Rick's b.log - entry 2025/10/07

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Shut up, Badenoch

When the Tories came to power, there was no "small boats crisis". A mixture of failing to secure proper agreements after Brexit (arguably, having Brexit at all), and failing to understand the ramifications of outsourcing border controls to everybody else and what happens when you basically say screw you to that everybody else... plus an irrational and bizarre horror of having identity cards or means testing... has caused the migrant situation to explode. Yes, it is unsustainable, but threatening to send everybody to Zimbabwe and then throwing a hissy fit when the British judges point out that under human rights laws you're supposed to process people's applications before deporting them... only they can't be done because of years upon years of cutbacks for that sort of thing. In one way or another the Tories spent much of their time pushing various forms of austerity (ask yourself why public buildings are crumbling and social health support is a disaster) while looking at lucrative tax breaks for their rich mates.

Kemi, you dumb twat, you lot FAILED. You were not only kicked out, but have been kicked below the Reform party in the polls; and no matter what headline-grabbing racist twaddle you lot come up with next, you're basically a pariah now. Anybody who wants some hard right hate will vote Reform. Why? Because you idiots screwed up badly, and your lame attempts at toxic nationalism and flag shagging aren't going to work. Farage might be the most unsuitable man in the country to ever become PM, but he's been playing the "blame the foreigner and spaff over the flag" game a lot longer, and what's more, he has that annoying way of being chummy with people that makes him a lot more likeable than the bunch of circus clowns calling themselves the Conservatives.

Kemi's follow-up to that was to announce the desire to leave the European Convention on Human Rights; you know, the one that the British (driven by Winston Churchill) were instrumental in helping to establish.
That, there, says all you need to know about the Tory mindset. Ask yourself why they want to leave the ECHR. Because it's difficult to kick out migrants they don't want? Or maybe because rather than trying to process people fairly, they want to do so in imhumane ways (like, say, tossing them to some place in the middle of Africa before even asking if they should be allowed to stay). And, of course, Badenoch has likely only said this because Reform said it.

I can certainly see there being scope to apply some modifications to the ECHR; one of the main ones being to say that you do not necessarily have the automatic right to be covered by the convention simply by being present in the country if you entered in a non-legal manner. One should not reward criminality, and furthermore it should be made easier to deport people that enter non-legally with no form of identification papers. It seems strange to me how easily migrants at risk of deportation have access to legal assistance and court hearings. Meanwhile, for British citizens, you need to justify your case before legal aid will even look at it, and justice is on hold for many due to the chronic backlog of court sessions (another victim of Tory incompetence). This isn't to say to treat people badly, but, look, there are ways to enter a country and taking the clandestine route should be a consideration in whether or not to immediately reject an asylum appeal. My personal feeling is that people brought over by NGOs and troops from actual warzones should be processed fairly, whilst those who turn up on boats should be denied. But, you know, if the Tories had any desire to do things fairly, they would have been doing so long ago rather than threatening people's "settled status". Okay, that was actually something that Reform pledged, but Badenoch seems to think that 150,000 people a year will be deported and one needs to ask who exactly? It's probably the exact same thing, only she can't say it out loud or Farage will tear a strip out of her for basically parroting everything Reform is pledging. Which is another reason the Tories are dead. Who wants to go back to Tory misadventure when you can just vote Reform and get the same thing with flag waving as an optional extra?

Robert Jenrick, in amidst the more contentious things he's said recently, said that the whole system would be reformed, and "we won't just tinker with a broken system". Fourteen years. You were in power for fourteen years. All you did was tinker with the system and little by little break it more and more. You idiots really think anybody is going to trust you now?

What the hell, France?

The current chaos all started when Macron held an ill-advised snap election to bolster his low ratings and, well, he clearly didn't realise that "being hated" directly equates to "we're going to vote for somebody else". His gamble failed. There is no clear government in France now. He has gone through PMs faster than fashionistas go through Shein outfits, and he last one bailed after less than a Lunar Month.

I think the most depressing thing about this is that France is doing exactly what the Tories did a year ago; right down to the Liz Truss moment (except, as far as I'm aware, Lecornu hasn't shocked any respected royalty to death).

Macron asked the poor bloke to please stay on for two days more to attempt to herd the kittens. I don't imagine that will be anything more than a massively stressful event for him.

