Video

What a lovely lady Barbara was.

Babs kept her cool, true professional 😅

28:56 As a student I remember trying to use a 'phone box around 1984 to call someone who lived about 8 miles away. After not finding any working 'phone boxes in the area, the only way forward was to get on my bicycle and cycle 8 hilly miles there. The 'phones would usually say "emergency calls only" because the coin boxes overfilled. They were utterly hopeless.

Aww I remember going to Thorpe Farm with my dad. Have a vivid memory of him sparking a cigarette in one of the enclosures and getting told of by a member of staff (yes he is an inconsiderate arsehole).

Geeze she was bloody awful !!

I worked as a BT operator in the late ‘90s, employed by a large recruitment agency. We were treated like rubbish. The long-serving operators, employed directly by BT, loved to lord it over us, they couldn’t help themselves.

All telco are struggling to survive today, burdened with the physical infrastructure while software SDN go OTT with everything… the former nationalised companies struggle to know how to compete….

the only city in the uk that bt wasn't in was hull. they have Kingston communication still to this day

i often picked up my house phone in the late eighties and would find myself listening to two other callers chatting away. i used to wish i would overhear some gangsters talking about where their cash was hidden. lol

That muppet Ian Vallance

Interesting but politically slanted documentary. BT could have been run as a non-departmental government body. BT (GPO) invented and prototyped the world’s first digital telephone exchange but was stifled by ministers and was told to buy Strowger instead. Privatisation has brought no benefit to consumers or businesses in the UK and over-regulation and meddling set fibre rollout back 30 years

Spent 46 years with GPO, BT and Openreach. Valve Oscilloscopes to Fibre Broadband.

*... the cantaloupe song isn't anything vaguely associated with whatever that was some posted bee ...*

I started working for the GPO in 1980 after working for plessey telecom for 10y on exchange construction. Strowger switch then cross bar ended up with system x.I retired from openreach 5y ago after 40y most of the time at the other end of the network has a pole tester safety checking the poles which for most of the time I was left alone to sort all of the poles in my area but some one Decided to control us and for the last few years had us going backwards and forwards over the same ground were I would have done it all in one go looking at the planet now with all the fibre things are getting over Loaded the is the just get working Attitude there now and safety is taking a back door

They still rip me off for my full fibre 😃

Poor Barbara. She was a class act. RIP

she was lovely

I still can't believe that Barbara's gone, she was an absolute legend, really loveable and always professional....apart from the end when she called Noel a bastard but this also loveable....RIP Barbara, you maybe gone but you'll never be forgotten!

Her reaction when she realised was priceless 😂

When I moved to Germany in 1985, the phone system was still a part of the post office here, as well. As a "starving student", for the longest time I didn't even have my own phone. To make an international call to my family in the U.S. I had to go to the central post office downtown and reserve a booth for a person-to-person call to my parents so that either of them could accept the charge. Needless to say, the calls were short and fees were horrendous. Thinking back, it's still amazing how things have changed.

Bloody hell

You’ve got to admire her professionalism ❤

Shebtook it with such good grace.

Oh my Goodness I remember watching this . Nearly 30 years ago ! WTF! Where did all those years go!

What a good sport she was, god bless her.

See the “sights” of Basingstoke? 😂 that would be the M3 north……

At about 26 minutes in the narration refers to Holborn exchange BUT they are in fact showing a section from the London Telecommunications Region film showing the transfer of Upminster Exchange, the last CB1 (Central Battery) manual exchange in the London telephone Region to Crossbar (Plessey 5005) automatic: the first to be installed in the LTR and cut over on December 3rd 1970. VERY SLOPPY!

And the copper network went to ruin when BT Created Openreach, and then Openreach sub contracted work to the likes of Kellys and Quinns who didnt care about quality or accuracy and messed it up for all. Now Openreach have effectively abandoned the copper network, and the exchanges with SOGEA and left the remaining dregs of copper work to Contractors.

@8:32> Babs has a scratch...x

The brilliant babs, how we miss her so much

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last month that she intends to hold another independence referendum on October 19 2023, but only if the Supreme Court ruled it was legal. The policy brings the Scottish Greens in line with the SNP, who have also said the next general election would be fought on the single issue if an independence vote is shot down. But Liz Truss pledged on Sunday there would be no second referendum if she wins the Tory leadership contest. “Scottish nationalists accepted that their referendum was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and I will hold them to that,” she said. ….

