Sky reporting from the US saying things are not looking good for Andrew
Royal family need to pay careful attention to the parable of Owen Paterson and North Shropshire when thinking about how to respond to whatever the judgment is.
It's hardly surprising as the New York act that allowed cases to be opened was designed to deal with time barred and similar cases.
And the fact that Prince Andrew was so desperate for the legal agreement to protect him shows how utterly guilty he is.
I see we are approaching the peak "speaking in a personal capacity" part of the latest variant wave.
It's farcical – not only are these publicity hungry attention-seekers frequently wrong, they are presented as being Sage despite the ludicrous 'personal capacity' rider.
I'm surprised it's been allowed to continue for so long.
A comment like that on here a year ago would have been completely unthinkable.
The thing is you can give vaccines to poorer and developing countries but that doesn't mean they will use them.
In some of the African countries they had supply to vaccinate a lot more of their population than they did but they couldn't get their populace to take it up.
So it wasn't always a case of supply, but supply and actual demand for it.
That's a bit unfair. What I've read is that countries have received doses at short notice with a short shelf-life, and they just don't have the logistical capacity to ramp-up a vaccination campaign to get the doses used in time.
Even in the UK it took a couple of weeks from when Johnson gave the word to boost everyone ASAP for the rate to really increase.
Even if everyone in an African country wants to be vaccinated they will struggle to organise it if they suddenly have a few million doses, three weeks from expiry, after not having any.
They need to have reliable, consistent supply fresh from production.
Two days in a row London admissions below same figure last week. That's something positive at least.
That looks like prevalence has gone down from the heights of 1/15 so fewer incidentals. The actual number of *for* COVID admissions might actually be quite steady.
I think that's unlikely. The incidence of omicron may be falling in London, but the prevalence is likely as high as it has ever been. People stay positive for a while on PCR so when tested on arrival will show up even if they were infected a little while back incidentally.
Apparently France has also dropped isolation to five days (along with the US)?
I can't see the seven-day penalty lasting much longer.
We have hundreds of thousands of people sat at home with nothing wrong them. The isolation is rapidly becoming worse than the disease, if it isn't already!
We are quite close to people demanding restrictions because the current restrictions are putting the NHS under too much pressure. Yes, I know it's more complicated than that, but it's getting uncomfortable close to catch-22 lunacy.
Keir needs to go with the slogan Make Brexit Work.
Yes but how
The UK holds all the cards so it'll be easy for Sir Keir.
To be honest it is a genuine question and needs asking
If Mr Johnson has had his go, though, it's about time someone else tried a different approach.
Before the electorate vote in Starmer the Conservatives can shoot Labours fox by installing a proper Primeminister and government.
Am I the only person on PB.com convinced Boris is about to get vonked? Boris can’t go a fortnight without being all over papers with some shameful scandal. It’s what he is, he can’t change. The chances of a Tory poll lead under him now are zilch.
Anyone think his knew haircut is an improvement? He is beginning to look really ugly old man without trademark hair to hide it.
Anyway, important Conservative Party news. My Dad reckons the Conservative party members he knows are United the party are about to replace Bozo now because they need to get proper economic policy’s and financial policy for all the economic and financial problems Boris won’t do anything about and doesn’t have a clue about.
That’s true isn’t it? Under Boris it’s not clear what the Conservative economic and financial policy is despite Boris set piece speeches to spell it out. And that’s the reason he is being got rid of next week.
*political betting post* I had a £50 bet on Javid because I thought Rishi Sunak had wasted too much money without looking after it properly, but I’m now 99 parcent convinced Sunak is taking over this month. Can I now bet on Sunak as well, bet against my own bet?
Today's YouGov on which party would be best at handling the economy
Conservative 31% - Labour 18%
How did the missing 51% answer?
AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
This Party has no economic policy nor has this one, which one gets your vote. Lol.
What Big G doesn’t realise, if the government goes through another 6 months without sane financial steering, they are going to be buried in a hole there’s no getting out of. But based on my soundings up here in Yorkshire, conservative supporters do appreciate this now.
I would predict the Conservative leadership campaigns in next couple of months is going to be very educational as the candidates, like Rishi, liz and Jav are going to spell out what Conservative socio economics mean to them with policies to achieve their values.
Labour have a problem here as by summer Conservatives are going to be in a fresh new popular place.
A conservative election win next spring is even possible once failure Boris is quickly dealt with this year.
No alternative Tory leader, including Sunak or Truss, saw the Tories do any better in the recent Opinium hypothetical Tory leader poll than the 3% Labour lead over the Boris led Tories in the latest poll. Why should changing the leader make any difference?
* This isn't surprising but we really should have been shadow running this for 2-3 months before go live so issues were picked up and passed back to the people who were making mistakes so they didn't reoccur. It still wouldn't have been perfect but it would have sorted a fair number of errors out.
Keir needs to go with the slogan Make Brexit Work.
Yes but how
The UK holds all the cards so it'll be easy for Sir Keir.
To be honest it is a genuine question and needs asking
If Mr Johnson has had his go, though, it's about time someone else tried a different approach.
Before the electorate vote in Starmer the Conservatives can shoot Labours fox by installing a proper Primeminister and government.
Am I the only person on PB.com convinced Boris is about to get vonked? Boris can’t go a fortnight without being all over papers with some shameful scandal. It’s what he is, he can’t change. The chances of a Tory poll lead under him now are zilch.
Anyone think his knew haircut is an improvement? He is beginning to look really ugly old man without trademark hair to hide it.
Anyway, important Conservative Party news. My Dad reckons the Conservative party members he knows are United the party are about to replace Bozo now because they need to get proper economic policy’s and financial policy for all the economic and financial problems Boris won’t do anything about and doesn’t have a clue about.
That’s true isn’t it? Under Boris it’s not clear what the Conservative economic and financial policy is despite Boris set piece speeches to spell it out. And that’s the reason he is being got rid of next week.
*political betting post* I had a £50 bet on Javid because I thought Rishi Sunak had wasted too much money without looking after it properly, but I’m now 99 parcent convinced Sunak is taking over this month. Can I now bet on Sunak as well, bet against my own bet?
Today's YouGov on which party would be best at handling the economy
Conservative 31% - Labour 18%
So? That doesn’t mean anything.
I’m talking about absence of policy and direction Big G and the need for government to have some or it certain comes a cropper. Are you happy to debate with me on what the governments economic policies are?
So what are they? 🤣
As of now dealing with the pandemic and the hundreds of billions involved makes future policy decisions near impossible to predict but it is noticeably that Rishi is reigning in spending and of course the NI increases in April are unpopular
I expect Rishi to address the high increase in energy costs but I would assume it would be directed to the low paid
However, beyond that I do not believe any party can make firm commitments on tax and spending as nobody knows just where we will be over the coming months
Conservatives are a low tax party and I would be very surprised if tax reductions do not appear from Spring 23
Conservatives low tax? 😆
So they like to claim, but no party invents more taxes, sly taxes, or eats away at progressive taxes better than Conservative government is the true record. We currently have the highest tax take since the conservatives in power in the fifties. Covid? Or bojonomic? Bit of both is truth.
The current Conservative members and press want the green taxes cut and vat cuts to help people in the coming credit crunch - where does Boris and his government stand on that? Because I respect the fact you replied to the challenge, what is this governments economic policy and direction, but your reply was rather thin in explaining. And to be fair to you you are drawing from Boris set piece speeches explaining this - where he’s given you nothing except that manifesto.
And their in is the problem, don’t you agree, in a sane election Boris manifesto would have been in trouble, but it was not nearly as crazy as Labours.
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Nevertheless a world with Covid raging is more likely to throw up things which come and fuck us up than a world with Covid under control. And the quicker we vaccinate the world the quicker we get from that first situation to the second. It's as much a practical imperative as a moral one.
No it isn't necessarily a practical or moral one and probably not a scientific one either. All governments have their first responsibility to their own population. IMHO, the first priority of Western governments is to figure out how to defeat or contain the virus. The strategies that they use will then inform them how they support other governments to do the same.
The virus respects no borders. It's a global pandemic and the best response to it is global. The more inefficient and illogical is the vaccine rollout - eg 5 or 6 jabs in one country and zero in another - the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer it lasts the more the damage will be and the more likely it is that we will be impacted.
The question then is this - to what extent should the normal rules of national centric politics - which you outline - be flexed in order to facilitate the optimum globally efficient solution?
I say the answer to this is "to a very great extent" and I think this is the correct answer. After all, this is a once-a-century emergency with an awful lot at stake. If we can't get our (global) act together for this, at least better than we are atm, when will we ever be able to?
So I am going to ask a question. I don't claim it is a fair question or perhaps even valid but it is the question that any politician has to be able to answer if they wish to accept your view.
How many people should we allow to die in this country, who could otherwise be saved, so that we can save lives of people in Africa, India, Russia or Poland?
As I say I am not saying it is a fair question but it is the question that cannot be dodged by politicians choosing to follow the route of putting global well being ahead of national well being.
And I know the obvious answer to you and probably to me is that in the long term we might actually save more lives here. But that is not certain and you are asking people to accept deaths now for fewer deaths tomorrow. That is a hard, if not impossible, sell for any politician.
It certainly was when vaccines were scarce. They no longer are though so the question is how much help are we going to give to facilitate their distribution? It should, without question, be our number 1 foreign aid objective at the moment.
Agreed. It's no longer a capacity constrained zero sum game. And even from a selfish economic point of view, it would be a sensible investment for the richer economies.
I see we are approaching the peak "speaking in a personal capacity" part of the latest variant wave.
It's farcical – not only are these publicity hungry attention-seekers frequently wrong, they are presented as being Sage despite the ludicrous 'personal capacity' rider.
I'm surprised it's been allowed to continue for so long.
A comment like that on here a year ago would have been completely unthinkable.
