That’s not so bad – if he was carrying a hammer and a smirk, you in a heap ‘o trouble. ;)

Legal system totally fubar’d by 14 years of intentional destruction.

I believe that the standard centrist response to that sort of criticism is…….”Would you rather have a Tory government?”

Heaven forbid the debate start in a civil fashion.

Liam Muir, defending, said Connolly … was distinguished from other offenders using social media in that she had sent the tweet at the heart of the case before any violence against asylum seekers had started.

I’m not sure that calling for violence against asylum seekers before actual violence against asylem seekers started is quite the defence he thinks it is.

Gotta say, I wouldn’t be surprised the news spread but I’d be pissed the caretaker’s asking me about it.

I’ve just started reading Beyond by Stephen Walker. NASA was pretty shonky at its beginnings but oh my goodness, the Soviets!

That’s a fantastic read, enjoy. :)

I read Beevor’s D-Day recently, how he writes suits me down to the ground. Just making a start on Sleepwalkers, by Christopher Clark, about the causes of WWI (whole lot of Serbian characters I’m struggling to remember at the start of that!), and my first Pratchett, The Colour Of Magic. That one’s a little lighter. :)

I SO need to read more…

And what consequences should there be to an employee expressing his frustration at the relatively lenient sentences secured by his employer when compared to the exemplary sentences laid down for rash and deeply unpleasant posts on social media?  

I’d be interested in your thoughts on that – a quiet word? Verbal warning? Awareness course? Immediate cessation of chocolate ration? What do you think will be effective?

Good to see the workplace Stasi alive and well.

Freedom of speech does not and should not mean freedom from the consequences of that speech.

Great – works again now, thanks. :)

I wasn’t aware of the phrase, but I WAS aware that the people getting jail time for social media posts were those most directly inciting hatred and calling for violence on what seem now to be almost completely unregulated social media channels.

Another one here where the /forum URL doesn’t work. On the plus side, I got more work done yesterday. :)

Ooo, nice – thanks! :)

“I would never do that”, then immediately does that.

Just heard about “Lieutenant Dan”, who plans on riding it out at sea on a 20ft boat.

Pity the poor sods who have to go looking for him…

FFS…

No one wanted or forced jonv to flounce, he did it all on his own. 

Well – he didn’t. Reading back over the last few days, there’s an increasing spiral of condescension and vehemence, a sense of a “pile-on”, if you will, and it’s a real shame you can’t see it. Where this place becomes a hot mess is when threads become point-scoring exercises – we’re adults, we can hold different opinions and admit mistakes, but genuine attempts to hold good faith discussions so often get dragged down into this morass of pointless, infuriating division.

Anyway – I said I was done here and then like an addict I came back.

I’m really trying so I’ve reported my post and asked the Mods to ban me, until my subscription lapses anyway. Getting into arguments like this is affecting my mental health – or maybe my mental health is getting me into these arguments (Poopscoop, dead right) and what I’m getting from this place now isn’t worth the effort.

I’m sure you’ll be back to say I’ve said it already, hence the need to ask for the ban. To those that have helped over the years; thanks. I apologise to anyone I’ve annoyed, particularly recently.

This makes me profoundly sad. :(

The point is you can always go back further, or point to this or that, but what matters is the choices made in the present. Hamas chose violence a year ago today (as did Hezbollah a year ago tomorrow), and Israel then also chose violence.

Been pondering this. The problem for me is that it ignores motive, as though 7th October was a bolt from a blue sky.

Just for info, I ordered directly from the retailer – Amazon was their delivery solution of choice. That’ll learn ’em.

I actually spoke to the driver (or A driver, I imagine turnover is pretty high) over the summer when they left another parcel on the doorstep – asked him not to do it, he just said sorry. I said don’t be sorry, just don’t do it! He said he thought there was someone in – that’s a shit reason to leave a parcel on the doorstep without ringing the bell or knocking the door.

I suggest you think of an alternative arrangement that will work for you and speed up the process for the driver.

So, just to check – the customer has to find the solution for the driver?

I’m not without sympathy for the drivers – believe me, I’m not. But the corners they have to cut to adhere to Amazon’s principles mean extra cost to smaller retailers. The issue here is 100% Amazon as a company.

Not at all. Pretty stupid to store it in their basement.

From someone whose stated intention is not to play down deaths, that response is saddening.

