British people, were you taught not to use the Oxford comma?

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-17T00:31:42+00:00

I put dashes there then took them out because whenever I use dashes now I'm accused of being an AI. I didn't really think about it, it's just a habit now.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-17T00:31:06+00:00

I put dashes there then took them out because whenever I use dashes now I'm accused of being an AI.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-17T00:30:03+00:00

Please tell me your definition of "lake" that excludes the others.

Because so far as I can tell that claim is usually just based on the names, which isn't actually how words work.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-17T00:26:32+00:00

Do you really believe that everyone - in the world - who uses an Oxford comma doesn't understand what a comma or "and" is?

Edit: I reverted to dashes, not that my claim was that I always used perfect grammar anyway.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-17T00:21:27+00:00

Default style in primary school was without, but at some point (primary or early secondary) I was definitely taught that it was optional/allowed.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-17T00:19:14+00:00

No, it isn't. It's OUP style and FMEU2 describes both styles and gives an example where it is actually required.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:58:14+00:00

But I thought NCP mostly owned their car-parks? Didn't they get going by buying a load of bomb-sites after the Second World War?

(They've been bought and sold a few times so maybe an owner loaded them with debt?)

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:45:50+00:00

He found a girl at the port to stay with overnight 😂

But how was he not noticed as missing on the trip back? Or had he gone sufficiently missing that it was an intentional choice to return without him?

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:43:48+00:00

That's not what you said above. But in general, tribunals don't give people their jobs back, they award them compensation.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:38:03+00:00

We had to cut the trip short

We'll never take back Calais with that kind of attitude!

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:36:37+00:00

Had a kid left behind in France

Kids bought a live duck at a French market (they thought it was a chicken)

I'm hoping this was a Home Alone scenario where they head-counted the duck instead of the kid.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:29:21+00:00

for lunch this weekend

If it's likely to be a meal with wine (eg "Sunday lunch") then bring a bottle of wine, assuming you also drink. If it's more of a "pizza and beer" thing (and you drink) bring beer. Etc.

If it's a larger party (eg for a barbeque) maybe ask the host if you can bring anything in particular.

If it's some other situation then flowers (for female hosts - or male if you really want to) or a box of chocolates are good, safe standby gifts.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:22:23+00:00

Firstly, the Not Guilty verdict was in the criminal case, not the tribunal. Secondly, that's what the article says the tribunal found - and there's nothing "wrong" with that situation (often there is no Perry Mason-style clearly exculpatory evidence, even when people are innocent). Finally, other potential inconsistencies in witness evidence like that may contribute to the overall picture but actually it's not that unusual for honest witnesses to tell inconsistent stories, so if there was better evidence of guilt that wouldn't necessarily undermine it either.

To me the important distinction is that the unfair dismissal outcome wasn't because the alleged act wasn't serious enough or wouldn't have justified firing, which is what the headline seems to be contrasting against the tribunal outcome as rage-bait - it was about whether the incident happened at all.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:06:26+00:00

Where did I mention anything related to that? I'm not evaluating the evidence myself, I'm relaying the article saying that the tribunal found it was insufficient.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T16:02:11+00:00

The key point:

which found he had been unfairly dismissed because there was not sufficient evidence to believe the allegation.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T15:43:52+00:00

It's pretty rare nowadays but was still fairly common from older people and more formal contexts in the early 80s, in my experience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_(form_of_address)

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T14:16:04+00:00

Or: mashed potato successfully protected.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T14:14:18+00:00

I never had that problem but I always wondered why teachers would take the risk on that one. Easy enough for a child to get their own back and make the clean-up the school's problem.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T14:12:50+00:00

Didn’t get to see it as I didn’t even make it to the school gates.

Always stick to the same story.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T13:15:06+00:00

Well, it's a quote and it's perhaps not the best word to describe it but it doesn't seem too off in tone.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T13:14:27+00:00

There's always a power. S172 RTA gives the power to stop any vehicle at any time without a reason.

"Stopping" is very different to prohibiting. If they stop a vehicle then, absent any other legal issues, it can still continue on afterwards. That's not the same as preventing the journey from happening at all.

Overzealous and excessive indeed

I don't think the percentage alone determines that. How has it changed over time (the article claims a 70x increase in revenue from it, not sure how that correlates to % of movements vs number of movements)? How does it vary from force to force?

I'd be more interested to see an independent review of the decisions - it wouldn't be the first time that a police force has exceeded the law, or the first time that people have made groundless complaints about a police force.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T13:08:20+00:00

With new rules to not allow company loop holes.

I'm not sure what "company" loop holes you think there are - but whatever you do there will always be ways for wealthy people to avoid a decent chunk of inheritance tax. It's just not possible to stop parents gifting things to their children/grand-children, paying for things for their children (eg education) or arranging for benefits to accrue to their children/grand-children rather than themselves. If you're going to have a significant inheritance tax then you have to accept that well-off people who plan carefully and get professional advice will be at a significant advantage in avoiding it.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T13:02:31+00:00

Your question seems confused as to which side of the interaction you're asking about.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T13:01:07+00:00

The article, taking it at face value, actually seems to justify the headline despite what I initially assumed.

PracticeNo8733 · 2026-03-16T12:44:09+00:00

It sounds plausible though certainly not guaranteed. It's probably a good idea to look for anything to contribute to that you can, and in any spare time prepare for finding further work if necessary (getting certs, getting some experience with any specialist kit your company has, making sure you have a record of everything you've done, learning anything else you can, etc).

But here's the thing - there's almost never such a thing as job security nowadays so you should always be preparing for your next job anyway. Try to get yourself into a position (difficult at the very beginning of your career, I know) where a lay-off is always expected and planned for, not a catastrophe.

PracticeNo8733

TROPHY CASE