No it wouldn't. It was quite common. The moment sage's credibility fell away was the Autumn 2020 lockdown, which was justified on the grounds of data already out of date as it was presented. Lots of criticism of sage back then, I remember.
Looks like today might be the last day we can say mechanical ventilation beds are under 800, but given they hit 869 in November that's not a particularly scary milestone. Mercifully a very long way to go to the 3,700 peak, or 2,300 same day last year.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
Sky reporting from the US saying things are not looking good for Andrew
Royal family need to pay careful attention to the parable of Owen Paterson and North Shropshire when thinking about how to respond to whatever the judgment is.
Since when did the Royal family have any jurisdiction in US Federal or State law since the 18th century? Paterson was different as MPs collectively and Parliament have to approve how to regulate their own
O/T - There have been a couple of articles about risks in 2022. None particularly great and worth linking. However they often point to similar themes - Inflation, Putin, Chinese aggression, Chinese collapse. My top two worries would be Putin and inflation.
With Putin nothing is likely to happen until the spring - insane to fight in winter. I don't think it's at all likely that anything will happen anyway.
Inflation - I know monetarism apparently conquered inflation, but the evidence since has been really unconvincing. I really don't think economists (or anyone else) understand economics, and inflation really can be bad in so many ways.
Would others here have similar worries and thoughts?
Disagree re Putin. I'm surprised he hasn't already gone in. Why? gas. By far his biggest lever over the West is restricting the gas supply to Europe and I've little doubt that he'd play that card if the Western response to an invasion was sufficiently severe. Surely that's why he's been keeping supplies tight these last months - to draw down Europe's stocks and make it all the more vulnerable to supply?
(Yes, Russia is doing very well out of the high gas price at the moment but it's a silly medium-term strategy as it just encourages customers to look to other suppliers and other fuels. As a policy, it only makes sense in the short term).
Once the temperatures start to pick up - or once Europe's stocks start to recover from other imports - Putin loses that leverage.
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Yes, there's a huge misunderstanding about how variants occur and evolutionary pathways. The science is really complicated but people just want to boil it down to "give vaccines away" or somehow blame the west, Boris, Trump, the EU or whatever their pet hate is.
There's the opposite too. People making out a fast global vaccine rollout *isn't* important, or is 'pie in the sky' idealism, and advancing junk science or politics to support that claim. Don't mean you, btw, but there's plenty of it about.
But the vaccines are only one part of the equation, all across Africa there's countries throwing vaccine doses away because they've already hit a demand limit for the people they can access easily. Logistics, social media misinformation and idiotic governments are all more important than vaccine supply which is actually something we've resolved, our manufacturing of vaccines across the world is huge and potentially already enough to supply all existing demand.
There's too many people on both sides of the argument who want a simple 140 character answer, but there's no short answer to getting the world vaccinated and supply is a tiny problem compared to anything else.
I don't agree with "tiny problem" but, yes, you're right about there being lots of issues other than vaccine supply. "Rich World hoards while the Rest whistle" and "Big Pharma cleans up and won't share" don't sum up the situation in a fair & accurate way, I do realize this. But those sentiments are in the mix, imo, by which I mean they're not arrant nonsense.
AZ is now producing somewhere close to half a billion doses per month (and rising) across a very wide distributed network of manufacturers and selling them at cost to the whole world. The issue isn't supply, the issue isn't availability. The issue is demand, demand, demand and no one wants to talk about it for fear of being seen as racist or some kind of colonialist/white saviour for Africa.
The other part of the equation is China selling dud vaccines and muscling AZ out with misinformation across the whole of Africa and South America against Pfizer and AZ.
You want to blame western nations, fine, maybe it makes you feel better, the conversation goes way beyond that and needs for someone like Tony Blair to take charge and sell the idea of vaccines globally. We don't have anyone doing that to increase demand for western made vaccines.
Keir needs to go with the slogan Make Brexit Work.
Yes but how
The UK holds all the cards so it'll be easy for Sir Keir.
To be honest it is a genuine question and needs asking
If Mr Johnson has had his go, though, it's about time someone else tried a different approach.
Before the electorate vote in Starmer the Conservatives can shoot Labours fox by installing a proper Primeminister and government.
Am I the only person on PB.com convinced Boris is about to get vonked? Boris can’t go a fortnight without being all over papers with some shameful scandal. It’s what he is, he can’t change. The chances of a Tory poll lead under him now are zilch.
Anyone think his knew haircut is an improvement? He is beginning to look really ugly old man without trademark hair to hide it.
Anyway, important Conservative Party news. My Dad reckons the Conservative party members he knows are United the party are about to replace Bozo now because they need to get proper economic policy’s and financial policy for all the economic and financial problems Boris won’t do anything about and doesn’t have a clue about.
That’s true isn’t it? Under Boris it’s not clear what the Conservative economic and financial policy is despite Boris set piece speeches to spell it out. And that’s the reason he is being got rid of next week.
*political betting post* I had a £50 bet on Javid because I thought Rishi Sunak had wasted too much money without looking after it properly, but I’m now 99 parcent convinced Sunak is taking over this month. Can I now bet on Sunak as well, bet against my own bet?
Today's YouGov on which party would be best at handling the economy
Conservative 31% - Labour 18%
How did the missing 51% answer?
AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
This Party has no economic policy nor has this one, which one gets your vote. Lol.
What Big G doesn’t realise, if the government goes through another 6 months without sane financial steering, they are going to be buried in a hole there’s no getting out of. But based on my soundings up here in Yorkshire, conservative supporters do appreciate this now.
I would predict the Conservative leadership campaigns in next couple of months is going to be very educational as the candidates, like Rishi, liz and Jav are going to spell out what Conservative socio economics mean to them with policies to achieve their values.
Labour have a problem here as by summer Conservatives are going to be in a fresh new popular place.
A conservative election win next spring is even possible once failure Boris is quickly dealt with this year.
No alternative Tory leader, including Sunak or Truss, saw the Tories do any better in the recent Opinium hypothetical Tory leader poll than the 3% Labour lead over the Boris led Tories in the latest poll. Why should changing the leader make any difference?
Because polling like that is complete fantasy land stuff. Why did you even mention it, you are embarrassing yourself because you know what’s needed, strong economic direction and policy to very real world problems and a leader who not only explains them very well but convinces people. You don’t have that. You don’t have either of those things. Stop playing fantasy politics.
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Nevertheless a world with Covid raging is more likely to throw up things which come and fuck us up than a world with Covid under control. And the quicker we vaccinate the world the quicker we get from that first situation to the second. It's as much a practical imperative as a moral one.
No it isn't necessarily a practical or moral one and probably not a scientific one either. All governments have their first responsibility to their own population. IMHO, the first priority of Western governments is to figure out how to defeat or contain the virus. The strategies that they use will then inform them how they support other governments to do the same.
The virus respects no borders. It's a global pandemic and the best response to it is global. The more inefficient and illogical is the vaccine rollout - eg 5 or 6 jabs in one country and zero in another - the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer it lasts the more the damage will be and the more likely it is that we will be impacted.
The question then is this - to what extent should the normal rules of national centric politics - which you outline - be flexed in order to facilitate the optimum globally efficient solution?
I say the answer to this is "to a very great extent" and I think this is the correct answer. After all, this is a once-a-century emergency with an awful lot at stake. If we can't get our (global) act together for this, at least better than we are atm, when will we ever be able to?
So I am going to ask a question. I don't claim it is a fair question or perhaps even valid but it is the question that any politician has to be able to answer if they wish to accept your view.
How many people should we allow to die in this country, who could otherwise be saved, so that we can save lives of people in Africa, India, Russia or Poland?
As I say I am not saying it is a fair question but it is the question that cannot be dodged by politicians choosing to follow the route of putting global well being ahead of national well being.
And I know the obvious answer to you and probably to me is that in the long term we might actually save more lives here. But that is not certain and you are asking people to accept deaths now for fewer deaths tomorrow. That is a hard, if not impossible, sell for any politician.
It certainly was when vaccines were scarce. They no longer are though so the question is how much help are we going to give to facilitate their distribution? It should, without question, be our number 1 foreign aid objective at the moment.
Agreed. It's no longer a capacity constrained zero sum game. And even from a selfish economic point of view, it would be a sensible investment for the richer economies.
IMO that's the solution to vaccine inequity. We have to make it so poor countries have the capacity to manufacture vaccines themselves. Rich countries will always put their citizens first. It's not easy, but it can be done.
- Cases are still going up. An uptick in R generally, across the country (the Scottish data looks down because of missing reporting). London cases have stopped falling and have levelled out.
- Admissions still lower than peak.. Hmmmm...
Mechanical ventilator bed occupancy is still flat.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
MPW's first restaurant was in Earlsfield SW17 in Wandsworth - it was over the road from Wandsworth common and very near my first 2 London homes - a rental in Balham when it was still quite cheap and my first ever property in Honeywell road, Wandsworth - in 1981 I think again before the area became super pricey during the glory years of the blessed one! Checking google maps looks like the restaurant is now called Chez Bruce!
When my sister was at Oxford many years ago we took our parents out for dinner at a very unprepossessing, but well-known place "Les Quats'Saison" in Summertown. The chef came over was very chatty (and French) and the portions miniscule. We enjoyed the food such as it was, came home, and ate packets of chocolate digestive biscuits because we were still famished.
Great Milton, not Summertown. Went to a wedding there once (the only time I've ever been) and had what was probably the best food I've ever had at a wedding.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
I think I managed to OD on pasties on the last trip, though.
Keir needs to go with the slogan Make Brexit Work.
Yes but how
The UK holds all the cards so it'll be easy for Sir Keir.
To be honest it is a genuine question and needs asking
If Mr Johnson has had his go, though, it's about time someone else tried a different approach.
Before the electorate vote in Starmer the Conservatives can shoot Labours fox by installing a proper Primeminister and government.
