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https://news.sky.com/story/row-over-new-greggs-vegan-sausage-rolls-heats-up-11597679 (https://archive.ph/5Ba6o)

A heated row has broken out over a move by Britain's largest bakery chain to launch a vegan sausage roll.

The pastry, which is filled with a meat substitute and encased in 96 pastry layers, is available in 950 Greggs stores across the country.

It was promised after 20,000 people signed a petition calling for the snack to be launched to accommodate plant-based diet eaters.


But the vegan sausage roll's launch has been greeted by a mixed reaction: Some consumers welcomed it, while others voiced their objections.

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spread happiness@p4leandp1nk
https://twitter.com/p4leandp1nk/status/1080767496569974785

#VEGANsausageroll thanks Greggs
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7
10:07 AM - Jan 3, 2019
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Cook and food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe declared she was "frantically googling to see what time my nearest opens tomorrow morning because I will be outside".

While TV writer Brydie Lee-Kennedy called herself "very pro the Greggs vegan sausage roll because anything that wrenches veganism back from the 'clean eating' wellness folk is a good thing".

One Twitter user wrote that finding vegan sausage rolls missing from a store in Corby had "ruined my morning".

Another said: "My son is allergic to dairy products which means I can't really go to Greggs when he's with me. Now I can. Thank you vegans."

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pg often@pgofton
https://twitter.com/pgofton/status/1080772793774624768

The hype got me like #Greggs #Veganuary

42
10:28 AM - Jan 3, 2019
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TV presenter Piers Morgan led the charge of those outraged by the new roll.

"Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns," he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Morgan later complained at receiving "howling abuse from vegans", adding: "I get it, you're all hangry. I would be too if I only ate plants and gruel."

Another Twitter user said: "I really struggle to believe that 20,000 vegans are that desperate to eat in a Greggs."

"You don't paint a mustach (sic) on the Mona Lisa and you don't mess with the perfect sausage roll," one quipped.

Journalist Nooruddean Choudry suggested Greggs introduce a halal steak bake to "crank the fume levels right up to 11".

The bakery chain told concerned customers that "change is good" and that there would "always be a classic sausage roll".

It comes on the same day McDonald's launched its first vegetarian "Happy Meal", designed for children.

The new dish comes with a "veggie wrap", instead of the usual chicken or beef option.
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It should be noted that Piers Morgan and Greggs share the same PR firm, so I'm thinking this is some serious faux outrage and South Park KKK gambiting here.
 
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Hang them!
this is just evil. just destroy streetlights or busstations like normal youth.
 
SuperDeeDuper said:
well, i think we should all know what that means. surprised how many of you are just rolling with 'kids' when this word has been such a strong indicator of something more specific in the past.
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Well, this is England, so if the kids are sentenced to a good talking to and a coupon for free ice cream, we'll know the race of the perpetrators...
 
www.bbc.co.uk

Oxford University promises 25% of places to deprived

University of Oxford wants a big increase in students from deprived areas in the next four years.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

University of Oxford is promising a "sea-change" in admissions, with plans for a quarter of students to come from disadvantaged backgrounds by 2023.

The university wants to tackle accusations that it is socially exclusive.

Oxford will soon announce that 60.5% of its most recent intake are from state schools - the highest since the 1970s.

But vice-chancellor Louise Richardson says she wants to "accelerate the pace at which we are diversifying".

What's the problem they are trying to solve?
Oxford, along with other top universities, has faced claims of perpetuating privilege - with too many privately-educated students and not enough from poorer backgrounds.

Louise Richardson
Image captionLouise Richardson says she wants a "sea change" in the approach to admissions
The Sutton Trust social mobility charity showed recently that Oxford and Cambridge recruit more students from eight, mostly-private schools than almost 3,000 other UK state schools put together.

Labour MP David Lammy has lambasted the university for admitting too few black students.

The university wants to send a strong signal that it remains very competitive to get a place - but that should be about ability rather than background.

Prof Richardson says she wants to ensure that "every academically exceptional student in the country knows that they have a fair chance of a place at Oxford".

She is being supported by the head of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl, who described the scale of Oxford's target as "really impressive".

How will they get more places for disadvantaged applicants?
At present about 15% of Oxford's undergraduate students are from deprived areas - and the university wants to increase this significantly to 25% over the next four years.

An access scheme will have places for 200 high-achieving disadvantaged students each year.

These will be students, identified during the application process, who will be offered a place and then given extra support before beginning their degree courses.

Another 50 places will be available for a foundation year, aimed at developing students who show high academic potential, but whose education might have been disrupted or who had to overcome personal disadvantage.

