Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:33 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

I think what they don't actually want is dozens or hundreds of people scavenging through containers all day which would obviously be a complete non-starter for H&S purposes as well as preventing normal operation of the site. I can hardly tip my large box of general rubbish into the crusher while there are 2 or 3 people scouring the contents.

OTOH I would agree that some of the stuff would be of use to people, but I'm not sure to what extent the Council already arranges for that to happen, for example, do they sell the electrical goods, or the wood waste, etc.? Obviously stuff like cans glass and plastics are sold commercially in large quantities.

Whatever, I don't think they could sensibly or safely operate a "help yourself" policy, certainly not as far as the crusher containers go. Once the stuff is chucked in there you can't have people climbing in to find bits to remove.

You're a bloody spoilsport you are, when I lived oop north in the 1980s the local tip consisted of a wall that you drove up to and tipped your rubbish into a concrete pit below, everyone did this including the bin wagons. Most days when you got there and looked over the wall there would be several old blokes sorting around in the rubbish that hadn't yet been scooped up by the two or three JCBs that periodically came by to move the rubbish to the actual landfill at the back of the site.

You could fill the best part of a Sunday afternoon sitting on the wall watching to see if any of the old blokes got covered by someone elses kitchen waste or an old carpet, or alternatively throw the stuff at them deliberately - when the diggers came back it was even more fun.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:53 pm  

Slight change of subject: a rather interesting history of 'Benefits Street'. Lengthy but worth a read.

Slight change of subject: a rather interesting history of 'Benefits Street'. Lengthy but worth a read.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:32 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

For another, I doubt there is a first year law student in the land who wouldn't immediately see the difficulty in proving dishonesty if you are taking something which the previous owner has clearly abandoned, by throwing it in a rubbish bin. Is it seriously suggested that each and every item in a landfill site is someone's property still? Call the police!

I suppose it depends where the bin is sited, if it's in an open area then I fail to see the problem, if, as seems to be the norm round our way, the skips are kept locked away behind huge fences then there's the question "what's he/she doing climbing over that wall?". Which is what probably happened here.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 6:45 am  

Living standards continuing to fall, says Institute for Fiscal Studies – won't reach pre-crisis levels by the 2015 election, and those on low incomes could feel the squeeze more in the coming years as a result of further cuts to benefits and tax credits.

Living standards continuing to fall, says Institute for Fiscal Studies – won't reach pre-crisis levels by the 2015 election, and those on low incomes could feel the squeeze more in the coming years as a result of further cuts to benefits and tax credits.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:34 am  

Mintball wrote: Living standards continuing to fall, says Institute for Fiscal Studies – won't reach pre-crisis levels by the 2015 election, and those on low incomes could feel the squeeze more in the coming years as a result of further cuts to benefits and tax credits. That report is a bit strange - it is suggesting the richest have been hardest hit and the poorest least hit - is that a suggestion the wealth gap is closing?

Mintball wrote: Living standards continuing to fall, says Institute for Fiscal Studies – won't reach pre-crisis levels by the 2015 election, and those on low incomes could feel the squeeze more in the coming years as a result of further cuts to benefits and tax credits. That report is a bit strange - it is suggesting the richest have been hardest hit and the poorest least hit - is that a suggestion the wealth gap is closing?

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:13 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

That report is a bit strange - it is suggesting the richest have been hardest hit and the poorest least hit - is that a suggestion the wealth gap is closing?

Only if you think that, say, 10% of an income of £1m is equal, in its impact, to 2% of an income of £12,000.

Reminds me of a situation I came across recently, of a vice chancellor at a university in the south west of England, who, after several years of massive pay awards, leaving them on something like £250K, had decided, as a show of solidarity with the university's lowest-paid staff – who have been offered a below-inflation pay cut of 1% this year – to take a rise this time around of 'just' 2%.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:50 am  

Meanwhile, since we've been mentioning big business – warnings as Virgin gives money to Met Police to help with a private prosecution.

Meanwhile, since we've been mentioning big business – warnings as Virgin gives money to Met Police to help with a private prosecution.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 9:04 am  

Mintball wrote: Meanwhile, since we've been mentioning big business – warnings as Virgin gives money to Met Police to help with a private prosecution. Good old Virgin Media! I told them to FO and take their cable tv with them years ago. Why? For taking seemingly random sums from my bank a/c and double charging on change of billing date (I wonder how many subscribers may have had the same but missed it?). Initially they refused to repay me until, iirc, I asked them to confirm what they had done was not theft and money laundering!

Mintball wrote: Meanwhile, since we've been mentioning big business – warnings as Virgin gives money to Met Police to help with a private prosecution. Good old Virgin Media! I told them to FO and take their cable tv with them years ago. Why? For taking seemingly random sums from my bank a/c and double charging on change of billing date (I wonder how many subscribers may have had the same but missed it?). Initially they refused to repay me until, iirc, I asked them to confirm what they had done was not theft and money laundering!

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 9:34 am  

Dally wrote:

Good old virgin media! I told them to do and take their cable tv with them years ago. Why? For taking seemingly random sums from my bank a/c and double charging on change of billing date (I wonder how many subscribers may have had the same but missed it). Initially they refused to repay me until, iirc, I asked them yo confirm what they had done was not theft and money laundering!

Why?
Are you a criminal?
Which reminds of the time I left a tenner in my Jeans and the wife put them in the washing machine.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:04 am  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Why?
Are you a criminal?
Which reminds of the time I left a tenner in my Jeans and the wife put them in the washing machine.

Sorry you've lost me.