Am I the only person on PB.com convinced Boris is about to get vonked? Boris can’t go a fortnight without being all over papers with some shameful scandal. It’s what he is, he can’t change. The chances of a Tory poll lead under him now are zilch.
Anyone think his knew haircut is an improvement? He is beginning to look really ugly old man without trademark hair to hide it.
Anyway, important Conservative Party news. My Dad reckons the Conservative party members he knows are United the party are about to replace Bozo now because they need to get proper economic policy’s and financial policy for all the economic and financial problems Boris won’t do anything about and doesn’t have a clue about.
That’s true isn’t it? Under Boris it’s not clear what the Conservative economic and financial policy is despite Boris set piece speeches to spell it out. And that’s the reason he is being got rid of next week.
*political betting post* I had a £50 bet on Javid because I thought Rishi Sunak had wasted too much money without looking after it properly, but I’m now 99 parcent convinced Sunak is taking over this month. Can I now bet on Sunak as well, bet against my own bet?
Today's YouGov on which party would be best at handling the economy
Conservative 31% - Labour 18%
How did the missing 51% answer?
AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
This Party has no economic policy nor has this one, which one gets your vote. Lol.
What Big G doesn’t realise, if the government goes through another 6 months without sane financial steering, they are going to be buried in a hole there’s no getting out of. But based on my soundings up here in Yorkshire, conservative supporters do appreciate this now.
I would predict the Conservative leadership campaigns in next couple of months is going to be very educational as the candidates, like Rishi, liz and Jav are going to spell out what Conservative socio economics mean to them with policies to achieve their values.
Labour have a problem here as by summer Conservatives are going to be in a fresh new popular place.
A conservative election win next spring is even possible once failure Boris is quickly dealt with this year.
No alternative Tory leader, including Sunak or Truss, saw the Tories do any better in the recent Opinium hypothetical Tory leader poll than the 3% Labour lead over the Boris led Tories in the latest poll. Why should changing the leader make any difference?
Because polling like that is complete fantasy land stuff. Why did you even mention it, you are embarrassing yourself because you know what’s needed, strong economic direction and policy to very real world problems and a leader who not only explains them very well but convinces people. You don’t have that. You don’t have either of those things. Stop playing fantasy politics.
No it isn't, the hypothetical polling in 2003 was right that replacing IDS with Howard would make little difference. It was also right in 2019 that replacing May with Boris midterm would give the Tories a lead again, as the Tory landslide later that year proved.
It was right in 1990 too that replacing Thatcher with Major or Heseltine would give the Tories a lead again over Kinnock Labour
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
It really is a problem in the States.
When touring and absolutely having to eat in a regular kind of place, I became used to ordering only an 'appetiser' – to the absolute bafflement of the waitresses, who tried to insist I order a full meal, then take the several metric tonnes of waste with me, cold, in a bag. I declined.
I learned to avoid roadside places. Go slightly hungry all day, then park up in a 'heritage' town centre hotel somewhere and find a proper restaurant, where I had the opportunity to pay three times as much for a third of the volume.
Yes, it's a major problem away from the big coastal cities. And you can't even go into a supermarket and whip up a picnic because all the cheese and cold meats are horrible or non existent. I still remember, with a shudder, my visit to the enormous WalMart in Natchez Mississippi. They had a far better selection of sub machine guns than blue cheese. In fact they didn't have ANY blue cheese
We forget how fortunate we are in the UK (in this regard), you can go to a Tesco or M&S in Stornoway or north Norfolk or remote Devon or Anglesey - and it will reliably have a nice selection of salamis, hams, cheeses, breads, wines, smoked fish, from all over Europe/the world - enough for a very nice picnic in your hotel room, if that's what you fancy
And then there's America's fucking tipping culture!!!
But I don't want to be down on America. The people are splendidly kind, the beer is now excellent, and the landscapes some of the best on the planet. The National Parks are THE best on the planet
Except you have to pay to get into them. Or at least you are supposed to; often it's just an honesty box at the bottom of a trail.
Until you get to the Rockies and deserts, a lot of the landscapes can be underwhelming, largely, I concluded, because all of the hills and mountains are covered in trees and hence all look the same. And of course there are large areas with next to no landscape at all. The prairies, however, I did quite like.
That is exactly the problem with the entire Eastern 3rd of the US. It's all forested, usually deciduous, and as you say it makes the mountains look very similar from Vermont down to Georgia. I did a road trip a few years ago from Philadephia through the Appalachians along the blue ridge parkway eventually into Alabama, and while the human geography was fascinating the landscape was underwhelming. Big contrast with the West where everything is vast and incredible.
And it’s worse for walking since (unlike say the Alps), even where there are mountains you are invariably hiking uphill through a wood, where the views are fleeting at best, and then simply of trees that are further away than the wood you are in. When you get to the top you are reliant on a fire tower for a panorama (of lots more trees); if there isn’t a tower or equivalent building, you can peak at quite an altitude and still not be able to see around.
I see we are approaching the peak "speaking in a personal capacity" part of the latest variant wave.
It's farcical – not only are these publicity hungry attention-seekers frequently wrong, they are presented as being Sage despite the ludicrous 'personal capacity' rider.
I'm surprised it's been allowed to continue for so long.
A comment like that on here a year ago would have been completely unthinkable.
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Nevertheless a world with Covid raging is more likely to throw up things which come and fuck us up than a world with Covid under control. And the quicker we vaccinate the world the quicker we get from that first situation to the second. It's as much a practical imperative as a moral one.
No it isn't necessarily a practical or moral one and probably not a scientific one either. All governments have their first responsibility to their own population. IMHO, the first priority of Western governments is to figure out how to defeat or contain the virus. The strategies that they use will then inform them how they support other governments to do the same.
The virus respects no borders. It's a global pandemic and the best response to it is global. The more inefficient and illogical is the vaccine rollout - eg 5 or 6 jabs in one country and zero in another - the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer it lasts the more the damage will be and the more likely it is that we will be impacted.
The question then is this - to what extent should the normal rules of national centric politics - which you outline - be flexed in order to facilitate the optimum globally efficient solution?
I say the answer to this is "to a very great extent" and I think this is the correct answer. After all, this is a once-a-century emergency with an awful lot at stake. If we can't get our (global) act together for this, at least better than we are atm, when will we ever be able to?
So I am going to ask a question. I don't claim it is a fair question or perhaps even valid but it is the question that any politician has to be able to answer if they wish to accept your view.
How many people should we allow to die in this country, who could otherwise be saved, so that we can save lives of people in Africa, India, Russia or Poland?
As I say I am not saying it is a fair question but it is the question that cannot be dodged by politicians choosing to follow the route of putting global well being ahead of national well being.
And I know the obvious answer to you and probably to me is that in the long term we might actually save more lives here. But that is not certain and you are asking people to accept deaths now for fewer deaths tomorrow. That is a hard, if not impossible, sell for any politician.
It certainly was when vaccines were scarce. They no longer are though so the question is how much help are we going to give to facilitate their distribution? It should, without question, be our number 1 foreign aid objective at the moment.
Agreed. It's no longer a capacity constrained zero sum game. And even from a selfish economic point of view, it would be a sensible investment for the richer economies.
IMO that's the solution to vaccine inequity. We have to make it so poor countries have the capacity to manufacture vaccines themselves. Rich countries will always put their citizens first. It's not easy, but it can be done.
India is a global vaccines powerhouse. They have capacity to make 6-8bn doses of various vaccines annually. India is already manufacturing plenty of AZ doses to help the developing world, yet the issue is demand.
O/T - There have been a couple of articles about risks in 2022. None particularly great and worth linking. However they often point to similar themes - Inflation, Putin, Chinese aggression, Chinese collapse. My top two worries would be Putin and inflation.
With Putin nothing is likely to happen until the spring - insane to fight in winter. I don't think it's at all likely that anything will happen anyway.
Inflation - I know monetarism apparently conquered inflation, but the evidence since has been really unconvincing. I really don't think economists (or anyone else) understand economics, and inflation really can be bad in so many ways.
Would others here have similar worries and thoughts?
The collapse in share of economic wealth for small businesses and the transfer of that share to larger corporations.
The restrictions have been catastrophic for many small business owners while bigger companies have been able to ride out the storm due to easier access to cash facilities, better Govt support schemes etc. I am struggling to think of one major corporation (ex-China, which is different) which has gone bankrupt during the pandemic.
O/T - There have been a couple of articles about risks in 2022. None particularly great and worth linking. However they often point to similar themes - Inflation, Putin, Chinese aggression, Chinese collapse. My top two worries would be Putin and inflation.
With Putin nothing is likely to happen until the spring - insane to fight in winter. I don't think it's at all likely that anything will happen anyway.
Inflation - I know monetarism apparently conquered inflation, but the evidence since has been really unconvincing. I really don't think economists (or anyone else) understand economics, and inflation really can be bad in so many ways.
Would others here have similar worries and thoughts?
Disagree re Putin. I'm surprised he hasn't already gone in. Why? gas. By far his biggest lever over the West is restricting the gas supply to Europe and I've little doubt that he'd play that card if the Western response to an invasion was sufficiently severe. Surely that's why he's been keeping supplies tight these last months - to draw down Europe's stocks and make it all the more vulnerable to supply?
(Yes, Russia is doing very well out of the high gas price at the moment but it's a silly medium-term strategy as it just encourages customers to look to other suppliers and other fuels. As a policy, it only makes sense in the short term).
Once the temperatures start to pick up - or once Europe's stocks start to recover from other imports - Putin loses that leverage.
I agree re inflation being a serious risk in 2022. Turkey may well undergo some kind of revolution this year as it heads towards hyperinflation. I could easily see the US hitting double-digit growth in prices given the scale of monetary growth these last two years, combined with low interest rates and incredibly loose fiscal policy. The UK shouldn't go that high but even here, the govt and BoE are running very expansionary policies and Brexit adds a load of friction to heat the economy further.
Keir needs to go with the slogan Make Brexit Work.
