Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread

[Pettytyrant101]

There is some news which sometimes makes me so proud to be a Scot.
An error in a leading supermarkets pricing meant that an offer of "buy three boxes of beer and save £11". was actually going through the till as 3 boxes for £11. (yes we're Scots we don't piss about buying it by the bottle we buy it by the box load!!) The result of this pricing error?

"Police were called to Tesco in Greenock after heavy congestion was reported in the car park as customers rushed to get the deal.
There were also problems at a store at the Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow and in Bellshill.
One customer said the situation was "bedlam" as people phoned their friends and some went home to change clothing to come back and buy more beer.
Twitter user Graham McKenzie tweeted: "Price glitch for beer has literally caused a stampede at the local Tesco. Tempers are flying in car park."

Scots have a drink problem? Well yes clearly we do when this sort of thing happens, its obvious- the problem is normally the prices are too high or this sort of thing wouldn't happen!

edit add- theres a picture on the BBC Scotland website of a guy in a Tesco carpark laden down with boxes of beer with the caption beneath it reading ; 'Customer John Donnelly on one of his three "beer runs" to Tesco at Glasgow Silverburn.' You can multiply that by the number of Scots living within driving or walking distance of a Tesco's! Bedlam indeed! Now if you'll just excuse me, I just have to, em, nip out somewhere.

[Ringdrotten]

Don't get me started on beer/booze/tobacco prices, they're so ridiculously high in Norway I would laugh if I wasn't so pissed

[Pettytyrant101]

The SNP admin in Scotland is very likely to pass a bill making alcohol more expensive. Targeting in particluar things like cheap cider, you know the sort thats like rocky fuel and has been about as close to an apple as Victoria Beckham has been to a good four course meal. Its odd therefore that the Scots knowing this bill was likely to be passed if the SNP got back in, it was in their manifesto, still gave them a landslide victory. This is either a statement on the quality of the opposition, or the tiny voice that arises in the Scottish mind during brief patches of prolonged sobriety (anything over 4hours) saying "Look, seriously pal, we cannae keep doing this."

[Ringdrotten]

Just out of curiosity, how much is a six-pack of beers in Scotland? (We get them in 0,5L cans or 0,33L bottles). How much for a pack of cigarettes (10/20)?

[Pettytyrant101]

Cigarettes are about £3.00 for ten or about £5-6 for 20 depending on brand. Very pricey and almost all of it tax put on it for the good of our health! So someone who smokes 20 a day will spend roughly £35 a week on cigarrettes. A heavy smoker of 60 a day would be spending about £100 a week. To put that in persepective after 5 weeks thats enough to buy a decent LCD tv (or 10 a year).

[Ringdrotten]

Yeah, same here, all taxes. A pack of 20 here would be 8-9 pounds. I don't smoke cigarettes on a regular basis, but it still annoys me. I mean, if cigarettes and alcohol are taxed because of the damage it causes you, why isn't fat food and chocolate taxed the same way, or marked with "Eating this gives you cancer, makes you fat and kills you"?

[Eldorion]

Do chocolate or fast food cause secondhand fat?

[Pettytyrant101]

Nothing wrong with laws saying you cant smoke around other poeple Eldo. No reason to tax the a**e out of it though on health grounds when as Ringdrotten rightly points out you could do the same with other things for the same justification but don't. Plus as the highest tax is on cigarrettes and booze it is disproportional and hits the poorest harder.

[Eldorion]

I'm not going to argue with that right now, I was just feeling like a smart-ass earlier. I think there are some decent arguments for higher taxes on cigarettes but even I (despite loathing tobacco since it always makes me cough terribly) am not fully convinced.

[Pettytyrant101]

Intriguing three point announcment (attack) made by the UK government today. Either its a coincidence they announced them at same time or they are all part of a wider interconnected scheme!

1st the Unions have been threatened. With the worst of the cuts beginning to kick in this year strikes are likely. The Governmetn is threatening to change the law to make the Unions less powerful and to make it more difficult for them to strike.

2nd Universities have come under attack for alowing radicalisation of Muslims to happen on campus with threats of funding withdrawal as the stick.

3rd They have decided children are being sexualised by imagery and are bringing in new laws to cover advertising, a ratings sytem for pop videos and parents to have a greater say in what can be shown before the watershed (9pm)

So Union bashing, Muslim bashing and censorship- good solid right wing thinking- and all in one day.

(Doctor Who is well before the watershed- they better not dare touch it!)

Nothing wrong with encouraging folks to quit smoking Eldo, even with artifically higher prices, within reason, but the taxes are no longer within reason its just the government uses health as an excuse now, really they are just raking it in.

[Orwell]

"So Union bashing, Muslim bashing and censorship- good solid right wing thinking- and all in one day."

The above may be Right wing thoughts - but they are also maybe Moderate thoughts too!

