Huddersfield

I think there's a few reasons they are hitting the news. I think the critical one is that whereas in the past they were run of the mill for people who wanted odd bits of casual work, there is a definite increase in them being far more widespread a a tool for avoiding creating employment rights. There are also examples of employers imposing conditions (for example people are required to work as instructed unlike casual where it's by agreement) as well. There are (to be fair) also issues for employers in some sectors. Public sector commissioners are very fond of Framework Agreements these days, especially for Part B ('people') services which in certain circumstances mean that you never know what work you will or won't get & in consequence it becomes virtually impossible to recruit & train staff because you might not have the income to pay them a proper contract.

Without wanting to open up this debate nor express any particular view on it, thats not strictly true. He has served the bit of time that required him to be behind bars, but is still serving his sentence (albeit on licence), something I suspect has made a difference behind the scenes. As for Mackay, I suspect he took what he must have realised was a poison chalice to try & re-establish his reputation. Wigan have been dire all season but still have a half decent squad on paper with a significant amount of Premier League & Championship experience starting for them. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes there but I presume he must have thought he could turn it around with those players & make himself employable again. His currency has crashed spectacularly though in less than a year.

Now I'll grant you that's a plus point for being Scottish. I had to settle for turning up bevvied at school from cheap vodka mixed with orange cordial.

I think someone on the thread made a comment that they used to hate peaty whiskies but changed over time & that's the same with me.I had a Laphroaig years ago & could hardly finish it. However (after reading a previous thread on here which mentioned Ardbeg) I decided to give it a go one night when I was on Skye (staying the night at the Stein Inn) & loved it. I've re-tried Laphroaig since & likewise find I enjoy it much more.

Yes I think it was one of the Yamazaki ones. To me they both have a slightly sweet flavour. What I disliked about the Welsh one though was that it was way too sweet. As far as I know the Japanese don't do peaty/smokey whiskies so I'm still looking forward to picking up my bottle of Ardbeg in the summer.

I'll be honest, I feel guilty whenever I drink it. I kind of wanted not to like it but I did. Can I redeem myself by saying that I also had a few glasses of Penderryn Welsh whisky last summer & it was horrible?

At the risk of being branded a heretic (although in my defence I'm an Englishman who knows when to use an 'e' & when not to), I was recently given 2 bottles of Japanese whisky that I thought were very good. https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/yamazaki/the-yamazaki-single-malt-whisky-distillers-reserve-whisky/(single malt) http://www.nikka.com/eng/products/blended/fromthebarrel.html(blended).

It's a fair point. I just had a look at the website & it's £15 per adult to visit the Minster & tower, a tenner for just the Minster. There's a list of services on there as well though so I suppose if you say you're there for one of them you get in. I'll have to try that one time!! It says you get in free as well if you're a York resident so maybe that's how they cover that one.

I keep meaning to go there as have been in Durham a few times lately. I haven't been inside the Minster (York) in donkey's years but I think it's a fair few quid to get in. Whenever I walk past though it always looks busy. An add to the original thread; there's loads of boat trips you can do up & down the Ouse & I have a feeling some of them might do meals as you travel.

The Shambles is great to visit especially if you've not been to York before. If they like ancient history the University Archaeology Department, itself a centuries old building, sometimes (I think) opens up for people to have a wander round. There's loads of old places like the Merchant Adventurer's Hall that are great if you're into that sort of thing. As above the mainstream stuff is great although personally I thought Jorvik was a bit of an expensive let-down. The Dungeons are great though. Likewise the Minster, but it's one off the few churches anywhere to charge for admission. If they get the weather, the city walls walk is nice. Restaurant wise, the Royal York (right next to the station) is a bit of an old-fashioned Miss Marple sort of place. There's the Yorkshire Wheel next to it although that might be out of service at the moment...I'd have to check that. You can find pretty much any type of place though but I'd book in advance wherever you choose as it can get spectacularly busy at times (especially during race meetings). Agree also that there are lots of top class pubs & the York brewery ales are excellent &widely available (including the particularly well named Terrier Ale). I go to York regularly for work & will be there a couple of times later this week. I don't often eat out there but if there's anywhere you want me to walk past or have a look at to see if it looks ok give me a shout.

