The tories have been incumbent for 116 years in my neck of the woods (the previous one was a whig). The surveys say that is likely to end this time. I am sooo looking forward to that.

This was a criticism that the Nazis used against liberal democracies. They saw this as a fatal weakness and used it as a justification for keeping in power themselves, once they had achieved it.

Various dictators have said much the same as well.

However, looking at the track record of democracies vs dictatorships or single party states, I think that the data will show that pluralist democracies typically last longer.

For me, at least, it correlates to the direction that provides the widest/least obstructed/most visibly clear/least disruptive/least hazardous direction to give onward travel. Clearly the direction that that boils down to varies according to the individual situation.

I don’t recall being alone with a single central obstruction in the middle of an otherwise deserted and symmetrical street with no other influencing factors enough times to have noted any innate bias on my part.

This one is ok

There is a great list here.

Also Wild Strawberries (1957).

As in production companies? I’d go for Hammer Films.

I don’t think that I have ever submitted more than 2 applications in a week. Most of the info in those is the same, so it’s just copy and paste from the last one or from your cv and then how you fit the person spec, which always the one involving most thought.

It hardly counts as a full time job though.

I don’t think that I have ever actually kept it a secret as such, but I would seldom have cause to mention it anyway until I get an interview. At that point it depends on my current relationship with my manager. Sometimes I have just booked a day off for no specific reason, other times I have told them. If it is a post in the same organisation I’d certainly tell them. If it was a place where yhe managers were that bad, I wouldn’t want to stay there at all.

There are some pretty sharp divisions in Ireland it seems. Bonniconlon looks to be holding out as a ‘gone’ stronghold in the top corner of Mayo for example.

You’d need to refuel at some point and I expect that refuelling whilst in motion would probably hit some legal issues.

And then, assuming that you overcame that, in the UK at least, you’d need at MOT test at some point, which would have to be at an approved test centre, so 3 years at the absolute max - although I expect tyres etc would need attention before that.

Use Pritt or a rubber band or something to fix a 3mm A6 plastic or plywood sheet to the back of the notebook?

Or, you can buy A6 clipboards.

Is ‘consistent’ the critical thing here though? Or is introducing ideas to large numbers of people who could actually benefit from them?

Should all leftists just sit in a small room together and only talk among themselves to ensure that they are consistent? Or should they be going to places where there are other people and talking to them to actually spread leftist ideas among them?

Do you really find it that baffling that people are choosing to provide help and advice in a setting that has millions of active users rather than a setting that has some thousands?

Reading, hiking, film & TV, conservation volunteering

If you are a producer of doohickeys and I buy them from you to sell on, then I am a retailer and a customer of yours, but I do not actually consume the doohickeys. It is my customers who are the consumers.

Or, if you produce a certain show and I pirate that show from a torrent site and watch it, then I am a consumer of that show - but not a customer.

The ‘original’ game: Why Don’t You - Yes But was the one that I first recognised in myself. There are plenty of other examples on that website, but as the page says, it doesn’t have the full explanation and context.

There have been several. I’ll pick Eric Berne’s book Games People Play.

I immediately recognised a few that I had played and, having been ‘called out’ on them by the book, it did lead me to stop and behave more constructively.

I’ve had 17 days off in total, using up leave. That was great, but came back this week hoping for a slow start while I actually remembered anything at all about what I am supposed to be getting paid for.

Oh no, not a chance: “Update your budgets by the end of the day!” “Deal with this damage caused by Henk!”, “Your contractors haven’t been paid by accounts, so won’t come out and do anything. Sort it out!”, “We’re auditing your climate actions - update them now!”, “Do your team’s PDRs!” etc etc.

For complicated reasons over which we have had very little control, we have had to move house 3 times in the last 5 years.

In April of this year, thoigh, we finally found somewhere that we both really love and which should be pretty much permanent. I am very happy about that.

Hell, that’s going back a way. I don’t think that I have heard one of those since the 90s. They really haven’t aged well - not that they were exactly the height of PC humour back then.

What’s the difference between a shopping trolley and an Essex girl?

A shopping trolley has a mind of its own.

This is a noted issue with Ticks. When removing them, unless you do it properly, you may end up with the mouthparts left embedded in your skin.. However, even with those, the body will usually deal with it without too many problems.

Mosquito proboscii are much smaller and so I would not anticipate any issues for anyone with a functioning immune system to deal with without ever noticing.