Unions should have some restrictions on striking at times - and me a proud Unionist! (Though one must wait to see what your Tories are actually wanting). Muslim extremism needs curbing - and schools are no place for Religious Proseletyzing - or Political Proseletyzing neither. (Sorry if I spelled proseletyzing wrong - two lazee to spel chekk! ). Sexualizing children and having too naughty stuff on TV before 9.00pm would be something many parents of littlies would want looked at.

[Pettytyrant101]

"Though one must wait to see what your Tories are actually wanting"- Orwell

"Addressing delegates in Brighton, Mr Cable is expected to say: "We are undoubtedly entering a difficult period. Cool heads will be required all round. Despite occasional blips, I know that strike levels remain historically low, especially in the private sector. On that basis, and assuming this pattern continues, the case for changing strike law is not compelling. However, should the position change, and should strikes impose serious damage to our economic and social fabric, the pressure on us to act would ratchet up. That is something which both you, and certainly I, would wish to avoid."- BBC news

Implied threats at the moment for the most part.

"Muslim extremism needs curbing - and schools are no place for Religious Proseletyzing - or Political Proseletyzing neither."- Orwell

Traditionally UK universities have been a hotbed of both for centuries. Noone seemed to mind so much when it was white anglo-saxon politicizing and chrisitan religous thought.

"having too naughty stuff on TV before 9.00pm would be something many parents of littlies would want looked at"- Orwell

Or perhaps the parents could try monitoring what they allow their children to watch and putting 'littlies' to bed at a reasonable hour long before the 9pm watershed.

[Ringdrotten]

Do chocolate or fast food cause secondhand fat?

Well, no But think about it this way: Parents shouldn't smoke around their kids. That's fair enough and most people agree on this. Why, then, do we allow these obese parents to take their kids to MacDonald's and feed them the same garbage, possibly ruining the kids' lives? Not secondhand fat, but close

[Orwell]

Strikes = so long as they are for good enough reasons, not purely using power in a narrow destructive selfish way.

Extremism I have opposed (ever since I grew up). Who cares what ideology.

Naughty stuff - yes, 9pm is a good cut off point. Littlies - I think I get your point - depends of how "little" we're talking about at any given time. The younger they are the earlier (perhaps) they should be in bed. Perhaps we should work out a scale, Mr Tyrant.

Ringdrotten, who is the petty tyrant now?

[Ringdrotten]

[Orwell]

We are a species that takes great satisfaction in minding other people's business.

[Pettytyrant101]

Strikes - I agree on. But UK unions were all but destroyed by thatthcer and are almost non exisitent in the private sector now. So threating further curbs is as good as saying the dissolutionment of trade unions as any sort of effective voive of the worker.

Extremism- not got time for it myself but just highlightning the seeming doublestandard that the governmetn and sections of society always seem more worried about when the poeple doing it are a different colour and religion.

Bedtimes- I think Squach tried to come up with a bedtime list somewhere else, and ran into trouble. Anyone under 10 -7-8pm I would say. 10-13 up till nine and 13-16 till 10 (school nights) . That'd be my recommendations. Liklihood of successful inforcement of such a policy? Probably not high! (especially the last one with 15/16year olds)


Mind yourself Orwell - there is and can only ever be one Petty Tyrant. Its not a name choice its a lifestyle.

[Ringdrotten]

We are a species that takes great satisfaction in minding other people's business.

Indeed. Almost tempted to copy those words into the sayings/quotes thread

[Squach]

Bedtimes- I think Squach tried to come up with a bedtime list somewhere else, and ran into trouble. Anyone under 10 -7-8pm I would say. 10-13 up till nine and 13-16 till 10 (school nights) . That'd be my recommendations. Liklihood of successful inforcement of such a policy? Probably not high! (especially the last one with 15/16year olds)

Well, yes, I did. I asked what people thought the ideal bedtime was. Then Odo wrecked it by saying 6 o'clock. I mean, really?

I think spot-on because I go to bed at nine and i am 12!

[Pettytyrant101]

Kafria obviously has wise rules then Squach, well if she is agreeing with me about bedtimes then oviously she is wise, goes without saying..

My morning paper has once again caused me to nearly choke on my cornflakes (quite a feat as I'm eating toast). As those keeping abreast of Scottish politics might know the SNP won a huge landslide and in the manifesto was a promise in the secondhalf of the term to hold a referendum on Scottish Indepence.
The UK government said at the time that a referendum on the subject was "entirely a matter for the Scottish Government." Well now they have changed their minds.
Now it seems we can't be trusted. We get to have a referendum but the result is not binding- instead there will have to be a second vote, organised and run by london and only the result of the second one will be binding. In other words London want to set the questions, the rules and count the votes and the Scottish referendum result will be treated in the words of the UK government as 'advisory not binding'. Let London run a vote they have already stated they want a no majority in? That will be right! This is colonial thinking and its disgraceful.
Do they not realize how insulting this is? How offensive? If they want us to just say sod the lot of you and bugger off all the quicker they are going about it the right way.

[Orwell]

If you get independence will you stay part of the Commonwealth? If not, who is James Stuart's heir? Will we have another Stuart king, or just another Democracy - which is good - without a titular head of state - which is a little boring?

