bickster

Do you think the last time Labour were in Government that little changed? I found this list, I'm not claiming it's 100% accurate or that some of these points aren't debatable but all these changes prove that last time they were in power a lot changed Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s. Low mortgage rates. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled. Employment is at its highest level ever. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries. 85,000 more nurses. 32,000 more doctors. Brought back matrons to hospital wards. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year. Restored city-wide government to London. Record number of students in higher education. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997. Banned fox hunting. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution. Free TV licences for over-75s. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s. New Deal – helped over 1.8 million people into work. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started. Free eye test for over 60s. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships. Free entry to national museums and galleries. Overseas aid budget more than doubled. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school. But given all that happened last time, what makes you think nothing will change this time if they are elected? Some of those things last time are some of the things you yourself have said you'd want improving again, like NHS staffing levels as an example of that.

I'm wondering how many people are looking in my recycling wheelie bin before it gets collected

That's @chrisp65fault for giving him his guitar back

Heard this on the Gid Coe show ealier, so I looked it up when I got in They describe themselves as a Dark Witch Doom Duo from Osaka, Japan. This is apparently some sort of tribute to two of their favourite bands. Black Sabbath and Stereolab, yeah thats an odd combo, part of the Stereolab bit comes from the fact that it is Laetitia Sadier on vocals It's F***in' great

The was an interesting stat I saw earlier. In the five matches so far, he’s only had possession or touches of the ball 105 times and they were almost exclusively in the central strip from the half-way line to the opposition goal. He’s not expending the energy of defenders running the full length of the pitch and back all the time

I might be out on a limb here but I think Haaland will start. He's been subbed in every game bar Newcastle because they needed him on the pitch to the end. He came off after 68 mins last night, job done, feet up He'll play from the start They will batter us senseless and he'll come off again in a similar fashion after about 65-70 minutes and then Alvarez will come on and continue the humiliation.

You've made an assumption with regards to paying. There were brands that were introduced to the UK by Soccer Casuals like Kappa definitely for one and possibly Sergio Tachini for another. What used to happen was that the casuals would follow their team in Europe, most notably Liverpool and en mass they'd steam through sportswear shops and steal as much as they could in as short a time as possible. It very soon became an organised thing. Liverpool were notorious for it and other teams also followed suit. The clothes then became a uniform and badge of honour. But because of that, the brands then started selling in the UK and then sportswear shops in the UK would be targeted by the lesser teams. The teams in Europe would then try to source more rare in the UK brands and so on, it became really competitive.

Not as expensive as a similar quality and type of item purchased elsewhere. It's all relative. We bought our large sofa from there, it cost a substantial amount but I couldn't find a similar one anywhere for less than double the price Same for our dining table too, not cheap but still multiple hundreds of pounds cheaper than equivalents elsewhere

The first bold bit is correct, the second isn't. It's a trait of politicians generally not just Tories

Yes, fairly sure there have been recent quotes from Zlatan for one, who said when questioned about why he shopped in IKEA when he was rich, he replied that Intelligent People shop in IKEA

That is legitimate though, it's PMQs so there isn't a set topic and the MP is literally doing what he's elected to do, representing his constituents

Wordle 438 5/6*

First time I seem to have got my captain right

I've just finished Pistol and I really was impressed by the acting, most of the cast nailed their real life characters. I've already mentioned Anson Boon but the whole cast did a really good job. Maisie Williams is also brilliant as Jordan (and for you fans of boobs, she does indeed get them out in Ep2). The story has far too much artistic licence but it does roughly tell the tale of the Pistols but the acting is excellent, it’s a rarity in these biographical stories that actors get their characters spot on but here the whole cast do. It’s well worth a few hours of your time

It's like you deliberately choose to misrepresent what people say. That isn't what was said at all

Talking about not believing a word the Russians say...

I've started watching the Danny Boyle serios Pistol about Steve Jones and The Sex Pistols. Bearing in mind that the storyline is not exactly accurate (Jones and Chrissie Hynde did not have this drawn out affair), some of it is interesting, I didn't know the source of the song Bodies and it explains that quite well even though the subject is never called Pauline Anyway, the real reason to watch it is the acting, Anson Boon who plays John Lydon is absolutely brilliant, he has Lydon absolutely nailed. Worth watching for that alone

So I've taken a 4pt Hit Out go Saka and Bailey, coming in are Ødegaard and Groß Leaves me 0.7 mil in bank to attempt to replace Archer next week. I've listened to advice and stuck with Salah for now. I have , however, ensured that Salah will have an impressive haul this week and Haaland will draw a blank. Yes I have captained Haaland

In Xela's Coffee Shop? Seriously, there'll be more toilets than tables

Who told you that?

In that context it's a euphemism for idiot. It's confusing because depending on context, Mug means multiple things in British slang. The other usual context as mentioned is a face There's also a theatrical usage, to make an exagerated facial expression but you really won't hear that much outside acting circles and is even then still rather obscure.

These are universal truths, almost unquestionable