I don't think looking at polling patterns before previous elections is much use as a guide when we've had the unique effects of the pandemic on the polling. That said, the unique effect of the pandemic has mostly been to the government's benefit, so I reach the same conclusion on the likely outcome of the next election as the swingback enthusiasts but for different reasons.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No wealth taxes and no student loan tinkering. Lots of pundits got this budget very wrong.
The ft implies that SL changes could be announced separately in a few weeks.
We’ll see.
@BlancheLivermore give us both barrels on the etymology of "pundit" please. I know you can
One of my favourite type of English etymology: our borrowed Indian words.
It means "a learned man" from the Hindi word पंडित - payndit, and came to Hindi from Sanskrit. We used it from around 1670 to mean "a learned Hindu", came to mean a more generally learned chap in about 1820.
Came to mean imbecile ex-footballer burbling nonsense at length in the early 90's.
Now for realty: Boris 40-50 seat majority after October 2023 general election...
So the Tories won't lose the Remain seat defences in seats where there are a lot of graduates.
They didn't in 2019
That was then before the EU exit. The CON lead is now down by 9-11 points
It's mid-terms. How did the Miliband poll leads in 2012/3 at a comparable stage before the next election turnout?
Tories are consistently polling leads in midterm polls; add swingback back to the Tories, new boundaries, and cannibalising the Brexit vote and anything other than a Tory majority at this stage is a rank outsider.
Not according to the punters.
This will be a slow drip drip effect - Tories support will ebb away albeit slowly.
One thing is for sure, the Tories are finished in London. Why would a young, progressive and educated populace vote for the vile Tories?
Maybe because they both welcome the phasing-out of face masks? Why would a young, progressive and educated populace vote for Lockdown Labour? Out here in the sticks, on the other hand, an old, regressive and ignorant populace are begging for more, harsher restrictions, as envisaged by Sir Keir.
There is a paradox that strongest Labour areas (big cities) are the most dovish on Covid. Probably why Sadiq Khan has slowly shifted to a more dovish position…
Memo to Dr Nagpaul: If we are all to be forced to put up with an endless diet of miserable, destructive rules to please your members, then the least you can all fucking well do in return is co-operate with an initiative to crush this pandemic that is vastly more important and effective than having to go back to wrapping a stupid piece of cloth around your face every time you get out of your seat in a restaurant to take a damn piss, or deciding which five other members of your social circle are going to be invited to your birthday party at said restaurant. Besides which, I think we are all reasonably entitled to expect medical professionals employed by the state to follow good medical science, rather than digging their heels in because of bullshit they read on Facebook about Bill Gates's invisible microchips.
These bloody people.
I wish we could do a Reagan on the anti-vaxxers, vaccine skeptics, and other similiar idiots in the NHS and sack the lot of them.
I don't blame you. I was so bloody pissed off when I read that bollocks from the BMA chair this morning. It is one thing to have valid concerns about how on Earth the system would cope if all the refusers got the chop, but quite another to make excuses for them, shortly after you have had a hissy fit about the Government refusing to force everybody back into face gags and not being allowed to see their own friends and family when they want.
Every single member of NHS staff who won't take the vaccine ought ideally to be put in the same category as the refusers in social care and get shoved out the door. Not only are they an avoidable risk to their own patients, but they are actively conspiring to lengthen a pandemic that has placed the whole health and care sector under prolonged, acute stress. If their vaccinated colleagues don't want to strangle them then it would be fascinating to hear why.
The problem is, of course, that the buggers know they have safety in numbers, so nobody dare touch them.
This is his master graph, mid-term vote estimated by average NEV in opposition on the x-axis vs final election result on the y-axis, in terms of opposition lead. Yes, no axis titles, blame Rod and the website I got the graph from.
This is his conclusion to article written on this sit in May 2014.
"So it seems clear now – the Tories are set to win most votes, probably most seats and have an outside, but not insignificant chance of a majority in 2015."
2017 does not help the model. It's an outlier, so lying outside, you could call it Sir Outlier of Outliershire.
2019, however, I make it an average NEV lead by Labour of 0 %, which corresponds to a 12 % government win on his graph.
Now, remind me how that worked out?
Swingback happens often enough that it is a good guide for punters. But it's not infallible.
Memo to Dr Nagpaul: If we are all to be forced to put up with an endless diet of miserable, destructive rules to please your members, then the least you can all fucking well do in return is co-operate with an initiative to crush this pandemic that is vastly more important and effective than having to go back to wrapping a stupid piece of cloth around your face every time you get out of your seat in a restaurant to take a damn piss, or deciding which five other members of your social circle are going to be invited to your birthday party at said restaurant. Besides which, I think we are all reasonably entitled to expect medical professionals employed by the state to follow good medical science, rather than digging their heels in because of bullshit they read on Facebook about Bill Gates's invisible microchips.
These bloody people.
I wish we could do a Reagan on the anti-vaxxers, vaccine skeptics, and other similiar idiots in the NHS and sack the lot of them.
