AtticusFinch

Bear in mind that there's always a PR aspect to these things though. When passions run high, the difference between someone putting across their point of view and verbally abusing the other person is a subjective one, and can therefore easily be exaggerated. East Midlands Trains have shown during the entire Supertram footbridge saga that they're no strangers to PR and putting their own spin on things. Early on they made a statement that their human barriers had stopped hundreds of people trying to catch a train without a ticket, when many of these people were actually just trying to cross the footbridge to exit the back of the station. Just because East Midlands Trains staff have said that members of the public were verbally abusive, it doesn't necessarily mean that they actually were. There's always a way of spinning these things.

I class Highfield as the triangle between London Road, St Marys Road and Queens Road. The area to the west of London Road is Sharrow.

Is anyone else annoyed that the media just happened to be there as the wedding was broken up? What a coincidence. If the UKBA are stopping fake marriages then good for them, but they shouldn't be tipping the media off in advance for better PR. Concentrate on catching criminals, not building up your public image!

To add to this, last night I happened to catch the East Midlands Trains service going in the opposite direction. It was the 17:40 from Sheffield, which went on to Manchester Piccadilly, then Liverpool. It's the first time that I've ever caught this train and I was disgusted to see that this service also only had two carriages. That means that at rush hour between Sheffield and Manchester, East Midlands Trains only provide two carriages for the trains going in both directions. Not good enough. Never mind the government talking about high-speed rail. First we need to get enough carriages for the trains we already have.

You've obviously never travelled on the Liverpool - Nottingham route then. Every single weekday East Midlands Trains provide only two carriages on a train that runs from Liverpool - Manchester - Sheffield - Nottingham at evening rush hour. Two carriages for a train between four big cities. The train that runs an hour later has four carriages, but the train that leaves Manchester Piccadilly at 17:45 only has two. On Monday - Thursday this is bad enough, but on Friday evenings it's a nightmare. All of the vestibules are full and there are people stood all the way down the aisles in both carriages. The guard stays in their cabin at the back of the train all journey and doesn't even bother trying to check tickets. As for buffet trolleys being a good idea, on several occasions I've seen the trolley staff unable to get on a Friday evening train because it's so busy. East Midlands Trains can't even get their own staff on a train they're supposed to be working on! I used to take my bike on the train and have had to miss several Friday evening trains because I couldn't get my bike on. Upon such occasions I got talking to the trolley staff who'd also been unable to get on. They told me that this is a regular occurrence, and on Friday evenings they often have to miss several trains in a row. East Midlands Trains are an awful penny-pinching company. If ever there's a train operator that deserves to go bust, it's them.

So was this person organising the two groups into queues directly asking people whether they were students? If so, I hope that some people told him to mind his own business.

Another interesting Twitter post here from someone called "Raksky". I won't link to her entire post timeline over the last few hours since she has used some bad language. According to her tweets, she was in the queue at St Johns church at 10pm. One of her tweets says: "Everyone, all 150+ of us have been shepherded into the polling station, into all its rooms to try and ensure we get to vote." This was posted BEFORE 10pm. If she's right and they were inside the polling station at 10pm, should they have been allowed to vote?

Here's a Youtube video from the St Johns polling station after the doors had been closed at 10pm and the police had arrived:

This is now on the Guardian website: David Wheeler, who was turned away at Gleadless Valley polling station in Sheffield, said: "There were hundreds of us queuing up in the rain, but they closed the doors at 10 bang on the dot. We tried to argue with them, told them we had the right to vote, but they said they had been open since seven. About 100 of us were turned away." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Can anyone confirm this?

This just in on Twitter: RT @charlotte0387: BREAKING STORY: voters turned away at ranmoor polling station are refusing to let the ballot box out of the building. Police there. ------------------------------------------------------------- Can anyone confirm this? The girl who posted it is a Sheffield uni student.

This is interesting. According to the BBC, one polling station in Lewisham opened until 22:30 to allow people still in the queue to vote. Another polling station in Birmingham let everyone still in the room at 22:00 remain in the room to vote, but closed the doors to everyone else. Is Mothersole therefore right to say that the voting times could not be extended, or could exceptions have been made?

