Off Topic Thread 4.0

Buer wrote: »

24 hour turnaround from Screwfix for paint this week for me.

Still waiting on a new graphics card to arrive

Clegg

It's easy to forget that life must still go on during the lockdown. My aunt was in hospital earlier in the week for a serious enough surgery and my sister has a dental emergency which requires going to the dentist this afternoon. Of course, I'm worried about both and their chances of contracting the illness, but you can't just lock yourself in your room for the rest of the year. No matter how much you may want to.

awec

Buer wrote: »

24 hour turnaround from Screwfix for paint this week for me.

They don’t do colourtrend and only deliver within 15km.

I got sorted anyway.

troyzer

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I wouldn't necessarily describe him as well respected when it comes to the views of other economists in Europe, well specifically their views on his ability to plan and control a fiscal regime (rather than his actual area of expertise). Not sure about the multiple tenured professorships either, I think its just Athens? I think the rest were lecturing/honorary positions?

I never worked in economics but I did study it in Uni and made a few good friends there who went on to work in treasuries, finance ministries across Europe and I don't think there'd be one of them who'd take him particularly seriously in that field. I'm sure his work and research with Valve was excellent because he is considered to be a thought leader in that field.

Rather than a brilliant macro-economist elevated in crisis to a position where he was undone by his enigmatic personality, I'd see him more as someone whose enigmatic personality raised him in crisis to a position where he was let down by his approach to fiscal policy.

I think he makes for brilliant TV though. If he's on Question Time, I'm watching. And he writes extremely digestible books which is badly needed in economics for dopey tech-heads like me. I just wish he was more into aggregate demand and less into inventing magical crypto-currency clearing mechanisms

You're right actually, I'm thinking of his visiting roles.

I don't think it was his approach to fiscal policy that let him down. His clearing house idea was born out of the stranglehold the Euro had at the time on his ability to inject liquidity into the economy. It was novel, sure. But Greece were really on death's door at this point.

What ultimately let him down was his party leader being promised really small concessions if Greece swallowed another bailout when the party had previously agreed a bailout was out of the question. He found it impossible to negotiate when he was being undermined and all of the other finance ministers knew it.

He did have a great ally though and that was Christine Lagarde. Who is now the president of the ECB. It was well known that the IMF at the time was much more sympathetic to the Greek position than the Eurogroup or the ECB.

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

I dont argue with the claims that Labour has had issues with anti semitism, but there has also been a lot of muddying of the waters about what constitutes anti-semitism as opposed to anti-zionism or even just anti-Israeli-expansionism.

Well there's some of those muddy waters right there. Zionism is the movement to establish and support a Jewish state in Israel.

Rigor Mortis

I dont argue with the claims that Labour has had issues with anti semitism, but there has also been a lot of muddying of the waters about what constitutes anti-semitism as opposed to anti-zionism or even just anti-Israeli-expansionism.

irishbucsfan

Deleted User wrote: »

I would generally be sympathetic to Corbyn's politics but his willingness to oppose his own party should be celebrated. He opposed Iraq and despite very serious internal backstabbing he never engaged in the type of cull Boris performed as soon as he took power.

Corbyn isn't anti-Semitic, it would run contrary to his entire and well established ideology and he has been consistent on his positions for long enough that you can take that at face value. He clearly loathes the state of Israel's actions both historical and ongoing but the rate of anti-semitism in labour mirrors that of the wider public and I think a large part of his reluctance to tackle the 'problem' was that he didn't agree it was a serious problem.

There was definitely some pretty extreme anti-semitism among the grassroots lexiteer bunch who seeped into the party when Corbyn rose to prominence. When I worked in England I had a colleague who was a long, long term member of the labour party who resigned because of anti-semitism creeping into his local area. It was very sad to see, he'd spent so long working for the party there.

Anyone acting like it wasn't a problem is just completely fooling themselves. Multiple resignations of parliamentary party members, lots of departures at grass roots level of actual hard-working party members, it doesn't just happen because they felt the whim to resign for the craic.

