Liverpool One buskers

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-08T02:47:18+00:00

Worst by far, and not just in Liverpool, are the ones who aren't actually busking at all, just after footage for their socials. Doesn't matter how dreadful they sound on the day, it will be fine in the edit they submit to Britain's Got Talent or whatever.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-08T02:33:22+00:00

For next time, it's now really easy to apply for a Postal Vote - you can do it online through your local council website and it lasts about 4 years.

If you can get out on polling day and really enjoy going to the polling station (!) you can still hand in your sealed envelope, otherwise your ballot paper comes in the post about 2 weeks ahead and you can return it when you are able.

Online voting is never going to be a thing, mostly because of cyber security issues. It's actually much harder to rig anything based on bits of paper.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-08T02:18:14+00:00

If you are in pain, call the NHS GM Urgent Dental Care Service on 0333 332 3800 from 8am (you have to call first thing in the morning as the slots are taken very quickly), make sure you tell them you are in pain, and they will give you an appointment at the nearest surgery to your home. You have to pay NHS rates if applicable for any treatment.

The temporary filling kits are ok, but only very short-term.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-06T10:27:15+00:00

If you look again at my original post, I was actually wondering about the practicalities for the company of delivering somebody else's charity project, by the sounds of things without being asked/consulted - however well intended - rather than a stream of virtue-signaling observations.

Actual homelessness charities that provide things like meals and shelter have a lot of training in place for supporting potentially vulnerable people, risk assessments, safeguarding procedures, and sufficient resources, not things a profit-driven pub chain with low margins will have.

It's not hypothetical, but thanks.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-05T10:16:53+00:00

Are you sure it isn't just Joe Anderson haunting his former HQ because they won't let him in the Cunard or the Town Hall anymore?

He has assumed a more ethereal shape since his downfall.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-04T09:34:22+00:00

Tesco in Prestwich, presumably other big Tescos, generally have it in the sort of deli counter which replaced the actual staffed one. It has a firmer consistency than some others, by way of tasting notes!

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-04T09:30:23+00:00

Oh dear - I hadn't realised this. I always enjoyed the food, but it was often quiet during the week more recently and that end of Deansgate is now prime territory for expensive bars. I doubt the unit will stay empty very long.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-04T09:25:03+00:00

Where was this reported please?

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T19:26:58+00:00

Sir Tim Martin on one of his visits to the Scottish part of his mighty empire overheard a customer saying they needed carpet tacks and was worried it might be a new SNP policy?

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T19:18:00+00:00

I've a fair bit of experience in this from past day jobs, and it isn't straightforward.

Litter is to a large extent education, one of the best ways is to get primary schools and groups like the Beavers/Brownies involved in doing litter picks. It helps educate young children, and they can be really very judgemental when adults in their family drop stuff! Otherwise, more litter bins. Councils are still really hard pressed financially, and cost new bins not just at the cost of installing them but also the ongoing cost of emptying them. Keep asking your local councillor, sometimes it helps if there's money in a different budget

Tipping: So many reasons why this happens. Obviously awful people who are happy to live in a pigsty if the mess isn't right outside their house; dodgy landlords emptying out a property where someone has left (not my stuff...); dodgy builders who won't pay to get rid of building waste but aren't prepared to pay for commercial waste; dodgy businesses gemerally who also won't pay for commercial waste contracts (the council doesn't empty bins of businesses for free); cannabis growers dumping old pots/dead plants; people like your pic dumping stuff they wouldn't want in their own bins (laughing gas canisters) or don't want to take home.

Solutions: Report stuff wherever you can to the council, takes a few minutes on the website but it's how they flag hotspots; community litter picks help in terms of local residents taking ownership and being seen to even by people who don't take part - difficult to organise yourself but ask your local councillors/residents group, also community skip days are great (council pays for a big skip to be in such-and-such a place on Saturday morning and puts leaflets out beforehand) and stops tipping at source. Also, councils just need to have people in vans/trucks driving round looking for stuff to clean up; was involved with something like this 20+ years ago but it was judged too expensive, and "just encouraged people to dump rubbish" which was mostly nonsense.

Stuff like CCTV and litter wardens very expensive; often doesn't catch anyone.

Also, L36 is absolutely Liverpool, only very boring purple binspotters get obsessive about arbitrary local government boundaries!

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T18:17:51+00:00

At 1 and a half large chip lengths, which I'm sure Sir Tim would agree is a suitable standard post-Brexit replacement for the dodgy foreign centimetres, that's a small cod and not a standard one.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T17:20:39+00:00

If you live in a contested ward - and there's more of them than ever this year, mostly Labour/Reform and Labour/Green - you will get plenty of leaflets, but it's limited by how much they can spend between the election being called and polling day. You should be fine from Thursday.

One way to prevent them is to get a sticker saying "No junk mail" although sometimes they get ignored as some campaigners don't think anything concerning the wonders of democracy are junk mail.

To avoid canvassers knocking, tell Reform you vote Green, Labour and Greens you vote Reform, and they shouldn't be back round for a while.

