User Profile

[malvolio]

Because they are attacking Hamas who are hiding behind a wall of civilians? We don't know two things; how many of those civilians are actually Hamas fighters(and have never seen any numbers on that other than the IDS ones...) and why Hamas are persisting in not making any effort to stop the Israelis...

[malvolio]

Ryanair's business model is you pay for everything and they pay as little as possible. (Their pilots are threatening to strike is a good example of the latter.) They also use the cheapest gate they can use; fly to Dublin and it's a half mile walk from the gate to Arrivals. They also have interesting...

[malvolio]

Yes, but duty of care rules also apply. If a person could be at risk going out by themselves, then some form of restraint is needed. My MiL's home had one controlled entrance in the wing where the dementia patients lived (plus, obviously, alarmed fire exits), the other wing was open beyond the usual...

[malvolio]

Starmer is a long way from popular. A few more "changes of mind", political errors or blatant tax grabs and he would quickly lose popular support. If that happens there are plenty of candidates out there to replace him. His only saving grace at the moment is he is in the centre, and most putative...

[malvolio]

The pros of a good care home for a relative with dementia far outweigh the cons. You won't know that until you experience it (twice, in my case).

My MiL had to go into care. We used a private one for three years at which point the house had been sold and she was down to the pitifully small...

[malvolio]

Yes I am. It's their choice if they do that. I'm not saying it's pleasant or even desirable, but it's not a right


No, I'm saying if they have a real job earning an income and contributing to the UK, then that's not an issue. But we have no obligation to find housing and social care...

[malvolio]

Ah. Must have missed that one!...

[malvolio]

Foreign students are fine, and they pay a huge amount into the universities. What's wrong is allowing them to bring in their families; they are here to study not work. When you have a proper job in the UK, then you can bring in everyone else....

[malvolio]

Job impossible. Like fixing the NHS, it's is doable but only if you fix a dozen underlying problems first. It's too easy for interested parties to block all sorts of government led initiatives these days, often for spurious (or possibly purely political) reasons....

[malvolio]

Which perhaps shows there are factors outside the government's immediate control that are driving such failings?...

[malvolio]

Not quite. The clearance is not yours, it goes with the role; no role, no clearance.

However the convention is that the results of the vetting will be held for up to 12 months, and if you get a new offer where the same vetting criteria apply, then you can most likely transfer the...

[malvolio]

Still don't understand, do you? It's about the difference between socialism and conservatism, not about Labour and Conservative. Religiously sticking everything into a pot with a label is the same stupid tribalism that most football fans favour, it saves them having to think....

[malvolio]

Thanks for totally missing the point. And sorry if its too complicated for you to understand what I say.

Put it this way, I'm not talking about parties, merely events....

[malvolio]

Thanks for the considered unbiased response. Always good for the soul to have a good giggle.

Yes it's all crap right now. Why it is crap right now has deep-seated causes stretching back to the 80s. However you are clearly one of those who finds it easier to blame your favourite whipping...

[malvolio]

The Tories didn't strip anyone of anything, that is just another urban myth.

If you want to blame someone go back to Thatcher and the push to de-nationalise things. While that was on many ways a good idea (compare your telecoms now to what BT were delivering in the 80s for instance), the...

[malvolio]

Always worth remembering the impact of 2008-09 was much larger following Brown's mismanagement of borrowing, and as a result the Tories were in a far worse position in 2010 than Labour are now. Also the impact of Covid and the reaction to it, plus Ukraine did a lot of damage and racked up a lot of...

[malvolio]

Got one today - Horse and Owl mental health therapy for men... ...

[malvolio]

The Right/Left debate over immigration is and always has been a sideshow, a simple way to categorise the political landscape for simple people

The left are actually about taking from the rich and giving to the poor - redistribution is the actual term they use - whereas the right is basically...

[malvolio]

A group of candidates with no recognisable party structure (Reform is essentially a private company owned by Farage) with a few please-the-public soundbites for a manifesto and no chance of enacting even those? They got votes on the basis that they are neither Tory nor Labour.

Then again,...

[malvolio]

Totally agree. I think Starmer has about a year or so before his lot are as popular as the Tories are now. That year will be OK-ish on the back of the economic progress that they inherited, but they will no doubt claim responsibility for it.

Reform PLC got exactly what they deserved and...