ECCOnoob

Well they are still better than those rabid left-wing, pie in the sky thinking, communist loving, immigrant hugging, union worshiping, benefit scroungers who would vote for a donkey with a red rosette just waiting to come along I'm bankrupt the country again See, I can do lazy generic stereotyping as well. Until the losing side gets a grip and realises that their massive defeat in the last election was not totally at the door of hardcore immigrant hating right wing brexiteers they are never ever going to find a solution to their obvious problems. Their defeat was not black and white. They need to actually listen to people and take interest into why they lost their electorate support. Instead they choose to bury their heads in the sand, preach to the already converted and sit there playing the blame game on everyone else for their own failures.

Quite a lot actually. That's why lots of GP's are desperate to run their little private businesses, set up LLP, become partners etc all to make sure they get their slice of these nice little earners.

I was just thinking that myself. Impressive as the advances in technology are, I don't understand why they cannot design an electric vehicle that doesn't look like it's been lifted straight from the pages of some kids drawings. Almost every single eCar, bus or other type of e-vehicle seems to have some absolutely bizarre angles, points, quirky shapes, ridiculous interiors, impractical doors, computer game style dashboard systems, gimmick filled central consoles..... All no doubt adds lots of pounds to the price tag and in my view, generally puts off your average man on the street consumer who just want a half decent reasonably priced run around to get them from A to B which actually looks like a normal car but they can just get in and drive without 101 apps to download and a degree in computer sciences. I suspect scaling it up bus and truck companies must also be thinking the very same.

What central truth? Did they die solely because of covid? Did they die because they smashed their head against the wall 1500 times coincidentally after they tested positive to covid? Did they die because they took a flying leap in the middle of the M1 coincidentally after they took a positive test to covid? Where's the figures. Where is the clear unbiased context. Where is the detailed peer reviewed analytic breakdown of all the reasons why these people died and why allegedly it is solely the fault of the current government. Who knows? A person who certainly doesn't know is disgruntled ex-employee Dominic Cummings doing his wild speculation and pot stirring in some desperate revenge. I hope Mr Cummings is being paid well for this debacle. The amount of bridges he is burning and feathers he is ruffling with his behaviour is quite something. He's extremely lucky he doesnt live in a country where he'd have to be keeping one eye over his shoulder after all this.

Taken to court for what exactly? Have you even got an inkling of what we are dealing with here. It is a global pandemic. It is completely under the control of an institutionalised national and even international systems. Decision making and policies involving thousands and thousands of people enacted by thousands and thousands more people. We are talking about an outbreak which is constantly changing. We are talking about trying to control members of the lay public some of whom willingly follow rules to the latter and others exhausting vast amounts of effort to rebel against them. We are talking about vast amounts of conflicting information from different research, academic, theoretical and corporate authorities all battling to achieve supremacy that their are actions are the best. We are talking about vast amounts of media manipulation, biases, polarised opinions and conflicting publications. Of course with hindsight mistakes will have been made. But they will be made by every other government in the world and by every other institution involved in this crisis. Jesus Christ, if we take a good long hard look at ourselves as lay members of the public, with the benefit of hindsight, many of us will concede that our chosen actions may not have been the right ones. This short of childish simplistic finger pointing of a single selected boogeyman completely detracts from the realities of the situation. Sometimes, the grown-ups need to realise that there is not always a single point of blame and often no blame at all. It's less about about finger pointing about who did what when and more about learning the lessons to stop it happening in the future. Absolutely.

I would agree with that in part. What we have ain't perfect but neither are the alternatives. There is certainly no proof that said alternatives would perform any better or even differently in the same circumstances. That is why I get frustrated when some posters make these ridiculous generic statements such as "vote them all out" or let's "get rid of this Tory scum" as if its going to magically change the situation or as if there is some wonderful much superior alternative just waiting to take control.

To replace them with who exactly??? That is one of the biggest problems.

Errm. No you don't. What about the big giant escalators and purpose built lift that connect between the interchange footbridge and a dedicated entrance to the mall. Just how exactly do you think people get back to the bus and train station when the shops have closed? What do you think they've been doing all these months of the pandemic when most of the M&S store has been closed off and shuttered up? Think you need to be a little more observant next time you go. Now since you are obviously a fan of the emojis to emphasise a point.. ah yes... perfect fit... 🙄

Calm down. I've told you twice now that your behaviour on this forum is not a good look particularly when you chose to name and shame this employer for some quite frankly trivial complaints despite the fact that employer is still deciding whether to give you a job. You throw out such complaints into a public forum inviting debate and then instantly get overly defensive when people raise criticisms of you - which they are entitled to do. You may have the anonymity of a username but it is not very difficult for someone to put two and two together and then before you know it your internet persona will start having influence on your reputation in the real world.

