Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
That don’t impress me much?
Yep! - glad to see people get it when I do that sort of nonsense. I'd have to stop doing it otherwise.
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
I'll give you no guiding political philosophy - or at least not a consistent one. He's sort of pro-liberty, but that only lasted very briefly in the fires of the pandemic. Though we'd have probably had even less liberty with other PMs. No strategy for delivering it - well that follows from the above. But yes. No deep ideas - again, possibly a vague principle of liberty, but not strongly held. But I'd say his communication is pretty good and his engagement with reality as good as any. I don't think any other PM could have delivered the 'some of us will die' speech at the beginning of the pandemic so well.
I disagree on engagement with reality, and I think it's an important one because it explains both his strength as a campaigner and his weakness in government. Having a weak grasp on reality actually helps him politically because it allows him to say things that aren't true without appearing dishonest. But in government reality matters. I would be interested if anyone knows the highest level Johnson achieved in a STEM subject as he gives the strong impression of being unable to think in quantitative terms. Eg does he have A level maths? I would be genuinely surprised if he did. Again, this is the sort of thing that can be a plus politically - it allows him to rattle off statistics without any care as to their accuracy, and the innumerate press corps give him a free pass. But in government it is a disadvantage. Compare and contrast with the highly numerate Thatcher, for instance.
Apple the best. They are causing Facebook real pain.
Apple’s decision to change the privacy settings of iPhones caused an estimated $9.85bn of revenues to evaporate in the second half of this year at Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as their advertising businesses were shaken by the new rules.
Apple introduced its App Tracking Transparency policy in April, which forced apps to ask for permission before they tracked the behaviour of users to serve them personalised ads.
Most users have opted out, leaving advertisers in the dark about how to target them. Advertisers have responded by cutting back their spending at Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and diverted their budgets elsewhere: in particular to Android phone users and to Apple’s own growing ad business.
Providentially, Apple stiffing Facebook means more money for Apple. Huzzah, or not.
This is spot on.
Apple has its own advertising network, where tracking is (can you believe it?) turned on by default. You can go into Settings to disallow it, but even there, it talks about personalisation, whereas for FB, etc. it talks about tracking.
As a consequence, people who advertise on iOS devices are basically forced to use Apple's network. It will - I'm sure - result in tens of billions of dollars of advertising revenue for Apple. It will not actually increase user privacy, because they offer exactly the same programmatic advertising as everyone else.
From memory it offers a lot less tracking opportunities so it's harder for a online shop to run a remarketing campaign on different sites of items you've looked at in the past.
And what it has really scuppered is Meta's and Google's love of tracking things across all devices that you are logged in to.
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
I'm reminded of the book 'The psychology of military incompetence' by Norman Dixon which argued, IIRC, that the qualities one needs for promotion in the army, etc., are historically often positively opposed to those which are needed to actually fight a war well, let alone win it, even in wartime. There is, likewise, a distinction between being able to get elected to run the UK versus actually doing so well, and it's easy to see again how the personal qualities needed can differ in a way which is dysfunctional. A lot of people think this is happening in the case of Mr Johnson. ,
Except that Johnson has one crucial political skill when he is "governing" (not just campaigning)
He can spot talent, and he promotes it rapidly, and he uses it well
Dominic Cumming is one example. Another is Kate Bingham, the Vaccine Woman
Being a good talent-spotter and a good delegator is an underrated ability. Look at the worst modern prime ministers - Brown, TMay. They notably lack this ability. Boris has it, and it may make him a decent prime minister as well as a hugely clever election-winner. We shall see
Nadine Dorries
She offered to look after my two year old son when my daughter needed to use the bathroom, so I think Ms Dorries is OK.
World is screwed. Will continue to be screwed. We have,no right to survive.
World is not screwed. World will be fine, at least until the sun gets too hot.
500 million years ago, the Earth was almost entirely covered in ice. If it hadn't been for a few volcanoes emitting CO2, it would have been stuck as an ice world pretty much forever.
50 million years ago, there was a period when it was about 10 degrees warmer than the present day. The _increase_ in biological activity this caused eventually brought the temperature down by dumping carbon in the deep oceans.
There's no runaway happening here - either way - otherwise such a thing would already have happened.
The big issue for _us_ is what happens when a large proportion of the world's cities are flooded and lots of people have to move.
Perhaps the empty spaces of Siberia will become easier to live in...
Something which is going to be a problem fairly soon (historically speaking) with or without man doing anything.
We suffer from having short racial memories and a short history. We have lived through a relatively stable period that has allowed civilisation to grow in an extremely unusual period of climate stability. This has meant we have planted much of our population in places where we should not have done. Places that would flood in the not too distant future even if man had never appeared on the planet. Moreover our failure to understand or ignore processes such as isostatic readjustment - and to take steps that have made it even worse in places like New Orleans means that we have simply added to our woes.
We are a short lived species lacking a proper sense of how much the world changes of its own accord. As such we will continue to believe we can do something to change it and will remain woefully unprepared for when it is finally realised that we can't.
There are sound economic reasons why human society has developed largely around coasts and rivers. How exactly do you propose to undo that?
You can't. We just have to accept that natural processes will eventually undo it for us with or without our agreement.
So what? Natural processes will eventually undo you and me and everybody else. That isn't generally regarded as an argument against the practise of medicine, which is merely a huge exercise in delaying the inevitable.
The point being argued is that it is possible to prevent either isostatic or eustatic sea level changes. It isn't. So your medicine argument is a straw man with nothing to do with this discussion.
Eustatic? Please can we stop with Brexit!
I thought that made you ecstatic.
No, just one of those slightly tedious things that had to be done
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Apple the best. They are causing Facebook real pain.
Apple’s decision to change the privacy settings of iPhones caused an estimated $9.85bn of revenues to evaporate in the second half of this year at Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as their advertising businesses were shaken by the new rules.
Apple introduced its App Tracking Transparency policy in April, which forced apps to ask for permission before they tracked the behaviour of users to serve them personalised ads.
Most users have opted out, leaving advertisers in the dark about how to target them. Advertisers have responded by cutting back their spending at Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and diverted their budgets elsewhere: in particular to Android phone users and to Apple’s own growing ad business.
Providentially, Apple stiffing Facebook means more money for Apple. Huzzah, or not.
This is spot on.
Apple has its own advertising network, where tracking is (can you believe it?) turned on by default. You can go into Settings to disallow it, but even there, it talks about personalisation, whereas for FB, etc. it talks about tracking.
As a consequence, people who advertise on iOS devices are basically forced to use Apple's network. It will - I'm sure - result in tens of billions of dollars of advertising revenue for Apple. It will not actually increase user privacy, because they offer exactly the same programmatic advertising as everyone else.
From memory it offers a lot less tracking opportunities so it's harder for a online shop to run a remarketing campaign on different sites of items you've looked at in the past.
