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It is still odds-on that BoJo will survive as PM till 2024 or later – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • Omnium said:

    kle4 said:

    At the Corbynista family home today, unsurprisingly a lot of talk about Boris being awful ("he was drunk at COP26"), and agreement with Greta, but surprisingly no comment on the Paterson business at all, even after watching it reported on the news. Curious what sticks with people.

    I'm not sure the Paterson business wasn't done, dusted, and then reverse-ferreted too quickly for the uninterested to follow. Earlier scandals like expenses dragged on for weeks. Maybe people will catch up especially if there is more in the Sundays.
    Oh no. Paterson will be remembered for a long time. He's managed to do more damage to the party he ostensibly represents than the opposition have done in years. If he finishes up in some ghastly mine it'll be too good for him.
    I have sympathy for Paterson's loss and his family's turmoil, but he is so arrogant and seeking an emotional plus over the sad suicide of his wife is wholly unacceptable and his loss to public life will not be missed

    I expect there will be a price to pay in the polls, but his swift resignation and the appalling story of Yorkshire CC which has dominated today's media headlines, with worse to come no doubt, does move the news agenda on and may mitigate some of the damage

    We will have to see but Boris, Moore, Chief Whip, JRM and Leadsom should all hang their heads in shame at this unedifying miscalculation
  • Sandpit said:

    Must read article on the shit show in Number 10.

    A former cabinet minister said: “No 10 lacks grey hair. It lacks a Willie Whitelaw. Frankly, Boris’s habit of not liking big guns around him is his fatal flaw. He doesn’t have any cabinet ministers who will call him up and say, ‘This is a f***ing stupid idea’.” Others say this criticism is unfair. “There is challenge there every day, with people putting across both sides of the argument,” a government source said. “There’s nothing casual about it.” The original plan to save Paterson was even more robust than the amendment.

    and

    Critics of the prime minister believe that the events of this week are part of a wider pattern. “The prime minister reverse ferrets not only in the building but in his own mind,” one government source said.

    “He says, ‘We’ve got to get this done.’ He’s very gung-ho and then he convinces himself it was never his position in the first place and seems to think it was someone else’s fault.” Within No 10, few are prepared to stand up to the prime minister and insecurity is rife. “No 10 is full of people that nod along because they’re worried about their own positions,” one staffer said.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/downing-street-yes-men-blamed-for-johnsons-failed-bid-to-save-owen-paterson-090mkzklf

    They need Cummings back.

    The problem is that they’ve burned their bridges there, so who can they persuade into No.10 to actually run the show?
    I actually spoke to someone who has worked in Downing Street in the past and they said nobody would want to work in Number 10 under Boris Johnson.

    He manages to couple the inertia of Mrs May's decision making process which then leads messy last minute decision making process which led to the Paterson fiasco.

    Then you've got Carrie Antoinette and her people in senior decision making roles and a parallel power base.

    It is well known Boris Johnson can make contradictory decisions within minutes.

    They all know one day it will go horribly wrong and nobody wants to be there for that.
    When the time finally comes (hopefully sooner rather than later) for (working title) "Boris Johnson - The Movie" who will play Himself?

    My nomination is - James Corden. With a fright wig.

    And who would be good in the role of Carrie? Maybe Lady Gaga?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Roger said:

    eek said:

    BBC statement on Michael Vaughan says he "won't appear as a presenter" on 5 Live's Tuffers & Vaughan Show on Monday.
    "We remain in discussion with Michael and his team". #bbccricket


    https://twitter.com/ShamoonHafez/status/1456662633826897927

    That's Michael's career cancelled - that 2010 tweet was probably justification enough...
    I met Michael Vaughan once when he was dining with Michael Atherton at Groucho's. A good enough reason to ban him from TV I know but he seemed very pleasant.

    Irrespective of this I'm not at all comfortable with him being pilloried for his alleged comment to three players of Pakistani origin. Cricket is a game of banter. None more so than between the Australians the West Indians the South Africans the Indians and the Pakistanis. The competition between these cricketing nations is both fierce and friendly as any spectator at a test match will attest.

    I have no idea about the behaviour of Yorkshire cricket Club which I can easily believe the worst of. They don't even like women in their pavilion! But the story with Micheal Vaughan is different. If they were playing a match and he jokingly said there are too many Geordies or too many Scousers would that also be worthy of a lifetime of shame?
    Are you being serious? Just like "Scouser"? Because it's not like the p-word has any history or form of being corrosive or hateful or violently discriminating, now, is it?

    Roger pull yourself together.

    And edit: if he said "you lot" instead of the p-word it makes it not one iota less grossly offensive.
    No, there is a huge difference between "you lot" and the P word

    "You lot" really could be anything. You need a window into his soul to see if he meant it in a racist way. Perhaps he did, but maybe he didn't.

    P*ki is clearly racist and derogatory and a different kettle of unhappy fish
    Bloke addressing bunch of sth Asian guys: "You lot".

    Yes good point super ambiguous let's see if we can unpick the semiotics of that one.
    Yours truly is old enough to recall how Ross Perot (remember him?) got a LOT of flack for referring to his audience at the NAACP convention in 1992 (IIRC) as "you people".
    Would they have preferred him to have used “Colored People”, as the name of their organisation suggests?
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,343

    algarkirk said:

    Despite having a Glaswegian mother, I'm not hugely invested in the Scottish issue, being fairly neutral. But for Labour, the politics of it are simple. Starmer will fight the next election on a) no coalition with the SNP, b) no promise, or even hint, of another referendum. He has no choice.

    What happens after that, if by any chance the Tories don't succeed in having a majority to form a government, will depend entirely on the numbers. But I'm confident that Starmer would prefer to risk another election rather than be held to ransom by the SNP.

    I agree that Starmer will not fight on a second Brexit referendum. Whether he should is a different and more abstract question.

    But on the SNP, SKS is in a trickier corner. The figures are obvious: The Tories can only form a government if they win or very nearly win; Labour cannot possibly form a Labour government without a Black Swan event. But they can easily form one in alliance of some sort with LD, Gn and SNP.

    The Tory attack line is obvious. (1) Labour can't win (2) A vote for Labour in E and W is a vote for the SNP (3) If Labour won't deal with the SNP a vote for Labour is a vote for a result with no possible government (4) Vote Labour and they would have to call an election again immediately.

    So vote for reliable, modest, competent, consistent, boring old Boris.

    And there is a surprising amount of truth in all those attack lines. except the last of course.

    I fear you misunderstood my post. I was referring to a Scottish referendum, not a Brexit referendum. Although the same applies - he won't touch the latter with a bargepole.
    Yes, my mistake. I hope the rest of what I had to say had some relation to your interesting comments!

    I do think a most fascinating issue is the corner into which Labour is painted by the mixture of the problem that they can't win in England and can't win in Scotland but for entirely different reasons. Jezza has a good deal to answer for in rendering Labour out of sight of winning an election, which in current circumstances is a very pragmatic but none the less reasonable reason for not voting for them when you are voting for a government.

  • Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Roger said:

    eek said:

    BBC statement on Michael Vaughan says he "won't appear as a presenter" on 5 Live's Tuffers & Vaughan Show on Monday.
    "We remain in discussion with Michael and his team". #bbccricket


    https://twitter.com/ShamoonHafez/status/1456662633826897927

    That's Michael's career cancelled - that 2010 tweet was probably justification enough...
    I met Michael Vaughan once when he was dining with Michael Atherton at Groucho's. A good enough reason to ban him from TV I know but he seemed very pleasant.

    Irrespective of this I'm not at all comfortable with him being pilloried for his alleged comment to three players of Pakistani origin. Cricket is a game of banter. None more so than between the Australians the West Indians the South Africans the Indians and the Pakistanis. The competition between these cricketing nations is both fierce and friendly as any spectator at a test match will attest.

    I have no idea about the behaviour of Yorkshire cricket Club which I can easily believe the worst of. They don't even like women in their pavilion! But the story with Micheal Vaughan is different. If they were playing a match and he jokingly said there are too many Geordies or too many Scousers would that also be worthy of a lifetime of shame?
    Are you being serious? Just like "Scouser"? Because it's not like the p-word has any history or form of being corrosive or hateful or violently discriminating, now, is it?

    Roger pull yourself together.

    And edit: if he said "you lot" instead of the p-word it makes it not one iota less grossly offensive.
    No, there is a huge difference between "you lot" and the P word

    "You lot" really could be anything. You need a window into his soul to see if he meant it in a racist way. Perhaps he did, but maybe he didn't.

    P*ki is clearly racist and derogatory and a different kettle of unhappy fish
    Bloke addressing bunch of sth Asian guys: "You lot".

    Yes good point super ambiguous let's see if we can unpick the semiotics of that one.
    Yours truly is old enough to recall how Ross Perot (remember him?) got a LOT of flack for referring to his audience at the NAACP convention in 1992 (IIRC) as "you people".
    Would they have preferred him to have used “Colored People”, as the name of their organisation suggests?
    Not really.
  • Evening all! What piece of outrageous corruption has been unveiled tonight which HYUFD has been on to defend?

    Celebrating bagging a ticket to see Porcupine Tree next November with a beer and a previous PT gig. A long week, but good busy.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,287
    edited November 2021

    Sandpit said:

    Must read article on the shit show in Number 10.

