Things I Hate - A Comedic Rantesse

[Paul Evans]

Cheapo electrical fittings.

sell this shite with a clear conscience?

Argh!!! China Export CE marked of coarse?

[Chrisch]

..
How do people (I'm looking at you, CPC) sell this shite with a clear conscience?

It is the cornerstone of modern consumerism. Cheap shit that you will replace soon after purchase. Did you go back and get a refund? Did you leave a bad rep on google/trustpilot etc? Or did you bin it? If you binned it then it has done its job and taken money from you. If you took it back you are in a tiny minority.

Some time back we - the public - decided we wanted all sorts of nonsense and we wanted it cheap. When it became inexpensive that was not enough - it had to be cheap. Cheap enough for everyone to have one. Then we saw that we could get cheaper still by making it in China and paying children a bowl of rice a week to work in the factory. Now we can have anything, everything all the time and cheap. Such is the power of advertising and influencing. Teenagers become millionaires on YouTube working as "influencers" (whatever the fuck that is).

Truly we stand on the very edge of the collapse of our civilisation and of our ecosystem.

....and it is all the fault of some refugees in a rubber dinghy. (And middle class tossers that want USB outlets in a kitchen for some reason )

[MarkP]

Argh!!! China Export CE marked of coarse?

I never even looked for either CE mark.

Just in case anybody doesn't know, the European CE standard mark has the E a little further away from the C than the Chinese knock off. There's a nice comparison image here.

It is the cornerstone of modern consumerism. Cheap shit that you will replace soon after purchase. Did you go back and get a refund? Did you leave a bad rep on google/trustpilot etc? Or did you bin it? If you binned it then it has done its job and taken money from you. If you took it back you are in a tiny minority.

Yeah, I know. Trouble is that I bought it ages ago and only just got round to fitting it (well, trying to.)

The same can be said of, for instance, telco suppliers - get your broadband for tuppence but no service. That having been said, SLAs would make the whole thing prohibitively expensive for domestic consumers. I've just changed my domestic broadband supplier and am now being charged £22/month. I now have fibre to the modem and stupid speeds I'll never need.

Sure, I've lost BT Sport and the MotoGP on it, but MotoGP shot itselfs in the foot by having eleventy billion rounds this year and some stupid half points sprint race on the day before the main event. The money grubbing gits lost me before I decide to can BT. That decision was brought on by somebody I eventually managed to contact by phone claiming my broadband was OK and not understanding the meaning of the word "intermittent". I told him that I would cancel my BT contract and put the phone down on him as he was saying "No, wait. We ca..."

I have factored the possible poor service from the new provider into my thinking and can always use my mobile as a hotspot if needs be.

Ah, that feels better and it's not even Friday. (I have no idea why I'm so ranty - life is good.))

[Chrisch]

I never even looked for either CE mark.

Just in case anybody doesn't know, the European CE standard mark has the E a little further away from the C than the Chinese knock off.

Hey dude we like left the EU dontcha know? No commie CE mark from the EUSSR. We have our own fine upstanding British CA mark now. Bloody foreign types with their commie standards. (Its is an urban myth - BTW - that the CA mark is required for ladies' underwear to ensure they put their trollies on the correct way and not back to front...)

The same can be said of, for instance, telco suppliers - get your broadband for tuppence but no service. That having been said, SLAs would make the whole thing prohibitively expensive for domestic consumers. I've just changed my domestic broadband supplier and am now being charged £22/month. I now have fibre to the modem and stupid speeds I'll never need.

If only we had a decent PM that came up with a cracking idea like free broadband for everyone....

[dwhitlow]

If only we had a decent PM that came up with a cracking idea like free broadband for everyone....

What a disaster that would have been. He'd also have nationalised energy, rail, and buses, and invested in NHS!

What a disaster that would have been! Think of the shareholders and those siphoning money to offshore tax havens. They need to see their hoard getting bigger!

[jturner]

Ah, that feels better and it's not even Friday. (I have no idea why I'm so ranty - life is good.))

Well, if you'd like something else to keep you positive, I hear that based on current polling, Rees-Smugg will lose his seat as an MP in the next general election - a seat that's been Tory for ages. Fingers crossed it stays that way as that would be a sight worth seeing. Sadly, that doesn't mean he'll be dragged out of the room by the hair then thrown bodily down the steps of the town hall, but you can't have everything in life.

[divechick]

Sadly, that doesn't mean he'll be dragged out of the room by the hair then thrown bodily down the steps of the town hall, but you can't have everything in life.

Isn't it better to have some things that make you feel better when you dream about them and how life could improve in the future?

[jamesp]

Well, if you'd like something else to keep you positive, I hear that based on current polling, Rees-Smugg will lose his seat as an MP in the next general election - a seat that's been Tory for ages. Fingers crossed it stays that way as that would be a sight worth seeing. Sadly, that doesn't mean he'll be dragged out of the room by the hair then thrown bodily down the steps of the town hall, but you can't have everything in life.

I remember watching the `97 results come in, following day everyone I spoke to seemed to be "I was watching until xyz lost his seat".
The majority seemed to be deeply engrossed until the very small hours, with a great deal of schadenfreude towards the losing members.

I would consider it likely to be worse this next time, except I think many have given up caring anymore.

[steelemonkey]

I remember watching the `97 results come in, following day everyone I spoke to seemed to be "I was watching until xyz lost his seat".
The majority seemed to be deeply engrossed until the very small hours, with a great deal of schadenfreude towards the losing members.

I would consider it likely to be worse this next time, except I think many have given up caring anymore.

I gave up caring years ago. I never vote, the government always get in.

[notdeadyet]

Sadly, that doesn't mean he'll be dragged out of the room by the hair then thrown bodily down the steps of the town hall, but you can't have everything in life.

I do think there should be some kind of hard loss for politicians to focus their attention on doing a good job. At the minute it's do what ever benefits you for five years and regardless of how you perform it's a ticket to a cushy consultancy role if you lose the next election. There are no consequences of cocking up and you have to go a hell of a long way to get fired. Even sexual assault and drug abuse aren't necessarily career enders. You can forget just being crap at your job as something worth being punished for.

Occasionally hanging, drawing and quartering one of the least performing doesn't seem unreasonable. It's been so long since there has been any kind of uprising that politicians have no doubt they can get away with whatever they like. At least in America the occasional insurrection is possible and clearly a lot of very complacent Washington elite shat themselves at the last one. Perhaps it is time we introduced the ""well armed militia" concept here to keep the bastards on their toes.