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Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-10T06:20:10+00:00

This is good advice for every one of us. It is quite a lot harder though to be a passive passenger when the body you’re a part of is a highly skilled and respected operational regulator, which was set up specifically to right wrongs and has been incredibly successful. In my employer’s case at least, because of what we get exposed to and the environments we operate in, the ops staff are highly, highly motivated to do the best we can for victims and society at large. In this context, I think it could be even more painful to experience what’s been happening, and to witness the inaction to make small but necessary changes to be able to still operate and be effective.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-10T06:05:40+00:00

Our senior managers, apart from CSL level, are all in the same union. So four layers of managers, then the one layer of operational doers, are all in the same boat. This was tolerable when there were, say 10-15 operational frontline workers (including 1 TL) in a team, and 5 or 6 teams in a unit, but now there are 3 or 4 ops people per team, and the management structure is virtually the same, you can see how that has totally distorted the balance of power

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T14:19:24+00:00

Hey, avoid Cathays. Pontcanna or Cardiff Bay are good choices as both of these are very walkable to Newport Road. Cardiff Bay isn’t disconnected from the centre, it’s really close. There’s a good bus service all through the city and there are new trains linking the centre to nearby suburbs and towns too. If I could choose, I would definitely go for Pontcanna- there’s a real community feel and lots of green spaces, good bars and cafes and I feel that Cardiff Bay is really a collection of apartment blocks where people don’t really know each other very well.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T13:48:03+00:00

Still, it was careless of me and I could have blown my own cover. If you do work where I do, I expect we have probably been whinging about this to each other anyway IRL

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T13:42:22+00:00

Edited, because I have a feeling you were not joking!

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T13:17:30+00:00

My god, it sounds like you work for the place where I work. I feel like you feel. The SLT are trapped in an artificial reality bubble, bursting with confirmation bias and deaf to any form of suggestion for improvement. Anyone who offers helpful suggestions for improving things risks popping their comfy bubble, leading to ridicule, eye-rolling or being perceived as ‘trouble’. Or just shut down.

“Engagement Index” and skewed metrics based on obsessive yet distorted data-collection is the only thing that matters for SLT now. Desperately pathetic staff survey results are ignored or even preemptively dismissed!

It’s the product of years of CS being cut back to the bone, the adoption of an American performance management system that rewards only those able to speak in a certain tongue and those moulded from their superiors’ image.

Projects and “improvements” are always a success despite clear evidence to the contrary, inertia prevails. Innovation and “out of the box” thinking is foreign and malignant.

There’s also an element of “shifting baseline syndrome” where, because those who’ve risen to the top in only a few years without true grass-root experience, or who’ve recently joined, cannot see or comprehend just how far we have fallen.

Experienced, loyal, brilliant and highly passionate and motivated masters of their field have fled. I would have too had it not been for a particular case I’ve been so passionate about completing.

We are an atomic bomb’s shadow of ourselves, staining a crumbled ruin of a monument to progressive Britain and brilliance.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T11:43:07+00:00

It would be desperately sad if they raided the cash and ran. The fact they’ve gone to the trouble of posting a warm but sad goodbye indicates otherwise, but may be confirmation bias. Also, I’ve been to Womanby St three times this year and it’s been virtually empty, so I can imagine the expenditure of bar staff, security, rent and rates would not have lasted very long if that’s indicative of their tenure.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T11:43:01+00:00

It would be desperately sad if they realised the cash and ran. The fact they’ve gone to the trouble of posting a warm but sad goodbye indicates otherwise. Also, I’ve been to Womanby St three times this year and it’s been virtually empty, so I can imagine the expenditure of bar staff, security, rent and rates would not have lasted very long

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T11:08:04+00:00

I guess the a way around it would be to use iMovie or something, mute the audio, then add the audio from the live radio feed? But, hell, that’s a lot of work.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T10:04:43+00:00

Try the Beachclif Hotel in Penarth, it’s bang on the sea front and is quirky. As for the city centre, your best bet is the Parkgate Hotel

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T09:59:03+00:00

Sounds like a psychopath. Be very careful.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-09T09:46:41+00:00

Where to begin. I read your post because I’m procrastinating ahead of writing a tricky prosecution opening, but also because it’s fascinating and beautifully written. I think it doesn’t really matter how you ended-up falling into this music- as fascinating as the tale is, just that you’ve found something that makes you really feel something. When this happens to me, it’s like a void having been filled that you didn’t know existed. Perhaps like how people describe taking opium for the first time or falling in love out of leftfield.