The percentage basis rather than fixed amount of the current VAT system already does the job if hitting the higher spenders with higher tax naturally. Its basic maths that somebody buying 20p smart price chocolate biscuits from Asda is going to be paying less VAT than someone buying a £12.95 box of handmade freshly baked belgian chocolate biscuits from Fortnum and Mason. Somebody buying an entry level Kia at £6,500 is going to be paying less VAT then someone purchasing a Lamborghini at half a million pounds. A person having to heat a two up two down terraced house is going to be paying far less VAT on their fuel bills then some millionaire living in their 8 bedroom mansion. You seem to be advocating people buying items which have some completely arbitrary label of excessive luxury get penalised twice. They already pay more VAT £amount because their item has a higher price tag but then you want them to get slapped with extra tax for some completely simplistic and jealousy ridden reason that if they can afford to purchase X item in the first place, they must be "rich" and deserve to be penalised even more. So, those "rich" people suddenly choose to stop buying those "uber-luxury" goods on regular basis, the businesses suffer and of course the VAT income drops through the floor. Then, what about all those poor low income earners who scrimp and save for months and years to be able to treat themselves to a luxury vehicle or piece of home electronics or piece of jewellery. What a nice way of suddenly making it even harder or in are some cases completely impossible to achieve.

I thought it did go pretty well actually. The nil point was pretty much expected, partly due to ongoing brexit wounds but mostly due to the fact our entry was a mediocre, albeit competently vocalised, song with pretty forgettable staging. Half the appeal of Eurovision is the OTT ridiculously costumed acts performing some completely weird routine. Given all the coronavirus turmoil which is still very much in force - they pulled off quite a good show. It seemed better paced than previous years and didn't to me feel like it was dragging despite it's near 4 hour length. I know we have all the usual anti- BBC anti-europe brigade demanding they stop funding the production and picking up their ball just because they didn't score any points, but let's be honest, the amount of viewers that would have attracted will be significantly higher than anything else usually put out on Saturday night and would have cost a fraction of the price to broadcast. As far as they're concerned they've all won. James what's his face may not get to walk away the trophy but he will still get his moment in the spotlight and a nice cheque from all the follow-up interviews, studio recording, radio playouts and download sales.

Nice bit of clickbait. Are you actually going to bother to provide some details and context or do we just toss it away into the attention-seeking bin?

Stop banging on like it's some area of historic and national importance which must be preserved at all costs. God almighty your historic pre castle trading area was destroyed when they built the castle on top of it in the 1000s. Its been raided, conquered, battled over, flattened and redeveloped multiple times since. Even your beloved Castle Market was a redevelopment of a development. It's over. It's done. That historic trading you are so precious about has evolved. Perhaps Amazon should build a warehouse on there. That's still trading right? That would make you happy right?

Certainly nothing positive that's for sure. I don't buy into the rose tinted view of what BR was back in the so-called "good old days". Privatisation may not be perfect but the incompetence and wastefulness of BR was something else.

You need to take on board the point being raised by the other posters. You may not have rated the whole interview process but that's entirely your own private business. Naming and shaming your potential employer on this forum and making seemingly negative comments about them in public is certainly not going to help your chances.

You do realise people go abroad for reasons other than holidays. What about all those who have family or other relatives who they have been cut off from for potentially over a year. What about those who have businesses or properties or other interests abroad which needs attending to and they've all been suspended because of the restrictions. What about all those thousands of people directly or indirectly employed or financially committed to the travel industry. Airlines, hotels, tour operators, resorts or even in some places entire towns who have been crippled by the restriction. Maybe try looking at the bigger picture. Just remember that the lockdowns and the recent deployment of the vaccine was not and is never about immunity from coronavirus. It was always about reducing the burdens on the hospitals and reducing the numbers of deaths. Nobody has ever said that coronavirus will go away. Nobody is ever said that nobody will ever get ill from it again. It might be with us for the rest of eternity. Just like other viruses. Just how long you think it's appropriate for the world to stop?

