I would like to share this link with you
https://open.substack.com/pub/beyondbloomsbury/p/katherine-mansfield-a-fairy-tale?r=1ja7mn&utm_medium=ios

The Netherlands has been steadily closing prisons for more than a decade as crime rates have fallen and sentencing policies have shifted. Since around 2009, the country has shut down at least 19 facilities - now more than 20 - because there simply weren’t enough inmates to keep them full. A mix of factors contributed to the decline, including lower crime rates, shorter prison sentences, alternative punishments, and a strong focus on rehabilitation and reintegration rather than long-term incarceration. The result is a rare situation in which a modern country has more prison capacity than prisoners, leading to closures, staff retraining, and even renting out unused cells to other nations on occasion.
A little more detail on those factors...
Effective Rehabilitation Programs: The Netherlands has focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment, leading to programs that help offenders reintegrate into society, reducing recidivism rates.
Alternative Sentencing: The use of alternatives to incarceration, such as community service, probation, and electronic monitoring, has become more common, allowing individuals to serve their sentences without being incarcerated.
Social Policies: Broader social policies aimed at addressing the root causes of crime, such as poverty and education, may also contribute to lower incarceration rates.

Most, if not all, mobile phone networks offer "Pay As You Go" SIM cards. They are not pay as you go as we used to know them, they are monthly contracts. Payment is required whether the SIM is used or not and credit cannot be carried forward. The only advantage over a standard contract is there is no ongoing committment.

There is one exception. EE offer a Pay As You Go SIM. It is not advertised on the website and I had to ask in an EE shop. The minimum initial payment is £10. The SIM needs to be used at least once every three months to keep the credit.

The charge rates are a rip-off: 20p per text and 40p per minute for calls, but if it is hardly ever used it is a lot cheaper than paying every month for something you don't need.

Of all the different National Lottery games Euromillions Hot Picks has become a bit of a favourite. A slightly better chance of a win than Lotto Hot Picks and better payouts when you win.
I don't want this to seem racist but Asian shopkeepers in independent shops really struggle with what I'm asking for. And I would rather give an independent shop my money than a supermarket. Having said that, it was a woman serving in Sainsbury's kiosk who advised me of the clearest way to ask for my ticket.
I buy a ticket that has one number on one line, and two numbers on another line.
This is how I ask for the ticket:
"Can you do a Euromillions hot picks? " pause. "Can I have two lines" pause "One number on the first line. Lucky dip" pause. "Two numbers on the second line. lucky dip. Thanks".
It's unbelievable the different ways of getting it wrong they manage to do.
1. two lines with one number on both lines
2. two lines with two numbers on both lines
3. one line with three numbers.
4. a ticket that looked correct as it had one number on line one, two numbers on line two. but the numbers were, 1 on line one and 1,2 on line two. Not entirely convinced he had tapped the lucky dip button. but I accepted them.
5. Same retailer the next time printed out line one, 1, line two, 2,3.
6. Quite often get given two tickets, one with one number, one with two numbers. That's fine for me and I often tell them to do two seperate tickets if it looks like they are struggling and there is a queue forming.
7. Best one so far in a shop in Beckenham high street. He had just printed a Euromillions ticket for me, so I knew the lotto machine was working, but when I asked for my Euromillons Hot Picks ticket he said, "that game doesn't work".
I never get angry at them as they are trying their best. I think not many play that game so they are not used to the process of producing the ticket.

My Dyson is falling apart. What handheld (not push along) vacuum cleaner would you recommend?

https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/

Just heard on the news that porch pirates are most active in November and December so if you're worried, please remember you can often choose to have your parcel delivered to a pickup point (shop, Post Office or locker) instead of to your home address.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rpy7envr5o

...This is an extract from a National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Army "Lieutenant General Corso" about sponsoring a Boy Scout Troop on his military installation.

Interviewer: "So, LTG Corso, what are you going to do with these young boys on their adventure holiday?"

LTG Corso: "We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting."

Interviewer: "Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?"

LTG Corso: "I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the range."

Interviewer: "Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?"

LTG Corso: "I don't see how, we will be teaching them proper range discipline before they even touch a firearm."

Interviewer: "But you're equipping them to become violent killers."

LTG Corso: "Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?"

?End of the interview

....even though it had not yet done a poo.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpzxnl7l9o

A PLANE IS ON ITS WAY TO TORONTO , WHEN A BLONDE IN ECONOMY CLASS GETS UP AND MOVES TO THE FIRST CLASS SECTION AND SITS DOWN.

