Hmm. Whilst I think this might be a good thing in principle, staff in such positions should be protected themselves from the virus and be less of a risk to others, it’s about enforcing it in a legal sense. I can’t see this working because surely individuals have a right to refuse medical procedures, and the right to have their ‘beliefs’* etc respected, so wouldn’t there need to be a fundamental change in law to make such a thing happen? Potential legal minefield, with the probability of massive lawsuits against employers etc. I’m not aware of any current law that states someone must have a certain vaccination in order to do any job.

*I think the greater safety and well being of society must trump any individual opinions or ‘beliefs’, but I don’t think a totalitarian approach is necessarily the right approach. Certainly not with this current government.

Questions, questions…

I did ask how you thought Starmer would be in any meaningful way, different to the tories. So far, you’ve failed to come up with any coherent answer, and neither has anyone else really.

Is it because you don’t actually know?

It’s not about views, it’s about the way some people use this forum as if they were training some kind of argumentative AI.

Are you? How’s that going?

Name them.

Why do you want me to do that? Why would you want to make it personal? Do you think you are included in that group?

Like picking the JC version of Labour and then sticking with it even though it failed to win two general elections?

Is that aimed at me? Because I’m neither a Labour supporter nor voter.

Blair’s family have done very well out of the London property boom. And would have without him being PM.

So, his family’s incredible wealth has nothing at all to do with his extremely powerful and influential global connections then? All simply down to hard graft, right?

Starmer not taking on new work five years ago is in no way equivalent to Tory MPs taking on paid consultancy work. That “same arse” comment has nothing to back it up at all.

You really don’t think Armrest would happily take lucrative extra jobs if he could ‘get away with it’? He’s probably been lining up his career beyond politics, all along. He’ll no doubt be richly rewarded for his work in destroying the Left, and undermining British democracy. There’ll be no shortage of grateful beneficiaries of that, lining up to thank him…

Blah, blah, blah, bullshit.

‘Wah wah wah I don’t like what you’re saying because it doesn’t fit with MY world view! It’s not FAIR!!’

It suggests that politics from them is some form of tribalism, like supporting a football team, nothing much more than a game.

And having picked a ‘side’, they feel a compulsion to stick with it through thick and thin. Which is fine in sport; not so good with politics. But it’s pretty clear that several on here who profess to support Labour, are in reality just soft tories. Hence the abuse and vitriol spouted towards anyone vaguely of the ‘left’…

Just gonna leave this here…

https://www.tatler.com/gallery/tony-blair-family-children-euan-kathryn-nicky-leo-multimillion-pound-property-portfolio

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/14/tony-cherie-blair-property-empire-worth-estimated-27m-pounds

Not short of a bob or two, are they?

Its worth pointing out that they are greatly aided in this task, as this thread itself demonstrates, by those on the left who seem to think that unless you’re living in a damp council flat on a sink estate, wearing sack-cloth and surviving on out of date mung-beans then you’re obviously corrupt

Lol! Laughing at you though, not with you…

Apart from Saint Jeremy of Corbyn of course. Somehow all the money he gets for his extra-curricular activities is all just fine and pure and virtuous and just morally superior

What’s all this money then? Care to elaborate?

You talking about this?

Oof. Awks. You can see him squirm. ‘Shit, I can’t take that lucrative offer now all this crap has hit the fan. Bollocks’. Just another cheek of the same arse.

As my view is as much theory as yours no one can be proved right can they but let’s try one. Would Labour have cut Universal Credit?

And actually, that’s still not an answer, is it?

Would Labour have cut Universal Credit?

Well, NeoLabour under Starmer? I have no idea. But I wouldn’t put it past them. And that’s the thing; I wouldn’t trust them. And neither would millions of others. And therein lies the problem…

Picked up the Rotel kit for £50 off a guy who’d just moved in with his girlriend and she’d said, “There’s no way you’re having that in the house.”

Oof. That is some sacrifice. The things people do for love. And you’ve had an incredible result.

my trusty old Audiolab 8000A amp.