And what it has really scuppered is Meta's and Google's love of tracking things across all devices that you are logged in to.
I'm not sure that's true: Apple tracks you across all your activity across all your apps across all your Apple devices.
It may not track you on your Windows PC, but that's still a hell of a lot of tracking that's used to sell advertising more efficiently.
And for the record, it works. We have had some incredible success with Apple at Just.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
Although not religious I have a thing I refer to as the 'Sacred Season'. It starts in September around the time of Harvest Festival and Last Night of the Proms. It then continues through the Autumn Equinox, Halloween, Bonfire Night, various birthdays, all the pre Christmas markets and events and then Yule and finally Christmas. Throw in the feast of St Nicholas at the start of December for the kids and there are loads of excuses for celebrations, meals and parties. Lots of family traditions. All against the background of our fantastic changing seasons. Definitely my favourite time of year.
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
I'm reminded of the book 'The psychology of military incompetence' by Norman Dixon which argued, IIRC, that the qualities one needs for promotion in the army, etc., are historically often positively opposed to those which are needed to actually fight a war well, let alone win it, even in wartime. There is, likewise, a distinction between being able to get elected to run the UK versus actually doing so well, and it's easy to see again how the personal qualities needed can differ in a way which is dysfunctional. A lot of people think this is happening in the case of Mr Johnson. ,
Except that Johnson has one crucial political skill when he is "governing" (not just campaigning)
He can spot talent, and he promotes it rapidly, and he uses it well
Dominic Cumming is one example. Another is Kate Bingham, the Vaccine Woman
Being a good talent-spotter and a good delegator is an underrated ability. Look at the worst modern prime ministers - Brown, TMay. They notably lack this ability. Boris has it, and it may make him a decent prime minister as well as a hugely clever election-winner. We shall see
Nadine Dorries
She offered to look after my two year old son when my daughter needed to use the bathroom, so I think Ms Dorries is OK.
Which was the biggest domestic betting market in 2016?
I suspect those who underestimating Boris lost far more than those overestimating him did.
Rather depends on how much you staked. You'd have been a fool to stake much on the Remain campaign. I backed Leave to the hilt and won heavily and had a nibble at Boris for the leadership and lost some of my winnings.
I don't have the figures with me but OGH or TSE do but I expect an order of magnitude more cash was staked on the Remain campaign in 2016 than on Boris's leadership bid. Much more.
I expect those who overestimated Boris still ended up on average betting winners between the two markets. As OGH often says, its about value not winning every bet.
I think you're right, and I came out of it on top by predicting he would win x2 so I can't say MUCH about overestimating him being bad for my bank balance. But I could easily have lost by doing so too. I thought about going big on him, ploughing all my winnings into it, but luckily I chickened out.
No sun — no moon! No morn — no noon — No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member — No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! — November!
Thomas Hood.
That's what a haiku would look like if the Japanese were as good as we are at this stuff.
Dr. Jon Stanley @JonMarcStanley · 1m The UK, through @DavidGHFrost , needs to tidy up the Good Friday Agreement. It cannot be maintained in good faith so long as the EU in mentioned in it.
We have left. So long as they are mentioned they feel we have not. Those references need removed or eventually GFA will fail.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
If you watch Macron in that clip from yesterday, when he said (of Australia) "I don't just think they lied, I know" - then you can see the bitterness, anger and stinging humiliation, in his eyes. AUKUS really hurt. Personally for Macron, and politically for his country
The absurd over-reaction to fish (and everything else) is all about this. They want us to hurt as they have been hurt, and they think they can do it. We need to treat them, cordially, as an enemy from now on, and expect them to behave as such
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
I'll give you no guiding political philosophy - or at least not a consistent one. He's sort of pro-liberty, but that only lasted very briefly in the fires of the pandemic. Though we'd have probably had even less liberty with other PMs. No strategy for delivering it - well that follows from the above. But yes. No deep ideas - again, possibly a vague principle of liberty, but not strongly held. But I'd say his communication is pretty good and his engagement with reality as good as any. I don't think any other PM could have delivered the 'some of us will die' speech at the beginning of the pandemic so well.
I disagree on engagement with reality, and I think it's an important one because it explains both his strength as a campaigner and his weakness in government. Having a weak grasp on reality actually helps him politically because it allows him to say things that aren't true without appearing dishonest. But in government reality matters. I would be interested if anyone knows the highest level Johnson achieved in a STEM subject as he gives the strong impression of being unable to think in quantitative terms. Eg does he have A level maths? I would be genuinely surprised if he did. Again, this is the sort of thing that can be a plus politically - it allows him to rattle off statistics without any care as to their accuracy, and the innumerate press corps give him a free pass. But in government it is a disadvantage. Compare and contrast with the highly numerate Thatcher, for instance.
I've heard it said that being good at Classics (like Boris) is often correlated with being good at mathematics. I do not know how true it is, and if it is true then it might just be that mathematicians are good at remembering patterns of words; it is not as if they will ever have to converse with a time-travelling Roman legionnaire. Or that until recently you needed to pass Latin to get into Oxbridge to do sums (or anything).
Justin Welby on 'cursing' leaders if they fail to act at COP- 'people will speak of them in far stronger terms than we speak..of the politicians who ignored what was happening in Nazi Germany because this will kill people all around the world for generations'
He went on to say 'It will allow a genocide on an infinitely greater scale. I'm not sure there's grades of genocide, but there's width of genocide, and this will be genocide indirectly, by negligence, recklessness'
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Justin Welby on 'cursing' leaders if they fail to act at COP- 'people will speak of them in far stronger terms than we speak..of the politicians who ignored what was happening in Nazi Germany because this will kill people all around the world for generations'
He went on to say 'It will allow a genocide on an infinitely greater scale. I'm not sure there's grades of genocide, but there's width of genocide, and this will be genocide indirectly, by negligence, recklessness'
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
I'll give you no guiding political philosophy - or at least not a consistent one. He's sort of pro-liberty, but that only lasted very briefly in the fires of the pandemic. Though we'd have probably had even less liberty with other PMs. No strategy for delivering it - well that follows from the above. But yes. No deep ideas - again, possibly a vague principle of liberty, but not strongly held. But I'd say his communication is pretty good and his engagement with reality as good as any. I don't think any other PM could have delivered the 'some of us will die' speech at the beginning of the pandemic so well.
I disagree on engagement with reality, and I think it's an important one because it explains both his strength as a campaigner and his weakness in government. Having a weak grasp on reality actually helps him politically because it allows him to say things that aren't true without appearing dishonest. But in government reality matters. I would be interested if anyone knows the highest level Johnson achieved in a STEM subject as he gives the strong impression of being unable to think in quantitative terms. Eg does he have A level maths? I would be genuinely surprised if he did. Again, this is the sort of thing that can be a plus politically - it allows him to rattle off statistics without any care as to their accuracy, and the innumerate press corps give him a free pass. But in government it is a disadvantage. Compare and contrast with the highly numerate Thatcher, for instance.