Yes but how
The UK holds all the cards so it'll be easy for Sir Keir.
To be honest it is a genuine question and needs asking
If Mr Johnson has had his go, though, it's about time someone else tried a different approach.
Before the electorate vote in Starmer the Conservatives can shoot Labours fox by installing a proper Primeminister and government.
Am I the only person on PB.com convinced Boris is about to get vonked? Boris can’t go a fortnight without being all over papers with some shameful scandal. It’s what he is, he can’t change. The chances of a Tory poll lead under him now are zilch.
Anyone think his knew haircut is an improvement? He is beginning to look really ugly old man without trademark hair to hide it.
Anyway, important Conservative Party news. My Dad reckons the Conservative party members he knows are United the party are about to replace Bozo now because they need to get proper economic policy’s and financial policy for all the economic and financial problems Boris won’t do anything about and doesn’t have a clue about.
That’s true isn’t it? Under Boris it’s not clear what the Conservative economic and financial policy is despite Boris set piece speeches to spell it out. And that’s the reason he is being got rid of next week.
*political betting post* I had a £50 bet on Javid because I thought Rishi Sunak had wasted too much money without looking after it properly, but I’m now 99 parcent convinced Sunak is taking over this month. Can I now bet on Sunak as well, bet against my own bet?
Today's YouGov on which party would be best at handling the economy
Conservative 31% - Labour 18%
So? That doesn’t mean anything.
I’m talking about absence of policy and direction Big G and the need for government to have some or it certain comes a cropper. Are you happy to debate with me on what the governments economic policies are?
So what are they? 🤣
As of now dealing with the pandemic and the hundreds of billions involved makes future policy decisions near impossible to predict but it is noticeably that Rishi is reigning in spending and of course the NI increases in April are unpopular
I expect Rishi to address the high increase in energy costs but I would assume it would be directed to the low paid
However, beyond that I do not believe any party can make firm commitments on tax and spending as nobody knows just where we will be over the coming months
Conservatives are a low tax party and I would be very surprised if tax reductions do not appear from Spring 23
Conservatives low tax? 😆
So they like to claim, but no party invents more taxes, sly taxes, or eats away at progressive taxes better than Conservative government is the true record. We currently have the highest tax take since the conservatives in power in the fifties. Covid? Or bojonomic? Bit of both is truth.
The current Conservative members and press want the green taxes cut and vat cuts to help people in the coming credit crunch - where does Boris and his government stand on that? Because I respect the fact you replied to the challenge, what is this governments economic policy and direction, but your reply was rather thin in explaining. And to be fair to you you are drawing from Boris set piece speeches explaining this - where he’s given you nothing except that manifesto.
And their in is the problem, don’t you agree, in a sane election Boris manifesto would have been in trouble, but it was not nearly as crazy as Labours.
I really do think the pandemic has overtaken all parties 2019 manifestos and while I have a desire for Boris to go it does look increasingly likely he will survive, at least to the May elections
Yesterday's RedfieldWilton poll at +4 for the conservatives was a surprise, and there are a couple of improvements from YouGov today so it is all very difficult to predict and of course we have no idea what labour's offer would be
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
He's been on the defensive about holding onto plan b measures, I doubt he's going to ramp up to plan c or anything like that. If anything he's going on TV to defend plan b and tell us what a huge success it has been.
* This isn't surprising but we really should have been shadow running this for 2-3 months before go live so issues were picked up and passed back to the people who were making mistakes so they didn't reoccur. It still wouldn't have been perfect but it would have sorted a fair number of errors out.
Are you implying that the folk who brought you Brexit ought to have thought through the issues and prepared properly before going ahead?
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Nevertheless a world with Covid raging is more likely to throw up things which come and fuck us up than a world with Covid under control. And the quicker we vaccinate the world the quicker we get from that first situation to the second. It's as much a practical imperative as a moral one.
No it isn't necessarily a practical or moral one and probably not a scientific one either. All governments have their first responsibility to their own population. IMHO, the first priority of Western governments is to figure out how to defeat or contain the virus. The strategies that they use will then inform them how they support other governments to do the same.
The virus respects no borders. It's a global pandemic and the best response to it is global. The more inefficient and illogical is the vaccine rollout - eg 5 or 6 jabs in one country and zero in another - the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer it lasts the more the damage will be and the more likely it is that we will be impacted.
The question then is this - to what extent should the normal rules of national centric politics - which you outline - be flexed in order to facilitate the optimum globally efficient solution?
I say the answer to this is "to a very great extent" and I think this is the correct answer. After all, this is a once-a-century emergency with an awful lot at stake. If we can't get our (global) act together for this, at least better than we are atm, when will we ever be able to?
So I am going to ask a question. I don't claim it is a fair question or perhaps even valid but it is the question that any politician has to be able to answer if they wish to accept your view.
How many people should we allow to die in this country, who could otherwise be saved, so that we can save lives of people in Africa, India, Russia or Poland?
As I say I am not saying it is a fair question but it is the question that cannot be dodged by politicians choosing to follow the route of putting global well being ahead of national well being.
And I know the obvious answer to you and probably to me is that in the long term we might actually save more lives here. But that is not certain and you are asking people to accept deaths now for fewer deaths tomorrow. That is a hard, if not impossible, sell for any politician.
It certainly was when vaccines were scarce. They no longer are though so the question is how much help are we going to give to facilitate their distribution? It should, without question, be our number 1 foreign aid objective at the moment.
Agreed. It's no longer a capacity constrained zero sum game. And even from a selfish economic point of view, it would be a sensible investment for the richer economies.
IMO that's the solution to vaccine inequity. We have to make it so poor countries have the capacity to manufacture vaccines themselves. Rich countries will always put their citizens first. It's not easy, but it can be done.
But as @MaxPB points out, it involves more than just having an adequate supply of doses.
Sky reporting from the US saying things are not looking good for Andrew
Camilla Long in the Sunday Times was asking why all the other famous men have (apparently) gotten away with things whilst Prince Andrew is caught in the spotlights.
To me, it seems fairly obvious. Because Andrew is a very useful dead cat to throw on the table. There is enough there to occupy people ("He's the Queen's son!") but not so significant that his trial and conviction would lead to a serious undermining of powerful interests (yes, the Royal Family would get hit but it wouldn't cause its collapse).
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 3h This is getting utterly ridiculous now. When this is over the membership and function of SAGE has to be comprehensively reviewed.
Really?
There was a long period on here where poster after poster would rush to defend SAGE or I-SAGE from any scrutiny whatsoever.
The mere suggestion of an agenda would invite a torrent of invective.
If you think there was a long period on here where poster after poster would rush to defend Independent SAGE then you have a different definition of long period and poster after poster to me
On SAGE, some of us have pointed out the difference between what people think the purpose/role of SAGE is and what the actual purpose/role of SAGE is. Some of us have supported members of SAGE having the freedom to express personal views* while others have opposed that. I don't recall the balance on here being supportive of SAGE members going off-script for quite some time.
Anyway, given the posts on this, I assume I've missed something? Who is it and what did he/she say?
*Many of that 'us' being scientists who are uncomfortable with the idea that SAGE membership would preclude, for example, publishing research that ran counter to government policy, as that either leads to the suppression of research or reducing expertise on SAGE and making it a government-supportive echo chamber. I think most of us have sympathy with the view that SAGE members should not seek out interviews in which they set out to rubbish current policy or put forward those views on Twitter etc while remaining part of SAGE. But most of the SAGE members have not done that. There hae been some statements of the obvious (if it gets bad then restrictions will be needed; if restrictions are needed, they would be more effective earlier).
Apparently France has also dropped isolation to five days (along with the US)?
I can't see the seven-day penalty lasting much longer.
We have hundreds of thousands of people sat at home with nothing wrong them. The isolation is rapidly becoming worse than the disease, if it isn't already!
We are quite close to people demanding restrictions because the current restrictions are putting the NHS under too much pressure. Yes, I know it's more complicated than that, but it's getting uncomfortable close to catch-22 lunacy.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Sky reporting from the US saying things are not looking good for Andrew
Camilla Long in the Sunday Times was asking why all the other famous men have (apparently) gotten away with things whilst Prince Andrew is caught in the spotlights.
To me, it seems fairly obvious. Because Andrew is a very useful dead cat to throw on the table. There is enough there to occupy people ("He's the Queen's son!") but not so significant that his trial and conviction would lead to a serious undermining of powerful interests (yes, the Royal Family would get hit but it wouldn't cause its collapse).
Also, the photo, and the terrible interview
If he hadn't done the interview he'd probably be fine, now. The worst media decision in royal history?
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Nevertheless a world with Covid raging is more likely to throw up things which come and fuck us up than a world with Covid under control. And the quicker we vaccinate the world the quicker we get from that first situation to the second. It's as much a practical imperative as a moral one.
No it isn't necessarily a practical or moral one and probably not a scientific one either. All governments have their first responsibility to their own population. IMHO, the first priority of Western governments is to figure out how to defeat or contain the virus. The strategies that they use will then inform them how they support other governments to do the same.
The virus respects no borders. It's a global pandemic and the best response to it is global. The more inefficient and illogical is the vaccine rollout - eg 5 or 6 jabs in one country and zero in another - the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer it lasts the more the damage will be and the more likely it is that we will be impacted.
The question then is this - to what extent should the normal rules of national centric politics - which you outline - be flexed in order to facilitate the optimum globally efficient solution?
I say the answer to this is "to a very great extent" and I think this is the correct answer. After all, this is a once-a-century emergency with an awful lot at stake. If we can't get our (global) act together for this, at least better than we are atm, when will we ever be able to?
So I am going to ask a question. I don't claim it is a fair question or perhaps even valid but it is the question that any politician has to be able to answer if they wish to accept your view.
How many people should we allow to die in this country, who could otherwise be saved, so that we can save lives of people in Africa, India, Russia or Poland?
