hyperdistortion

Unless you can guarantee you’d be part of the wealthy elite, any time before World War II is foolhardy, I’d say. And even then, being rich just makes things easier, not actually easy. Hell, even in the post-WW2 era things aren’t exactly great until… probably the 90s? End of the Cold War, economic recovery post-1992, housing far more affordable… there’s a lot to be said for the 90s. And the turn of the millennium even more so. Agent Smith was right: the end of the 20th century is the peak of our civilisation.

In my personal experience, most do. My experience isn’t universal, of course. In my experience the ones that don’t are those who think - or know - they can’t justify their management salaries without someone in the office to ‘manage.’ David Brent types, in short.

People are weird. Personally I don’t particularly care where the work gets done, so long as it’s getting done. Across my team, I have people whose average office attendance rates are 95%, 75%, 40%, and 5%. The last one is my most productive team member, and would be whether they were in the office, at home, or anywhere. Different folks work better in different places. Personally I prefer being in the office as it’s focusing - go to the work place to do work, basically. If other people prefer to do otherwise, and their job is getting done, have at it.

At no point did anyone say Japan is perfect. All of what you’re saying is true; it’s just answering a question that hasn’t been asked.

Japan is bizarre in that sense. An ageing and shrinking population, and a cultural insistence on maintaining staff in roles that could be automated. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy that enormously about Japan. Actual staffing, not just automated kiosks, it makes for a friendlier and more attentive service. Even so, keeping people employed in those jobs means they aren’t doing other, potentially more productive jobs instead. It’s an odd balancing act.

It sounds like the other folks were being quite intolerant of hidden disabilities, from what you’ve said. And while I’m sure it’s frustrating to them when someone who looks perfectly able-bodied walks out of a disabled toilet… it comes across as narrow-minded. Personally I’d say you were fine. And as someone else said, given the odds on that timing, buy a lottery ticket!

A lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of public demand, and a lot of sustained political will through multiple local and national elections. Not every pre-Beeching line can reopen, and that’s okay. Some of them likely wouldn’t be used in the age of the car, anyway. For a bunch of major cities, though, there’s huge scope to get cars of roads - *if* all the factors above can be met, and commuters can be persuaded to take the train. Moving more short journeys and commuter journeys onto public transport - including railways - should be a no-brainer. Reduced road congestion, reduced land use by car parking, reduced pollution from petrol and diesel cars… it should be an easy sell. Problem is, convincing people it’s good *for them*, not just for everyone else. Also, it’ll need an overhaul of planning and construction regs to make it quicker and easier to build things that are in the public and national interests. And that’s a much harder sell. Still, looking at other countries, it can work. For the UK it’ll take time, and cost money - in the long run it’d be worth it though.

Not forgetting the countdowns in national newspapers (and websites, etc) for when Emma Watson turned ‘legal,’ and similar for the Olson twins. Seriously sketchy stuff, and that would’ve been in the 00s.

A couple of years older, and yup, I remember that kinda thing. A girl in my class (well, she’s an almost-40 woman now…) got a job in a Toby Carvery not long after turning 15, and not long after started dating one of the cooks. He was 20-22, as I recall. And her friends’ reaction was to congratulate her on getting with an “older, mature guy” - rather than asking why a dude old enough to have graduated uni was picking up a girl studying for her GCSEs. I’d like to think that 20+ years later, that kinda thing would be seen as it is: seriously creepy and a literal crime.

So it’s not just you having issues with typing on phones in the past year or so! I’ve seen a bunch of things about this, all to the tune of “iPhone and Android predictive text is going backwards.” For whatever reason, the prediction models are getting worse, after years of being good and getting better. A few things I’ve read put the blame on use of AI, although I’ve not seen or read enough personally to label that as the problem for either OS. At any rate, typing in a phone keyboard has always been a worse experience for me than using the old T9 style. Being able to tell what physical button my finger was on, and knowing how many presses for each letter, made for a wonderfully quick typing experience.

This has been a conversation for a long time, although I suspect it’s got worse in the past couple of years. Back in 2009 I volunteered at a Barnardo’s shop. Our shop had a particularly large books section, with all paperbacks priced at £1.50 regardless of age, author, and such. It was basically a rite of passage as a volunteer there to deal with one specific non-customer, who I’m told loved to come in when she saw a new volunteer to make a scene. She’d ask the price of a paperback. And then another. And then another. After being told they were all £1.50, she’d launch into a well-practiced screed about how the British Heart Foundation across the road only charged 70p for their paperbacks, and why did we think we should charge more than double what the BHF charged? At this point a store manager would usually intervene and ask the woman to either buy or leave - she’d leave. In terms of *why* charity shops charge what they do, I always figured it came down to a) making money for charity, of course; b) having overheads to cover, and; c) probably to minimise the margins resellers can make. Of course now, per my partner who volunteers in a Crisis shop, people are just stealing from the charity shops to resell on Vinted and such. Which is kinda grim, and a damning sign of the times.