Classic. Probably the best ‘budget’ ‘proper hi-fi’ amp you can get. Got one here sitting idle at the moment; need to find some better speakers for it. A friend has some Focal Arias he never uses, so I’m waiting like a vulture should he (hopefully) want to move them on…

I don’t believe if a Labour party were in power we would have exactly the same shit as now.

I doubt it.

So; please do feel free to explain why you believe as you do, then. I’m sure I’ve asked this question many times; so far, I haven’t had a coherent answer. Funny, that…

Someone should sneak in and put a sack of horse dung where he’d sit.

I am not sure where the irony is in that statement.

Really? Have a good think about it…

I suspect most politically engaged lefties would hold their nose and vote Starmer if they really had to

I wouldn’t. There’s no point. We’d just have exactly the same shit as we’ve got now. Starmer doesn’t speak for anyone but wealthy neoliberals and corporate interests. So absolutely no different to the tories.

Have a word with yourself about that statement.

Fair comment, and I have, and want to clear up the obvious misunderstanding (my fault because of how I made the statement in the first place).

Of course, there were millions of volunteers in WW1, and I should have said the majority of combatants (on all sides) were conscripted, although I would consider the national fervour whipped up by governments at the time to be a form of coercion to get men to enlist for war. And conscription was vital to the UK being able to mount an armed defence against the Nazis. indeed; members of my own family have been volunteers in numerous conflicts, so I never meant to insult the memory of such brave people.

I was referring more to much more recent conflicts, where the UK has a purely volunteer-staffed military. Again, this doesn’t mean each individual is ‘wrong’ for signing up, just that the context is completely different; our borders aren’t under any genuine significant threat, and whilst national defence is sadly still necessary, it is still a choice by the individual to take arms against others, something I am personally opposed to. I don’t want that to be interpreted as ‘all military personnel are evil’; many sign up for the right reasons. And we should all be grateful to them for doing something many of us choose not to. I also strongly believe in de-colonisation, and would like to see a huge reduction in our armed forces, especially in light of recent illegal and immoral conflicts the UK has been complicit in creating.

I wear one, because I feel it’s the right and proper thing to do. In some small part it would be a betrayal of all those men and women who in one way or another have impacted me through those years for me not to wear one.

I totally respect this, and would like to thank you for posting that.

Exibit A: Why are there bits where the oil doesn’t appear to have taken – and can I do anything about it?

That could be for a number of reasons; there may have been some other chemicals, such as wax/lubricant he saw blade when it was all machined up, that you didn’t apply the oil evenly, or just that that particular patch didn’t take the oil in the same way the rest did. Just give it a light sand back, then apply more oil. You might just have to accept it’s a bit patch really though. It’s wood; it’s never going to have a nice uniform tone/colour all the way through.

The oil’s made this bit look a bit crap/grubby. Can I just sand back when dry, rather than cracking out the white spirit to remove the oil which I’m a bit loathed to do?

Again, this could be because of other chemicals that have been deposited in the wood, that are reacting with the chemicals in the oil, or it could just be that natural tannins in the wood are reacting to the chemicals in the oil. I know that Oak reacts if you use wire wool to clean it up; tiny microscopic fragments of metal become embedded in the wood, and go black in reaction to the wood tannins.

Well the general opinion on here, is that if you can smell cigarette smoke or a joint, then it is posing significant risk to your health.

No doubt the vast majority who think this, will regularly expose themselves to far higher levels of carcinogenic fumes when they refuel their T5’s.

I wonder how they feel about log burning stoves?

What is really sad, is that the real reason for the poppy appeal, is to help provide support for those adversely affected by the trauma of war. Because we, as a society, don’t provide that support as a given. Many ex-service personnel are reliant on charities for support, particularly those with mental health issues. What the RBL provide is woefully inadequate given the scale of the issue. When those who serve return home, they should be offered the support the need. This simply doesn’t happen in far too many cases, and those with severe disabilities and mental health issues are just left to fend for themselves. Whenever I see a poppy these days, I’m just reminded of the failure of our society to provide all members with what they genuinely need.

