Back in the 70s the Post Office refused to hire my mate's brother because he was a member of the communist party

Of course you are not alone with complaining about Royal Mail, downunder we also complain about Australia Post.
E.G. I have just received 2 parcels from the UK (Kernow and YouChoos) both of which at 8am this morning the tracking system of both RM and AP were telling me were still in the UK awaiting a flight to Aus. They must have the fastest planes available to get them from London to my front door in 4hrs.
As for being refused a job because of being a communist, think about it, we were in the midst of the cold war. No way was anyone going to get a job in an organisation which could involve touching national secrets.

Quote from: Graham on December 01, 2025, 02:34:31 AMAs for being refused a job because of being a communist, think about it, we were in the midst of the cold war. No way was anyone going to get a job in an organisation which could involve touching national secrets.

But the UK suffered more spies than it wanted in the Cold War, mainly from Cambridge Uni

During the aforementioned young Bealman postie job, I have distinct memories of this huge Afghan dog attacking me one dark snowy morning and latching solidly onto my arm.

I reckon it was a recruit 

Quote from: Newportnobby on December 01, 2025, 09:25:36 AM

Quote from: Graham on December 01, 2025, 02:34:31 AMAs for being refused a job because of being a communist, think about it, we were in the midst of the cold war. No way was anyone going to get a job in an organisation which could involve touching national secrets.

But the UK suffered more spies than it wanted in the Cold War, mainly from Cambridge Uni

Totally agree.

B&M in Eastbourne this morning:

It's a joke, really. The world is mad.

When you think about it, certain items seem to be available virtually all year round.
In our Tesco store hot cross buns are, and mince pies ain't just for Chrimble

Quote from: Newportnobby on December 05, 2025, 10:24:54 AMWhen you think about it, certain items seem to be available virtually all year round.
In our Tesco store hot cross buns are, and mince pies ain't just for Chrimble

The bakery in our local Sainsbos is churning out Hot Cross Buns.

It doesn't anger me so much as baffle me.

Quote from: Newportnobby on December 01, 2025, 09:25:36 AM

Quote from: Graham on December 01, 2025, 02:34:31 AMAs for being refused a job because of being a communist, think about it, we were in the midst of the cold war. No way was anyone going to get a job in an organisation which could involve touching national secrets.

But the UK suffered more spies than it wanted in the Cold War, mainly from Cambridge Uni

If you look at the full history there were many more than that, about 50 labour MPs of the 1940s to 80s  were later found to have been soviet spies.
Most of CNDs leaders, were members of the uk communist party which was heavily sponsored by the soviet union.

We all know the world has gone mad but it's now going bonkers.

I am installing Magnorail on my layout and have been buying 2mm x 2mm magnets from Ebay to install in my cars as they are better than those supplied.

Earlier I received an email from Ebay saying there was a product recall on them and all listings had been cancelled on Ebay. A quick read of the Government directive and a chat with the supplier I've used numerous times confirms we've gone mad.

Apparently they are dangerous if you eat them (no s++t Sherlock) so are banned. The supplier now has to list them as fasteners so is having to redo all his listings (as are other suppliers). Evidently if it says magnet you will eat it but if it says fastener you won't.

I suppose worse case would be little children scoffing one, but as far as adults go I'm all for Darwinism.
It's not something I'd do as I have metal staples in my ribs and an electric gizmo behind my heart. Otherwise I might be tempted if they were in a white wine sauce with some shallots

Quote from: thebrighton on December 10, 2025, 05:48:51 PMEvidently if it says magnet you will eat it but if it says fastener you won't.

It's about who products will be sold to (or is supposed to be). There are lots of other examples. There's a difference for example between a toy train and a scale model, so arguably a lot of N gauge products ought to be covered by toy train rules 

Children and tiny magnets is a thing they care a lot about as there have been multiple deaths and quite a few more major surgeries involved (and a few on pets too)

Fasteners themselves have a whole pile of rules so if your fastener can for example come apart exposing the magnet then that's covered under different rules (which would for example affect some of the magnetic couplers which should have warnings and only be sold to adults). Just making it a "fastener" is basically playing the poor enforcement of safety regs in the UK.

There are lots of far more fun and barmy ones - for example if you solder a decoder into a model using leaded solder and sell it on ebay you are technically committing an offence !

Not sure the Russian spy thing has changed much - we are still arresting and sentencing political figures for taking Russian money (Nathan Gill for example)

Another Royal Mail moan I'm afraid. No mail, parcels etc received all week even though I've had notifications that there will be 3 deliveries made. The one below was posted on Monday on Tracked 48 so they 'aim' to deliver by Wednesday. On Tuesday it arrived at the Swindon sorting centre around 20 miles away so it looked hopeful. Then it sits in Swindon for 2 days and today they've sent it off to Greenford which is 85 miles away! It may magically arrive tomorrow 120 hours afterwards rather than the 'aim' of 48 I suppose:



It's supposed to go from A to D. It looked good when it was at B but why on earth is it now at C?