Kevin's Watch

The Sun, a Murdoch owned lowgrade redtop with a big circulation ran a story this week, front page headline, about a woman on benefits who has spent two thousand pounds (cue outrage) on her six children's Christmas presents! The feckless scrounger..... and the throw-away money welfare nanny state!

What, seriously are we to make of such headlines? What purpose are they meant to serve? Are we supposed to be driven to a state of high indignation about irresponsible people taking free handouts on the back of out hard work - and vote Tory in the next election because of it? There has to be so much more to this story if you but give it a moment of thought that your soon realise your initial knee-jerk reaction is entirely wrong. How has this woman obtained said two thousand pounds? Has irresponsible lending by credit companies furnished her with debt with which they will hold her in thrall for years to come, for the crime of succumbing to the incessant torrent of advertising spewed out by our consumerism driven economy - advertising that subtlety informs you that if you don't buy into this Christmas frenzy of spending madness you're a 'grinch' or a bad parent or whatever.
Alternatively, did she save this money by scrimping a bit here, cutting a bit there, over the course of the year. In that case she sounds like an eminently sensible manager of her domestic finances to me and to be applauded at every level. Not only does she manage the gargantuan task of raising six children independantly, she also manages to provide them with Christmases to remember in the manner that all children deserve.

The shame in this situation rests entirely with the raged shit sheet The Sun for it's attempt to fuel discord amongst the population where there is no cause for it to be so.

(She saves all year.)

Skyweir wrote:Ok think today ...

Grrrrr...

I hate tele sales pitches - they must be trained to dominate and influence the direction of conversation... *shudders* Id far rather deal with stupid kids trying to knock over the house.

Feeling annoyed at all this stupid shit

It's absolutely stunning the depths that people will go to. A lot of it can be tied to either an Ice or Pokie habit. Importantly it is good to hear you stayed out of harms way. There are no more Robert De Niro criminals who bow and apologise on the way out.

As for the telesales pitches, I managed to avoid these so far. I give them and Ice users the same respect. But you make a point that people will try anything!

peter wrote:The Sun, The shame in this situation rests entirely with the raged shit sheet The Sun for it's attempt to fuel discord amongst the population where there is no cause for it to be so.

I tend to agree with your point Peter.
While there are people who generate cash through welfare by having more kids, for this woman to find a way to save $2k is a big effort. Unless she sells software over the phone to crack credit card details to support her ice habit on the side.... which The Sun would possibly have us believe.
Wasn't The Sun the one with the topless page 3 girl? Hypnotising the masses!

It was indeed Kizza; A quality paper spreading quality messages.

Ah, the fourth estate.

--A

My local paper gets half their 'articles' from Twitter or Reddit. Not sure if it's laziness/lack of real journalists, or knowing their audience. Not sure which is more depressing.

Ugh not accept anything I write

Haha

So weird

That, it accepts

Agree Sorus, Pete and cheers Kizza

Freddie Flintoff (ex-captain of the England cricket team) appears to be going through his David Icke moment. He no longer believes that the Earth is round having apparently been convinced by a podcast he listens to that the idea is in fact a spurious conspiracy spread by Disney. Instead, Flintoff adheres to the conjecture that it is disc shaped with a central North Pole and a circumferential South Pole around the edge. "That's why all governments now have bases there," he adds. Too many cricket balls to the head I say.

Disney

Wow just wow

Skyweir wrote:Ugh not accept anything I write

Sre you pasting or quoting something?

Have you tried this: utils.paranoiaworks.org/diacriticsremover/

That usually works.

--A

peter wrote:Freddie Flintoff (ex-captain of the England cricket team) appears to be going through his David Icke moment. He no longer believes that the Earth is round having apparently been convinced by a podcast he listens to that the idea is in fact a spurious conspiracy spread by Disney. Instead, Flintoff adheres to the conjecture that it is disc shaped with a central North Pole and a circumferential South Pole around the edge. "That's why all governments now have bases there," he adds. Too many cricket balls to the head I say.

Disney? If you're going to believe in a flat planet, at least pick Terry Pratchett's universe. Crazy people have no standards these days.

Avatar wrote:

Skyweir wrote:Ugh not accept anything I write

Sre you pasting or quoting something?

Have you tried this: utils.paranoiaworks.org/diacriticsremover/

That usually works.

--A

Yeah just posting

But was using my phone - so I now omit all punctuation lol

Im using the computer now - and have less issues when I use this (hence the dash )

Yeah Sorus gave me that link - I followed it and removed all the diacritics but still didn't let me post my original reply hahahahaha

Sorus wrote:

peter wrote:Freddie Flintoff (ex-captain of the England cricket team) appears to be going through his David Icke moment. He no longer believes that the Earth is round having apparently been convinced by a podcast he listens to that the idea is in fact a spurious conspiracy spread by Disney. Instead, Flintoff adheres to the conjecture that it is disc shaped with a central North Pole and a circumferential South Pole around the edge. "That's why all governments now have bases there," he adds. Too many cricket balls to the head I say.

Disney? If you're going to believe in a flat planet, at least pick Terry Pratchett's universe. Crazy people have no standards these days.

Amen to that!!!

The 404 thing can be weird: I've stripped out everything from a post that has been 404'd that could be troublesome (pound signs and the like) and it still wouldn't post. Sometimes it's just a case of 'once 404'd, always 404'd'!
(I'll be lucky if this one gets through! )

What I do in that case is quote the previous post and post just that quote, which is usually accepted. Then I edit the post with just the quote in, remove the quote and insert my own text. That usually works in cases where there is no reason for it to have been rejected.

--A

I just use this thing which I think was linked in the help thread:

utils.paranoiaworks.org/diacriticsremover/