Those who successfully complete the foundation year will go on to begin undergraduate courses.

What counts as disadvantaged?
It is not by income thresholds or ethnicity, but is mainly based on a socio-economic profile of where people live.

This uses two postcode-based systems, called Polar and Acorn, which measure local levels of deprivation or affluence.

The particular focus of Polar is the level of entry to university from people living in that area.

There have been critics of Polar - including Universities Minister Chris Skidmore, who wants to find a better way of showing disadvantage.

For instance, a very poor area with relatively high levels of university entry, such as in some parts of London, might not appear to be disadvantaged.

But the university says it will also consider some individual markers of hardship - such as spending time in care or eligibility for free school meals.

Such approaches depend on helping people who have already tried for a place at Oxford.

Some of the hardest-to-reach groups, such as white, working-class boys, might have not even considered applying.

Is this another squeezed middle?
If 25% of places are to be targeted at applicants from poorer areas - and in recent years, about 40% of places have gone to pupils from private schools - then that leaves 35% for everyone else.

That would be the remaining slice of places for all those state school pupils who do not live in the most deprived areas - which is to say, state-educated families in the middle.

An Oxford University v Cambridge University women's rugby match
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThere are fewer UK students at Oxford and Cambridge than a decade ago, with more places for overseas students
Such an analysis is rejected by Oxford - with the university saying there is no reason to assume that so many places will go to private school pupils in the future.

The next round of entry figures, covering 2018, will show 60.5% of students from state schools, more than about 58% in the two previous years, and the highest in these records going back more than 40 years.

But it is worth noting that all these figures are about the proportion of UK undergraduates - and they do not include the increase in overseas applicants getting places.

There might be an extra 250 places for deprived youngsters - but on current trends, there will be more than 700 overseas students.

Will this stop accusations of snobbery and elitism?
Very unlikely. As the competition for places at top universities has become more intense, so too has the public scrutiny.

Such famous universities are seen not only in terms of academic excellence, but as markers of social status and a passport to top professions.

So there will be more questions about what "fair" entry means - and arguments over representative intakes and "social engineering".

Chris Millward, the Office for Students' director for fair access, says there will be more "pressure" on universities over access for disadvantaged students.

But there are concerns from the private school sector about not making unfair assumptions.

"Many pupils in state schools come from high-income homes and many pupils attending independent schools receive means-tested bursaries," said Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council.

Luke Heselwood of the Reform think tank said the places for poorer applicants were a "drop in the ocean when 40% of Oxford students are from a private school, compared to 7% in the country".

He said that Oxford should be targeting high achieving disadvantaged students who might not even apply to a top university.

Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said "this is an important step in the right direction" - and that "for too long our top universities have been a closed club".

Mr Skidmore welcomed the announcement, saying such universities should be open to everyone who "has the potential".
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Remember kids, learning a skill is always an option.
 
This is probably the most depressing thing I've read this year.

Railway enthusiasts often go into an astoundingly autistic level of detail about this sort of thing. The Alcoholic Ex's old man was a trainsperg. He had in his basement a work in progress of an actual major railway station c. 1967 with period accurate hand built locos and wagons, little speakers in the logos that made the correct noises as they went along, JavaScript controlled signals, all the scenery like bridges and platforms, all in O scale. It was yuge and though the man might have been a twunt and was clearly knocking off his secretary, you had to admire the lengths he went to and the depth of his research.

I'm sorry but hanging is too good for them. Why would they do such a thing?
 
What counts as disadvantaged?
It is not by income thresholds or ethnicity, but is mainly based on a socio-economic profile of where people live.

This uses two postcode-based systems, called Polar and Acorn, which measure local levels of deprivation or affluence.
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What
The
Flying
Fuck

This is great news for property owners in "disadvantaged" locations; the Chinese will buy up blocks.
 
I don't see a problem with this, they aren't using race they are using level of wealth. The system they are using is wide open to abuse - judging by poorest district seems like a strange thing to do too - but if they are going to do some stupid shit to combat their poor public image I would prefer they do something like this as opposed to restricting it to 'Asians' or women something. And if they are just giving them a chance they otherwise wouldn't have taken but are qualified for - which is what this article implies - then great.
 
Finally somewhere to send my slaves to learn for free.

My 8 wives will be thrilled that the slaves will be finally able to read the grocery shopping list.
 