    A former cabinet minister said: “No 10 lacks grey hair. It lacks a Willie Whitelaw. Frankly, Boris’s habit of not liking big guns around him is his fatal flaw. He doesn’t have any cabinet ministers who will call him up and say, ‘This is a f***ing stupid idea’.” Others say this criticism is unfair. “There is challenge there every day, with people putting across both sides of the argument,” a government source said. “There’s nothing casual about it.” The original plan to save Paterson was even more robust than the amendment.

    and

    Critics of the prime minister believe that the events of this week are part of a wider pattern. “The prime minister reverse ferrets not only in the building but in his own mind,” one government source said.

    “He says, ‘We’ve got to get this done.’ He’s very gung-ho and then he convinces himself it was never his position in the first place and seems to think it was someone else’s fault.” Within No 10, few are prepared to stand up to the prime minister and insecurity is rife. “No 10 is full of people that nod along because they’re worried about their own positions,” one staffer said.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/downing-street-yes-men-blamed-for-johnsons-failed-bid-to-save-owen-paterson-090mkzklf

    They need Cummings back.

    The problem is that they’ve burned their bridges there, so who can they persuade into No.10 to actually run the show?
    I actually spoke to someone who has worked in Downing Street in the past and they said nobody would want to work in Number 10 under Boris Johnson.

    He manages to couple the inertia of Mrs May's decision making process which then leads messy last minute decision making process which led to the Paterson fiasco.

    Then you've got Carrie Antoinette and her people in senior decision making roles and a parallel power base.

    It is well known Boris Johnson can make contradictory decisions within minutes.

    They all know one day it will go horribly wrong and nobody wants to be there for that.
    When the time finally comes (hopefully sooner rather than later) for (working title) "Boris Johnson - The Movie" who will play Himself?

    My nomination is - James Corden. With a fright wig.

    And who would be good in the role of Carrie? Maybe Lady Gaga?
    Nobody would have wanted to work in No 10 under Gordon Brown, the worst PM in several generations, but they did...
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    https://twitter.com/ddeanjohnson/status/1456655163167490061?s=21

    More UAP legislation being tabled in the Senate. I particular enjoyed this line:

    “The term transmedium objects or devices means objects or devices that are observed to transition between space and the atmosphere, or between the atmosphere and bodies of water, that are not immediately identifiable”.

    Anyway you lot go back to arguing about some minor member of Dave Cameron’s government who almost no one in real life can remember.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,084
    LOL at Channel 4 news.

    Saying that COVID is as high as it was at the Peak....

    *Referring to 1 in 50 etc.

    Not at all journalistic shit-stirring.
  • Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 4,784
    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    Further thought. The arrival, we hope, of an extremely effective treatment for Covid-19, vindicates - potentially - the countries which have gone for Zero Covid. If they can just hold out for a few more months, they will be able to relax all restrictions knowing that the vast majority of people are now safe, because of the antivirals

    They will have avoided mass deaths and suffering, albeit at the expense of rigorous lockdowns, isolation and quarantines

    Up to a point, milord. The regimen for the antivirals is pretty ruthless: you have to spot covidians within three days of infection. So, quite a lot is bound to slip the net, surely, unless you test everyone every day?!
    Three days of symptom onset isn't it? Which would be far easier.
    I read "five days", somewhere, which is even better. But there's lots of conflicting info and opinion as this potentially game-changing news impacts

    Certainly Pfizer shares are doing pretty nicely
    That’s because they will make a shitload of cash from the vaccine.
    This year and next.
    It looks like there were two studies: one within 5 days of the start of symptoms, the other one was three days. Both worked but the results from 3 days are the ones in the headlines, as better than 5 days.

    https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Pfizers-Novel-COVID-19-Oral-Antiviral-Treatment-Candidate-Reduced-Risk-of-Hospitalization-or-Death-by-89-in-Interim-Analysis-of-Phase-23-EPIC-HR-Study/default.aspx

    These sort of therapeutics are why there is no need to rush to catch it. Both regimes were on the unvaxxed.
    And it ought to be possible to produce a lot of it very quickly, and quite cheaply. Though Pfizer will want to charge a premium.
    Good article on the development here:
    https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news
    Mrs Rata looked at the target molecule. Probably 8-10 chemical reactions to make the drug, about 4 major input chemicals (a couple of amino acids) plus solvents and catalysts, reckons a couple of bits in the middle of the molecule could be a bit tricky, a nitrile group and a three membered ring, but overall not too terrible. And there will be an existing lab synthesis and probably some beginnings of a scale up or kilogram scale method to work from.

    And for this circumstance she says, "you'd scale up the lab method you've got, however stupid it is", which would be a matter of a 2-3 months to get to decent scale (and you'd then be working in parallel on the real process improvement for later batches).

    Anyhow she's rather more optimistic than I was this afternoon and her description tbh is of a simpler process than the one she's involved in putting on plant at the moment.
  • Sandpit said:

    Must read article on the shit show in Number 10.

    A former cabinet minister said: “No 10 lacks grey hair. It lacks a Willie Whitelaw. Frankly, Boris’s habit of not liking big guns around him is his fatal flaw. He doesn’t have any cabinet ministers who will call him up and say, ‘This is a f***ing stupid idea’.” Others say this criticism is unfair. “There is challenge there every day, with people putting across both sides of the argument,” a government source said. “There’s nothing casual about it.” The original plan to save Paterson was even more robust than the amendment.

    and

    Critics of the prime minister believe that the events of this week are part of a wider pattern. “The prime minister reverse ferrets not only in the building but in his own mind,” one government source said.

    “He says, ‘We’ve got to get this done.’ He’s very gung-ho and then he convinces himself it was never his position in the first place and seems to think it was someone else’s fault.” Within No 10, few are prepared to stand up to the prime minister and insecurity is rife. “No 10 is full of people that nod along because they’re worried about their own positions,” one staffer said.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/downing-street-yes-men-blamed-for-johnsons-failed-bid-to-save-owen-paterson-090mkzklf

    They need Cummings back.

    The problem is that they’ve burned their bridges there, so who can they persuade into No.10 to actually run the show?
    I actually spoke to someone who has worked in Downing Street in the past and they said nobody would want to work in Number 10 under Boris Johnson.

    He manages to couple the inertia of Mrs May's decision making process which then leads messy last minute decision making process which led to the Paterson fiasco.

    Then you've got Carrie Antoinette and her people in senior decision making roles and a parallel power base.

    It is well known Boris Johnson can make contradictory decisions within minutes.

    They all know one day it will go horribly wrong and nobody wants to be there for that.
    When the time finally comes (hopefully sooner rather than later) for (working title) "Boris Johnson - The Movie" who will play Himself?

    My nomination is - James Corden. With a fright wig.

    And who would be good in the role of Carrie? Maybe Lady Gaga?
    Nobody would have wanted to work in No 10 under Gordon Brown, the worst PM in several generations, but they did...
    Is someone thinking about a Gordon Brown bio-pic?

    Otherwise why bring him up? not what you'd call an especially fresh red herring!
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    edited November 2021
    Pro_Rata said:

    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    Further thought. The arrival, we hope, of an extremely effective treatment for Covid-19, vindicates - potentially - the countries which have gone for Zero Covid. If they can just hold out for a few more months, they will be able to relax all restrictions knowing that the vast majority of people are now safe, because of the antivirals

    They will have avoided mass deaths and suffering, albeit at the expense of rigorous lockdowns, isolation and quarantines

    Up to a point, milord. The regimen for the antivirals is pretty ruthless: you have to spot covidians within three days of infection. So, quite a lot is bound to slip the net, surely, unless you test everyone every day?!
    Three days of symptom onset isn't it? Which would be far easier.
    I read "five days", somewhere, which is even better. But there's lots of conflicting info and opinion as this potentially game-changing news impacts

    Certainly Pfizer shares are doing pretty nicely
    That’s because they will make a shitload of cash from the vaccine.
    This year and next.
    It looks like there were two studies: one within 5 days of the start of symptoms, the other one was three days. Both worked but the results from 3 days are the ones in the headlines, as better than 5 days.

    https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Pfizers-Novel-COVID-19-Oral-Antiviral-Treatment-Candidate-Reduced-Risk-of-Hospitalization-or-Death-by-89-in-Interim-Analysis-of-Phase-23-EPIC-HR-Study/default.aspx

    These sort of therapeutics are why there is no need to rush to catch it. Both regimes were on the unvaxxed.
    And it ought to be possible to produce a lot of it very quickly, and quite cheaply. Though Pfizer will want to charge a premium.
    Good article on the development here:
    https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news
    Mrs Rata looked at the target molecule. Probably 8-10 chemical reactions to make the drug, about 4 major input chemicals (a couple of amino acids) plus solvents and catalysts, reckons a couple of bits in the middle of the molecule could be a bit tricky, a nitrile group and a three membered ring, but overall not too terrible. And there will be an existing lab synthesis and probably some beginnings of a scale up or kilogram scale method to work from.

    And for this circumstance she says, "you'd scale up the lab method you've got, however stupid it is", which would be a matter of a 2-3 months to get to decent scale (and you'd then be working in parallel on the real process improvement for later batches).

    Anyhow she's rather more optimistic than I was this afternoon and her description tbh is of a simpler process than the one she's involved in putting on plant at the moment.
    It’ll already be scaled up in order to produce for the trial. Lots of amide couplings, which are trivial, and probably solid support methods, and a couple of interesting but not that challenging building blocks. Small peptides like this are a growth area, and it’s not hard to see why, as they are interacting with big peptides - proteins.
  • A bizarre rant about racism in cricket by Mihir Bose:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    Whining that there aren't enough Asian players in the England team and saying that football is more representative - number of Asian players in top level football being approximately zero.