All the comparisons to Michael Foot were correct. Corbyn left the Labour party in a far, far worse state than it was in after Miliband, as hard as that would have seemed at the time. I can only imagine what the state of their front bench would be if they did win the next election. Surely the weakest the Tories and Labour have both been at the same time.

Buer

Bazzo wrote: »

Jesus that's a fairly embarrassing gaffe from Harris...

Shocker. He has done a relatively decent job overall. It hasn't been as good as many are reporting as we're simply obsessed with comparing ourselves to the UK but he's been solid enough. This will give his opponents plenty of ammunition to embarrass him though. Pretty cringey.

Bazzo

Jesus that's a fairly embarrassing gaffe from Harris...

Buer

awec wrote: »

Everyone in the country must be painting the house during lockdown, I've been trying for ages to get paint and kit delivered and there place has either stopped taking orders due to stock problems or has a huge backlog.

24 hour turnaround from Screwfix for paint this week for me.

awec

Everyone in the country must be painting the house during lockdown, I've been trying for ages to get paint and kit delivered and there place has either stopped taking orders due to stock problems or has a huge backlog.

stephen_n wrote: »

For all the so called popular policies, he wasn’t very popular with Voters. He came up against the most despised Tory government since Tatcher and was utterly ineffective. The only reason he got close to May was because they campaigned on the basis there was no way they could win. He was the pro brexit head of an anti Brexit party. By the time he realised he had to publicly back remain, the ship had long since sailed. His PMQ’s were completely shambolic, a 5 year old could have out maneuvered him there.

Yeah. Failed to land a punch on the weakest government the UK has ever seen until it was too late to have any effect. And at the end, meekly rolled over and gave Johnson the election he needed and ultimately his majority. The Tories own brexit, but Corbyn has a massive share in it. Right from the time of the campaign onwards. Completely inept and very poor at the actual graft and manoeuvring of politics.

stephen_n

Deleted User wrote: »

I can understand where you are coming from but I think Corbyn quite clearly never had a chance despite having generally very popular policies.

Half his own party were working as hard as the Tories to oppose him and he was grotesquely smeared by an overwhelming majority of the media. There is plenty of legitimate criticism of the man, but there is a staggering amount of misrepresentation that rendered him undetectable.

The worst thing to happen to British politics in the last 20 years has been the complete abandonment of accountability. It's taken a mass pandemic for there to be enough scrutiny of the government to show just how worryingly incapable they are and I still feel that the media are going far easier on a group of Ministers who may turn out to have thousands of deaths on their hands but rendered a life long pacifist less popular than a paedophile in the public's eyes.

Yes it's bad that Britain has had no opposition over the last 5 years, but quite a lot of wealth and influence has been behind ensuring that - less so Jeremy Corbyn.

I watched Today's PMQ's and Boris should be concerned. Raab was clearly prepared and was a city lawyer. As much as he tried to pivot to the type of jingoism this cabinet loves, Starmer refused to allow him move away from a series of facts which are highly damaging to this government that he couldn't explain or justify. Boris won't be prepared and doesn't communicate well on serious topics. He's going to have a fridge installed in the commons.

For all the so called popular policies, he wasn’t very popular with Voters. He came up against the most despised Tory government since Tatcher and was utterly ineffective. The only reason he got close to May was because they campaigned on the basis there was no way they could win. He was the pro brexit head of an anti Brexit party. By the time he realised he had to publicly back remain, the ship had long since sailed. His PMQ’s were completely shambolic, a 5 year old could have out maneuvered him there.

stephen_n

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The only way McWilliams' proposal is feasible is if you introduce some sort of promissory note system that means it can be spent in retail stores etc and redeemable by the business from the government.

But the counter argument from a monetary policy point of view would be that income supplements are an alternative to that proposal, as you try to bring people's income back up and give them that breathing space.