I don't blame you. I was so bloody pissed off when I read that bollocks from the BMA chair this morning. It is one thing to have valid concerns about how on Earth the system would cope if all the refusers got the chop, but quite another to make excuses for them, shortly after you have had a hissy fit about the Government refusing to force everybody back into face gags and not being allowed to see their own friends and family when they want.
Every single member of NHS staff who won't take the vaccine ought ideally to be put in the same category as the refusers in social care and get shoved out the door. Not only are they an avoidable risk to their own patients, but they are actively conspiring to lengthen a pandemic that has placed the whole health and care sector under prolonged, acute stress. If their vaccinated colleagues don't want to strangle them then it would be fascinating to hear why.
The problem is, of course, that the buggers know they have safety in numbers, so nobody dare touch them.
And we’ve just effectively sent a whole slice of the workforce, on whom we depended, home, so the NHS needs every worker it can get right now.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
This reminds me of a header some time ago, predicting Jess Phillips would eventually lead a coalition government to sort out the mess arising from Brexit negotiations.
Also, swingback - as defined above - appears to be literally nothing to do with polling and everything to do with actual votes cast. Which is a neat twist that I rather like.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
I'd go for Cloud 23. On a clear day the views are gorgeous. (It's on the 23rd floor). Took my wife there on our first date. Maybe I have coasted a bit since then, on reflection. Can't say for certain what the afternoon teas are like but my oldest daughter's been and approved.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
It’s for my wife (and friend) wanting something before the Suede concert they are heading to.
I pointed out I knew people more likely to know suitable options than her Mancunian friends
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
It’s for my wife (and friend) wanting something before the Suede concert they are heading to.
I pointed out I knew people more likely to know suitable options than her Mancunian friends
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
I'd go for Cloud 23. On a clear day the views are gorgeous. (It's on the 23rd floor). Took my wife there on our first date. Maybe I have coasted a bit since then, on reflection. Can't say for certain what the afternoon teas are like but my oldest daughter's been and approved.
We had afternoon tea at Cloud23 a few years ago it was cracking and worth it for the view. A little walk from the city centre but worth it.
Not sure whether I'm "young, progressive and educated" or "old, repressive and ignorant" as someone has put it. I suppose making a ludicrous generalisation is much easier than putting forward an argument - perhaps I'll try it, won't be the first time, probably won't be the last.
Budget Day and the Chancellor continues to show the kind of largesse usually only associated by those seeing an election on the horizon. I realise in these relaxed days of low interest rates and inflation increasing the national debt is nothing worrying about and the continuing recruitment of workers for the Ministry of Debt Management, as witnessed by the figures, must be the explanation as to why unemployment has not reached the levels once predicted.
I suspect when I price up my 2023 trip to Vegas and see the APD surcharge I'll have to warn Mrs Stodge I'll have to have a lot of luck if we're going to eat at Wolfgang Puck (scans well).
Heard a little of the Rachel Reeves response - it's often said Budget Day tells you the degree to which any Chancellor is really after a move next door in Downing Street but it should be Starmer tonight who is a little more concerned. It will do Reeves little harm to be the dutiful and loyal Shadow CoE and while the thread topic is guaranteed to give Conservatives nightmares it's stretching credibility a little at this time.
I could see her as Prime Minister and she has done her prospects no harm at all today.
Plenty more French polling today - Harris Interactive puts Zemmour in front of Le Pen irrespective of the LR candidate but Elabe has (among likely voters) Macron on 23%, Le Pen 19%, Zemmour 15% and Bertrand 13%.
Bertrand does seem the most popular of the LR candidates but as yet he's not got to a position to challenge the front two or three in the first round ballot.
Nice to see the UK Covid dashboard now showing the numbers having heard a third or booster shot (11.7% but based on the inaccurate NIMS numbers). I'll be pilloried by the usual suspects but the case and death figures are again not easy reading even if we are at the top of the wave and starting to crest downward - the "collapse" in number still a few days off it would seem.
Ladies and gentlemen, for your edification, I present the latest entrant in the crowded field for Hypocrite of the Year:
From the Graun, one week ago:
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s council chair, said plan B was devised to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. “As doctors working on the frontline, we can categorically say that time is now,” he added.
...
He added: “It is wilfully negligent of the Westminster government not to be taking any further action to reduce the spread of infection, such as mandatory mask wearing, physical distancing and ventilation requirements in high-risk settings, particularly indoor crowded spaces."
And today:
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “The BMA fully supports the Covid vaccination rollout and, given the effectiveness of the vaccine, it’s important that every NHS worker is vaccinated, other than those who can’t for medical reasons.
“There is, however, an important distinction between believing every healthcare worker should be vaccinated and advocating for mandatory vaccinations; this comes with its own legal, ethical and practical implications that must be considered."
Summary: enforcement of masks and social distancing for the entire population by legislative diktat, every day until God alone knows when = urgent and necessary, should be done right now. Medical staff having an inoculation once every six months = an unacceptable infringement of personal choice.
