Archers thread #183: The Scorekeeper's Apprentice. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to share a hot tub with Mucky Mick, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Credit for the title goes to @TottersBlankly who suggested it and @BeatriceBatchelor who coined this lovely phrase. (It's led me to take a look at the Wikipedia page for The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I had not known before that the animation in Fantasia that goes with the Dukas symphonic tone poem is more or less unadulterated Goethe, and the story goes back to ancient times. You learn something every day.)

At the end of the last thread, there was an apocalyptic tone as we were all bemoaning the lack of continuity and farming storylines (especially lambing, which used to be a big theme at this time of year). Are there any reasons to be cheerful? (Not just Part 3 - another reference for the older listeners here. ) Over to you!

I have looked for that and failed to find it, more than once, so if anyone can locate it I'd be delighted; the most recent thing about the rental of Grange Farm I remember was Oliver, at Caroline's behest, finally pulling out his finger and organising a proper tenancy agreement with the Grundies; it shook Eddie badly because it was for a lot of money and of course while he had been living rent free for the previous eighteen months or so he hadn't saved a penny towards the inevitable rent that would be needed eventually wherever they ended up living.

Edited to add: Duh! I called Keira "Poppy" upthread. Though at one point William and Poppy were also sleeping at Grange Farm,after Martyn Gibson threw William out of the cottage belonging to Brian.

As well as not having smartphones, do they live in a part of the country where there are no benefits?

No it's not double for a couple. Each gets their own. There are no special arrangements for couples.

I could not care less about Pa and Ma Malik's wedding photos. What a pity a branch didn't fall on Khalil and New Robert. Or the loft ladder didn't collapse.

Oh and Robert - and Khalil for that matter- it's not ok to be on Pa Malik's laptop. Are they both really, really thick.

@IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle welll yes, each person gets their own pension but if they are living together as Eddie and Carrie are then they will be getting £442 a week between them. On top of their earnings.

Would anyone really want a load of photoshopped wedding photos? I'm assuming it was their wedding album which got destroyed, yes it's sad, but in the overall scheme of things not a terrible disaster. Surely if they were that bothered they'd ask their family and friends to give them copies of all the other photos that were inevitably taken on the day. Indian weddings are usually huge affairs with hundreds of guests so there would be plenty of photos to choose from. Yet another very silly storyline.

In my village of about 2000 residents there is a massive new build development of 1500 houses being built.

Not necessarily. Eddie is very unlikely to have a full NI record. The entitlement to pension is assessed individually.

For example i f Eddie has 20 years of NI contributions, he would receive a pro-rata 20/35ths of the full rate, currently £221.20 , around £126.40 per week.

NI contribution rules for pensions used to be quite odd. They have probably been amended since, but when I hit 65 I was very surprised to find that I qualified for the full state pension, despite having spent rather a lot of time abroad.

I did query it, and it turned out that all they were interested in was whether I had paid NI "at some point" during a particular tax year ... so if I left the country in July, contributions from April-July counted for that year, and when I came back the following June and did a couple of weeks work before leaving for pastures new in August, that was another year taken care of. I used to come back from time to time and almost invariably ended up doing a week's work sorting out problems for an ex-employer (still a friend) and the employer/employee NI was paid, so it all counted!

I'd love to be able to say that I played the system, but I really didn't. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this rule has been quietly changed.

I assume this has changed, then. I was amazed after my Dad died that my Mum inherited his entire state pension. She lost her own, but Dad's was much higher, so that was OK. I have a vague memory from reading up at the time that this is an old system and my Mum is one of the last people to benefit in this way.

I honestly, honestly suspect the SWs are so accustomed to portraying the Grundys as scrabbling, hand to mouth desperadoes, that they haven’t noticed that in real life Carrie and Eddie would be perfectly comfortably situated.

@TottersBlankly I was thinking exactly this listening in the car tonight. The sw are so reliant on Eddie and Clarrie to be a certain way to fill the low income slot in the village, and to provide comedic material with Eddie's "hilarious" ideas that I wonder if they will ever be allowed to retire. Eddie is 74. Surely if he realised he could top up his state pension with pension credit he would have jacked in any real sort of work at the first opportunity. Probably would be still quite happy to let Clarrie carry on working though.

It is an old system.

I was going to say have the SW never heard of pension credit...

Why would you go into someone's laptop or loft on the say-so of a kid it's ridiculous, Robert should have more sense.
Yes why dosnt Eddie go for the meat packing job. Why dosnt Eddie let clarrie retire. I've been retired for 4 years now and I could never imagine going back to work even though I get a bit lonely sometimes, as my DH is 8 years younger and can't afford to retire yet. I did say to him I would stay working but he insisted I retire he said I had worked enough ( started work at 14 and a half). So my DH is nothing like Eddie thank God.

Robert presumably hasn't heard of The Computer Misuse Act 1990. That episode was ridiculous. The Snells are obsessed with that horrid child.

Has New Robert lost his marbles?

Nice to hear Emma getting on with it and sorting out that branch.

I hope it’s not a SW with either a grudge against Robert or hoping to win a bet as to how many times he can get Robert and a minor into an enclosed space, alone.

It’s inconceivable that any SW could genuinely think yesterdays shenanigans were in any way ok.

Well it was bizarre because Robert was very concerned that he might be caught in the loft but not really bothered about going on the computer

and who on earth would take the wedding clothes secretly like that?

just look through the vhs box and find the bloody wedding video

if i lost my wedding album it wouldn’t be the photos of me and DH I would be sad to lose but the ones of the family etc at that moment in time and memories of those no longer with us

The Snells are way over-invested with the Maliks. Almost in stalker territory.

If Eddie is 74 (same age as DH) he would get the old pension rate of £174 per week, not the new rate. But I doubt he made enough NI contributions, knowing Eddie.

assuming you made zero NI contributions how much pension would you get? We're in the process of applying for our UK pensions (thanks, Brexit, it used to be done by the German pension office) and DH has 17 years worth and gets a bit, not much but handy. I will get about 8 years worth, so it may pay for pizza now and again.

But if you have made no contributions i am assuming there is some kind of pension?

And it is hilarious that it occours to NOBODY that Eddy AND Clarrie could apply to Casey meats. Especially he's going on about working in an office...

Not listening to the Robert/Khalil stuff. That is awful.

ETA: just had a thought. Is Clarrie going to turn out to be a WASPI woman? she's the right age, i think.

Clarrie was born in May 1954 so yes, she falls into the WASPI category. However, she's already 70 and will have been entitled to her pension since January 2020. Probably too dim to have claimed it, though.

see, that WOULD have been a really good use of TA as PSA programme. But no. We have internet scammers in the barn.

I came as close as I ever have during that episode to thinking about just throwing in the towel. The only bit that rang true was Emma doing a bit of tree surgery. The rest was absolute drivel. Why has nobody in Eddie's family told him he is an irritating fantasist and a liability? Making ludicrous unsubstantiated claims on a CV would be a stupid idea in any circumstances, but on a CV being given to people who know you and your employment history inside out it's just idiocy.

I think he's moved to the top of my list of people who should drop into the sinkhole I am still hoping for.