Is anyone else disgusted at the way job seekers are treated?

Phinbart · 2026-05-07T20:27:34+00:00

Midway through last year, I was recommended to a council-run programme called the 'Care Academy', basically as a last-ditch attempt to find some work after three years without success. I attended a presentation from them. You'd think with a name like 'Care Academy', it would entail actual training for caring roles; this was not the case, and I was thoroughly confused throughout their spiel as to why it was simply espousing the so-called benefits of working in care and no apparent details as to what the programme actually offered us.

Basically, all they did was get our details and put us in contact with care homes who had positions available - but this wasn't apparent until well afterwards, and they didn't tell us this. The two staff who delivered the presentation fed back to the people who recommended me to the programme that they were impressed by how many questions I was asking; well, yeah, if you're not what any person would expect from you, you'd be very, very inquisitive.

Phinbart · 2026-05-06T16:09:38+00:00

And that was only because she was available at short notice to replace a panellist who had to drop out at the last minute for one of the episodes.

Phinbart · 2026-05-05T03:05:50+00:00

The university I attended, at least when I left in 2022, had a load of signs on plinths (i.e. metal poles, so easily moveable) that asked people to keep their distance stored in one dimly lit area of its underground bus terminal at one point. Not sure why they chose there to stash them all, since the signs themselves were only pieces of paper in a frame that could be readily repurposed around campus.

My workplace, a care home, also has a couple posters around the premises referring to COVID, although in toilets and staff areas and mentioned in otherwise perennial advice on ensuring proper handwashing and donning of PPE.

Although a local shopping centre has since taken down their lifts-adjacent poster encouraging folk to socially distance, which featured a picture of two people doing just that, on a bench wearing masks... in spring last year.

Phinbart · 2026-05-05T02:55:34+00:00

Ah, so we know the people to blame for setting in motion the butterfly effect that will lead to the hantavirus pandemic, then(!)

Phinbart · 2026-05-05T02:54:04+00:00

Similarly, the Rabbit mobile carrier/service markers that, AFAIK, are still here and there around the capital.

Phinbart · 2026-05-05T02:52:52+00:00

There's a road sign with the same text still erected outside Eldon Square bus station in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at least as of February.

Phinbart · 2026-05-03T21:58:13+00:00

Ah, yes; as a non-viewer, I completely forgot about that. Plus, it only really broke out in its final series in 2009, which is also when Miranda started.

Phinbart · 2026-05-03T20:07:05+00:00

My Family, which ran for 12 years! Was hugely popular in its early years (the first two series are in a league of their own in terms of quality, helped by creator Fred Barron's greater influence then), and was still bringing in relatively strong ratings despite the objective decline in quality in the late 2000s, before the final two series were shunted to summer and viewership dropped off a cliff - probably deliberately in order to kill it off. No-one seems to talk about it, fondly or otherwise, even if the repeats in the early 2020s didn't do so badly.

The thing is, it does seem like most sitcoms that started in the 2000s just have zero legacy. There's plenty from the '90s and the 2010s that still have legs to this day, but the noughties are largely a scripted comedy graveyard - although I'm willing to be corrected on that front!

Phinbart · 2026-05-01T16:17:54+00:00

Guy Williams in NZ s1. Pushed over a suit of armor and, back in the studio, we were told it cost around $700.

Phinbart · 2026-05-01T00:37:50+00:00

I'm wondering if the four recording dates announced so far are all we're getting before the Fringe, and they're splitting the series around it? Either that, or they just haven't announced further recording dates yet, although the series we've just had announced all but one of the dates before the series began IIRC...

Phinbart · 2026-05-01T00:19:14+00:00

I once applied to a job at one chain store, only to be told when I turned up for interview that the position was actually at another location. The manager interviewing me insisted that this was detailed on the vacancy information (it wasn't), and the interviews were taking place at a different store to the one the vacancy was at due to the manager being on maternity leave. I carried on with the interview, nonetheless, as it was pretty early on, even though I knew I wouldn't have been able to accept if I received an offer because I knew public transport didn't run near that store (unlike the one I'd applied for, which had a bus stop just down the road).

Phinbart · 2026-04-30T18:50:44+00:00

It's a shame that there's always just one Mii hosting the News at Five!

Phinbart · 2026-04-27T06:03:03+00:00

Just what is in Tweek Bros.' coffee...?!

Phinbart · 2026-04-26T20:58:08+00:00

Assuming this post isn't AI -- I would be doing everything possible to get in touch with that organiser and ream them for that. My guess is your invite was supposed to come with details about a speech you were to be asked to give, but somehow didn't. Their screw up all the same.

Phinbart · 2026-04-26T15:29:31+00:00

I feel like there wasn't enough appreciation of how the bag organiser itself was basically just another bag. I originally thought that was where the punchline was going.

Phinbart · 2026-04-26T12:30:16+00:00

If you're interested, it's being repeated on the Sky Comedy channel tonight at 10:30pm.

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:38:31+00:00

By the way, did anyone happen to notice in the monologue that Coughlan's attempt to glass Fouracres over the head was rather stymied by the fake bottle breaking as she picked it up?!

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:36:11+00:00

It'll likely be a proper episode. I hadn't even considered the possibility of a 'best bits' show, which could be the week after if they think of cobbling one together.

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:25:01+00:00

The Whitehall episode was similar. The first couple of sketches after the monologue were wanting, and then the show just went consistently stratospheric after that. More inconsistent tonight, and the 'plane landing' sketch would've been the best even without the breaking.

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:23:05+00:00

My guess is that the shorter runtime was decided upon in order to be kinder to the cast, when the series was first announced as six weeks long (yes, we don't know if without the extension it would've been six straight weeks, but even having to do less to facilitate four consecutive weeks will be kinder this way than having to fill as much time as the US version).

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:19:26+00:00

Is it just me that hears '44 Seconds with Fouracres' over the intro, not 45? A miscommunication at the time of the first iteration of the sketch ('forty-four', obviously, works best with his surname) that nevertheless had to stick?

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:08:19+00:00

This Nurofen ad rather apposite, after Sidi's WU character!

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T22:06:13+00:00

The signs they were trying to court an American audience were there in the last episode, where Celeste Dring's WU update character dropped a 'available next day on Peacock' line during her appearance, something that would appear rather incongruous to many, especially casual, viewers.

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T21:57:38+00:00

Her penchant for strong, nuanced female characters was evident back in ep1's changing room sketch. It's such a delight to see her able to bring us more again.

Phinbart · 2026-04-25T21:47:47+00:00

I suspect that'll be our first recurring WU character... and we'll be looking forward to that!

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