    He also seems to think that club cricket in Yorkshire is racially segregated - well it might be in Bradford for all I know but certainly isn't elsewhere, Azeem Rafiq for example played for Barnsley.

    Implies that there's a host of Asian cricketers who have been denied professional careers - no names of these potential Gavaskars and Imran Khans mentioned of course.

    Doesn't know that until 1990 Yorkshire had a selection policy that you had to be born in the county to play for them.

    Isn't aware that India was playing test cricket from 1932.

    And doesn't realise that the number of black cricketers in the 1980s was because of the greatness of the West Indies at the time.

    For all that YCCC have made themselves look contemptible and incompetent in failing to deal with ignorant bigotry things aren't going to be improved by the Guardian allowing ignorant bigotry of a different variety.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Thanks for the across the pond updates. Good to get into detail.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878

    A bizarre rant about racism in cricket by Mihir Bose:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    Whining that there aren't enough Asian players in the England team and saying that football is more representative - number of Asian players in top level football being approximately zero.

    He also seems to think that club cricket in Yorkshire is racially segregated - well it might be in Bradford for all I know but certainly isn't elsewhere, Azeem Rafiq for example played for Barnsley.

    Implies that there's a host of Asian cricketers who have been denied professional careers - no names of these potential Gavaskars and Imran Khans mentioned of course.

    Doesn't know that until 1990 Yorkshire had a selection policy that you had to be born in the county to play for them.

    Isn't aware that India was playing test cricket from 1932.

    And doesn't realise that the number of black cricketers in the 1980s was because of the greatness of the West Indies at the time.

    For all that YCCC have made themselves look contemptible and incompetent in failing to deal with ignorant bigotry things aren't going to be improved by the Guardian allowing ignorant bigotry of a different variety.

    So in our county league there is an Asian team. Is that racially segregated or is it a club from a culture who like playing together?
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 4,784

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    Opposition parties seek inquiry into Johnson’s Spanish holiday https://www.ft.com/content/74ab3606-0f70-4989-a4f1-2f4c960104fe
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    algarkirk said:

    Despite having a Glaswegian mother, I'm not hugely invested in the Scottish issue, being fairly neutral. But for Labour, the politics of it are simple. Starmer will fight the next election on a) no coalition with the SNP, b) no promise, or even hint, of another referendum. He has no choice.

    What happens after that, if by any chance the Tories don't succeed in having a majority to form a government, will depend entirely on the numbers. But I'm confident that Starmer would prefer to risk another election rather than be held to ransom by the SNP.

    I agree that Starmer will not fight on a second Brexit referendum. Whether he should is a different and more abstract question.

    But on the SNP, SKS is in a trickier corner. The figures are obvious: The Tories can only form a government if they win or very nearly win; Labour cannot possibly form a Labour government without a Black Swan event. But they can easily form one in alliance of some sort with LD, Gn and SNP.

    The Tory attack line is obvious. (1) Labour can't win (2) A vote for Labour in E and W is a vote for the SNP (3) If Labour won't deal with the SNP a vote for Labour is a vote for a result with no possible government (4) Vote Labour and they would have to call an election again immediately.

    So vote for reliable, modest, competent, consistent, boring old Boris.

    And there is a surprising amount of truth in all those attack lines. except the last of course.

    Does this mean even if the country is on its arse we have vote Boris to save the Union? Ohhhh, OK then.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    Boris Johnson is planning to take the Conservative parliamentary party on an away weekend in January to improve relations with MPs and engage with policy development and delivery.

    One senior MP said, "I'm expecting a whole weekend of 'yes and ho'.”


    https://www.ft.com/content/74ab3606-0f70-4989-a4f1-2f4c960104fe
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    kle4 said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Thanks for the across the pond updates. Good to get into detail.
    Pretty amazimg they haven't finished counting in County pest controller elections yet, mind.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    edited November 2021
    Scott_xP said:

    Opposition parties seek inquiry into Johnson’s Spanish holiday https://www.ft.com/content/74ab3606-0f70-4989-a4f1-2f4c960104fe

    I don't think of itself this had any legs.

    Maybe in conjunction with the Paterson fiasco attempt to sack Stone it hints that Johnson is even more of a duplicitous, conniving barsteward than had been first understood.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    Scott_xP said:

    Boris Johnson is planning to take the Conservative parliamentary party on an away weekend in January to improve relations with MPs and engage with policy development and delivery.

    One senior MP said, "I'm expecting a whole weekend of 'yes and ho'.”


    https://www.ft.com/content/74ab3606-0f70-4989-a4f1-2f4c960104fe

    Who's paying for this jolly?
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,287
    Time tonsign off for a while. Its going to.be a Boris hateathon. Criticism based on fact is fairplay...
  • Pro_Rata said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
    Snohomish is a native American (coast Salish) name, also the name of a river; in the vicinity also Swinomish Tribe (and river) and Stilliguamish River. Also Sammamish (city and lake) and Duwamish (Tribe & river)

    We've got plenty more great native names, for example Cowlitz, Mukilteo, Nisqually, Nooksack, Puyallup, Skagit, Snoqualmie, Tacoma/Tehoma, Yakima to name but a few.

    And of course Seattle is an anglicized version of the name of a great Duwamish tribal leader.
  • A bizarre rant about racism in cricket by Mihir Bose:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    Whining that there aren't enough Asian players in the England team and saying that football is more representative - number of Asian players in top level football being approximately zero.

    He also seems to think that club cricket in Yorkshire is racially segregated - well it might be in Bradford for all I know but certainly isn't elsewhere, Azeem Rafiq for example played for Barnsley.

    Implies that there's a host of Asian cricketers who have been denied professional careers - no names of these potential Gavaskars and Imran Khans mentioned of course.

    Doesn't know that until 1990 Yorkshire had a selection policy that you had to be born in the county to play for them.

    Isn't aware that India was playing test cricket from 1932.

    And doesn't realise that the number of black cricketers in the 1980s was because of the greatness of the West Indies at the time.

    For all that YCCC have made themselves look contemptible and incompetent in failing to deal with ignorant bigotry things aren't going to be improved by the Guardian allowing ignorant bigotry of a different variety.

    So in our county league there is an Asian team. Is that racially segregated or is it a club from a culture who like playing together?
    I would imagine the latter.

    And quite understandably so for many - people tend to associate with others similar to themselves and the 'general ambiance' in sports clubs can be off-putting for 'outsiders' even from 'normal' things such as alcohol consumption.

    I would imagine that there are also Asian players in the other clubs in your league.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585

    Time tonsign off for a while. Its going to.be a Boris hateathon. Criticism based on fact is fairplay...

    Well it is a thread header concerning Johnson's future as PM, and Johnson has just been caught attempting to subvert Parliamentary justice (re: Paterson) so it's not exactly off-topic.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    edited November 2021

    Pro_Rata said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
    Snohomish is a native American (coast Salish) name, also the name of a river; in the vicinity also Swinomish Tribe (and river) and Stilliguamish River. Also Sammamish (city and lake) and Duwamish (Tribe & river)

    We've got plenty more great native names, for example Cowlitz, Mukilteo, Nisqually, Nooksack, Puyallup, Skagit, Snoqualmie, Tacoma/Tehoma, Yakima to name but a few.

    And of course Seattle is an anglicized version of the name of a great Duwamish tribal leader.
    You missed Walla Walla. So good they named it twice. And name checked it in Summer Nights.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,574
    Omnium said:

    Nigelb said:

    Blimey.
    Helion, the private sector pulsed fusion effort, just raised $500m.

    US investors are getting very serious about the prospects for fusion power within a decade.

    If they get it right then 500m will be peanuts.

    I have indirectly (via IP group) an investment in 'First light fusion' - an Oxford company.

    All of them are pretty good bets at probably in effect 1000-1 or maybe more.
    Yes, but it’s a very large single investment (I think the total for the entire sector was previously under $2bn ?). Someone is very serious about its prospects.

    I think it’s reasonably likely that we have commercial fusion before the giant European ITER project is completed in 2035.
  • A bizarre rant about racism in cricket by Mihir Bose:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    Whining that there aren't enough Asian players in the England team and saying that football is more representative - number of Asian players in top level football being approximately zero.

    He also seems to think that club cricket in Yorkshire is racially segregated - well it might be in Bradford for all I know but certainly isn't elsewhere, Azeem Rafiq for example played for Barnsley.

    Implies that there's a host of Asian cricketers who have been denied professional careers - no names of these potential Gavaskars and Imran Khans mentioned of course.

    Doesn't know that until 1990 Yorkshire had a selection policy that you had to be born in the county to play for them.

    Isn't aware that India was playing test cricket from 1932.

    And doesn't realise that the number of black cricketers in the 1980s was because of the greatness of the West Indies at the time.

    For all that YCCC have made themselves look contemptible and incompetent in failing to deal with ignorant bigotry things aren't going to be improved by the Guardian allowing ignorant bigotry of a different variety.

    He does seem woefully ill-informed. A quick look at the last team fielded by England shows two Asian players and two Afro-Caribbeans, captained by an Irishman. He is also referencing the Bombay Triangular/Quadrangular as if it was typical of Indian cricket. As far as I know (please correct me if I am wrong) white players played in the Ranji Trophy alongside Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs etc.

