Elsewhere (187)
Christopher Snowdon on Tory paternalism:
[Conservative MP, Dr Sarah] Wollaston wants the government to ‘tackle’ the alleged problem of cheap food. She also wants to tell shopkeepers where to position their goods, explaining her reasons in words so pathetic it almost makes me weep: “Do I want to have a kilogram of chocolate for almost nothing when I buy my newspaper? Of course I do but please don’t offer it to me, please don’t make me pass the chicanes of sugar at the checkout while queuing to pay for petrol.” Younger readers may not know this, but at one time the Conservatives were reputed to be the party of free markets and personal responsibility. In 2016, however, it is a party for people – grown, adult human beings, mind – begging to have sweets put out of their reach on other people’s property and pleading with petrol station attendants to put wine gums on the top shelf.
Kevin Williamson on the return of politically correct subprime mortgages:
Under its new and cynically misnamed “HomeReady” programme, borrowers with subprime credit don’t need to show that they have enough income to qualify for the mortgage they’re after — they simply have to show that all the people residing in their household put together have enough income to qualify for that mortgage. We’re not talking just about husbands and wives here, but any group of people who happen to share a roof and a mailing address. And some non-residents can be added, too, such as your parents. That would be one thing if all these people were applying for a mortgage together, and were jointly on the hook for the mortgage payments. But that isn’t the case. HomeReady will permit borrowers to claim other people’s income for the purpose for qualifying for a mortgage, but will not give mortgage lenders any actual claim against that additional income. This is madness.
Remember, citizens. Standards must be eroded for the sake of “social justice.”
And Toby Young on a modern heresy:
[Dr Adam] Perkins published his findings last November in a book called The Welfare Trait, but you won’t have heard about it or seen it reviewed in any UK newspaper anywhere because his research has been judged to be off limits by the self-appointed guardians of the academic establishment and their outriders in the media. A senior editor of Nature, one of the leading academic journals, refused to consider it for review because she regards scientific research into the personalities of the long-term unemployed as “unethical,” and a sociology professor whom the publishers had asked to peer-review the book refused to do so on the grounds that any book linking benefit dependency to personality must be nonsense because personality is a “capitalist construct.”
Feel free to share your own links and snippets in the comments. It’s what these posts are for.
Farnsworth – pay-at-the-pump fuel stations are slowly being introduced to Blighty, but they’re still quite rare.
They had them in Manchester around 2000-2003, but in true British style of failing to grasp a smart concept they first required drivers to “verify themselves” at the counter to make sure the card isn’t stolen, thus defeating the whole purpose of installing those expensive machines in the first place.
In France, there is one type of Total station where half of the pumps have card readers in, it’s quite handy. They too stock confectionery in front of the payment counter, and I must confess had they not done so I probably wouldn’t be buying a tube of fruit-flavoured sweets for the long drives I do every couple of months.
Well, from a realistic point of view, there’s that drinking and driving bit.
They sell beer and wine in petrol stations and motorway service stations in France. The French can be awfully clever at times, and somebody has worked out that occasionally cars have passengers.
In the US, there’s laws about “open container”, even for passengers. Varies by state. So passengers can’t drink either.
I must confess had they not done so I probably wouldn’t be buying a tube of fruit-flavoured sweets for the long drives I do every couple of months.
Ah, but did you find yourself buying the sweets despite a determined effort not to, and while knowing that eating 36 packets of sweets could make you feel quite sick? Was it a Hands of Orlac scenario?
It starts with a spot of nocturnal strangling then moves on to more serious things, like gratuitously buying sour cream Pringles.
Speaking of amusing tweets, the Oxford University Press warmed my heart.. and 2,500 others this morning. Feel free to toddle over there and upvote 🙂
To my great surprise, a small, vociferous band of ladies and gents took offence at this. Unfortunately OUP have issued a muted apology, which is usually a mistake as it encourages the offence regiment.
Also, this week in stupidworld, Greg Allan Elliot has been found Not Guilty of harassment.
I seem to remember that one of the complainants, the boring near-sociopath Stephanie Guthrie, had previously been involved in discussions with feminists who wanted the law of harassment extended. Then, wouldn’t you know it, she got into a row with Elliott (including calling him a paedophile, I’m told), blocked him, then brought a harassment suit against him – which has all but ruined his life.
This was just a sample of her unlovely behaviour.
I think it’s possible some of you may be amused by this.
It’s one of these.
Ah, but did you find yourself buying the sweets despite a determined effort not to, and while knowing that eating 36 packets of sweets could make you feel quite sick?
Almost. Actually, I fucked up and ate a sack of the charcoal by mistake. I just couldn’t resist.
I think it’s possible some of you may be amused by this.
Did the woman filming it crash five seconds later? 🙂
Did the woman filming it crash five seconds later?
Apparently not.
When the next crash comes because of this, everyone will blame the banks. It’s a nailed on certainty.
In the US, there’s laws about “open container”, even for passengers. Varies by state. So passengers can’t drink either.
In my wonderful state–home of a very large brewery conglomerate–it is forbidden to 1) consume an alcoholic beverage while 2) operating a 3) moving motor vehicle. Thus, passengers can drink all they want and even the driver can take a swig, provided the vehicle is stopped at a stop sign.
P.S. We also have drive-through liquor stores.
P.S. We also have drive-through liquor stores.
In New Orleans, there are drive through daiquiri joints. Please not for the thirsty, there is the gallon size.
For heaven’s sakes, don’t they sell beer at gas stations in the UK?
Yes they do. In Scotland.
David
I’m wondering how one arrives at this attitude, the gist of which is, “How dare someone quote something bonkers that I said on a public forum?”
Frances Coppola has form. Here, in tbe comments, is one of my exchanges with her:
http://www.coppolacomment.com/2015/08/europes-shame.html
Here, in the comments, is one of my exchanges with her
Uphill work, I see.
Apropos of nothing in particular:
Is this something that people do? Talk into dinner plates, I mean.
Is this something that people do?
I remember when cell phones used to have to be carried around in bags because they were too big to fit in pockets, it is good we have advanced past that to where cell phones now are so big they have to be carried in bags because they are too big to fit in pockets.
I remember when cell phones used to have to be carried around in bags because they were too big to fit in pockets, it is good we have advanced past that to where cell phones now are so big they have to be carried in bags because they are too big to fit in pockets.
I’ve just never seen anyone use a tablet to take a call, at least not while holding the thing up to their face. Though the advert seems to suggest that this is typical, or at least not odd.
A friend of mine had one of the first mobile phones in town, though I use the term ‘mobile’ loosely. It was the size of a shoebox and weighed about as much as a typical sofa. But it’s pose value was enormous, much like the phone itself.
Uphill work, I see.
Indeed, it was. The remark of hers I thought was most revealing was:
I for one would regard immigration as a good thing if it helped to shift dysfunctional cultural attitudes and entrenched racist xenophobia.
As if immigration from the Third World ever would. Priceless!
The remark of hers I thought was most revealing…
Quite.
>Wollaston’s evasion is quite breath-taking. The problem isn’t cheap food. It’s the fact that stupid people behave in ways that are not only costly to their health but also, thanks to our socialist healthcare system, costly to others.
As you say she is evading the big problem, namely that extortion-funded treatment rationing schemes such as the NHS subsidise poor health choices (funded by punishing people for productivity, and thus causing unemployment). As the NHS is worshipped by the establishment types (can move the costs of migration, onto others as they pick up the extra rents and lower wages) this would be a modern-blasphemy.
Is this something that people do? Talk into dinner plates, I mean.
Reminded me of one of your previous posts about hipster dining. I was trying to figure out if a full English breakfast could fit on that tablet.
http://www.purdys.com/Almost-Perfect-Online-Exclusive-P934C108.aspx
From the advert: “Purdys’ fine chocolates are crafted with love, We make hedgehogs and caramels we’re very proud of.”
Hedgehogs?
There have been several mentions in these comments of things relating to hedgehogs that come as news to me. I am leading a double life of which I am not aware.
I am leading a double life of which I am not aware.
Well, yeah. Because you only know one thing.
Followup on I need some muscle over here and assorted idiocy . . .
Mizzou professor who pushed reporter away from protesters is charged with assault and other assorted headlines . . .