As I say I am not saying it is a fair question but it is the question that cannot be dodged by politicians choosing to follow the route of putting global well being ahead of national well being.
And I know the obvious answer to you and probably to me is that in the long term we might actually save more lives here. But that is not certain and you are asking people to accept deaths now for fewer deaths tomorrow. That is a hard, if not impossible, sell for any politician.
It certainly was when vaccines were scarce. They no longer are though so the question is how much help are we going to give to facilitate their distribution? It should, without question, be our number 1 foreign aid objective at the moment.
Yep I agree with that and it should be over and above any aid budget. This is a matter of national security and we should do all we reasonably can to facilitate more vaccinations around the world.
Though I have to admit I am somewhat disheartened by Max's comments about the issue being demand not supply. That really does change things a great deal.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
He's been on the defensive about holding onto plan b measures, I doubt he's going to ramp up to plan c or anything like that. If anything he's going on TV to defend plan b and tell us what a huge success it has been.
The worry is that he got the Saj to say this afternoon that there was no need for further measures at the moment. Any Cabinet minister expressing an opinion like that (whether told to or not) usually looks a dick within the day.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think not. Has the Cabinet even met? I suspect it may be a steady as she goes, but be prepared for an imminent U-turn kinda thing. Schools opening is of course the big unpredictable question right now.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
MPW's first restaurant was in Earlsfield SW17 in Wandsworth - it was over the road from Wandsworth common and very near my first 2 London homes - a rental in Balham when it was still quite cheap and my first ever property in Honeywell road, Wandsworth - in 1981 I think again before the area became super pricey during the glory years of the blessed one! Checking google maps looks like the restaurant is now called Chez Bruce!
When my sister was at Oxford many years ago we took our parents out for dinner at a very unprepossessing, but well-known place "Les Quats'Saison" in Summertown. The chef came over was very chatty (and French) and the portions miniscule. We enjoyed the food such as it was, came home, and ate packets of chocolate digestive biscuits because we were still famished.
Great Milton, not Summertown. Went to a wedding there once (the only time I've ever been) and had what was probably the best food I've ever had at a wedding.
That's "Le Manoir..." Les Quats'Saison was in a row of shops in Summertown for a while after it opened. Then he/it went orbital and moved to Great Milton.
That makes SA case admissions growth +91%, +230%, +111%, +16%, -4%, -16%
And Death Growth -23%, +82%, +131%, +86%, +43%, +19%
On current trajectory it looks like fewer people will die in the Omicron wave in total, than a single week of their last delta wave this Summer (which lasted much longer).
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think not. Has the Cabinet even met? I suspect it may be a steady as she goes, but be prepared for an imminent U-turn kinda thing. Schools opening is of course the big unpredictable question right now.
If only they would. My daughter isn't going back until next Monday, sucj is the long, drawn out process of testing the school is doing prior to actually teaching anything to anyone.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
He doesn't have the votes. Even the people calling for restrictions know it's a waste of time now. Now we're past this week's review I'm really not concerned at all, and I've spent most of the last month terrified of the government.
I think Johnson is going to try and make a clear distinction between England and whatever restrictions Sturgeon brings in tomorrow.
As an aside, I predicted 230,000 cases as max for 2021 and pretty much nailed it (29th). At the time a few PBers predicted a lockdown if we went anywhere near that number - funny how things change.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think not. Has the Cabinet even met? I suspect it may be a steady as she goes, but be prepared for an imminent U-turn kinda thing. Schools opening is of course the big unpredictable question right now.
If only they would. My daughter isn't going back until next Monday, sucj is the long, drawn out process of testing the school is doing prior to actually teaching anything to anyone.
O/T - There have been a couple of articles about risks in 2022. None particularly great and worth linking. However they often point to similar themes - Inflation, Putin, Chinese aggression, Chinese collapse. My top two worries would be Putin and inflation.
With Putin nothing is likely to happen until the spring - insane to fight in winter. I don't think it's at all likely that anything will happen anyway.
Inflation - I know monetarism apparently conquered inflation, but the evidence since has been really unconvincing. I really don't think economists (or anyone else) understand economics, and inflation really can be bad in so many ways.
Would others here have similar worries and thoughts?
The collapse in share of economic wealth for small businesses and the transfer of that share to larger corporations.
The restrictions have been catastrophic for many small business owners while bigger companies have been able to ride out the storm due to easier access to cash facilities, better Govt support schemes etc. I am struggling to think of one major corporation (ex-China, which is different) which has gone bankrupt during the pandemic.
I guess you have no concluding punch on this or you'd have said so, but I see risks here certainly. I imagine it's a failure of opportunity and enterprise that you're thinking of. I think you're right, but I have nothing sensible to say until I've thought the idea through, and even then sense may escape me.
* This isn't surprising but we really should have been shadow running this for 2-3 months before go live so issues were picked up and passed back to the people who were making mistakes so they didn't reoccur. It still wouldn't have been perfect but it would have sorted a fair number of errors out.
Are you implying that the folk who brought you Brexit ought to have thought through the issues and prepared properly before going ahead?
I'm saying that regardless of the fact you can't test a system in anger you can test it using real life data prior to actually going live.
Hint, I wouldn't be happy to replace an ERP or accounting system without a very good idea that it works exactly like I expected it to and people knew how to fill the forms in correctly*.
* Fixing forms and finding easier means of entering data is always one of the secondary factors you fix as soon as you've resolved the major go-live bugs.
And for SAP a separate program that enters the data correctly will always win compared to a SAP based form (shudders at memories past).
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think not. Has the Cabinet even met? I suspect it may be a steady as she goes, but be prepared for an imminent U-turn kinda thing. Schools opening is of course the big unpredictable question right now.
If only they would. My daughter isn't going back until next Monday, sucj is the long, drawn out process of testing the school is doing prior to actually teaching anything to anyone.
When did they break up if you don't mind me asking? Ours broke up on 17 th and are back tomorrow. But I know some went on into Christmas week as late as 22nd.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
Indeed, I watch the Millennium come in on Plymouth Hoe
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Yes, I have a nagging concern that today's data might nudge him over the edge. But if forced to bet actual money, I'd say No he won't
There hasn't been a cabinet call, so the chance of anything today is Nil. And even with a cabinet call, if they resisted last time the arguments to carry on are much stronger now. Our bed is made and it feels like all the heat has gone out of this one, the die is cast.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Locking down now would be crazy politically. People who think we needed to lock down weeks ago will continue to think he's a useless numpty. Those against lockdown will think he's a spineless numpty. He also loses the chance to prove the first set wrong and maybe even win over a few by getting past the peak with no health system collapse and no lockdown.
Completely and utterly politically bonkers.
Like trying to save Paterson or rescuing dogs before people from Afghanistan or partying during lockdown....
So maybe I should downgrade my 'No' post earlier to a 'Probably'
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
Would love to hear your recommendations for Plymouth. It's the kind of place that I would like to like more than I do, and I always feel guilty when we spend a fortnight on the other side of the Tamar and our only time in Plymouth is driving through it to take the Torpoint ferry.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
I just did a quick google for ice cream out of interest. The first 3 recommended places, certainly wasn't the "good old days" of Neapolitan ice cream being seen as fancy....
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Johnson is no doubt getting a load of pressure from medical professionals on one side and from Tory MPs on the other. Only one of those groups can remove him this week.
Sky reporting from the US saying things are not looking good for Andrew
Camilla Long in the Sunday Times was asking why all the other famous men have (apparently) gotten away with things whilst Prince Andrew is caught in the spotlights.
To me, it seems fairly obvious. Because Andrew is a very useful dead cat to throw on the table. There is enough there to occupy people ("He's the Queen's son!") but not so significant that his trial and conviction would lead to a serious undermining of powerful interests (yes, the Royal Family would get hit but it wouldn't cause its collapse).
Indeed, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Trump etc all met Epstein and Maxwell as did plenty of other wealthy and famous people. Some also went to his island but apparently only Prince Andrew ie a non American foreigner, is to face an action from the US legal system
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Johnson is no doubt getting a load of pressure from medical professionals on one side and from Tory MPs on the other. Only one of those groups can remove him this week.
Well that and the pressure from the medical/NHS side is all about isolation measures which is within his power to fix.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Johnson is no doubt getting a load of pressure from medical professionals on one side and from Tory MPs on the other. Only one of those groups can remove him this week.
I vote No. He would be deposed within 48 hours I think if he announces lockdown tonight. The data just isn't there and the backbench have run out of patience with SAGE and modelling anyway.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
My guess is No. If we were going to do it it would have been at Christmas, it's too late to slow the spread.
My guess is tonight is to try and kick start the booster programme again, bit Omicron has been sold as mild (even though it won't be mild for everyone, and the reason it's mild in many is because of boosters) so he is going to have difficulty selling it.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
MPW's first restaurant was in Earlsfield SW17 in Wandsworth - it was over the road from Wandsworth common and very near my first 2 London homes - a rental in Balham when it was still quite cheap and my first ever property in Honeywell road, Wandsworth - in 1981 I think again before the area became super pricey during the glory years of the blessed one! Checking google maps looks like the restaurant is now called Chez Bruce!
When my sister was at Oxford many years ago we took our parents out for dinner at a very unprepossessing, but well-known place "Les Quats'Saison" in Summertown. The chef came over was very chatty (and French) and the portions miniscule. We enjoyed the food such as it was, came home, and ate packets of chocolate digestive biscuits because we were still famished.
Great Milton, not Summertown. Went to a wedding there once (the only time I've ever been) and had what was probably the best food I've ever had at a wedding.
That's "Le Manoir..." Les Quats'Saison was in a row of shops in Summertown for a while after it opened. Then he/it went orbital and moved to Great Milton.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
Would love to hear your recommendations for Plymouth. It's the kind of place that I would like to like more than I do, and I always feel guilty when we spend a fortnight on the other side of the Tamar and our only time in Plymouth is driving through it to take the Torpoint ferry.