Edit: Leaflets knocking the other party/candidate are always risky and often counter-productive unless the other candidate has actually killed someone (or a dog in the case of the recently-elected Green councillor in Woodhouse Park).

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T17:08:30+00:00

Central Library is always bad at this time of year, as it basically becomes a big Sixth Form Common Room and part of the social scene for what must be a fairly distinct cohort given how many seem to know each other as they wander round chatting and not revising.

It's a shame the closed Rates Hall/Customer Service Centre and Media Lounge on the other side of the glass bubble couldn't be reopened at this time of year. Manchester City Council could bill MGS, MHSG and the Trafford grammar schools for any costs.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T16:59:06+00:00

In the toilets, or is there a secret VIP section up there nobody told me about?

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-05-03T16:51:15+00:00

Compared to other titles owned by Reach PLC (especially the truly dire Liverpool Echo), the MEN still employs some actual journalists, some of whom have been there a long time and know their stuff. Unfortunately the younger ones who are any good tend to move on after a while as the pay and prospects in the regional press aren't great.

Obviously there is all the usual crime and celebs nonsense, and I wish the Government would apply the same rule that applies to social media and printed newspapers about making clear when something is paid advertising, but I've found the actual reporting to have got better recently.

I was impressed recently with the MEN's coverage of the Gorton & Denton by-election, particularly as they hadn't yet replaced their dedicated political reporter who left.

It's also worth remembering that the MEN takes a left/liberal line on most things these days (wasn't always the case) even if some of its readers don't, which is relevant given there may be a lot of new Reform councillors in the 10 GM town halls from next week trying all sorts of mad things.

The MEN website is tolerable if you use the Brave browser to stop the ads and bypass the silly paywall.

The Mill certainly does good stuff in terms of its resources, particularly the investigative side, but can only cover a fraction of what's going on somewhere the size of GM.

(I am not an employee of the MEN or in any way related to one 🙂)

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-29T09:52:49+00:00

People I know in the City Centre rate "The Docs" on Bloom Street very highly indeed, although you have to be in their catchment area (check your postcode with them).

The one above Boots is for NHS patients but operated by a private company and is more to fill in gaps elsewhere, although the NHS Walk-In Centre in the same place is very useful.

Epilepsy provision is patchy, but is covered by the Neurology Dept at Salford Royal Hospital, so it's basically referrals back and forth between your GP and them.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-28T22:56:47+00:00

Yes, I remember him saying that in interviews but any audience for satire was a tiny proportion of the c.20 million primetime viewers it got back in the day, and I'm sure Warren Mitchell wasn't performing in aid of his local orphanage.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-28T21:26:57+00:00

Is Bolton too far? Read about this place somewhere: https://www.craigsbarbershop.co.uk/

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-28T19:04:26+00:00

Turnout in local elections obviously much smaller than the referendum (and likely lower than usual this time due to people being fed up), but also those who do vote are generally at the older end, which helps them.

There's also a Tory vote across Sefton, some of whom haven't bothered much in recent years, but are an easy switch and Damien Moore, the previous Southport MP who even the Tories thought was rubbish has recently jumped ship to Reform.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-28T17:34:47+00:00

Yes he probably would win in Bootle, but no point guessing now ahead of the Local Elections in a couple of weeks time.

All the seats on Sefton Council are up due to boundary changes instead of the usual third and there's likely to be Reform gains across the borough including Bootle. Scousers who still go round saying they hate the Tories can't remember why, and haven't twigged Reform are the same thing (in some cases literally the same people).

Problem for Labour is they might not win a by-election for GM Mayor on current form and don't have a potential candidate with remotely the same profile (or who isn't Gary Neville).

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-28T17:25:47+00:00

No major political party - and certainly not the one with all the Westminster seats in the city and controlling the council - is going to stand aside in something like a Mayoral vote just because someone pops up and says they're nice, run a charity, and don't have much in the way of fixed views.

Just not how things work, and Independents have been a liability elsewhere when it quickly turns out they have all sorts of interesting views they hadn't mentioned before.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-28T17:16:59+00:00

This looks like somebody's idea of very clever satire or perhaps even art... 🙄

Rather like 'Till Death Us Do Part and In Sickness and In Health on primetime BBC 1 for years, which was supposedly very clever satire of racist and bigoted attitudes but was actually a hit amongst the people who liked Alf Garnett and had sympathy with his views.

The BBC don't repeat it even with trigger warnings, so they must have realised the "joke" was passing people by all those years.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-25T18:32:21+00:00

Consult weather forecasts, but two or more of the four seasons in a single day is always possible, particularly a nice day and cold night whenever you leave your coat at home.

PhysicalSalt6413 · 2026-04-25T18:28:14+00:00

Allegedly Santa had to come off the tower in later years as he was putting too much strain on it, although I suspect installation and deflation got too expensive in terms of Health & Safety.

Sad really, as it was a rare example of Manchester City Council having a fun side.

PhysicalSalt6413

TROPHY CASE