Argos are not printing their catalogue anymore.
Every year our kids would sit and flick through it to find presents and we enjoyed a peruse as well and probably bought things we weren’t looking at buying.
Now people will only be left with the soul less online version which doesn’t lend itself to casual flick throughs. Mind you that’s like all online shopping.
About time they caught up with the rest of the world. Such a waste.
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Is soul usually a requirement for your consumption of capitalism?
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It is when he buys shoes 
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Them: are you free for a quick chat?
Me: I’m free until 1330 then I have another meeting that I have to dial in to.
Them: call at 1329
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All to frequent a situation here too.
GMG previewed/leaked government announcements.
And knowing full well that the promised “guidance” hasn’t been finalised, so can’t be released anyway.
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And, having announced that it’s an imminent problem, with cases rising daily to May levels, giving us all 6 days before it comes in?
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At least the virus knows to hold off for those 6 days…
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This: it’s a big concern: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54131030
This is not a ‘fine’. Fines are usually stated in terms of a maximum amount, and are means tested. They are also imposed by courts, after consideration of aggravating and mitigating factors and credit for admissions of guilt.
Instead, the Government created a fixed penalty notice system, while saying it was a fines system. This means you have to pay the full amount, OR be prosecuted.
What hope does a 19 year old have to pay back a full £10,000?
Why aren’t we more concerned about the fact that any and every PCSO now has the power to issue financial penalties which are more than double the maximum amount of most Magistrates Court penalties, and 20 times higher than the previous highest fixed penalty notice?
It’s pointless to fine someone more money than they can ever hope to afford, yet the government has utilised the distrust and dislike of ‘others’ to allow the police to do this without any judicial involvement.
This is chilling.
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Can’t speak for all forces but in London you aren’t allowed to just dish one of these out, it has to go all the way to Gold for approval. (Who I think is a Commander rank Officer for UME’s).
And lies a problem, it’s the teens and early 20s going out and blatantly breaking the law that has got us in this situation.
They’ll just laugh the fine off, as you say, they can’t pay 
.
That’s only an internal decision making thing as far as I read the regs. Any officer can issue one.
The problem is the regs only allow fines of £10,000. Nothing else, no sliding scale, no half way house.
And I don’t know what you mean Brooke_Bond about ‘laughing it off’, if you don’t pay you get prosecuted.
Although, I can’t see that you would get anywhere near a £10k fine in the mags, unless your earnings were in the area of £300k
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These FPN’s are designed to punish those who makes thousands of pounds out of raves and personally I’d like to see them permanently for that purpose.
People having house parties aren’t making profit out of them and as such I’d say that issuing one of these isn’t in keeping with spirit if the FPN.
Where you have a problem is that the only alternative to the FPN is prosecution, so if you didn’t give the house party lot an FPN the only option open is to report them for process and if they are lucky the least they would get is a caution. What I feel is needed is a “non-profit” gathering FPN that can be given for things like house parties.
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I agree that there should be a lesser FPN. But a £10,000 FPN is a bad idea.
If it’s that serious, you should prosecute. I can’t really think of any circumstance where someone’s actions would justify that level of punishment, but not merit a prosecution.
It also makes a mockery of the FPN process. They are designed to be a fixed, lesser alternative to a prosecution and the unfixed consequences of a sentencing exercise. People pay £60 for a speeding FPN because it’s better than gambling on the sentence of the magistrates, and arguably cheaper. They’re designed to give people an incentive to not use the criminal courts, and the costs that entails.
This FPN fails at that because unless you are staggeringly rich, you will never pay anywhere near £10k after a mags sentencing process. So you would always opt for the prosecution.
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With the exception of road traffic and Covid all other FPN’s are being removed anyway.
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And the middle aged folk who refuse to social distance in places like supermarkets, the people who refuse to wear masks in enclosed spaces, the government’s extremely poor handling of the situation (eg care homes), those who rely on public transport and the people who work in jobs with frequent close contact with the public (supermarkets, pubs etc). What age range do you think a substantial portion of people who work in supermarkets & pubs are, and who rely on public transport?
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I want to like this twice.
We should be expecting a rise in case among the workforce - in particular among those using public transport and those working in customer-facing roles.
What age group usually fits into these categories? 
Yes, there is a minority (across all age groups) that are breaking the rules. The ones that have made the media are “the young people”, so the government has found its scapegoat in “the young people”. Again.
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And they don’t vote Tory.
I reckon that this government has worked out that as long as they appeal consistently to a solid 40% of the population, that’s enough to stay in power. You don’t need to aim for consensus or to try and convince the middle ground that your policies are right anymore, because you can win a general election with 40%, so why try harder?
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Grind my gears? Meant to be doing FAW tomorrow to Wednesday. Son has just come down with a temperature and persistent cough. Looks like we’re heading into isolation
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