In todays news...

[mangocrazy]

Yes, working in an office can sometime be more fun, it can sometimes be more productive, but usually it is just an expensive PITA. Especially if your office is in the centre of the Great Wen, so it costs a fortune, and your travel to and fro eats a huge chunk of your time and money.

Even in pre-internet days I sometimes used to work from home effectively.

In my last workplace it was more a case of who you had for a head of department. Stuff like how many days per week (or even if) you were allowed to WFH was at 'manager's discretion'. My head of department was resolutely old-skool in his attitudes, despite being over 20 years younger than me, and if he could have forced everyone to work in the office all the time he would have done. As it was he grudgingly allowed people to WFH for 2 days a week.

But times change - a year or so pre-Covid he headed off to Danske Bank and things loosened up noticeably. Then Covid hit and totally changed the landscape.

[Cousin Jack]

Because nothing that happens at that level of business is by accident, the way people dress, act , co-operate etc are all very carefully thought out (and in some case it is rehearsed).
My old French boss was always late for meetings - initially I thought it was just disorganisation - but it didn't take longe to realise that it was all about making him more important than everyone else.
The guy/ gal above is applying the same metrics and trying to put people on the back foot.

I think that Machiavellian stuff is a bit out of date.
We had a business coach that tried to make me dress up like an 80s Dallas star and said that people wouldn’t take me seriously otherwise. I ignored them.

I have no issue with the person who chooses to dress in different ways. I think anyone that does is hampered by their conditioning.

I don't think it has changed one iota for American/ Swiss lead companies - looks, presentation , body shape where all hugely important to how you were seen and how you "fitted" the company.
It wasn't as pronounced in Germany - where egos were worn much more brazenly and there was little Machiavellian posturing to it. It was more directly cocks out on the table.
the Japanese were a little different - however, if you weren't Japanese you didn't really matter.
But even in a world run by Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos , how you dress will matter.

Every national culture is different, as I discovered working as a Project Manager across multiple countries. German or American - make sure he really understand what he has to deliver, and by when, and then leave him to it. If it looks like he will miss the deadline he will call you. French - you had better call him twice a week or he will assume you have lost interest and put it all on the back burner. When you remonstrate you will get a gallic shrug.

[cheb]

The membership is down by a shedload, if the apparatchiks are to believed, and it's growing pains: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-65013722

[Cousin Jack]

The membership is down by a shedload, if the apparatchiks are to believed, and it's shrinking pains: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-65013722

FTFY

[Mussels]

After the trans stuff I can see why she might not think this is a mess.

[Mussels]

I'm trying to work out who sees a dead shark on the beach and thinks 'I'll just fetch my knife and chop off it's head, fin and tail to take them home with me'.

A plea has been made to return the head of a rare shark so it can be analysed.

On Saturday, local residents walking on Lepe beach in Hampshire discovered a dead shark which was later spotted without its head, tail and fin.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-h ... e-65013372

[Screwdriver]

That 'something' is a human being. The only question for them about work is 'Are they good at their job?'

We already know the answer....

https://fortune.com/2023/03/20/how-did- ... e-so-fast/

[Screwdriver]

Ditto for the former. Why would anyone be uncomfortable with it, IMO if just a person in some clothes. Maybe the discomforteds need to look at their own thought processes. What's the difference between mens' and womens' clothing anyway? Skirt/kilt/sarong, blouse/shirt, what real difference is there?

Cross dressing is a sexual fetish. While I accept that many humans appear to have an obsession with sex, in my book you leave that at home for your own personal time unless you happen to work at Anne Summers.

Many "transgender" individuals claim it is not a choice but a compulsion, driven by the idea that they were "born into the wrong body". Body dysmorphia is a mental health issue.

Again though, it's no skin off my nose. I am not exactly an exemplar of a mentally healthy individual. But I do not rub it into other peoples faces or champion the cause of <whatever> identity politics is "trending".

