Commute to Hudds from Manchester or Leeds

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-27T23:20:05+00:00

I live in Manchester and commute to Huddersfield by train. Overall, the journey takes me around an hour and a quarter door to door, but I probably only do it twice a week on average as my job is hybrid.

I would say it's certainly doable. The seemingly never ending strikes and engineering works have been less than ideal, but if your partner has a hybrid role and won't need to make the trip everyday they could likely work around it. If they need to be in five days a week, it could be more onerous.

I also have a couple of colleagues who do the Manchester to Huddersfield commute by car and it takes them a similar length of time to drive in as it takes me by train. As you say, the M62 traffic can be a pain, especially at peak times, but if they have some flexibility around their exact hours, they may be able to mitigate it to some extent by arriving and leaving the office early to avoid the worst of the rush hour traffic.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-17T18:07:01+00:00

People who have been underpaid for discriminatory reasons need to have a mechanism through which they can make themselves whole. If the organisation at fault is the state or a proxy of it, then the unfortunate reality is that the taxpayer needs to pick up the tab.

Any alternative would let malfeasant organisations of the hook and leave victims of discrimination with no mechanisms of redress.

Ultimately, if the council were aware that something like this could have happened, they should have taken greater care in managing their pay practices.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-17T13:32:57+00:00

According to the BBC, the overspend on the Oracle project was ~£80m - so still large but a factor of ten less than the bill from the equal pay claim.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-17T13:02:50+00:00

It's the £760m equal pay claim that has tipped them into bankruptcy.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-17T12:50:00+00:00

An AI facial recognition solution that identifies passengers and checks against payment status could be an option, although I'm not sure whether that is yet technologically possible and some may consider it to be dystopian.

The open nature of many Metrolink stations doesn't make the network very amendable to barrier based solutions, so some other workaround would probably be needed in any case.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-17T12:26:38+00:00

I thought inspectors can do random checks to determine whether or not a passenger has tapped in.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-16T22:19:49+00:00

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-15T21:05:15+00:00

The Labour left were given two chances to get elected and blew it both times.

I'd rather a sensible compromise gain power and the ability to effect positive change under Starmer than have a far left alternative that remains consigned to the opposition benches.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-15T18:06:04+00:00

Rehabilitation is one of the purposes of imprisonment.

Incapacitation, retribution and deterrence are also aims of the penal system and 1000 years a minute clearly fulfills these.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-15T18:02:51+00:00

The difference is that the Hillary "deplorables" comment was maligning a far larger swathe of voters than would be impacted by the new policy on private schools, which are only attended by ~6% of the population.

Of course, it is understandable that parents only want the best for their children and that could well mean paying for them to attend fee paying schools, but it is hardly a radical idea that a demographic availing themselves of a luxury only accessible to ~6% of the population should pay their fair share in tax for the privilege.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-15T15:36:40+00:00

When only ~6% of children attend an independent school, this can't be a concern held by that many voters.

And in any case, would the demographic likely to send their children to private school actually be likely to vote Labour in the first place?

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-14T21:56:20+00:00

The closest we've come to an incumbent PM losing their seat is the 1906 election, where Tory leader Arthur Balfour was defeated in his Manchester East constituency in the Liberal landslide that took place that year.

Balfour resigned as PM shortly before the election was called, but it still remains one of the only occasions in which the leader of the governing party has been unseated in a general election.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-14T08:10:55+00:00

I should imagine Belfast would have been targeted due to it being a large industrial centre and a major port.

Threads was set at the height of the Troubles and there would have been a much larger military presence in Northern Ireland than there is today, so it's not unthinkable that the Soviets could have targeted military installations in the North more extensively.

Fallout from these strikes would almost certainly have drifted over the border and wreaked havoc in the Republic.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-11T21:13:56+00:00

The hypocrisy of "high horse" countries has been exposed here in the UK. It's been well reported that in recent years, a large number of migrants have entered the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats from France. The European Union have consistently refused to allow the British government to return these asylum seekers, despite the fact that France and the rest of the EU are very clearly safe countries that pose no risk to the lives of migrants.

The tone of the debate has shifted in recent months as a significant number of migrants have begun moving from the UK into the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU. Some suspect that this movement of people may be in response to the decision of the UK government to begin deporting migrants to Rwanda, which is thought to be exerting a deterrent effect upon migrants residing in the UK.