I can finally persuade my Polish partner that we’ll take the train from London to Krakow, rather than fly. Yes, flying is quicker. And cheaper, in normal times. Even so, I’d love to make the journey by rail. London to Paris, from Paris to Berlin, then Berlin to Krakow. It’ll be great.

The queue at the bar is spiritual rather than literal. We know - broadly - who’s been waiting to be served for more or less time than us. And, more often than not, nod the bar staff to the person next to us if they’ve been waiting longer. …unless they’re a bellend, of course, that’s a specific set of contextual rules though. The idea of forming a literal queue, at a bar, is anathema to the whole concept of a bar. Anyone who forms an orderly line in a pub doesn’t understand the concept of a pub.

Used to. In my experience it’s gone downhill in the past few years, which is a shame.

The dream. Because I was “good at computers and that” as a teenager, my parents will always come to me with tech support questions. I don’t work in IT. Still, they’re my parents - and I can Google the answers quickly enough to figure out their issue and advise how to fix it.

Huh, normally I’d get a “do your own research,” so an actual citation is neat. Thanks! That said, I don’t think that Lords report says that WFH is part of the Civil Service’s productivity problem. For one, the Civil Service had been moving toward a hybrid working model for years, pre-pandemic. The government’s own ‘estates strategy’ focused on reducing the number of offices and the ratio of desks to staff. Covid accelerated that, no doubt, it was a transition in progress though. I’d expect, much more than office vs. home working, the post-pandemic productivity problem facing civil servants comes down to a mix of factors. Being a political football for government MPs and ministers - the ‘woke blob’ remarks come to mind being one. Also, a decade of real-terms pay cuts, doesn’t exactly scream “we value your work.” On top of that, the lack of a coherent policy vision for the country’s leadership is going to be demotivating to those expected to design and deliver the operationalisation of that vision. All in all, the timings seem almost incidental. There’s any amount of research that hybrid- and home-working is beneficial, so if anything that’d suggest a productivity increase for those who can work flexibly. So being told to come into the office more is likely going to be counterproductive - in every sense.

There’s a variety of factors, from what I’ve seen. Some companies and organisations have expensive offices they feel the need to justify. Some have very micromanaging cultures, where managers feel like if they can’t see the work being done, it’s “not” being done. Some have one of those, but justify it as “being together in person builds culture,” or “networking makes us better.” And there’s a bunch of other justifications companies will pull out too, I’m sure. Personally I’m more concerned with getting the needed outcomes. Within my own team, me and two others averaging 80%+ office attendance, one around 40-50%, and one around 5%. And all of them are meeting or exceeding expectations, so I don’t plan to tell the ones spending less time to come in more.

Citation very much needed, along with how Civil Service productivity changes are linked to office attendance rather than a plethora of other factors.

The meme foods are always expensive because of the novelty, and the FOMO factor. To be honest you can eat really affordably in London if you avoid the tourist traps and the Michelin-starred places. It’s a lot like Tokyo, in that sense. There’s a perception it’s expensive to eat because the *average* is quite high. The average is dragged upward by the number of really high-end places, like places with Michelin stars. Normal places have basically-normal prices, by UK standards.

Entirely overblown. I work around Westminster and live in Croydon, and I’ve never felt unsafe. Croydon, for reference, is often cited on social media as a lawless wasteland. It’s really not. In need of its decade-overdue regeneration, for sure, but by no means the wretched hive TikTok will try to convince you. London - and Croydon - usually get a bad rap from right wing news (and ‘news’) outlets and influencers who want to run down multiculturalism as a concept. Claim that the UK’s most diverse places have “fallen,” whatever that means, and imply that it’s because of all the non-white folks living there. And it’s almost entirely bollocks. So, come visit. You’ll be reet. Until you see what a pint costs in central London; then you’ll be afraid - for your bank balance.

