AHPP

Smashing job. There’s (pardon the pun) a whole culture around maintaining and sharing starters. Pizzerias do it too. Same dough since 1965 etc. Cooking coppicing.

I report similar.

I've got a Noco GB70 that I've never managed to use to start anything. Either it doesn't work or I'm too ****************ing thick to grasp the instructions. Anyone care to offer instruction in terms the tech-averse might understand?

Love ‘em. The puff pastry ones are nice but I’m not sure I’d let a subordinate see me eat one. Church hall issue flat ones best dry. Supermarket ones with void: two in a bowl, microwave, double cream, burn your mouth.

What's the craic with covid tests atm? Are they still the "free" NHS ones or are there others commercially available?

The British government pissed on my chips. I quite agree, a child didn't ask to be born and didn't ask to be born into circumstances where they suffer. But. Hastily reaching for dangerous ideology to feed kids in the short term and condemning them to a future of big-state paternalism in the long term is not doing them any favours. They'll get over being hungry from 5-16 a lot more easily than they will being taxed like a rape victim and worked like a dog from 16-85. 'Kiddies shouldn't starve' is an emotional response. Not one that should be ignored because there's always room for compassion but the bigger picture IS bigger. I want to see a massive increase in truly private charity stepping into areas government is trying and failing at. We have a glorious history of it. Miners' widows round my way were looked after by mutual associations that really worked and really cared. I'd feed a hungry kid on my street. So would my neighbours. So would you. You could afford to feed a hundred if you weren't paying for the cxnts in Westminster to go on TV and tell everyone about how they're going to feed kids.

I'd go as far as to say I'm right. And since you mention it, fiscal policy doesn't help. People are taxed savagely. They need to get rid of the money so they have nothing to have stolen so they do things with it they would never ordinarily do just so it can come back to them wrapped in some accountancy. Pointless economic activity causing pollution and taking resources away from more worthwhile endeavours. Residential landlording the most obvious and relatable example (which also chokes the supply of houses that other people need to live in - a bonus harm).

While in danger of sounding like a stuck record, it's once again monetary policy that is to blame. There's £100 in circulation. You have £1. You have 1% of the spending power. Tomorrow, you still have £1 and 1%. But the next day, the government prints another £100 because it wants the money to buy something. There's now £200 in circulation. Your £1 is now 0.5%. You've lost spending power. To avoid losing spending power and wealth, wealthy people spend the money on running businesses so that they have a constantly replenishing source of money and their wealth is preserved. A lot of this business is pointless stuff, generating pollution and expending resources, which drives the cost of them up for other, perhaps better, uses.

See my reply to difflock on economies of scale themselves. Also consider this on the cost of doing something privately vs the cost of government "doing" it. The government way will always be more expensive. The labour, fuel, materials etc all costs the same on both sides of the equation but when government is doing it, you're paying extra for the extra layer of bureaucracy, politicians, civil servants etc. A government administered service is always more expensive, whether you can see the cost or not. Edited to add: The reality is actually much worse when you add in corruption, incompetence, lack of accountability, lack of competition etc. Hence £9 paracetamol, £42 lightbulbs on army bases etc.

I have an early tip on some unusually high-quality magic beans about to come on the market. PM me.

Economies of scale should work but don’t in exactly the same way they don’t work for the nine quid NHS paracetamol. The contractors get the government to sign contracts that ensure they always win at the expense of the government (and in turn the taxvictim) always losing. This is why I very actively discriminate against businesses who work for state agencies. I’m pissing into a force 9 gale but you have to have standards for yourself.

We’re all part of society. Society is not the same thing as government though. People use the words, and in turn the idea, interchangeably. I’ve not got any kids. I’m aware it changes people and makes them quicker to reach for pragmatism. A hungry child obviously needs feeding and to an extent that can’t wait. But there’s pragmatism and then there’s stepping back and considering if something’s actually a good idea. Getting kids hooked on the almighty state is a dangerous path. Parents, if they stop and think, wouldn’t want their children growing up in a world being wrecked by state paternalism. The right man to father a child is his father. And stuff isn’t free. You’ve either paid for it in taxes or in harm to your future wealth. Or someone else has been forced to pay for it. Neither are free.

You are setting yourself up for serious, serious disappointment.

Bloody watch me. Anything the state involves itself in goes wrong. The opposite of what’s intended usually happens. If they’re trying to feed people, more will starve. The cobra effect. Just watch. A year from now, scum parents will have worked out how to use the school meals money for scratchcards and scum catering contractors will have worked out how to use the school meals money for company Bentleys.

None is due. Les is a twat.

A week and a day in and Sailor is proving to be pretty bloody easy. Quickly acquired general dog manners, settled into my shit-tip of a house like it was one large silk pillow, went from six months of towing someone round on a harness to a mix of polite leadwork and free-range frolics and is as good as bloody gold with people and dogs that, on viewing, he was barking bloody murder at. I've been unbelievably lucky. Could have been a nightmare. Isn't. In the name of balance and accountability, the bad: My alarm clock goes off at 08:00. He howls like a dickhead anywhere from 06:15. I buckled once. Since resolved not to unless it's the neighbours actually breaking the door down. He can hold his piss like a champ so I think it's garden variety separation anxiety. He'll have to learn. Recall isn't great. I can get him back to a shout or a whistle when he's just generally trotting round but if he's onto anything interesting, I quickly slip down the list of priorities. Had a fairly embarrassing episode this morning where a spaniel sneaked up on us and got chased all the way home. Luckily mine has a pretty good sense of direction and returned to the scene of the crime like he'd only stepped out for a fag. Hoping time and bonding fixes the obvious problems. Bear in mind it's still very early days and he's passed the crash course with flying colours.

Paired with a box Shiraz, for my spiritual health.

Creamy pasta thing with probably too much parsley.

I sent NGK a picture of a strikingly green plug I found recently in case they wanted it for that page. Rudey poos didn’t even reply.

They’ll still be readable after only a few minutes of running won’t they?

Spud’s answer now seems better than mine and stubby’s. Try it straight piped and see if you get the same thing.

Have you watched the television series, Detectorists?

Superb.

Exhaust valves were my first thought. Did they do them as part of the service?

One thing about jokes/references is that not everybody gets them.