Memo to Dr Nagpaul: If we are all to be forced to put up with an endless diet of miserable, destructive rules to please your members, then the least you can all fucking well do in return is co-operate with an initiative to crush this pandemic that is vastly more important and effective than having to go back to wrapping a stupid piece of cloth around your face every time you get out of your seat in a restaurant to take a damn piss, or deciding which five other members of your social circle are going to be invited to your birthday party at said restaurant. Besides which, I think we are all reasonably entitled to expect medical professionals employed by the state to follow good medical science, rather than digging their heels in because of bullshit they read on Facebook about Bill Gates's invisible microchips.
These bloody people.
I've pointed out previously that the vaccination question seems to trigger educated and intelligent people in to fits of panic and hysteria. Surely the fact that some doctors are not accepting the vaccine should cause those who go on and on about 'following the science' to question their own assumptions.
On a practical level, if you force the doctors and other medical professionals who refuse to take the vaccine out of the NHS, nothing is going to get any better. Things are going to get a whole lot worse for the NHS, because there would be no one to replace them. There is also the problem of the cost of actually paying these people off. Isn't it just easier to make them take tests so they know they don't have Covid, and let them get on with their work?
Rachel Reeves is certainly a competent and centrist alternative to Starmer if he goes. Remember too the last time a Leader of the Opposition was forced out, IDS in 2003, they were also replaced by their Shadow Chancellor.
However even if she does become Labour leader and PM I cannot see her her winning a majority, let alone a landslide, certainly without major gains in Scotland
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
Thanks. The issue with that is the regions are not a large selection to run an analysis on.
I've taken the data from that link for local authorities, then taken the data from the ONS for Covid19 deaths by local authorities here and done a vlookup for where the Area Code exactly matches on the two sheets to get the deaths and the population density. That data is then ranked.
From that, there's 368 pairs of data. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is 0.3099 and a p-value of 6.15184E-10
So that's from my understanding a moderate correlation with a very high probability that the correlation is real.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Whereas you always do, now do one. Back to ignoring your posts.
Rachel Reeves is certainly a competent and centrist alternative to Starmer if he goes. Remember too the last time a Leader of the Opposition was forced out, IDS in 2003, they were also replaced by their Shadow Chancellor.
However even if she does become Labour leader and PM I cannot see her her winning a majority, let alone a landslide, certainly without major gains in Scotland
I don't really see her as leader. However there are people out there that voted for Corbyn, Brown, and no doubt some chumps that voted for both.
Bring it on. These people seem not to realise that we invaded them less than 80 years ago. That they weren't in charge at the time doesn't make it any better.
Memo to Dr Nagpaul: If we are all to be forced to put up with an endless diet of miserable, destructive rules to please your members, then the least you can all fucking well do in return is co-operate with an initiative to crush this pandemic that is vastly more important and effective than having to go back to wrapping a stupid piece of cloth around your face every time you get out of your seat in a restaurant to take a damn piss, or deciding which five other members of your social circle are going to be invited to your birthday party at said restaurant. Besides which, I think we are all reasonably entitled to expect medical professionals employed by the state to follow good medical science, rather than digging their heels in because of bullshit they read on Facebook about Bill Gates's invisible microchips.
These bloody people.
I wish we could do a Reagan on the anti-vaxxers, vaccine skeptics, and other similiar idiots in the NHS and sack the lot of them.
I don't blame you. I was so bloody pissed off when I read that bollocks from the BMA chair this morning. It is one thing to have valid concerns about how on Earth the system would cope if all the refusers got the chop, but quite another to make excuses for them, shortly after you have had a hissy fit about the Government refusing to force everybody back into face gags and not being allowed to see their own friends and family when they want.
Every single member of NHS staff who won't take the vaccine ought ideally to be put in the same category as the refusers in social care and get shoved out the door. Not only are they an avoidable risk to their own patients, but they are actively conspiring to lengthen a pandemic that has placed the whole health and care sector under prolonged, acute stress. If their vaccinated colleagues don't want to strangle them then it would be fascinating to hear why.
The problem is, of course, that the buggers know they have safety in numbers, so nobody dare touch them.
And we’ve just effectively sent a whole slice of the workforce, on whom we depended, home, so the NHS needs every worker it can get right now.
We're putting unvaxxed healthcare workers out of their jobs here in New York (and other places in the US) and we're coping. The unvaxxed rate among health care workers in NY State declined by 8 percentage points to just 8% of staff (which skewed mostly towards ancillary workers, not clinical staff) just before the mandate kicked in.
I just learnt it. I think it's used more in North America than the UK. It means, usually of a woman, plump and voluptuous.
It literally means juicy, from the from Yiddish zaftik, from High German saft for juice (from which we get the word sap)
saft / sap, is that part of the p->f Germanic sound shift? That would indicate "sap" has been borrowed from a Latin language later?
It came to Old English as sæp, from the Proto-Germanic sapam, which was also the source for saft, so I was a bit off saying we got sap from saft; should have said they're related.
