I bought a succulent on eBay this week and it just arrived in the post. The postman said "careful there's soil falling out of the box"... Instead of sending it bare root the seller had just taped some cotton wool over the pot, wrapped it in card and popped it in a box. The plant was potted in almost pure pea gravel so that probably escaped the pot within about five minutes and then pulverised the plant for the rest of the journey. If Ikea sold build-your-own plants then this is what they would look like. All the components but no instructions. What a numpty
To make it worse this is my send attempt at trying to replace one of my favourite plants that die in the December cold snap. The first one was a tiny cutting that didn't take. Maybe this new one will regrow from what's left of the roots but they're not easy to bring on like that.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I remember our Best Man standing in the porch of his aunties house for over an hour talking about religion with a JW who was standing outside. We were in the front room laughing as it was pouring with rain. He could talk for England and every time the JW went to leave he would raise another point. Priceless.
Ann Widdecombe, @pansyface , or 'Noreen' to her mates, only has relevance if people allow her to have any. If it wasn't for her ever more strident right wing statements, and a section of the public daft enough to listen to them, she would have faded away a long while ago. Her wittering has as much relevancy as that other darling of the right-wing media, Katie Hopkins. Remember her ?
As I see her, Widdecombe is merely a sideshow attraction, a harridan in the true sense of the word .... bossy and belligerent, and destined, as her sort always are, for obscurity.
Even her former boss, Cameron, declined to acknowledge her so-called 'contributions' with a peerage.
When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
Oh my goodness, @pansyface , you really are out of the loop !
I have to take exception with the overuse of the word 'celebrity'. For the greater part they do, and have done, nothing that is worth celebrating. For a while the media started distinguishing these z-listers by using the term 'slebs' but it seems to have unfortunately reverted.
When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
Even with 'celebrities' that I am able to identify I generally have no idea what they are famous for. My assumption is that they have been on some 'reality' programme or other, which actually has about as solid a connection to reality as Donald Trump.
Water companies... A spokesperson is on the radio at the moment. She is talking about the Victorian sewage system as if that is the customers' issue and that the water companies are doing the customers a favour by upgrading the system now. Surely the whole point of a service is that part of the money made is re-invested back into the infrastructure. It's so damning saying that the system is still Victorian - whilst still having paid dividends and bonuses rather than constantly updating the infrastructure.
Looks like the customer will pay extra for the enhanced infrastructure - and presumably for future bonuses and dividends.
Water companies... A spokesperson is on the radio at the moment. She is talking about the Victorian sewage system as if that is the customers' issue and that the water companies are doing the customers a favour by upgrading the system now. Surely the whole point of a service is that part of the money made is re-invested back into the infrastructure. It's so damning saying that the system is still Victorian - whilst still having paid dividends and bonuses rather than constantly updating the infrastructure.
Looks like the customer will pay extra for the enhanced infrastructure - and presumably for future bonuses and dividends.
That's mainly down to a certain government privatising the water companies years ago. If they had been left in public ownership, yes, they would have been a headache to successive governments, but at least all the money would have been reinvested.
However, being publicly owned, they were probably managed by people who hadn't a clue what they were up against. I'll admit that the government offloaded the water system because they recognised that a lot of upgrading needed doing, and didn't want to pay for it.
On the plus side, at least for me, in the main, I've seen better service than when it was publicly owned. A company has the responsibility long term, a government can only guarantee being in power for five years - maximum. It would then become the problem for the next. Mismanagement costs, just as bonuses and dividends do.
I read a while back an ONS report which said water prices to domestic customers had risen 140% above inflation since privitisation. As a domestic customer, I have NO choice which company supplies my water. They're just a series of local monopolies many owned by overseas companies.
...but the customer has paid - isn't that the point? Any bill, be it a rail ticket, road tax, water bill, gas bill etc must include the infrastructure. It's a nonsense for a water company official to appear to be blaming 'Victorian sewage systems' when they're in control of those systems and have been for decades. When was the last reservoir built? How long has the effect of climate change been known?
A bit like not paying nurses 10% now - but they could have paid <1% p.a. over the 13 years in power - NOT doing is just bottling up issues for the future when the issues become too costly to rectify.
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However, being publicly owned, they were probably managed by people who hadn't a clue what they were up against. I'll admit that the government offloaded the water system because they recognised that a lot of upgrading needed doing, and didn't want to pay for it.
On the plus side, at least for me, in the main, I've seen better service than when it was publicly owned. A company has the responsibility long term, a government can only guarantee being in power for five years - maximum. It would then become the problem for the next. Mismanagement costs, just as bonuses and dividends do.
We as customers, pay either way.
As a domestic customer, I have NO choice which company supplies my water.
They're just a series of local monopolies many owned by overseas companies.
https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/water#:~:text=Over 90% of the English,sector are UK pension funds.
Over 90% of the English water companies are owned by international investors, private equity funds, and banks. Only 8.5% of shareholders in the water sector are UK pension funds.