TheCat

Win or lose, what is clear here is that 2016 was not just a 'fluke' or a knee-jerk against Clinton. Trump's broad appeal with people other than 'angry white man' belie the narrative in much of the broadcast and print media (well, at least the liberal media sources) it would appear. From my relatively uniformed perspective sitting in London, it seems that for many its a case of 'yes, he's a loudmouth buffoon, but he's OUR loudmouth buffoon'....

Bob Buzzard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I bought some red onion marmalade the other day, > and it says it's great with pates. This made me > think I should get into pates as I normally only > have cheese (from The Cheese Block). What's a good > 'starter' pate for getting into pates? I cant believe you still shop at Cheese Block now that Mons is open....you're sooooo 2015 Bob....

malumbu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Unless it is fed with clean air, it will not > filter out most of the pollution. Nitrogen > dioxide is a gas so can't be filtered out, nor > removed with reagents like activated charcoal. > The particle materials are very fine, less than 10 > microns (PM 10) so will go through filters. Masks > and face shields would only be good if you can > actually see the pollution for example a fire and > the occasional visible smoke coming out of a car > (normally a sign that the equipment has broken or > been tampered with). But very sci fi: > > https://geekbloggeruk.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/hav > e-you-seen-the-andromeda-strain/ I guess there's a gap in the market for you to develop a face mask with a set of wet-NOx scrubbers then Malumbu:)

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I actually hate lockdown - and that's whilst I > have a job that I can work from home and saving > money because I'm not going anywhere. > > I still feel "cabin fever" (my life actually > flashed before me the other day for real) but I > can't see any other good option at the moment - > once I see a good alternative I'll be the first to > support it. https://www.designboom.com/technology/biovyzr-personal-air-purifying-face-shield-05-03-2020/

While its possible (likely) that Farage is not the man to do it. I do believe there is space in the political landscape for a credible political force which can question the wisdom of locking-down, and offer some viable alternatives which MAY provide a better balance of acceptable risks to society at large. At the moment all Labour are doing is saying they'd do lockdown too...but quicker, harder and better than the tories apparently. The consensus view out there seems to be that the only effective tool in combating the virus is 'lockdown' in its various forms...and certainly evidence of the shambolic attempt at track and trace is quite supportive of that being the case. But nonetheless, the cynic in me has no doubt that the 'science' (and specifically the scientists in question) favours lockdowns, as if you are an epidemiologist and run a multi-factor model on the virus spread - then what's going to make the R in your model go down the easiest?...simple....slashing your assumptions on interactions. And what slashes interactions the most...'lockdown'. But these models (as far as im aware) have no economic drivers or outputs which interact with the virus spread metrics to optimise the best solution across both a medical and economic basis. The point is that surely there are other discussions to be had than just to shutdown or not shutdown. i.e. instead of the NEU's first reaction being 'schools should close too'.....is there not room for them to call for something like weekly or daily testing of all school-teachers?....(just as many medical staff are tested daily), or PPE for school teachers....they are both expensive suggestions im sure (are unions known for their sensible demands?)...but are they more expensive than the economic impact of shutting down schools? (not to mention the societal impacts)? In anycase...while they might be unworkable ideas (just examples, im not advocating them)...the point is that there must be other ideas which dont seem to be getting much attention in the mainstream as far as I can see....

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 'Mr Taylor' has gone from bemused middle-class > angst parent to class war warrior in a matter of > weeks...:) Yes...what happened to that 'debonair family man', who was 'quite the socialite' down surbiton way..... he seems to have got very angry, very quickly.....

Jeremy Corbyn...."winning the argument" since 1983..... ...but f#'k all else.

Sounds very similar to a problem we had with our bathroom sink (see attached)....

North-East Crystal Palations....

The identity of the fake 'debonair' OP aside...an interesting question has been raised... "my fellow East Dulwichians (is that a thing?)" East Dulwichians? East Duliwchers? East Dulwichaucastrians? East Dulwainese? East Duncs? East Dulwichish?

Surely supporters of diversity targets (or indeed quotas and 'positive' discrimination) can only justify that position if they are also believe that unconscious (or conscious) bias is a significant barrier for minority groups. Effectively they are choosing to fight bias with bias.....I don't agree with that approach (two wrongs don't make a right), but at least it makes some sort of rational sense....

Have just received some communication from mini-Cat's school regarding unconscious bias and antiracsism training/teaching which came through last week - I of course want kids to be sensitive to these issues, but am nervous about what I see as the divisive manner in which some concepts are often taught....I'm guessing and hoping that at young schoolkids level it's much less about 'white privilege' and more about 'respecting everyone'.... Which does lead me to a genuine question - how can one simultaneously believe unconscious bias is a problem, while also espousing the concept of white privilege? Doesn't use of the latter term support continuation of the former (to the detriment of people of all colours)?

