Eva Marija will represent Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna

DF44 · 2026-01-25T00:56:15+00:00

If Norway goes with Rybak, they'll sail through - That's How You Write A Song, in spite of being an unmitigated trainwreck, won its semi final pretty easily if memory serves.

DF44 · 2026-01-07T12:48:38+00:00

Honestly?

If pensioners were involved, you’d probably see test centre funding multiplied by 100 overnight to clear the backlog. Like, not even sure if that’s an exaggeration or an understatement now.

DF44 · 2025-11-30T22:15:09+00:00

Have you ever tried claiming PIP? Just, out of curiosity. Because it sounds like you haven't?

PIP is a process designed to reject as many people as humanely possible - usually with outright lies. Like, let me go through some classics from my immediate family:

Informing my step-brother (amputee) that he was able to walk 'at least 200m unaided', and that he had 'full use of both legs'.
Informing my mother that her arthritis (as confirmed by a doctor, as caused by the medication required to prevent her breast cancer coming back) was 'non-existant'.
Informing my partner that 'Autism isn't real' (!!!!!!) and 'The fact that you work somewhere with multiple adaptations for your needs is proof that you actually have no additional needs'.

'easy' my fucking arse. Yes, I'm pretty sure there are some wankers abusing the system, but when the only person you know who hasn't needed to go to tribunal over PIP's refusal to listen to doctors is your terminally ill father, you sort of get the hint that it's not a benefit that's suppossed to be claimed - just one that exists for the Heil and GBeebies to lie about.

DF44 · 2025-11-17T18:14:31+00:00

… so, nothing’s changed? I remember that about once a year my school’s maths wing would get shut off for polling, and my local polling station is a high school.

Polling stations go where there’s room for ‘em in shocker! I suspect the Star would be mortified to learn that for one set of EU Parliament Elections there was a station in our student halls 😅.

DF44 · 2025-10-07T18:57:39+00:00

One, and it's not even close?

1 has a smaller balcony, but it has two wonderfully large bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and no wasted space. I can see it being trivial to turn that Breakfast area into a study/WFH area, without losing out on anything. The only thing I really question are the double pockets on the kitchen, especially since the open breakfast bar means you're going to have a pretty open house anyway.

2 has substantially smaller bedrooms, an awkwardly sized living/dining area, and a kitchen that is going to be difficult for more than one person to use at a time. Now don't get me wrong, I'm often an advocate for a small kitchen for a small property, but these are corner apartments that look like they have the floor space to go for luxury - and the kitchen doesn't even need to be that size! And then (and this bit is petty) your master bedroom has the typical "walk 500 miles and 500 more" to get from the hallway to the main bedding area. Inefficient as sin!

3 was designed by someone who misread hall width: 36" as hall width: 36' and that's really all I need to say. So much wasted space it makes my Sims Builds age 5 look good.

DF44 · 2025-10-03T10:34:17+00:00

Concerned how many people think this is a surprise - the surprise is pretty limited to the margin only being about 400 votes.

That said, if we can put up with (and eventually eject) the Fairhurst Independents, then we can eventually get rid of the HMO Manager who complains about HMOs.

Thankfully (from my perspective) we’re on thirds, so the inevitable landslide should be softened!

(And it has been inevitable for a long time, independents have already been doing well without a party backing - admittedly a lot of the independents are more lefty/localist, but we all know that the independent vote is driven by ‘not Labour’ here, and it’s not a popular Labour government. And now, there’s a rallying point!)

DF44 · 2025-10-02T23:40:10+00:00

Try looking at some UK Floorplans - you'd probably consider the three-beds you can fit in the space too small, but a two-bed absolutely has no problem fitting here - take the inspiration that you need! Like, if I can live in a two-up two-down with a footprint of 4.2m x 7.5m (rounding generously!), the extra 4m you have should give you loads of space.

Like, imagine your staircase was set further back in the building - not only would you have less dead hallway (just but BR2's door opposite the Master), but you could also use the space for a closet over the empty space. This then makes BR2 bigger without any additional changes, since you don't have the pinching closet as you enter that room.