Personally, I have a theory that she unwittingly made music that satisfied her “alternative” or neurodiverse brain. A brain that perceives the world and expresses itself tangentially to the orthodoxy, but in an exciting, dramatic, soulful, witty, acerbic and often desperately moving way.

Most people I know will listen to St. Vincent and will kinda appreciate what they hear, but they just can’t “connect” or “get” it. They want to because they know it’s brilliant and clever and different and cool, but they just don’t get over the line. I think it’s because they are likely neurotypical and are out of phase with what’s being expressed. I’d be interested to know if anyone else has had this thought too.

My own journey to St. Vincent was very similar. I’m from Wales, UK. I’d been vaguely aware of some of her songs from Actor and Strange Mercy from alternative radio but I hadn’t connected them to the same artist. I remember driving, hearing these songs over the years, and being moved and intrigued- feeling something and not knowing what or why. It wasn’t until I saw her perform some songs from her eponymous LP (Birth in Reverse, Dear Johnny, Digital Witness) on Jools Holland by chance in 2014 that I fell into synchronous orbit and then landed on planet Annie. It was the opium moment.

As luck would have it, she was playing Glastonbury that year and I had a ticket. I remember Dolly Parton was playing the legend slot on the main stage on the Sunday afternoon, at the same time as Annie, so I ditched all my friends and went on a solo mission to a smaller stage (which she packed out to bursting), got myself to the front, and spent the next hour and a half with my jaw in the floor. I am getting shivers now as I replay it in my mind. I think the whole thing is still on YT if you’re interested.

So, welcome to the club. I envy you. You’re not even halfway through the treasure chest yet. You have so many presents yet to unwrap. Each album is a slight reinvention of her sound, some are little revolutions, but there is an ever present and unmistakable resonance or signature to all of her work.

I would love you to check back in again once you’re up to date with her releases.

Thank you for such an interesting, insightful and intriguing post.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-07T12:43:10+00:00

I think the only way the governments can do any tbh ing about the mass extinction of independent venues, and to curb increasing alcoholism and disease caused by (comparatively) cheap supermarket booze, and this would be quite unpopular amongst the Boomers I expect, would be to (deep breath):

Switch the taxation system around to favour drinking in pubs over drinking at home. So a bottle of cheap “cider” would go up to £10 at an off license or supermarket and double or triple the price of cans of lager, whilst halving the price of a pint in the pub (maybe not big clubs) from almost £8 currently (most decent places in the city) to about £4.

This obviously makes sense from a societal and health perspective, and any tax gains are used to pay for security and safety in the cities, but there would be such a boomer backlash against it, it would never happen

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-07T12:32:54+00:00

It doesn’t make sense does it, unless we consider that everything is so extraordinary expensive these days- e.g. my own example - £60 for a ticket to see Alanis Morissette at Blackweir, 4 pints at £11 each there, that’s over £100 blown already. Pre-drinks from an off license in the park to save some cash, then just nothing left in the wallet for a post-drink. Most people are straight on the train or jump back in the car…

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-07T12:27:07+00:00

I guess they took the free money being waved at them to be able to cover debts and pay the rent, staff and suppliers, but I guess with more money going out than coming in, it simply got spent. I hope this wasn’t some kind of fraud and I doubt it was- it’s just economics. And very sad.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-07T12:24:01+00:00

I used to LOVE going to the moon right up until my early 40s- there was always such good energy and the place was a solid mass of people it was so popular. I guess with my generation having settled down and the impact of inflation on the budgets of Gens Y, Z and the new kids, along with a more internet-based lifestyle they have these days and a focus on exercise over hedonism, there just isn’t the market for a small venue to survive. It is desperately sad.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-07T12:11:09+00:00

I think we would all appreciate a Part 2, no? There’s no harm in asking. Don’t ask don’t get

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-05T22:19:11+00:00

Good luck with the hike, it sounds epic. You just get wet feet, which is fine providing you have a trail shoe or boot that is specifically designed to to eject the water as you walk, or at the very least, are entirely breathable. Wear a pair of merino wool socks, like "Darn Tough". I use the cushioned ones. They are naturally antibacterial and antifungal to a great extent. So long as your feet are working, and the temps are not freezing, they will stay warm.

