The 8 Ps, as they say in the Army (I'm told).

Proper Preparation Plus Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

The problem (among the problems...) was some Brexiters wanted the Norway option, others were 'hell no, that's a European thing, we're going to be totally different - and quit Euratom while we're at it'. No comment on the skills and all.

They're in the EEA. Which a lot of us (Brexiters and Remainers alike) thought would be what the UK would go for if Brexit won.

And then May said no, we're leaving everything...

It might reduce turnout, if people thought it was a nice opportunity for a night or two away, kids off school, off work, etc.

With polling stations open 7-10pm, rarely needing more than 5 min in them, usually close to home, and if you prefer there's postal votes, and proxy votes if necessary, there's not really a need.

My friend who is having a party tonight has just put out red bunting, so by 10pm I would guess that an amount of red wine will have been drunk and there will be cheers, yes.

They don't do much in the way of checking, apparently.

I've used them once and the guys were fine, but my brother who's a plumber says only use them for young guys who are getting established - anyone else, there's a reason that word of mouth isn't keeping them employed. He's never advertised at all since qualifying, beyond having a van with a name and phone number on it.

Thing is, it works remarkably well.

Since 1998, only 92 of the 800 or so seats are reserved for hereditary peers, so they stand and get voted for by various groups of the other Lords. Which means they get the hereditary Lords who happen to be interested in politics and experts in something.

The rest are mostly experts in their field who get appointed for life, or ex-Ministers, again who are experts in their areas and experienced in politics. There's an element of the Government picking people each year who they think will be supportive, but the turnover is slow, so it's hardly US Supreme Court levels of stacking.

These people do all the in-depth analysis of potential legislation and have committees on all subject areas, and do all the work you'd hope some politicians would be doing in the background.

There's some oddities - 16 Church of England bishops, for example, but given the CofE are benign types who preach giving to the poor, apart from sexual issues they're not really a problem. Then there's the young blonde rumoured to be a child of Boris Johnson, but I'm not sure she ever attends, so it doesn't really matter.

Because they never need to worry about re-election, they can focus just on the issues, which is a huge strength. People are loath to tinker with it in case it made things much worse!

It's a word that can be used insultingly, eg "Don't be so feeble!" which usually means being a wuss or pathetic or not trying, rather than the literal meaning.

But in itself I wouldn't say it's insulting (being pretty physically feeble myself).

I've received probably a parcel a week for the last few years from them. One has gone missing in all that time - the sender sent a new item, no problem.

The contract with Evri is with the sender, not the buyer. So chase the sender if your item doesn't arrive.

Chuck it in the sea as a protest? Warn the driver and police? someone's trying to run them off the road? No idea, but figured it's the general principle.

A couple steaks? They're vacuum sealed so will last a while. And a couple cakes and boxes of biscuits.

Stock up on pasta, cheese, nuts, jam, fancy sauces in jars, anything not needing to go in the fridge or freezer.

Was a tenner (divided between teacher and a couple TAs) suggested when mine were in primary a couple years ago, but the organiser was happy to accept anything or just a signature in a card. It varied by year and by TA how much got given!

Still worked way better than teachers drowning under 15 bouquets and a trolley of wine or chocs! Because they actually like cash (or local supermarket voucher) plus a few heartfelt cards from individual kids or parents.

Isn't there more than one person in the car or van to confirm the driver isn't doing anything dodgy?

Also I'm not sure if Dad was paying anything for it! In which case it's just called theft, if anyone wanted to make a big deal of an annual loss of about £25 in today's money. Though it's pretty much expected that scientists nick boxes of gloves to use for DIY at home, people acquire stationery, etc.

The official black stubby pencils are pretty tough to rub out, but you can use a pen if you're concerned.

Fraud is stopped by chain of custody - you put your vote in a locked box, the box is watched by at least 3 people all day and during its trip to the local leisure centre, it's opened in front of a dozen people and all the votes are counted in front of all the candidates, a few dozen tellers and probably a TV crew.

I'll watch a bit at a friend's party, then snooze on the sofa until about 2:30 or 3am when it gets interesting.

The Portillo Moment (I watched that live) is still one of my favourites TV moments ever, just ahead of David Attenborough with the stuffed leopard finding out the chimpanzee for 'wtf is that???'

Don't want to miss all the schadenfreude. I have friends online who will be watching and making snarky comments, so it's a virtual party.

Back before taking vitamins was mainstream and they weren't available in shops other than Holland and Barrett (and probably unaffordable), my dad sourced vitamin C in 5kg jars from a mate in a research lab. He'd call up the guy and then meet near the back door in a dodgy London alleyway, and get the large brown glass jar handed over in a plastic bag...

Now they say megadoses of vit C don't actually protect you from all the colds and viruses, but bless dad for trying.

Sussex may not be in the Russell Group but it's an excellent university that doesn't feel it needs to pay to be in a special club. Housing costs in Brighton/Falmer vs Leeds may affect the cost.

I'd look up how the two courses and their employability compare.

There's precedents. I believe in the case where a cock and balls was drawn neatly within the box for a particular candidate, it was deemed a valid vote for that candidate.

Some shops really don't seem to realise they need to appeal to potential customers. Restaurants with no menu in the window, or with no prices, for example. Or that are only open at inconvenient times, like a card shop near me that was between 3 primary schools and the station, so loads of parents walking past at 9am.

Didn't open until 10, shut before 5.30, so no commuters walking straight past could ever use it.

Local cheese shop opened, and struggled because Covid kicked off again and spouse got ill and such. But they quicky realised people wanted to pop in after getting off the train from work, and grab something for dinner. So they have a £20 'cant be arsed to cook' deal, cheese, bread, some olives or something, and a bottle of wine, and they stay open until 8pm on Wednesdays to Fridays, not opening on Monday until 3pm. Immediately doubled their trade.

And have a sandwich of the day for people to buy to take to work, and then got a coffee machine. They're thriving, which is lovely.

Whatever it is, they got me over the last few weeks. I had assumed mosquitos or possibly bedbugs but seems to be a hay fever or dust allergy reaction - since taking fexofenadine it's gone away.

Are you in the US or UK? And is your employer American?

Moving more people in. Couples or friends rather than singles in a one-bed. I know a few families where two families share a 2 or 3 bed flat.

Edited back to Discworld, bloody autocorrect!

Richard Lipwig, I think?

Possibly related to Moist von Lipwig of Discworld fame?