I've heard it said that being good at Classics (like Boris) is often correlated with being good at mathematics. I do not know how true it is, and if it is true then it might just be that mathematicians are good at remembering patterns of words; it is not as if they will ever have to converse with a time-travelling Roman legionnaire. Or that until recently you needed to pass Latin to get into Oxbridge to do sums (or anything).
Recently is a bit of a stretch: my sister didn't need Latin to get in in 1980, so over 40 years now.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
If a bishop has real expertise in the matter, he is worth hearing. Mostly, they just utter platitudes.
There are more Oxbridge graduates percentage wise amongst Church of England bishops than in the current Cabinet or FTSE 100 chairmen and CEOs
What is that number if you ignore Oxford and Cambridge CofE Theological Colleges?
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
I'll give you no guiding political philosophy - or at least not a consistent one. He's sort of pro-liberty, but that only lasted very briefly in the fires of the pandemic. Though we'd have probably had even less liberty with other PMs. No strategy for delivering it - well that follows from the above. But yes. No deep ideas - again, possibly a vague principle of liberty, but not strongly held. But I'd say his communication is pretty good and his engagement with reality as good as any. I don't think any other PM could have delivered the 'some of us will die' speech at the beginning of the pandemic so well.
I disagree on engagement with reality, and I think it's an important one because it explains both his strength as a campaigner and his weakness in government. Having a weak grasp on reality actually helps him politically because it allows him to say things that aren't true without appearing dishonest. But in government reality matters. I would be interested if anyone knows the highest level Johnson achieved in a STEM subject as he gives the strong impression of being unable to think in quantitative terms. Eg does he have A level maths? I would be genuinely surprised if he did. Again, this is the sort of thing that can be a plus politically - it allows him to rattle off statistics without any care as to their accuracy, and the innumerate press corps give him a free pass. But in government it is a disadvantage. Compare and contrast with the highly numerate Thatcher, for instance.
I've heard it said that being good at Classics (like Boris) is often correlated with being good at mathematics. I do not know how true it is, and if it is true then it might just be that mathematicians are good at remembering patterns of words; it is not as if they will ever have to converse with a time-travelling Roman legionnaire. Or that until recently you needed to pass Latin to get into Oxbridge to do sums (or anything).
Classics and computers go together. David Packard wrote his first program to count grammatical constructions in Lucretius.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
I do. Rowing on the Thames, after dark is strangely awesome... an eight bearing down on you at most of 15 knots, do you hold the line, just because you are in the right?
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
I do. Rowing on the Thames, after dark is strangely awesome... an eight bearing down on you at most of 15 knots, do you hold the line, just because you are in the right?
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
You need to be in the north to appreciate it. Cairngorms in deep snow is something else. I wouldn't recommend autumn here, though, far better to be down south for that. EDIT: Our autumn is probably the same as your winter. No wonder you don't like it.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
I do. Rowing on the Thames, after dark is strangely awesome... an eight bearing down on you at most of 15 knots, do you hold the line, just because you are in the right?
No. Even swans get out of the way of an eight at full pelt.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
I thought they were all fornicators. It was the divorcee bit that seems to have rankled. Strange given that was how the dynasty was founded.
Yeah, it has always bugged me that in 1936 marrying a divorced person was incompatible with being Supreme Governor of the Church of England yet were people unaware why the Church of England was founded.
Henry VIII was technically a virgin when he married Anne Boleyn under Church of England law as the Church was not founded when he married Catherine of Aragon.
Much as Boris was a virgin until he married Carrie under Catholic law as his previous marriage ceremonies were not Roman Catholic
I know I am going to regret asking this but just because previous marriages aren't recognised how does that make you a virgin?
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
Yep as I have already said I love it. There is a genuine emotional and physical reaction from me with my work rate - both paid and unpaid - going through the roof as the nights close in. I get the same in reverse as spring approaches and might as well hibernate through the summer.
Boris is clever at politics: He's got the sort of majority only afforded to Blair and Thatcher in recent times, he's got a sort of Brexit through parliament, and in hte process he booted out all the people that would oppose him.
He's either shit at governance, or doesn't want to be good at it. The promotion of Liz Truss, the way he didn't want to fire Matt Hancock when he was blatantly useless and in many ways the most important person in the country suggest the latter. Being shit at governance is also being clever at politics, under the circumstances: The field is narrowed of challengers. Truss?
The stupidest PM of the last 100 years could easily be Cameron: Brexit, handing every advantage to SNP in Indyref, the FTPA that meant that governance could be fucked if both the PM and the LOTO were crooks, which took about 9 years to pan round. And the big idea? "We need to spend less money." A child could come up with that.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
You need to be in the north to appreciate it. Cairngorms in deep snow is something else. I wouldn't recommend autumn here, though, far better to be down south for that. EDIT: Our autumn is probably the same as your winter. No wonder you don't like it.
Yes, I'd far rather spend winter in northern Scotland, than London, if I have to do it in the UK. At least you get the snow and the grandeur
Dank, damp, dark and dismal is what we get down here. The cold moistness that eats into your bones. UGH
I unequivocally apologise for the words I used when trying to emphasise the gravity of the situation facing us at COP26. It's never right to make comparisons with the atrocities brought by the Nazis, and I'm sorry for the offence caused to Jews by these words.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
Yep as I have already said I love it. There is a genuine emotional and physical reaction from me with my work rate - both paid and unpaid - going through the roof as the nights close in. I get the same in reverse as spring approaches and might as well hibernate through the summer.
Autumn is my favourite season by a mile. Late afternoon on a sunny October - beautiful.
The day Liverpool and City drew 2-2 last month, just as the match finished, is a perfect example.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
IIRC it was that Edward insisted that Wallace would be Queen that was the issue. Camilla will remain Duchess of Cornwall as it is legally a morganatic marriage
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
You need to be in the north to appreciate it. Cairngorms in deep snow is something else. I wouldn't recommend autumn here, though, far better to be down south for that. EDIT: Our autumn is probably the same as your winter. No wonder you don't like it.
Yes, I'd far rather spend winter in northern Scotland, than London, if I have to do it in the UK. At least you get the snow and the grandeur
Dank, damp, dark and dismal is what we get down here. The cold moistness that eats into your bones. UGH
There's a about 4 hours of daylight in Aberdeen in winter - and never gets dark in the summer. So I'm agnostic on this matter.
