Notices by Mike (mikefromlfe@cupoftea.social)

@sng @inthehands None of the conservative, liberal (etc) really translates into British politics. Use of these terms confused matters over here.

@rhys I agree that the term 'eco-populist' is a serious turn-off. When I first saw this in the Guardian I too thought WTF?
I sincerely hope that this descriptor is intended for internal Green Party consumption, rather than as part of the intended Green surge. If it isn't, then, as you imply - the Greens could be consigned back to the wilderness.

The Green Party requires (AIUI) a co-leader, so hopefully it'll be someone with a more media-friendly description on their ballot card.

However - while I know nothing else about Zack, he at least recognises that Green campaigning has been too timid, and sees tgst this needs to change.

I have my fingers crossed!

The organisation my wife volunteers for has finally moved all its volunteer training online.

It's very clever, very cheap & extremely unfreindly.
The login initially assumes you are on the organisation's payroll and located within its premises and on their intranet - once I'd worked out how to get around that, it appears that it's impossible to stay logged in to do several courses at one sitting - you need to log in each time.

I'm not sure that the training itself has been run past any disability checks - Sacha has a degree of dyspraxia and she has really struggled with the training websites.
The manager is dismissive - the attitude comes across (meant or otherwise) as 'you're only a volunteer, so what?'

She's seriously thinking of giving up on the volunteering that she really loves and - I believe- does make a difference to a number of young lives. It's very niche - there's no alternative for her to move to.

#volunteer #volunteering #training #accessibility #disabled #dyspraxia

@clacke In the UK the cheapest practical electric car is the Dacia Spring at about £15000 - a cheaper BYD car is in the pipeline.
There are cheaper electric cars but they tend to be speed limited, and/or two seater.
The cheapest ICE car in the UK isn't much cheaper! It's the Dacia Sandrero at about £14500.

For no good reason I was thinking about our daughter's long stay in the psychiatric hospital.

There were a lot of patients on the ward (possibly about 2/3) who never got any visitors.
Where were their families, spouses, parents, children? Not to mention freinds?

The ward staff were delighted that our daughter had visits and support from her parents, brother, neices and work-collegues - she was certainly the exception among the patients.
I like to think that our support helped in her recovery, I definitely think it made her stay there more bearable.

If you know of someone receiving long term hospital care - psychiatric or otherwise - please don't abandon them. Make an effort. It won't always be easy, but doing good isn't always the easy road.

#MentalHealth #hospitals #Carers

@straphanger I've always thought the Aerotrain experiments were amazing. I'd love to have seen it.

Does anyone here know of any accounts - comprehensible to a general reader - of the lives of ordinary people in the Soviet satellite states during the collapse of the Soviet Union?

I'm less interested in the separate countries eg GDR, CSSR, Poland, Romania etc, and more in the Soviet states eg Georgia, Moldova, Belarus etc.

My curiosity is to understand how ordinary lives felt, and changed, during the collapse of a seemingly endless political and financial system, and perhaps to read how people adapted (if at all).

Boosts welcome.

#politicalhistory #sovietunion #sovietunioncollapse

Disabled assistance cards provided by East Midlands Railway.
Arrived in the post today.
Free at https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/form/talk-passenger-assistance-cards

Edit: it seems they now also offer wristbands including an #autistic awareness one

How much use they'll be remains to be seen!

#disabled #disability #railway #TrainTravel #railways

@Sine_Nomine @ChrisMayLA6 All good stuff - some of which would be dealt with by reintroducing a fully funded, full time School Nursing service in all schools.

@scribblans
I'm hoping to do at least daily toots to chronicle how things go.

It'd be a good idea for there to be a simple #fediverse blogging type platform!

@goatsarah
I'm a bit more hopeful (only a bit).
With the Labour Party hogging the centre ground, and the Tories all but being wiped out, I'm looking for the press to have a longterm love-in with centrist Labour, leaving Tice & Farage to blather away to a very small audience.
This scenario leaves room for more exposure for the Greens on the left of Labour. Their time must surely come!
Gotta hope haven't you?

@Drybird227 @FlashMobOfOne @selzero
"Always" is getting some heavy lifting here!

Until Thatcher in the late 70s /early 80s became infatuated with Reaganomics there was very clear daylight between the business orientated, middle class, Conservative party, and the worker & trade union orientated, working class, Labour Party that was largely composed of people who had experience of 'working life'.

Neither party have ever been squeeky clean, but until Thatcher I personally believe they had the best interests of the people & country in their own separate visions.

It's only in very recent years that the British Conservatives have aligned closely with American conservatives (note the C c difference). The reasons for this are probably the subject of several books.

I rarely look at the everywhere - everything federated timeline - it seems to me that Mastodon.social has got a porn problem.
I don't wanna see that stuff (because I'm not 14 any more).

One of my favourite photos.
My grandson and our cat looking out of our living room window - 5 years ago

#Fensterfreitag
#catsofMastodon

Duolingo is strange anyway, but Dutch #Duolingo is weird.
Why do I need to know what a Schildpad, Olifant and neushoorn are?

#dutch #LanguageLearning