Or try some of the places in this fantastic and world class revamp of a Georgian naval depot. Like a Devonian Versailles. The Royal William Victualling Yards. Stunning
Sky reporting from the US saying things are not looking good for Andrew
Camilla Long in the Sunday Times was asking why all the other famous men have (apparently) gotten away with things whilst Prince Andrew is caught in the spotlights.
To me, it seems fairly obvious. Because Andrew is a very useful dead cat to throw on the table. There is enough there to occupy people ("He's the Queen's son!") but not so significant that his trial and conviction would lead to a serious undermining of powerful interests (yes, the Royal Family would get hit but it wouldn't cause its collapse).
Indeed, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Trump etc all met Epstein and Maxwell as did plenty of other wealthy and famous people. Some also went to his island but apparently only Prince Andrew ie a non American foreigner, is to face an action from the US legal system
The circumstances are
New York opened up the right to bring otherwise Time Barred cases.
And most people didn't notice / get there in time but Virginia's lawyers just about did (albeit from memory at almost the last dying second that cases could be brough).
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
O/T - There have been a couple of articles about risks in 2022. None particularly great and worth linking. However they often point to similar themes - Inflation, Putin, Chinese aggression, Chinese collapse. My top two worries would be Putin and inflation.
With Putin nothing is likely to happen until the spring - insane to fight in winter. I don't think it's at all likely that anything will happen anyway.
Inflation - I know monetarism apparently conquered inflation, but the evidence since has been really unconvincing. I really don't think economists (or anyone else) understand economics, and inflation really can be bad in so many ways.
Would others here have similar worries and thoughts?
Disagree re Putin. I'm surprised he hasn't already gone in. Why? gas. By far his biggest lever over the West is restricting the gas supply to Europe and I've little doubt that he'd play that card if the Western response to an invasion was sufficiently severe. Surely that's why he's been keeping supplies tight these last months - to draw down Europe's stocks and make it all the more vulnerable to supply?
(Yes, Russia is doing very well out of the high gas price at the moment but it's a silly medium-term strategy as it just encourages customers to look to other suppliers and other fuels. As a policy, it only makes sense in the short term).
Once the temperatures start to pick up - or once Europe's stocks start to recover from other imports - Putin loses that leverage.
I agree re inflation being a serious risk in 2022. Turkey may well undergo some kind of revolution this year as it heads towards hyperinflation. I could easily see the US hitting double-digit growth in prices given the scale of monetary growth these last two years, combined with low interest rates and incredibly loose fiscal policy. The UK shouldn't go that high but even here, the govt and BoE are running very expansionary policies and Brexit adds a load of friction to heat the economy further.
Inflation is of course a blessing and a curse. Gets rid of government debt and kills the holders of bonds and generally is awful for companies.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Johnson is no doubt getting a load of pressure from medical professionals on one side and from Tory MPs on the other. Only one of those groups can remove him this week.
Worth noting that it is not just Johnson now who has to crumble. Cabinet government has been reasserted at least over this issue. The Cabinet will not support a lockdown at the moment with current data.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think No. I hope No. I am not 100% convinced though. I think he might crumble.
Johnson is no doubt getting a load of pressure from medical professionals on one side and from Tory MPs on the other. Only one of those groups can remove him this week.
IF the Tory MPs weren't so savagely on his case, would he have gone the Scotland and Wales route?
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
My guess is No. If we were going to do it it would have been at Christmas, it's too late to slow the spread.
My guess is tonight is to try and kick start the booster programme again, bit Omicron has been sold as mild (even though it won't be mild for everyone, and the reason it's mild in many is because of boosters) so he is going to have difficulty selling it.
Back again denying Omicron is milder again I see. Presumably South African's non-existant booster campaign made it milder there?
'We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months', says JCVI chief Fourth Covid jabs should not be offered until there is more evidence, the head of Britain's vaccine body has said - as he warned that giving boosters to people every six months was “not sustainable”.
6 monthly jabs may or may not be the right thing, but his remit is not "THE PLANET". It's the UK. Once again heading outside their remit.
Unless we vaccinate the planet - collectively - then we aren't immune from the next mutation.
That's another covid myth apparently: Myth #1,765 in a regular series...
We should share Covid vaccines with the world, because it is the right thing to do, but not because it will limit of emergence of 'variants' - vaccines don't generate variants but they don't preclude their emergence either - it's all a bit unclear and complicated.
Not just people either, Covid is a general mammalian phenomenon
Nevertheless a world with Covid raging is more likely to throw up things which come and fuck us up than a world with Covid under control. And the quicker we vaccinate the world the quicker we get from that first situation to the second. It's as much a practical imperative as a moral one.
No it isn't necessarily a practical or moral one and probably not a scientific one either. All governments have their first responsibility to their own population. IMHO, the first priority of Western governments is to figure out how to defeat or contain the virus. The strategies that they use will then inform them how they support other governments to do the same.
The virus respects no borders. It's a global pandemic and the best response to it is global. The more inefficient and illogical is the vaccine rollout - eg 5 or 6 jabs in one country and zero in another - the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer it lasts the more the damage will be and the more likely it is that we will be impacted.
The question then is this - to what extent should the normal rules of national centric politics - which you outline - be flexed in order to facilitate the optimum globally efficient solution?
I say the answer to this is "to a very great extent" and I think this is the correct answer. After all, this is a once-a-century emergency with an awful lot at stake. If we can't get our (global) act together for this, at least better than we are atm, when will we ever be able to?
So I am going to ask a question. I don't claim it is a fair question or perhaps even valid but it is the question that any politician has to be able to answer if they wish to accept your view.
How many people should we allow to die in this country, who could otherwise be saved, so that we can save lives of people in Africa, India, Russia or Poland?
As I say I am not saying it is a fair question but it is the question that cannot be dodged by politicians choosing to follow the route of putting global well being ahead of national well being.
And I know the obvious answer to you and probably to me is that in the long term we might actually save more lives here. But that is not certain and you are asking people to accept deaths now for fewer deaths tomorrow. That is a hard, if not impossible, sell for any politician.
It certainly was when vaccines were scarce. They no longer are though so the question is how much help are we going to give to facilitate their distribution? It should, without question, be our number 1 foreign aid objective at the moment.
Agreed. It's no longer a capacity constrained zero sum game. And even from a selfish economic point of view, it would be a sensible investment for the richer economies.
I think we get to the point soon when, in a theoretical supply constraint, even short to medium term enlightened self interest says send more vaccines abroad.
We have third and fourth doses, we are a highly vaccinated country which now favours evolutionarily nimble, mild, upper respiratory, immune evading strains like Omicron over the likes of Delta - this arrow doesn't reverse - which is not as true everywhere. We will be getting a lot of immunity from Omicron infection, including large amounts of asymptomatic and abortive infection (abortive means fought off at the front door such that it would never show up on a test). Constantly jabbing to make things milder and milder in people who already have multiple layers of immunity is a diminishing returns task.
Ultimately, people would like to travel freely again when this is ended, and once this is almost exclusively a mild disease in the UK, bringing it to an end elsewhere would become the priority, even in scarcity.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
I think not. Has the Cabinet even met? I suspect it may be a steady as she goes, but be prepared for an imminent U-turn kinda thing. Schools opening is of course the big unpredictable question right now.
If only they would. My daughter isn't going back until next Monday, sucj is the long, drawn out process of testing the school is doing prior to actually teaching anything to anyone.
When did they break up if you don't mind me asking? Ours broke up on 17 th and are back tomorrow. But I know some went on into Christmas week as late as 22nd.
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
MPW's first restaurant was in Earlsfield SW17 in Wandsworth - it was over the road from Wandsworth common and very near my first 2 London homes - a rental in Balham when it was still quite cheap and my first ever property in Honeywell road, Wandsworth - in 1981 I think again before the area became super pricey during the glory years of the blessed one! Checking google maps looks like the restaurant is now called Chez Bruce!
When my sister was at Oxford many years ago we took our parents out for dinner at a very unprepossessing, but well-known place "Les Quats'Saison" in Summertown. The chef came over was very chatty (and French) and the portions miniscule. We enjoyed the food such as it was, came home, and ate packets of chocolate digestive biscuits because we were still famished.
Great Milton, not Summertown. Went to a wedding there once (the only time I've ever been) and had what was probably the best food I've ever had at a wedding.
That's "Le Manoir..." Les Quats'Saison was in a row of shops in Summertown for a while after it opened. Then he/it went orbital and moved to Great Milton.
I didn't know that: when did you go?
Let me think - as I said my sister was at the Uni so must have been, say, 1980-ish. It was certainly "a place" at that time but he (Blanc) hadn't gone stratospheric.
Post war PMs who were appointed Order of the Garter:
Churchill Eden Attlee Wilson Callaghan Heath Thatcher Major Blair
So Douglas-Home didn't get one - which I suppose raises the question of whether Brown will. Cameron definitely should, May maybe, Johnson we'll see. Perhaps Brenda's put those in the tray marked "Charles".
That's because Douglas-Home had the Order of the Thistle, the Scottish equivalent of the Garter and as I understand it you cannot have both orders.
I reckon Brown gets the Thistle.
Makes sense - there are currently two vacancies: The Order of the Thistle is the greatest order of chivalry in Scotland, recognising sixteen Knights with the highest honour in the country and recognises Scottish men and women who have held public office or who have contributed in a particular way to national life. The Order is second only in precedence in England to the Order of the Garter
For my two pennth, the best meal I have ever had was at a restaurant that doesn't even have a michelin star. It wasn't cheap, but it certainly isn't the most expensive meal I have had.
