Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[Nearholmer]

2 hours ago, alastairq said:

but when it comes down to it, there isn't enough manpower available to make anything work as it is supposed to.  Especially when, as a nation, we don't want to pay for it.

So true, and so much the reason why I regard HMG as a bunch of shysters, because instead of focusing on solving the underlying problem, they focus instead on stoking-up phobias, and creating distracting sideshows.

[Andy Hayter]

3 hours ago, alastairq said:

Yet, fit & proper accomodation for oil workers?

[Or, don't oil workers count ?]

 

Perhaps we should just let them all get on with finding a job and getting on with life?

 

Actually not quite true.

 

Single rooms have now been made as double.  So the free space per occupant has halved.  You have to play Harlem shuffle if one person needs to pass the other.   Also the en suite you consider a luxury is a shared resource and as such is a shared bathroom - much like yours?

 

The wardrobe that would have been adequate for a worker who as stated would be there for a period of a few weeks and then home for a month, is inadequate for two people stowing all of their belongings - sparse though they may be.

[rocor]

It appears that Labour has made at least one solid commitment to a policy if it is elected to Government, https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/labour-add-vat-private-school-210623845.html

 

Ideally they should be committing to raising significant revenue from the very wealthy once in power. Unfortunately the very wealthy have proven to be wonderfully adept to resisting taxation, which leaves the party only able to grab for any low hanging fruit upon the tree of taxation.

 

The previous incumbent in the role of chancellor of the exchequer, would  also leave his successor a note to the effect "Many happy returns, the biscuit tin is now empty". 

 

 

[Schooner]

Just as a point of reference, the merchant mariners who make our lives possible in the developed world are, courtesy of fairly recent legislation, entitled to a minimum of:

 

• 3.5sq m (37'6" ish) of floor space, to include 
• 190cm x 80cm bunk, and
• 500litre storage space (locker and drawer)

and a maximum of:

• 14hr working day
• 91hr working week
• 328 day working year.

There is no entitlement to shore leave, nor rotation; each entitlement has a slew of legislated exceptions, with more available by agreement of the Flag State. A substantial improvement in the minimum quality of life for seafarers when introduced. I'd suggest we take the opportunity to recognise and be grateful for our normal levels of comfort, but be aware that a comfortable existence can be possible with less. 

 

I can't see it makes a blind bit of difference if those hosted by the state, in whatever capacity, are in compliant buildings or compliant barges. The compliance, including in staffing and support, is the important bit. Whether you walk down a stairwell or along a pontoon to go out doesn't appear to me to be something to get vexed over. I've not been following closely - have I missed the point?

 

None of the above excuses the omnishambleclustercuss, or those responsible for it, one iota. It'd be lovely if at least one state project wasn't FUBAR from the start.

 

:)

 

[Compound2632]

7 hours ago, Schooner said:

Just as a point of reference, the merchant mariners who make our lives possible in the developed world are, courtesy of fairly recent legislation, entitled to a minimum of:

 

All very well but the difficulty lies in enforcement. In a small way I support Stella Maris, a Catholic charity that provides ship visits and other support through its network of ordained and lay chaplains - many crews are Phillippino and hence at least from a Catholic background. Their newsletters give an insight into what seafarer's conditions are actually like. 

[Schooner]

Oh I quite agree - part of why I mentioned the letter of the law, rather than leaping to personal experience* of shared living spaces too narrow to dress or even turn around in, or bunks too cramped to lie straight or roll over; 60+hr working 'days', 40+day 'weeks', 18-month 'years' without leave... I think I've said before that nothing is as likely to trigger me (or spark my only fallings-out on RMWeb) than the historically apalling treatment of seafarers for the direct financial gain of shipowners, brokers, commodity traders - and think it's good of you to support the former's well-being. 

 

The reference point I was hoping to mark was that it is possible to be comfortable with far less than many of us are used to; conversely that we all benefit by enforcing conditions we would find personally unacceptable on around 2 millon people** without qualms because the price of improving their condition is deemed to be excessive.

