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blackred

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Posts posted by blackred

  2. When will this shit end?

    in Chat

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Mr.Tease said:

    It's been very varied star to state. A few of the US forums I frequent have been quite sad with people mums and dad's dying, and some posters getting very ill and hospitalised with it- weirdly at the same time the 'maintaining normality' hasn't been enough for anti lockdown folk, so doesn't seem like anyone's been happy with the response, seems very polarised. 

    I think this is it, the US is much less densely populated and (ignoring the current freak storm) 3 of its most populous states have very mild winters. The north eastern states are closer to the uk in terms of climate and density - there are 15 states with higher death rates than the UK currently - 10 in the north (and largely east)

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/

    Also, if Florida is anything to go by - the reporting in some states is not to be trusted.

     

  3. When will this shit end?

    in Chat

    Posted · Edited by blackred

    This lateral flow tests being the key to reopening venues is a load of bollocks.

    As a punter I'm not going to shoulder the risk of losing out on ticket money in case I get a positive result (which the current vaccines won't necessarily prevent) - equally as a promoter who relies on selling out to break even, I can't afford to be refunding tickets unless prevalence is incredibly low. 

    It might work for the Euros or Wimbledon, but for your average event it's not a solution.

  4. When will this shit end?

    in Chat

    Posted

    23 minutes ago, Mr.Tease said:

    Yep, think the worst thing going forward would be the Tories promising mass spending and investment, rebuilding manufacturing and industry in the north (think there will be a big rise in nationalism/desire for self sufficiency among voters), ambitious green projects, extra health spending, and mass investment in science and tech, while Labour opposes it/offers nothing but "oh we have to exercise caution- also we have no idea's on how two tackle any of the major problems we face, except 'being sensible' ".

     

    I mean, this sounds pretty good to me?

  8. U.S. Presidential Election

    in Discussions

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Ryan1984 said:

    So, how is it looking?

    Bleak, Biden can still win but no blue wave - senate likely to remain republican and a reduced majority in the house.

    Looks like the GOP fear of high turnouts was unfounded - even if Trump loses they have had a better night than expected.

  9. When will this shit end?

    in Chat

    Posted · Edited by blackred
    *

    If we want to tackle obesity, closing pubs, restaurants and takeaways will have an order of magnitude greater effect than keeping gyms open.

    Maybe combine the measures, only leisure activity open is the gym - add in some post brexit food rationing and we could really turn the nation's physical health around before the next pandemic.

  10. When will this shit end?

    in Chat

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, Havors said:

    You are mistaken... that is not what i was talking about sorry to say. 

    You mentioned hundreds of signatories so I assumed you were talking about the Barrington declaration - if you meant Karol Sikora's letter it only had 32. Sikora, Heneghan, Guptra, and probably others, are signatories on both.

    The contents of the letter weren't ignored, it called for more targeted measures to shield the vulnerable, while listing some concerns that most people (including SAGE) share. 

     

  12. Festival cancelled due to mud

    in Chat

    Posted

    45 minutes ago, incident said:

    Out of interest, who are you thinking of here?

    Having had some experience with DHP, I think they're more likely to buy than sell at the moment. Shambala and Bearded Theory seem intent on remaining independent (thankfully), and most of the other events on the circuit are either too small to be on the radar or already in bed with Live Nation or AEG.

    The only ones I can think of are Sunday Best and/or Loudsound, giving them a stake in that portfolio - but I don't know enough about either company to know if that's a runner.

     

    DHP would have been my guess, they certainly fit the profile of their other acquisitions. Loudsound would be quite the coup - would that be enough to make them bigger than LiveNation in the UK?

    Apart from those, any of the independents that have a strong record of selling out and have expansion potential, not sure size is as much of an issue - they have picked up some pretty small events, and some of those had recently expanded (Truck was only 5k a couple of years ago, YNot was <10k).

    Hopefully this years events slow them down, will be sad if the UK festival market effectively ends up as duopoly.

  13. Festival cancelled due to mud

    in Chat

    Posted · Edited by blackred

    My two penneth worth....

    I suspect the issues are a combination of pre-existing issues with the count of ten bods, who are still running the event, and the new corporate overlord in Global.

    While i haven't done YNot, i have been to Truck most years it's been on. It sounds like there are similar issues at both events

    • Low steward/security staff numbers
    • Poor briefings for staff
    • Lack of toilets
    • Insufficient size of camping areas
    • Poor traffic management on and off site

    From friends who were doing the backline at YNot it seems they also suffered from an inappropriate stage, lack of dry storage areas for equipment and poor access to the backstage compound - directly leading to the cancellation and re-ordering of acts.