It's been a good read but this "Boris" evaluation has gone slightly off piste as far as I'm concerned. He's a smart guy, no question. Not a strong intellect but he's easily smart enough to be PM. And he's most certainly charismatic. He's gifted. The problem is that the sole purpose he puts his gifts to is the greater glory and amusement of Boris Johnson. No need to properly understand issues so he doesn't bother. No need to tell the truth so he doesn't bother. No need to have ethics and principles so he doesn't bother. All of that tiresome stuff fails his cost/benefit test. Just cook up a catchy phrase here, a trite analogy there, bit of a twinkle in the eye, and 'oo er' he floats on. I just think we deserve better.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
IIRC it was that Edward insisted that Wallace would be Queen that was the issue. Camilla will remain Duchess of Cornwall as it is legally a morganatic marriage
I don't think that is right. She is presently Princess of Wales, just not called that because People's Princess etc.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Rather a lot of them aren't in the C of E! And many of their churches don't have heads, human at least. Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on. Under Presbyterian doctrine, for one, Christ (once, admittedly, human) is Head of the Church (which is why HYUFD's Henrician doctrine was and remains so offensive in Scotland over the centuries). There is merely a temporarly elected Moderator, like the Speaker of the HoC.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
I thought they were all fornicators. It was the divorcee bit that seems to have rankled. Strange given that was how the dynasty was founded.
Yeah, it has always bugged me that in 1936 marrying a divorced person was incompatible with being Supreme Governor of the Church of England yet were people unaware why the Church of England was founded.
Henry VIII never divorced.
Marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled, on the basis she'd done the deed with Arthur, and so the marriage was incest.
Anne Boleyn lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Jane Seymour died in childbirth.
Marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled, on the basis that it was never consummated.
Catherine Howard lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Catherine Parr outlived her husband.
Was the divorce thing just a cover for disposing of a Nazi sympathizer, or was it a genuine bar at the time?
I unequivocally apologise for the words I used when trying to emphasise the gravity of the situation facing us at COP26. It's never right to make comparisons with the atrocities brought by the Nazis, and I'm sorry for the offence caused to Jews by these words.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
IIRC it was that Edward insisted that Wallace would be Queen that was the issue. Camilla will remain Duchess of Cornwall as it is legally a morganatic marriage
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
Yep as I have already said I love it. There is a genuine emotional and physical reaction from me with my work rate - both paid and unpaid - going through the roof as the nights close in. I get the same in reverse as spring approaches and might as well hibernate through the summer.
Yes, me too, though I prefer proper cold - my wife and I had our honeymoon in La Brevine, the coldest place in Switzerland (-30 is common), in a remote cottage with a roaring fire. Amazing place.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Rather a lot of them aren't in the C of E! And many of their churches don't have heads, human at least. Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on. Under Presbyterian doctrine, for one, Christ (once, admittedly, human) is Head of the Church (which is why HYUFD's Henrician doctrine was and remains so offensive in Scotland over the centuries). There is merely a temporarly elected Moderator, like the Speaker of the HoC.
I am trying to remember the science fiction story - intelligent robots turn out to be very religious. As human faith fades, they take over the churches. Leading to a robot Pope....
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
I thought they were all fornicators. It was the divorcee bit that seems to have rankled. Strange given that was how the dynasty was founded.
Yeah, it has always bugged me that in 1936 marrying a divorced person was incompatible with being Supreme Governor of the Church of England yet were people unaware why the Church of England was founded.
Strictly speaking, I think Henry's marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves, ended in annulment, rather than divorce.
Strictly speaking his marriage to Anne Boleyn ended in annulment too.
Off topic. I met someone who hasn’t yet had the vaccine. No real reason given. Had even arranged it but didn’t go. Has been bagged by mother and wife. He is not British, possibly Portuguese. Weird.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
You need to be in the north to appreciate it. Cairngorms in deep snow is something else. I wouldn't recommend autumn here, though, far better to be down south for that. EDIT: Our autumn is probably the same as your winter. No wonder you don't like it.
Yes, I'd far rather spend winter in northern Scotland, than London, if I have to do it in the UK. At least you get the snow and the grandeur
Dank, damp, dark and dismal is what we get down here. The cold moistness that eats into your bones. UGH
For some of us, winter is THE season, after a torrid and sweaty summer.
A cricket tournament, a rugby weekend and THREE F1 races make the Middle East the place to be right now.
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
You can also be "clever" and also a complete fool... someone like David "two brains" Willets or Oliver Letwin would fall into that category.
Was it James II/VII who was described as the "wisest fool in Christendom"? Or was it another king?
It was James I.
James II was never king - he was Charlie II's brother wasn't he?
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
IIRC it was that Edward insisted that Wallace would be Queen that was the issue. Camilla will remain Duchess of Cornwall as it is legally a morganatic marriage
I don't think that is right. She is presently Princess of Wales, just not called that because People's Princess etc.
She's also Countess of Chester, but I imagine that would be as much of a surprise to her as to the inhabitants of Cheshire.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Rather a lot of them aren't in the C of E! And many of their churches don't have heads, human at least. Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on. Under Presbyterian doctrine, for one, Christ (once, admittedly, human) is Head of the Church (which is why HYUFD's Henrician doctrine was and remains so offensive in Scotland over the centuries). There is merely a temporarly elected Moderator, like the Speaker of the HoC.
I am trying to remember the science fiction story - intelligent robots turn out to be very religious. As human faith fades, they take over the churches. Leading to a robot Pope....
That sounds like part of Asimov's 50 year journey through the Laws of Robotics.
The first hint of dusk at 4.36. The light is fragile. The sky inclines
UGH
And yet I am viewing November with happy anticipation. When it stops raining, the light is glorious. The trees are finally blazing with glory. A bonfire at the rugby club on Friday - missed that last year - our annual fireworks party with a few friends on Sunday - missed that one too. We'll make the Christmas Cake the following weekend - another annual tradition: I've got photos of us doing it every year since my oldest was 1; younger daughters joining in in subsequent years. The next weekend we'll walk up Arnside Knott to see the sunset, and have tea at the Albion in Arnside: that's a family tradition for November too which we missed last year. And then the weekend after I've got my first weekend of evading parental responsibility since 2018, seeing some friends I've not seen for three years. A conversation in a pub with some friends: what better way of spending a bleak November evening.
I rather like November.
"Autumn is the mind's true spring"
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
Yes, I agree. There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
Is there anyone that *likes* the British winter? it is irredeemable. Awful in every way
It is magnificent. The very best season, in every sense.
It's been a good read but this "Boris" evaluation has gone slightly off piste as far as I'm concerned. He's a smart guy, no question. Not a strong intellect but he's easily smart enough to be PM. And he's most certainly charismatic. He's gifted. The problem is that the sole purpose he puts his gifts to is the greater glory and amusement of Boris Johnson. No need to properly understand issues so he doesn't bother. No need to tell the truth so he doesn't bother. No need to have ethics so he doesn't bother. All of that tiresome stuff fails his cost/benefit test. Just cook up a catchy phrase here, a trite analogy here, bit of a twinkle in the eye, and 'oo er' he floats on. I just think we deserve better.