This man is listed as one of the top 100 women which beggars belief other than that that idiotic dichotomy is also currently trending. Our society is not merely driving itself towards financial bankruptcy due to the insane levels of corruption within the current system of governance, it is also morally bankrupt.

The current hot topic of identity politics, singling out a "group" and declaring they are "victims" of a patriarchy, is to claim the entire human history of (ostensibly) Christian values is somehow "wrong". I.e. the values upon which our society has been created are to be villified. That's fine if your aim is to effectively dismantle the currently accepted social norms.

What happens if/when they succeed and "the system" comes crashing down? Honestly, I believe that is in fact the plan, as detailed in "the Great Reset". Before jumping down my throat and/or accusing me of being a bloody conspiracy theorist <again/yawn> consider this: the Great Reset is the current policy being played out by the WEF and is backed by virtually every single multi billionaire and global corporation.

Now why would they do that? Do you scoff at the idea because you think they couldn't possibly get away with it? Well, I've got news for you, they are getting away with it...

[cheb]

Maybe we need to stop creating two top 100 lists for activities that only need one list? Best actor and best actress? Why not just best thespian?

I suspect that the basic problem is that change is feared, possibly hard wired into our stone age evolved brains.

[demographic]

Maybe if the asylum seekers were processed faster the majority of them eligible could be allowed into work and start paying into the system instead of costing money and filling the many vacancies there is on the job market that the government keeps on about.
Jeez, how hard was that to work out.

Sounds great. I’m interested in your solution.

Where will you get all the extra judges and lawyers to process them all within record time when they turn up with nothing and no time to build up their story supporting their asylum claim?

And without any ID or other documents ...

You claim to be a bit of captain of industry but can't even come up with a half decent idea.
Go on, try and come up with a way to integrate people into society.
Can't be that hard, Yoz, Yambo and Iccy are managing to get on in another country, just imagine how easy it would be for sensible people
How about giving them temporary ID, NI number and so on.
Currently they're unable to work but theyre allowed round the town on pushbikes.
Thats asking for them to make money on the black market and basically pointing them right towards crime.
Let em work, they can contribute to the country, have pride in it and learn to love it.

Get past yer bitterness qnd see an opportunity to make our country better.

[Screwdriver]

Maybe we need to stop creating two top 100 lists for activities that only need one list? Best actor and best actress? Why not just best thespian?

I suspect that the basic problem is that change is feared, possibly hard wired into our stone age evolved brains.

Change is inevitable but change into what?

Change into a society where you are not allowed to say that a man is not a woman? A few years ago, Widow Twanky was a figure of fun. There was an element of humour in the idea of a burly man dressed up as a woman. Laugh now or refuse to use the "correct" pronoun and you could literally end up in jail ffs.

That is a step in the wrong direction.

Changes in human society are typically either by slow progression of consensus among the general populace or the iron fist of authoritarianism.

My take on this identity politics nonsense is that it is a tiny minority of extremely vocal activists effectively being sponsored by the political class themselves under the control of global elites. Now why would they do that? Is it to empower the "common man" or "stone age ape" in your words or is it a drive towards authoritarianism?

[demographic]

Maybe we need to stop creating two top 100 lists for activities that only need one list? Best actor and best actress? Why not just best thespian?

I suspect that the basic problem is that change is feared, possibly hard wired into our stone age evolved brains.

Change is inevitable but change into what?

Change into a society where you are not allowed to say that a man is not a woman? A few years ago, Widow Twanky was a figure of fun. There was an element of humour in the idea of a burly man dressed up as a woman. Laugh now or refuse to use the "correct" pronoun and you could literally end up in jail ffs.

That is a step in the wrong direction.

Changes in human society are typically either by slow progression of consensus among the general populace or the iron fist of authoritarianism.

My take on this identity politics nonsense is that it is a tiny minority of extremely vocal activists effectively being sponsored by the political class themselves under the control of global elites. Now why would they do that? Is it to empower the "common man" or "stone age ape" in your words or is it a drive towards authoritarianism?

