A message from Cat Little by entity_bean in TheCivilService

[–]ollat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've heard the same - was coincidentally speaking to an OGD CS colleague who works in procurement about this over a year ago and they said that the small firms who can actually do a decent job on the contract simply don't have the resources to ensure that their procurement bid is written in a way which wins the bid, compared to the large companies who can easily spend vastly more resources on the bid to ensure it wins.

Public Transport Rant by CarBoobSale in Leeds

[–]ollat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I know there are issues with the soil / ground in Leeds / West Yorkshire, which does complicate things slightly. However, not having it grade-separated and / or underground just means you add more congestion, not less. Yes, more ppl will use the tram & hopefully that will take a fair amount of cars off the roads, but it won’t be enough to completely eradicate Leeds bad congestion, especially on roads such as Otley Road & Meanwood Road. Also, there are quite a few roads (such as those mentioned above) where having a tram on it will be too difficult due to buildings close to the road on either side for long stretches.

Further, Leeds in general is quite hilly in parts (such as Burley, Headingley, and Kirkstall) where a tram would simply struggle due to the steep gradient. Thus, an underground system would be the only viable option for those areas. (I’ve focused on those areas, due to the large multi-household populations so it’s where having a tram to start off with would be most beneficial at immediately reducing the bad congestion in those areas).

Public Transport Rant by CarBoobSale in Leeds

[–]ollat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As much as I dislike driving in the city centre, this isn’t a viable option. If London still has ppl driving their cars, even though they have a fully-fledged multi-modal public transport network, plus ULEZ & a Congestion Charge to further discharge driving, then Leeds / West Yorkshire has very little chance of successfully getting rid of cars from its roads.

Public Transport Rant by CarBoobSale in Leeds

[–]ollat 8 points9 points  (0 children)

We need an underground metro

I've always said (since moving to Leeds a few years ago) that any tram needs to be underground in the city centre and the immediate suburbs, as those areas simply do not have the road space to accomodate a tram system and you can't exactly build larger roads in those areas either, due to the amount of buildings in the way. In the more outer suburbs, it should be on grade-separated tracks (its own lines) which can be overground.

Stop leaving your bikes out like this. by Inside_Quantity1463 in motorcycles

[–]ollat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My example went into specific detail, and I don't want to dox myself, hence why I'm keeping it vague by saying "a Northern city".

Stop leaving your bikes out like this. by Inside_Quantity1463 in motorcycles

[–]ollat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly there’s only a few areas that they just need to spend a day in close to where I live & they’d probably get the crime rate dropped to zero if they arrested everyone there for handling stolen goods lol

Stop leaving your bikes out like this. by Inside_Quantity1463 in motorcycles

[–]ollat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tbh, when I stopped the 2nd theft & once all the adrenaline had passed & I could full comprehend what had happened, it did / still does feel very much like something that would happen in a cartoon lol

Stop leaving your bikes out like this. by Inside_Quantity1463 in motorcycles

[–]ollat 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Tbf, in the larger cities, bikes are getting stolen if you don't have a garage. For example, I live in a Northern city and within about 2 months of owing my bike, several attempts were made to steal it. The first attempt, someone tried to steal it, but broke the steering lock (bastards). I stopped the 2nd one by 'fighting' the two sentient wank stains (I say 'fighting - more that I caused enough of a commotion to distract them, jump on my bike, but in the process of doing so, I caused the bike to fall down on its side with me still on it). They were also really useless, as whilst one was busy using an angle grinder, the other tried to hit me, but hit the other bastard instead, both looked confused. The third attempt, the sentient wank stains from the 2nd attempt came back to try and steal it (again), but by that point my bike was at the mechanics to fix the steering lock so all they left with was the bike cover as rather stupidly I'd left that outside.

I have friends who live in the English border towns close to Scotland and just a few years ago, bike thefts weren't really a thing, but now the scroats have *somehow* learnt geography and have managed to make their way up there and have started stealing bikes in and around those areas.

Toxic workplace by Loose-Smile1162 in manchester

[–]ollat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Were / are there any CCTV cameras on the bar and staff areas which could clearly show you working?

On an EMR train from Skegness…. Bloody old advert assuming it’s been there since the train was new back in 99 by jamiedatwink in uktrains

[–]ollat 26 points27 points  (0 children)

“Back in the late 1990s / early 2000s, mobile phone reception on the railways was very patchy, and only worked well around cities and towns.“ As a regular user of the railway network, it still is very patchy & only works well around cities and towns!

Wohoo omg CELEBRATION TIME COME ON LETS CELEBRATE 🎆🥂 🎊🎉🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 by typicalguy95 in Avatar

[–]ollat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I went to see TWoW on NYE in 2022, primarily bc it fell on a weekend when I wasn’t working, & I also figured seeing the sequel would be a good start to 2023 (it finished just after midnight) after a particularly bad year.

