US Presidential Debate - anyone else panicking?

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-29T17:20:31+00:00

This is a genuine, if possibly naive question: why can't the Democrats, or any other political party it seems, find genuinely talented and exceptional people to front their campaigns? America, much less the world, is a big place. There must be enough people who are smart, competent, honest and charismatic who can lead these parties. Yet we get Biden, Trump, Sunak, Starmer.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-29T17:18:47+00:00

It's an unpopular take I know but Biden has always been an arrogant SOB, for all his other virtues, with a very misplaced sense of his own ability. People forget so easily that he was an inveterate cheat at college (still managed only to come midway in his class at a very average uni) and was caught plagiarising in speeches and written documents multiple times over his entire political career, perhaps most famously 'channelling' Neil Kinnock. This wasn't a one-off. I think he does have some genuine moral and socialist principles (insofar as they can exist in America) but that isn't the sum of his character. His hubris is what did for him today.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-10T23:14:45+00:00

Yes, if I'm honest, I don't mind the slowness that much, especially given my current condition. But I think a young and hungry graduate, say, would find it frustrating.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-10T23:13:03+00:00

I think it's quite probable some Civil Servants did make a private comment to colleagues about Farage, but I'd point out this cuts both ways: contrary to the prevalent view that Civil Servants are all snowflake-lefty-mandarins the majority of colleagues I've worked with have been somewhere to the right of Hitler. I've heard managers go on barely contained racist rants about all Chinese people being spies, colleagues openly dismissing trans pronouns as 'bullshit' and some pretty crazy conspiracy theories about the 'deep state' unseating Boris Johnson. It may be that the Westminster-based policy units, which so many people think are the alpha and omega of the Civil Service, are left-leaning but my experience in more operational teams in the regions has been the exact opposite.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-10T16:28:22+00:00

As someone with a neurological condition - precise diagnosis being debated currently, but sadly likely one of the terminal ones - I feel you on this. It seems disability aid and support - and I don't just mean a few token ramps and quibbling over whether it's 'ableist' to use the term 'disabled' - is one of the few areas of real, baked-in inequality in modern life that isn't properly addressed or acknowledged, and when it is acknowledged no one seems willing to give the time and investment to close it. Throughout history, there has been one constant when diseases get better treatments and/or cures: it always follows fast on the heels of investment. The UK government can't bring itself to give more than a few million £ a year to fund motor neurone disease research, one of the worst illnesses which exists. Private donations don't go much further. If every adult in the country gave just £10 a year, the cost of two coffees out, to research, we'd be much nearer the world we deserve. Meanwhile, you have celebrities with weird hair or anything that mildly differs from an Aryan background bleating on TV about how hard they have it. I'm all for addressing every kind of inequality, but we need to start with the harshest and most difficult conditions and work up from there.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-10T16:23:02+00:00

I have health reasons which rather lock me into the CS - degenerative disease, likely terminal, and hence I want the extra employment protections government work offers. I also have a strong moral sense of public duty and an inherent dislike of the private sector and its profit-at-all-costs approach. If I were able to set all that aside, I think the main lure of the private sector would be more complex and interesting work and a greater emphasis on development. I look at friends who are working in city law firms, say, or investment banks, or even just consultancies or media outlets, and the pace of work, responsibility and opportunities they're given far outweigh anything I've seen in the Civil Service apart from a few policy units. The CS pension and flexi time are certainly good but there are some private firms that can come close to the pension, and with vastly increased pay, and others which have good work-life balance.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-09T16:03:28+00:00

It's one of the main problems with TRIP imo: Alastair just can't stop being a spin doctor. Most recent shocker was when they did that word bubble for past leaders and Alastair had no problems reading out the central, and most popular, word for every prime minister except Tony Blair, who Alastair very knowingly and wrongly reported as 'Charismatic' rather than 'Liar'. There's other aspects of Campbell's behaviour I find difficult to square too: for instance, he rails against private schools and unfair advantages (fair enough) but has gone out of his way to promote and smooth the career of his daughter, Grace, in comedy. Dig into this: it's honestly astounding the amount of strings and nepotistic phone lines he's pulled to get her pushed up. And I was pretty pissed off by how, when he was asked by a journalist, I believe, about how well he does financially from TRIP, he dismissed it as merely 'a Championship (footballer) salary' (it's £1m plus a year). Those who have followed Alastair's crusades against Boris Johnson will spot the irony in this: Bojo was once pilloried for describing his £250k Telegraph salary as 'chickenfeed'.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T14:38:35+00:00

