Epic WTF

Fuck me, WAC. I feel for the woman being put through the stress of judicial process for this ego-maniac twat. I hope he has to pick up all the legal costs involved.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/03/ontario-colonization-costs-billions-first-nations-treaty

Ontario says ‘colonization’ costs mean it does not owe First Nations billions

With that math I am surprised they haven't landed up arguing that the first nations owe them money

Ford being Ford

British Gas ad talking about “protecting homes” while breaking into homes

Thames Water still using dowsing rods

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/thames-water-dowsing-rods-leaks-divining-b1056598.html

I bet they work perfectly. Anywhere at all the dowsing rod says there is a leak LO AND BEHOLD, A LEAK!

I work with telecom maintenance, have had some older colleagues who used dowsing rods to locate cables. It's complete bollox but if you question them they get really defensive so was easier to just humour them (and double check with the proper tool). It wouldn't surprise me if it's the same thing here.

Dowsing rod, homeopathy, crystal healing, dream catchers (they’re just feathers and string)… There’s always someone ready to defend their efficacy.

Dowsing rod, homeopathy, crystal healing, dream catchers

trickle down economics, the laffer curve

Anything described as "common sense".

Rarely sensible and never common.

Did you just make that up?

I made it up years ago. I've never felt the need to stop rolling it out.

Intrigued, went to look up how old the idiom (which I think it is an idiom?) is because I’m a bit odd like that
C.14th but without a specific reference point is all I can SearchEngine, not being near an academic nor the British Library:(
Rather hoping @Oliver Schick might have an idea given his history reference chops
Love this forum

Me again, popping up like the turd that won’t flush, but the governance of the railways… in this part of the world… christ on a stick
Latest ‘news’ from yet another revolving tosser-minister you wouldn’t put in charge of heating a pan of baked beans reads;
“Currently (mis-spelt, imo with three more letters than needed), Harper said, railways “have a broken model, unable to adapt to customer needs, and financially unsustainable”.
He added: “Left untreated, we will drive passengers away with poor performance, which leads to fewer services, which will drive more passengers away and so on and so on. Only major reform can break that cycle of decline.”
The actual fuck, his dysfunctional organisation created the rail shitshow
I pay £7.80 for a single between stations
A return is £11.80
Accordingly the article quotes the Department for Transport where “the system should reduce most single fares, which can be almost the same price as a return under traditional fare practices”
In what fucking world?

Off peak return into Manchester is £3.50 from where I am (1 stop), £4 for off peak same day return Making that £2 each way whatever sounds good to me but I have full confidence it'll somehow end up as £3.50 each way, no returns.

Accordingly the article quotes the Department for Transport where “the system should reduce most single fares, which can be almost the same price as a return under traditional fare practices”

In what fucking world

Loads of singles are often only about a quid cheaper than returns.

Does it mean that people will take fucking ages at the ticket machines as they need to add two journeys. Then inevitably forget to add the return and have to then do it all again?

But most of the ‘I’d ditch the car if it was cheaper’ waiver’s would be looking at a return fare surely?
If the logic of ‘return is double a single’ - and that’s my Big Assumption as the reports are ambiguous (I know! Imagine the Gutterment putting out mixed messages, like ‘Safety’ when they meant ‘Service’ for anti strike laws! The very idea!) - is my return would be £15.60 with is a c. 30% fare increase (math is not my strong point)

The revenue generating machines for shareholder dividends will certainly be designed for exactly that outcome
How would it be otherwise?

I read it more that a single would be half a current return fair, not that you need to buy 2 current priced singles, so you wouldn't need to buy a "return" single, just get another single on the way back, whether that's later in the day or another day, or ideally just whack a card at a barrier on your way in and out, at least for on the day bought tickets. It all sounds good in principle but it'll get fucked up somewhere and cost more.

Off peak single from my local station into Glasgow central - £2.80

Off peak return - £2.60.

A journey there and back is going to end up costing £5.60 or more innit?

Most of the press is more that a single should be half a return (and that's how the trial has been doing it BBC News - Trial of scrapping train return tickets extended
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64548794 ).

More options if you're not doing a simple return, e.g. visiting a couple of places.

Driving will still likely be cheaper though, particularly with a few people traveling, but it's a start.

There's a lot of the network where the Off Peak Single is priced very slightly below the Off Peak Return, for historic reasons explained here:
https://twitter.com/seatsixtyone/status/1622335070903091201

This situation is common on the kind of journeys MPs might make (e.g. London-Oxford). They're not thinking of local fares in Manchester or Glasgow, because of course they're not.

The actual proposal is an extension of this trial on long distance routes:
https://www.lner.co.uk/news/lner-to-trial-simpler-fares/

Loads of singles are often only about a quid cheaper than returns.

Standard practice for doing a long one-way journey was to buy a return for £1 more and then sell it for cash (usually half the single fare) upon arrival to someone wanting to go the other way.

I did most of my travel to/from Uni like that.