Be interesting to see the longer term plans for self-employed though. I'm not really up to speed on that aspect of things, but I'd imagine it's a hell of a lot more daunting for anyone in those shoes, especially if you're reduced down to the 350 a week as a sole earner.

One 4 all cards for everyone

prawnsambo wrote: »

I think one of the most telling comments on Corbyn was that the only Labour party leader he didn't oppose was himself. I dug into some of the anti-semitism stuff and there's certainly a case to be made that he was (at best) loathe to stamp it out because he seemed afraid to look as though he was pro the Israeli government. And that gave carte blanche to those in the party who had anti-semitic leanings.

I would generally be sympathetic to Corbyn's politics but his willingness to oppose his own party should be celebrated. He opposed Iraq and despite very serious internal backstabbing he never engaged in the type of cull Boris performed as soon as he took power.

Corbyn isn't anti-Semitic, it would run contrary to his entire and well established ideology and he has been consistent on his positions for long enough that you can take that at face value. He clearly loathes the state of Israel's actions both historical and ongoing but the rate of anti-semitism in labour mirrors that of the wider public and I think a large part of his reluctance to tackle the 'problem' was that he didn't agree it was a serious problem.

Deleted User wrote: »

I can understand where you are coming from but I think Corbyn quite clearly never had a chance despite having generally very popular policies.

Half his own party were working as hard as the Tories to oppose him and he was grotesquely smeared by an overwhelming majority of the media. There is plenty of legitimate criticism of the man, but there is a staggering amount of misrepresentation that rendered him undetectable.

I think one of the most telling comments on Corbyn was that the only Labour party leader he didn't oppose was himself. I dug into some of the anti-semitism stuff and there's certainly a case to be made that he was (at best) loathe to stamp it out because he seemed afraid to look as though he was pro the Israeli government. And that gave carte blanche to those in the party who had anti-semitic leanings.

He was also an idealogue and they don't generally succeed in politics.

Dave_The_Sheep

I'm not blind to the point that is being made regarding a weak opposition, particularly during a time of collective monumental stupidity ... also called Brexit. However saying that the leader of the opposition (regardless of how poorly he has performed) is worse than the people in power who put Brexit on the table, lied to and mislead the people into voting for it, then cheerlead it through parliment and are now pushing ahead with it regardless ... is simply bizarre. He could and should have done better, but he wasn't the one in power and wasn't the primary problem.

Corbyn deserves criticism for his stance and his general apathy when it comes to stopping Brexit and for plenty of other things. I somewhat admire the man personally, but he's clearly not electable by the British public (for a host of reasons, not all his own fault as Venjur notes above) and I wish that had been recognised far sooner. As unfortunate as that is, it's the way things are. Hopefully Starmer can do better (won't be overly hard).

mfceiling wrote: »

Probably an aggregator site as the credit card gives the name as "Car Target Group" and the rental company were "B Rent"

That's where the problem could arise. Aggregator has your money and only pays the car hire firm a discounted amount or may have been even holding back some.

I have stayed away from them for a long time now and only go to locals. Always get very good deals and no messing about with huge insurance waivers on the CC or big premiums.

Former Former wrote: »

Good. The worst thing to happen British politics in the last 20 years wasn't Farage, Brexit or Boris, it was Corbyn.

I can understand where you are coming from but I think Corbyn quite clearly never had a chance despite having generally very popular policies.

Half his own party were working as hard as the Tories to oppose him and he was grotesquely smeared by an overwhelming majority of the media. There is plenty of legitimate criticism of the man, but there is a staggering amount of misrepresentation that rendered him undetectable.

The worst thing to happen to British politics in the last 20 years has been the complete abandonment of accountability. It's taken a mass pandemic for there to be enough scrutiny of the government to show just how worryingly incapable they are and I still feel that the media are going far easier on a group of Ministers who may turn out to have thousands of deaths on their hands but rendered a life long pacifist less popular than a paedophile in the public's eyes.