Did she really ‘demand’? because if it was a request, it seems a reasonable one to me

She demanded, from the outset. Had she asked nicely, I might have considered. She didn’t choose to move to another part of the beer garden (there was plenty of space) and it’s a PUB beer garden; it’s an ‘adult’ space anyway. She expected me to change my behaviour, to suit her sense of entitlement.

The irony that she’d driven to the pub in a massive 4×4 was somewhat lost on her…

I wish I could be as cool as you.

I know.

There’s a football player who chose not to wear a poppy on his shirt, and gave his reasons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46099843

In my opinion, the poppy should only be used to commemorate those forced to sacrifice their lives in WWs 1 and 2. Because they were conscripted, and did not volunteer to take arms against other humans. Since the end of conscription in 1963, UK armed forces are 100% volunteer staffed. My personal feeling is that I do not want to ‘celebrate’ armed conflict, and definitely not any of those the UK has been involved in during my lifetime, as I don’t feel any of that involvement has been 100& morally justified. So it is sad that the poppy has been somewhat co-opted to include ‘commemoration’ of all armed service personnel since WW2.

This reminds me of when some posh self-entitled woman demanded I stop smoking near her baby. In a pub beer garden.

I told her to **** off. :D

They should be referred to PREVENT, both by forum users and administrators.

Lol!

Sorry, what was that, Mr Orwell? Yes, I know….

Anyone who is using this moment to attack Labour rather than the Tories are part of the problem.

This, from someone who condemned the graffiti ‘attack’ on the tories… :D Who are we allowed to attack then? Please enlighten us.

I’m more concerned with having a fairer society, than the fortunes of any party. I’m not a Labour member or voter. So go ahead; blame me. It’s all my fault.

So; prove them (and the Times) wrong then.

I completely agree that the Telegraph is a shit-sheet. But in this instance, they are publishing facts. That Labour is charging people money for access to politicians and Starmer. A system which obviously only favours those with money.

Good lord, the Express used as a source

And Skwarkbox

Ah, shooting the messenger. Would you prefer it if I used an ‘approved’ media source?

Here you go:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/03/keir-starmer-challenged-to-publish-all-campaign-donations

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/labour-woos-rich-donors-after-unite-cuts-funding-bxjw80wsn

Feel free to prove any of the above wrong.

Its all relative how about people who spend their disposable income on driving to BPW to ride their E-Bike while people South Sudan are struggling to eat. Or even owning an iPhone while they starve, It’s the same, just does not fit the narrative, the narrative is its always the fault of the government and the rich.

Bollocks. Bezos is an employer, and as such has a moral (at least) responsibility towards the welfare of all his employees. It’s literally his fault that his employees are struggling to make ends meet and having to piss in bottles because they can’t afford to take toilet breaks. So your analogy or whatever it was you were attempting, doesn’t hold water.

We had 13 years of a Labour government and by and large, it was a pretty reasonable showing.

Reasonable? That government laid the foundations for the shitshow we’re now all watching unfold!

In fact you might say they behaved exactly like the previous government.

Funny, that, eh?

Shame they took us into a illegal war

Yeah; shame that countless numbers of innocent people died or were maimed, shame that millions were displaced and traumatised, shame that an entire region was massively destabilised. But at least the rich didn’t get any poorer, eh?

That the choice at the last election was those pair of muppets is the most damning indictment imaginable of our failed political system

Here he goes… :D

As for the real reason for Starmer’s absence at he vote; he probably looked at the tories with their sleaze, and just thought ‘pots and kettles’.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1472393/labour-party-news-sir-keir-starmer-donors-access-rose-network-chair-circle

Starmer selling access to front-benchers for £500. Plus VAT. Online

https://www.businessinsider.com/keir-starmer-linked-labour-group-fined-14k-failure-declare-donations-2021-9?r=US&IR=T

Nah, it’s always been about entitled whining middle class women.

And that was my point. It’s a term that is used only towards women; ergo, it is sexist. And I thought we’d done that issue some weeks ago?