 

In that context I can't see the proposals to house anyone on a purpose-fitted barge is inherently egregious, although I understand that the reality has fallen shamefully short of those proposals.

 

*In my case experience gained by choice, and largely in an environment which kept the balance of life reasonably happy, healthy and productive. I am daily grateful for this, others have it far worse.

**Just in the deep sea, foreign going merchant marine. Add to that those working coasters and short sea traders, fishermen, supply and support ships etc etc etc

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Schooner

[monkeysarefun]

 

On Saturday I went to the local  Train Jail where they are all locked up and took some   photos.

 

I

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

 Finally, after FOUR years in the making, Australias   own "Lord Of The Rings" franchise  is coming to cinemas shortly!

 

Based on the  actual real,  Emu War Of 1932, where we came second after a judges decision.

 

Its been a long hiatus since Mad Max, but we are back baby!

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

This was posted on a local Facebook group earlier today. The 3801 nearing Scarborough on a trip down to Wollongong today.

 

Posted here because I believe @St Enodoc may be on there somewhere...

 

[Annie]

It was election day here in New Zealand and it's not looking good for our Labour party with the Tories and their rabid conservative mates with their thinly veiled eugenics policies heading to form the next government.  Talk about the turkeys voting for an early christmas I didn't think that the NZ voting public could be that stupid.

[alastairq]

8 minutes ago, Annie said:

Talk about the turkeys voting for an early christmas I didn't think that the NZ voting public could be that stupid.

They won't be the only one's, either.

Democracy is getting into troubled waters, if we are not careful.

[Annie]

In the chill light of a heavily overcast dawn here in NZ I'm reminded of the message that pops up when the evil guys win in one of my favourite computer games, - 'all hope is lost'.  The Tories (National party) and their nasty goblin allies (ACT party) are clinging to a one vote lead due to the Greens picking up an extra seat last night.  With half a million special votes yet to count things are by no means done and dusted yet.

The ACT party with their barely veiled racist policies and having made no secret of wanting to build more prisons are the kind of ally that no sensible political party could want, but supping with the devil is the only way the Tories can form a government.  All the parties have said they won't go into coalition with NZ First, but didn't count on Winston Peters doing his usual undead politician rising from the grave act and taking eight seats for his party this time around.  ACT have been fingering wooden stakes and scowling heavily at any mention of NZ First while keeping their leader David Seymour on a leash to stop him from biting those he doesn't like, - while the Tories have been going into a cold sweat hoping that they won't have to go crawling on their knees to ask NZ First to help them form a government.  ACT have openly said that if the Tories try to stop them from pushing their more extreme policies that they will block their ability to pass legislation.

If it wasn't all so serious it would be worthwhile getting some popcorn and settling down to watch the show over the next few days.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Annie
Um.........

[Caley Jim]

On a phone-in program on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday a caller said that all 5 year olds should be taught the 4 'R's.  Reading, writing, arithmetic and realism.  They should also be taught what an oxymoron is and that the biggest oxymoron is an 'honest politician'.  There is no such thing in the entire world!

 

Jim

[Annie]

This morning the news headlines were,  RUGBY! - and oh there was an election yesterday.

[monkeysarefun]

26 minutes ago, Annie said:

This morning the news headlines were,  RUGBY! - and oh there was an election yesterday.

 

 

Perhaps that's how you could decide it,  with a game of Rugby. 

 

(though Labour  should be prepared for runs down the far-right wing, that's where the biggest boofheads seem to play!)

[enz]

27 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Perhaps that's how you could decide it,  with a game of Rugby. 

 

(though Labour  should be prepared for runs down the far-right wing, that's where the biggest boofheads seem to play!)

You suggest that the hallowed game be sullied with such a second rate interest as politics?  You have much to learn, youngling! ;)

[monkeysarefun]

24 minutes ago, enz said:

You suggest that the hallowed game be sullied with such a second rate interest as politics?  You have much to learn, youngling! ;)

 

Ex-Wallaby David Pocock is an ACT  independent senator here (That's OUR ACT, which is Australian Capital Territory- not whatever Annie talks of  - they sound awful...).

