  Not enough to return a majority in Parliament. I hope.

 

Oh, that and the usual Labour Civil War, with Tony Starmer going head to head with the Captain Amnesias of the Left.

 

Great, another five years of Boris.  

 

Thanks guys.

 

 

 

 

 

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