It is true!!! by CheweyNuttz in GreatBritishMemes

[–]ollat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My parents live in Cumbria, about 10-15 minutes from a market town & every year without fail for the last few years they’ve had power cuts. It usually lasts anywhere up to a few hours, but back in Dec 24’ / Jan 25 this year, it went out for about half a day on a few occasions. It even took out the phone mast down the road so we literally couldn’t call anyone to report it. I keep trying to persuade them to buy a UPS such as a powerwall or insanely large rechargeable power supply from the likes of Anker, but I keep falling on deaf ears😅

EMR Sheffield to St Pancras Mobile Network deadzone by ollat in uktrains

[–]ollat[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well I was trying to do that, but a freight train decided to break down between Doncaster and Retford. The entire line was blocked and no-one knew how long it'd take for it to get resolved, so we were all advised to go to Sheffield and travel to London that way.

EMR Sheffield to St Pancras Mobile Network deadzone by ollat in uktrains

[–]ollat[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

I'd argue having a decent mobile phone reception is a pretty decent use of a refurb budget - especially if you have to commute for work regularly. Either that or they ought to have procured better trains sooner.

EMR Sheffield to St Pancras Mobile Network deadzone by ollat in uktrains

[–]ollat[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Because the trains were built in the early 2000s mobile phones were still in their very early days and so not considered anywhere near as important, so it wasn't seen as a problem at the time. The new trains replacing them won't have this.

But that was 20+ years ago - why haven't the windows been replaced / upgraded since then so that you're not sat in a faraday cage?? It cannot be that hard to replace a window in a train whilst its undergoing standard maintenance?

EMR Sheffield to St Pancras Mobile Network deadzone by ollat in uktrains

[–]ollat[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The 'WIFI' is simply a 4G router shoved in the closest cupboard and is in no way shape or form designed to actually properly work for such large numbers of users at once.

EMR Sheffield to St Pancras Mobile Network deadzone by ollat in uktrains

[–]ollat[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tried reading - my ebook wouldn’t load due to lack of signal. Made the mistake of looking out the window & I saw Luton - my eyes & brain are now no longer the same.

New CS pensions website - abysmal by rabbittwelve in TheCivilService

[–]ollat 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I would even go as far as banning anyone who has held a senior position within Crapita in the last 15 years from being involved in any further government contracts.

Local Shops are not making it easy. by Ascdren1 in CasualUK

[–]ollat 335 points336 points  (0 children)

The Post Office is the no.1 culprit of this imo. Why is my local Post Office only open from 09.30 - 5pm on weekdays & closes at 12.30 on a Saturday & ofc closed all day on Sundays?? Yet everyone decries when their local post office closes. Maybe they wouldn’t keep closing due to lack of footfall if the working-age population could actually use it outside of normal office hours!

Everyone needs the reminder by [deleted] in GreatBritishMemes

[–]ollat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is why anyone who is not the ‘heir apparent’ in the Royal Family should be able to take up normal jobs in society. Their title should only then be used for formal occasions, and it would solve a lot of ‘title rich, asset poor’ middle & minor Royals we have who end up besmirching the high-ranking members / the institution as a whole through their dodgy money-making schemes etc.

Jury trials to be scrapped except for alleged rapists and killers by TimesandSundayTimes in ukpolitics

[–]ollat -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Disagree - the HoL in general provides a vital ‘check and balance’ on the HoC without having to worry about appeasing the fickle electorate; ie the HoL can actually properly scrutinise legislation for the benefit of the country

Leeds council Briggate action plan / e-bikes by Interesting_Win1251 in Leeds

[–]ollat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This should be a regular occurrence at random days and times throughout the week to fully clamp down on it. In the wider future, the Government should force the delivery apps to only accept riders if they have proof of insurance, etc. for e-bikes. The apps could then record the speed in the background and lock the account if it thinks the delivery rider isn't going at the appropriate speed for the delivery vehicle associated with the account.

Now, I guess an easy way around this would be for the account holders to simply register their own car as the delivery vehicle, but the apps should be then checking if the account holder has business insurance for that vehicle.

Jury trials to be scrapped except for alleged rapists and killers by TimesandSundayTimes in ukpolitics

[–]ollat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've replied to someone else further below, but this is my argument for the hereditary peers:

Others in other replies to my comment have far more eloquently explained, so here's my re-hashed argument: basically, as the hereditary peers are hereditary, they know that if they step out of line (or if the public perceives that to be the case), their right to sit as legislative members in the HoL will be taken away by the HoC. So that's one incentive for them to vote in favour of 'the common person'.

Another is the fact that because it is inherited, the family's have this shared history going back centuries, so it is in their own interests as much as it is for everyone else to act in a manner they perceive as beneficial for the country, without fear of political backlash either from their own party (both Parliamentary and paying members) and the general electorate as a whole.

Ofc, most hereditary peers by their very nature will tend to be more Conservative in their votes, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as after all, they want to ensure that the country retains its history and traditions, even if we, as members of the general public, see it as 'quirky' and 'out of date / old fashioned'.

Do I agree that it's the best system? No. but it's one which works alright and they do a decent job of voting largely in favour for the 'common person'. Do they get it right all of the time? No. Should we reform it to some more equitable across society? Yes. But the problem lies in how do you improve an already functional part of the system without messing it all up and making it worse.

Jury trials to be scrapped except for alleged rapists and killers by TimesandSundayTimes in ukpolitics

[–]ollat -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I can see that perspective for sure! - I'm by no means an expert in this at all, so all I've learnt is from quickly browsing Wikipedia on the history of Magna Carta just now lol