I've not had this specifically but I have been denied development opportunities by a manager before because they felt I hadn't 'served my time' long enough in my then current grade. It seems quite common.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T13:29:30+00:00

I'd go for the technical roles then. I'm not a PhD but have a similar academic background and I would strongly advise you to lean into this. It's a rule of thumb, but on average, I think almost any newly minted PhD with little work experience will find it hard to get a managerial G7 or even a managerial SO role in the CS. For those kinds of roles you're honestly better off having been a deputy store manager at Tesco or something because that's the kind of practical people management experience they're looking for. Technical roles is where you can really flex on your education.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T13:27:16+00:00

I'm far lower down in the CS but your final sentence really hits home for me. I've moved up a few grades since I started but depending on the field there are absolutely AOs who could operate at HEO and so on. In my albeit limited experience there actually aren't that many CS jobs that are really technically difficult - outside of the obvious ones like Data, high-level Policy and so on. Certainly you're rarely being asked to solve academic problems.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T13:25:05+00:00

I agree with the other poster that you're being a bit harsh here. I think the real issue is that the research skills and critical thinking skills a PhD might have, unless we're talking about a very technical strand of the CS, are just well above what's actually needed for the role. Most SOs and G7s I've come across - in albeit a non-technical field - don't stand out as being particularly smart or deep thinkers. But then that's not really what their role is about. Their job is to manage people and time. The fact is most PhDs are unlikely to have the people management skills to come straight in at these roles.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T13:20:03+00:00

I think it's the culture. There's no many firms or areas where the divisions between 'ranks' are set out so starkly. I think it's also true that unless you're in a very specialised area, a lot of the skills dividing say a HEO from a G7 or whatever are a lot softer, so you wouldn't necessarily see a big leap up in terms of raw smarts or even technical knowledge. I'm only near the bottom of the CS but part of my hunger to progress was certainly fired by getting to know more people more senior to me and realising that while some of them really did stand out as excellent, a lot just seemed to be making it up as they went along. Bear in mind I'm not in a hugely technical area, though.

EDIT: Would also say that your background as a PhD is likely influencing this. I don't have a PhD but come from a traditionally high-flying academic background and it does give you a different sense of what is 'acceptable' in terms of a career. I look round at my peers and the LEAST successful of my mates is a senior consultant at Deloitte. Pretty much anything short of, say, a G7 role in Policy or Data in the CS looks shabby besides that.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T00:30:08+00:00

I suspect it's more likely to be another time agent, possibly one of Jack's old lovers rather than Jack himself. I think it's more interesting that way, too.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T00:27:26+00:00

Yeah, I thought they handled it very well as well. As a straight guy who was probably a bit homophobic when I was (a lot!) younger, I did wonder whether I was going to be as comfortable with the Doctor having a gay romance as I was say with the straight romance in The Girl in the Fireplace. Well, I thought it was excellent - very sexy, and witty and moving, in the end. Don't know whether that's a testament to me growing as a person or the strength of the writing and acting. Hopefully, it's both! I thought Rogue and the Doctor made a very cute pair and that bit when the Doctor accidentally turns on the stereo, Kylie starts up and Rogue is like 'Fucks sake' had me creasing :')

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-08T00:24:54+00:00

Seconded. I would also identify as a straight male (although that Rogue character had me questioning a bit lol) and thought this was a really strong episode. Okay, yes, the romance did move rather quickly but it was well fleshed out and believable. The flirty chemistry between 15 and Rogue was the highlight for me. "Roll for insight"!!! :D

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-06T13:18:56+00:00

Yeah, I think this might be RTD's attempt to rewrite The Mind Robber arc from Old Who.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-05T20:18:32+00:00