They say France is ungovernable. That isn't true - every party has ideas for how to improve France. Some of them want to improve it for the people, others want to improve it for business, and it is my understanding that both the far left and the far right are, actually, largely in agreement about a lot of the basics of what needs to change (things that Macron refuses to accept, half the reason why we're in this mess). The problem is, Macron is hated, like really hated, like spit on the floor rather than say his name hated. So the other parties smell blood and opportunities. They, rather than attempt to compromise, will hold firm to their imaginary red lines cause they are playing towards the next election. Likewise, the international banks smell blood and opportunities. Jacking up the interest rates on bonds, downgrading the country's economic outlook, all of this makes them more money. Within France, away from the chaos of government, very little has changed. We're still making the same stuff we made last year. The main impact of French production hasn't been whether or not the government can pass a budget, nor the various strikes (strikes are just a way of life in France - and nobody has blockaded the refineries around here in ages), no, it's been Trump's Tariffs that have slapped a surcharge on French imports, which puts the price up for American consumers, which makes them less desirable. You can't even say "well, this is what happens, you were too greedy, you asked too much" because that extra 10-15-20-whatever percent? That doesn't go to France, it goes to the Federal Reserve. It's a stealth tax that America is putting on Americans. And that, by consequence, causes less French stuff to be sold in the US which may - if a company is a big exporter - have a very tangible effect on their turnover. This just shows how everything is interrelated these days. It also shows how everybody is "in it for themselves". The right won't compromise with the left (and vice versa) as they don't want it to hurt them come the next round of election campaigning. And the bankers? Well, they'll screw everybody as hard as they legally can, and governmental fiscal chaos is like an open blank chequebook to them.

That's not to say that France doesn't need to implement changes; but the time of screwing the populace and favouring big business tax breaks instead has come and gone. Macron refuses to accept that. The former National Front (calling themselves the National Assembly these days) have it as a large part of their manifesto, which is why they are one of the largest groups in government, and why if an election is held tomorrow, they may well win. When there's plenty to go around, people don't care about stuff as long as their lives are okay. But when times are hard, it's a very very valid question to ask why has my electricity doubled and my food tripled and the government wants to get rid of some of my public holiday days in order to afford tax breaks for big business? Eff that noise!
Looking at some of the stuff the French far right have been saying, it's not so much the sort of racist twaddle that Reform is peddling, it's more just pointing out what Macron wants and why he is wrong. And you know the most depressing thing? They have a point. What Macron is trying to push is unfair. He's utterly incapable of reading the room. This is why, unless the left gets their shit together in a hell of a hurry, France is going to have them in power soon.

Colours

This can confuse people when they go over to pick up a set of small gloves and end up taking an XL pair instead. Side by side there's a difference that most (but not all) people can see. But a box on its own? Looks "red" and the small gloves come in a "red" box.
This isn't necessarily a fault of my cow-orkers, I'd question what dummy came up with the idea of putting the smallest and largest gloves in boxes marked in brick and terracotta (or, if you must, red and dark orange) - colours which are remarkably similar.

By the way, the mostly white boxes you can just about see on the shelf underneath? Those are nitrile gloves, because latex allergies are a thing. Given how many people there are at work and how many need those gloves, I'd say a figure I pulled out of my arse because it's too late and I'm too tired to actually bash the figures into a calculator even though it would have taken much less time than writing this sentence is... just under 10%, so let's go with 9% then.

And Or Eor

This yellow wheelie bin made of HDPE is from RS Pro (as in RS Components, or Radio Spares to the whitebeards), 240 litres, seems to be manufactured for RS in the UK, and it costs €171,42 with tax. I have no idea why it says "Bentley" rather than "RS", but it's a real RS product (code 790-6879).

The photo caption is exactly what the bin says. Now, this I can understand. Because if you're going to be trying to put hot ashes and liquids into this bin, that's what, lava? I don't imagine a plastic bin would cope with that sort of thing at all.

What they meant to write, and why companies need a pedantic person on the team, is "No hot ashes or liquid". And versus Or, they're not the same thing.

This is like the question "Is Paris or Lyon the capital of France?". The correct response is "yes".

HDPE, by the way, is High Density PolyEthylene. That's not your drinks bottles (water or cola), because those need to be rigid but soft, and possibly capable of dealing with pressure. They are probably PET - look on the bottom for three arrows in a triangle shape (the recycling logo) with the number '1' inside.
HDPE is '2', you'll probably find that on more rigid plastic things, like the tub your instant coffee/chocolate comes in.

Oh, and the EOR in the title, often referred to as XOR on the other side of the pond, means Exclusive OR. It breaks down like this:

White van man

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