Is it just me or is this forum overly socialist

[Cheshire Cat]

Really

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Really

I prefer this version.

The Oracles postcard home -

 

[Gerryjo]

 

[An Ankoù]

What's an oricle when it's at home?

Isn't it one of those little boats that folk of a Celtish persuasion (and Gollum) go paddling around in, discovering new continents and boldly going where no Celt has gone before?

 

[muppix]

The legendary Ian Dury RIP on vocals

Had a quick Google to brush up on my music knowledge, found this rather well-written piece in the Guardian: Ian Dury: new chips off the old Blockhead. Thanks for the diversion, @Falco

In a way, Dury was the poet laureate of the English working class at a time when even their class status was being demolished by the Thatcherite ideology that insisted there was no such thing as society. He was more than that, though. "I was a working-class kid," says Kosmo Vinyl, "and most people I knew had a few quid in their pocket but Ian was a revelation. He had no money and no regard for money. Him and Denise lived on doughnuts and cigarettes and seemed pretty happy. You'd go round there and he'd play you Gene Vincent and Charlie Mingus. He didn't differentiate. He was a bohemian, basically, and I've never met anyone that free before or since."

 

[Rodcx500z]

Ah well time for a beer

 

[Falco]

Had a quick Google to brush up on my music knowledge, found this rather well-written piece in the Guardian: Ian Dury: new chips off the old Blockhead. Thanks for the diversion, @Falco

You’re welcome, check out the New Boots and Panties album if you‘re new to his output, brilliant lyrics backed by equally brilliant musicians

 

[kelper]

I remember the powerful trades union leaders in the 70s. Not one was fit to head a large manufacturing company. They would all have driven their companies into bankruptcy. Jack Jones, CH MBE, who championed pensioners rights might be an exception.

I'm probably social democrat/liberal.

A Socialist is a man who has nothing and wants to share it with everyone else!

Who would have thought in 1980 that every working person could own a home, a car and holiday abroad?

 

[An Ankoù]

You’re welcome, check out the New Boots and Panties album if you‘re new to his output, brilliant lyrics backed by equally brilliant musicians

This thread gets better and better. I had forgotten about NBAP, but it's on Youtube as I write.
Oh yes, and it moves onto the legendary "Hit me with your rhythm stick".

 

[Falco]

Oh yes, and it moves onto the legendary "Hit me with your rhythm stick".

In the deserts of Sudan
And the gardens of Japan
From Milan to Yucatan
Every woman, every man......

Chippy’s going to step in here as we’re going way off topic

 

[chopps]

Isn't it one of those little boats that folk of a Celtish persuasion (and Gollum) go paddling around in, discovering new continents and boldly going where no Celt has gone before?

oracle

noun [ C ]

UK

(especially in ancient Greece) a female priest who gave people wise but often mysterious advice from a god, or the advice given

someone who knows a lot about a subject and can give good advice:

The only Oracle

 

[Falco]

The original and best TV Oracle

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Chippy’s going to step in here as we’re going way off topic

Its the Snug its the norm.

 

[phillc]

I read this interesting article today from Australia's national broadcaster.

Two key points from the article:

• Working days lost to industrial action is at an all time low
• Distribution of profits to workers in the form of wages is at an all time low, while distribution of profits to owners is at a high.

While this article is of course specific to that country, I do wonder about parallels in other Western industrialised nations.

Perhaps the majority of the population has become a little too complacent with their leased cars and holidays abroad. Consumerism seems to have lulled many into a situation where perhaps they have lost empathy for wider society, with a focus too much on their own material possessions.

That's not to say I don't have the leased car and enjoy my holidays abroad, but at the same time am trying to institute small changes for hopefully a fairer society. At work I started a small club where people give away things they've made to others. I hand out beer whenever I can (I think I give away more of my homebrew than I drink), others bring jams, chutneys, baked goods etc. It makes for a really cohesive group.

My wife is from Ukraine. She grew up under communism and her family went through some very difficult times in the early 90s. She certainly has no rose coloured glasses for that system of organisation. Yet, she despairs at the lack of social responsibility she sees in modern society. She says it often feels like everyone is out only for themselves, with no thought for supporting others. "Everyone" is of course an exaggeration, as there are many people working in areas of social service, but the balance certainly feels like it has tipped the wrong way.

I'd like to see more of society working together for mutual benefit. Small local groups helping each other, which may lead to wider change, starting at the grassroots level.

 

[foxy]

Eventually the politician will provide you with an incentive. Your choice is whether to be incarcerated or not, or even worse.
In fact I would go as far to say the only way people have a chance of being free would be to take a politician to the nearest lamppost & all agree to live under common law. Then do as you like within that framework, But even that system has inherent unfairness to those who already have & have not.

You don't wait for someone to provide incentive, politician or otherwise. You are your own master, provide your own, unless your content to carry on working and making someone else rich.

 

[muppix]

You are your own master, provide your own, unless your content to carry on working and making someone else rich.

Aside from the classic Death & Taxes, I have learnt that there are two inescapable truths in life:

1. You’ll never get rich working for somebody else, and
2. You’ll never work as hard for somebody else as you will for yourself.

 

[RichardM]

Aside from the classic Death & Taxes, I have learnt that there are two inescapable truths in life:

1. You’ll never get rich working for somebody else, and
2. You’ll never work as hard for somebody else as you will for yourself.

3, Most self employed people work a lot harder than employed people but take home less money.

 

[foxy]

Aside from the classic Death & Taxes, I have learnt that there are two inescapable truths in life:

1. You’ll never get rich working for somebody else, and
2. You’ll never work as hard for somebody else as you will for yourself.

Both true, though working for some one else I would still do the hard yakka, 7 days a week and long hours initially but the rewards make it worthwhile.

3, Most self employed people work a lot harder than employed people but take home less money.

You have to employ people, 6 to 8 is a good number, gets messy over that. They are the ones that are going to make your money.
Something I was told early on, no matter how hard you work the money works harder, though the last few years it hasn't. The guy who told me that was in his eighties, owned factories, houses on the Esplanade overlooking the bay, and I couldn't get him to part with $250!
His sister was with him and she warned me he wouldn't buy because he was afraid of losing it all!
No point in amassing a fortune and being to frightened to spend it, the relo's will when he's wrong side of the grass.

 

[Clint]

Isn't it one of those little boats that folk of a Celtish persuasion (and Gollum) go paddling around in, discovering new continents and boldly going where no Celt has gone before?

Think that might be a coracle...

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Think that might be a coracle...

Used by the Shrewsbury Town ballman for getting footballs out of the River Severn.