THE BRITISH THREAD

Hey myself and FionaB went to Newcastle today and it was sunny so that was nice.
Has anyone been in the glass armadillo called the Sage Centre? It's very impressive, a fine building. Plenty activity inside, including the cafe staff who served us a nice lunch. From the cafe, striking views of the Toon and the Tyne Bridge.

Just get off her case spendius.

Similar to the Reichstag Kuppel, which was designed by Norman Foster as well :wink:

Sounds great, McT.

The last time I was in Newcastle, was to see two very aged Aunts. I knocked on the door and it opened on its own. Stepping inside, I could see great billowing clouds of smoke coming from their little galley kitchen.

Two small black cinders, that once used to be beefburgers, were reaching flashpoint in a frying pan so I chucked a wet T towel over it.

The two Aunts were out in the back garden, drinking small glasses of Guinness and enjoying the afternoon sun.

I ended up taking them down the pub for some shepherd's pie.

Yes went there 2 years ago when still being built. I christened it "slug on the tyne"

also went in the baltic centre

I remember having driven to some (smaller) tunnel in Newcastle. And some terrible sandwiches in a terrible truck stop.
That was in 1972, though - and I didn't pinch anyone's ice cream then, LE!!!

Anyone watching that Hester Bloomingdale (or whatever his name is) thing?

Then Kitchen Nightmares - good stuff on't box tonight...

x

Glad I was too late to get the first bet on today. The last donkey got a place so not too bad.

Spendi, I am going to slate you for that disgusting attack on smorgsi.

It's people like smorgsi who are the bloody backbone of this country mate.




I happen to be right busy at this moment in time preparing a few points to discuss later this week with The Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for South Ribble!

What a pity Mathos.

I understand that the Conservatives have now shifted, purely for electoral advantage of course, no principles or any of that soft stuff, to the left of the Bolsover Beast so your advice to your prospective candidate might possibly be welcome if you are going to urge the demands of the demand side as it looks like you will.

I presume you are not a worker in the supply side from your descriptions of your lifestyle which it has been such a privilege to have been regaled with so what you will have to say will probably sound like an old worn out gramaphone record which sounds fuzzier and fuzzier as the facts of life wear it out.

Spendius

I have refrained from participation in the expressions of dislike for your postings but your post regarding the supposed futility of Job Centres was, frankly, one of the most callous things I've seen on this forum.

Never mind name-calling and bad-mouthing, as we see our American colleagues doing so often on other threads, I can only assume that your post was motivated by one of the following:

a) pure vitriol designed to demean and dishearten Sarah, who clearly takes a pride in her job of matching those without jobs to the jobs for which employers need labour;

b) some kind of masochistic plea for pain in the responses you'd receive from the other posters; or

c) the unfortunate result of some kind of emotional bypass and inability to see the perpective of others, the like of which is often referred to with such names aspergers or autistic.

Please note that I see only the last of these as being a valid reason for your actions.

If you consider yourself to be a "man" and take any pride in yourself, you should apologise - not to me but to Sarah. It need not be public but until I read from her that you have made your peace, I will hold you in utter contempt.

Peter

Very good Pete.

Loved it.



I understood they were going on srtike because the Government was cutting their budget by 15% which can only be because the Government think as I do although more slowly.

Perhaps you would serve Jobcentre staff better if you addressed your remarks to the Government instead of to me in an effort to divert them from the path it seems they are taking and thus avert the strike. I'm not amenable to your strictures which is to say that they are a waste of time.



I had no intention of disheartening anyone. I'm quite surprised that you think Ms smorgs to be so easily disheartened just by a few words from me. I have a little more respect than that for the lady and treat her as an equal unlike you who seem to think she needs your chivalric interruption and protection.



Don't be so daft. Have you been reading Freud Made Easy.

I'm afraid I don't know what autistic means although I have heard it is a word used when all else fails and is somewhat distasteful.

I think you ought to apologise to the lady for patronising her in that stylesss and easy, not to say mealy-mouthed, fashion.

And I don't hold you in anything.

Like I said...

Load of bollocks!

x

Little McTag and big Angel.

That's a great picture, McT!

Made me smile...

x

How can you claim that this is not demeaning or could be thought of as intentionally undermining the holder of one of those (allegedly) "featherbed" jobs?

What I take from the above is that you see no purpose, of a kind valid in your view of the world, in Jobcentres. If I'm not mistaken, this is fundamentally saying that what Smorgs does for a living is a waste of time. If you do not consider this to be something which is heartless, then I suggest you look up the symptoms of autism using a search engine and see which of the symptoms match your own behaviour.

I don't know what your occupation is (if any, other than causing annoyance to others on a2k) but I can only imagine that your apparent reckless disregard for the feelings of others must be a considerable hindrance in achieving any notable success or acclaim in pretty much any field.

I certainly find it a great advantage in my job to consider the perspective of others with whom I deal before embarking on a course of action which requires their participation.

As for chivalry, it is not that. If you were to pitch such rubbish against anyone for whom I feel a shred of compassion, whatever their sex, race, religion or other persuasion, I would idicate my disgust in similar terms.

Don't come over all "gentlemanly" on us...the irony in that is too much for me to stomach.

Ms smorgs wrote-

A bloody juggernaut full actually.

Mornin' everyone!

Seeing as if my job is worthless, I may stay in bed all day!

But I'd better not, as I have a full diary of back-to-back appointments. It can be very exhausting... I used to give it my all, it's a difficult thing claiming benefits, but I shan't bother today.

You see we don't create jobs - we broker them. I spend much of my time coaching people on conducting interviews and filling out effective application forms.

I work with long termers, you see, people who have been made redundant and see no future, especially the over fifties...

Then I come along and offer them work at B&Q for minimum wage.

It's a hard job administering the safety net that will keep people afloat through very difficult times. But I always try and think 'there, but for the grace'.

x

Don't waste your time trying to explain your job, Sarah. Some people will just take note of the bits that can be turned around and used as future ammunition against you.

Just as an example for those that may be interested in what is actually entailed when working with a certain section of the public on a day to day basis, here are some things that have happened in my place of work over the past couple of weeks.

1. Large pool of alcohol induced vomit deposited in the main reception area.

2. Panic alarm sounded in female P.O's office, causing several colleagues to attend and stop a well known sex offender (being interviewed for Court) from wanking off in front of her.

3. Kind hearted Secretary letting a newly released Prisoner use the gents loo, only for him to cover 50% of the walls in foul graffiti, using a permanent marker pen. This was after he shat in the cistern, instead of the pan. We didn't find this out until a few hours later.

4. Three cars damaged in the car park that surrounds the building.

5. Heroin addict collapsing in main reception area. Possible "aids" threat causing concern to those who went to his aid.

and 6. Newly appointed P.O making the mistake of placing the offender nearest the door during interview, and then having serious threats made against him with no effective route of escape.

Of course, quite a few of these dangerous/unpleasant situations could have been avoided if the building could be modified to allow glass security screens, more staff and proper CCTV that actually works, but this would be seen as an unneccesary and frivolous drain on the public purse.....to some people.

Well f**ckit I post a nice pic and the conversation is about that a**hole.

To whom it may concern, I gave up a while ago reading any of Spendy's posts as I concluded he is a misanthropic and warped git who gets off on causing offence. Plenty of people, myself included, have tried to be pleasant to him and talk him out of his fits of viciousness, only to be attacked in various ways. So no more, ignore.

Thanks Smorgs, I intended for that pic to be amusing. That lump on my side, spoiling my fine profile, is the camera bag BTW.