Its the system
Its the voters that don’t understand
Its the media

Well, because this is largely true. The ‘system’ is rigged in favour of those with wealth and privilege; this is just a simple fact. The voters largely don’t actually understand all the finer nuances of politics and ideology, and the mainstream media at least is mainly owned and controlled by right wing concerns. Social media can and is manipulated by those with lots of money, to spread propaganda. so it’s hardly that the Left ‘blames’ these factors for the current mess; they’re simply stating facts.

They seem to be obsessed by making rich people poorer, does not matter what happens to the poor as long as long as Starbucks are poorer. They would be so happy if we all had nothing, because the rich people have lost.

See your own comment about ‘the voters don’t understand’. Because this is just utter rubbish. The goal of the Left is to create equality amongst all, regardless of privilege of birth, wealth, etc. And if that makes a few obscenely rich people a bit ‘poorer, so that the rest of us can have a more fair share, then so be it. I’m all for that. Anyone who spends their disposable income on ‘space travel’, whilst many of their employees struggle to make ends meet and have to piss in **** bottles because they’re not allowed to have toilet breaks, then they have too much money, and it should be redistributed more fairly. I can’t understand how any intelligent, right-minded person who believes in democracy, freedom and equality, could argue against that.

In the last two election I went into the voting booth and just stared at the voting slip and thought what the hell do I do here.

It’s a fair point. You’re definitely not alone.

Are you trying to make yourself look daft?

No, but you are, obviously.

Right. How very convenient. Hasn’t he been isolating for the last 18 months or so? :D

Funny how none of those questioning Corbyn’s vote did the same regarding Starmer. Almost as if they’re blinded by their zealotry…

Why do some people have an obsession with Corbyn?

Because someone told them to.

Edited to add What was Jeremy Corbyn’s excuse for not turning up ?

Given how much he’s been paid over the years for his rent-a-gob performances on Russia Today and Iranian state TV, he was probably thinking of pots and kettles

:D Delicious.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2021/nov/04/how-did-your-mp-vote-on-the-owen-paterson-case

So; Corbyn voted against. Are we allowed to mention that Margaret Beckett, Ed Milliband and KIER STARMER didn’t vote/abstained? Or does that not fit the narrative?

Ah yes, exactly that. Seems it was a simple painted/veneered MDF rack, that the separate components bolted onto, rather than anything more exciting. Quite disappointed now. :(

So; using a sexist slur against the driver is ok? Or is there a male equivalent of ‘Karen’?

Speaking of Quad, does anyone know of a modular system that had a back unit the different modules slotted onto? I don’t know if it provided power, or if it was just a rack system. Looked cool on display in Harrods, in around 1982-3ish.

B+O really did aesthetics.

I have an old Beomaster 3500 ‘receiver’. Still working perfectly. Gives a very good sound in a smaller room. Run it through some old Castle Richmonds. All bought for relative peanuts. In terms of actual sound quality, I’ve not heard much that can match that set-up, that hasn’t cost many thousands.

I love the warmth, generosity, and mutual respect, this thread generates.

It’s the irrational rage boiling up in some people, inevitably contributing to climate change. :(

So enlighten us then

Maybe when you’ve calmed down and stop imagining things.

I didn’t say ‘only’ stoners, did I? Like I said, it’s a useful crop but it’s not the world saviour. However, stoners and/or hippies seem to focus on it for some reason in my experience.

Why mention ‘stoners’ and ‘hippies’ at all? Hemp has been used by humanity since the dawn of time. For a multitude of reasons. You clearly don’t know very much about the plant species; what we call ‘hemp’ is different to the variety cultivated for use as a drug:

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1605/hemp

https://www.healthline.com/health/hemp-vs-marijuana#marijuana

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2013/05/29/industrial-hemp-a-win-win-for-the-economy-and-the-environment/?sh=63e74faa289b

It’s worth learning about this amazing, extremely versatile plant.

*high fives fellow crop duster*

Move swiftly, and be silent…

Crop dusting?

I do this in art galleries.