Wouldn't the more appropriate comparator when talking about the subject be the difference between a bus and a coach. They are both road vehicles and in theory, a person could travel on a coach a relatively short distance between two primary towns. Example there are plenty of coach routes that serve, say Barnsley to Meadowhall then to Sheffield then to Chesterfield etc...as part of a longer distance scheduled journey. Now, the point is would a passenger simply expect to be able to walk onto a coach without a pre-booked ticket or reservation. Would they really just expect it to be the same sort of hop-on local style bus service. If the answer is no, I don't really see why people would be so inconvenienced if they had to pre-book a seat reservation a few minutes before before boarding a long-distance intercity train service. To me it's the same principle. Two distinct factors on the railways. One type is mass transit multiple stop freely available services for the commuter the other is limited stop longer distance pre-booked intercity services. Perhaps the real problem here is that there is too much reliance on the latter to serve the needs of the former. Maybe that is what really needs to change i.e. getting our rapid local commuter services up to a better standard.

That's fair enough. But at what point do the wealthiest start to think sod this and leave to go somewhere else where they can keep increasing their income. Who then picks up the slack to keep up that high level of benefit to the lowest earners. Does the middle portion get squeezed even more (as usual). At what point does it go full circle and we start having the inevitable conflict and resentment of those modest earners feeling they are funding the lifestyles of others who can but choose not to work. That feeling is a hard thing to break.

What sort of area of Law are you looking for Anna? Some solicitors may offer a no win no fee or fixed fee arrangement dependent on the merits and type of case. To be honest, for lots of personal law types of category the days of the old first hour free then £xx per hour thereafter are long gone. Most solicitors have some form of initial consultation or even a dedicated helpline and then have a range of different payment schemes. If you are in a union through work even have some types of enhanced health insurance policies those may also have their own referral services to legal providers you can enquire with.

From looking at the role advertised, there may be several areas of concern to the employer which may have an influence on any decision they make. For example, several of the tasks are safety-critical which they will need to consider against your disabilities, particularly the deafness and dyspraxia. You mentioned earlier about flexibility and I see the role description states there is a rota of 8, 10 and 12-hour shifts. If the Venue closes at 6:30 that does not necessarily mean staff finish then. There may be lots of other work behind the scenes before the end of a shift and if you were unable to commit to the hours then that may have impact on their decision too. For the employer, it may also be a simple case that another candidate with more relevant experience or skills for the role comes along after you. Whilst I'm sympathetic to the difficulties you face in seeking employment and of course support all efforts to ensure fairness and reasonable adjustments to candidates, ultimately i think you may find it very difficult to raise sufficient arguments and evidence that you were denied this job purely because of your disability. On a side note, if you are seriously considering pursuing some kind of formal action I would be very careful naming companies and speaking too publicly about the situation on here. That will not do you any favours if you wish to bring a claim.

I would agree. In fact it has already been proven during coronavirus times how easy it can be. LNER have had a policy of mandatory reservations to join their intercity services which can be made as late as 5 minutes before departure. Personally I feel it's what all of the the longer distance rail companies should have been doing and would welcome it going forward. As everybody gets on board they all have a place, they all know where they need to go and with the exception of extreme circumstances such as major disruption or special events there should be no need for or waves of people cluttering up the aiIsles and standing in corridors. More companies adopted this procedure and the longer it became normality rail companies would then have real data as to what their passenger numbers are and would be more likely to push the government for funding into extra rolling stock. Let's face it, the longer we are silly enough to put up with being rammed into a corridor like sardines or literally sitting on the toilet because it's the only seat available the they will be inclined to change the status quo. Of course there is always going to be the difficulty of mass commuter trains and city centre rapid transit systems but they should be the exemptions to such rules.

In many cases its less about scammers using sophisticated techniques to bypass security and more simply chancing their luck.. If a scammer is not picking it up from some publicly available marketing directory from some website form you signed up in the past, they may simply be doing blanket coverage spam and seeing what responses they get. Ultimately, there is not much privacy in mobile numbers. The parameters are narrow and defined by OFCOM. In the UK they will nearly all start with 07xxxx and all be limited to a maximum of 11 digits. Therefore a quick bit of computer programming will be able to generate a list of everything that fits within that parameter and off the scammer goes. Dial or SMS out all the numbers in the list, any that get instant rejection or block get removed from the list..... send out second wave of dial out or SMS.... and keep repeating with slight variations on the text or automated call content.... It only takes a handful of victims resonding from tens of thousands of numbers for them to make their money.

It could be right. After all, the national minimum wage act did not come into force until January 1999. Even after that, wages for apprentices were still as little as £3.50 an hour. My first job in a law office was around that time and even as a qualified law graduate I was only pulling around £12.5K a year

Yes I have been to both locations. Several times. I don't know why you think I have an "agenda". I'm giving an opinion based on direct knowledge and observations. Nobody said you had to agree with it.

Would you rather it become an empty, unused, decaying building instead?