Preparedness for when

Nellie_the_Viking

Here, here, Mrs LW. We're hearing a lot of manifesto promises at the moment on both a national and local level from all parties - but if you really look at the detail, it's about ongoing problems dating back to the big crash and before - an ageing population with differing needs from those the NHS and welfare state was established to provide for - the extent of private providers to whom the NHS is tied by long-term unbreakable contracts - a generation of young people becoming adults who (as a broad generalisation) lack the skills needed by employers in the UK today because of long term curricular interference and ever changing goal posts in education - an infrastructure which cannot meet the demands of an increasing population - a huge budget deficit at a point when society as a whole wants more investment in public services not less.......no party is going to solve those problems, whatever they may say in the lead up to the elections. Whichever combination of parties ends up in coalition or confidence and supply arrangements (which may be a more likely outcome) they will have the unenviable task on their hands of trying to do the least bad job possible in the circumstances, trying to meet the huge and varied demands of our incredibly diverse population, and failing to please most of the population most of the time.

[Deleted User]

On investigation I find, experiment one of my 'glut' uses compendium, that you can actually PICKLE rhubarb. It looks like an american invention and is flavoured with many variants mustard seed, star anise, black peppercorns, cinnamon stick, ginger and is pickled in a sweetened vinegar syrup a bit like the bread and butter pickles I make with cucumbers and onions. I'm going to give it a go with the next batch of rhubarb He Who Knows brings me and will report back with findings!!!

thriftwizard

Have to say, I was surprised to find you can pickle pears, when there was a glut of them in the town centre; I don't like them fresh, but they are delicious after a few months in a sweet pickling solution! So I can imagine pickled rhubarb would be pretty good too; it's a shame I didn't pick up some very cheap as the market closed at lunchtime. There was plenty there, but we have a fair bit of our own just coming ready now, and I didn't think of pickling it...

[Deleted User]

You can pickle PLUMS too and CRAB APPLES, plums I've made and they are very nice, apples, on the list for this autumn!

Here's a question for all of you except MAR who will go green, but can play if she knows the answer! Does anyone know how traditional Scots Kale was cooked? It's described as being uniquitous as everyone ate it every day but recipes I cannot find! I've found reference to Kale Pottage but wondered if anyone actually has a family recipe they'd be prepared to share?

daz378

well Said mrs L whoever you vote for .... you get the government. but a government as to operate as part of a global economy .....where its all neo con or right ..... France as gone quite far to the left ...see london house price rises as the millionaires jump the channel (part of the rise) im labour but i understand theres no bottomless pit ..... i just wish those morally entitled to benefits got it and not those trying it on...be nice if the multinationals paid more tax also......anyway im out tonight for a few .... but on tomorrow at 2.30pm so better not have too many.......enjoy your weekend ya all

Frugalsod

mardatha wrote: »

The biggest danger to us in this country now is not lack of drinking water or food - it's our own government. And we silly sods have the vote so we put them there. Anybody who votes tory seriously needs their head looked.
Vote for food banks!
Vote for sanctions!
Vote for zero hours contracts!
Aye right. More like Vote for Revolution lol. It's all well and good talking of growing your own food and being self sufficient in veg etc - but what if you live in a multi story flat in a huge city in England? You're stuffed. No chance at all and at the mercy of TPTB.
Did I get out of bed on the wrong side this morning? lol

Faultless. Absolutely nothing to criticise there. Personally I think that many turkeys are voting for Christmas. Unless you are a first time buyer.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/04/first-time-buyers-need-to-earn-77000-a-year-to-live-in-london

Then you are not earning enough to vote Tory. How many youngsters do you know earning that sort of money? Excluding premiership footballers. Even a newly fully qualified accountant around here does not earn enough to buy a place in this district. After a few promotions maybe, but that is for a starter home! Near me two bed flats are on sale for £600 000 and I am not even in a big city. Even an MP would struggle to buy one as a first time buyer. So unless you are a serious earner and I mean in the top few percent of all earners then you should need a reality check. Housing is one big Ponzi scheme looking for a bigger fool to be able to cash out.

thriftwizard

Frugalsod wrote: »

Faultless. Absolutely nothing to criticise there. Personally I think that many turkeys are voting for Christmas. Unless you are a first time buyer.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/04/first-time-buyers-need-to-earn-77000-a-year-to-live-in-london

Then you are not earning enough to vote Tory. How many youngsters do you know earning that sort of money? Excluding premiership footballers. Even a newly fully qualified accountant around here does not earn enough to buy a place in this district. After a few promotions maybe, but that is for a starter home! Near me two bed flats are on sale for £600 000 and I am not even in a big city. Even an MP would struggle to buy one as a first time buyer. So unless you are a serious earner and I mean in the top few percent of all earners then you should need a reality check. Housing is one big Ponzi scheme looking for a bigger fool to be able to cash out.

Hear hear! :beer: And as for student loans... pass the pitchforks! I now have DS3 home from France and lining himself up to take on another year's loans to do an MA. He's an academic, studying an academic subject (linguistics & the development of early language) not Surf Studies or a similarly-non-demanding "discipline". He owes as much already as our mortgage was when we bought our first house, and it's only going to get worse as he's headed for the bright lights of Academia & he'll need to do post-grad research after the MA. He'll end up earning enough to afford a small broom cupboard on top of repaying his loans (or live at home for ever) and yet he'll be going out canvassing for the dratted Tories later on unless I lock him in his room.

Frugalsod

I think that the system we had before was so much better, free tuition and grants, and collect it back via taxes. if they do not earn enough it saves the costs of running a bureaucracy to collect the sums, and we all benefit from a doctor not being in debt and having to fiddle the system to make ends meet. It also transfers the risks to the person when they are probably the least qualified to know what degrees are needed. If it means fewer graduates then so be it.

GreyQueen

Lock him in, thriftwizard!

My late Grandma (mum's foster parent) always voted Conservative. Gawd knows why she wanted to preserve the status quo as an impoverished farm labourer's wife in a tied house, but she did so. Even as a young girl, Mum couldn't see the sense in that.

I think the thing to remember about politicians (apart from the bit about them lying if their lips are moving) is that just because you have aspirations to be one of their kind of people, doesn't mean that you are wanted, needed or will ever be accepted into the elite social classes. Or that they ever will miss any opportunity to do you and yours down. Class warfare is definately being perpetrated from the top downwards.

Strangely enough, we are coming towards the end of yet another general election campaign with no sign of a Tory campaigning in Shoebox Towers. Gosh, it's almost as if they said to themselves Oh, that's a block of council flats in a very deprived ward, not going to get any votes from there, might as well not bother.

A couple of days before the princess was born, my neighbours had their little girl. He was laid-off before Xmas and can't find anything other than jobs at £6.50 per hour (minimum wage). He can't afford to work at the minimum wage, because they'd have less money than they get on income support, housing benefit and council tax reduction, and that's little enough. To break even, he needs about £9 per hour.

That kind of calculation is the reality for millions of our fellow citizens, and that wee baby's life chances are being blighted by hard economics. And I can't work up any enthusiasm for cooing over the royal infant when ordinary people's children are going to be having such a tough time.:(

mardatha

Here here GQ, absolutely! Agree with every word.
MrsL, my granny used to put the green stuff (shudder) in soup, mainly broth. In a book I have on the old Scots diet, it says it was used with barley in broth. It was sometimes added to oatmeal (oh bleugh BLEUGH) and it was eaten on its own cooked with butter and/or milk, often in place of cabbage.