Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post

Diesel 11 said:
This is an intervention, Travis. No more weed for you.
Click to expand...
tenor.gif
 
LooseCannon said:
In the UK, you have a city councilor, sometimes a mayor, and an MP and MAYBE a MSP or something similar if you have a devolved parliament.
Click to expand...
We don't really. Local government structure in England (& the rest of the UK) is very complicated, but it certainly doesn't involve a "city councilor"; at least I don't think in the way you're imagining/describing it.
 
At my last dental appointment my dentist recommended that I start using an electric toothbrush. She told me that the prices can vary a lot with some top of the range products having functions such as flashing lights and connectivity to smartphones but that they all have the same basic functions. Who the hell needs flashing lights and smartphone connectivity on a toothbrush?
 
Black Wizard said:
At my last dental appointment my dentist recommended that I start using an electric toothbrush. She told me that the prices can vary a lot with some top of the range products having functions such as flashing lights and connectivity to smartphones but that they all have the same basic functions. Who the hell needs flashing lights and smartphone connectivity on a toothbrush?
Click to expand...
The boyfriend has one with flashing lights - I know that one of them indicates when it's fully charged (quite common on many devices) but he says the other one flashes when the brush is in use, to tell him he's pressing too hard.

The smartphone connectivity we're less sure of, but we think it probably hooks up to an app and maybe records how often you've brushed your teeth, and for how long. Might get you lower Denplan fees, possibly?
 
bearfan said:
Mayors here have really varying powers. Some mayors are pretty strong positions, but in quite a few places (and I think this is the majority) they have pretty limited powers. Where I live, for example, they cannot vote on issues before the council unless their is a tie (which is rare since the council has an odd number of seats) ... they are more of the town spokesman, preside over meetings, have some minor influence on the agenda, and have some minor authority of hiring people like town manager, fire chief, police chief, etc .. but those need to be approved by the council as well.
Click to expand...
LooseCannon said:
The UK has so little government compared to Canada or the US that this always makes me laugh.
Click to expand...
Maybe, and it's still a lot better than many parts of the world, but it's also not a route I'd rather go down. It's the mismatch between power/responsibility/budget, and the recent introduction of extra tiers seemingly for the specific purpose of undermining authorities of a particular political stance, that bother me. Directly elected mayors and directly elected police commissioners are a very recent addition, not a longstanding part of the system, and IMO have created figureheads with special powers for very specific purposes only, and access to money, but little responsibility for day to day service provision. The police commissioner role, in particular, has seen power and spending ability taken away from a highly knowledgeable public official and handed to a party political yes man. It's all sold as being extra democratic, but it's working the opposite way. Voting turnout for these additional elections is poor. Don't get me started on so-called Localism, which went down the route of giving grants and special consultation rights to self-declared community groups in preference to elected local councils (in areas which have those too).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top