Westministenders: Don't forget to stockpile. Again.

[RedToothBrush]

The government is telling pharmacists and drug manufactures to stockpile drugs ahead of the end of transition on 31st December.

In the middle of a pandemic.

What could go wrong?

JeSuisPoulet my DDs were raised in much the same way. It does happen very organically, you let their questions lead you, don't shy away from big words and take it from there. My DD2 (17) has a word bank - when she finds a word she doesn't know, she looks it up and puts it in there, and then tries to use it appropriately in her writing. Having seen some of her English Lang work in the runup to GCSEs I have no idea what her teachers made of her, but she got a 9. Being interested in things is absolutely key.

@KonTikki

Ooh, DGR: what year say !

Ah, I know now - Sorry MNHQ ....

Using the wrong word for giggling I suspect. I hope we haven't got into a hole about the opposite of "blacking-up"

Sugar link v. interesting. It's the kind of thing I think we should be aware of to better defend EU in many ways; know your weaknesses.

Pointy that's a great way to do it! I am trying to get dd to do a diary, which I have promised I won't read, just to get her writing a bit. She is very curious and has an amazing memory but I do think that mis-hearing words is part of her spelling/dyslexia problem (not an actual hearing issue just ch or s or sch get mixed up for eg). She is a bit of a perfectionist at times and doesn't like "getting it wrong" so a diary I don't read seemed a good option.

With removed links But be sure to alert all your brexiteer chums.

DD2 doesn't have dyslexia but is on the spectrum and has synaesthesia so she has quirky ways of expressing herself. Fortunately for us she has always been a keen writer. Interestingly enough both my DDS went through a perfectionist stage at about age 9. DD1 really struggled at school, would sit staring at a page terrified of writing anything 'wrong', then would dash off something hastily which would still be very good but not her best. Her class teacher was great and she had some interventions around self esteem and confidence which made a real difference. I hope your DD can have similar - dyslexia sucks (my dad had it) but perfectionism can be really destructive.

DGR I just Googled that Go Fund Me and I think my brain has exploded. I mean, Bostik for boats?

That's hilarious, DGR.
Bet Farridge is mad he didn't think of it first.

I get the impression that the Bostik Wall guy is taking the piss and giggling at every donor who has fallen for it.

Re: COVID, way back in February in chats with loads of medical/scientist friends and colleagues, we all agreed that ultimately it would become endemic.

Elements I did think that too, but on the other hand there's a breed of genuine batshit Brexiteer who would really think this is feasible. They're a minority, but they do exist. We have one in our archery club. He gets the absolute piss ripped out of him but is oblivious because he is right.

@pointythings

DGR I just Googled that Go Fund Me and I think my brain has exploded. I mean, Bostik for boats?

Bostik do make sealant for boats - I have relatives who are boatbuilders.

But sealants, and glues, usually set or harden, they don't remain tacky.

What this bloke needs is giant, super-strong Post-It notes, but based on plastic instead of paper.

Perhaps someone could suggest that to him.

In the deleted post (because I stupidly left a live link in [facepalm]) I suggested that there are two sorts of people that would see the campaign. And some of them would be fummin that the organiser was suggesting a French glue (with a predictable number of more dim ones thinking it's German) for this epic of Anglo engineering. Surely we should be using a decent British glue (a beautiful British glue ...) like Pritt Stick or UHU .....

I see "employment has fallen by 700,000" ... seems the UK has invented a new way of publishing economic data - in reverse.

So in other news, 64,234,976 people were not the victim of a crime last month ...

Liz "Cheese" Truss single handedly torpedoing the UK-Japan trade deal over Stilton.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-uk-japan-trade-deal-row-stilton-blue-cheese-liz-truss-a9664356.html

Post-Brexit trade deal talks between the UK and Japan are thought to have hit a stumbling block over Stilton – after international trade secretary Liz Truss insisted on making blue cheese part of the negotiations.

The two countries had hoped to finalise an agreement by the end of August, having apparently reached “consensus” in all major areas of a prospective deal last week.

However, Ms Truss is reportedly holding out for preferential treatment for British blue cheese makers – keen to get better terms than those agreed in Japan’s recent trade deal with the European Union.

The Tory MP has previously championed the cause of domestic cheesemakers. She surprised the 2014 Conservative party conference by declaring Britain’s appetite for eating foreign cheeses a “disgrace”.

The minister is hoping a symbolic “win” on Stilton will demonstrate that the UK is able to forge better deals than those obtained by the EU, according to the Financial Times.

(contd)

Now is my recollection that the moment the UK agrees better terms with Japan than the EU, then the EU automatically upgrades to that deal correct ?

So assuming Ms. Truss can get her whey, the EU commission should send her a thank you card ?

