It works great for collecting solar power for running things like laptops, phones, radios, USB lights etc. Absolutely fantastic for camping trips. Very useful around the home too. Use it less now as we've since had panels added to the roof. But still works great years later.

Hey Alex. It's a Bluetti portable generator and foldable solar panel. Don't think the exact model exists anymore but they have a range of them bluettipower.co.uk/collections/...

Yes, exactly. I am very bored with having to become an expert in the workarounds for so many flawed electronic systems (self-service tills, ticket machines, HE grading software etc etc).

Yes, have seen the reports of the exact same thing happening to people year after year. Think I will try Samsung or Garmin. I was happy with what it did before they messed with it.

Oh, yes, I've had the same issue with bike rides too. Thought that was just me. Clearly a software fail as well then.

Have also concluded it's easier to just buy another brand than attempt to use their customer support procedures. Consumer powerlessness in the 21st Century (other than the power of silent exit - which is very often not risk-free).

Jeez. That's bad. I've certainly noticed that individual items can take up to 10 days to reach us.

Nope. When I list specific things that might be cut to pay for the extra, it's a "no" to every single one of them. This might be why so many people want to believe we spend billions on MPs' expenses - that fantasy gives you an easy target for cuts.

Have lost count of the number of times I've been told: "there's plenty of money that could be used to increase spend on social care/the NHS/schools/higher education/social housing/roads, it's just a matter of political choice".

I think I read that, in Japan, they block the mobile signal at performance venues to prevent this. Not sure if that's (still) true but it's probably now the only way of stopping this behaviour.

Exactly this. It was constant. There was also some kind of inexplicable altercation between two women sat in separate rows near me, that went on and off for about an hour and ended up with about a dozen people changing seats in order to separate them.

That's a very fair point, but it does feel different in the age of universal smartphone ownership. Pink Floyd at Wembley in 1988 and the Rolling Stones at the same venue in 1996 were not like this. Although, yes, I am showing my age and in danger of being falsely nostalgic!

That's grim. Feels like we've just opted to let Covid run in the background, doing basically nothing at all to minimise any harm that may arise from it.

It really should not be difficult or controversial to just provide simple official information and public guidance. Not doing this just creates a void filled by low-grade media reporting.

And, no, it isn't OK if some people do that, because they've paid their money and they make their choice. The circus this dynamic is creating within audiences is making it really hard for anyone else to focus on the actual performance on stage.

An example involving Lib Dems and Buddhists feels like a neat way to remember what the ecological fallacy involves.

Oh my goodness. Yes, you could make a fortune armed with that knowledge!