I don't get the desire to go to some of the big name colleges to begin with, (granted mine kinda sorta falls into that category) but for the most part, you're getting the same quality education that you'd get at less prestigious universities. Unlike with those however, you're paying an absolute fortune, which would be far better spent by putting a nice down payment on a house. Beyond this, half of the time what really lands you a big job after graduation, isn't the university's name recognition itself, its your family connections which you most likely had to depend on to get into the big name university to begin with.
 
mr.moon1488 said:
Western culture is overly tolerant of juvenile delinquency these days, and I think that's what has led to a lot of this. I remember growing up in the 90s when people were pissed at kids for fucking up mailboxes, and one of the common responses was "it's just kids being kids."
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Yeah but this shit has always been happening. shit I did worse in my teens.

Save the Loli said:
This is one hell of a way to play kick the autistic.

This is true. My grandpa knows a guy who when he was a teenager, his idea of fun was driving around town with his buddies shooting out streetlights. Although this was the era when the cops were allowed to take out their baton and beat your ass for it.
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My dad told me growing up him and his buddies would ride around drinking cheap beers and shooting stop signs.
Vlinny Chan said:
This right here. I fucking hate it when people claim to be a "child at heart" or push the whole "kidz rule" narrative thats been popularized in the past 50 years because this is exactly what kids will do if you let them. They are borderline sociopaths if left unchecked, not cute and innocent as we've been lead to believe.
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Yeah that's why they make the best soldiers, they have no real inhibitions. Also why they make the best sexual partners too.
millais said:
It takes some real nasty feral children to make you feel sorry for a bunch of middle-aged train autists
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I feel bad I actually found it funny.
oldTireWater said:
Kids are trash, but adults playing with model trains should be used to being bullied. At least they still have their lunch money.
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Yeah, model train fags are annoying.
Testaclese Maximus said:
Model trains don’t attract model citizens.
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Model train enthusiasts are trash mammals.
Cosmos said:
Why are some people just needlessly destructive? These dumbass kids saw something that they knew took time and effort to set up and they destroyed it just cause. I feel really bad for the artists, it must be devastating to have your creation destroyed for literally no reason. Fuck vandals.
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It is actually relaxing to break stuff. I go to thrift stores, buy tacky crap, lay a tarp down in my living room and smash ugly plates and gawdy knick knacks.
 
I love the fact that, even as they pushed the social justice narrative of there not being any objective truth, the big marquee Universities never saw what would happen to the idea of the very concept of a privileged learning institution in a world where facts are irrelevant, logic is violence against superior emotions and integrity is discrimination.

When an Ivy League education is no better, arguably worse, than going to community college, who is going to supply the GDP of a small African nation to attend? And yet, even as enrollment falls, the only thing they can think of is "We must not be appealing to emotions ENOUGH"
 
I'm so glad I went to a state school. At this rate my education will be just as valuable as having gone to Oxford or Harvard. Or would be if my college won more at football and basketball, since at the rate this clown world is going, what will matter the most about college is how much they win in sports.
 
TowinKarz said:
When an Ivy League education is no better, arguably worse, than going to community college, who is going to supply the GDP of a small African nation to attend?
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While i generally agree with you when it comes to the value of higher education, it's worth noting that when you pay the exorbitant rates for Oxford and Cambridge you are not paying for the classes but for the opportunity to network in an elite group and learn how to operate in the environment.

I don't particularly like the idea but i would go out on a limb and say a degree from Oxford or Cambridge (however little that paper actually represents in the real world) is likely the best investment you can make in education when it comes to your future earnings.
 
Another 50 places will be available for a foundation year, aimed at developing students who show high academic potential, but whose education might have been disrupted or who had to overcome personal disadvantage.

Those who successfully complete the foundation year will go on to begin undergraduate courses.
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That seems pretty scummy of Oxford to do. Yet again, this isn't the first time they've tried to mess up something simple as admissions

Just go to a community college.
 
Ineedahero said:
I don't see a problem with this, they aren't using race they are using level of wealth. The system they are using is wide open to abuse - judging by poorest district seems like a strange thing to do too - but if they are going to do some stupid shit to combat their poor public image I would prefer they do something like this as opposed to restricting it to 'Asians' or women something. And if they are just giving them a chance they otherwise wouldn't have taken but are qualified for - which is what this article implies - then great.
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Exactly. Some of you people have got to stop looking for the woke gremlins on every airplane wing. We always complain here how universities are money-grubbing conjobs, but now that they're aiming to combat the problem of only letting in students if they can pay an arm and a leg it's still bad?

At first I was not sure about their decision to put a focus on geographically poor areas, but even that might be good. Here in the states the uppity universities of New England and California think the rest of the country is scum and their student bodies might benefit from actually having to interact with students from the poor areas they despise, I assume a similar idea would be good across the pond too.
 
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