Lee Anderson, when asked about the Conservatives elecroral strategy replied with somethibg along the lines of* Culture wars and Trans Issues.
That to me is an admission that they've not got real policies and are relying on getting the mouthbreathers into a froth and causing fear.

*Not a direct quote, I'm paraphrasing but it'll likely turn up on the net somewhere.

[irie]

Sounds great. I’m interested in your solution.

Where will you get all the extra judges and lawyers to process them all within record time when they turn up with nothing and no time to build up their story supporting their asylum claim?

And without any ID or other documents ...

...
Go on, try and come up with a way to integrate people into society.
...

As Potter says, there is already a system in place.

No need, the UK already has one, it's a process used (mostly) by the ten million non-UK born people that live in the UK now.
...
Where it falls down is when tens of thousands of illegal immigrants get delivered by organised criminal gangs, they flood the system and collapse the available resources.
...

This ^^^

Out of the 59.6 million usual residents in England and Wales in 2021, 49.6 million (83.2%) were born in the UK and 10.0 million (16.8%) were born outside the UK.

[DefTrap]

Silly Tory rhetoric.
"Not being ok with sending immigrants to Rwanda" doesn't make you a Marxist, but the Tory press will happily tell you that that equals "opening the floodgates". Let's not forget that dithering about this situation has been the policy of every UK government since forever.

Funny how the Tories can make up a shit solution to a shit situation and then blame everyone else for politicising it.

I'd agree that the public want Labour less than Conservative. Corbyn was a dream parody comedy bogeyman and it'll take a while yet to get over that one.

[irie]

When dealing with the Credit Suisse crisis, the Swiss authorities broke a rule implemented after the 2008 financial crisis: that the first to lose their money must be shareholders, and thereafter AT1 bondholders.

As you can see, the largest Credit Suisse shareholders were predominantly Saudi/Quatari (Olayan Group is Saudi) so the Swiss made sure they didn't lose their money.

Instead AT1 bondholders were the first to lose their money. Not difficult to imagine future situations where this sleight of hand could come back to haunt the Swiss.

[Mr. Dazzle]

How do you stop organised criminal gangs exploiting hundreds of thousand of people willing to pay for a dream that the UK is the promised land?

Thing is though, I don't believe for 1 microsecond that the dream sold by traffickers has any relationship to any kind of reality. So introducing the reality that you might get sent to Rwanda instead seems kinda pointless to me. S'not like the traffickers are gonna be upfront with Ts and Cs is it?

[Cousin Jack]

How do you stop organised criminal gangs exploiting hundreds of thousand of people willing to pay for a dream that the UK is the promised land?

Thing is though, I don't believe for 1 microsecond that the dream sold by traffickers has any relationship to any kind of reality. So introducing the reality that you might get sent to Rwanda instead seems kinda pointless to me. S'not like the traffickers are gonna be upfront with Ts and Cs is it?

Probably the only way is to consistently do (not just threaten) something really nasty to the boats, something so outrageous that even the man on the donkey cart in Iraq or Pakistan will hear about it. Like machine gun every one of them as soon as they cross into British waters.

And that is certainly illegal, and unlikely to be popular with anyone except a few out-and-out Nazis.. But it is probably the only way that will work.

[Dodgy69]

This country needs these immigrants like I need a hole in the head. England in particular, has been steadily going down the pan for many years, due mainly to a lack of investment in it's future and politicians who don't give a fcuk. Surely anything is worth a go, in the hope it might deter some, or at least, send a message.

Only a fool would climb aboard an overloaded blow up dinghy and attempt to cross one of the busiest shipping channels in the world. If they were genuinely running for their lives, they would happily settle anywhere safe and a free relocation seems a fair deal to me.

[Horse]

one of the busiest shipping channels in the world

Would you know that if you didn't live in the UK?

[mangocrazy]

500 years ago it was a commonly held belief by those who had never visited the shithole that the streets of London were paved with gold. I suspect similar fables are at the root of a lot of the desperate attempts by the poor and displaced to reach what they regard as some kind of oasis.

We need to find the little shit that is peddling these falsehoods and break his fingers...