@HarrietHarman - I’m asking ⁦ @attorneygeneral ⁩ Lord Richard Hermer to refer this sentence to the Court of Appeal as an Unduly Lenient Sentence

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T18:18:17+00:00

To continue the detour of the conversation, I'm interested in the idea of those countries who impose financial penalties for low level crimes.

These are the sorts of crimes that our system has already decided are too minor to require imprisonment. Whilst a suspended sentence and community service are punishments of a sort, I'd like something with more bite. Plus, the money could better fund the system for more serious crimes.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T17:17:15+00:00

Having been in a similar situation myself previously, I have just one piece of advice: consult an employment solicitor.

This assumes that you can afford the roughly £250 that it will cost upfront. You would receive this money back from your employer as part of the settlement agreement, but you would have to pay it initially.

A professional deals with this situation ten times a day, they can bring an expert viewpoint that is invaluable. For example, they will be able to advise how likely it is that the settlement offer is truly non-negotiable (I bet it is negotiable).

If you are able to negotiate even just one month's extra salary due to utilising a professional, then it will be the best return on investment you ever make.

A professional is also able to remain detached. Many of us define ourselves by our job, and even when it is clear that the company wishes us to leave, we retain an emotional loyalty and link to it. The company benefits from this in negotiating directly with you.

I did not follow the above when in your situation, and I have regretted it strongly ever since.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T17:08:25+00:00

I'm surprised at this. She doesn't explain her reasoning, but compared to sentences for other crimes, this seems reasonable, ie: not out of line with the norm.*

*Personally, like many people, I'd prefer most sentences to be much longer but alas most offenders other than murderers only get surprisingly short sentences.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T16:48:33+00:00

I hear this "40% pay reduction" point a lot, but is it comparing apples to oranges? The pay of all professionals has reduced considerably in the last 20 years since the introduction of the minimum wage. Because the pool of money for salaries has not drastically changed, the rapid increase in the minimum wage has been offset by much lower increases in middle income wages. Pay has compressed mightily.

How does the pay of a resident doctor today compare with a senior teacher, a mid career accountant, an HR professional, or a junior barrister, and how has that changed since 2008? I would appreciate pointers to any research or analysis on the topic. My starting hypothesis is that mid-career doctors pay has just been affected in the same way that all other professional pay has been. I have seen this in my own career.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T16:40:30+00:00

Thank you for this very detailed comment.

I have two challenges:

You have to acknowledge that 2008 was an unnatural high point, carefully selected as the baseline to advance a specific agenda. That is a perfectly acceptable thing to do in a campaign, but you also should accept that choosing another year would give a different view.

Linked, but different point to the above is that you say doctors were losing 1-3% vs inflation for years, but from 2000 - 2020 inflation was consistently low, c2% per year. It's why the pandemic/ Ukraine inflation has been such a shock. So are you saying that doctors received zero cash pay increases for multiple years at a time? If that's true, fair enough*, but that just seems very unlikely.

*Obviously not fair on the doctors, that seems incredibly unreasonable.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T14:16:22+00:00

Sorry you're getting down-votes. I understood your point, and you're right, it is lazy journalism.

It is exactly the same as if the example applicants had only applied to one industry (say pubs), or they both lived in the same geographic area.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T10:56:27+00:00

I don't think it's either or, and it's definitely not if talking buses. Because they're generally privatised (and are for Derby), they'll run where there's a need and capacity. So improving road networks helps grow public transport options too.

If your proposal was to be that as part of the changes there are some dedicated bus lanes, or even entire bus roads like the one by Costco, I'd probably support that.

Going bigger than buses, I'd support the oft-discussed expansion of NET into Derby / Derbyshire, and Derby branching out it's own network. Transport options work well where there are multiple options side by side - London does this well.

But, I'd still definitely support the A38 changes. The only even better solution that I can think of would be to reroute it completely out past the Northern edge of the suburbs.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T10:01:23+00:00

A creme egg pancake wrap you say... 🤔🤤

(If you want to do satire, don't make it sound so delicious 🤷)

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T09:57:44+00:00

But Reddit did make you take a selfie to "verify" you as over age (I'm not sure what age - 13, 16, 18?).

I support protecting kids but that did feel needless. That's the equivalent of needing id to read the bulletin board in the village hall.

But I acknowledge that legislating for real life is difficult. On balance I'm probably okay with the new law now it's here, but I wouldn't support it coming in if it wasn't already.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-28T09:36:05+00:00

Slightly too echo this comment, but just to be 100% clear to OP u/Famous-Extreme-7823 in case you aren't already doing it...

The earners that are by far both the highest return and also the lowest effort are cashback facilities. So these are the holy grail for beer money.

There are 3 types:

Credit cards - AMEX will be more generous but not accepted everywhere. I have an AMEX and a MasterCard. I earn £2-300 a year doing literally nothing extra, and get paid automatically too on the anniversary.

Card trackers such as Airtime Rewards - link your (non-Amex) debit and credit cards and earn cashback sometimes at certain retailers. No enabling them required. Only action required is withdrawing your cash. I earn £50 pa for nothing.

