MPDTT

As the recipient of the 2019 Dolt of the year award, I should probably comment - particularly given that employee wellbeing has become a huge concern for me in the workplace since Covid hit and I'm dealing many examples of employees truly struggling with burnout and their mental health. I genuinely believe @RedRooster is coming at this with the right motives and based on your arguments, it's difficult to argue with you. I wouldn't have said the same thing a year ago - I rolled my eyes at the time when the whole #bekind movement was a thing - but that feels like a lifetime ago.

That said......I was not in a vulnerable state of mind at the time and really it didn't bother me in the slightest - in fact I voted for myself......and I don't mind being remembered as the final Dolt of the year, it it does end. I do accept however that it could be harmful to someone in a fragile state of mind and it doesn't really sit well with the concept of 'community'. 

1 hour ago, Accident Prone said:

I got dragged along to a Biffy gig at the NIA a few years back; it was filled to the brim with the Dark Fruits crowd and a stark comparison to their energetic, guitar-smashing set at Download in 2008. Not for me, at least not anymore.

Biffy were incredible headlining Download in 2017.

OK, I think Biffy Clyro's A Celebration of Endings will be my album of the year - love it and on play #3 already. Mon the Biff!

I reached my tipping point a long time ago. For me it was a combination of bad booking, hating Vince McMahon and finding an alternative I really liked. I really soured on WWF after they royally fucked up the Invasion angle, failed to re-launch the WCW brand, made a mockery of ECW and then buried their respective rosters. Then the following summer NWA-TNA started and I would download and watch each of their weekly PPVs from there. I basically watched TNA only from that point on until I became a lapsed fan around 2010...only to get back into wrestling in 2018 when I stumbled upon ROH / NJPW. 

22 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Queen TayTay - cardigan. Dare I say it, lads, her new album is her Nebraska. 

 

2020 was weird enough.....without thinking I'd have to declare my love for a Tay-Tay album. But what a departure from the pop trash of recent years - I liked the Red album, but this is fantastic - a mature album full of incredible song writing that is right up my street. She no longer has to sing about that "indie record much cooler than mine" - this is that record! My favourite track is Exile. Cardigan, This Is Me Trying, Betty are great also.  

6 hours ago, simonworden said:

Heard through a friend of mine who spoke directly to their pilots in passing conversation that some of the budget airlines in South East Asia have essentially not being paying staff. Foreign pilots get 10% of their salary while local pilots get nothing right now and the pilots are taking it as industrial action doesn't go very well on this side of the world. 

AirAsia is on the brink according to news reports. I'm sure numerous airlines will go under....unless propped up by governments. I think the US government has poured billions into the major US carriers to keep them solvent

11 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Congratulations. You've just beaten the "I bought my cleaner a playstation" for worst humble brag of the year.

It wasn't meant that way, honestly. The novelty that comes with business travel wears off pretty quickly. Its just weeks and weeks separated from family and living out of a suitcase. I'm loyal to BA because of the service and because I collect all the Avios so I can put them towards holidays with my wife. It was not a brag. And with a child on the way, I really don't want to travel like I have in the past anymore.

5 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Fixed that for you.

Its both ballsy and cuntish. I get that flag carriers have been under pressure for years to cut employee costs because they are competing with low cost carriers with vastly lower terms and conditions in what is an extremely price sensitive market - to that extent I have sympathy for the likes of BA - their operating costs are much higher than an Easyjet because of historic terms and conditions. Most of the flag carriers are in the same boat - a legacy issue from when they are nationalised. But I think this will backfire on Icelandic Air - Flag carriers also rely on goodwill and loyalty - when there is generally an alternative ticket with a cheaper airline available. BA run the same risk - people may choose not to fly with them if they are portrayed as the villians.