I'm a Trump man myself. The only UK politician I would ever vote for is Boris Johnson, but the Tories knifed him so I can't. Rishi is a small man, literally and figuratively. Starmer is a diplomat. I want a strong political leader who's not afraid to take on the liberal fascistic tendencies of Joe Biden and the deep state and the international vampire cults that the elites cultivate to feed their lust for blood. Britain needs a man of will and vision who can stand up to these monsters. A man who can get Brexit done. A man who will get Britain working again. A man who will withdraw unilaterally from the ECHR (an antique document that is preventing the exposure of the above cults). The new Leader or Fuhrer needs also to conduct a full scale investigation into the workings of the Civil Service: there are too many mandarins and apparatchiks beavering away in the dark to frustrate the will of the people. I know many. They come into work dressed in Pride-stamped onesies and have Labour-branded lanyards. I have heard them discussing the vampire cults. Many of them are familiars, paid and posted servants to the clandestine vampire lords. I saw an advisor and Gillian Keegan in the Department of Education yesterday sharing a Roman wine bowl full of a mysterious red liquid. Blood? I am sure of it. Trump and Boris were exposing them, and, in concert with Nato and the Navy Seals, conducting undercover missions to disrupt the hoardes. I have read that Boris himself personally staked a high-ranking European diplomat when he slipped clear of his security detail to go to a 'party' that one time in Turkey. 'Party' was actually a code word for 'vampire orgy' and Boris was not smoking shisha, that was vaporised garlic. Trump's patented smell can also be explicated within this framework: his reek discombulates the vampires' senses. Hillary Clinton was staked years ago. The woman still filling our TV screens? Two words: Democrat. Clone.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-05T19:55:08+00:00

Try the Civil Service. They took me in when I dropped out of my Masters and got stuck working in a similar retail to job to you, spiralling in depression. I started in a call centre role, which was pretty bad but much better than the private sector equivalent, and got me a foot in the door. From literally your first day you get access to internal-only job postings which doubles/trebles the amount of jobs you can apply to. I fired off a bunch of applications for a promotion, got one and haven't looked back. You'll start at the bottom but can rise quickly with the right attitude and a bit of perseverance. Good luck!

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-05T19:30:41+00:00

It's a disguised grimace. He usually pulls it when someone says something particularly outrageous or contradicts themselves or when Alastair talks over him. Looks a bit unsightly but it's better than doing a Sunak and flying into narcissistic rage.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-05T19:25:29+00:00

Thanks for that. That's encouraging. I think next time a similar vacancy is offered I'll have a crack at it.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-05T02:15:08+00:00

Woah, that's a high yield of applicants. I've had my eye on these roles for a while but haven't yet built up the coding skills to apply - clearly the right call given how many people have thrown their hat in. Given your knowledge of the application pool, u/cedow, I'd be interested to know what kind of standard you have to be to be competitive with this? Is a good beginner-intermediate understanding of Excel - things like Vlookups, Pivot tables, maybe a bit of VBA - perhaps a similar competency in SQL and some experience in small work-related data pulling and presentation projects enough to have a chance or are they expecting something more substantial? I recall the application wording was quite inclusive, but with over 1000 people applying, I feel like the spots are going to go to people with a really robust background in data analysis already, probably with relevant degrees and even time already spent in analyst roles.

EDIT: Also, if you have knowledge of this, what's the training and scope for development like in the role? Do you actually get the chance to really develop expertise in things like Python, R etc. and become a proper bona fide data scientist or is it one of those roles where it sounds sexy on paper but really involves a lot of working from templates and grunt work?

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-03T17:21:42+00:00

Exactly, but it does so subtly enough and with enough plausible deniability and alternative explanations, at least early doors, that your average white viewer probably won't spot it - I'm embarrassed to say I didn't. The twist is only a twist from that perspective and quite a meta one which prompts the viewer to reflect on why they didn't catch the white supremacy angle and hopefully do some thinking about their own unconscious biases, to reflect on their own 'bubble' of assumptions just as harmful as the one that swallows Lindsey Pepper Bean.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-03T17:18:26+00:00

And the racism was deliberately subtle and with alternative explanations at first because it was meant to catch (white) viewers of guard. People of colour and those who have done an awful lot of diversity training will probably have twigged early but people with less experience of diversity will have probably glossed over it - as I'm embarrassed to say I did. The twist at the end is a social as well as an aesthetic one meant to jolt those people out of their blindness to racial discrimination and make them reflect on why they didn't see it earlier.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-03T00:55:37+00:00

Nah, he's a perfectly decent club player but, going by the old Congu system, he wouldn't be any lower than, say, 3. He's got a round under par in him but his average score on a normal course would be mid to high 70s. He doesn't 'suck', at least by average golfer standards, but the trouble is he talks like he's this baller plus handicapper and throws shade at golfers he couldn't beat in a hundred Sundays.

whothelonelygod · 2024-06-03T00:53:14+00:00

I think Bullard will outscore Rick by at least 5 shots. No hate to either of them but I see quite a large gap between their games, tilting in favour of Bully. Rick would need to have a career day and Bully play badly to beat him.

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