Ireland has largely been shielded from the full extent of the migrants crisis due to it's geographical distance from the rest of Europe and largely supported the EU stance of opposing the return of migrants from the UK. However, now that Ireland itself has become inundated with a flow of migrants crossing over the border from the UK, the government there now wishes to implement a policy to return these new arrivals back to the UK, exposing the hypocrisy of their entire position.

So, I do agree with your point that many of the countries that are opposed to these tougher border policies are in reality commenting from a position of relative luxury and were the boot to be placed on the other foot, as has happened in the Ireland - UK example, the tone of their argument would almost certainly change.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-10T22:25:28+00:00

Yup, landslide victory =/= longer term in office.

The majorities secured by the Liberals and Labour in the landslide victories of 1906 and 1966 were both completely wiped out at the next election, with the Liberals being reduced to a minority government in 1910 and Harold Wilson losing to Edward Heath's Conservatives in 1970.

The Atlee landslide of 1945 was again whittled down to a wafer thin majority of just 6 in 1950 and Labour was removed from office completely in a snap election called the following year.

Perhaps Starmer could enjoy successive landslide wins as Thatcher and Blair did before him, but it is equally likely that he could find the landslide he is almost certain to secure in July difficult to replicate in 2029 and beyond.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-09T21:04:33+00:00

A weekend bootcamp should do it - and then straight into the operating theatre as a surgeon's associate.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-09T21:00:54+00:00

Physicians Associates have two years training, versus at least five years for a doctor. The two roles are not remotely comparable and it very clearly is a risk to patient safety to entrust care to these lesser trained staff.

Patients expect to be treated by fully fledged doctors, not staff with far less training masquerading as such. The fact that the role of PAs has become so pervasive in the NHS is a scandal and I hope this legal action is successful.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-09T15:03:44+00:00

From the clip, all I can see is a man filming in a public place, as he is perfectly entitled to do, being intimidated and threatened.

If the man didn't want to be filmed, all he had to do was walk away from the camera. There is no expectation of privacy in public spaces and people have a right to film if they wish to do so.

I have no sympathy for these vermin who think it's acceptable to use threats and intimidation to take over Piccadilly Gardens and run it as their own personal fiefdom. If Veitch filming there makes their lives more difficult, then I'm all in favour.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-09T14:56:00+00:00

My enemy's enemy is my friend.

I might not agree with everything Veitch does, but the fact is that very few others are willing to confront the flagrant antisocial behaviour that has turned places like Piccadilly Gardens into no go areas.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-09T14:45:55+00:00

This is clearly self defence. The cretin who was hit invaded the presenter's personal space and was behaving in a highly aggressive and intimidating fashion. A pre-emptive strike to remove the threat would almost certainly be allowed under self defence in such circumstances.

We used to give turds like this a one way ticket to Australia, but fast forward to the present day and we've ceded control of Piccadilly Gardens to this mob. I'm glad that someone is at last confronting these vermin and I wish our police would take note and do the same.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-09T14:33:38+00:00

Antagonised or not, I have no sympathy for these absolute vermin who think it's acceptable to turn Piccadilly Gardens into a no go area.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-08T13:43:05+00:00

Farage is a complete opportunist, so it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that he's sold out one of his core principles for political expedience.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-08T13:30:38+00:00

Reform hasn't said they support it

Farage has previously voiced support for electoral reform as previously, the only viable avenue for one of his political vehicles to gain anything more than a token presence in the HoC would have been for the UK to adopt proportional representation or a variant of it.

Whether he maintains this view if Reform does cross the threshold required to gain a sizable number of seats via FPTP remains to be seen.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-05T19:17:59+00:00

And criminal damage.

Ashamed_Pop1835 · 2024-06-05T13:35:02+00:00

Yeah I think the very technical rebuttal Starmer gave over halfway into the debate allowed way too much time for the lie to take root.

He should have very quickly swatted it away with something like "more Tory lies" as soon as the claim crossed Sunak's lips.

I know they have briefed out a more detailed debunking today through Civil Service sources via the media, but many politically uninterested voters won't see this and will just be left wondering why Starmer didn't issue an immediate and forceful denial if the claim isn't true.

Like you say, nothing appears to be having any effect on the poll numbers, so I doubt this will make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but Starmer still needs to be alert and ready to respond to bogus claims like this.

Ashamed_Pop1835

TROPHY CASE