    Channel 4 News lead on the Yorkshire story tonight, didn't realise they knew cricket existed. I assume they think it is some sort of embarrassing colonial legacy, which is why they were trying to put the boot in.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,751
    Scott_xP said:

    Boris Johnson is planning to take the Conservative parliamentary party on an away weekend in January to improve relations with MPs and engage with policy development and delivery.

    One senior MP said, "I'm expecting a whole weekend of 'yes and ho'.”


    https://www.ft.com/content/74ab3606-0f70-4989-a4f1-2f4c960104fe

    Yes and hos, shurely?
  • Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    ydoethur said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Boris Johnson is planning to take the Conservative parliamentary party on an away weekend in January to improve relations with MPs and engage with policy development and delivery.

    One senior MP said, "I'm expecting a whole weekend of 'yes and ho'.”


    https://www.ft.com/content/74ab3606-0f70-4989-a4f1-2f4c960104fe

    Yes and hos, shurely?
    Carrie won't like that!
  • dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Thanks for the across the pond updates. Good to get into detail.
    Pretty amazimg they haven't finished counting in County pest controller elections yet, mind.
    FYI in great state of WA, ballots are counted if returned by 8pm election night OR postmarked on or before date of election.

    In King Co, over 209k ballots were returned via drop boxes on Election Day alone, many in the final hours before 8pm deadline. Plus 30k that arrived in the mail the morning after EDay.

    Counting every valid vote accurately is more important than rushing the count - even (or especially?) if you're a punter.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    Pro_Rata said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
    Snohomish is a native American (coast Salish) name, also the name of a river; in the vicinity also Swinomish Tribe (and river) and Stilliguamish River. Also Sammamish (city and lake) and Duwamish (Tribe & river)

    We've got plenty more great native names, for example Cowlitz, Mukilteo, Nisqually, Nooksack, Puyallup, Skagit, Snoqualmie, Tacoma/Tehoma, Yakima to name but a few.

    And of course Seattle is an anglicized version of the name of a great Duwamish tribal leader.
    Chief Seattle quote.

    "Humans merely share the earth. We can only protect the land, not own it."
    Appropriate for Cop 26. Didn't say who the bloody hell would pay for it, mind.
  • Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    We lost the VA legislature, came within inches of losing New Jersey governorship, and lost special election runoff for Texas legislature in heavily Latino district of San Antonio.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,084
    Pro_Rata said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
    I quite like SNOHOMISH.

    It's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue for a poorly build igloo.
  • dixiedean said:

    Pro_Rata said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
    Snohomish is a native American (coast Salish) name, also the name of a river; in the vicinity also Swinomish Tribe (and river) and Stilliguamish River. Also Sammamish (city and lake) and Duwamish (Tribe & river)

    We've got plenty more great native names, for example Cowlitz, Mukilteo, Nisqually, Nooksack, Puyallup, Skagit, Snoqualmie, Tacoma/Tehoma, Yakima to name but a few.

    And of course Seattle is an anglicized version of the name of a great Duwamish tribal leader.
    You missed Walla Walla. So good they named it twice. And name checked it in Summer Nights.
    Also forgot Humptulips. Reckon that Leon will be angling for a travel assignment to check THAT out!
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248

    Vaughan’s memory game

    Michael Vaughan has strongly denied making a racially insensitive remark to three Asian cricketers during his time as Yorkshire captain, despite two of the players insisting he did so.

    It is to be hoped the BBC analyst has better powers of recall than he did after an interview in 2007 about England’s ill-fated World Cup in the West Indies. Vaughan was reported by the interviewer to have referred to Andrew Flintoff as “Fredalo”, in reference to the all-rounder having to be rescued from a midnight pedalo escapade, prompting him to issue a statement insisting he “never used that word”.

    The Guardian responded by posting the audio of his interview online, in which Vaughan said “Fredalo” not once but twice.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/amanda-staveleys-company-can-borrow-money-from-fellow-newcastle-shareholder-2f023shrg

    What, in God's name, is wrong with "Fredalo"?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 113,967
    edited November 2021
    Leon said:

    Vaughan’s memory game

    Michael Vaughan has strongly denied making a racially insensitive remark to three Asian cricketers during his time as Yorkshire captain, despite two of the players insisting he did so.

    It is to be hoped the BBC analyst has better powers of recall than he did after an interview in 2007 about England’s ill-fated World Cup in the West Indies. Vaughan was reported by the interviewer to have referred to Andrew Flintoff as “Fredalo”, in reference to the all-rounder having to be rescued from a midnight pedalo escapade, prompting him to issue a statement insisting he “never used that word”.

    The Guardian responded by posting the audio of his interview online, in which Vaughan said “Fredalo” not once but twice.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/amanda-staveleys-company-can-borrow-money-from-fellow-newcastle-shareholder-2f023shrg

    What, in God's name, is wrong with "Fredalo"?
    Nothing, it was Vaughan's denial that was the issue.

    England were keen to move on from the disastrous 2006/07 Ashes and 2007 world cup performances then Vaughan gave a bad interview and decided to deny saying some stuff not realising the Guardian had the audio of the entire interview.

    https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/fredalo-wrecked-world-cup-vaughan-296939

    The Guardian has denied Michael Vaughan's suggestion that he was misquoted in his interview with Donald McRae, published in yesterday's newspaper.

    Speaking earlier today, England's cricket captain claimed he "never used the word 'Fredalo'," in the interview, adding: "One word changed the whole context of the article, a word which I didn't say. Incredibly in the piece, it didn't mention I openly admitted that I didn't captain as well as I can, I didn't manage the situation as well as I could and I didn't play as well as I could. So if I was blaming anyone for a World Cup fiasco, I was blaming Michael Vaughan."

    Tonight, however, the Guardian decided to publish parts of Vaughan's interview online to prove its case. In a statement, the newspaper said: "Having examined transcripts it is clear his contention that he did not use the word 'Fredalo' is incorrect, and his comments can be heard here.



    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/jun/06/cricket.pressandpublishing
  • MattW said:

    Pro_Rata said:

    It's truly been the Week That Was for PBers. As far as Great British U-Turns go, this most recent example must surely belong in the hall of fame.

    . . . but meanwhile back at the ranch . . .

    Yours truly has been absorbed with 2021 general election here in the great State of Washington. Pleased to report that, unlike in much of the rest of the country, Democrats not only avoided getting hammered, but actually scored a few modest but none-the-less significant gains here and there.

    Note that most races were officially nonpartisan but often with significant partisan AND ideological contrasts between candidates.

    CITY OF SEATTLE
    > Bruce Harrell, former city council member and moderate (by Seattle standards) Democrat is winning a whopping 62% versus 38% for progressive current council member Lorena González
    > in race for City Attorney (where the incumbent was eliminated in the primary) Ann Davison, a non-Trumpist (sort of) Republican, is winning 55% versus 45% for Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who advocates abolishing much of the criminal justice system; while Democratic district organizations all endorsed NTK, many prominent Dems (such as former governors Gary Locke & Christine Gregoire) endorsed the Republican, and clearly most Seattle Democrats - including yours truly - voted for Davison.
    > in open at-large city council seat (now held by González) moderate Democrat Sara Nelson is defeating progressive activists and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver by 57% versus 43%

    KING COUNTY (Seattle plus east & south suburbs)
    > Incumbent King Co Executive Dow Constantine, a moderate Democrat, is winning 56% versus 43% for progressive Democratic state senator Joe Nguyen (the GOP didn't bother to file a serious candidate for the August primary)
    > five seats on King Co Council were up this year, including the only three (out of nine) held by Republicans; four incumbents were re-elected handily, however long-time GOP incumbent Cathy Lambert is losing by 45% versus 55% for Democratic challenger Sarah Perry; this council district includes affluent Eastside King Co suburbs & exurbs that have been trending steadily Democratic for decades, with Lambert being the last domino to fall.

    SNOHOMISH COUNTY (northern part of Seattle metro area)
    > no surprises & really not much happening electorally, though moderates did bit better than progressives in local races in Everett & other suburbs dominated these days by Democrats, while Republicans held there own exurban & rural turf.
    > most interesting, and for me gratifying result, was the defeat of the incumbent Proud Boy fellow travelling mayor of the City of Snohomish AND his cronies on the city council, by a moderate-progressive slate; note that this is a charming little tourist trap beloved by Seattlites as a weekend get-away; methinks locals were motivated by distaste of Trumpery AND concern that being perceived as a Putinist stronghold might NOT be good for business.

    Man, you make fun of our constituency names and there you are with Snohomish. Is that what happens when Old Bexley and Sidcup try to take their camper van / winnebago up to Aviemore for the winter?
    I quite like SNOHOMISH.

    It's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue for a poorly build igloo.
    Even a well-constructed igloo will NOT last very long in Snohomish County. Unless inside cold storage!

    We're in temperate rain forest here NOT the Arctic tundra.
  • Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
  • Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    Don't have data handy, but the odd-year elections in NJ & VA have way of being canaries in the coal mine.

    Definitely need to pay attention if they fall off the perch.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,343

    algarkirk said:

    Despite having a Glaswegian mother, I'm not hugely invested in the Scottish issue, being fairly neutral. But for Labour, the politics of it are simple. Starmer will fight the next election on a) no coalition with the SNP, b) no promise, or even hint, of another referendum. He has no choice.