Oh here’s some brlliant idiocy:
http://ideas.ted.com/gallery-a-sweet-perspective-on-the-burka/
A new take on the burka – reclaiming Afghan fashion donchaknow?
She wants to start a conversation about why that happened — to challenge the image of the burkas and the headscarf as threatening, ominous, a symbol of oppression even on a little girl.
Headscarves and burkas are not even remotely the same thing.
A headscarf covers the hair, in accordance with the Koran. It’s no more objectionable to most people than not eating bacon or growing a beard, which rarely raise the ire of even the most strident anti-Islamicist. The Lebanese ladies make them actually look good.
A burka is a crazy garment worn by a minority of Moslems for cultural reasons only. It makes the person a non-person by intent. It is a symbol of oppression, and many object to it even when not anti-Islam (indeed many Moslems do).
They should never be conflated.
My daughter wore headscarves for years to school, because her hair is unruly. If this girl got stares it won’t be just because she was wearing a headscarf.
Hedgehog:
… and in chocolate: http://www.purdys.com/Hedgehogs-P3.aspx
Cheers
I remember when cell phones used to have to be carried around in bags because they were too big to fit in pockets,
Such as in 1993? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6pLxYXpW8I
Just sayin’:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/26/nhs-comes-14th-in-europe-wide-survey-on-health-systems
The remark of hers I thought was most revealing…
I think what got everyone’s goat more than anything is that she represents the upper-middle classes (from which our pro-immigration politicians are drawn) who has a job which will not be threatened by immigrants and lives in an area where she knows damned well they can’t afford to live. People have gotten utterly sick of a small, privileged section of society being all virtuous over immigration while knowingly foisting the (sometimes deadly) consequences on others.
a small, privileged section of society being all virtuous over immigration while knowingly foisting the (sometimes deadly) consequences on others.
Mr Simon Schama being exhibit A.
a small, privileged section of society being all virtuous over immigration while knowingly foisting the (sometimes deadly) consequences on others.
Indeed. Many of our self-declared betters are part of a transnational “elite” that is thoroughly at home with their counterparts in other countries, with whom they have significantly more in common than with the proverbial “man on the street” in their own countries. This applies in spades to politicians, who, as members of this transnational elite, make decisions that are in the interest of their friends, or at least are such that they would not offend them, while taking scant notice of the impact these decisions have on the lives of the people they purport to represent. How else to explain Frau Merkel’s bizarre commitment to import one million “refugees” from Syria while totally ignoring (or worse yet, impugning) the concerns of the people who elected her?
This will not end well. In a representative democracy, the first responsibility of government is to the people who elected it. It is the basis of the social contract. The current situation, in many of the oldest democracies in the world, is leading to a loss of legitimacy of the political class that is likely to have dire consequences.
… and in chocolate: “>http://www.purdys.com/Hedgehogs-P3.aspx
“Hedgehogs make a perfect gift for any occasion.”
Heh.
The Fox: Well, yeah. Because you only know one thing.
True. But it is one big thing.
“Dinsdale!”
Re: sub-prime stupidity : “as a dog returneth to it’s vomit”
a small, privileged section of society being all virtuous over immigration while knowingly foisting the (sometimes deadly) consequences on others.
“That mass migration is adding enormous pressure to public services has been confirmed by German dental professionals, who have warned the teeth of many immigrants are so bad they require significant work, which will cost the tax payer billions of Euros. Describing the teeth of migrants who are coming to German dentists for work as “catastrophic” and often requiring total replacement, Baden-Württemberg dentists’ association chief Knuth Wolf said: “For the majority of refugees there is a need for a comprehensive dental treatment, or even dentures. There are corresponding costs with this”.
A Gatestone Institute account of the healthcare situation in Germany found clinics and emergency rooms “filled to capacity”, and previously exterminated diseases making comebacks. “German public health officials are now on the lookout for Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, diphtheria, Ebola, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, measles, meningitis, mumps, polio, scabies, tetanus, tuberculosis, typhus and whooping cough. As refugee shelters fill to overflowing, doctors are also on high alert for mass outbreaks of influenza and Norovirus”, says the report.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/26/dentist-association-warns-treating-migrants-terrible-teeth-will-cost-taxpayer-billions/