Most of my best meals have been at non-Michelin places
Random top ten (I could choose eighty more)
Eating at Marco Pierre White's very first place, in south London (forget where) - before he had a star, wow
A crab and asparagus dish in a restaurant made from a garage outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
A beef massaman curry on a beach in Ko Tao, also Thailand
Eating at the first Barrafina off the Strand
Osyters and foie gras and gingerbread in some brilliant old school brasserie in Nantes, France
Dinner by Heston (that has a star or two)
A steak at G W Bush's favourite steak restaurant in Austin Texas
Another steak at Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires
Tiny gnocchi in a private restaurant on a private vineyard on the island of Pantelleria, Italy
Some sardines, recently, in a scruffy cafe above a fish market in Sagres, Portugal
How much of this is about company, location, mood, weather, post-coital bliss - rather than food? At least half of it
I am not sure where to even begin with best food, overall.
For steak, I do. The Tasting Room in Frederick MD does a filet mignon that is the best I have had anywhere, including the best that Buenos Aires or Texas has to offer.
For Indian food, sorry to say that my best experience has been neither in India nor in the UK, but in downtown Washington DC. Rasika (chef was in London prior to moving to the US). Their palak chaat is the most delicious single Indian dish I have ever eaten. For Northern Indian, Bukhara in New York used to be the place.
For the most inventive, surprising and incredible meal I've ever eaten, Contra in lower Manhattan wins: https://contra.nyc It has one star.
For the single ingredient of a dish, Brian Voltaggio at Volt (now sadly gone) outdid everything else I have ever experienced. He does molecular cuisine, which is not my favorite style. But he made 'caviar' out of virgin olive oil. It was the most intensely pleasurable tasting experience of my life to date.
I realize this is a very US-centric list. I have had many spectacular meals in France, Italy, the UK, and Switzerland. But none of them truly stand out from the rest.
I must be incredibly unlucky because 98% of my eating experiences in America are mediocre or worse. And I have been there a LOT, and all over, and in all kinds of joints, from top NYC starred places to innovative California pop-ups to famous BBQ shacks in the Deep South
The one exception is Louisiana especially New Orleans. The food there is consistently great, and they don't do the off-puttingly enormous servings you commonly get in the USA. How can such a rich country still believe "great food = tons of food"?
I think we forget how much better food in the UK has got. Because not many pubs can survive as shitty boozers and huge competition in the restaurant sector, "bog standard" offers across the board have got a hell of a lot better in the past 20-30 years. Sure we still have cheap and crap, but that £10 for a main range has got infinity better in lots of places, and many more people are willing to pay for really good stuff (I presume tv chefs lot has helped this).
Its not that long ago that the Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef was what people did...now they queue for the overpriced but still better offering from the likes of the Breakfast Club.
The US its seems to be cheap and shit, middle price range, eat your weight in meat...then the small niche high end.
WE DEMAND JUBILEE PANCAKES.
(Which used to be 99p)
Used to be the one of the highlight of my family holidays to Cornwall as a kid....stopping off at a Little Chef for jubilee pancakes.
Now I imagine the kids of today in Cornwall are having organic fresh hand crafted crepes with matcha ice cream...
I'm not sure things have changed that much. When we go to Cornwall we usually have a few meals at the cafe on the cliff top above Treganhawke that does all day breakfasts. Plus a few cream teas, fish and chips and ice creams. The fanciest food is usually consumed at the Eden Project.
I go to Cornwall all the time and all my extended family live there. You're really not trying very hard. There is fine food in every major town. You can get excellent Indian and Thai everywhere, for a start
This wasn't intended as a criticism. I live in London so don't go to Cornwall for interesting world cuisine, but things like cream teas and fish and chips on the beach are things we can't get at home and are handy on walks or days on the beach which is what we tend to be doing. We usually go self catering and cook dinner at the chalet anyway, it's more relaxing than eating out with kids. And we don't really visit the major towns either - we always stay in the SE corner so the only close town is across the Tamar in Plymouth which is not especially nice (it is the city of many of my forebears, so I am well disposed to it but it is not an attractive place).
Fair enough
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
I just did a quick google for ice cream out of interest. The first 3 recommended places, certainly wasn't the "good old days" of Neapolitan ice cream being seen as fancy....
Post war PMs who were appointed Order of the Garter:
Churchill Eden Attlee Wilson Callaghan Heath Thatcher Major Blair
So Douglas-Home didn't get one - which I suppose raises the question of whether Brown will. Cameron definitely should, May maybe, Johnson we'll see. Perhaps Brenda's put those in the tray marked "Charles".
That's because Douglas-Home had the Order of the Thistle, the Scottish equivalent of the Garter and as I understand it you cannot have both orders.
I reckon Brown gets the Thistle.
Makes sense - there are currently two vacancies: The Order of the Thistle is the greatest order of chivalry in Scotland, recognising sixteen Knights with the highest honour in the country and recognises Scottish men and women who have held public office or who have contributed in a particular way to national life. The Order is second only in precedence in England to the Order of the Garter
Keir needs to go with the slogan Make Brexit Work.
Yes but how
The UK holds all the cards so it'll be easy for Sir Keir.
To be honest it is a genuine question and needs asking
If Mr Johnson has had his go, though, it's about time someone else tried a different approach.
Before the electorate vote in Starmer the Conservatives can shoot Labours fox by installing a proper Primeminister and government.
Am I the only person on PB.com convinced Boris is about to get vonked? Boris can’t go a fortnight without being all over papers with some shameful scandal. It’s what he is, he can’t change. The chances of a Tory poll lead under him now are zilch.
Anyone think his knew haircut is an improvement? He is beginning to look really ugly old man without trademark hair to hide it.
Anyway, important Conservative Party news. My Dad reckons the Conservative party members he knows are United the party are about to replace Bozo now because they need to get proper economic policy’s and financial policy for all the economic and financial problems Boris won’t do anything about and doesn’t have a clue about.
That’s true isn’t it? Under Boris it’s not clear what the Conservative economic and financial policy is despite Boris set piece speeches to spell it out. And that’s the reason he is being got rid of next week.
*political betting post* I had a £50 bet on Javid because I thought Rishi Sunak had wasted too much money without looking after it properly, but I’m now 99 parcent convinced Sunak is taking over this month. Can I now bet on Sunak as well, bet against my own bet?
Today's YouGov on which party would be best at handling the economy
Conservative 31% - Labour 18%
So? That doesn’t mean anything.
I’m talking about absence of policy and direction Big G and the need for government to have some or it certain comes a cropper. Are you happy to debate with me on what the governments economic policies are?
So what are they? 🤣
As of now dealing with the pandemic and the hundreds of billions involved makes future policy decisions near impossible to predict but it is noticeably that Rishi is reigning in spending and of course the NI increases in April are unpopular
I expect Rishi to address the high increase in energy costs but I would assume it would be directed to the low paid
However, beyond that I do not believe any party can make firm commitments on tax and spending as nobody knows just where we will be over the coming months
Conservatives are a low tax party and I would be very surprised if tax reductions do not appear from Spring 23
Conservatives low tax? 😆
So they like to claim, but no party invents more taxes, sly taxes, or eats away at progressive taxes better than Conservative government is the true record. We currently have the highest tax take since the conservatives in power in the fifties. Covid? Or bojonomic? Bit of both is truth.
The current Conservative members and press want the green taxes cut and vat cuts to help people in the coming credit crunch - where does Boris and his government stand on that? Because I respect the fact you replied to the challenge, what is this governments economic policy and direction, but your reply was rather thin in explaining. And to be fair to you you are drawing from Boris set piece speeches explaining this - where he’s given you nothing except that manifesto.
And their in is the problem, don’t you agree, in a sane election Boris manifesto would have been in trouble, but it was not nearly as crazy as Labours.
I really do think the pandemic has overtaken all parties 2019 manifestos and while I have a desire for Boris to go it does look increasingly likely he will survive, at least to the May elections
Yesterday's RedfieldWilton poll at +4 for the conservatives was a surprise, and there are a couple of improvements from YouGov today so it is all very difficult to predict and of course we have no idea what labour's offer would be
But polls are meaningless guides though, not just proved by Theresa Mays election but polls taken during holidays not proper media agenda term time are dodgy to cling to. Just as I said to HYUFD, real problems, what are your polices, what is the direction, how is it articulated, does anyone believe you. If you don’t have that as party members you should be asking for it. If ideas coming from the back benches and press the front bench is a vacuum it’s going to become a problem.
Covid has hurt all main parties to be honest, but it’s too early to know how that will be remembered when people vote at the next election on delivery of promises and how direction of future travel is articulated in the campaign. Certainly right middle of pandemic after bad winter, Boris and Conservatives enjoyed electoral spring last year did they not?
Eek doesn’t think there is election next spring, but as we get closer to end of term the majority is meaningless as it’s all about winning the next one, and time is beginning to run out now.
Basically this is discussion about fundamental economic values underpinning this government, but you are trying to brush it off as saying it’s okay they don’t have any because of covid, no one expects them to have a strategy or deliver on promises now.
REALLY? 😮
That’s the end of this discussion then I suppose, as I don’t have an answer to that 🤭
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
My guess is No. If we were going to do it it would have been at Christmas, it's too late to slow the spread.
My guess is tonight is to try and kick start the booster programme again, bit Omicron has been sold as mild (even though it won't be mild for everyone, and the reason it's mild in many is because of boosters) so he is going to have difficulty selling it.
Back again denying Omicron is milder again I see. Presumably South African's non-existant booster campaign made it milder there?
Don't be an arse. Covid has been mild for the vast 'majority' from original strain to Omicron, especially thanks to vaccines.
But it won't be mild for everyone like it is being sold by many right now. It also doesn't help when you are trying to get people to have boosters to protect the most vulnerable, it's key we keep this programme going.
Comments
And the fact that Prince Andrew was so desperate for the legal agreement to protect him shows how utterly guilty he is.
Even in the UK it took a couple of weeks from when Johnson gave the word to boost everyone ASAP for the rate to really increase.
Even if everyone in an African country wants to be vaccinated they will struggle to organise it if they suddenly have a few million doses, three weeks from expiry, after not having any.