I was reminded, reading his list of achievements, of none other than Commodus. Gladiator, religious icon, wrestler, patron of the arts, EMPEROR! What a guy. What. A. Guy.
Justin Welby on 'cursing' leaders if they fail to act at COP- 'people will speak of them in far stronger terms than we speak..of the politicians who ignored what was happening in Nazi Germany because this will kill people all around the world for generations'
He went on to say 'It will allow a genocide on an infinitely greater scale. I'm not sure there's grades of genocide, but there's width of genocide, and this will be genocide indirectly, by negligence, recklessness'
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
I thought they were all fornicators. It was the divorcee bit that seems to have rankled. Strange given that was how the dynasty was founded.
Yeah, it has always bugged me that in 1936 marrying a divorced person was incompatible with being Supreme Governor of the Church of England yet were people unaware why the Church of England was founded.
Henry VIII never divorced.
Marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled, on the basis she'd done the deed with Arthur, and so the marriage was incest.
Anne Boleyn lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Jane Seymour died in childbirth.
Marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled, on the basis that it was never consummated.
Catherine Howard lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Catherine Parr outlived her husband.
Was the divorce thing just a cover for disposing of a Nazi sympathizer, or was it a genuine bar at the time?
The divorce/annulment detail is a fun pub fact, but is nonsense as a distinction in any real way. Many a person has managed to get an annulment when they did not strictly meet the requirements of such, and it's doubly dodgy in his case given how he 'obtained' it.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Rather a lot of them aren't in the C of E! And many of their churches don't have heads, human at least. Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on. Under Presbyterian doctrine, for one, Christ (once, admittedly, human) is Head of the Church (which is why HYUFD's Henrician doctrine was and remains so offensive in Scotland over the centuries). There is merely a temporarly elected Moderator, like the Speaker of the HoC.
I am trying to remember the science fiction story - intelligent robots turn out to be very religious. As human faith fades, they take over the churches. Leading to a robot Pope....
That sounds like part of Asimov's 50 year journey through the Laws of Robotics.
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 4h Why are politicians bothering to keep pretending they're going to do something to prevent climate change? They know they aren't. We know they aren't. Conferences like this all some weird virtue-signalling theatre for the Great & the Good.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Rather a lot of them aren't in the C of E! And many of their churches don't have heads, human at least. Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on. Under Presbyterian doctrine, for one, Christ (once, admittedly, human) is Head of the Church (which is why HYUFD's Henrician doctrine was and remains so offensive in Scotland over the centuries). There is merely a temporarly elected Moderator, like the Speaker of the HoC.
I am trying to remember the science fiction story - intelligent robots turn out to be very religious. As human faith fades, they take over the churches. Leading to a robot Pope....
Can't recall it either. But there's a rather different outcome in the novel The Night Sessions by Ken Macleod - the last session of the Free Church of Scotland plays a role in it, as does a robot australopithecine. IN its way, as quirky an Edinburgh-set novel as that one of sentient plants invading Glasgow of the 1960s that DavidL recommended.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
IIRC it was that Edward insisted that Wallace would be Queen that was the issue. Camilla will remain Duchess of Cornwall as it is legally a morganatic marriage
I don't think that is right. She is presently Princess of Wales, just not called that because People's Princess etc.
She's also Countess of Chester, but I imagine that would be as much of a surprise to her as to the inhabitants of Cheshire.
I believe morganatic marriages only impact on the sovereign, so they don’t apply until Charles is crowned
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
You can also be "clever" and also a complete fool... someone like David "two brains" Willets or Oliver Letwin would fall into that category.
Was it James II/VII who was described as the "wisest fool in Christendom"? Or was it another king?
It was James I.
James II was never king - he was Charlie II's brother wasn't he?
1685-88
Up to his 'abdication'. Odd that he did not seem to agree that he had indeed done so.
And what it has really scuppered is Meta's and Google's love of tracking things across all devices that you are logged in to.
I despise most advertising (sorry, Roger) and avoid looking at it where possible, but if it has to exist then I like being tracked. I'd rather have ads for computer games and books about politics rather than garden mowers and conservatories, neither or which I'll ever buy in this life. I even like changes in taste being tracked - if I take up flint-knapping, say, I'd be quite pleased to suddenly get some ads for How To Flint-Knap...
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 4h Why are politicians bothering to keep pretending they're going to do something to prevent climate change? They know they aren't. We know they aren't. Conferences like this all some weird virtue-signalling theatre for the Great & the Good.
More and more countries are announcing zero net carbon end dates. Some of these countries are reducing the time they are allowing until these dates.
Now, they may well be considered to not be doing *enough*.
But a considerable amount is being done. More would be good.
Can Bozo deliver a speech to COP without being an embarrassment to the nation?
Hope he doesn't start waffling on about the Roman Empire. WTF was that about? Guy seems to think he's some 'amusing' raconteur down the pub half the time. You know the type. Mile wide, inch deep.
It was a dog whistle to all those kipper types who fetishise Rome and think that complex multi-generation historical events can be explained by saying "forrners bad". He knows what he's doing and he is an arsehole for doing it.
In the interview I saw he was referencing "open door immigration" in Rome's fall. Free movement. So, yes, now we've tightened up on that, we can return to our Glory Days. Oh dear.
In general, what I hate is this patina of cod "ancient learning" he sprays about. Guess some like it, find it illuminating or impressive, but I'm totally Shania Twain about it - and him.
I have long thought that Johnson is a stupid person's idea of what an intelligent person looks like.
Have heard this phrase before. What is the intelligent person's idea of what an intelligent person look like?
Someone who can express complex ideas clearly rather than using complicated language to obfuscate or mislead. In the political realm I guess I am thinking of someone like Clinton or Blair. In the modern Tory party Hunt or Sunak seem to me to have those qualities. If you're impressed by frequent forays into schoolboy Latin then you will think Johnson is a clever chap.
In what respect is Boris "not clever"
Scholarship to Eton
Oxford degree
Highly successful journalist - eventually making £300k a year
Highly successful editor of the oldest magazine in the world, and one of the most prestigious magazines, too
Successful mayor of a World City, re-elected
Won an 80 seat majority as Prime Minister
In the meantime he has written multiple books, and presented TV series
Feel free to point out British politicians who are obviously cleverer and more accomplished
Have you read his books? They are crap. Oxford is full of not very clever people. Earning >£300k a year doesn't mean you are clever. SKS was DPP. Sunak has a first from Oxford and an MBA from Stanford. Javid earned millions at Deutsche having been born with few of Johnson's advantages. I think there are plenty of politicians who are as accomplished and clever as Johnson.
I've met him. He's notably clever. It is silly to pretend otherwise
Clever or just well educated? There is a world of difference. I ask seriously being one of the few here apparently who are not on intimate terms with him.
What he isn't is an "intellectual" in the French tradition: a deep thinker who has profound new insights. I guess that's what people mean when they stubbornly say he isn't "clever"
But "intellectual" is just one narrow type of intelligence, and it is often ineffective and sometimes downright dangerous
I don't simply mean that he isn't an intellectual - and in fact I don't really have an opinion on that question. What I mean is that he is incapable of things like quantitative analysis, sustaining a complex argument, or boiling down complicated ideas into terms that can be communicated easily. What he is good at is humour, an arresting turn of phrase, and lying. For what it's worth, I think he is far more dangerous than any intellectual.
It must be very annoying for lefties, that they keep getting whacked by this guy who is apparently as thick as a breeze-block
Alternatively, you lot - and many others - consistently under-estimate him, hence his sustained and remarkable success. Has it not occurred to you that Boris acts the clown for this very reason?
Of course, it's part of his act. As others have noted, I am not saying that he is stupid, simply that in the realm of top flight global politics where you expect a certain level of intelligence, he is simply an act, an empty performance, with no guiding political philosophy, no strategy for delivering it, no deep ideas, no ability to communicate complex ideas, not even any apparent ability to engage with reality. It is frustrating that this proves so successful, and I agree with you that he has a real cunning and excellent political antennae which make him hard to beat. I'm not sure how one can counter him, really - we probably just have to wait for his shtick to grow stale and for his political platform to collapse under the weight of its contradictions and his governing incompetence. That might take a while, sadly.
All that is true, but it says nothing about his level of intelligence.
It's a moral failing that he's decided to direct his obvious talents towards self-aggrandizement, rather than something more meaningful or of wider benefit.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
I thought they were all fornicators. It was the divorcee bit that seems to have rankled. Strange given that was how the dynasty was founded.
Yeah, it has always bugged me that in 1936 marrying a divorced person was incompatible with being Supreme Governor of the Church of England yet were people unaware why the Church of England was founded.
Henry VIII never divorced.
Marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled, on the basis she'd done the deed with Arthur, and so the marriage was incest.
Anne Boleyn lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Jane Seymour died in childbirth.
Marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled, on the basis that it was never consummated.
Catherine Howard lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Catherine Parr outlived her husband.
Was the divorce thing just a cover for disposing of a Nazi sympathizer, or was it a genuine bar at the time?
The divorce/annulment detail is a fun pub fact, but is nonsense as a distinction in any real way. Many a person has managed to get an annulment when they did not strictly meet the requirements of such, and it's doubly dodgy in his case given how he 'obtained' it.
I find it moderately interesting that the CoE is moving towards allowing same sex marriages. Yet is standing firm on the divorce thing.
If you watch Macron in that clip from yesterday, when he said (of Australia) "I don't just think they lied, I know" - then you can see the bitterness, anger and stinging humiliation, in his eyes. AUKUS really hurt. Personally for Macron, and politically for his country
The absurd over-reaction to fish (and everything else) is all about this. They want us to hurt as they have been hurt, and they think they can do it. We need to treat them, cordially, as an enemy from now on, and expect them to behave as such
Currently he has imo wrong-footed himself, but we shall see.
The eyes of the world are on Glasgow for Cop26 where the only topic on the agenda should be the climate crisis. But with tedious inevitability, Scottish nationalists will always find a way of pushing their obsession of breaking up the United Kingdom. Our guests from around the world should be prepared, which is why they need this handy Cop 26 Guide: Know Your Nats.
The Unicorns Dreamers who believe in a Scottish socialist utopia. Free Caledonia’s citizens would be pampered by world-beating services of all kinds.....
The Angry Men A lifelong political fury was forged after being beaten up by some English soldiers during national service in Aldershot in the 1950s. They wince at Nicola Sturgeon’s sinister comments about pro-UK older voters dying off.
The Confused Anglos Middle-class couples on the public sector payroll who regard Nicola Sturgeon as progressive champion — despite her appalling record of governance....
The Historians Without any encouragement, they will take you on a journey back in time to prove that Scotland is, in fact, already independent...
The Troughers Having gorged for decades at the trough of public money during Labour’s Mafia-like grip on civic Scotland, they seamlessly swapped their red rosettes for SNP yellow. Many were lured because the SNP also hates “the Toaaaries”.
The Bravehearts These middle-aged men with dreary lives and Marks & Spencer underpants fantasise about leading a heroic resistance movement against their colonial oppressors....
The Technocrats Outwardly reasonable and respectable, their uniform comprises thick glasses, tweed blazers with elbow patches and brogues.....But this intellectual facade is what makes them so dangerous. They retain their slightly creepy composure when confronted with the economic reality of ripping Scotland out of the UK.
The Tin-foil Tam O’Shanters The most extreme of Nats who want Scotland to unilaterally declare independence, then take up arms when tanks roll across the border. They use the racist term ‘House Jock’ to describe the majority of Scots who are pro-UK. They believe that Scotland’s waters contain vast secret oil reserves and that the SNP has been captured by the British Security Services.
The Green Extremes They believe our planet is dying and that we may already have passed the point of no return. But there remains one tiny chance to save the world…and that is for our small country of just over five million people in the northern edge of Europe to separate from the most successful political and cultural union in history.
Which was the biggest domestic betting market in 2016?
I suspect those who underestimating Boris lost far more than those overestimating him did.
Well I for one have never done that. Here's an excerpt from my 2019 election call on here when the consensus was otherwise -
So, on Brexit, the offering is strong and on top of this you have the figure of Boris Johnson. Now I can’t stand him. It’s clear to me that he is an integrity free chancer. The guy is devoid of principles - personal or political - and out purely for himself. But people like me won’t be voting Tory anyway. It would bring me out in a rash. With those that are medically capable of the act my sense is that Johnson will be a net asset. Just because I’m immune does not mean that I fail to recognize his star power. He appeals in particular to people who are not that interested in politics. There are a lot of such people in Britain. In a GE campaign this is gold dust and I expect him to exploit it to the max. Conclusion - Dec 12th looks and feels like a big Tory win.
But we're talking about his merits IN the job, not about his abilities to get and keep it. And here, Philip, I don't think you can see clearly because you're blinded by bias. Very understandable bias btw - he delivered your hard Brexit, made your dreams come true, validated your position on that totemic issue. Why wouldn't you be well disposed? I would be if I were you.
Asking for a friend, is Stanley Baldwin a non Tory?
He helped oust a monarch.
Oh for the days when you couldn't be a monarch because you were a fornicator and were going to going to marry a divorcee.
I thought they were all fornicators. It was the divorcee bit that seems to have rankled. Strange given that was how the dynasty was founded.
Yeah, it has always bugged me that in 1936 marrying a divorced person was incompatible with being Supreme Governor of the Church of England yet were people unaware why the Church of England was founded.
Strictly speaking, I think Henry's marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves, ended in annulment, rather than divorce.
Strictly speaking his marriage to Anne Boleyn ended in annulment too.
I thought it was a separation?
According to Wikipedia it was annulled a few days before she was executed.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
Bishops: fuck off. I was talking this morning about how my enthusiasm for addressing issues of man-made climate change is often dented by the messianic ramblings of climate change's greatest enthusiasts. Bishops fall into that category. You're not in the picture because you have any great understanding of science: you're here because you're the fella in the funny hat who in the unfortunate instance of the monarch keeling over gets to put a different hat on the head of the next one. That's it. Anything else, keep your nose out of it.
This also brings to mind what it would be like if our current admirably restrained unelected monarch were to be replaced by one who has is less mindful of the virtues of silence.
And to conclude: bishops: fuck off.
If you are a Christian like me you believe God ultimately created the earth, so obviously what the bishops have to say about this would again be very relevant
Plenty of Christians do absolutely fine without bishops and a human being as overlord of the C of E.
Surely all Christians have a human as head of the C of E? Just some don’t pay much attention…
Rather a lot of them aren't in the C of E! And many of their churches don't have heads, human at least. Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on. Under Presbyterian doctrine, for one, Christ (once, admittedly, human) is Head of the Church (which is why HYUFD's Henrician doctrine was and remains so offensive in Scotland over the centuries). There is merely a temporarly elected Moderator, like the Speaker of the HoC.
I am trying to remember the science fiction story - intelligent robots turn out to be very religious. As human faith fades, they take over the churches. Leading to a robot Pope....
That sounds like a Stanislav Lem story. Part of The Cyberiad?
And what it has really scuppered is Meta's and Google's love of tracking things across all devices that you are logged in to.
I despise most advertising (sorry, Roger) and avoid looking at it where possible, but if it has to exist then I like being tracked. I'd rather have ads for computer games and books about politics rather than garden mowers and conservatories, neither or which I'll ever buy in this life. I even like changes in taste being tracked - if I take up flint-knapping, say, I'd be quite pleased to suddenly get some ads for How To Flint-Knap...
If you take up flint-knapping, you'll probably be researching it anyway. The ads are reactive, and often too late.
The vast majority of the ads I get served from Google seem to have zero relevance to me: and I don't use ad-blockers or that sort of thing. Worse, they can be too late. I bought a new laptop last year, and researched what to get on the Internet. Google *still* serves up ads for laptops, even though I haven't searched for one since I bought it. I don't even watch many tech videos atm (aside from TechTechPotato)
I also get served up ads on YouTube from Goldsmiths watches, (expensive high-end watches) - something I'll never buy. AFAIAA I've never clicked on an ad for them in the past, and certainly not searched for them. My guess is that as a) they're a high-value item, they pay more for the ads, and it's worth Google to push more of them out, and b) some weird part of the algorithm has decided that this running/walking-obsessed, engineering-interested, stay-at-home dad who never buys high-end clothes or gear is in the need of a flash watch.
On the other hand, I'm always searching for walking/running stuff on Google, and watch videos on it. Yet I rarely get ads for such things - perhaps because they are generally low-value. They'd get better click-through serving ads for running clothes, shoes and gear, which they rarely do despite the fact I buy a lot of them.
The Google ad serving seems really dumb, at least in my case.
Comments
I would be interested if anyone knows the highest level Johnson achieved in a STEM subject as he gives the strong impression of being unable to think in quantitative terms. Eg does he have A level maths? I would be genuinely surprised if he did. Again, this is the sort of thing that can be a plus politically - it allows him to rattle off statistics without any care as to their accuracy, and the innumerate press corps give him a free pass. But in government it is a disadvantage. Compare and contrast with the highly numerate Thatcher, for instance.
Given how many things are constantly demanding the PM's attention, an ability to essay crisis could be useful.
And what it has really scuppered is Meta's and Google's love of tracking things across all devices that you are logged in to.
I can see that. Indeed I get the same feeling myself. As the light retreats my mind crackles, like a bonfire. I often work harder, I often think better. Autumn is commonly when I have new ideas
And I love the whole fireworks and frosty evenings and kicking-the-fallen-leaves-in-the-park stuff. I can get behind Autumn, and December can be a gas, as we head for Christmas
It is what Autumn leads to that slays me. Winter. And winter in Britain has almost nothing to be said for it. Our winter isn't even thrillingly cold and snowy. It is just long, bleak, dank and dark. I hate it with a passion. Hopefully I will be able to sod off somewhere sunny this winter, as I was not allowed to do, last winter
It may not track you on your Windows PC, but that's still a hell of a lot of tracking that's used to sell advertising more efficiently.
And for the record, it works. We have had some incredible success with Apple at Just.
But I could easily have lost by doing so too. I thought about going big on him, ploughing all my winnings into it, but luckily I chickened out.
https://www.lopinion.fr/edition/international/emmanuel-macron-pardonne-aux-etats-unis-ignore-l-australie-punit-258587
https://twitter.com/jdomerchet/status/1455171408661725195?s=20
No morn — no noon —
No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member —
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! —
November!
Thomas Hood.
That's what a haiku would look like if the Japanese were as good as we are at this stuff.
@JonMarcStanley
·
1m
The UK, through
@DavidGHFrost
, needs to tidy up the Good Friday Agreement. It cannot be maintained in good faith so long as the EU in mentioned in it.
We have left. So long as they are mentioned they feel we have not. Those references need removed or eventually GFA will fail.
There's only actually five or six weeks of bleak - from January 2nd to pancake day. Pancake day is when it feels like New Year should really be: still cold and relatively dark but the days starting to lengthen at a pace, and the first flowers poking through. But I would envy you being somewhere else for it.
I also like Autumn because it's when the school year starts. And it always therefore feels like a time of new beginnings and new possibilities.
@JonMarcStanley
·
38s
Replying to
@JonMarcStanley
Let's hear them say it,
"The EU has no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland"
If they can't, nor should we. Let's hear it. Remove the EU from the GFA.
@J_Donaldson_MP
@BeattieDoug
@JimAllister
@CatharineHoey
@benhabib6
The absurd over-reaction to fish (and everything else) is all about this. They want us to hurt as they have been hurt, and they think they can do it. We need to treat them, cordially, as an enemy from now on, and expect them to behave as such
Tory lead up to 5 (40/35), but Boris NS down 3 to -6, and SIR KEIR’s up 2 to -8
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-gb-voting-intention-1-november-2021/
Conservative 40% (+1)
Labour 35% (-1)
Liberal Democrat 10% (–)
Green 6% (–)
Scottish National Party 4% (–)
Reform UK 3% (-1)
Other 2% (+1)
Changes +/- 25 Oct
Boris Johnson stands by Hitler EU comparison
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36295208
I wouldn't recommend autumn here, though, far better to be down south for that.
EDIT: Our autumn is probably the same as your winter. No wonder you don't like it.
He's either shit at governance, or doesn't want to be good at it. The promotion of Liz Truss, the way he didn't want to fire Matt Hancock when he was blatantly useless and in many ways the most important person in the country suggest the latter. Being shit at governance is also being clever at politics, under the circumstances: The field is narrowed of challengers. Truss?
The stupidest PM of the last 100 years could easily be Cameron: Brexit, handing every advantage to SNP in Indyref, the FTPA that meant that governance could be fucked if both the PM and the LOTO were crooks, which took about 9 years to pan round. And the big idea? "We need to spend less money." A child could come up with that.
https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1455219656344711172?s=20
Dank, damp, dark and dismal is what we get down here. The cold moistness that eats into your bones. UGH
https://twitter.com/JustinWelby/status/1455207850213617665?s=20
The day Liverpool and City drew 2-2 last month, just as the match finished, is a perfect example.
That was quick.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59117537
India 500 gw of renewables by 2030.
That's a lot.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-59103425
Marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled, on the basis she'd done the deed with Arthur, and so the marriage was incest.
Anne Boleyn lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Jane Seymour died in childbirth.
Marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled, on the basis that it was never consummated.
Catherine Howard lost her head on the pretext of having committed adultery.
Catherine Parr outlived her husband.
Was the divorce thing just a cover for disposing of a Nazi sympathizer, or was it a genuine bar at the time?
Perhaps with some hydro.
A cricket tournament, a rugby weekend and THREE F1 races make the Middle East the place to be right now.
NEW THREAD
Time to get any saving's under the floor boards perhaps?
(Trafalgar Group Poll)
Will you be voting for (R)Youngkin or (D)McAuliffe?
(R) Youngkin 49.4% (+2.3)
(D) McAuliffe 47.1%
State Sample: D45.8/R37.8/I16.5 D+6
10/29-31,1089LV
https://twitter.com/PollsandOdds/status/1455206929899327491
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_News_from_the_Vatican
@andrew_lilico
·
4h
Why are politicians bothering to keep pretending they're going to do something to prevent climate change? They know they aren't. We know they aren't. Conferences like this all some weird virtue-signalling theatre for the Great & the Good.
If I had to pick a least favourite I'd go with Autumn.
Now, they may well be considered to not be doing *enough*.
But a considerable amount is being done. More would be good.
It's a moral failing that he's decided to direct his obvious talents towards self-aggrandizement, rather than something more meaningful or of wider benefit.
It seems a strange hill etc....
The Unicorns
Dreamers who believe in a Scottish socialist utopia. Free Caledonia’s citizens would be pampered by world-beating services of all kinds.....
The Angry Men
A lifelong political fury was forged after being beaten up by some English soldiers during national service in Aldershot in the 1950s. They wince at Nicola Sturgeon’s sinister comments about pro-UK older voters dying off.
The Confused Anglos
Middle-class couples on the public sector payroll who regard Nicola Sturgeon as progressive champion — despite her appalling record of governance....
The Historians
Without any encouragement, they will take you on a journey back in time to prove that Scotland is, in fact, already independent...
The Troughers
Having gorged for decades at the trough of public money during Labour’s Mafia-like grip on civic Scotland, they seamlessly swapped their red rosettes for SNP yellow. Many were lured because the SNP also hates “the Toaaaries”.
The Bravehearts
These middle-aged men with dreary lives and Marks & Spencer underpants fantasise about leading a heroic resistance movement against their colonial oppressors....
The Technocrats
Outwardly reasonable and respectable, their uniform comprises thick glasses, tweed blazers with elbow patches and brogues.....But this intellectual facade is what makes them so dangerous. They retain their slightly creepy composure when confronted with the economic reality of ripping Scotland out of the UK.
The Tin-foil Tam O’Shanters
The most extreme of Nats who want Scotland to unilaterally declare independence, then take up arms when tanks roll across the border. They use the racist term ‘House Jock’ to describe the majority of Scots who are pro-UK. They believe that Scotland’s waters contain vast secret oil reserves and that the SNP has been captured by the British Security Services.
The Green Extremes
They believe our planet is dying and that we may already have passed the point of no return. But there remains one tiny chance to save the world…and that is for our small country of just over five million people in the northern edge of Europe to separate from the most successful political and cultural union in history.
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/comment/know-your-nats-handy-guide-25349004
So, on Brexit, the offering is strong and on top of this you have the figure of Boris Johnson. Now I can’t stand him. It’s clear to me that he is an integrity free chancer. The guy is devoid of principles - personal or political - and out purely for himself. But people like me won’t be voting Tory anyway. It would bring me out in a rash. With those that are medically capable of the act my sense is that Johnson will be a net asset. Just because I’m immune does not mean that I fail to recognize his star power. He appeals in particular to people who are not that interested in politics. There are a lot of such people in Britain. In a GE campaign this is gold dust and I expect him to exploit it to the max. Conclusion - Dec 12th looks and feels like a big Tory win.
But we're talking about his merits IN the job, not about his abilities to get and keep it. And here, Philip, I don't think you can see clearly because you're blinded by bias. Very understandable bias btw - he delivered your hard Brexit, made your dreams come true, validated your position on that totemic issue. Why wouldn't you be well disposed? I would be if I were you.
The vast majority of the ads I get served from Google seem to have zero relevance to me: and I don't use ad-blockers or that sort of thing. Worse, they can be too late. I bought a new laptop last year, and researched what to get on the Internet. Google *still* serves up ads for laptops, even though I haven't searched for one since I bought it. I don't even watch many tech videos atm (aside from TechTechPotato)
I also get served up ads on YouTube from Goldsmiths watches, (expensive high-end watches) - something I'll never buy. AFAIAA I've never clicked on an ad for them in the past, and certainly not searched for them. My guess is that as a) they're a high-value item, they pay more for the ads, and it's worth Google to push more of them out, and b) some weird part of the algorithm has decided that this running/walking-obsessed, engineering-interested, stay-at-home dad who never buys high-end clothes or gear is in the need of a flash watch.
On the other hand, I'm always searching for walking/running stuff on Google, and watch videos on it. Yet I rarely get ads for such things - perhaps because they are generally low-value. They'd get better click-through serving ads for running clothes, shoes and gear, which they rarely do despite the fact I buy a lot of them.
The Google ad serving seems really dumb, at least in my case.