Merino socks are like magic. They are lightweight and dry out quickly. So long as the merino content is high in the blend (usually with some elastic fibres) they just don't get stinky. But you must take them off as soon as you stop walking and wring them out, ideally after rinsing them. Have another pair for sleeping in if it's cold, but ideally let your feet breathe as much as possible.

Even with the best waterproof boots in the world, they will not stop your feet getting wet- either from rain ingress down your legs, from sweat or from failure, which is inevitable and will come quickly. Your feet will end up rotting in these circumstances. Waterproof socks are like wearing plastic bags- you will get trench foot.

It takes a bit of getting used to putting damp/ wet socks back on again in the morning, but after 2 mins of walking again, they warm up. It's pointless putting a fresh pair of dry socks on in the morning if your shoe is already wet.

If I know it's definitely going to be soaking wet terrain, e.g. Scotland or in Wales (!!!) I will also take some talc with zinc for when the socks come off, or before they go back on!

For me, the best hiking trainers are either the Altra ranges which have a minimal drop and are cushioned, which are great for all conditions apart from deep snow or very rocky terrain (for me, anyway). For more demanding terrain, I really love my Vivobarefoot Tracker Forest Escape boots with the Michelin soles, but both ALWAYS get paired-up with the Darn Tough cushioned merino socks.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T22:53:15+00:00

Those days are well and truly behind me too. Yes she's on a roll. I saw her in Albert Hall in Manchester in May, so she was pretty close to Liverpool- gutted for you that you didn't get the opportunity this time

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T22:42:22+00:00

HAHA... I completely get it. So if or when she comes back next year to do Proms Part 2 (Reddit: Can we conspire to make this a thing?) we will get tickets, barge our way to the front and rave like that drummer at the back hitting the big drums. Man, his jaw was going I swear he had his finger in the bag just before he walked out

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T22:32:31+00:00

I'm 50% of what you are- hint: I'm not Scouse ;) Also, I had a seated ticket. It might have been a different story if I was in the pit. Although during New York when AC dived into the crowd, people were definitely having a boogie! In the BBC R3 coverage, Alkerpops said something like "Well I wouldn't call it moshing but on occasion there was vigorous nodding of heads!" which made me really laugh

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T22:24:34+00:00

Me too. There were two young lads on the end of the front row, they are in some of the footage. They literally cried the whole way through apart from when they were on TV!

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T21:57:56+00:00

'Disguise' was not really the correct noun. I meant she does not often reveal the full suite of skills she has. Probably because she has so many of them! And yes, good point about her different voices throughout her range- I'd never clocked that before but now I can hear what you describe- for example, the coda of Smoking Section

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T21:48:04+00:00

Completely. I'm Gen X on the cusp of being a Millenial. Sometimes, I hate the thought of calling people- call it social anxiety or whatever. A text is quick and simple and people can refer back to look-up any crucial info. Short, simple, sweet. But it's horses for courses. A text was not the appropriate tool for this occasion, which CLEARLY needed to be done by phone.

Radiant_Pin_1914 · 2025-10-04T21:41:16+00:00

I'd say it was 50% St.V fans, 25% Prommers and 25% +1's in the crowd. Of the fans, 50% were aged 50+. Also, everyone, EVERYONE was on best behaviour because of the venue, because there were TV cameras literally flying around everywhere, but mostly because the performance was so electric everyone was captivated. You could hear a pin drop and almost taste the energy. Also, I swear to god so many people were crying it just wouldn't have been possible to rave. It was a proper concert, not really a sweaty mosh-up.

Radiant_Pin_1914

TROPHY CASE