My eye! Sweet Jesus, Ouch!

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

Speaking of vague car discussion: MOT diesel test not performed in NI for 12 years

 

"The Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) said its staff do a "visual test" and make a "personal judgement" about emissions."

 

You're *fruitcage* kidding me, right?

[hitmanNo2]

What in the *fruitcage*?  Suspended over H&S?  They don't have mechanical ventilation in NI? What a joke.

[Hedganian]

What a load of cr*p - it winds me up no end how different parts of the UK have different laws and regulations. This isn't the USA: the UK needs a single, unified set of British laws which apply equally throughout the country.

 

 

[Skarclaw]

No we don't at all

Edit: the law is the same? 

[Hardcore1-6]

11 hours ago, DrAlexanderTobacco said:

Speaking of vague car discussion: MOT diesel test not performed in NI for 12 years

Having had my car MOT'd over there I can say that their test is incredibly fast.

Rock up to a timing, park up, be flagged forward, drive into the bay - sit in the car for 10 minutes and then be handed a certificate.

Very sure I didn't see anyone check emissions. 

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

Yeah the law is the same, the difference is that NI just isn't following it.

[amateurstuntman]

You should witness an MOT for an imported Swiss military vehicle from the '70s.

You know your brakes don't work, right?
Just letting you know, be careful.

 

[Hedganian]

Surely you still need to pass the MoT?

I had a 70s land rover ex-RAF ambulance which was classed as a historic vehicle and tax exempt, but it still had to pass the MoT.

Is it different because its an import?

[hitmanNo2]

Vehicles older than 40 years don't need an MOT now.

[amateurstuntman]

Mine still needs an MOT but the standards are so low it is basically impossible to fail.
3 of my 4 hub oil seals were blown out, the oil was leaking onto the brake drums.

I had one working brake, old reliable front left.

The others do nothing.   Still passed.

[Hedganian]

Whose bright idea was that?

That's insane. The older a vehicle is, the *more* it needs roadworthiness testing, not less...

[scorch]

Theory is that by that point only an enthusiast would own it and it's likely not in regular use.

[Hardcore1-6]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45628083

NHS has to tell people Ambulances are not Taxis.

Why is this a thing?  Ambulances are if you'll die before you can get to hospital on your own.

[Hedganian]

Because drunk people having been calling an ambulance when they don't really need one, apparently.

*Shrug*

They should charge anyone who does it for the total cost of the call out and/or prosecute them for making a false emergency call.

That might put them off doing it.

But instead they put up some posters asking people nicely not to waste the Limited resources of the health service. Because that'll work.

[Hardcore1-6]

How do we get @amateurstuntman into parliament again?

[Hedganian]

Military coup is probably the best option...

I always had more affection for the federal government from Starship Troopers than I was probably supposed to. I know the thing was written as a satire/warning about fascism, but their idea of veterans getting sick of corrupt politicians and rising up to kick them out of power just seems really sensible to me.

Then again, I see the calibre of veterans on some of the Facebook groups and wonder how the forces ever managed to achieve anything...

[Skarclaw]

Thats not quite what is going on. Not saying it doesn't happen but the thrust is due to various reasons ambulances are taking people to hospital rather then treating them at the scene. The blame is being directed at how ambulances services are being run, not the 'worried well'

[Hardcore1-6]

1 hour ago, Hedganian said:

Military coup is probably the best option... satire/warning about fascism...

I've recently completed a Military Analysis course (mandatory for promotion) that is centred around foreign policy and politics. The final debate on the last 4 courses have all concluded that a healthy dose of fascism is what the country needs.

Clearly a concern.. if the consensus is there.

[Hedganian]

The problem with democracy is that it gives ignorance, fear, bigotry, hatred and any other vice you can think of, equal value with knowledge, education, nobility and other virtues we'd like to have in government.

The vote of a barely literate racist is worth just as much as that of an educated, thoughtful humanitarian.

Just look where that's taken the US at the moment.

We're only slightly better off in the UK with the Queen and House of Lords acting as something of a check against the Commons, but they've been systematically hamstrung over time to limit their ability to deny "the voice of the people" doing whatever it wants.