    What happens after that, if by any chance the Tories don't succeed in having a majority to form a government, will depend entirely on the numbers. But I'm confident that Starmer would prefer to risk another election rather than be held to ransom by the SNP.

    I agree that Starmer will not fight on a second Brexit referendum. Whether he should is a different and more abstract question.

    But on the SNP, SKS is in a trickier corner. The figures are obvious: The Tories can only form a government if they win or very nearly win; Labour cannot possibly form a Labour government without a Black Swan event. But they can easily form one in alliance of some sort with LD, Gn and SNP.

    The Tory attack line is obvious. (1) Labour can't win (2) A vote for Labour in E and W is a vote for the SNP (3) If Labour won't deal with the SNP a vote for Labour is a vote for a result with no possible government (4) Vote Labour and they would have to call an election again immediately.

    So vote for reliable, modest, competent, consistent, boring old Boris.

    And there is a surprising amount of truth in all those attack lines. except the last of course.

    Does this mean even if the country is on its arse we have vote Boris to save the Union? Ohhhh, OK then.
    Not a good outlook of course. What I am suggesting is the Tory attack line in the actual circumstances. Nothing to do with what I prefer, this is what I suggest might happen, and where the tactical problems are. Unusually the tactical problems are greater for the opposition than for the government, even though times are tough. This is politically odd and interesting.



  • stodgestodge Posts: 12,741

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    We lost the VA legislature, came within inches of losing New Jersey governorship, and lost special election runoff for Texas legislature in heavily Latino district of San Antonio.
    The question is what lessons will the party take from these reverses. There's a year to turn things round before the midterms and if the lessons are learned and House and Senate control is retained next year, these will simply be setbacks.

    To this observer, it looked the classic story of a demotivated Government vote struggling to turn out against an energised Opposition.
  • Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    Don't have data handy, but the odd-year elections in NJ & VA have way of being canaries in the coal mine.

    Definitely need to pay attention if they fall off the perch.
    Well there's a lot of water to pass under the bridge in the next year so things could get better for you. Or worse.

    You at least have a favourable set of Senate seats up next year:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_Senate_elections

    By the look of things only AZ, GE, NV and NH might be vulnerable.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248
    edited November 2021
    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    In 2017 the Dem winning margin in Virginia was 8.9 points.

    In the 2018 midterms the Dems won by 8.6 points.

    The Nuneaton of the Americas.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    stodge said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    We lost the VA legislature, came within inches of losing New Jersey governorship, and lost special election runoff for Texas legislature in heavily Latino district of San Antonio.
    The question is what lessons will the party take from these reverses. There's a year to turn things round before the midterms and if the lessons are learned and House and Senate control is retained next year, these will simply be setbacks.

    To this observer, it looked the classic story of a demotivated Government vote struggling to turn out against an energised Opposition.
    Biden promised the American people extreme socialism but the Dem centerists have blocked him.

    The people are not happy. They want their socialism.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248

    Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    Don't have data handy, but the odd-year elections in NJ & VA have way of being canaries in the coal mine.

    Definitely need to pay attention if they fall off the perch.
    You need to ditch the Ultra-Wokeness. But you won't because the intellectual "elite" of your party is wholly invested in this nonsense. There is no way they will turn back
  • Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    "the decade nil"

    Nice
  • Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    Don't have data handy, but the odd-year elections in NJ & VA have way of being canaries in the coal mine.

    Definitely need to pay attention if they fall off the perch.
    Well there's a lot of water to pass under the bridge in the next year so things could get better for you. Or worse.

    You at least have a favourable set of Senate seats up next year:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_Senate_elections

    By the look of things only AZ, GE, NV and NH might be vulnerable.
    Yeah, but our opportunities for picking up any currently Republican US Senate seats are limited, with Pennsylvania the best opportunity.

    As for Democratic defenses, I feel pretty good about Arizona, Nevada & New Hampshire.

    But NOT about Georgia, where the mostly likely Republican challenger is Hershel Walker, former U of GA and NFL star player, and (not coincidentally) an African American recruited by You-Know-Who.

    Note that Peach State GOPers are trying to copy the example of electorally-successful Black Republican US Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) on the other side of the Savannah River.

    And unless Walker self-destructs somewhere along the campaign trail, methinks he got a pretty good shot.

  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Speaking of sleaze, a few days ago a cartoon popped into my head showing clown Boris opening a stable door so a horse labelled "probity", or perhaps "Owen", could bolt.

    But in view of recent events it now occurs to me that the horse might be better labelled "Publicus" and trail a loose rein curled around the clown's ankle.

    Maybe it could be a sort of diptych?

    Apologies for my brain smog.
  • Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    Not really. The revolutionary calendar started in 1792, so 1793 (iirc) was year 1. And year 4 was 1976.
    The 1800s usage was that 1801 was 'the year 1', etc. I suggest read up on your Patrick O'Brian to refresh your memory
  • Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    Not really. The revolutionary calendar started in 1792, so 1793 (iirc) was year 1. And year 4 was 1976.
    The 1800s usage was that 1801 was 'the year 1', etc. I suggest read up on your Patrick O'Brian to refresh your memory
    And before anyone else mentions it, yes I mistyped 1796.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    The people who control the campaigning money for the Dems are idiots part 723

    https://twitter.com/StevePtweets/status/1456721690352881666

    That's a tweet midway through an interesting/exasperating thread. I don't agree with everything he says but his fundamental message, that national level Dem strategists are imbeciles, is spot on.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 12,741
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59179219

    I thought this a very fair and reasonable assessment of our current situation with the coronavirus. The case numbers are falling and let's hope it continues but the priority is and remains vaccination and the rising emphasis on getting the booster vaccination to vulnerable older people is to be welcomed.

    The question is the extent to which individually and collectively we can and should be adhering to the 6-month between vaccinations guideline. There are clearly some who have had a booster vaccination in advance of the 6 month period - fair enough. I presume the risk in waiting is one's immunity declines with time.

    Given the encouraging results of offering Pfizer to those who have had two previous Astrazeneca vaccinations, I wonder if we will be able to go that bit further again before vaccination four.

    The second part of this is the undercurrent of criticism of the media coverage and how that feeds people's perceptions (that word, especially for @Anabobazina's benefit). Should the fall in cases be being screamed from the rooftops - the argument is rises in cases are so why shouldn't falls and that's a hard one to gainsay in all honesty.

    Like those who complain the media is always critical of the Government and the Prime Minister, the obvious response is would you prefer a media which is unstintingly supportive of the Government and never broadcasts any criticism - there's plenty of countries where that is the case? Perhaps the price of the privilege of office is to suffer the brickbats.
  • Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
  • Leon said:

    Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    Don't have data handy, but the odd-year elections in NJ & VA have way of being canaries in the coal mine.

    Definitely need to pay attention if they fall off the perch.
    You need to ditch the Ultra-Wokeness. But you won't because the intellectual "elite" of your party is wholly invested in this nonsense. There is no way they will turn back
    Not so sure of that, note Seattle election returns posted upthread.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
    It was used some between 2001-09. More awkward than say "teens" for '10-'19 (even though 10, 11 & 12 are NOT teen years.)

    For US, talking about "Aughts" is pretty much same thing as UKers saying "Naughts" esp. as we don't say the n-word (in this context) hardly at all.

    As for starting to pick it up this year, am guessing it takes maybe a decade to pass before we start thinking much about a decade AS a decade?
  • Speaking of election here in WA State, if your interested check out live webcams from King County Elections

    https://kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/about-us/security-and-accountability/watch-us-in-action.aspx

    Plenty of activity ongoing for next few hours today (Friday) and Monday of next week. Currently busy in ballot opening & scanning departments.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
    It was used some between 2001-09. More awkward than say "teens" for '10-'19 (even though 10, 11 & 12 are NOT teen years.)

    For US, talking about "Aughts" is pretty much same thing as UKers saying "Naughts" esp. as we don't say the n-word (in this context) hardly at all.

    As for starting to pick it up this year, am guessing it takes maybe a decade to pass before we start thinking much about a decade AS a decade?
    The first reference I can find is the Washington Post from 2011, so it has been around a long time. But then it went unused for years, and resurfaced more recently, surely for the reasons you say

    It is a weird anomaly of the English language that we can't find shorthand for the first two decades in a century. Aughts and Noughties are both imperfect, one awkward one arch. And "teenies" is just wrong
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    http://sonorouschocolate.com/covid19/extdata/logcasesbyage.png

    With the last fertile group for covid to spread in now saturated and cases plummeting, really feels quite optimistic that we'll see an across the board significant fall now with no outlying age group left to seed new cases in the others.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,164
    Sleepy Joe and Dominic Cummings getting the Lewes treatment...



  • Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    Not really. The revolutionary calendar started in 1792, so 1793 (iirc) was year 1. And year 4 was 1976.
    The 1800s usage was that 1801 was 'the year 1', etc. I suggest read up on your Patrick O'Brian to refresh your memory
    And before anyone else mentions it, yes I mistyped 1796.
    Well yes, I wasn't suggesting people were actually using the year of the revolutionary calendar, just that calling 1804 "the year 4" was a reflection of that usage.
  • Step back for a moment and consider that this is really as fast as you could possibly expect a new, targeted small-molecule drug to ever be developed. Pfizer has a history in the antiviral protease world, so they had the expertise (and the screening collection!) to get a strong start. But here we are, less than two years after the emergence of this pathogen, with a bespoke drug against it. That's the speed record, and I think that it will be very, very hard to break - and I hope that we never have to try! It's a remarkable accomplishment.

    https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
    It was used some between 2001-09. More awkward than say "teens" for '10-'19 (even though 10, 11 & 12 are NOT teen years.)