Snip from DGR's post:
"The minister is hoping a symbolic “win” on Stilton will demonstrate that the UK is able to forge better deals than those obtained by the EU, according to the Financial Times.

(contd)

Now is my recollection that the moment the UK agrees better terms with Japan than the EU, then the EU automatically upgrades to that deal correct ?"

I'm sure I've read that more than once. Need to find a source.

I still love using Roget's Thesauraus (the book ) because of the rabbit holes of suggestions, synonyms and antonyms it can send you down

prettybird
This is one of my hobbyhorses that I clobber students with on a regular basis.
Using an online dictionary means you only find the answer to what you are looking for (presuming you know how to search and then analyse the response, of course). There is no scope for the eye to roam down and spot new words/words whose meaning you've never been sure of/words whose meaning you've been wrong about for years/other spellings/synonyms/antonyms, etc.

I also have a whole spiel for them about not buying novels for their lit course reading list on Amazon, because if they go to an actual bookshop not only will they be supporting staff with pleasant working conditions but they might also see another book on the shelf they fancy reading. Internet opens up lots of avenues, but algorithms do hinder mooching and serendipitous discoveries to a worrying extent...

blogs.sussex.ac.uk/uktpo/publications/most-favoured-nation-clauses-in-eu-trade-agreements-one-more-hurdle-for-uk-negotiators/

I've tried to get ds to understand AuldAlliance that but at nearly 20, he's so used to going to t'internet

But he's just finished reading a 1950s edition of John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" with tiny, close set print (when ds asked me to get him a copy I was able to tell him his Opa had already given him his own copy, bought when he was at Varsity ) and is now reading the other essays in between chapters of "A Long Walk to Freedom" (my copy) so maybe not all is lost to the virtual world

Jesuis Creativity with words is a dyslexic trait. Makes sense when you have a misfiring connection time your long term memory. Our family actually have a Facebook page for them all . DD always called the trampoline, far more accurately, the bounceline. Other recents “It’s not rocket surgery” “bottletop glasses” “overbese” “the suspension is killing me” Can you book me an appointment with the “Opstetrician” (for an eye test) and of her last university ball (where she graduated with a 2.1in English Literature) “ it was great, there were fair rides and a stimulator” My Dad started it all, he famously claimed that when approaching a big house to canvas he was attacked by “a whole pack of Chapman Pinchers’ He was a journalist at the time!

Chapman Pincher was a journalist, not my Dad

Whilst it's shit for us, I am enjoying the "real world" moments now being experienced by the Cabinet.

I am waiting for the penny to drop for Johnson, but that would mean he paid attention...

I also have a whole spiel for them about not buying novels for their lit course reading list on Amazon, because if they go to an actual bookshop not only will they be supporting staff with pleasant working conditions but they might also see another book on the shelf they fancy reading.

I know it would be off to Social Services in 2020, but in 1970, when my DM went shopping, she parked me in the library (for some reason the kids section was upstairs. Which seemed stupid at the time, although in hindsight, I get it ...) and went about her shopping.

Apparently it was the one place you could leave me, and find me when you went back .

So growing up, sport-infested TV was never a problem - I'd pop to the libraries nearby and trawl the shelves. Hopefully DS picked a bit of that up. At least he isn't afraid of books.

Of course the flipside is you can wander into some very dark places without much protection. DM liked Dennis Wheatley and that pulled into some pretty gruesome horror anthologies on the shelves ... The Pan series, edited by Herbert van Thal being seared into my mind.

(Just as an illustration of my DM, I showed her one when we were in the library, and she flicked though it and said "Dulcie Gray ? She used to be on the radio ..." )

I love the late night chats ds1 and I have :)
(Reminds me of the ones I used to have with my late dad...)

We talk about anything and everything but lots of politics as he is studying that atm.

proud mum alert - boast incoming
Ds1 was offered a pt job yesterday - £10 per hour (he's 17) and they will fit round his studies...they aren't advertising it - they have offered it to him based solely on his personality and how he comes across ☺
How lovely is that???
I'm very proud of him. He is hoping to become an MP one day although I've pointed out to him that I think he has too much integrity to be one

I'm staying away from the news today...that unemployment headline has infuriated me!

Oops - my edited insertion of AuldAlliance to make my post clearer was in the wrong place - but you get the gist

The mass closure of libraries is something I really hope is reversed in the future. I hope it will be seen as the ridiculous, knee jerk decision it was. Lets be honest, mc and uc kids won't suffer - they will have parents who can buy books and go to schools with good qell stocked libraries. Like the closure of the surestart centres, it predominantly affects the wc/poor.

Another reason I still can't fathom some areas of the North voting tory...🤷‍♀️

I spent so many happy hours in my youth at our local and school libraries :(