It'd be fine if "the people" weren't - en masse at least - such an illeducated, fearful bunch of idiots, easily led by manipulative orators regarding things they don't understand and gave no real interest in.

Unfortunately, it's the best system we've come up with so far.

[Hardcore1-6]

I will add the debate is between communism (boo hiss) and getting sweet staff cars (woo).

The best way I like to summarise the general populace, unfortunately I can't remember the source, is this:

"Think of the average person; average IQ, average income, average beliefs.

Half of the entire populace is more stupid than them"

[Hedganian]

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that."

- George Carlin

To be fair, communism in action was pretty much the same as fascism, just organised differently. The resulting misery, oppression and genocide didn't leave much to choose between the two; and I'm pretty sure that people being shipped off to gulags or being forced to dig their own graves weren't all that concerned with whether the people on the other side of the guns were "right wing" or "left wing".

[sandstorm]

All extremism will go to yhe extreme when given power.

Fascism would just switch the people getting fat on the pork barrel of public spending.

As for anarchy, I haven't met one proponent who has a solution to Warlords post the tearing down of existing society.

Two-party systems expend most energy to tear fown competition's achievements after power shifts. Multi-party systems never get a decision that would satisfy everyone and that feeds populistic politicians.

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

4 hours ago, Hedganian said:

The problem with democracy is that it gives ignorance, fear, bigotry, hatred and any other vice you can think of, equal value with knowledge, education, nobility and other virtues we'd like to have in government.

The vote of a barely literate racist is worth just as much as that of an educated, thoughtful humanitarian.

Just look where that's taken the US at the moment.

We're only slightly better off in the UK with the Queen and House of Lords acting as something of a check against the Commons, but they've been systematically hamstrung over time to limit their ability to deny "the voice of the people" doing whatever it wants.

It'd be fine if "the people" weren't - en masse at least - such an illeducated, fearful bunch of idiots, easily led by manipulative orators regarding things they don't understand and gave no real interest in.

Unfortunately, it's the best system we've come up with so far.

One thing I would say is that there are actually several sub-genres of democracy i.e. direct democracy and representative democracy. Direct democracy was the first form iirc, enacted when Greece was mostly city states like Athens, Sparta etc. and it was essentially just (to borrow a term) the "will of the people" - people would vote directly on policies and laws without any representatives to act as a check to this. Representative democracy is what we have i.e. we elect MPs who we believe best serve the needs of the constituency/country, and vote on our behalf. 

 

Referendums fit into the direct/popular model of democracy better than representative and I think that's why there's so much chagrin to a degree over Brexit thus far - it goes against the grain of how the nation has generally conducted itself since the civil war and, regardless of the outcome of the vote, it's gonna be a shock for the other side to essentially watch representatives take a back seat to the campaigns on the side of either issue taking over.

 

There are hybrids too; Switzerland is heavily weighted towards direct democracy with a list of mandatory referendums, possible referendums - but owing to how vital it is to their country they've also got a far more developed system of handling these referendums i.e. an independent body in charge of providing each citizen with a specific overview of the vote, what it would affect, an impartial explanation of the situation blah blah...

[Hedganian]

On topic - my detachment commander gave me three hours' notice that he's not coming in tonight.

He still hasn't sent me the training plan as promised three weeks ago. So I've got no clue what we're supposed to be doing and have nothing planned, no other adult instructors and just have to wing it on my own.

Luckily, I've got a set of keys for most of the doors in the building, so at least there's that.

[amateurstuntman]

The problem with democracy is people.

They are *suitcase*.

The problem with dictatorships is one person.

They might be *suitcase*.

 

The real problem is that the only people who seem to have the means to successfully become a dictator are really, really bad.

I feel like I would (as a generally good, fair, quite autistic person) be a relatively good dictator.

 

Anyway, all the above issues are education related.

While we were waiting for the educated people to make it through the system the ambulance thing would be dealt with in the short term by issuing people who make nuisance ambulance calls with an injury that would require an ambulance.

 

You wake up in hospital and ask what happened - the nurse informs you that you got drunk, called and ambulance because you sprained your ankle and the paramedics broke both your legs with a surgical sledge hammer.

That will be £5000 please.