[Pettytyrant101]

The UK royal family is Scottish! Its ours through King James the V (I of England). Besides cant have a monarch unless they are crowned by magic- and that means they have to sit their royal posterior on the Stone of Scoone, and thats ours too! The english stole it, so we stole it back, then they stole it again. When Scotland got devolution they sent it back to Scotland but kept the right to call on it whenver a monarch needs crowned. In an independant Scotland we would most likely be part of the Commonwealth, but I say we take the whole institution back, flog all the houses, palaces and land in england and make a mint- think how much a huge bit of real estate like Buckingham Palace must be worth in the heart of London! We'd make a mint, and they wouldnt need it as they'd be rehoused at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh and have the castle.

[Gandalf's Beard]

Intriguing three point announcment (attack) made by the UK government today. Either its a coincidence they announced them at same time or they are all part of a wider interconnected scheme!

1st the Unions have been threatened. With the worst of the cuts beginning to kick in this year strikes are likely. The Governmetn is threatening to change the law to make the Unions less powerful and to make it more difficult for them to strike.

2nd Universities have come under attack for alowing radicalisation of Muslims to happen on campus with threats of funding withdrawal as the stick.

3rd They have decided children are being sexualised by imagery and are bringing in new laws to cover advertising, a ratings sytem for pop videos and parents to have a greater say in what can be shown before the watershed (9pm)

So Union bashing, Muslim bashing and censorship- good solid right wing thinking- and all in one day.

(Doctor Who is well before the watershed- they better not dare touch it!)

Nothing wrong with encouraging folks to quit smoking Eldo, even with artifically higher prices, within reason, but the taxes are no longer within reason its just the government uses health as an excuse now, really they are just raking it in.

I was going to respond to the legalizing drugs issue, but that seems like water under the bridge now. Then I thought I might tackle Weiner-gate, but frankly it's the weakest excuse for a sex scandal I have ever seen. I mean come on is this the best they can come up with???

I remember back in the day a sex scandal was about getting Blow Jobs in the White House, or Republican "family values" guys getting caught soliciting gay sex in Airport Toilets. How can Weiner tweeting a picture of Weiner's wiener in his underwear even compete with that???

RE: Union Busting: The Tories have clearly been taking lessons from the Republicans...or, more likely, this is a team effort to destroy Unions. It is Transatlantic Class Warfare. There is only one thing to do if the government threatens to undermine unions and make it more difficult to strike: IGNORE THE M*****F****** and GO ON STRIKE, AND ORGANIZE MORE UNIONS!!!! Force the hand of the Corporate M******F****** !!!

RE: Radicalization of Muslims: IGNORE THE M******F****** government and GO ON STRIKE!!! Show the M*****F****** how it was done in the 60s; Student Sit-ins, Massive Protests. Make the 60s look like tea with the Queen! Go all out.

RE: "Sexualization" of Children: The second step towards this:

Actually, I'm with the Scottish Parent-Teacher Council on this one. The concept is rubbish if you really think about it. The idea that Sexual Predators lie in wait around every corner is silly to begin with. Statistics are very clear on this. The vast VAST majority of people, adults or children, are preyed upon by people they know well.

Another point that makes this ridiculous on it's face, is that pictures of kids in clothes are everywhere. There are kids in clothes on TV. There are kids in clothes in Films. There are pictures of kids in clothes in magazines and on billboards. It's the pictures of kids with no clothes on we have to worry about. Anyone can take a picture anywhere at any time of anyone. You're far more likely to catch perves at the Beach taking pictures of girls in Bikinls. Which isn't illegal, and nor should it be.

I can't really believe I'm saying this, but in a number of ways the UK is even further ahead than the US in the attack on civil liberties. Surveillance Cameras everywhere. And these sorts of arguments are just another ridiculous way to strip more civil liberties away. First it's the school uniforms, but that's not where the attack on civil liberties actually lies. Any school that has a school uniform policy can make school uniforms any way they like (within reason of course, no-one is suggesting that school uniforms be underclothes and nothing else).

No, the real attack on liberties is spreading the idea that people taking pictures are sexual predators. This idea, if it catches on, will lead to laws allowing police to confiscate cameras and cell phones from anyone at anytime without a warrant or legitimate reason. Which means that surveillance will only be one way. Catch a copper doing something wrong on film, and it will be confiscated. Catch a politician in a compromising position on film, and it will be confiscated. Catch Corporate Malfeasance on film, their security will confiscate it.


If a school wants to change their uniforms that's fine, and they are well within their rights to do so. The only reason that this is a fuss is because the City Council is going out of bounds, interfering in school policies. And they are doing it loudly, in public, to create a bogus narrative, a climate of fear. It is hoped that fearful parents will then demand laws to protect their children from people with cameras and cellphones.

George Orwell would surely be proud to see his vision of the future come to fruition.

GB

I hate being right!!!

GB

[Orwell]

Are you sure you're right though, GB?

[Orwell]

Petty, I thought James II got the boot - then came Bonnie Prince Charlie? Did he have descendants?