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT WATCHES HER DO THIS AND ASKS TO SEE HER TICKET.

SHE THEN TELLS THE BLONDE THAT SHE PAID FOR ECONOMY CLASS AND THAT SHE WILL HAVE TO SIT IN THE BACK.

THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO TORONTO AND I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE."

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT GOES INTO THE COCKPIT AND TELLS THE PILOT AND THE CO-PILOT THAT THERE IS A BLONDE BIMBO SITTING IN FIRST CLASS, THAT BELONGS IN ECONOMY AND WON'T MOVE BACK TO HER SEAT.

THE CO-PILOT GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND TRIES TO EXPLAIN THAT BECAUSE SHE ONLY PAID FOR ECONOMY SHE WILL HAVE TO LEAVE AND RETURN TO HER SEAT.

THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO TORONTO AND I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE."

THE CO-PILOT TELLS THE PILOT THAT HE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE THE POLICE WAITING WHEN THEY LAND TO ARREST THIS BLONDE WOMAN WHO WON'T LISTEN TO REASON.

THE PILOT SAYS, "YOU SAY SHE IS A BLONDE? I'LL

HANDLE THIS, I'M MARRIED TO A BLONDE. I SPEAK BLONDE."

HE GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND WHISPERS IN HER EAR, AND SHE SAYS, "OH, I'M SORRY." AND GETS UP AND GOES BACK TO HER SEAT IN ECONOMY.

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT AND CO-PILOT ARE AMAZED AND ASKED HIM WHAT HE SAID TO MAKE HER MOVE WITHOUT ANY FUSS.

"I TOLD HER, 'FIRST CLASS ISN'T GOING TO TORONTO."

A cowboy, who just moved to Montana from Texas, walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Bud.

He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn.

When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.

The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy,

"You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it.

It would taste better if you bought one at a time."

The cowboy replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers.

One is in Arizona, the other is in Colorado.

When we all left our home in Texas, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together.

So I'm drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself."

The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.

The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way.

He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn.

One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs.

All the regulars take notice and fall silent.

When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my

condolences on your loss."

The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs.

"Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains.

"It's just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking."

“It hasn't affected my brothers though." 😁😁😁

Friday 7th November 2025 before Remembrance Sunday

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-67358681

*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOgIlCHNa0Y&list=RDhOgIlCHNa0Y&start_radio=1

... of a week or two ago, regarding the Traitor's Experience in Covent Garden, a celebrity journalist has taken part. Her report can be found here:
https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/did-traitors-live-experience-more-083520534.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpzynky88o.amp?fbclid=IwY2xjawN1bABleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBic1p2cjg4QjExQ0lnbGE4AR79zv-3Qby5wWEW014sg4PBdR5Y_cr1GBP-FDu4ralODkdlYq4UkdZlME0cHQ_aem_PMiO4ThQ6MqKssU4FwvPvA
I should think so too. But I bet that`s the energy supply companies paying to write off that debt. Pity it isn`t Shell, BP, Chevron ect because they are the ones making the most money.And they get grants and tax-consessions too. Extraction and refining companies rake a lot more in than Ovo and Octopus and E.on ect.

Or should I say In the church

Saw a snippet of this story on tv last night

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8vq5318dxo

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-global-warming-is-shrinking-earths-animals/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNzDiNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHr6jzB2IP74mSsLZ4pQrXmUk-9q_cesam8m4PH1Ecb0CGigj8ag4euj5HHt1_aem_H_O81fR5pFQZHmS0MiGfLg

... and leave with something else.
Back in June I was referred to my local hospital's Opthalmology unit because I had conjunctivitis which was causing blurred vision. It turned out I had a corneal ulcer, also known as Rosacea Kerititis. A course of stronger eye drops and ointment was prescribed which finished a month ago.
This week was my follow up appointment and as everything now looks and feels normal, I was expecting to just go through the motions of one of the team to have a quick look and confirm the all clear.
This time I was lucky enough to be seen by the clinical lead. Usually you see a member of the team. First she told me my eye had greatly improved, then she said I have a new condition.
It is called Lagophthalmos. I now have another 3 months of daily ointments and eye drops.

Share your experience.

https://www.scooploop.com/loops/movie-madness

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/strange-message-on-tv-screen

Scooploop was down this morning due to its certificate expiring. This has now been renewed for only three months, which does not look good. So if there are members you want to keep in contact with, if you haven't already done so after a previous outage, now would be a good time.

What was the first spreadsheet program? Those with letters after their name, please give lesser mortals a chance to shine! No googling of course!