Worst I’ve done (so far) is crack the glass on my work phone. Should’ve put it in the provided case, really. Although now I’ve said that… need to be extra careful. A former colleague got caught on CCTV running over his own work laptop, though. He’d left it on the car roof as he chatted to someone, apparently forgot it, then got in to reverse out of his parking space. Wondered what the crunching noise was, got out, and discovered what he’d done. Everyone who saw it, luckily including his management chain, found the footage far too funny to discipline the guy for it. He just got a new laptop and a request to be careful when reversing in future!

Bar is more likely to have loud music and/or a dancefloor, and likely less seating overall. Pub is more likely to serve food, show live sports, and have more seating around tables. Overall a pub is probably more tourist-friendly - unless a ‘local pub for locals’ - and a better place for food and/or a casual drink. Bars are better for going ‘out out,’ for heavier drinking, and not eating.

I’d just finished my A-level exams, and was living out in the suburbs. Our sleepy local train station had an armed police officer as security during the week following the attacks. Certainly among my family and friends there was a weird sense of determination to ‘keep calm and carry on,’ as the poster says. An almost stubborn insistence on doing things as normal, as far as possible with heightened police presence and so on. Fairly sure my dad carried on going to work as normal in the days following.

About 29 years ago, stood in line to enter a nightclub on a Saturday night with some friends. Behind me in the line there’s a guy with one mate, who aren’t talking. As the queue moves and I’m talking to my mates, the guy stands next to me, staring at the side of my head. Just a fixed, unblinking stare. His mate tells him to stop being weird, no response. After a minute or so of this, I turn to him and ask if he’s okay there. He responds by yelling in my face. In German. I tell him to ‘go away,’ although perhaps not in those exact words. He goes back to standing with his mate, who asks why he’s always so weird when he drinks. A minute or two later, he slaps the back of my head. Not hard, or painful, but… noticeable. Of course by this point we’re close enough to the club doors that one of the bouncers notices, and before I can even turn around a bouncer wanders over and removes the fella from the queue. His mate wasn’t thrilled. The club had a mezzanine bar with windows overlooking the entrance. Was sat there with my mates, and we clocked the guy stood outside the club, same unblinking stare at the entrance. We waved.

Proportionality applies, for me. Where it’s a minor inconvenience, or what’s likely a blip by an otherwise fine establishment, then nope. Where it’s a major screwup, or a consistent trend, then I’ll leave a review to share my experience, and potentially act as a warning to others.

Left school in the mid 00s. “Gay” was used very, very casually as a negative term, mild to not-so-mild homophobia was entirely the norm. That said, I don’t recall any serious bullying of the actual gay guys in my year, beyond some lame “eww, you like dicks” remarks. One guy was out and proud from very early on, and owned it to a point that even the ‘jock’ wannabes couldn’t or didn’t bully him. Not what one might call enlightened times. I’d like to think things are better nowadays.

Having run a spectrum of commutes from 30 to 120 mins over my working life, always aim for the lower end of the scale where practical. The financial costs of moving further from London are lower (although higher commuting costs offset this a bit), but the *economic* cost can be much higher. The biggie is the increased commute eating into your leisure time, the time and energy to commute affecting your ability to do things after (or before) work, and so on. If anything I’d suggest you and your partner moving closer to your work, if that’s practical. It’d put you further from family and friends, however it’d also mean you’re less knackered from commuting so you’re more willing and able to see family and friends.

It’s a pleasant outlier, for sure. Suggests your eyes are in good health! Long may that continue.

Trebuchet. Sometimes it overshoots into the Irish Sea. We assume Lancastrians float, but don’t care to find out for ourselves.

The only cash-only businesses I can think of are ones that likely want to hide as much as possible from HMRC’s watchful eye. I take a judgement call on which ones I’m content to turn a blind eye to the tax-avoiding. For a boozer, probably not unless it’s utterly exceptional; there’s plenty of good ones round me that’ll take card or Apple Pay. The AI art, again. If the boozer is superb then I can roll my eyes at the use of ChatGPT instead of making their own, or paying someone to make decent graphics. If it’s a mediocre pub, though, it’d make me think twice about the place. Cash only *and* using AI for all their social media, though? This place would have to be God’s Own Local to get me through the doors…

Guy in late 30s, and nope. Anyone I know who’d be on my building’s doorstep at 2am would call ahead, and likely be on my ‘bypass Do Not Disturb’ list. Which caused a bit of an issue a couple of years back, when one of my neighbours had been mugged on a night out and had his keys pinched along with everything else. He called the intercom at 3am. I decided not to answer. I watched through the door to see who came out the lift and felt a little guilty when it was the neighbour! Still. A 2am knock, unannounced, usually isn’t anything good.