I voted at Duchess Road polling station in Highfield at about 21:45 (been working away today). When I arrived there were no other voters there. The guy organising the voting told me I was the 1000th voter at that polling station, and that at local elections they normally only have around 250.

Hi all, I wanted to tell you about something that happened to me yesterday and have a bit of a rant. This morning was the monthly collection date for my blue bin and so I'd left it outside overnight. I'd missed the previous collection and so the bin was full and needed to be emptied. I forgot to bring it in this morning so went to bring it in when I returned from work this evening. Upon touching the bin I could feel it was heavy and hadn't been emptied, so I opened the top to find out why. I found that there was a plastic takeaway carton on top with a roast chicken and chips inside. Some of it had spilled out onto the paper. Some drunken idiot had evidently dumped it in the bin as he'd walked home, thinking that was a funny thing to do. I checked a neighbour's bin that was still out and it was empty, so the bin men had been round. Obviously I'm annoyed with the person who dumped the food (you're an idiot), but I'm also annoyed with the bin men themselves. I can understand them refusing to take the bin if they believe I've put the wrong stuff in it. If I'm dumb enough to put food into a bin meant for paper and card then I've no problem with them refusing to empty the bin. What I object to, however, is the assumption they've obviously made that it was me who put the takeaway in there instead of drunken idiot boy. If it was me in that situation, seeing a takeaway carton and food at the top of a bin that's probably been left out overnight, I'd come to the conclusion that the food was put there by a drunken fool, not the householder who has almost filled it to the top with paper and card. I think that most other people would have come to the same conclusion. I'm annoyed because the bin men have refused to take a full bin of paper and card for something that wasn't my fault. I removed the food by lifting up the sunday paper that it was lying on, then throwing it in my black wheely bin. The bin men could easily have done the same thing then taken the paper and card. They could even have dropped the food back into the empty bin afterwards. Has anyone else had an experience like this?