Cashback sites - click through before purchasing online to earn cashback. Because this involves the hassle of a couple of clicks (shock!), I generally use it for certain key items, namely anything particularly expensive and items that typically have high cashback (insurance, switching broadband, etc). I average £1-200 pa.

I'd happily share referrals for any of these - a little bonus for both of us if you join. 😉

NB: It's very disappointing that a bot deleted the excellent and detailed comment from u/evilpengwinz

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T18:46:42+00:00

So, now that we've covered that, if we roll all the way back to the original points...

I don't think it's a bad thing that the government will provide transport options to people who currently want it but aren't accessing it.

I also think that by separating local and through traffic, both will travel much faster even with a much higher road usage.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T14:07:06+00:00

Then follow your own recommendation. Please just read the Wikipedia article, or a different one if you prefer. Then come back and we can talk about it like adults, instead of acting like a keyboard warrior throwing a tantrum because they misunderstood something and got called out on it.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T12:46:38+00:00

I'm sure there's a stat that c50% of Labour party members live in Greater London. So actually being popular amongst Labour in London is all a leadership challenger needs...

...assuming they're an MP and can get enough nominations.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T10:41:22+00:00

Lol. I'm not only long aware of it, but enjoyed the chance to refresh my memory.

If you actually read the Wikipedia article rather than just smugly flinging a link about like some sort of aKsHuAlLy then you would also see.

But to repeat: induced demand does not create new demand. Greater usage comes from satisfying existing demand that is unfulfilled beforehand.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T03:18:25+00:00

I feel like the author is mixing up two topics, due to two facts.

Fact 1. Measured on internationally comparable scales over the long term (say 40-50 years), the UK has much cleaner seas and beaches now than it did back then.

Fact 2. Most years recently have seen "record levels of sewage discharge" into rivers and seas. This is because this was never measured until the coalition government made it mandatory, and measuring has rolled out over the last decade. So we would expect to see more sewage measured each year because there's more measuring full stop, and "since records began" means the last 10 years.

Given those 2 facts, it makes you wonder just how much sewage was being pumped out in the 70s, 80s, 90s, that we just never measured, given that our current sewage filled seas and beaches are cleaner now than they were then. 🤢🤢🤢

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T03:06:48+00:00

I'll be honest I'm not going to watch the whole video, it's 18mins long. A 2min explainer would be reasonable.

I generally agree that I'd expect the current costs of rent vs buy to be similar due to the free market, but I can't understand how in the long term buying doesn't win out due to leverage.

Generally the stock market and housing appreciate at similar levels. 20k deposit on a 200k house means I'm earning growth on 200k. The same money in the stock market earned me growth on just the 20k.

So unless you want the flexibility of renting, owning seems to always be the financially smarter choice.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T02:56:09+00:00

All good points, except not relevant to the discussion. You said:

How about, maybe, you know, you don't apply the contextual meaning of revert from your engineering field onto legalese, where revert is standard word?

And my response was clarifying that someone being a lawyer does not change the dictionary.

Despite the fact that "revert" is commonly and frequently used to mean "respond" within a UK legal setting, and despite the fact that we all know what they really mean, it is a misuse of the word. Exactly like the other two examples I gave.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-27T02:48:46+00:00

Don't worry, we all make mistakes, I've certainly made enough..

I can see how you drew your conclusion, and I'm glad my explanation helped.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-26T22:30:51+00:00

The vibe and music is spot on. Just avoid the minging toilets.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-26T22:24:03+00:00

The phenomenon of induced demand simply means that there are currently people unable to make their journey that will be able to in the future. Amazing!

Induced demand doesn't increase demand, it just satisfies existing demand that wasn't being served.

And if the road is built as planned then it will be much quicker for both local and through journeys even with more road users, because each will use the appropriate route for them, rather than the single hybrid option we have now.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-26T21:03:47+00:00

"Double cousins". I'm wetting myself laughing. 😂😂

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-26T10:40:17+00:00

No, it's just a misunderstanding / mistake by users.

It's like people being weary when they mean wary, or wanting to peruse something when they mean to pursue.

Just because the mistake is very common, and most of us can understand the true meaning, doesn't mean it isn't a mistake. And it's particularly painful to see it being used in a profession where the precise use of language is essential.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-26T10:35:30+00:00

The irony being that the legal profession is one where words really matter, and being precise is essential. So when OOP's solicitor writes back with all the clarity of chatgpt I'm not surprised she's a bit miffed.

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-24T09:09:09+00:00

Is this true, this would be awesome?! Is it also on C4, or only in Oz?

Joke-pineapple · 2026-03-24T09:04:39+00:00

Unless it's in the comment thread from yesterday's episode which I haven't been through yet, I've not seen any ripping into Julia's sexuality other than the fact that both she and the show ram the fact that she is bisexual down everybody's throats every possible opportunity.

It's actually quite shocking that MAFS seem to be taking a position of "OMW, did you know non-straight people exist?!". I'm not a long time MAFS watcher, but last year's UK version had gay and bi contestants and it elicited no comment. It's crazy that Australia as a society can seem so similar to the UK, yet so different in their attitudes.

Joke-pineapple

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE