1949threepence

Technically Gary is freelance and therefore not bound by impartiality criteria. But the problem is that he is very closely associated with the BBC through MOTD. Consequently by saying what he has, it does make the BBC appear, once again, not impartial. Why is it so important for the BBC to be strictly impartial? It all comes down to licence payers who represent an entire spectrum of political views from far left to far right, and all points in between. ergo: it's very unreasonable to not be impartial as you are then essentially trashing the views of those who still have to pay for you. The licence fee goes towards the BBC, and on pain of criminal prosecution, each TV viewer has to pay the licence fee if they are to legally watch any other channel live. Even if they don't watch the BBC. Most people were happy to put up with this while the BBC came across as impartial, but I'm afraid they no longer do. As far as what Gary said, I personally wouldn't give a crap if he worked for anywhere else than the BBC. He's entitled to his own views and is as free as the rest of us to spout them, however ludicrous his nazi analogy may be. But as a high profile representative of the BBC, he should at least show some respect to those who have to pay his gigantic wage bill, and keep his trap shut until he leaves, apart from football. Having said all that I do think he handled that situation of a few weeks ago, where somebody set off a phone with sex noises on it during a live match, extremely well, with aplomb and humour. That was really well played.

Whilst I appreciate that a fair few contributors on here have already retired, I do believe that most people (retired or otherwise) have a view on this topic. Also, hopefully there are others who do or have work from home for an employer. Where I work, at the start of the pandemic in mid March 2020, those staff who fell into a vulnerable category, such as asthma, auto immune diseases, obesity and over age 70, were compelled to work from home. In some cases this even meant setting them up with a wifi connection. Then in February 2021 it was extended, as an offer, to those over 60, then a few weeks after that, they decided that anybody who wanted it could have it. Of course, not everybody did, and quite a few continued to work in the office, either because they didn't like the idea, or for whatever reason, it just wasn't practicable for them to work from home. So having now worked from home for just over two years, one year 100% from home, and the following year hybrid 60/40 home/office, these are my views of the pros and cons. Pros 1/ Get far far more work cleared at home than ever I would in the office. Many fewer interruptions, and able to concentrate more intensely. 2/ Absence of irritating colleagues and office politics. They become wholly irrelevant. Also, far fewer pointless time consuming meetings. 3/ 100% removal of commuting time, and for those reliant on public transport, no risk of contracting covid from fellow travellers on buses and trains. Also, for us all, no risk of contracting covid in the office. Not nearly so much of an issue now, I know, but back in early 2021, it was highly relevant. 4/ Able to log on and do work such as e learning and other bits, at any time, whereas 100% in the office you are confined to office hours only. 5/ Can get up later, dress more casually, and in Summer go straight out into the garden with a cold drink on warm sunny day, after logging off. Cons 1/ Can't just turn to someone and ask verbally for advice on a technical issue. If you e mail or MS Teams message them, as often as not you get ignored, or just a curt unhelpful response. Although I have always gone out of my way to help colleagues who've contacted me. 2/ Managers often mysteriously unavailable for hours on end - showing as red on their profiles. 3/ If you attend an MS Teams meeting (or Zoom, whatever) you have to be very careful what you say (be bland, technical and boring) as the meetings can be recorded and could be used against you. Hasn't happened where I work, but I have heard of instances. Also make sure you are fully attired. Especially important in hot weather. Don't switch your camera on until you are certain there is nothing that can embarrass you. I don't include pets in that as cats and dogs photobombing the camera, seems to go down well. 4/ If you complete your work on any given day, it's easy to get bored and literally fall asleep. That would never happen in the office. 5/ Mouse "jigglers" are available from Amazon and the like. These shake the mouse every two minutes to make it appear as though you are always on line and working (shown as green). This is doing a real number on your employer, and not a lot they can do about it. Dishonest and wrong on every level. WFH has received a very bad press in some parts of the media, but it does have some extremely good points. Although medium to long term, offices will shrink and some will be sold off, as it obviously won't be cost effective to keep them open when they're half empty. In fact that's already happening.

Just doesn't look right for a proof does it - the breasts look worn away for a start, and really nothing to distinguish even an impaired proof of this date, from a currency strike, as far as I know. I still maintain that NGC are just taking the grading applicant's word and not checking them out independently. The Noonan's missing leaf F24 description is laughable. As you say they put reverse D instead of F and didn't even bother at all with a Freeman No ! As for the 1858 large rose "small date", the date is misattributed so often.

£3,200 hammer - not a surprise as it's a superior specimen. link

Very pleased with this 1874 penny - F65 in top UNC grade with probably 90% lustre, ever so lightly toning. Just £250 as a BIN. These are obviously not desperately rare, but they don't turn up every 5 minutes, and definitely not in this grade. Looking back at other sales of similar grade, the price compares very favourably.

As no-one else has stepped in to answer your question, I'll give it my two penn'uth for what it's worth. I can't seem to find anything about the 1848 in either Freeman or Peck. But a similar offering on e bay (minus the crown) is touted to be by Moore, and cites Rogers No 262, but without the doubled I - link. There is also a specimen with the crown, but no other detail - link I wonder if there is anything else in Rogers that might help. Or indeed in Tony Barter's book. Quite apart from anything else, the horizontal lines through the 1 seem to be strongly indicative of Moore. So I'd say on balance, it is one of Moore's model pennies.

This LCA catalogue malarkey is well and truly confusing. I joined their mailing list for a catalogue in about 2017 and received my first one in 2020. Had them regularly ever since.

Yes, indeed. Although curiously there seemed to be absolutely no fuss about that at the time.

Absolutely - long term stalemate seems the most likely way things will go. It won't happen, but in my view the best way forward would be to cede the territory Russia currently occupies in the extreme East, to Russia, and for the remainder of Ukraine to become immediate de facto members of NATO, and to move NATO troops in. Put the ball firmly in Putin's court and see if he dare risks a world war.

Yeah, these holes you know, they tend to wear their way right through the metal, naturally.

Not any more unfortunately. Following a robbery last year, he's decided to throw in the towel and retire. Massive great shame but I wish him well. Screenshot from Coin News March 2023:-

That's useful if you live in the outer Hebrides.

If you're inexperienced it can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference. But as Richard says, with a true beaded border, the beads are fully separate from the rim, all the way round the 360 degrees. With some, due to minting issues, some of the teeth are away from the border, and do appear as separate discrete "beads", but they aren't beads they are teeth.

No, I didn't get it, and apologies because my post above doesn't make that clear. I just happened to notice, amongst all the other crap looking 1862 pennies, that one had sold, and I wondered why. Didn't take long to find out ! Sorry you didn't get the 1897 HT. Another example of wondering why that specific coin had "sold". Although from what you say, it sounds as though some funny business was going on. Maybe somebody alerted them as to what it was, just as you bought it off the website. I know I felt disappointed that someone had "beaten me to it", as it was in the days before I'd got one, although the point is moot as you were unsuccessful. The only bargain I managed to nab from there, before it went elsewhere, was a very decent Bramah 26a (no serifs to the I of Britannia) You certainly do, especially as the photography is quite dark and you have to open up each one to take a proper "confirmatory" look.

This company (Cambridgeshire Coins) is so careless and let an 1862 F38 go for just £4.00 !!! Admittedly not in brilliant condition, but a bargain nonetheless. Previously they let an 1897 high tide penny in GEF with lustre, go for about £45 - missed that. The site is worth regularly checking for bargains. link

If you offer e bay sufficient evidence, they will take down a fake listing. They did once at my request. The details are on the forum somewhere. But that was one amongst many. The vast majority we will never see. As pointed out above, as long as they can make a profit, that's all they're really concerned about. They only pay the merest lip service to seller honesty. I think all you can reasonably do is keep a sharp lookout in your areas of interest.

Also strikes me as a perfectly literate individual deliberately disguising their writing in an attempt to appear uneducated.

If this is all made up, then how much lower can you sink than to assert that the proceeds will go to a motor neurone disease charity, and even quoting the names of a couple of well known sufferers.

"It" being the operative word - Sam Smith.

Sounds like typical 21st century logic.

Nice issue free F69, Blake.

Well, you say that, but with LCA. there is a big problem with certainty. As far as I can tell (and feel free to correct me because I'm far from certain), the auction is held in private behind closed doors. There doesn't seem to be an address for a room auction over the two days, and it's certainly not live over the internet, nor is there any indication of how to telephone bid - so no bidding war in real time. Consequently no bidder will have any idea what anyone else has bid - so whether you bid successfully depends largely on pre auction judgement on what others will likely bid. If there is a room auction where is it, and where is it shown in the website, because it's not exactly hitting me in the eye. Not that I can afford it either way, on this occasion.

Their grading standards seem much looser than ours.

I'd grade as EF/gVF. Despite the dirt patches, the obverse detail is EF. Reverse about gVF.

I'm almost certain there's an underlying H there.