david

I was experiencing some slight hearing loss because of a noisy environment at work. The audiologist looked in my ears and said she was worried that I might have done compacted earwax and asked if I used Q-tips. I sometimes did. She told me to stop and to clean them out by putting olive oil in each one, holding it for a while then letting it run out into tissue paper. I can't remember how much or for how long, but it definitely did the trick.

I can relate to the picture, very much, even though I don't use Q-tips any more.

I use drummer's ear buds now and they're great because my hearing recovered quite a lot, the tinnitus went away entirely and I can hear what people are saying when I'm wearing them.

Because Donald J Trump is their guy. He might well win.

I agree with all of that, and yes, definitely, I always do.

Thanks. Sorry for not being clear earlier, especially with giving the wrong year! I was writing long text on another thread. I was referring to Labour losing the general election having been a long way ahead in the polls before it was called. It's not a forgone conclusion, it depends strongly on how people choose to use their vote.

Imagine the Brexit referendum never happening. Imagine the funding cuts stopping a decade ago. Imagine the Department of Health not cancelling its pandemic preparedness programme before covid struck. Imagine still having the right to walk in the street to protest against climate change or still having the right to tell the whole truth in your trial for protesting.

Imagine Teresa May never being prime minister or never being home secretary or using government money to have vans drive round London saying "Immigrants go home".

Imagine Boris Johnson never being Prime Minister and Ed Milliband being sensitive and sensible the night before the Queen mourned alone instead of partying against his own covid regulations.

Imagine Liz Truss never having been Prime Minister, that there was no Trussonimics, mortgage payments didn't explode and inflation didn't jump to levels last seen in the 80s (after the Conservatives had promised to fix inflation then made it far, far worse).

Imagine Rishi Sunak never being Prime Minister and somehow turning a thumping majority in the house of commons into a weak-willed premiership that let the loony right wing drive the policy agenda for the nation whilst voting against cabinet decisions with impunity.

Imagine a country that had been invested in instead of sucked dry.

Please don't call me Dave.

Are they going to reverse privatisation of the failing NHS,

Not really, but they'll stop speeding it up.

failing water suppliers,

Only partly and not very effectively, but they'll strengthen regulation

failing rail infrastructure, etc etc?

Yes they will

Are they going to stand up for unions,

Partly in terms of legislation, but they'll be terrified of picket lines and press coverage, so very little in terms of mood music.

workers rights,

Actually, yes, just not as much as we want

and our rights to protest?

I hope so.

Are they going to begin the long slow process of rejoining the EU

Absolutely not. But they might well strengthen common regulation and win concessions for trade with the single market.

Or just vote. It's easier, less risky and more likely to make a real difference in the country if we succeed in changing the government.

If you protest in any way that's even slightly inconvenient, you'll just go to prison, having been disallowed from even explaining why you were protesting and then be forgotten to everyone except your family.

The Conservatives have made it very very easy to lock you up and silence you in the process. So step 1 is to change the government to someone who is less likely to outlaw holding a sign in a street.

Are you familiar with Brexit, Teresa May's Hostile Environment for Immigrants, Windrush, partying while the Queen mourned alone following the covid rules, Trussonimics sending inflation soaring and Sunak literally today denying that there's a problem with DWP putting hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers into thousands of pounds of debt by not allowing them to earn a penny over £151 if they want to keep a single penny of their payment for providing care, noting in their system that the increase in the minimum wage put them over, not warning them, not even cancelling the payment, just waiting for literally years then taking them to court to claim back all the money in the intervening time?

The Conservative Party membership is pathologically committed to choosing the worst possible Prime Minister from any pair of candidates.

This "both sides" stuff is such a croc of *.

I'm so sorry, I meant 1992.

And 1992. Labour started off way ahead in the polls but they narrowed and then one poorly conceived party political event knocked them into second place. Labour have a big lead now in the polls, but they're coming from a long, long way behind.

It would be hugely entertaining. However, the 1922 committee bend the rules when it suits them. There's no way they'll admit in public that the threshold has been reached even if it does, and I don't think it will because even the loony right has a majority who have a sense of self interest. It's too late politically now that the general election has been announced, and there'll be a leadership election after the general election anyway, even if something remarkable happens and they keep a slim majority or achieve a coalition.