What a tiresome and predictable response. Everything’s so black and white, isn’t it.

I’d hoped not wilfully putting civilians at risk from the mortal danger of high explosives would be a pretty black and white issue. Am I wrong?

Fair play – Amazon delivery for Mrs Pondo, knocked the door and rang the doorbell, handed the parcel to me. That’s more like it. :)

I wouldn’t report unless stuff went missing.

That’s my big problem with it now – I had no way to report non-delivery to them (just that it wasn’t where the driver said it was – “thanks for the feedback”, they said, no way to escalate further with Amazon), so raised with the retailer who had to fork out for the replacement because Amazon said the driver delivered it “near” to the house, even though they declined to get a POD, which by their own terms they are required to get. If Amazon was paying out for the consequences of their shit treatment of drivers, that would be ok – it’s criminal that the retailer has to pay.

Was perfectly clear how facile the argurment was in the first place, thanks. :)

This…

I think it’s a good way to deliver. 

… does not jibe well with this….

… he just handed them to me in the middle of the street.. I supposed I could’ve been anyone… 

What they’re supposed to do if you’re in the shower or having a dump is look for a safe place, try a neighbour or take with them. Ours was supposed to get proof of delivery but did not, even though that’s against their own terms, but refused to countenance a claim for non-delivery because the driver marked it down as delivered “near” the house.

His attitude to it nowadays (now he’s got a much better job) is that people would be a lot more sympathetic to delivery drivers (not just Amazon) if they had appreciated the day-to-day realities of that particular job

Same as any other life experience.

Someone at Amazon has worked out the cost of replacing lost parcels is less than the cost of hanging around waiting for someone to answer the door.

Amazon replace ****-all – the retailer does.

You got the parcels, stop making a mountain out of a molehill.

We had two parcels nicked this week because they were left on the doorstep by Amazon. There’s no way to report non-delivery and the retailers covered the cost of replacements because Amazon won’t.

Fat chance of you bring able to report it to Amazon.

I agree that it’s bloody annoying that pedalelecs are conflated with electric motorbikes, but as someone who uses a legal ‘Frankenstein firebomb’  (old hardtail with a 250w tongsheng kit) due to disability, and can’t afford thousands for one that’s deemed acceptable , it wears a bit thin to feel slated by those who were fellow ‘proper’ cyclists not so long ago.

I think the complaint is that the BBC is not making that distinction, a distinction that people on here DO make. Not one of the pictures in the article looks like your bike.

Sweet mother of god – I’m in! :)

If I did I would get out of the car and send my license back to the dvla.

Bet you wouldn’t. ;)

Ironic – they rail about e-bikes, post pictures of e-motorcycles, then explain the difference between e-bikes and e-motorcycles.

I’ve had occasions where I’ve had to think which is the correct side, normally when on holiday or in the weeks after – only time I can remember actively doing it was when working in France 25 years ago, arriving on site and being asked to have my driving assessed, ironically. Was so focused on chatting and showing how little of a deal it was that I set off on the wrong side – was a valuable lesson!

We have a English friend with an apartment near Toulouse – he’s visited us before now and I’ve seen him head off down our road and go the wrong way round the roundabout at the end…

I think the main issue is all the delivery drivers are rushed to get the deliveries completed in their shift. 

I totally get that, and I do sympathise, right up to the point where I have to pay for their shortcuts. For our two missing deliveries from Monday, Mrs Pondo has had a straight refund, my retailer says there’s no POD, which is a breach of Amazon’s own terms, but they can’t claim because Amazon said it was delivered. So either me or the retailer is out of pocket – it’s absolutely criminal.

Amazon have a proud history of just leaving things on the doorstep, in full view of passing traffic including the hundreds on the school run twice a day (we’re right by the lollipop lady). Pretty sure we had our first doorstep theft on Monday – can’t say “not delivered” on the feedback form, only “not where they said it is”, to which they say “thanks for the feedback” and there’s nothing further they can do, so I now have to hassle the company we bought from for a POD. I even spoke to the driver last month – I was in, they didn’t ring the doorbell, just left the parcel on the step – he just said sorry. I’m not so bothered about sorry – I want a “next time we’ll ring the doorbell or leave it in a safe place”! Git.

Reform have a brief and shitty history of entirely manufactured fire-free smoke.

Cool, ok – you crack on, then, I’ll leave you to it. :)