Yes it's bad that Britain has had no opposition over the last 5 years, but quite a lot of wealth and influence has been behind ensuring that - less so Jeremy Corbyn.

I watched Today's PMQ's and Boris should be concerned. Raab was clearly prepared and was a city lawyer. As much as he tried to pivot to the type of jingoism this cabinet loves, Starmer refused to allow him move away from a series of facts which are highly damaging to this government that he couldn't explain or justify. Boris won't be prepared and doesn't communicate well on serious topics. He's going to have a fridge installed in the commons.

Former Former

Podge_irl wrote: »

I see Starmer appears to not be utterly and completely useless, unlike his predecessor. Bodes well for the UK in general I should think to have a functioning opposition again.

Good. The worst thing to happen British politics in the last 20 years wasn't Farage, Brexit or Boris, it was Corbyn.

prawnsambo wrote: »

Did you book direct with the car hire company or with one of those aggregator sites?

Probably an aggregator site as the credit card gives the name as "Car Target Group" and the rental company were "B Rent"

mfceiling wrote: »

Right the plot thickens. I checked my credit card statements online and I turns out I prepaid the entire sum for the car when I made the initial booking back in May!!
Time to put a block on this.

Did you book direct with the car hire company or with one of those aggregator sites?

Podge_irl

I see Starmer appears to not be utterly and completely useless, unlike his predecessor. Bodes well for the UK in general I should think to have a functioning opposition again.

Right the plot thickens. I checked my credit card statements online and I turns out I prepaid the entire sum for the car when I made the initial booking back in May!!
Time to put a block on this.

irishbucsfan

troyzer wrote: »

I'm not usually one to **** on the media but Christ he was given a bad rap. They just focused on his leather jacket and motorbikes.

He's a serious economist with multiple tenured professorships. A really, really smart guy. Unfortunately, you need to read his books to see that.

His problem was ultimately his communication skills and how he allowed himself to be portrayed a dingbat rockstar trying to save the day instead of what he actually is: a well respected economist with radical views.

I wouldn't necessarily describe him as well respected when it comes to the views of other economists in Europe, well specifically their views on his ability to plan and control a fiscal regime (rather than his actual area of expertise). Not sure about the multiple tenured professorships either, I think its just Athens? I think the rest were lecturing/honorary positions?

I never worked in economics but I did study it in Uni and made a few good friends there who went on to work in treasuries, finance ministries across Europe and I don't think there'd be one of them who'd take him particularly seriously in that field. I'm sure his work and research with Valve was excellent because he is considered to be a thought leader in that field.

Rather than a brilliant macro-economist elevated in crisis to a position where he was undone by his enigmatic personality, I'd see him more as someone whose enigmatic personality raised him in crisis to a position where he was let down by his approach to fiscal policy.

I think he makes for brilliant TV though. If he's on Question Time, I'm watching. And he writes extremely digestible books which is badly needed in economics for dopey tech-heads like me. I just wish he was more into aggregate demand and less into inventing magical crypto-currency clearing mechanisms

Neil3030

mfceiling wrote: »

Not sure but I'm pìssed to say the least. Sent them a rather snotty email but they're Italian so it'll be a shrug of the shoulders and carry on as usual.

Sicilian, right?

Call them a bunch of "terroni"

Derogatory term for southern Italians, used by pompous northerners. They'll love that.

Stheno wrote: »

Why'd it take them so long to cop it?

Not sure but I'm pìssed to say the least. Sent them a rather snotty email but they're Italian so it'll be a shrug of the shoulders and carry on as usual.

Stheno wrote: »

Why'd it take them so long to cop it?

Every business in the world is staring pretty hard at their finance spreadsheets right now.

Stheno

mfceiling wrote: »

Turns out the rental company are legit and after checking my credit card online, they forgot to charge me for the rental and only the insurance!!

My fault I suppose for not checking at the time but it was midnight and I had a 2 and a half hour drive ahead of me and couldn't get out of there quick enough.

Why'd it take them so long to cop it?