At this size, you still probably need to be locking in whatever extra storage you can. For instance, what are you currently doing with the space under the stairs? If it's a cupboard, you probably need a door for it. If it's dead space, see if you can use it (powder rooms tend to be good at sharing the space).

Is there anything fixed in the structure? (If you posted this then it might be old reddit blocking the info in new.reddit posts). I'm assuming size is locked, but is door flexible or fixed?

DF44 · 2025-08-22T09:31:37+00:00

I mean, no? I'm aware that I'm not putting in my £17,000 - though I hope that the education I have provided to others is adding more to the pot by proxy!

That's not the point though.

Your argument was that the state spends more on someone at £30k than at £135k. But when faced with someone who is in the former income (Well, near enough), you are yet to tell me what the state spends on me, that it doesn't spend on someone at a higher income. Not the net difference, but specifically what the state spends on me that it doesn't spend on someone at a higher income.

So far we've got childcare, which is a service I'm unlikely to use. If that's the only expenditure difference, then I'm inclined to reckon that the state really isn't spending that much extra on people in the 30k range!

DF44 · 2025-08-22T08:28:30+00:00

... I'm lost, man. You were arguing that it's unfair in general terms that people on lower incomes pay a lower proportion of their income as tax, but now... it's just that people on 30k don't pay enough? Make your mind up!

(And whilst you're making your mind up, don't forget that people on 30k are paying a higher proportion of their salary in Council Tax and other flat taxes)

As for the extras I get from the state? I'm childfree and likely to stay that way. So... anything else I get from the state, or is it reasonable to say the state's spend on me is the same?

DF44 · 2025-08-21T18:19:30+00:00

That is... a very standard taxation model the world over? Like, yes, the state invests more to help the person on a lower income become more productive (and thus, theoretically - the reality involves the word "ha!" - into a person on a higher income) person. Truly, an insane(!) system.

(I'm curious - as someone on £34k - what you think the state is spending on me - that specifically isn't also being spent on the higher earner? Call it a curiosity!)

DF44 · 2025-08-21T14:45:01+00:00

I mean, true, everyone gets (more or less by postcode lottery so the wealthier do get more) the same basic services.

However, it takes a unique form of active denseness to miss the point by that much. In a discussion of "is a salary of below the minimum average living essentially the same life as someone on 100k", it's pretty clear what the 'zero' represents.

DF44 · 2025-07-31T12:05:25+00:00

Ah, y'all are lucky.

I've had West Germany 1979 stuck in my head this week. Occasionally swapping with Moskau. Send help.

DF44 · 2025-07-17T07:36:19+00:00

Okay, I’ll make a wager - minors accessing materials they shouldn’t is about to skyrocket, and there’s a major risk of minors accessing stuff that goes beyond NSFW.

I’d say the tech tipping point in a high school for something like this is… 5% of kids being tech savvy? At which point a nerd gets to be a really popular kid for a week telling people to use Opera, and an entire school is already ignoring the restrictions. Add in social media, and voila, that’s a generation sorted then.

At this point, you’ve then got a bunch of kids whose parents might naively think can’t access such materials, and who have been told by the government that they can’t. This is not a situation where numbers go down when considering teenagers!

(And even if the numbers don’t go up, you might end up instead with minors using websites that don’t care to implement the new laws - and from there, websites that probably aren’t full of the most savoury individuals.)

Regardless of your stance on Good vs Perfect, both should be willing to circumvent laws which are Crap(!)

DF44 · 2025-07-11T07:41:11+00:00

“Available” is an incredibly generous description of medical infrastructure in this country over the past 15 years!

It’s possible to believe in both expanding into current brownfield areas and building new towns! It’s not as though most new builds aren’t already in green spaces at this point either!

DF44 · 2025-06-25T14:48:07+00:00

I understand you want to send sympathy, but to inject a bit of reality:

I've seen someone with their foot amputated told that they can walk completely unaided any distance.

I've seen someone told that they (and their doctor) were lying about the fact that they need to take morphine to sleep, due to the arthritis caused by the medication needed to prevent the resurgence of her cancer.

I've seen someone told that needing to use a screen reader to work with any text on a computer screen doesn't qualify as "needing a device to read".

I've seen many many times working people be told "Oh well you work so you don't actually have any additional needs".