Is there not a reasonable middle ground at all? I'm quite sure that most people know very well why uncle's claims above get traction. And I'm also quite sure that most people know that interpreting them in the extreme fashion is also unreasonable..... This 'battle' does seem a bit stupid.....I don't like how Blm do their thing (as I've said elsewhere on this forum), but surely even my harshest critics on here would agree I'm no rascist (don't answer that!:)). And even despite our arguments, sometime blah blah is idealistic, but I don't think is a loony lefty..... Perhaps we need an 'EDF live'.....a live debate to raise money for underfunded local right-wing causes....jokes:)......centrist causes......

Double post

So on both sides of the aisle......who are the 'team' behind the 'man'? It's clear that on the Tory side they've tried the daily briefing thing and been found.......bare.... But similarly on labour side. Starmer (love or hate) has no bench...... Is this circumstantial Or the way politics is now where it's hero worship, or nothing.....

I'm pretty sure crossing Hyde Park corner, and going up park lane (or coming the other way) avoids the charge.

artful dogger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Are you genuinely suggesting that the council > gives money back to the people of East Dulwich? As > in, the people who sit in nice ?1 million houses, > probably without mortgages due to inheritance etc, > and are able to afford to pump out 4 kids and send > them to the local private schools? The people who > during this crisis have merrily sat in said > expensive houses working from home, and having > jolly walks around to peruse the delis and > bohemian shops of Lordship Lane or maybe a nice > stroll to the fabulously wealthy Dulwich Village? > > > Forgive me, perhaps some of the above folk of East > Dulwich may have been furloughed of late, which > means things may have got a bit tight. Janina's > pony lessons may have to be reduced this year, and > Sebastian will only get ?100 pocket money for his > rugby team's skiing trip, but i reckon they should > get by without receiving back taxpayers money. Well done to the real Artful for clarifying identities early doors... Imitation names aside, I am really struggling to determine whether this post is meant to a pisstake or not.....

I don't mind Blah Blah...but often struggle to extract from his/her posts a clear point...:)

well if the trends continue where we all just type on social media and internet forums, then we wont have to worry about accents at all! Furthermore, all our consumables will be delivered to our door, so no need for shopkeepers either......utopia!!......or perhaps not....but that's another story for another time.... Back to Malumbu's topic at hand...I personally feel that unconscious bias training is like most other 'soft-skill' training courses. You spend far too long in the training room, with 90% of it being of little use/irrelevant/occasionally ridiculous...but everyone probably picks up one or two little snippets of how to look at something or approach something in a slightly different way to how they had previously, and so on that basis it's probably useful...you need to spend the time because which 2 little snippets are useful and which 90% is useless will be different for every individual! At the risk of being inflammatory, the unconscious Bias courses (yes, multiple...due to a recent job change) that I have been on though, were not particularly broad in their focus - its was all racism and sexism focussed - where the white man was always the bad guy in each role play. It came across as more agenda driven than actually wanting to be helpful. That's just my impression, and not to say all courses are similar of course (no pun intended)

"But a person would never say 'I don't mind scousers, but I do struggle to communicate well with the new village shopkeeper" That's a pretty blanket statement, particularly to state so unequivocally. IN anycase, I disagree. I feel you're reading far too much into the statement. And looking too hard for any possible interpretation which can be read as offensive I dont mind tall people, but man it hurts my neck to talk to them I dont mind the Welsh, but I cant understand a word they say after the rugby I dont mind Americans, but god they can be loud and obnoxious. In the case of said old lady, there's a case to be made that the prefix is seemingly needed these days because if she just said She struggles to understand the new shopkeeper (who happens to also be an immigrant)...im sure someone would be latching on to her comments and be branding her a racist or a xenophobe..... Also...clearly the fact that people have different accents is driven by immigration...if people all grew up here they would all sound british....im not 100% sure why raising the fact that this person is an immigrant is a problem.....

We are all now conditioned to sort people into 'tribes' in our heads, above all else it seems. This seemingly takes precedence over actually listening to what people are saying, and perhaps taking comments in good faith..rather than assuming teh most extreme interpretation possible of anything with the slightest form of ambiguity. So something like the phrases you mention are immediately seen as incontrovertible evidence that the person uttering them is racist or xenophobic. If an 80 year old woman from a village in the Midlands says "I don't mind immigrants, but I do struggle to communicate well with the new village shopkeeper'.......is she Xenophobic? or just highlighting practicality/reality of a society that has changed over the course of her life?....

No confusion. I just wanted try out some pastry puns to honest;)

I'm not sure if you were trying to get a first or second rise out of this malumbu?....I suppose there was always a chance it may have fallen flat as a pancake. In anycase, I agree that the OP was being a bit flakey....

It's gonna be a great death. Best death ever. If he goes I'm sure he goes thinking he's on top

Don't worry...the clickbait headline is meant to be a pisstake..... But isn't it interesting that of the 5 World leaders I'm aware of who have caught Covid, 4 of them are right wing (bolnasaro, Trump, Johnson, anez of bolivia (centre right)). The exception being the Armenian prime minister.... But being serious for a second....I of course wish every one of those leaders who has caught it the best for a speedy recovery. Political allegiances aside, there does appear to be a correlation between apparent competence/government organisation and catching the virus as a world leader. Obviously luck plays a part here, but as the sample size increases, perhaps virus will end up being a marker for voters as to whether their leaders actually have an idea what they are doing or not....