Secretary to Icelandic expedition
Artist's model
Barmaid (in a sort of informal brothel)
Pension scheme administrator
Lawyer

I kept the brothel one in my CV for ages. Guaranteed interview, not matter how unqualified I was for the job.

I used to work with him and can't praise him enough. A consumate professional and all-round decent chap.

Can remember someone on here connecting the dots between a Grauniad article about a poor confused woman who didn't know her pension age and the LinkedIn profile of the same woman... who was director of HR and Equalities before she retired, and was a HR consultant after retiring

Dropping off my 5 year old at school who just ran in without saying bye and I muttered under my breath something about not expecting a hug. A bloke next to me obviously thought I was someone he knew gave me an apologetic hug and walked off to the car park. I legged it over the fence instead.

Yes, you'd hope that they were less disappointed and angry at their child than fearful that their lift would be more difficult (and rightly disappointed/angry at a society that promotes those attitudes).

The schoolchildren of the UK can breathe easier, knowing that he's found another job that better suits his talents

I don't disagree, but my immediate reaction on reading the comic (before the commentary) was that it was a reference to the endless pushing of useless AI tools and the whack-a-mole process that you need to go through to keep refusing them.

I'm missing the "as long as they've not got their todger out, why is what other people wear to be comfortable on a flight any of my fucking business" answer option

I'm not sure what sort of school the Labour MP went to - my fairly average primary school experience was playing tag and beating up the kids from Balby Street. Though it delights me beyond measure to think of schoolkids deciding to spend their lunchtime break playing at Parliamentary democracy.

I'm not sure Trump has many friends in the UK in any event, but he's now proposing single combat against David Attenborough?

I think that we lose something of that public space, where we can all interact as equals, when we lose them. Though I'm maybe being too romantic - their main purpose is to get us to buy stuff, but it feels a much more civilised way of doing it than clicking a button.

My daughter was lamenting the loss of department stores. She remembered going to them as a child and thought it was an experience that taught her something about being an adult - the role of being a customer, the notion that you could choose to buy or not, that even as a child she deserved respect.

"Agile" was a permanent entry on the buzzword bingo sheet for pretty much my last ten years at TPR. Though the audience in that picture are at least showing how flexible they are, turning heads through 180 degrees like owls do.

Makes it sound as though he thinks chardonnay and coal are interchangeable. I love a coal fire, but I draw the line at drinking the stuff.

Got 50/1 on the lettuce

but is it just the triple lock? The biggest differential seems to have been over the period 2000 to 2010, when there was no triple lock, then the shape of increases look similar from 2010 to now. 2000 maybe the high point for retiring on a good DB pension?

I may have misread James' comment (and tbf he has been vocal on Labour's comms failures) and agree that the strain on the court system can only be remedied by restoring the funding lost in the last 14 years. And heartily agree your comment on the need to course correct on misinformation.

I'm not clear on how it would be vastly expensive to change the messaging on trans people or migrants - for the former it might take Parly time (which I know is tight) if legislative change is needed, but just saying "these people have human rights" wouldn't seem too onerous.

From memory, it was pretty easy to get a 95% mortgage in 1979, and in 1983 (though those were 3x salary max). Can remember people I worked with in 1983-86 getting 5x salary offers on the basis their salary would rise quickly after training.

My auntie failed one of her many driving tests by driving up to a policeman on point duty until he was sitting on the car bonnet. The examiner had told her to drive forward, but hadn't added "when it's safe to do so", so she drove as slowly as she could. Awesome clutch control though.

Now some of that is probably because I was a teenager, but I married in 1979 (still a teenager then) and we bought a house for less than my bus driver husband's annual wage. It was in Rotherham, mind, but you can't have everything...

Very much agree. I was a teenager in the 70s, and pretty much everyone I knew had a Saturday/evening job, and a dad who worked down the pit or in the steelworks. Much more equality of income - nobody had a lot, but everyone had enough, and a sense that it could get better.

I'm not sure it does; this is data from 2019, so for most of this population the state pension will include SERPS and the high rates of private pension are now almost unknown outside the public sector. There's an argument to be had against the triple lock, but the UK state pension is still very low.

I think that's really my point, so I probably didn't explain it clearly. I know, as a cis person, that I can't fully get it - but my not getting can never be an excuse to disregard the lived experience of trans people. They genuinely do get it, and their voices should be respected.

Not to dunk on you, but I'm cis and don't understand what it is to be trans - it's not my lived experience and I get that. But I can listen to those trans people I know and love, and believe them when they tell me what it's like for them. It's not that hard.

And Robin Hood famously dressed in green, had a massively taller sidekick and an on/off romance with his fair lady. It's practically a Muppet origin story already.

Release the weight! Let it run free...

We were further down the hill, not far from the bus garage. Yes, felt really safe early 80s, when I moved there. Could walk home from Manc early hours of the morning along the Crescent and down through Peel Park. What a time to be alive. Though how much of that was down to being in my 20s...

This is the lad that went to university in Salford, right? I can tell you, late 90's and early 00's, living off Frederick Road in Salford was way scarier than London ever was.

Yes, you're right - thank you for the reminder. I think it was landing cards and other evidence showing residence. Maybe this supports both our arguments? That an ID card is useful, and that it should be in a form which isn't easily lost or tampered with. Which I think is a greater risk with an app.