    For US, talking about "Aughts" is pretty much same thing as UKers saying "Naughts" esp. as we don't say the n-word (in this context) hardly at all.

    As for starting to pick it up this year, am guessing it takes maybe a decade to pass before we start thinking much about a decade AS a decade?
    The first reference I can find is the Washington Post from 2011, so it has been around a long time. But then it went unused for years, and resurfaced more recently, surely for the reasons you say

    It is a weird anomaly of the English language that we can't find shorthand for the first two decades in a century. Aughts and Noughties are both imperfect, one awkward one arch. And "teenies" is just wrong
    Noughties has distinct advantage, of being a pun = naughties.

    Not that the decade was notably naughty, albeit it had it's high points for all PBers.

    Especially Leon - an inspiration (if not example) for those us leading lives of (not so quiet) desperation!
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
    It was used some between 2001-09. More awkward than say "teens" for '10-'19 (even though 10, 11 & 12 are NOT teen years.)

    For US, talking about "Aughts" is pretty much same thing as UKers saying "Naughts" esp. as we don't say the n-word (in this context) hardly at all.

    As for starting to pick it up this year, am guessing it takes maybe a decade to pass before we start thinking much about a decade AS a decade?
    The first reference I can find is the Washington Post from 2011, so it has been around a long time. But then it went unused for years, and resurfaced more recently, surely for the reasons you say

    It is a weird anomaly of the English language that we can't find shorthand for the first two decades in a century. Aughts and Noughties are both imperfect, one awkward one arch. And "teenies" is just wrong
    For the twentieth century the first decade coincided with the reign of Edward VII, so we used Edwardian. The second decade had WWI in the middle, so 1913 and 1919 were further apart in any way you can think of apart from time than 1893 and 1913.

    The pandemic may end up being a similar punctuation mark in history, but it fell at the beginning of a decade.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
    It was used some between 2001-09. More awkward than say "teens" for '10-'19 (even though 10, 11 & 12 are NOT teen years.)

    For US, talking about "Aughts" is pretty much same thing as UKers saying "Naughts" esp. as we don't say the n-word (in this context) hardly at all.

    As for starting to pick it up this year, am guessing it takes maybe a decade to pass before we start thinking much about a decade AS a decade?
    The first reference I can find is the Washington Post from 2011, so it has been around a long time. But then it went unused for years, and resurfaced more recently, surely for the reasons you say

    It is a weird anomaly of the English language that we can't find shorthand for the first two decades in a century. Aughts and Noughties are both imperfect, one awkward one arch. And "teenies" is just wrong
    For the twentieth century the first decade coincided with the reign of Edward VII, so we used Edwardian. The second decade had WWI in the middle, so 1913 and 1919 were further apart in any way you can think of apart from time than 1893 and 1913.

    The pandemic may end up being a similar punctuation mark in history, but it fell at the beginning of a decade.
    Was it actually called Edwardian at the time, though?
  • tlg86 said:

    Sleepy Joe and Dominic Cummings getting the Lewes treatment...



    Uncle Joe certainly makes an impressive Super Chicken!
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,771

    Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    It is worth remembering that a year into the Trump administration, they were losing the Alabama Senate race.
  • IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    When I was a kid, referring to say 1906 as "aught six" was sort of a jokey way of sounding old-timey. Referencing that back in THAT day lots of Americans (esp. rural then the majority) said it just that way.

    So when the '00s of the Third Millennium rolled around, we revived "the Aughts"

    Further note that the word "nought" for zero is VERY rare this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) in US anyway.
    Interesting


    I read a lot of American media, tho, and this has only suddenly appeared in the last year or so. Odd
    It was used some between 2001-09. More awkward than say "teens" for '10-'19 (even though 10, 11 & 12 are NOT teen years.)

    For US, talking about "Aughts" is pretty much same thing as UKers saying "Naughts" esp. as we don't say the n-word (in this context) hardly at all.

    As for starting to pick it up this year, am guessing it takes maybe a decade to pass before we start thinking much about a decade AS a decade?
    The first reference I can find is the Washington Post from 2011, so it has been around a long time. But then it went unused for years, and resurfaced more recently, surely for the reasons you say

    It is a weird anomaly of the English language that we can't find shorthand for the first two decades in a century. Aughts and Noughties are both imperfect, one awkward one arch. And "teenies" is just wrong
    For the twentieth century the first decade coincided with the reign of Edward VII, so we used Edwardian. The second decade had WWI in the middle, so 1913 and 1919 were further apart in any way you can think of apart from time than 1893 and 1913.

    The pandemic may end up being a similar punctuation mark in history, but it fell at the beginning of a decade.
    Was it actually called Edwardian at the time, though?
    Good question. Despite what some of my students think, I’m not old enough to remember.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248
    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide
  • rcs1000 said:

    Alistair said:

    Personal Statement -

    I wish to thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conservative Party unreservedly, for providing yours truly with much-need diversion and mirth in the immediate aftermath of the shit-kicking enduring by myself and fellow Democrats at the 2021 general election.

    Hope this makes it all worth it, on your side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    Was it really that bad for you Dems ?

    Apart from Virginia did you lose much elsewhere ?
    If the NJ or Virginia swing was repeated at the mid terms it would be an absolute bloodbath.
    Do you have any historical comparisons for the swing in the first year elections to the mid-terms ?

    With only Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and some other local things I wonder how representative they are and their usefulness as a predictor.
    It is worth remembering that a year into the Trump administration, they were losing the Alabama Senate race.
    Although they had to nominate Roy Moore to manage that.
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    Not really. The revolutionary calendar started in 1792, so 1793 (iirc) was year 1. And year 4 was 1976.
    The 1800s usage was that 1801 was 'the year 1', etc. I suggest read up on your Patrick O'Brian to refresh your memory
    And before anyone else mentions it, yes I mistyped 1796.
    Well yes, I wasn't suggesting people were actually using the year of the revolutionary calendar, just that calling 1804 "the year 4" was a reflection of that usage.
    Pedantry alert. It's more accurate to refer to that calendar as the Republican Calendar, rather than the Revolutionary Calendar.
  • Leon said:

    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide

    Can you measure social justice without calculus?
  • Step back for a moment and consider that this is really as fast as you could possibly expect a new, targeted small-molecule drug to ever be developed. Pfizer has a history in the antiviral protease world, so they had the expertise (and the screening collection!) to get a strong start. But here we are, less than two years after the emergence of this pathogen, with a bespoke drug against it. That's the speed record, and I think that it will be very, very hard to break - and I hope that we never have to try! It's a remarkable accomplishment.

    https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news

    Shitty as the last couple of years have been, in very many ways we have had an incredibly lucky escape.

    We're about 2 years from the damn thing being identified, and over 7 billion doses of vaccine have been given. Not perfectly, but the scientists have been in the right place at the right time. I hate to think what would have happened had C-19 been C-09, let alone C-89.

    There's an awkward echo of the header here. We've been musing on BoJo's destiny and how it links to his character. BoJo's triumphs and disasters both come from the same place- he is willing to push his luck further because he tends to get away with it. A willingness to push his luck further helps him win. And when he doesn't, he somehow fails upwards. That's why BoJo-sceptics can say that this will all end in tears, we just don't know when. (Right now, it could be ten years, it could be ten days.)

    C-19 ought to be a huge warning shot for us all. Don't do stuff that favours the creation of new pathogens. If things go wrong don't cover them up. Don't run your nation with zero resilience for disasters. Do stay healthy, so your body can deal with sickness.

    (If you haven't been reading Dr Phil Hammond's Private Eye columns on Covid, you're missing a trick. He was at Girton College Cambridge so he's bound to be a good egg.)

    Unfortunately, some people are determined to take the lesson that the boffins will always get us out of the soup. And scientists will always do their best, because it's fun and satisfying to save the world. But you can't count on it.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Selebian said:

    Selebian said:

    ydoethur said:

    Fucking hell, next he'll admit to not knowing 'Paki' is an offensive term.

    Yorkshire head coach Andrew Gale is being investigated by bosses over anti-Semitic social media messages, it has emerged amid the club's deepening racism crisis.

    In a now deleted post on Twitter from November 2010, the then club captain told Paul Dews, who was head of media at Leeds United Football Club at the time, to "Button it y--!"

    Gale told the Jewish News website, which first reported the tweet, that he was “completely unaware” of the offensive nature of the term at the time he sent the message.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2021/11/05/yorkshire-cricket-racism-storm-chairman-quits-hits-ecb-latest/

    Good grief.

    I am starting to think Yorkshire CCC won't survive this.
    I think they need to appoint me Chief Executive and Executive Chairman of YCCC and I'll fix all the problems.

    A strong Yorkshire means a strong England.
    I have always found Yorkshire kind of annoying, for a few reasons:

    1. Claiming to be in the North, even though parts of it are closer to London than to the Scottish border
    2. Yorkshire Tea, which self-evidently isn't produced in Yorkshire
    3. Being referred to by its residents as God's own Country, which seems rather boastful and potentially blasphemous, especially if you've ever spent time in some of the ropier bits
    4. Geoffrey Boycott.
    Boycott, I'll concede. You can have YCCC too.