Has this charity boss been watching way, way too many documentaries about North Korea, and decided that’s the model for their office culture? Yikes. I know some corporate cultures are hierarchical to this day - Japan and South Korea come to mind. This is way beyond hierarchical though, we’re getting into ‘cult of personality’ territory, especially with the “passionate speeches about how great the boss is” aspect. Again: yikes.

Yep, exactly the same. Still got my NI number card in a drawer at home, too, in case it’s ever remotely relevant!

Sadly the CE marking - and it’s UKCA equivalent - aren’t the mark of quality brands like people to think. Any company can get their product listed by saying “It’s functionally identical to [existing listed product]” and paying the registration fee. Plus, the dodgiest of brands will simply print the CE/UKCA logos on their product and packaging. No approvals needed if the store is just an Amazon listing for a non-UK/EU business. All this to say the safest thing is to trust recognisable European or American brands. They’ll probably cost more, and that cost comes with actual safety and reliability testing.

My second primary school was CoE, so the houses were George’s, Andrew’s, David’s, and Patrick’s. No idea what the method was; as a later joiner I got dropped into David’s as there was ‘space’ in my year group!

At the weekend, I’m not. Not at all. During the week, early starts and late finishes in the office, which has air-conditioning so powerful colleagues of mine find it actively *cold*. It’s wonderful. And then going for a long swim at my gym’s pool…

It’s a thankless task, and one that has to weigh heavy on all involved. Even when police get it right, and the person they shoot dead was an immediate and serious threat to innocent people - they’ve still killed a person. And even if that was the right call, and everything was done correctly, there’ll always be people criticising the decision to kill, for any number of reasons.

I have a few friends in law enforcement. None of them *want* to carry firearms as standard kit. And it sounds like there’s a broad consensus on that among coppers, from what they’ve said. (admittedly not the most representative sample, I’ll take what I can get) Now, tasers or other non-lethal-by-design means of subduing a violent offender, those seem to be a different matter. There are plenty of ways to put an aggressor out of action that don’t involve ‘neutralising’ them. By and large we aren’t an armed society. So aside from dedicated, specialist units, our police don’t need to be carrying guns by default.

I’d suggest some kind of ‘medical exemption’ card for people who need one; otherwise it’s a stealth tax on some health conditions and/or disabilities.

Do… do you not?

“Where’s the rest of it, then?” “I really hope you’re a grower” “I didn’t think it was *that* cold…”

Oh, I’ve had a few over the years. Two of the most memorable happened at Clapham Junction. First came when I was running late one morning, skipped breakfast, and bought a BLT to eat on the train. A woman stood nearby told me I *cannot* eat that sandwich near her, and mustn’t, because *she* was vegetarian. She wasn’t thrilled when I simply suggested she not eat my sandwich, as it was mine. Second was a guy who asked for directions from Clapham Junction to St. Pancras International. I explained it was an easy one - train from the platform we were on to Victoria, then tube. When he started taking the stairs I said he was on the right platform for Victoria already. He replied that the journey sounded too complicated, so he’d get an Uber instead.

There’s a really good football YouTube channel, HITC Sevens, who released a great video on the Club World Cup the other day. In that he explained it’s based on some kind of ranking coefficient over the past few seasons, rather than performance in the season just completed. The methodology sounded… questionable, to be honest.

A combination of: 1) Tim Martin is a complete prick, and 2) The pubs are pretty soulless places, which undercut decent local boozers and drive them out of business.

Gun violence is fine, because the Second Amendment allows it… or some other anti-gun control nonsense. A high school girl showing a hint of ankle or shoulder, though? Jail. Jail for a thousand years, for offending the self-appointed morality police.

Any of the Japanese *konbini* chains: 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson…

*“Trust me, I know what I’m doing”* from Sledge Hammer, 1986’s cop comedy and Dirty Harry parody. It’s amazing.

If it happened in 1995, and you’ve not spoken of it since, then don’t. Not only has the ship sailed, it’s probably since been broken up for scrap and turned into teaspoons. As has already been said, your best bet is to draft the letter/email/etc., pour what’s in your head out onto the page, reflect on what your thoughts are… then destroy it. Give yourself closure, don’t inflict your closure on a former friend who has, in all likelihood, moved on with their own life.

It sounds very Alan Partridge… and yeah, descending into a Partridge-esque scenario is definitely a nightmare of mine.

I seem to remember Sir Patrick Stewart in an interview jokingly complain he’s one of the few British actors not to be in *any* of them.