Welcome @SusanHanworth

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/welcome-to-our-latest-member-susan-hansworth#comment_577292

Like many people across the country, I am quite enthralled with the BBC1 programme currently airing on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

What I didn't know, was that there is a version of the game you can join in with.

It's called The Traitors Live Experience and is to be found in a converted warehouse in London’s Covent Garden.

When you arrive, you check in at the front desk, then you are shown to a table in the bar area of the reception, to meet the other participants. There will be between 10 and 12 of you when you go through to play.

During your time at the bar table, you are given a tablet to put in your details. One of the questions is about the start of the game. You are asked if you would like to be a Traitor from the start. However, regardless of your answer to that question, you may be blackmailed into a Traitor position at any time after the start.

From the bar table we moved into a room with a round table where you are seated and remain in that position while various challenges take place. You can win gold or shields during the challenges.

When the Traitors meet in the turret, they remain seated with you all at the round table, however, Faithfuls have to don heavy blindfolds so we cannot see what they are doing. Of course, you have to hone your other senses, with me I was straining my ears to hear if there was any movement near me.

I heard movement to my left. My wife was on my left. I realised she had been nominated as a Traitor.

It was interesting how the game played out, but suffice to say that another man and I were the only Faithfuls left and through shear determination we outed the Traitors and won the kitty.

If you have a few hours to spare and fancy something different, you could do worse than play the game. You can book any number of people up to a full table, so groups up to 12 are welcome.

If you fancy a go, here are the details:

https://www.thetraitorslive.co.uk/

The Guinness World Records honours titles from the world's longest tongue to the most extensive collection of Spice Girls memorabilia, while the likes of Taylor Swift and even Sky News are also honoured.



Guinness World Records (GWR) is celebrating its 70th anniversary by highlighting unclaimed titles you might fancy going for...

• The most whoopee cushions sat on in one minute;

• The fastest time to blow a stamp 10 metres;

• The furthest distance bottle flip;

The most high-fives in 30 seconds;

• The fastest 400-metre sack race;

• And the fastest time to ascend the height of Everest by bicycle.

https://www.scooploop.com/loops/save-the-planet

An article in a local free magazine(surprisingly)....
" You don`t need to look far beyond your bank app to know there is a housing crisis. You may be spending some eye-watering proportion of your income on rent or mortgage repayments, or, if you`re lucky, you`re looking at your account swell with rent payments you`re collecting.
Homelessness is everywhere, and local authorities are buckling under the pressure of a statutory duty to house their people while their income is squeezed.
What is the proposed solution? "Build, baby, build!" The Labour government has undertaken to build 1.5 million homes over five years. As if the problem were amenable to one of those benign, O-Level market mechanisms of supply/demand.
"I mean," Alf Garnett might holler, "It stands to reason, innit?"
Well, it don`t Alf. Sorry!
One startling fact is that Britain has a massive housing surplus! At least we have a higher ratio of bedrooms to population than ever before. A housing shortage is not exactly our problem.
So why have the costs gone up so high and why so much homelessness? You might agree with Nick Bano " that the problem is the dismantling of post-war rent controls and council housing alongside the creation of `assured shorthold tenancies`, which together with housing benefit have ratcheted up rents and transferred wealth from the public purse to private landlords at jaw-dropping rates. (Housing benefit accounts for more than £23 billion a year- dwarfing the budget of most government departments.Or you might agree with Gary Stevenson that the problem can be attributed to our society`s accelerating inequality that transfers wealth from the many to the few who have nothing to spend it on (having already filled their bellies and wardrobes and more) besides buying assets - shares, gold, and housing, inflating their prices.
Either way, it`s clear that building more houses alone will not solve the problem. The regime that encourages landlordism means that more housing gives more opportunities to `rinse` renters and offers the rich more opportunities to invest for guaranteed returns. Who else benefits? The developers. All these powerful interests make their voices heard in the lugholes of power.
And thus, ladies and gentlemen, we out here in the suburbs are facing plans to plant incongruous, high-rise, high-density blocks on top of tube stations, in town centres, and on Green Belt, which threaten to alter forever the environs of our communal lives. It will, make no mistake, also alter the way we feel, and the way we interact with each other in our public places. The dislocation this represents is not measurable and not easily overcome.
What to do? People are mobilising. A meeting to discuss the North Finchley plans took place last night where more than double the number expected showed up (I estimate 100 people came) to protest this wanton despoliation of our communities. I know it`s a rear-guard action but, until the next election, resistance is the only means left to us to prevent the misguided abominations being enacted in our neighbourhoods. " author AM Poppy

A councillor in Scotland was reported to the police for saying in a meeting, "as someone who was born and bred here...."
Surely that is not in anyway offensive. No different from saying you were born overseas but moved to Scotland when I was 5 years old.

https://labourheartlands.com/born-and-bred-the-new-hate-crime/

If you are not a member of the IT loop, have a look at the post below, which has some advice from the Police, and some brilliant advice from @TonyL
.
https://www.scooploop.com/thread/how-can-i-prevent-my-mobile-phone-being-stolen

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm - named after Mr Ohm. What is the original name of the unit of electrical conductance?

