Preezy wrote:Can a bookshop have a political ideology?
Universities staff put trips to Vegas and strip club 'on expenses'
University staff used expense accounts for luxuries including gambling trips to Las Vegas and late-night entertainment in a strip club, according to details uncovered by a freedom of information request.
Over the past two years, employees at 54 universities spent £204m on corporate credit cards to buy everything from Premier League tickets to days out at the races. Durham University spent £17m, including £2,614 at Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, while Northumbria University spent £2,184 on a “corporate event” at the lapdancing club chain Spearmint Rhino.
Staff at the University of Liverpool spent £22,000 at Domino’s Pizza, while workers at City, University of London ran up a £23,790 bill in two pubs. An employee at Queen Mary University of London even used its card to pay a litter fine.
The University of Nottingham, which spent £19.8m over two academic years, defended the total, saying: “We use cards in our global operation which delivers £1bn to the economy each year.”
The 54 institutions that replied to freedom of information requests by the Sun newspaper have received £1.2bn in public funds in 2017 and 2018.
Not all universities responded to the request. Oxford refused to break down its expenses but said in total it spent £11m. The University of Bristol said it could not respond in case doing so caused distress to staff.
In total, universities spent £11,000 at Manchester United Football Club. Loughborough University paid more than £1,000 at the club.
Northumbria University said the strip club payment was “reimbursed promptly” and was made “following” a corporate event its staff attended.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers and students will foot most of the bill for these questionable purchases. They deserve a clear explanation. Students will be appalled at how little universities seem to care about their money.”
The Tory MP Andrew Bridgen also criticised the institutions. “Universities are now big businesses and appear to have picked up some bad habits. They should have to publish these spending records annually,” he told the Sun.
OrangeRakoon wrote:They act like children, it's embarrassing to watch. I struggle to believe they have any sincere and reasoned political beliefs
all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.
The images detached from every aspect of life fuse in a common stream in which the unity of this life can no longer be reestablished. Reality considered partially unfolds, in its own general unity, as a pseudo-world apart, an object of mere contemplation. The specialization of images of the world is completed in the world of the autonomous image, where the liar has lied to himself. The spectacle in general, as the concrete inversion of life, is the autonomous movement of the non-living.
OrangeRakoon wrote:They act like children, it's embarrassing to watch. I struggle to believe they have any sincere and reasoned political beliefs
Vermilion wrote:OrangeRakoon wrote:They act like children, it's embarrassing to watch. I struggle to believe they have any sincere and reasoned political beliefs
They're also morons for not finding anything else better to do.
I mean come on, it's Central London! There's tons of fun stuff to see and do yet these dickheads decide to cause trouble in a bookshop? Why didn't they just forget the extremist bollocks and pop into M&M's World instead?
Trelliz wrote:I can't help thinking that Boris' bizarre outburst is him practicing from Trump's playbook - just say offensive gooseberry fool and never apologise and eventually it'll become the norm.
Trelliz wrote:I can't help thinking that Boris' bizarre outburst is him practicing from Trump's playbook - just say offensive gooseberry fool and never apologise and eventually it'll become the norm.
satriales wrote:Trelliz wrote:I can't help thinking that Boris' bizarre outburst is him practicing from Trump's playbook - just say offensive gooseberry fool and never apologise and eventually it'll become the norm.
That's exactly what it looks like to me. Unfortunately, a large portion of the country will hear what Boris said and will laugh and agree with him. He's still trying to become PM.
An historian by training, Yuval Noah Harari rose to prominence with two best-selling books. Sapiens looked at humanity’s past and Homo Deus at its future. His latest book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, considers the here-and-now, spanning subjects from technology and terrorism to populism and religion.
In the excerpt that follows, he considers the underlying premise of immigration and what migrants and societies might “owe” each other, to conclude: “It would be wrong to tar all anti-immigrationists as ‘fascists’, just as it would be wrong to depict all pro-immigrationists as committed to ‘cultural suicide’. [...] It is a discussion between two legitimate political positions, which should be decided through standard democratic procedures.”
lex-man wrote:satriales wrote:Trelliz wrote:I can't help thinking that Boris' bizarre outburst is him practicing from Trump's playbook - just say offensive gooseberry fool and never apologise and eventually it'll become the norm.
That's exactly what it looks like to me. Unfortunately, a large portion of the country will hear what Boris said and will laugh and agree with him. He's still trying to become PM.
A surprising number of people seem to be in favour of banning the burka. Apparently people shouldn't wear religious clothing in a secular country.
twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/1026766326277328896
twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/1026767751350837253
