The bit that leaps out of me is how everything in Scotland is now prefixed with Scottish....
That's something that is going to be very hard to fix but continually reinforces that all services are Scottish - without revealing that they only exist because of cross subsidies from other parts of the UK*. Which means it's easy for the Scottish Government to play their rulebook of celebrate success and blame London for the failures.
* for MalcolmG and co that isn't an invitation to insult or call me wrong - it's a simple fact of life that Governments borrow money.
The interesting thing about this is how pervasive this is even outside of politics. "National" newspapers prefix "Scottish" before their name. If you talk about "the FA" or the "Premier League", you will be understood as talking about the English FA and English Premier League even if you're in Scotland. Scotland is constantly "othered", even by itself. In fact, it's ironically one of the things that unites people from England, Scotland, and beyond: England is the UK, and Scotland is an awkward add-on that sort of is and sort of isn't England.
All bodies with "Scottish" or "Scotland" that I am aware of have a specific Scotland remit. The SFA looks after football in Scotland; Scottish Water only supplies water to Scotland; NHS Scotland looks after healthcare in Scotland. UK wide bodies such as DHSS and HMRC don't have Scottish versions. Arguably the health service in England should always be referred to as NHS England, Forestry Commission as Forestry England and so on, but it's a bit haphazard.
Yes, but the Scottish FA is "The Scottish FA". Whereas the English one is just "The FA". You do see how in a very small way that makes England "normal" and Scotland "other", right?
It's a bit weird now you mention it. What about bread & butter things like say the "Cup Final"? Down here, that's the Wembley one and the one at Hampden is the Scottish Cup Final. Do people in Scotland not do the opposite? ie call the Wembley match the English Cup Final and the Hampden match just the Cup Final? If they don't I'd find that really odd.
What's also been interesting about the discussion is how some peopel assume that a process that began in 1885 is some sort of SNP conspiracy. But I hadn't realised that as has also been said it can seem very odd to see Scottish this and Scottish that to the degree that almost the only UJs in Edinburgh can seem the ones on the Castle, Holyrood, and some of the supermaket packets - and the huge one on the HMG office block near Waverley.
(The one at the Northern Lighthouse Board isn't a UJ, BTW).
Quick overview - Macron wins if Pécresse doesn't come second in the first round. If she does, Macron loses.
Of course. If he's in a run-off with Le Pen, or even more so Zemmour, he's home and dry. If he's up against Pécresse in the second round, it's not so obvious.
Do we have any insight on whether Mme Pécresse is more or less pro-UK than Macron?
Obviously it would be nice to have someone in the Elysee who likes us!
None of them like us particularly.
Zemmour regrets D-Day and regards it as an Anglo Saxon invasion of France.
Le Pen is instinctively protectionist and anti-free trade. She doesn't dislike us, but we'd constantly be butting heads as France attempted to export goods to the UK that had been subsidised by the French state.
Macron is a cock. I don't think he actually dislikes the UK, but he sees political mileage in being seen to fight us.
Pécresse is probably little different to Macron. She's rarely missed the opportunity to be rude about us.
The bit that leaps out of me is how everything in Scotland is now prefixed with Scottish....
That's something that is going to be very hard to fix but continually reinforces that all services are Scottish - without revealing that they only exist because of cross subsidies from other parts of the UK*. Which means it's easy for the Scottish Government to play their rulebook of celebrate success and blame London for the failures.
* for MalcolmG and co that isn't an invitation to insult or call me wrong - it's a simple fact of life that Governments borrow money.
The interesting thing about this is how pervasive this is even outside of politics. "National" newspapers prefix "Scottish" before their name. If you talk about "the FA" or the "Premier League", you will be understood as talking about the English FA and English Premier League even if you're in Scotland. Scotland is constantly "othered", even by itself. In fact, it's ironically one of the things that unites people from England, Scotland, and beyond: England is the UK, and Scotland is an awkward add-on that sort of is and sort of isn't England.
The issue here is that UK borrows the money, decides what it is spent on and mainly , not on what Scotland would spend it on. They then pretend Scotland runs a deficit. Until Scotland borrows the money and decides what it is spent on we are just a colony.
Well, colony isn't really accurate. We are participants in the London parliament on a roughly equal footing per capita. That's not to say it's a satisfactory status quo, but it's better to call it what it is not what it isn't.
You are entitled to your opinion , where England has close to 90% of the vote and MP's , then I say we are a colony and we are treated as such. You only need look at the way the MP's from Scotland are treated in Westminster to see that clearly. Anyone thinking otherwise is foolish at best.
On the latest Redfield poll Starmer would become UK PM with the support of Scottish SNP MPs and Welsh Labour MPs, despite another Tory majority in England. On your logic England would then be a colony of Scotland and Wales and England does not even have its own parliament like Scotland and Wales do now
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
The bit that leaps out of me is how everything in Scotland is now prefixed with Scottish....
That's something that is going to be very hard to fix but continually reinforces that all services are Scottish - without revealing that they only exist because of cross subsidies from other parts of the UK*. Which means it's easy for the Scottish Government to play their rulebook of celebrate success and blame London for the failures.
* for MalcolmG and co that isn't an invitation to insult or call me wrong - it's a simple fact of life that Governments borrow money.
The interesting thing about this is how pervasive this is even outside of politics. "National" newspapers prefix "Scottish" before their name. If you talk about "the FA" or the "Premier League", you will be understood as talking about the English FA and English Premier League even if you're in Scotland. Scotland is constantly "othered", even by itself. In fact, it's ironically one of the things that unites people from England, Scotland, and beyond: England is the UK, and Scotland is an awkward add-on that sort of is and sort of isn't England.