I think BA are making a mistake by going down the same path and threatening to terminate all cabin crew and re-hire on new terms - that threat at the outset just harmed union negotiations. Rather than giving them the edge in negotiations (the intention), its just created negative feeling and garnered critisism from politicians & the media. I don't want BA customer service to resemble that of Ryanair - thats why I fly exclusively on BA (21 flights in 2019!)

Was just reading that Icelandic Air, due to Covid-19, have fired all of their cabin crew - all of them - as they refused a new collective bargaining agreement that had been approved by the union negotiators, on more reasonable terms.

Then they instructed their excess pilots to cover cabin duties in the interim. This is while they negotiate with former cabin crew from WOW Air that went bust several years ago, to come in on more favourable terms!

Such a ballsy move!

Last weekend my brother told me he wanted to get his first 'proper' dive watch (I'm proud!), having owned numerous Nixon's since he was a teenager. I decided it go buy him one as a gift (as I'm going to ask him to be a Godparent). Anyway, I wanted to share what I went for.....because I believe I found the absolute best automatic dive watch on the market for under £250. 

The Orient Kamasu, Model RA-AA0004E19B

This is the top of the line in the range and features a Sapphire crystal (as used in luxury Swiss watches), rather than a mineral crystal common at this price point and is prone to scratching. It also has an in-house movement made by Orient, a 40 hour power reserve, engraved case back, amazing finishing and gorgeous green colour (but black, blue and red also available). 

I got it on Amazon for only £230 and wanted to share in case any UKFFrs are thinking about buying a new watch.

19 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Pretty sure MPDTT claimed he was an Arsenal fan a while back. Things looking up for the Gooners then.

Wow, nothing gets past you!

I am a life long Gooner - but I've been a season ticket holder at Selhurst for 4 years (since buying my first flat in Crystal Palace back in 2013). 

Anyway, this is class:

On 6/20/2020 at 10:05 PM, Frankie Crisp said:

Salt, wound, etc.

EEEEAAAAAGLES!!!

4 minutes ago, JohnnyF5 said:

The criminal standard of proof is 'beyond reasonable doubt' and the civil standard of proof is usually 'on the balance of probabilities' i.e. more likely than not. I think @MPDTT might be talking about the law of unfair dismissal where to fairly dismiss the employer (usually) has to form a reasonable belief in guilt based on a reasonable investigation. 

Correct. In an employment disciplinary, reasonable belief will suffice.

2 hours ago, Joe Blog said:

That's not a watch, There's fucking Libyans hunting Doc Brown to get that monstrosity back. 

Brilliant!  

53 minutes ago, kamicazze said:

I'm pretty sure years ago the sun newspaper did a countdown to Charlotte Church's legal birthday. It might have been another paper. 

Looking back I've no idea how it went to print and they never got pulled up on it.

This is eerily similar except they knew her personally. Disgusting from everyone involved on an impressionable young person.

I was thinking that there was no way that could be true.....but Google proves you right! My god!

Charlotte Church was 15 years old when Britain’s best-read daily newspaper began a public countdown to the day on which she could be legally fucked. The singer, now 25, told the Levenson inquiry into press ethics and standards that the feature made her “feel horrible”, and described over a decade of bullying by the Murdoch media group and others.

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Don't want to detract from the original topic, but this strikes me as a bit... Draconian and strong.

I don't want to live in a version of The Purge, but you despise all criminals? 

 

Maybe I'm being over dramatic. We've all done things we aren't proud of.....even if it was just using Napster back in the 90s......I'm sure you understood the point though.

.

@BigJag

I decided to get a watchbox after seeing yours. Thanks for the inspiration!

On 6/20/2020 at 6:45 AM, BigJag said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/business/wristwatches-racecars.html#click=https://t.co/O79eZLKCF8

A little article about the crazy world of high end watches. A Tourbillon is like a flux capacitor for watches.

Some of the worlds most expensive watches are as ugly as they come! Who would buy some of these:

$167,000

$140,000

But the worst has to be the Hublot Mp 05 Laferrari - this watch is on sale at Jomashop for $248,400!!