Please save lives and stop the war from escalating into nuclear explosion 💥

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to stay the course in his campaign against Ukraine, warning if counterattacks continue a “more serious” military response will be unleashed. Putin remained steadfast despite strong evidence that his forces incurred heavy losses in the Ukraine counteroffensive this month. The Russian leader said the main goal of the campaign continues to be “the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas” - the areas of eastern Ukraine including Donetsk and Luhansk that are largely Russian speaking

LIVE Open the menu News | Russia-Ukraine war Putin warns of ‘serious response’ to Ukraine ‘terror acts’ After repeated military gains by Ukrainian forces, the Russian leader pledges to ‘end restraint’ and intensify ‘special military operation’. …

The World Economic Forum brings together decision-makers from across society to work on projects and initiatives that make a real difference. Through collaboration between stakeholders with varied perspectives, our projects deliver concrete and sustainable results and make a positive impact at all levels of society. In that case , we want back our losses incurred

Article 10 The Parties may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty. Any State so invited may become a Party to the Treaty by depositing its instrument of accession with the Government of the United States of America. The Government of the United States of America will inform each of the Parties of the deposit of each such instrument of accession.

NATO’s door remains open to any European country in a position to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership, and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area. Since 1949, NATO’s membership has increased from 12 to 30 countries through eight rounds of enlargement. The Republic of North Macedonia became the latest country to join the Alliance on 27 March 2020. Currently, five partner countries have declared their aspirations to NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine. Finland and Sweden completed accession talks, and Allies signed the Accession Protocols for both countries in July 2022. They are now official Invitees and attend NATO meetings as such.

At present, NATO has 30 members. In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. The other member countries are: Greece and Türkiye (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020).

Panzerbataillon 414 414 Tankbataljon ; The battalion was founded in 2016, and became fully operational in 2019. Previously the German battalion, part of the 41st Panzergrenadier Brigade was active from 1991-2006 at Spechtberg. It was established on the basis of the 22nd and 23rd Panzer Regiments, 9th Panzer Division, of the Land Forces of the National People's Army, the former East German Army.[4] On 17 March 2016, the battalion was attached to the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade which is in turn a part of the German 1st Panzer Division.[5] The barracks of 414 Panzerbattalion are in Bergen-Lohheide, Lower Saxony. It has been described as a step towards a "European army" .

Opposition Edit According to NATO officials, the alliance has discouraged independent European defence capabilities, both as an attempt to avoid duplication and as a moral hazard effect from US defence subsidies prompting less military spending by European countries. The United States ambassador to NATO also expressed opposition to any European protectionism in developing its own defence industry. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the European Union could not defend itself without NATO and should not try to form a European army.[12] On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of NATO's presence in Italy, Mattarella spoke of a strengthening of European defense within the alliance with NATO …

On 28 September 2021, Greece and France signed a multibillion-euro military agreement. The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the idea of a European army “a mature proposal” and that this agreement could be a first big step towards a European army.

On 17 September 2021, the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi talked about the European army at the end of the EuMed summit in Athens, with an urgent tone for its establishment. The announcement of the AUKUS "trilateral security partnership" between Australia, UK and US to "sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region" is seen as an attempt to limit China's rise as a global military power. However, this has led to some mistrust in Europe, in particular in France, that has contributed to increasing the process of the formation of a European Army

At the 2021 State of the Union address delivered by the President of the European Commission to the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen said to European Union members that "what we need is the European Defence Union" and that "...the European Union is a unique security provider. There will be missions where NATO or the UN will not be present but where Europe should be... There have been many discussions on expeditionary forces. On what type and how many we need: battlegroups or EU entry forces. This is no doubt part of the debate - and I believe it will be part of the solution. But the more fundamental issue is why this has not worked in the past." and announced a 'Summit on European defence' …

French president Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both expressed their support for a joint European army. Macron endorsed the idea in 2018, after the United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and in light of American President Donald Trump's scepticism of Atlanticism. Other European politicians who have expressed support include former French prime minister Alain Juppé (in 1996), former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, former Czech prime ministers Miloš Zeman and Bohuslav Sobotka, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. A European army is on the official programme of the European People’s Party. Dutch deputy prime minister Kajsa Ollongren supports the idea while defence minister Ank Bijleveld opposes it. It is also opposed by Eurosceptic politicians in the EU, such as Ryszard Legutko. NATO has been described as the "biggest obstacle" to a European army.[ A 2019 survey found that 37% of Dutch citizens "approved the idea of a European army" while 30% are opposed to formation of an army of all EU members. In 2021, The President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella spoke about the need to create a European army, after the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan ended the War in Afghanistan allowing the takeover by the Taliban. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also spoke in favour of the creation of the European army to protect Europe's borders.The Italian Army General, Claudio Graziano, Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, also expressed the need to set up a European army as soon as possible

8:18 Darth Noel unmasked.

At 35.00 Mins was what looked like the BT Call Centre at Westbrook, Warrington. I worked there in 1997 with the people they actually Showed!!!

The exchange cutover shown at 26:22 was Upminster in 1970, not Holborn.

She's a real doll! Love the way she acts and sus' Noel at the end.

It’s crazy how antiquated 2001 looks nowadays. Oh and this didn’t age well, BT is now a powerhouse in the industry.