john999boy

Following on from my post 2 above, it looks like Homebase have managed to get it right this time.

Sanity prevails. From The Times last Thursday. A statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University will not fall after a change in government policy to protect contested monuments prompted a U-turn by officials at Oriel College. The decision to keep the statue of the Victorian mining magnate and empire-builder on the college’s façade came despite the decision by an independent commission today to back the college authorities’ previously stated wish to remove it. The governing body said the volte-face was down to “regulatory and financial challenges” and the government’s recently introduced “retain and explain” policy, which will be backed by legislation and says that statues may be removed in only the most exceptional circumstances. The decision was welcomed yesterday by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary. However, Rhodes Must Fall protesters, who have led calls for the statue’s removal, accused the college of choosing to “glorify genocide and imperialism” and vowed to continue the fight. Shaista Aziz, a Labour councillor in Oxford who was a member of the commission that advised the college, said she was “disappointed” that it had “failed to listen”. Oriel indicated that its decision was final and pragmatic, though it reaffirmed its ideological preference for the statue’s removal. It pledged to implement other recommendations from the commission, aiming to provide contextual information on Rhodes and increase diversity at the college. The decision was announced after the publication of a report from the independent commission, which was convened at Oriel’s behest last summer after the governing body expressed its wish to remove the statue and a plaque to Rhodes. Rhodes Must Fall protesters had been calling for the removal of the statue for several years because of the activities of Rhodes, a college benefactor, as an imperialist in Africa and his views on race. In a ten-month inquiry the commission received evidence from experts and reviewed more than a thousand written contributions from students, alumni and the public. The report revealed that most submissions favoured keeping the statue. The commission nevertheless supported the college’s original wish for removal, saying it was the position of the majority of commission members. However, it noted that any application for planning permission to remove the memorials was likely to face not only considerable costs but also substantial challenges in the planning process. This was because the government’s policy in relation to historic statues and sites that had become contested was to “retain and explain” them. The policy, announced in January, renders any attempt to remove the statue likely to be blocked after incurring considerable costs. The government has made clear its opposition to the removal of statues of controversial figures, which Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, has described as being at risk from “woke worthies” and “town hall militants”. It is understood that the new policy was a factor in the college’s decision-making. The college said: “In light of the considerable obstacles to removal, Oriel’s governing body has decided not to begin the legal process for relocation of the memorials. Instead, it is determined to focus its time and resources on delivering the report’s recommendations around the contextualisation of the college’s relationship with Rhodes, as well as improving educational equality, diversity and inclusion.” These measures include creating the office of tutor for equality, diversity and inclusion, the holder of which will be a fellow and trustee of the college, initiatives to boost ethnic-minority student recruitment and fundraising for scholarships to help those from southern Africa. In addition the college will “undertake to contextualise the Rhodes legacy and memorials, including both physical elements at the site and virtual resources”. Lord Mendoza, provost of Oriel College, said: “It has been a careful, finely balanced debate and we are fully aware of the impact our decision is likely to have in the UK and further afield. We understand this nuanced conclusion will be disappointing to some, but we are now focused on practical actions aimed at improving outreach and the experience of [ethnic minority] students.” The decision was criticised by Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford, which said the statue offered “a clear public reflection of who the University of Oxford was designed to serve and who it was designed to exploit”. It went on: “By stalling the decision process and then refusing to remove it, Oriel College has chosen to reinscribe that violent colonial vision on to our community. We will continue to fight for the fall of this statue and everything it represents.” Williamson tweeted: “Sensible and balanced decision not to remove the Rhodes statue from Oriel College, Oxford — because we should learn from our past, rather than censoring history, and continue focusing on reducing inequality.” Dr Samir Shah, vice-chairman of the History Matters Project at the right-of-centre think tank Policy Exchange, said: “The college allowed many voices to be heard. It is especially notable that most people consulted opted for a retain-and-explain approach. “However, the most important thing is that Oriel’s governing body took its responsibility to the college’s present and future seriously . . . Oriel has rightly decided not to spend time on a fruitless effort to change the past, but to plough resources into trying to change the future.”

I had an email this evening from Homebase which had this subject title:- Made doubly worse by what the footer said!

I wonder if someone has hacked @e-Roottoot's account as they've inserted a profile pic that could just have easily come out of a John Lewis brochure!

I knew there'd be a simple explanation!

Watching the 6 o'clock news on the BBC tonight and Amol Rajan is being interviewed by George Alagiah (live) and is sporting a flashy gold watch. He makes sure on multiple occasions that the camera can see it but unfortunately it doesn't have the same effect when the time is about 6 hours wrong!

I've left it in Gen Auto Chat though as it could potentially have happened on any model of car.

You could of course advertise it in the Briskoda Classifieds too.

True. However it's always best practice to try and raise the bar. I prefer having the highest common multiple and not the lowest common denominator.

Contrary to what appears above, Briskoda is not running out of full stops!

Re the app, why not just login in as her as I believe there can only be one account?

Thanks to @RomanB for being on the ball in spotting the latest files and also to @MartiniB who has linked where we normally have all the download options. The latest ones are always pinned and updated when new links become available.

Actually, I don't understand what you mean? Are you saying that the survey operated on behalf of the ONS is a scam?

The blood tests will always show a better what have/had/which reflection though.

Unfortunately it doesn't appear to stay that colour for long! It must be all the off roading and green laning that those cars do?

The system of testing is changing. The suitably qualified testers are having their contracts changed. Some will no doubt re-sign up to (presumably) 'lesser' contracts but it is being done to enable nurses etc to change their role to actually administer more jabs. The upshot is that a new self administered blood test has been introduced. A letter was received informing about this change and the first session has now been done. It took a third attempt to get enough blood but practice makes perfect and I'm now suitably genned up for the next time plus the survey has been extended until April 2022.

@mr44 It is a good idea to update your car profile as there will be different criteria.

CL10FKU on a Clio. Apt suffix?

Looks like the military know how to make you feel like a valued person.

What are the conditions for receiving the incentive in Croatia?

Our search function? It looks okay to me.

I'm a little disappointed to see the way this thread is progressing and would remind people that their length of membership is irrelevant to the quality of their posts! What matters most is the respect being shown to fellow contributors. If that lowers then further action may need to be taken.

Showing as not insured too.

But wouldn't the DRL's still be on?

Not too sure about the MkIV but previous cars allowed an extra led on/off menu item to be programmed with VCDS.