1 minute ago, kamicazze said:

I love that the movement is getting more and more of them speaking out. That it's giving them the courage to do so.

They need to know they have support, which seems to be the case. At the same time we mustn't pick sides if there is doubt.

I've read up a lot on psychology, and handled numerous investigations/disciplinaries within the workplace. My experience is to treat things as a blank canvas and never fill in the blanks yourself.

That being said some of it is damning, when numerous people have a similar experience with one person there isn't much to question. Sometimes you just know there's no more, yet it still needs something.

I remember dealing with a bad one where there were about 7 to 8 witness statements, and it was plainly obvious it was the case. I won't go into finer details for confidentiality, the result was the person was dismissed yet got it overturned on appeal for lack of evidence. 

But in the workplace, you don't need to prove anything 'beyond reasonable doubt', you need 'reasonable belief', so the burden of proof is lower.

2 minutes ago, kamicazze said:

Didn't know they did this. Seems a brilliant idea to me. 

Then you have 2 clear definitions of guilty, not guilty and not proven. 

It really doesn't work in practice - its pretty much an aquittal in disguise.

https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,the-only-difference-between-not-proven-and-not-guilty-is-the-spelling-why-c_14833.htm

11 minutes ago, Tommy! said:

 

No one is arguing for that are they? 

Correct me if I'm wrong and misunderstood but I've taken the main argument is we should develop a culture to not dismiss or undermine claims rather than change the nature or certainty of conviction?

The argument isn't to start to say person X is guilty because of what person Y said but more that person Y isn't instantly assumed to be a lying tart who probably asked for it because lads will be lads. 

I was responding to a post 4 hours ago from Michael_3165, which suggested a change in the burden of proof. 

And on your second point - I agree - there is a big difference between not dismissing allegations / treating them seriously and automatically assuming the accused is guilty as charged. But the burden must alwaye be on the accuser to prove it in a court of law....even though, regrettably, conviction rates are unbelievably low as a result. If anyone can come up with a way of increasing conviction rates without relaxing the burden of proof principle, I'd be all for it. 

1 hour ago, Michael_3165 said:

Sadly when it comes to proof it must be beyond reasonable doubt. That requires a fair degree of proof. I guess the Q is do you want innocent until proven guilty? That in itself gives the message we should only trust people alleging crimes when they have total proof. That's uncomfortable for me. 

A cornerstone of British law is the protecting of innocence & 'innocent until proven guilty' - and rightly so in my opinion. This harks back centuries to the "Blackstone's ratio" -  all presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously, for the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.

And as much as I despise criminals in all forms, especially rapists and sex offenders, I'd be very uncomfortable with a shift away from presumed innocence - it moves the needle from being a democractic, liberal legal system to one that is more authoritarian.

So wrestling with the issue of low conviction rates for sex crimes is very difficult -  I want to see more justice done, but not at the expense of this pivotal aspect of our judicial system. Further, I recall many voices stating when Carl Beech was proven to be a liar (the man who falsely accused senior politicians of sexual abuse and murder), that the law should be changed to protect the anonymity of those suspected of serious crime (as well as accusers) until they are charged with any offence to protect reputations. Indeed this is a goal of the Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform (‘FAIR’) organisation.

Then there is the use of social media - which we've seen is an incredible tool to bring about real change in the form of #MeToo and now #Speakingout, outing people like Harvey Weistein and Co and now the wrestlers who have allegedly behaved in such a disgusting (and in many cases illegal) manner. Yet I find the assumption of assumed guilt an incredibly difficult one, but when they are convicted of a crime - by all means throw the book at them!!! However I don't believe compromising on the burden of proof to secure more convictions is the way to go.

1 minute ago, mikehoncho said:

I don't think Brandi would have that ... I'd imagine he's gone from AEW ... I can't see Cody defending this allegation.

 

Well that's what it says on AEWs Twitter account

So Jimmy Havoc is off to rehab and counselling