They need to have reliable, consistent supply fresh from production.
https://twitter.com/Joe_Mayes/status/1478392838496919556
* This isn't surprising but we really should have been shadow running this for 2-3 months before go live so issues were picked up and passed back to the people who were making mistakes so they didn't reoccur. It still wouldn't have been perfect but it would have sorted a fair number of errors out.
So they like to claim, but no party invents more taxes, sly taxes, or eats away at progressive taxes better than Conservative government is the true record. We currently have the highest tax take since the conservatives in power in the fifties. Covid? Or bojonomic? Bit of both is truth.
The current Conservative members and press want the green taxes cut and vat cuts to help people in the coming credit crunch - where does Boris and his government stand on that? Because I respect the fact you replied to the challenge, what is this governments economic policy and direction, but your reply was rather thin in explaining. And to be fair to you you are drawing from Boris set piece speeches explaining this - where he’s given you nothing except that manifesto.
And their in is the problem, don’t you agree, in a sane election Boris manifesto would have been in trouble, but it was not nearly as crazy as Labours.
It's no longer a capacity constrained zero sum game.
And even from a selfish economic point of view, it would be a sensible investment for the richer economies.
The moment sage's credibility fell away was the Autumn 2020 lockdown, which was justified on the grounds of data already out of date as it was presented.
Lots of criticism of sage back then, I remember.
(Yes, Russia is doing very well out of the high gas price at the moment but it's a silly medium-term strategy as it just encourages customers to look to other suppliers and other fuels. As a policy, it only makes sense in the short term).
Once the temperatures start to pick up - or once Europe's stocks start to recover from other imports - Putin loses that leverage.
The other part of the equation is China selling dud vaccines and muscling AZ out with misinformation across the whole of Africa and South America against Pfizer and AZ.
You want to blame western nations, fine, maybe it makes you feel better, the conversation goes way beyond that and needs for someone like Tony Blair to take charge and sell the idea of vaccines globally. We don't have anyone doing that to increase demand for western made vaccines.
Surely as the Head of the Church of England, the Queen has higher honours at her disposal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/30/corbevax-texas-childrens-covid-vaccine/
IMO that's the solution to vaccine inequity. We have to make it so poor countries have the capacity to manufacture vaccines themselves. Rich countries will always put their citizens first. It's not easy, but it can be done.
- Cases are still going up. An uptick in R generally, across the country (the Scottish data looks down because of missing reporting). London cases have stopped falling and have levelled out.
- Admissions still lower than peak.. Hmmmm...
Mechanical ventilator bed occupancy is still flat.
- deaths still flat
It was right in 1990 too that replacing Thatcher with Major or Heseltine would give the Tories a lead again over Kinnock Labour
The restrictions have been catastrophic for many small business owners while bigger companies have been able to ride out the storm due to easier access to cash facilities, better Govt support schemes etc. I am struggling to think of one major corporation (ex-China, which is different) which has gone bankrupt during the pandemic.
Is Boris gonna lock us down again, in some form or other, at 5pm?
Quick vote?
My vote is No, he won't. But I'm worried
Yesterday's RedfieldWilton poll at +4 for the conservatives was a surprise, and there are a couple of improvements from YouGov today so it is all very difficult to predict and of course we have no idea what labour's offer would be
Week 52 Admissions Projection: 6700 (down 16%)
Week 52 Deaths Projection: 705 (up 20%)
Ventialted: 3.5%
Oxygenated: 14.5%
That makes SA case admissions growth
+91%, +230%, +111%, +16%, -4%, -16%
And Death Growth
-23%, +82%, +131%, +86%, +43%, +19%
... As parts of the US well demonstrate.
https://twitter.com/mass_ave/status/1477723007741267972
Indiana life insurance CEO says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64
To me, it seems fairly obvious. Because Andrew is a very useful dead cat to throw on the table. There is enough there to occupy people ("He's the Queen's son!") but not so significant that his trial and conviction would lead to a serious undermining of powerful interests (yes, the Royal Family would get hit but it wouldn't cause its collapse).
On SAGE, some of us have pointed out the difference between what people think the purpose/role of SAGE is and what the actual purpose/role of SAGE is. Some of us have supported members of SAGE having the freedom to express personal views* while others have opposed that. I don't recall the balance on here being supportive of SAGE members going off-script for quite some time.
Anyway, given the posts on this, I assume I've missed something? Who is it and what did he/she say?
*Many of that 'us' being scientists who are uncomfortable with the idea that SAGE membership would preclude, for example, publishing research that ran counter to government policy, as that either leads to the suppression of research or reducing expertise on SAGE and making it a government-supportive echo chamber. I think most of us have sympathy with the view that SAGE members should not seek out interviews in which they set out to rubbish current policy or put forward those views on Twitter etc while remaining part of SAGE. But most of the SAGE members have not done that. There hae been some statements of the obvious (if it gets bad then restrictions will be needed; if restrictions are needed, they would be more effective earlier).
If he hadn't done the interview he'd probably be fine, now. The worst media decision in royal history?
Though I have to admit I am somewhat disheartened by Max's comments about the issue being demand not supply. That really does change things a great deal.
If London is hitting a peak, the rest of the country will follow in about a fortnight and things will look a lot better in a month.
Obviously, that's a bloody big 'if' but it's exactly the sort of thing that Johnson and Tory MPs will hang on to.
I know I am in a TINY minority here, but I love Plymouth. It is an extraordinary city. Extraordinarily hideous in places, but extraordinarily beautiful and historic in others. An amazing topography. Also some good places to eat!
Schools opening is of course the big unpredictable question right now.
PM press conference at 5pm where he’s expected to stick with Plan B measures but ramp up daily testing for those working in critical industries. Watch on @skynews https://www.plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk/latest-news/internal-critical-incident--5296
My daughter isn't going back until next Monday, sucj is the long, drawn out process of testing the school is doing prior to actually teaching anything to anyone.
As an aside, I predicted 230,000 cases as max for 2021 and pretty much nailed it (29th). At the time a few PBers predicted a lockdown if we went anywhere near that number - funny how things change.
Hint, I wouldn't be happy to replace an ERP or accounting system without a very good idea that it works exactly like I expected it to and people knew how to fill the forms in correctly*.
* Fixing forms and finding easier means of entering data is always one of the secondary factors you fix as soon as you've resolved the major go-live bugs.
And for SAP a separate program that enters the data correctly will always win compared to a SAP based form (shudders at memories past).
Scotland would have to be doing an enormous amount of admissions to fill that "gap"
Ours broke up on 17 th and are back tomorrow.
But I know some went on into Christmas week as late as 22nd.
Completely and utterly politically bonkers.
Like trying to save Paterson or rescuing dogs before people from Afghanistan or partying during lockdown....
So maybe I should downgrade my 'No' post earlier to a 'Probably'
e.g. https://www.moomaidofzennor.com/flavours/
https://www.treleavens.co.uk/flavours/scooping/scooping-flavours/
https://www.roskillys.co.uk/Ice_Cream/120ml_Organic_Ice_Cream
My guess is tonight is to try and kick start the booster programme again, bit Omicron has been sold as mild (even though it won't be mild for everyone, and the reason it's mild in many is because of boosters) so he is going to have difficulty selling it.
Nothing in it for him. Those who want a new lockdown or more restrictions certainly beyond the unvaccinated are almost all Labour or SNP voters anyway
https://therockfish.co.uk/pages/plymouth-seafood-restaurant
Or try some of the places in this fantastic and world class revamp of a Georgian naval depot. Like a Devonian Versailles. The Royal William Victualling Yards. Stunning
https://royalwilliamyard.com/
New York opened up the right to bring otherwise Time Barred cases.
And most people didn't notice / get there in time but Virginia's lawyers just about did (albeit from memory at almost the last dying second that cases could be brough).
We have third and fourth doses, we are a highly vaccinated country which now favours evolutionarily nimble, mild, upper respiratory, immune evading strains like Omicron over the likes of Delta - this arrow doesn't reverse - which is not as true everywhere. We will be getting a lot of immunity from Omicron infection, including large amounts of asymptomatic and abortive infection (abortive means fought off at the front door such that it would never show up on a test). Constantly jabbing to make things milder and milder in people who already have multiple layers of immunity is a diminishing returns task.
Ultimately, people would like to travel freely again when this is ended, and once this is almost exclusively a mild disease in the UK, bringing it to an end elsewhere would become the priority, even in scarcity.
I thought they skewed predominantly old?
The young and city dwellers seem to be the ones getting on with it.
The Order of the Thistle is the greatest order of chivalry in Scotland, recognising sixteen Knights with the highest honour in the country and recognises Scottish men and women who have held public office or who have contributed in a particular way to national life. The Order is second only in precedence in England to the Order of the Garter
https://www.royal.uk/order-thistle
Wonder why Blair wasn't given it?
Moomaid is good as well but very much St Ives and nowhere else and St Ives isn't as pleasant as it used to be.
Personally though Cadwaladers is hard to beat (but that's Wales rather than Cornwall)
Equally with only 16 spaces given it to Blair may result in Brown having to wait a few more years.
Covid has hurt all main parties to be honest, but it’s too early to know how that will be remembered when people vote at the next election on delivery of promises and how direction of future travel is articulated in the campaign. Certainly right middle of pandemic after bad winter, Boris and Conservatives enjoyed electoral spring last year did they not?
Eek doesn’t think there is election next spring, but as we get closer to end of term the majority is meaningless as it’s all about winning the next one, and time is beginning to run out now.
Basically this is discussion about fundamental economic values underpinning this government, but you are trying to brush it off as saying it’s okay they don’t have any because of covid, no one expects them to have a strategy or deliver on promises now.
REALLY? 😮
That’s the end of this discussion then I suppose, as I don’t have an answer to that 🤭
But it won't be mild for everyone like it is being sold by many right now. It also doesn't help when you are trying to get people to have boosters to protect the most vulnerable, it's key we keep this programme going.
Jog on!