For cat lovers & owners, for rescuers & lost n` found cats, for problem kitties & purrfect ones, for kittens and oldies, new owners & old hands. Come and join us, click link below.

https://www.scooploop.com/loops/cats

You've heard of Rutland, but do you know anything about it? Just listened to this very entertaining programme:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kf9g

https://www.scooploop.com/loops/carers-and-caring

I have several rings and pendants that I haven't worn for years and never will again, most of them were around the £20/30 cost

When you choose to 'buy', you are not purchasing the film, you are only buying the licence to watch it. Amazon does not own the film, they are only licensing it from the film studio and TV. If its contract with them ends, you will no longer be able to view the film. The site must then refund you.

A lady goes to her parish priest one day and tells him, "Father, I have a problem. I have two female parrots but they only know how to say one thing."

"What do they say?" the priest inquired.

"They say, 'Hi, we're prostitutes. Do you want to have some fun?'" the woman said embarrassingly.

"That's obscene!" the priest exclaimed, "I can see why you are embarrassed."

He thought a minute and then said, "You know, I may have a solution to this problem. I have two male parrots whom I have taught to pray and read the Bible. Bring your two parrots over to my house and we will put them in the cage with Francis and Job. My parrots can teach your parrots to praise and worship. I'm sure your parrots will stop saying that...that phrase in no time."

"Thank you," the lady responded, "this may very well be the solution."

The next day, she brought her female parrots to the priest's house.

As he ushered her in, she saw his two male parrots were inside their cage, holding their rosary beads and praying.

Impressed, she walked over and placed her parrots in with them.

After just a couple of seconds, the female parrots exclaimed out in unison, "Hi, we're prostitutes. Do you want to have some fun?
One male parrot says to the other:- “Put the beads away Francis, all our prayers have been answered.”

We have a community cinema that has screenings of National Theatre Live. We recently saw 'Inter Alia', the main character was played by Rosamund Pike, who gave an amazing faultless 'Talking Heads' like performance lasting two hours. Be sure to see this if you get the chance.

https://youtube.com/shorts/dpHRFy1jxqo?si=HShYv5Dkv-wJdt4I

Patricia Routledge dead: Keeping up Appearances star who played beloved Hyacinth Bucket in hit sitcom dies aged 96.
I once heard an after dinner speech by her which was hilarious. She lived to 96 and her positivity must help, at least she appeared to enjoy her life.

Only a week left to take action.

According to a new report by Moneyfarm.com, nearly a third of Britons under the age of 30 in a long-term relationship want nothing to do with them.

Some said the concept felt outdated, while others said they worried they were a sexist tool to control women’s spending.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/joint-bank-account-2199936

My wife and I have a joint account which we feed into proportional to each of our incomes, leaving the remainder of our incomes in our own private accounts.

This works fine for us and means that we have plenty of money to pay for joint services as the invoices roll in, it also means we each have money of our own to spend on things we want to buy.

Do you have a joint account and if so, how do you operate it?

Whilst on the subject of finance, it reminded me of changing the ownership of property to 'Tenants in common', which we did some years ago. This has advantages, particularly if you have children and one of you remarries after the death of the spouse. Google for details.

Ever wondered why a CAPTCHA is called that? Neither have I!😁 It is an acronym for:
'Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart'.

Do you know any interesting/funny/unusual acronyms?

Help keep SL active. Share any tips you have in the loop below:

https://www.scooploop.com/loops/share-tips-to-make-life-easier

As you know, the world is going digital, but for accurate time you need analogue sources. Digital radio does not have the right time, because the time signal you hear, is delayed by the digital process. You can see an example of this on TV when someone in the studio is speaking to an outside reporter etc. If you listen to the radio on Alexa, then the time delay is about 40 seconds.

So, how do you get the right time?

1. A radio controlled clock
2. Time signals on an AM or FM VHF radio.
3. A smartphone.

You can hear this time delay by tuning to the same radio station on a digital radio or on the TV, and an AM or FM radio at the same time.