Hilary

https://mastodon.me.uk/@regordane

Bad at shoes. I know a bit about #InfectiousDiseases. Occasional amateur #history and #politics. #Mazeldon #Jewish She/her

Location: London, Europe
Website: http://hilarycurtis.com/
MS fundraiser: https://www.themay50k.co.uk/fundraisers/hilarycurtis/the-may-50k

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Last Notes

2024-11-03 20:54:46

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I knew you probably knew that, but a lot of people don't. As in, they may have a gut feeling that it's wrong but not a way to explain why.
So yeah, I am happy to be nerdy about this.

2024-11-03 20:42:37

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As you probably know, government should NOT be run like a business. That's not how it works.
Governments control the currency, can print money. While doing so has consequences and isn't always wise, this means that governments are nothing like businesses or households.

2024-10-26 13:21:18

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A lot is administration, but management can achieve real health and survival benefits. Eg, it was clinicians and public health experts who worked out that concentrating stroke, cardiac, and major trauma at designated centres in London (rather than every A&E) would lead to better outcomes. But it was managers who ran bidding/site selection, re-configured buildings and staff, negotiated with ambulance services to get patients to the right place, etc etc

2024-10-11 08:26:43

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I agree about retail (my first job was in a newsagents) but it's not just that. Junior support roles have largely been eliminated by IT, but to the extent that unskilled bag-carrying and coffee-fetching is still required, that's often provided by exploiting a series of unpaid interns.

2024-10-11 06:12:54

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What is also needed is DECENT entry level jobs. Regular hours (full or part-time) and an expectation that one will develop skills through contact with co-workers (possibly also formal training), leading to opportunities for career progression. Not gig economy shit.

2024-10-06 06:17:19

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Yikes. Please don't EVER use Pepe the Frog memes. They've been thoroughly hijacked by extremists.

2024-09-14 20:58:54

I have two degrees in chemistry (the first was prize-winning).
When Theranos started, I thought, what am I missing here? Why are investors pouring money in, it can't possibly work. I wasn't wrong.
When covid happened, I thought, why are they saying this isn't airborne, have these people never done housework (dusting)? Of course it's airborne. I wasn't wrong.
Then, I didn't trust myself.
Now I do. Hydrogen as a fuel is bullshit. It's going nowhere. Forget about it.
https://mastodon.me.uk/@regordane/113136585133409795

2024-08-27 15:38:08

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It's just American for fizzy water

2024-08-26 19:36:36

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Not to mention that it's really quite expensive

2024-08-26 19:33:37

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Yeah, that too

2024-08-26 19:24:43

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When I use moisturiser, which I don't always, it's before bed. So that the nasty greasy feeling happens when I'm asleep anyway. In the morning, I wash it off.
When it's unavoidable (summer hiking holiday in the mountains) I then wear sun-block for the day and wash it off by evening. But most of the year round I avoid that with hats and/or staying in the shade in the middle of the day. Because sun-block feels so nasty.

2024-08-26 18:49:37

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Like I care, or even know what that means. So much pseudo-science in cosmetics, can't be bothered with it.
A hat is good against the sun, and keeping in the shade between 11 and 3.

2024-08-26 18:45:03

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My recommendation is, don't. Or not unless you like it. (Unlike sun-block) moisturiser has no long term benefits. In the short term, it may make your skin feel smoother and softer, so if you think that's worth it, use it.
I am in my sixties. I didn't use moisturiser at all until about my forties. Now, I do most nights but certainly not always. I look much younger than I am.

2024-08-17 20:39:24

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This is normal. Preparing the veg takes some time. Recipes routinely get this wrong - often because they're written by chefs based on an assumption that ingredients are already prepared, but even when not, by professional cooks who can do it much quicker than you or I.
This is why preparing the veg takes longer than the recipe says. I've yet to find an explanation for how quickly they claim to be able to fry onions. That's just fiction.

2024-08-07 06:09:46

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Regardless of how it's organised (and I agree rolling is better), two years is a staggeringly short time to acquire expertise in what ought to be a complex and demanding role.
Currently MPs and peers mostly learn from longer-serving colleagues and party whips. Plus many have experience from local government.
Sortition would obviously undermine the power of parties. That would be a good thing in many respects, but I don't believe it outweighs the disadvantages.

2024-08-06 21:14:56

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Parliamentary staff are excellent (according to everything I've heard or encountered). There aren't anywhere near enough of them to train an entire house every two years. And their expertise is in areas such as procedure, research and protocol. Not actual politics, which they observe but aren't allowed to do.

2024-08-06 20:21:07

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Creep is good for anything with (even remotely) sexual connotations.
The thing to remember about weird is that it means unusual out of the ordinary, strange or not mainstream.

2024-08-06 16:43:19

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I rather doubt that being an effective parliamentarian is that close to civil service training.
Frankly I think it's just plain daft to imagine that people who likely have no political experience and didn't even want the job (because sortition) would do it well with a two year term.
If we think the upper house has a serious constitutional purpose, its members should be professional, capable and committed, not conscripted. If not, abolish rather than reform.

2024-08-06 06:38:33

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Citizens' juries work well, I agree. They are also rarely used, for carefully selected issues, precisely because of the amount of time and cost involved in expert witness presentations and exploratory discussion.
To have any hope of scrutinising the executive, parliament needs to be a heck of a lot more nimble.
Oh, yeah, and "training"... who is going to set the curriculum and how?

2024-08-06 06:08:56

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I think it would be great purely for entertainment value. We'd find out who is rich, unemployable or mad enough to take two years out from their existing careers.
Also, while sortition is great for some purposes, it ignores a key issue, which is that REAL power lies with those who set the agenda. Inevitably in parliament that is largely (not entirely) the government. An untrained house, with sortition-induced churn every two years, would hand them a power grab.

2024-07-01 05:41:18

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Because of the high turnout, there will probably be an unusually large number of three-way ballots. Candidates who get more than 12.5% of the electorate (not vote) in the first round are eligible for the second.