    As a southerner naturalised in Yorkshire I answer the others as follows:
    1. Anything north of Watford Gap is north. Plus Yorkshire folk say bath, not barth.
    2. Yorkshire tea is indeed produced in Yorkshire. The raw ingredients come from elsewhere. Next you'll be claiming that BP petrol isn't really British! :open_mouth:
    3. God's Own Country? Well Jacob Rees-Mogg says it isn't.[1] Case closed?

    [1] https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/jacob-rees-mogg-yorkshire-is-not-gods-own-country-somerset-is-3146769
    On the basis that JRM is always wrong I will concede 3. On 1. you are basically denying the existence of the Midlands, where I think most of Yorkshire is located. On 2., I think the petrol refining process is a more substantive procedure than mixing up tea leaves from several countries and putting them in a perforated bag. Yorkshire tea is not from Yorkshire (it is from India, Sri Lanka and Kenya).
    Ah, compromise :smile: I'm happy to negotiate.

    On 1. There was a lad at university (in the midlands) from Nottingham who denied he was northern. We didn't believe him, either. I have slightly more sympathy with his position now. Happy to re-set the dividing line to the Humber and disown South Yorkshire (happy, on current events, to lose West Yorkshire, too).
    On 2. Rename the product to 'Yorkshire Teabags'? At least until it turns out the bagging is done in High Wycombe...
    Yorkshire is North of the Humber. Case closed
    So really, it's just southern Northumbria?
    Yes.

    Broadly speaking the South is Wessex plus bits of Mercia, East Anglia is East Anglia, the North is Northumbria and the Midlands the rest of Mercia
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248

    Leon said:

    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide

    Can you measure social justice without calculus?
    It's quite incredible. They just lost Virginia because of this bullshit. Education was THE issue. But far from sobering up, the Wokesters are going further

    The Republicans will use this again and again. "The Democrats want to destroy education because they are Woke morons".

    Who would vote for this crap? The Republicans are being gifted a decade of elections. Scarily, this might even be enough to see Trump back in the White House
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide

    Can you measure social justice without calculus?
    It's quite incredible. They just lost Virginia because of this bullshit. Education was THE issue. But far from sobering up, the Wokesters are going further

    The Republicans will use this again and again. "The Democrats want to destroy education because they are Woke morons".

    Who would vote for this crap? The Republicans are being gifted a decade of elections. Scarily, this might even be enough to see Trump back in the White House
    They'll still win for all practical purposes. This country keeps voting for the right wing option and brexit, but we're going to get all this shit forced down our throats regardless.
  • One thing I forgot to mention in my discussion of 2021 general results in Seattle & environs.

    Based on current results and trend since Election Night, progressive Democratic challengers are defeating more moderate Democratic incumbents in two races for Port of Seattle commissioner.

    For taxation - and thus voting - port district includes all of King County.

    These races were not high-profile, and incumbents did not (for reasons best known to them) raise much money.

    Certainly challengers were competitive in finance, esp. from labor. With environmentalists split between green populists on one hand, and more establishmentarian wing on the other.

    More results will be posted today by 4pm Pacific time; as I type this drivel King Co Elections is beavering away to run as many ballots as possible through the tabulators so that results in these races will be effectively decided today.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248
    maaarsh said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide

    Can you measure social justice without calculus?
    It's quite incredible. They just lost Virginia because of this bullshit. Education was THE issue. But far from sobering up, the Wokesters are going further

    The Republicans will use this again and again. "The Democrats want to destroy education because they are Woke morons".

    Who would vote for this crap? The Republicans are being gifted a decade of elections. Scarily, this might even be enough to see Trump back in the White House
    They'll still win for all practical purposes. This country keeps voting for the right wing option and brexit, but we're going to get all this shit forced down our throats regardless.
    No they won't. In the end Americans will vote for Trump, or his equivalent, to get rid of this madness

    Likewise Brits
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,277
    Charles said:

    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Selebian said:

    Selebian said:

    ydoethur said:

    Fucking hell, next he'll admit to not knowing 'Paki' is an offensive term.

    Yorkshire head coach Andrew Gale is being investigated by bosses over anti-Semitic social media messages, it has emerged amid the club's deepening racism crisis.

    In a now deleted post on Twitter from November 2010, the then club captain told Paul Dews, who was head of media at Leeds United Football Club at the time, to "Button it y--!"

    Gale told the Jewish News website, which first reported the tweet, that he was “completely unaware” of the offensive nature of the term at the time he sent the message.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2021/11/05/yorkshire-cricket-racism-storm-chairman-quits-hits-ecb-latest/

    Good grief.

    I am starting to think Yorkshire CCC won't survive this.
    I think they need to appoint me Chief Executive and Executive Chairman of YCCC and I'll fix all the problems.

    A strong Yorkshire means a strong England.
    I have always found Yorkshire kind of annoying, for a few reasons:

    1. Claiming to be in the North, even though parts of it are closer to London than to the Scottish border
    2. Yorkshire Tea, which self-evidently isn't produced in Yorkshire
    3. Being referred to by its residents as God's own Country, which seems rather boastful and potentially blasphemous, especially if you've ever spent time in some of the ropier bits
    4. Geoffrey Boycott.
    Boycott, I'll concede. You can have YCCC too.

    As a southerner naturalised in Yorkshire I answer the others as follows:
    1. Anything north of Watford Gap is north. Plus Yorkshire folk say bath, not barth.
    2. Yorkshire tea is indeed produced in Yorkshire. The raw ingredients come from elsewhere. Next you'll be claiming that BP petrol isn't really British! :open_mouth:
    3. God's Own Country? Well Jacob Rees-Mogg says it isn't.[1] Case closed?

    [1] https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/jacob-rees-mogg-yorkshire-is-not-gods-own-country-somerset-is-3146769
    On the basis that JRM is always wrong I will concede 3. On 1. you are basically denying the existence of the Midlands, where I think most of Yorkshire is located. On 2., I think the petrol refining process is a more substantive procedure than mixing up tea leaves from several countries and putting them in a perforated bag. Yorkshire tea is not from Yorkshire (it is from India, Sri Lanka and Kenya).
    Ah, compromise :smile: I'm happy to negotiate.

    On 1. There was a lad at university (in the midlands) from Nottingham who denied he was northern. We didn't believe him, either. I have slightly more sympathy with his position now. Happy to re-set the dividing line to the Humber and disown South Yorkshire (happy, on current events, to lose West Yorkshire, too).
    On 2. Rename the product to 'Yorkshire Teabags'? At least until it turns out the bagging is done in High Wycombe...
    Yorkshire is North of the Humber. Case closed
    So really, it's just southern Northumbria?
    Yes.

    Broadly speaking the South is Wessex plus bits of Mercia, East Anglia is East Anglia, the North is Northumbria and the Midlands the rest of Mercia
    Sussex and Essex are definitely not Wessex, nor was Middlesex when it existed, and nor is Kent for that matter. The south is much more than Wessex plus bits of Mercia.
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775
    Have the Conservatives managed to go 12 hours without a sleaze scandal?
    I guess they must have started the weekend with a liquid lunch and fell asleep.
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    Leon said:

    maaarsh said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide

    Can you measure social justice without calculus?
    It's quite incredible. They just lost Virginia because of this bullshit. Education was THE issue. But far from sobering up, the Wokesters are going further

    The Republicans will use this again and again. "The Democrats want to destroy education because they are Woke morons".

    Who would vote for this crap? The Republicans are being gifted a decade of elections. Scarily, this might even be enough to see Trump back in the White House
    They'll still win for all practical purposes. This country keeps voting for the right wing option and brexit, but we're going to get all this shit forced down our throats regardless.
    No they won't. In the end Americans will vote for Trump, or his equivalent, to get rid of this madness

    Likewise Brits
    Farage or equivalent is going to win here? Because the Tories keep winning and keep retreating on this stuff. What is crazy today is unopposable in 2 years, and 2 years after that the Tories try to claim they were at the vanguard of remaking society with it.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263

    Step back for a moment and consider that this is really as fast as you could possibly expect a new, targeted small-molecule drug to ever be developed. Pfizer has a history in the antiviral protease world, so they had the expertise (and the screening collection!) to get a strong start. But here we are, less than two years after the emergence of this pathogen, with a bespoke drug against it. That's the speed record, and I think that it will be very, very hard to break - and I hope that we never have to try! It's a remarkable accomplishment.

    https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news

    It's wonderful. I don't see any downside at all - once it's licenced, assuming they charge some reasonable fee as the article suggests, let's celebrate.
  • Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    Not really. The revolutionary calendar started in 1792, so 1793 (iirc) was year 1. And year 4 was 1976.
    The 1800s usage was that 1801 was 'the year 1', etc. I suggest read up on your Patrick O'Brian to refresh your memory
    And before anyone else mentions it, yes I mistyped 1796.
    Well yes, I wasn't suggesting people were actually using the year of the revolutionary calendar, just that calling 1804 "the year 4" was a reflection of that usage.
    Pedantry alert. It's more accurate to refer to that calendar as the Republican Calendar, rather than the Revolutionary Calendar.
    Had some great names for the months - source wikipedia

    Autumn:
    Vendémiaire (from French vendange, derived from Latin vindemia, "vintage"), starting 22, 23, or 24 September
    Brumaire (from French brume, "mist"), starting 22, 23, or 24 October
    Frimaire (From French frimas, "frost"), starting 21, 22, or 23 November
    Winter:
    Nivôse (from Latin nivosus, "snowy"), starting 21, 22, or 23 December
    Pluviôse (from French pluvieux, derived from Latin pluvius, "rainy"), starting 20, 21, or 22 January
    Ventôse (from French venteux, derived from Latin ventosus, "windy"), starting 19, 20, or 21 February
    Spring:
    Germinal (from French germination), starting 20 or 21 March
    Floréal (from French fleur, derived from Latin flos, "flower"), starting 20 or 21 April
    Prairial (from French prairie, "meadow"), starting 20 or 21 May
    Summer:
    Messidor (from Latin messis, "harvest"), starting 19 or 20 June
    Thermidor (or Fervidor*) (from Greek thermon, "summer heat"), starting 19 or 20 July
    Fructidor (from Latin fructus, "fruit"), starting 18 or 19 August
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081

    Step back for a moment and consider that this is really as fast as you could possibly expect a new, targeted small-molecule drug to ever be developed. Pfizer has a history in the antiviral protease world, so they had the expertise (and the screening collection!) to get a strong start. But here we are, less than two years after the emergence of this pathogen, with a bespoke drug against it. That's the speed record, and I think that it will be very, very hard to break - and I hope that we never have to try! It's a remarkable accomplishment.

    https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news

    Shitty as the last couple of years have been, in very many ways we have had an incredibly lucky escape.