Sol Campbell has been at it as well. I agree there probably is institutional racism in football but he's missing the even bigger discrimination that there is against arrogant eejits. http://fusion.net/story/111366/but-i-am-sol-campbell/ (To further emphasise the point; http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/mar/01/sol-campbell-may-stand-tory-mp-malcolm-rifkind-seat)

Thanks for the reply; really interesting reading. I love the'coffin corner' bit; the next time my terrified of flying wife is clinging on to my hand in a cold sweat I might just mention it in passing

That looks like a fairly bog standard rule to be fair & I'd expect all the major parties will have something similar. Given the SNP are anticipating a significantly increased Parliamentary group then they'll want a framework for managing internal discipline. Of greater interest is how you enforce it. It was known as Democratic Centralism in the old USSR

I'm a fan definitely. The distillery tour is good as well & interesting to compare with the older places.

I've already bribed my son to drive me around as well, so thanks for the top tip

Arran whiskies are nice. I'm also a big fan of Ardbeg (making my first ever trip to Islay in the summer & looking forward to the distillery tour). If you want to find out if you like peaty whiskies, that's the way to do it.

TM; really interesting reading this. If you have time I have a question about a pilot's approach & attitude to turbulence. I've been on a few flights, especially over the Pyrenees where the captain has advised that there was clear air turbulence & it might be bumpy. I know that it isn't going to bring the plane down but do you have official or unofficial thresholds around avoiding it? Would you ever ask for anything (increased altitude/different route for example) for the comfort of passengers or do you just take a view that you're going to get bounced around a bit & go straight into it? On a more facetious note, when are they going to do something about the flight deck public address systems? I can hear perfectly well when they are trying to flog me the latest must have from Christian Dior but can never hear the really interesting stuff about the flight.

In polemical terms, Zinn portrayed the conflict as a choice between types of slavery; bonded or wage. The rapid industrialisation in the North required a radical new economic model into which slavery didn't fit. The economic model of the South was not one that would tend to deliver growth at the scale that was happening in the North. The race issue though was clearly a potent one & Lincoln I think probably quite successfully was able to wrap up a mix of defending the union, fighting injustice & patriotic fervour to promote the conflict. I recall reading that there were attempts from workers leaders in the North to stop anti-slavery petitions coming to Congress on the grounds that they were masking the true issues of 'oppression'. Suffice to say you are entirely right that it's nonsense to portray it as a straightforward crusade to liberate slaves.

Although the primary narrative of the book predates the Civil War, he always uses the language of the 'war between the states' embedding it (in my mind anyway) as a morally neutral conflict. He makes no political points about it but I imagine clearly recognises that point, including using a literary device of 20th century hindsight. It's a while since I ever studied the US Civil War so I'm not going to claim expertise here but I was always drawn to Howard Zinn's perspective of it as a critical component of America's conversion process to Capitalism.

I recently read The Known World by Edward P. Jones. Central to the book is the issue of black slave owners, but as a work of fiction it's probably the best handling of the broad issues of US slavery that I've read.

Yes I think you're right to be fair about the big things & maybe the little things were always half right half wrong. Mind you in our last two games we've had a ref/lino combination both awarding a goal then changing their minds after player protests & a ref sending the wrong guy off, reinstating him & sending someone else off.

I don't know if it's just the fact everything gets analysed to death these days but the standard of reffing seems to get worse all the time. It seems like every game there's some complete howler that everyone in the ground can see was wrong. It's not just the big stuff either but giving throw-ins the wrong way, corner for a goal-kick/vice-versa, sending players back to take a throw-in then ignoring when they bomb 5 yards forward from where they started. They are supposed to be fitter & better trained but I'd swear blind, rose-tinted glasses & all that when it was "Bill Bloggs is a postman from Bognor Regis" it was never this bad.

The offence would be that of stopping the goalie releasing the ball from his hands, which I don't think he was doing. There's no 'back 10 yards' rule or anything & no rule that says if the ball hits a player within x yards it's an obstruction offence so I can't see how that's not a goal. Think the ref just bottled it & thought it looked like it should be disallowed so he did.

It's a millenia-old campaign to keep t'Lankies out & preserve our pubs. They'll have had no trouble finding middle-aged couples that have never lived much further away than the next street.

Apologies, I probably didn't word my reply too clearly. It's not the current situation I think triggers TUPE, but this bit... I interpreted that as a move from one company to another. TUPE applies indefinitely, including on some occasions where an employer believes they have harmonised. That means the statutory redundancy starting point could go back a long way, & the 2-year Constructive Dismissal issue wouldn't apply. If I read that wrong, ignore me. As you'll know from being a union rep most of them have in-house legal people & will cover your legal costs if they think you have a strong case so one way or another you should find solid advice. Good luck.