The Systemic Kid

Not aware of any information indicating VST baskets have bigger holes. As Boots points out, the holes in a VST cover all the basket surface area.

Where did you hear that? Sounds counterintuitive. VST baskets' holes are standardised for the target dose mass for each basket.

That's an IMS shower screen. Manufacturer claims it improves water distribution during extraction. As said above, not aware of this being lab proven.

Holding the lever at or near the catch point affects the pressure at the puck. Pressure profile for a lever such as the Londinium provides maximum pressure at catch point - typically around 9 bars. Applying manual counter pressure on the lever at catch point will reduce maximum pressure available through the lever. It's not exact. VST baskets are precision engineered. Each one comes with a certificate indicating it has passed quality control fine tolerances. Londinium baskets are 'stock'. Whether VST produce better coffee that stock baskets is debatable. That said, VSTs have a loyal following - me included. There is no evidence as far as I am aware that different shower screens impact significantly, if at all, on the extracted shot. I've used IMS screens and not noticed any difference to the stock Londinium screen.

@cambosheff I've got one. PM me if you want to use it.

Think (hope) he is being ironic....in a post modern manner.

European Parliament cannot propose laws. Not sure I can think of any democratic country where its parliament cannot propose, debate, amend and pass its own laws.

You mean Alistair Campbell??

To repeat, EU law sits above domestic law - it cannot be interpreted by the UK parliament. The UK parliament can only propose and pass laws that do not conflict with EU law. See here

You can't veto EU law. It's non-negotiable.

That is incorrect. EU law supersedes domestic law under 'acquis communautaire. Our law makers can't debate, amend or change any EU laws - they pass straight on to the UK statute book.

Wow!

Nothing wrong with that 👍

Afraid that a lot of current thinking is influenced and determined by post modernism which, in essence, translates that reality doesn't exist outside the individual; it is co constructed. Taken to extreme, this leads to reality being anything we want it to be. The debate on multiple genders is a case in point. Pure biology (fact) is subordinated to ideas and opinions. Does this matter? The Canadian psychologist, Jordan Peterson, attracted controversy over his refusal to use proscribed personal pronouns a la genders' debate. He argued that the state/society has the right and possibly the duty to proscribe language that is unacceptable, e.g. racism, but to require people to use certain language is positively Orwellian and illustrates both the danger and absurdity out there. Tolerance of differing opinion is evaporating at an alarming rate and being replaced by the dogma of -isms. Have you noticed how the term 'community' is now more or less drained of meaning? Community's soul mate, 'Inclusivity', is really a code check to ensure the individual holds the 'right' views. If they don't they are demeaned and marginalised or worse. What frightens me is how utterly totalitarian many supposedly liberals have become. They invariably assume the high moral ground on the major issues of the day, e.g. climate change and denigrate dissenting voices. Describing someone who holds anti 'consensus' views on this topic are branded 'deniers'. The justification for such emotive terms is that the subject, climate change, is too serious and such language is therefore justified. Hmm, think we have been here before.

Correct. It's January 2016.