Hi all, Thought I should tell you all about something that happened to me two nights ago on Tuesday night. I live in Highfield and my local shop is the Sainsburys at Jacksons opposite the Royal Standard on St Marys Road. On Tuesday night at 9:15 - 9:30pm I nipped over there to buy a few things. Outside the door were three youths, the oldest was 17 or 18 and the other two only looked about 12 or 13. These were classic hoodie chavs with tracksuits and sneers to match. As I walked past them they asked me the time, so I pulled my mobile phone out of my pocket, remembered that the battery was dead and told them I didn't know. I then stood right by them at the cashpoint outside and drew some money out. The thought briefly crossed my mind that I should take care at the cashpoint, but I considered these three to be irritating rather than dangerous. I'm male in my late twenties, medium build and medium height so I didn't think that they'd take me on. I went into the shop, bought a few things and left. As I crossed over the road to Remar, these three were messing about. One of them kicked off his trainer, it went right under a passing car and they all laughed. One of them then actually spoke to me, asking if I supported England (it was the u-21s game at Bramall Lane that night). I replied yes. Again, at this point I still considered them to be irritating rather than dangerous. The quickest way to my house from Jacksons is to cross over next to the Royal Standard, then cut through the Riverside and Sheaf Gardens industrial parks to Duchess Road. This whole area is poorly lit but especially Leadmill Road that leads to Duchess Road. As I walked across the newly paved section at the junction with Edmund Road and onto Leadmill Road I heard footsteps and then running behind me. I didn't think anything of it until someone jumped out right in front of me. He was about 6ft with a tracksuit and hood zipped right up to his eyes. There were two others with him but they remained behind me. I can't be 100% but I'm pretty sure it was the three chavs who were outside Jacksons. They were similar heights and were wearing similar clothes, but as the ringleader had his hood up, I couldn't be certain of this. He said "******** gimme your phone". I was shocked and bemused rather than scared, so I looked him right in the eyes and said "[fornicate] off you little [vagina]". He then said "bang him" three times to his mates behind me. I glanced behind me and knew that his two mates weren't going to do anything because they were only young, but was worried that this ringleader may have a knife (although he hadn't shown or mentioned one). I knew that I had to do something so I swung my shopping bag at him as hard as I could. He shielded himself, it hit him on the shoulder and I took this opportunity to suddenly start running, whilst occasionally glancing backwards. After about 50 yards I'd burned them off and I noticed that the ringleader was now well ahead of the other two. As I was only now about 100-200 yards from my house, I didn't want them to see where I lived. I therefore deliberately slowed down and as the ringleader reached me, I turned and swung the shopping bag at him again. This time it caught him much harder and as it struck, the two-litre bottle of milk inside burst and went everywhere as well as the bag tearing. I'm still smiling now at him getting soaked with milk. I hope that his ratty little tracksuit stinks of it today. I started running again, took a few strides but then noticed they weren't following. I therefore proudly turned and extended them my middle finger, before walking off. By this time I was on Duchess Road and it was fairly busy with people leaving the game, so I didn't think they'd keep following me. I went round the corner to my street and got my key ready for the front door. Just as I was about to go in, they came running round the corner. I didn't want them to see where I lived so I went round the corner to Queens Road, flagged down a passing taxi and jumped in. I got it to take me to the train station and back to kill time. I got out round the corner from my house, checked there was no sign of them then went inside. Looking back I'm annoyed with myself that I didn't stand and fight them properly. As I wear glasses I think they pegged me as an easy target, but were then surprised when I swore at them when confronted. The ringleader could have punched me in the back of the head before jumping in front of me but didn't, and he could have swung at me first but didn't. I think it was only me running that gave them the confidence to follow me. In my defence though, this was the first time in my life that anyone has ever tried to mug me and you don't know how you'll react in such a situation until it happens. I'm pleased that they never got anything from me and that I managed to get away. I'm not sure whether they were hanging outside Jacksons specifically with the intention to follow someone and mug them, or whether they just saw me passing through the dark industrial park on my own and saw the opportunity. I've now lived in Highfield for two years and although I've heard occasional stories of people getting mugged nearby, this is the first time I've ever encountered any trouble personally. Has anyone else experienced anything like this in the area? I've also learned that a bag-for-life isn't actually for life, but just until you swing it at a thieving chav.

I've never classed myself as a conservative but I like Ron Paul too. I don't agree with his views on gun control or pro-life but I completely agree with his stand on civil liberties, opposition to government fear-mongering and opposition to covertly propping up dictatorial regimes. In this surveillance state that we're increasingly moving towards, I often find myself wishing that we had a politician like him here in Britain.

I had another bad experience with them towards the end of last year. I arrived at my Saturday taekwondo class on time and walked into the sports hall. There was a basketball competition on with many people watching so I went back to the front desk and asked them if taekwondo had been cancelled, to which two staff members there both told me it had. I therefore left and got the tram back home again. When I went to the next lesson on Monday, one of the regulars told me that he'd seen me on Saturday and had tried to shout me that the class was still on, but that I'd not heard. I hadn't been attending the classes that long but the regulars knew that classes were often moved upstairs to the dance studio and that on those occasions the staff tended to incorrectly tell people the classes were cancelled. I filled out a complaint form as I left the Monday class and the manager left me a voicemail a few days later apologising. She also said that the Saturday class would again be in the dance studio. By the time Saturday came round I'd forgotten about this. 10-15 minutes into the lesson in the normal location of the sports hall, a member of staff entered the room to say that it had been double booked and we'd need to move upstairs. They hadn't even managed to tell the instructor in advance that the lesson would be in a different room!

I meant in terms of general institutional incompetence.

I disagree Joe. Just as anyone would become a thief if they were starving and desperate enough, I believe that anyone, regardless of who they are, would commit suicide if driven far enough. Everyone has a threshold. I believe that even the strongest-minded person in the world would commit suicide if they were driven to it by the right combination of circumstances and helplessness.