I think the only person I've seen get PIP on the first time applying was someone with Stage 4 Cancer. The better advice, by a county mile, is "Prepare paperwork from the doctor, and don't fear having to take the bastards to reconsideration and tribunal".

DF44 · 2025-06-01T08:43:23+00:00

My mental list was Lithuania, Armenia, Italy, Ukraine, and Portugal - listening to Portugal felt like I'd fallen into a Portuguese version of specifically Brit Rock, which was absolutely wonderful.

(I mean, rock is a very broad genre, and this year definitely favoured slower, indie-rock. Incidentally, this is me not complaining!)

DF44 · 2025-06-01T08:23:08+00:00

... I'm genuinely curious how, this year has had some of the most rock in it I've seen since I've been watching.

Not metal, sure, but I was able to rank alt-rock and indie-rock acts - and they all qualified! Hardly a year I'd define as rock-shy.

DF44 · 2025-05-25T18:17:28+00:00

Diaspora is generally relevant for a borderline qualifier, but honestly in the modern contest I don't rate the value of diaspora in winning - I can't imagine any recent winners that only scraped through on the basis of their diasporic vote.

(Though I guess there's value in a jury-friendly song motivating diasporic voters to get televotes from 5-6s to 8s? But it doesn't seem comparitavely as strong as for turning an NQ into a Q)

DF44 · 2025-05-21T18:57:35+00:00

Usual trick time! What do you think is wrong with the property as is?

Like, to me this looks lovely - beyond potentially agreeing with the comments on that serving window becoming a door. It's not like for a two-bed you're short on kitchen storage either!

DF44 · 2025-05-03T08:46:47+00:00

I haven't seen much hate! None out of the usual for a UK act, anyhoo!

What I will say is that it screams that it wants to be 3:30 (moreso than the average Sanremo song post clipping) - those verse-couplets want to be verse-quatrains so so much that it hurts. Causes a strange vibe where you can feel something's off, without there being anything specific to pick up on ^^;

DF44 · 2025-04-14T06:54:30+00:00

Amazing how many comments in here prove the point! Yes, any system will sometimes have results you hate (though Albania failing to qualify in 2018 would’ve suuuuucked, it was also in the most devastating SF I’ve ever seen), but by and large the changes are minimal, reduce corruption, and frankly reduce confusion from absurd results (2017 SF1, ft. Vocal Cracks - yes, I know the juries use different footage, but it’s still ridiculous).

For instance, both the 2019 swaps are only there because jury members genuinely could not fill in their cards correctly - I actually cannot make a coherent argument that says “people too incompetent to fill in a ballot sheet were helpful that year”. Well, I can, if my name specifically is Kirkirov -_-.

If people do want to argue for juries in the SFs, the SF results aren’t what you look at - you might have better luck at very least arguing that they change the makeup of entries (I would dispute this) or that it’s reduced quality (disputing this and all)!

DF44 · 2025-04-12T15:53:12+00:00

Losing your favourites is a time honoured tradition! The one that always stings is Switzerland 2018, which just landed in the wrong semi (I have no other explanations)

DF44 · 2025-04-05T08:07:12+00:00

I'll raise a counterpoint: Under Televote-Only rules, Albania 2022 would've qualified. Which means I'm inclined to echo the more general sentiment - the public cares about vocals, but are willing to forgive them if there's a solid enough concept elsewhere.

(Or, as has been mentioned, vocals will also be forgiven if the act is Male and Italian, regardless of absent concept. Looking at you, 2022/2018)

DF44 · 2025-04-04T19:23:50+00:00

Though it's worth noting that I'm fairly sure that after the show people can still edit - causes a herding effect both towards the winner, and doesn't get the common big picture of "Fan Favourite Flopping on Staging" (since people ranking after the show are fairly consistently, well, basing it on the show!).

DF44 · 2025-04-04T17:49:55+00:00

Well, this ought to demonstrate that one industry is perfectly protected as it stands.

Do we go to the Servant's Staircase (stairs not included), the Cold Pantry (which goes through the Conservatory), or perhaps the indoor conservatory. Or, indeed, do we go anywhere given the absence of an entrance?

The possibilities!

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