    We're about 2 years from the damn thing being identified, and over 7 billion doses of vaccine have been given. Not perfectly, but the scientists have been in the right place at the right time. I hate to think what would have happened had C-19 been C-09, let alone C-89.

    There's an awkward echo of the header here. We've been musing on BoJo's destiny and how it links to his character. BoJo's triumphs and disasters both come from the same place- he is willing to push his luck further because he tends to get away with it. A willingness to push his luck further helps him win. And when he doesn't, he somehow fails upwards. That's why BoJo-sceptics can say that this will all end in tears, we just don't know when. (Right now, it could be ten years, it could be ten days.)

    C-19 ought to be a huge warning shot for us all. Don't do stuff that favours the creation of new pathogens. If things go wrong don't cover them up. Don't run your nation with zero resilience for disasters. Do stay healthy, so your body can deal with sickness.

    (If you haven't been reading Dr Phil Hammond's Private Eye columns on Covid, you're missing a trick. He was at Girton College Cambridge so he's bound to be a good egg.)

    Unfortunately, some people are determined to take the lesson that the boffins will always get us out of the soup. And scientists will always do their best, because it's fun and satisfying to save the world. But you can't count on it.
    Indeed; there were people on here confidently predicting millions of British dead and billions of cases worldwide both during 2020
  • Exactly three years tonight we will at our keyboards waiting to see if Trump is back in the White House.
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775

    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    Since when did Americans settle on the Noughties being called "the Aughts"?

    Dunno. But they have. I've seen it in numerous places recently. It will migrate here


    https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx47m/photographer-alain-levitt-nyc-nostalgia?utm_source=VICE_Twitter&utm_medium=social+

    In the early 1800s people used a French Revolution meme and called eg 1804 "the year 4". I quite like that.
    Not really. The revolutionary calendar started in 1792, so 1793 (iirc) was year 1. And year 4 was 1976.
    The 1800s usage was that 1801 was 'the year 1', etc. I suggest read up on your Patrick O'Brian to refresh your memory
    And before anyone else mentions it, yes I mistyped 1796.
    Well yes, I wasn't suggesting people were actually using the year of the revolutionary calendar, just that calling 1804 "the year 4" was a reflection of that usage.
    Pedantry alert. It's more accurate to refer to that calendar as the Republican Calendar, rather than the Revolutionary Calendar.
    Had some great names for the months - source wikipedia

    Autumn:
    Vendémiaire (from French vendange, derived from Latin vindemia, "vintage"), starting 22, 23, or 24 September
    Brumaire (from French brume, "mist"), starting 22, 23, or 24 October
    Frimaire (From French frimas, "frost"), starting 21, 22, or 23 November
    Winter:
    Nivôse (from Latin nivosus, "snowy"), starting 21, 22, or 23 December
    Pluviôse (from French pluvieux, derived from Latin pluvius, "rainy"), starting 20, 21, or 22 January
    Ventôse (from French venteux, derived from Latin ventosus, "windy"), starting 19, 20, or 21 February
    Spring:
    Germinal (from French germination), starting 20 or 21 March
    Floréal (from French fleur, derived from Latin flos, "flower"), starting 20 or 21 April
    Prairial (from French prairie, "meadow"), starting 20 or 21 May
    Summer:
    Messidor (from Latin messis, "harvest"), starting 19 or 20 June
    Thermidor (or Fervidor*) (from Greek thermon, "summer heat"), starting 19 or 20 July
    Fructidor (from Latin fructus, "fruit"), starting 18 or 19 August
    Agreed!
    And everything after August in our calendar is both boring AND wrong. January is my favourite month name. Janus. Two faces, one looking back to the old year, the other looking forward to the new.
  • NEW THREAD
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,081
    Charles said:

    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Selebian said:

    Selebian said:

    ydoethur said:

    Fucking hell, next he'll admit to not knowing 'Paki' is an offensive term.

    Yorkshire head coach Andrew Gale is being investigated by bosses over anti-Semitic social media messages, it has emerged amid the club's deepening racism crisis.

    In a now deleted post on Twitter from November 2010, the then club captain told Paul Dews, who was head of media at Leeds United Football Club at the time, to "Button it y--!"

    Gale told the Jewish News website, which first reported the tweet, that he was “completely unaware” of the offensive nature of the term at the time he sent the message.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2021/11/05/yorkshire-cricket-racism-storm-chairman-quits-hits-ecb-latest/

    Good grief.

    I am starting to think Yorkshire CCC won't survive this.
    I think they need to appoint me Chief Executive and Executive Chairman of YCCC and I'll fix all the problems.

    A strong Yorkshire means a strong England.
    I have always found Yorkshire kind of annoying, for a few reasons:

    1. Claiming to be in the North, even though parts of it are closer to London than to the Scottish border
    2. Yorkshire Tea, which self-evidently isn't produced in Yorkshire
    3. Being referred to by its residents as God's own Country, which seems rather boastful and potentially blasphemous, especially if you've ever spent time in some of the ropier bits
    4. Geoffrey Boycott.
    Boycott, I'll concede. You can have YCCC too.

    As a southerner naturalised in Yorkshire I answer the others as follows:
    1. Anything north of Watford Gap is north. Plus Yorkshire folk say bath, not barth.
    2. Yorkshire tea is indeed produced in Yorkshire. The raw ingredients come from elsewhere. Next you'll be claiming that BP petrol isn't really British! :open_mouth:
    3. God's Own Country? Well Jacob Rees-Mogg says it isn't.[1] Case closed?

    [1] https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/jacob-rees-mogg-yorkshire-is-not-gods-own-country-somerset-is-3146769
    On the basis that JRM is always wrong I will concede 3. On 1. you are basically denying the existence of the Midlands, where I think most of Yorkshire is located. On 2., I think the petrol refining process is a more substantive procedure than mixing up tea leaves from several countries and putting them in a perforated bag. Yorkshire tea is not from Yorkshire (it is from India, Sri Lanka and Kenya).
    Ah, compromise :smile: I'm happy to negotiate.

    On 1. There was a lad at university (in the midlands) from Nottingham who denied he was northern. We didn't believe him, either. I have slightly more sympathy with his position now. Happy to re-set the dividing line to the Humber and disown South Yorkshire (happy, on current events, to lose West Yorkshire, too).
    On 2. Rename the product to 'Yorkshire Teabags'? At least until it turns out the bagging is done in High Wycombe...
    Yorkshire is North of the Humber. Case closed
    So really, it's just southern Northumbria?
    Yes.

    Broadly speaking the South is Wessex plus bits of Mercia, East Anglia is East Anglia, the North is Northumbria and the Midlands the rest of Mercia
    And we’d still be independent down here on our island had that silly woman not been conned into signing the island over to Edward II on her deathbed.
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    Leon said:

    maaarsh said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The American Left is FUCKED, part 683,822


    "Should social justice be part of math class?


    "Proposed changes to California’s math guidelines would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea of naturally gifted children and build a connection to social justice. Critics say the framework would inject “woke politics” into the subject...."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20211105&instance_id=44769&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&regi_id=106571559&segment_id=73706&te=1&user_id=d68bcc26626dde3f2cdef7375bdd3e94

    They are determined to double down. The Democrats will be swept aside in 2022, 2024, and onwards. This is political suicide

    Can you measure social justice without calculus?
    It's quite incredible. They just lost Virginia because of this bullshit. Education was THE issue. But far from sobering up, the Wokesters are going further

    The Republicans will use this again and again. "The Democrats want to destroy education because they are Woke morons".

    Who would vote for this crap? The Republicans are being gifted a decade of elections. Scarily, this might even be enough to see Trump back in the White House
    They'll still win for all practical purposes. This country keeps voting for the right wing option and brexit, but we're going to get all this shit forced down our throats regardless.
    No they won't. In the end Americans will vote for Trump, or his equivalent, to get rid of this madness

    Likewise Brits
    Voting for Trump last time didn;t stop this. Voting for Obama re-racialised US politics afresh. There's no electoral bullet against any of this.
This discussion has been closed.