Given that Heathrow staff are highly proficient at losing luggage, do you really trust them to keep your fingerprints safe? What I find frustrating in all this is how spineless we brits are. As I mentioned in the original post, this fingerprint taking will be used for internal flights as well as external ones. Take, for example, the US as a comparison. Due to the vastness of the US, americans jump on internal flights in the same way that we use trains in the UK. If it was suggested that americans had to provide a fingerprint to fly around their own country there'd be uproar. It'd never happen. We brits on the other hand barely seem to notice. I sometimes get the feeling that the government and powers-that-be are deliberately pushing the boundaries to see just how much they can get away with. I can just imagine a conversation like this: "How about asking for fingerprints for people to fly?" "No, even the british public wouldn't stand for that" "Well let's try it anyway" *** Two weeks after announcement of the proposal *** "Oh my god, no one is bothered! I can't believe they're letting us get away with this" "I know, let's try something else........"

Schadenfraude is a terrible thing but I can't help but laugh here. According to www.theyworkforyou.com, this MP Sadiq Khan voted very strongly for introducing ID cards and strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws. Now he has the gall to moan that he's being spied upon. If he's got nothing to hide then he shouldn't have anything to fear...... :hihi::hihi:

Hi all, I had to post this. I've just found out about it and I'm fuming. Like an increasing number of organisations at present, Heathrow seem to think that it's acceptable to take fingerprints of their customers. A new terminal called terminal 5 is opening very soon. This fingerprinting has now been made compulsory. At terminal 1, any UK citizen taking a domestic flight has to give their fingerprints if they wish to use the larger international lounge before boarding or if they're arriving from an international flight and changing to a domestic flight. That's right, someone arriving into their own country has to provide fingerprints as well as their passport. It gets worse though. Terminal 5 has one departure lounge for both international and domestic flights. Any UK citizen taking a flight anywhere from terminal 5 now has to provide fingerprints. Someone could be flying from Heathrow to Glasgow or Edinburgh, i.e. completely within their own country, and they have to provide a fingerprint to do so. People who have complained about providing a fingerprint were handed leaflets saying they would be "invalidated entry" to their flight if they refuse to do so. This is an outrage and justifies a boycott of Heathrow for these creeps thinking that such behaviour is acceptable. What's to say that it won't be extended to other airports? I don't see why I should have to hand over my fingerprints and I won't be using Heathrow in future.

In the case of ID cards, the word "optional" has a very tenuous meaning. As it currently stands, ID cards are due to be issued to UK citizens in 2012 with passport renewals. It would not be possible after that point to order a passport without an ID card, so ID cards would be "optional" as long as you don't mind forfeiting overseas travel.

I find the whole idea of adoption targets deeply immoral. Every case examined by social workers is an individual case with its own back story and relevant factors. The child may be in danger and need removing, the parents may need help but are capable of looking after the child or it may be a completely groundless accusation of bad parenting. To lump all of these individual cases into one centrally set target is moronic and myopic. When a target is set and there are financial rewards for meeting it, the logical end result is that some people will cheat to meet the target. That may not mean a great deal if you're talking about something relatively mundane like recycling rates, miles of cycle paths created or number of bins per square mile, but this is parents and newborn children. What you have here are target ideologues so pious about their monitoring mantra that they've completely lost sight of the bigger picture. It's analogous to saying that 70% of all police arrests must result in a conviction, 55% of all food hygiene inspections must result in a fail and 10% of all roadside emission tests must result in a fail. Even if this is just a handful of cases and not the thousands that the Daily Mail is claiming (it is the Daily Mail after all), something like this was always going to happen.

SFBot talks like Stephen Hawking and specialises in doing the "robot" dance popularised by Peter Crouch. He's also a mean card counter, so don't let him talk you into any poker hands.

What is find most frustrating is when I'm on a train or tram platform near the doors and I'll take a step back to clear a space for the people getting off, but then someone behind me will instantly step into that space. I get the impression that such people aren't even aware that I was stepping back to make room, they're just too focussed on getting on board as soon as possible.