No wealth taxes and no student loan tinkering. Lots of pundits got this budget very wrong.
The ft implies that SL changes could be announced separately in a few weeks.
We’ll see.
@BlancheLivermore give us both barrels on the etymology of "pundit" please. I know you can
One of my favourite type of English etymology: our borrowed Indian words.
It means "a learned man" from the Hindi word पंडित - payndit, and came to Hindi from Sanskrit. We used it from around 1670 to mean "a learned Hindu", came to mean a more generally learned chap in about 1820.
The reason it's so good is because the word is directly related to the history of etymology, and the discovery that Indic languages and European ones were related. And so English closed the loop by borrowing that word. I do love etymology.
Bugger. The end of the world is definitely nigh. I have just read an opinion piece I agreed with without looking at the author. Then I found out it was written by Paul Krugman!!! Arggh!
At least it was only tangentially about economics.
I saw the first episode of foundation for free. It did not make me inclined to pay for the rest but it did make me go back to the books. Which, to be honest, was something of a disappointment. Asimov's characters are very much based in the 1950s. There is hardly a significant female character in the first 3 books and the patriarchy is so painfully obvious that even I noticed it. Most of the characters are paste board and gone in a flash. Salvor Hardin is a modest exception but jeez. The scope and vision of the concept is still excellent, bordering on brilliant but the way it is written is frankly a distraction. His Caves of Steel trilogy was much better written.
Dune, on the other hand, is simply a work of genius. It is a complicated, interconnected and evolving society where shards of humanity have been teased out and perfected at a cost. The characters have flaws and depth. I am really looking forward to the new film as the previous effort was so disappointing.
Whilst what you say on Foundation is true to an extent, I read it for the first time last year and think it holds up pretty well. Not so much on characterisation, for the reasons you give, but I think the story was bound to be like that to some degree given the nature of the story, vignettes within a wider tapestry, more like short stories with the only 'character' really being the the changing galaxy. The later Foundation books are technically better stories in that story structure and character, but I felt less interesting for getting away from that.
People love the new Dune film but I don't really get it. Obtuse, slow, monotonously acted, despite epic visuals.
Also there were four Baley/Olivaw books, not three, and I preferred them too.
Prayer of thanks to the Chancellor this Budget evening:
His name is Sunak Oh, Rishi Sunak You made me happy (sort of) This Budget day Huge public spending Tax cuts still pending And you did not take My higher rate pension tax relief Away.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Whereas you always do, now do one. Back to ignoring your posts.
Memo to Dr Nagpaul: If we are all to be forced to put up with an endless diet of miserable, destructive rules to please your members, then the least you can all fucking well do in return is co-operate with an initiative to crush this pandemic that is vastly more important and effective than having to go back to wrapping a stupid piece of cloth around your face every time you get out of your seat in a restaurant to take a damn piss, or deciding which five other members of your social circle are going to be invited to your birthday party at said restaurant. Besides which, I think we are all reasonably entitled to expect medical professionals employed by the state to follow good medical science, rather than digging their heels in because of bullshit they read on Facebook about Bill Gates's invisible microchips.
These bloody people.
I wish we could do a Reagan on the anti-vaxxers, vaccine skeptics, and other similiar idiots in the NHS and sack the lot of them.
I don't blame you. I was so bloody pissed off when I read that bollocks from the BMA chair this morning. It is one thing to have valid concerns about how on Earth the system would cope if all the refusers got the chop, but quite another to make excuses for them, shortly after you have had a hissy fit about the Government refusing to force everybody back into face gags and not being allowed to see their own friends and family when they want.
Every single member of NHS staff who won't take the vaccine ought ideally to be put in the same category as the refusers in social care and get shoved out the door. Not only are they an avoidable risk to their own patients, but they are actively conspiring to lengthen a pandemic that has placed the whole health and care sector under prolonged, acute stress. If their vaccinated colleagues don't want to strangle them then it would be fascinating to hear why.
The problem is, of course, that the buggers know they have safety in numbers, so nobody dare touch them.
And we’ve just effectively sent a whole slice of the workforce, on whom we depended, home, so the NHS needs every worker it can get right now.
We're putting unvaxxed healthcare workers out of their jobs here in New York (and other places in the US) and we're coping. The unvaxxed rate among health care workers in NY State declined by 8 percentage points to just 8% of staff (which skewed mostly towards ancillary workers, not clinical staff) just before the mandate kicked in.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
It’s also a lot safer - less chance of things being spiked
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Do you think she shouldn't reconsider calling her opponents "scum"?
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Do you think she shouldn't reconsider calling her opponents "scum"?
And tbh plenty of people who she needs to change their vote from the scum to labour too.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
It’s also a lot safer - less chance of things being spiked
There's a nightclub boycott tonight I think, to highlight this issue.
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Do you think she shouldn't reconsider calling her opponents "scum"?
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
It’s also a lot safer - less chance of things being spiked
There's a nightclub boycott tonight I think, to highlight this issue.
There was one in Durham last night which the organiser was on the local news stating it was a success. Quite a few clubs closed in solidarity with them. Although as it was a Tuesday night I don’t really know how busy Durham is that night.
But if it raises awareness and gets clubs and security staff to take it more seriously then all well and good.
German cases are still rising vertically. It looks like they'll exceed the peak from last winter soon.
Remember Leon’s Second Golden Rule of Covid: if any state, region, province, or polity ever exhibits a hint of smugness about its handling of Covid, then Covid will inevitably turn on them, and then they don’t feel so smug any more
I can’t think of a single case where the rule has been truly broken. From Britain to Vietnam, from Florida to Ireland, from Hong Kong to Sweden to Kerala, all the boasters get their asses bitten, in the end. Look at Czechia now, and recall they had a Covid-is-beaten party in Prague
The ONE possible exception is South Korea. Which maintains an enviable record, and has done from the start. But then, they were never smug, they just saw Covid-19 for what it is: a new nasty version of SARS, and they put on their masks, and they got to work. No boasting
No wealth taxes and no student loan tinkering. Lots of pundits got this budget very wrong.
The ft implies that SL changes could be announced separately in a few weeks.
We’ll see.
@BlancheLivermore give us both barrels on the etymology of "pundit" please. I know you can
One of my favourite type of English etymology: our borrowed Indian words.
It means "a learned man" from the Hindi word पंडित - payndit, and came to Hindi from Sanskrit. We used it from around 1670 to mean "a learned Hindu", came to mean a more generally learned chap in about 1820.
The reason it's so good is because the word is directly related to the history of etymology, and the discovery that Indic languages and European ones were related. And so English closed the loop by borrowing that word. I do love etymology.
Me too. Although my limited knowledge relates mostly to words borrowed from Arabic. There are the obvious ones (alcohol, algebra, alchemy, genie) but lots of less obvious ones (e.g. magazine, tariff, zero, coffee, saffron, chemise)
I think this is definitely one of the reasons people outside the bigger cities tend to vote Tory these days
Sam Freedman @Samfr Fuel duty freezes have cost a cumulative £65 billion in revenue since 2010/11 according to the OBR. Most expensive newspaper campaign in history?
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
It’s also a lot safer - less chance of things being spiked
There's a nightclub boycott tonight I think, to highlight this issue.
My granddaughter at Leeds University only goes out with a small trusted group to restaurants, and will not go to clubs or similar student events
This is a serious issue but good to see students taking things into their own hands
Police have arrested a man accused of making threats against the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
Sources close to Rayner, who is away from parliament on bereavement leave, confirmed she was the women concerned after Greater Manchester police announced the arrest.
The Guardian understands Rayner has cancelled her constituency surgeries in recent weeks amid concerns for her safety – linked to a wider increase of abuse and threats, including death threats, against her.
Friends said she had been deeply affected by the abuse, which had been taken particularly hard by her children. One described the deputy leader as “not in a good place” and said she had been unable to make many public appearances because of fears for her safety.
No one should be put in that position for entering politics. Our politics is fragmented, polarised and divided. It’s an awful place at times
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
I sort of knew at the start of your post you'd get around to a "but" in the end. You didn't disappoint.
Do you think she shouldn't reconsider calling her opponents "scum"?
Not sure this is the best time to bring that up.
Whoever has been arrested is scum it seems.
I think its pertinence is enhanced.
But you're quite right that it's appropriate opprobrium for the disgusting man doing this.
As Mark E. Smith put it in his rather idiosyncratic version of Jerusalem:
I was very let down from the budget I was expecting a one million quid handout I was very disappointed It was the government's fault It was the fault of the government
Prof. Devi Sridhar @devisridhar · 22m I get asked a lot about how ‘to live’ with high case rates: my suggestion is to mask properly, stay away from crowds & keep your personal space, be fully vaccinated & test regularly with LFTs & get outside as much as possible (indoors: open windows/check ventilation).
===
Or, stay away from children as most of the cases are in the 5-19 age group as it burns through the kids. Most harmlessly.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
It’s also a lot safer - less chance of things being spiked
There's a nightclub boycott tonight I think, to highlight this issue.
My granddaughter at Leeds University only goes out with a small trusted group to restaurants, and will not go to clubs or similar student events
This is a serious issue but good to see students taking things into their own hands
Yes, all power to their elbow. Hopefully it will drive the change they need.
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Johnson never does detail.
Even when pulling a pint.
Tbf he nails the ‘what the fuck is that who cares I’m slightly pissed’ gaze really well. And that is the gaze of the trainee barkeep at the student union bar on day 2 of the job, shortly before being sacked
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
Dollar-sized potato cakes with a dollop of creme fraiche and the caviar perched on top.
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
That rather lends itself to a caption competition.
Boris: What the fuck is that?
Rishi: Just shut the fuck up and drink it. We're being filmed.
That's got to be a photo op managed by Team Rishi. Not only does he look bright and trim while his boss looks confused (and just look at that shirt/waist line), but we also can't see the box that the CofE is presumably standing on to hide is dinky stature.
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Johnson never does detail.
Even when pulling a pint.
Tbf he nails the ‘what the fuck is that who cares I’m slightly pissed’ gaze really well. And that is the gaze of the trainee barkeep at the student union bar on day 2 of the job, shortly before being sacked
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
The British do love a genial drunk
Yeah, we all make space for the genial drunk to sit next to us on the bus...don't we?
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
I like it on a teaspoonful of really creamy scrambled egg, on melba toast.
I usually need more than I can afford. I love it when my Russian friend comes over to stay.
Prof. Devi Sridhar @devisridhar · 22m I get asked a lot about how ‘to live’ with high case rates: my suggestion is to mask properly, stay away from crowds & keep your personal space, be fully vaccinated & test regularly with LFTs & get outside as much as possible (indoors: open windows/check ventilation).
===
Or, stay away from children as most of the cases are in the 5-19 age group as it burns through the kids. Most harmlessly.
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
Serve on mother-of-pearl spoons and serve the eggs quite cold and neat
Good caviar is heaven. Diluting the taste with chunks of flatbread and salmon and sour cream is hellish and wrong
Ice cold shots of pure vodka are the best accompaniment. Vodka has no flavor. All you get is the caviar
I was taught this by the expert caviarologist at the Belmond Hotel, St Petersburg, so I know it is The Truth
As for quantity, just buy as much as you can comfortably afford. Caviar is like cocaine. People will always want more, once they get the taste
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
Canopies are very useful in Leeds. Dont want rain diluting your fizz.
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
That rather lends itself to a caption competition.
Boris: What the fuck is that?
Rishi: Just shut the fuck up and drink it. We're being filmed.
That's got to be a photo op managed by Team Rishi. Not only does he look bright and trim while his boss looks confused (and just look at that shirt/waist line), but we also can't see the box that the CofE is presumably standing on to hide is dinky stature.
Clever.
It also reiterates that Johnson has a big head, is full of gas, is flopping over at the sides (that's enough - Ed).
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
Serve on mother-of-pearl spoons and serve the eggs quite cold and neat
Good caviar is heaven. Diluting the taste with chunks of flatbread and salmon and sour cream is hellish and wrong
Ice cold shots of pure vodka are the best accompaniment. Vodka has no flavor. All you get is the caviar
I was taught this by the expert caviarologist at the Belmond Hotel, St Petersburg, so I know it is The Truth
As for quantity, just buy as much as you can comfortably afford. Caviar is like cocaine. People will always want more, once they get the taste
LOL. The difference in our advice is because you obviously love caviar.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
I'd probably recommend the top end hotels, somewhere like The Malmaison, The Midland, The Stock Exchange, Hotel Gotham, The Radisson, Cloud 23 in the Hilton.
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Who tf goes out of their way to have a posh afternoon tea in Manchester? Rich teetotal Lancastrian aunt from whom you hope to inherit?
A lot of the afternoon teas involve prosecco.
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
One thing I’ve noticed whenever I’ve been in Leeds recently is groups of women going out in the afternoon rather than evening.
It's a lot cheaper than a night out and you get a lot more drinks and food for your money.
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
Canopies are very useful in Leeds. Dont want rain diluting your fizz.
For all my typos, can I refer you all to my social media team.
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Johnson never does detail.
Even when pulling a pint.
Tbf he nails the ‘what the fuck is that who cares I’m slightly pissed’ gaze really well. And that is the gaze of the trainee barkeep at the student union bar on day 2 of the job, shortly before being sacked
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
That rather lends itself to a caption competition.
Boris: What the fuck is that?
Rishi: Just shut the fuck up and drink it. We're being filmed.
That's got to be a photo op managed by Team Rishi. Not only does he look bright and trim while his boss looks confused (and just look at that shirt/waist line), but we also can't see the box that the CofE is presumably standing on to hide is dinky stature.
Clever.
Except Rishi is teetotal so it is more likely a Boris/CCHQ stunt. Rishi is looking at the camera taking the photo. Is Boris looking at (and raising the glass towards) a different camera, maybe television?
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Johnson never does detail.
Even when pulling a pint.
Tbf he nails the ‘what the fuck is that who cares I’m slightly pissed’ gaze really well. And that is the gaze of the trainee barkeep at the student union bar on day 2 of the job, shortly before being sacked
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
The British do love a genial drunk
Yeah, we all make space for the genial drunk to sit next to us on the bus...don't we?
Emphasis on genial.
Otherwise agreed. For a bus journey I’d probably prefer Sunak in the next seat. He’d sit there quietly working then go. Without a word. Also he’s 2 foot 6 so he wouldn’t take up much space
But when I turn on the telly Or fire up the iPad i am always, in some form, seeking entertainment. Drunken Boris provides that
Note that we also forgive drunken people more than we forgive the sober. Keir Starmer is quintessentially sober. So he gets judged as such. Boris can say mad shit and many smile and say ‘well, he’s always half-cut, isn’t he? Who hasn’t been there?’
In this, if nothing else, he really does resemble Churchill
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Johnson never does detail.
Even when pulling a pint.
Tbf he nails the ‘what the fuck is that who cares I’m slightly pissed’ gaze really well. And that is the gaze of the trainee barkeep at the student union bar on day 2 of the job, shortly before being sacked
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
The British do love a genial drunk
Yes, it may not be acting though...
Just honouring history - many great leaders frequently three sheets to the wind.
@helenlewis Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Johnson never does detail.
Even when pulling a pint.
Tbf he nails the ‘what the fuck is that who cares I’m slightly pissed’ gaze really well. And that is the gaze of the trainee barkeep at the student union bar on day 2 of the job, shortly before being sacked
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
The British do love a genial drunk
Yes, it may not be acting though...
Who was the last famously "tired and emotional" / "drunk as a lord, so after a discreet interval they will probably make him one" politician?
OT any caviar experts? How much do you need for canapes for six? And what's the best way to serve? I was thinking Ritz crackers with smoked salmon and caviar on top but noticed James Bond had toast soldiers.
Once again - peak pb.com.
I take it by way of suppository these days, CBA with the blinis and stuff
German cases are still rising vertically. It looks like they'll exceed the peak from last winter soon.
Remember Leon’s Second Golden Rule of Covid: if any state, region, province, or polity ever exhibits a hint of smugness about its handling of Covid, then Covid will inevitably turn on them, and then they don’t feel so smug any more
I can’t think of a single case where the rule has been truly broken. From Britain to Vietnam, from Florida to Ireland, from Hong Kong to Sweden to Kerala, all the boasters get their asses bitten, in the end. Look at Czechia now, and recall they had a Covid-is-beaten party in Prague
The ONE possible exception is South Korea. Which maintains an enviable record, and has done from the start. But then, they were never smug, they just saw Covid-19 for what it is: a new nasty version of SARS, and they put on their masks, and they got to work. No boasting
Comments
Every single member of NHS staff who won't take the vaccine ought ideally to be put in the same category as the refusers in social care and get shoved out the door. Not only are they an avoidable risk to their own patients, but they are actively conspiring to lengthen a pandemic that has placed the whole health and care sector under prolonged, acute stress. If their vaccinated colleagues don't want to strangle them then it would be fascinating to hear why.
The problem is, of course, that the buggers know they have safety in numbers, so nobody dare touch them.
Any idea of the best place in Manchester for afternoon tea?
But my first choice would be The Ivy.
Or if you fancy a small taxi journey, The Lowry.
Can't say for certain what the afternoon teas are like but my oldest daughter's been and approved.
I pointed out I knew people more likely to know suitable options than her Mancunian friends
There's usually some good deals out there (especially with shopping trips and pre theatre) that makes it fun.
As a non tea drinker, it's not my thing, but it is a relatively fun day out for some.
Not sure whether I'm "young, progressive and educated" or "old, repressive and ignorant" as someone has put it. I suppose making a ludicrous generalisation is much easier than putting forward an argument - perhaps I'll try it, won't be the first time, probably won't be the last.
Budget Day and the Chancellor continues to show the kind of largesse usually only associated by those seeing an election on the horizon. I realise in these relaxed days of low interest rates and inflation increasing the national debt is nothing worrying about and the continuing recruitment of workers for the Ministry of Debt Management, as witnessed by the figures, must be the explanation as to why unemployment has not reached the levels once predicted.
I suspect when I price up my 2023 trip to Vegas and see the APD surcharge I'll have to warn Mrs Stodge I'll have to have a lot of luck if we're going to eat at Wolfgang Puck (scans well).
Heard a little of the Rachel Reeves response - it's often said Budget Day tells you the degree to which any Chancellor is really after a move next door in Downing Street but it should be Starmer tonight who is a little more concerned. It will do Reeves little harm to be the dutiful and loyal Shadow CoE and while the thread topic is guaranteed to give Conservatives nightmares it's stretching credibility a little at this time.
I could see her as Prime Minister and she has done her prospects no harm at all today.
Plenty more French polling today - Harris Interactive puts Zemmour in front of Le Pen irrespective of the LR candidate but Elabe has (among likely voters) Macron on 23%, Le Pen 19%, Zemmour 15% and Bertrand 13%.
Bertrand does seem the most popular of the LR candidates but as yet he's not got to a position to challenge the front two or three in the first round ballot.
Nice to see the UK Covid dashboard now showing the numbers having heard a third or booster shot (11.7% but based on the inaccurate NIMS numbers). I'll be pilloried by the usual suspects but the case and death figures are again not easy reading even if we are at the top of the wave and starting to crest downward - the "collapse" in number still a few days off it would seem.
I just learnt it. I think it's used more in North America than the UK. It means, usually of a woman, plump and voluptuous.
It literally means juicy, from the from Yiddish zaftik, from High German saft for juice (from which we get the word sap)
On a practical level, if you force the doctors and other medical professionals who refuse to take the vaccine out of the NHS, nothing is going to get any better. Things are going to get a whole lot worse for the NHS, because there would be no one to replace them. There is also the problem of the cost of actually paying these people off. Isn't it just easier to make them take tests so they know they don't have Covid, and let them get on with their work?
However even if she does become Labour leader and PM I cannot see her her winning a majority, let alone a landslide, certainly without major gains in Scotland
The Hilton in Leeds does unlimited canopies and prosecco for like £20 per person.
At the labour conference she used deliberately inflammatory language to pander to her supporter base, doubled down on it when rightly challenged. It in no way justifies this mans actions but I hope she will reconsider such statements in future.
https://twitter.com/CBeaune/status/1453427936372183040
I've taken the data from that link for local authorities, then taken the data from the ONS for Covid19 deaths by local authorities here and done a vlookup for where the Area Code exactly matches on the two sheets to get the deaths and the population density. That data is then ranked.
From that, there's 368 pairs of data. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is 0.3099 and a p-value of 6.15184E-10
So that's from my understanding a moderate correlation with a very high probability that the correlation is real.
People love the new Dune film but I don't really get it. Obtuse, slow, monotonously acted, despite epic visuals.
Also there were four Baley/Olivaw books, not three, and I preferred them too.
His name is Sunak
Oh, Rishi Sunak
You made me happy (sort of)
This Budget day
Huge public spending
Tax cuts still pending
And you did not take
My higher rate pension tax relief
Away.
Sympathy to all the family
And puts politics into perspective
Avoid York, last time the Mrs went there a tramp starred through the window at her..
Whoever has been arrested is scum it seems.
But if it raises awareness and gets clubs and security staff to take it more seriously then all well and good.
I can’t think of a single case where the rule has been truly broken. From Britain to Vietnam, from Florida to Ireland, from Hong Kong to Sweden to Kerala, all the boasters get their asses bitten, in the end. Look at Czechia now, and recall they had a Covid-is-beaten party in Prague
The ONE possible exception is South Korea. Which maintains an enviable record, and has done from the start. But then, they were never smug, they just saw Covid-19 for what it is: a new nasty version of SARS, and they put on their masks, and they got to work. No boasting
Tell me you've never worked behind a bar without telling me you've never worked behind a bar.
Sam Freedman
@Samfr
Fuel duty freezes have cost a cumulative £65 billion in revenue since 2010/11 according to the OBR. Most expensive newspaper campaign in history?
We remember Labour's "fuel escalator".
This is a serious issue but good to see students taking things into their own hands
But you're quite right that it's appropriate opprobrium for the disgusting man doing this.
I was very let down from the budget
I was expecting a one million quid handout
I was very disappointed
It was the government's fault
It was the fault of the government
Even when pulling a pint.
@devisridhar
·
22m
I get asked a lot about how ‘to live’ with high case rates: my suggestion is to mask properly, stay away from crowds & keep your personal space, be fully vaccinated & test regularly with LFTs & get outside as much as possible (indoors: open windows/check ventilation).
===
Or, stay away from children as most of the cases are in the 5-19 age group as it burns through the kids. Most harmlessly.
Boris: What the fuck is that?
Rishi: Just shut the fuck up and drink it. We're being filmed.
Sunak looks much less believable
I wonder if this is a hidden aspect to Boris’ appeal. He always comes across as someone who has had a couple, and is sort-of trying to hide it, or is just letting rip and doesn’t care
The British do love a genial drunk
Boris: Ah, alcohol my old friend.
Rishi: I wish this was a Pepsi.
Clever.
I usually need more than I can afford. I love it when my Russian friend comes over to stay.
But the best way is surely to be vaccinated and get a booster if offered it.
Or is that Gove?
Good caviar is heaven. Diluting the taste with chunks of flatbread and salmon and sour cream is hellish and wrong
Ice cold shots of pure vodka are the best accompaniment. Vodka has no flavor. All you get is the caviar
I was taught this by the expert caviarologist at the Belmond Hotel, St Petersburg, so I know it is The Truth
As for quantity, just buy as much as you can comfortably afford. Caviar is like cocaine. People will always want more, once they get the taste
Tories haven't mentioned this, I wonder why?
Labour lead soon
Otherwise agreed. For a bus journey I’d probably prefer Sunak in the next seat. He’d sit there quietly working then go. Without a word. Also he’s 2 foot 6 so he wouldn’t take up much space
But when I turn on the telly Or fire up the iPad i am always, in some form, seeking entertainment. Drunken Boris provides that
Note that we also forgive drunken people more than we forgive the sober. Keir Starmer is quintessentially sober. So he gets judged as such. Boris can say mad shit and many smile and say ‘well, he’s always half-cut, isn’t he? Who hasn’t been there?’
In this, if nothing else, he really does resemble Churchill
George Brown?
https://twitter.com/CBeaune/status/1453427936372183040