 

Actually considering the deserved low-opinion of politicians, he does actually seem a Good Egg:

 

Pocock explained his reasons for running for the Australian Senate as an independent candidate and how he hoped to bring a socially progressive voice to the Senate and reform the integrity monitoring process for politicians in parliament. He prosecuted an agenda to tackle corruption in government and political advertising laws, as well as campaigns to increase Australia's expenditure on renewable energy and restore the rights of territories to legislate on euthanasia.

In November 2022, Pocock successfully negotiated an amendment to create the "Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee", which would publish yearly recommendations on the adequacy of welfare payments two weeks before each federal budget, in exchange for passing Labor's changes to industrial relations reforms. Ahead of the 2023 Australian federal budget, Pocock agreed with the committee's recommendation for a substantial increase to the JobSeeker Payment as a first priority, and criticised the Labor government for not "do[ing] more to protect the most vulnerable." 

Edited October 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Annie]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

not whatever Annie talks of  - they sound awful...

On social media and elsewhere up until fairly recently David Seymour's name was often seen prefixed with a Gestapo officer's rank or with the slightly more kind 'Herr' as in Herr Seymour.  Their policies really are shocking.

[wagonman]

22 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

On a phone-in program on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday a caller said that all 5 year olds should be taught the 4 'R's.  Reading, writing, arithmetic and realism.  They should also be taught what an oxymoron is and that the biggest oxymoron is an 'honest politician'.  There is no such thing in the entire world!

 

Jim

 

There are a few, very few, decent and honest politicians around – and they are generally roundly vilified by their opponents, their colleagues, and the media. Maybe we really do get the politicians we deserve...

[Tom Burnham]

From personal experience, a fair number of local council politicians genuinely go into it to improve the lives of residents. Evidently they differ in what they see as priorities or in the best way of achieving the end result.  I mean, I don't think many actually want to make education worse, for example.  Some have misguided views on how to do it.

I've been reading Rory Stewart's new book and come to the conclusion that when they get to the national level there's very little interest in shaping policies in response to actual results as long as the media soundbites are OK.  I wonder if this is because politicians of all parties increasingly come up through working as political advisors or consultants of some sorts. Back in the day, Conservative politicians would often have a background in industry or farming and Labour politicians would have started as workers and risen through the trade union movement, and neither lot would have been able to ignore actual facts in favour of spin.

[Nearholmer]

There was a long interview with Nick Gibb, Schools Minister, on the radio yesterday, and I came away from listening to that with the impression that he might be that rare beast: a senior politician who is much more focused on achieving the improvements that he has set out to achieve than in self-aggrandisement.

 

I don’t share his overall view of the political world, I like some of the things he’s made happen (maths teaching and early reading), and not others (articulacy-crushing emphasis on formal grammar), and am a bit ambivalent about others (British history curriculum), but setting all that aside I thought he was very deserving of respect as an individual sincerely trying to do good things.

 

(Maybe worth noting that some politicians sincerely believe things that are so utterly delusional, or otherwise off the scale, that their sincerity doesn’t count.)

Edited October 15, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

18 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

There was a long interview with Nick Gibb,

 

I thought he was a BeeGee

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Edwardian

[Compound2632]

40 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I thought he was a BeeGee

 

One of these, you mean?

 

 

[Embedded link to Steve Banks' website.]

[Nearholmer]

Rather than being a pop star, or indeed a guard’s van, he was a chartered accountant before going full-time into politics, and he certainly sounds like a chartered accountant when he speaks: slightly diffident, very thorough, not the slightest bit exciting or excitable  etc. (with due apologies to any CAs here present). He did rig ballots in the NUS as a lad though, so maybe all that diligence with numbers was a form of penance. 

[Edwardian]

43 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Rather than being a pop star, or indeed a guard’s van, he was a chartered accountant 

 

In the firm Gibb, Gibb & Gibb, presumably

 

 

44 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Rather than being a pop star, or indeed a guard’s van, he was a chartered accountant before going full-time ....

 

... as a lion tamer?