    For Truck, at least, these have been issues for the last few years, of course when you have a perfectly dry and sunny event they don't cause major problems and are just a small gripe for punters - but when the weather goes to shit it all descends into chaos pretty quickly. This is the first time I have heard about the poor treatment of traders, at both events, including lack of radios and emergency packs at the event - and bad mouthing them on social media after.

    If i was being cynical I might think the corner cutting that started a couple of years ago was to  try and make the events saleable, of course it's more than likely its just due to trying to break even/minimise losses. It's a shame, as i thought their approach of selling cheap base tickets with lots of upgrades was a pretty good way of ensuring the events remain accessible to all, I certainly took advantage of their more 'premium' offerings and didn't feel it was bad value compared to other events.

    I still have big issues with Global, and am not looking forward to their likely acquisition announcement towards the end of the year. I suspect by 2018 they will be looking at close to half the medium size festival market which is pretty terrible news for festival goers. The only hope is that the insurance claims they are hit with from YNot (and possibly some from Truck) make them slow down their plans to dominate the market.

     

  14. 2018 Festival - Glastonbury replacement

    in Chat

    Posted

    12 hours ago, rivalschools.price said:

     

    To be honest with you, that sounds better.

    Even if the drinks were slightly more than the stated 'supermarket prices', the fact that it's refrigerated and you can pick up part of your order and go back each day for more sounds great.

    No more warm cans

    It was more about not allowing your own drinks in the 'arena' which, like most small festivals, has been allowed for the last 19 years.

    Seems to be standard practice for Global events, shame they are buying up the entire small festival industry in the UK (undoubtedly just to drop them all after the first bad year)

  17. Don't vote Tory

    in Chat

    Posted

    Vote, vote, vote people. Even if it's for the Torys, vote for whatever you believe in - it's the single most important right you have (at least it will be in 5 years time).

    Look on the bright side everyone, with the rate Theresa May u-turns I expect we will be in the euro and schengen by this time next year! (Not sure that would be great either, but you know - better than the alternative)

  20. Don't vote Tory

    in Chat

    Posted

    Agree that there is no reason for May to turn up, she isn't winning new voters at this point so has nothing to gain.

    Interesting that they are sending Amber Rudd though, I thought they would send someone more strong and stable to represent the party, live broadcasting of a hate crime, sorry 'non-crime hate incident', could definitely lose them some votes (who am i kidding, would probably get them the last few kipper holdouts).

  22. Don't vote Tory

    in Chat

    Posted

    It's a risky move no doubt but the potential rewards are there, good chance to make the most of the conservative's mistake in attempting to run a presedential campaign around a weak leader. Also a really fucking good chance of Amber Rudd putting her foot in mouth again, something Corbyn has been doing well at avoiding lately.

  23. Don't vote Tory

    in Chat

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, babyblade41 said:

     I spoke to 2 farmers today and they were sure it included agricultural land not just builders holding land in banks 

    It should include agricultural land, yes. Unimproved land value is likely to be a lot lower than you expect though, unless you are running an urban farm, and values would fall further as a result of a land holders selling off unutilised land at a much higher rate than they do currently.

    It's important to note most proponents of LVT don't advocate it as additional tax, rather as a replacement for some or even all other forms of taxation - overall you may not be worse off, and if you are it would suggest that the current land use is inefficient.

     

  25. Don't vote Tory

    in Chat

    Posted · Edited by blackred

    1 hour ago, babyblade41 said:

    Thank you but will still have to wait... it's too much of a possibility when financial margins are tight, 

     

    I for one will be glad when everything can get sorted now, fear of the unknown for all of us is not easy 

    Fear of the unknown, voted for brexit hmmm.......

    Re LVT, from the labour manifesto

    'A Labour government will give local government extra funding next year. We will initiate a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options such as a land value tax, to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term'

    So no worry of it being implemented in the next 5 years, if ever. As an aside if you want to learn more about how it might work the wikipedia article is pretty reasonable - interestingly it's widely supported by most economists from the major schools as being one of the most effective, and progressive, forms of taxation available. Currently 98% of land in the UK is owned by just over 4% of the people - as the 'country is full' making best use of such a limited resource should be a top priority for both sides of the political spectrum, unfortunately those 4% include a lot of very influential people.....

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