The issue here is that UK borrows the money, decides what it is spent on and mainly , not on what Scotland would spend it on. They then pretend Scotland runs a deficit. Until Scotland borrows the money and decides what it is spent on we are just a colony.
Well, colony isn't really accurate. We are participants in the London parliament on a roughly equal footing per capita. That's not to say it's a satisfactory status quo, but it's better to call it what it is not what it isn't.
You are entitled to your opinion , where England has close to 90% of the vote and MP's , then I say we are a colony and we are treated as such. You only need look at the way the MP's from Scotland are treated in Westminster to see that clearly. Anyone thinking otherwise is foolish at best.
On the latest Redfield poll Starmer would become UK PM with the support of Scottish SNP MPs and Welsh Labour MPs, despite another Tory majority in England. On your logic England would then be a colony of Scotland and Wales and England does not even have its own parliament like Scotland and Wales do now
I don't agree with malcolmg, but nor does the logic reverse in the way you suppose. It's obviously not the same thing, holding the balance of power versus being the entire scales and the weight on both sides.
The bit that leaps out of me is how everything in Scotland is now prefixed with Scottish....
That's something that is going to be very hard to fix but continually reinforces that all services are Scottish - without revealing that they only exist because of cross subsidies from other parts of the UK*. Which means it's easy for the Scottish Government to play their rulebook of celebrate success and blame London for the failures.
* for MalcolmG and co that isn't an invitation to insult or call me wrong - it's a simple fact of life that Governments borrow money.
The interesting thing about this is how pervasive this is even outside of politics. "National" newspapers prefix "Scottish" before their name. If you talk about "the FA" or the "Premier League", you will be understood as talking about the English FA and English Premier League even if you're in Scotland. Scotland is constantly "othered", even by itself. In fact, it's ironically one of the things that unites people from England, Scotland, and beyond: England is the UK, and Scotland is an awkward add-on that sort of is and sort of isn't England.
All bodies with "Scottish" or "Scotland" that I am aware of have a specific Scotland remit. The SFA looks after football in Scotland; Scottish Water only supplies water to Scotland; NHS Scotland looks after healthcare in Scotland. UK wide bodies such as DHSS and HMRC don't have Scottish versions. Arguably the health service in England should always be referred to as NHS England, Forestry Commission as Forestry England and so on, but it's a bit haphazard.
Yes, but the Scottish FA is "The Scottish FA". Whereas the English one is just "The FA". You do see how in a very small way that makes England "normal" and Scotland "other", right?
It's a bit weird now you mention it. What about bread & butter things like say the "Cup Final"? Down here, that's the Wembley one and the one at Hampden is the Scottish Cup Final. Do people in Scotland not do the opposite? ie call the Wembley match the English Cup Final and the Hampden match just the Cup Final? If they don't I'd find that really odd.
What's also been interesting about the discussion is how some peopel assume that a process that began in 1885 is some sort of SNP conspiracy. But I hadn't realised that as has also been said it can seem very odd to see Scottish this and Scottish that to the degree that almost the only UJs in Edinburgh can seem the ones on the Castle, Holyrood, and some of the supermaket packets - and the huge one on the HMG office block near Waverley.
(The one at the Northern Lighthouse Board isn't a UJ, BTW).
You have not been to Ibrox in a long time then Carnyx.
Never been - nearest was lunch at the Mockintosh House at Bellahouston.
Oooh, House for an Art Lover? I went to a wedding there. Really nice place. I didn't twig it was so close to Ibrox.
Yep - nice meals too. Close enough that if you are going there or to the sports centre in the park on a Saturday it's advisable to tak tent of whether Sevco FC are playing at home that day, for traffic reasons etc.
It's one of the nice features of walking around the large Scottish cities the number of buildings that are named after local heroes particularly Gordon Brown in Edinburgh.
The bit that leaps out of me is how everything in Scotland is now prefixed with Scottish....
That's something that is going to be very hard to fix but continually reinforces that all services are Scottish - without revealing that they only exist because of cross subsidies from other parts of the UK*. Which means it's easy for the Scottish Government to play their rulebook of celebrate success and blame London for the failures.
* for MalcolmG and co that isn't an invitation to insult or call me wrong - it's a simple fact of life that Governments borrow money.
The interesting thing about this is how pervasive this is even outside of politics. "National" newspapers prefix "Scottish" before their name. If you talk about "the FA" or the "Premier League", you will be understood as talking about the English FA and English Premier League even if you're in Scotland. Scotland is constantly "othered", even by itself. In fact, it's ironically one of the things that unites people from England, Scotland, and beyond: England is the UK, and Scotland is an awkward add-on that sort of is and sort of isn't England.
All bodies with "Scottish" or "Scotland" that I am aware of have a specific Scotland remit. The SFA looks after football in Scotland; Scottish Water only supplies water to Scotland; NHS Scotland looks after healthcare in Scotland. UK wide bodies such as DHSS and HMRC don't have Scottish versions. Arguably the health service in England should always be referred to as NHS England, Forestry Commission as Forestry England and so on, but it's a bit haphazard.
Yes, but the Scottish FA is "The Scottish FA". Whereas the English one is just "The FA". You do see how in a very small way that makes England "normal" and Scotland "other", right?
It's a bit weird now you mention it. What about bread & butter things like say the "Cup Final"? Down here, that's the Wembley one and the one at Hampden is the Scottish Cup Final. Do people in Scotland not do the opposite? ie call the Wembley match the English Cup Final and the Hampden match just the Cup Final? If they don't I'd find that really odd.
What's also been interesting about the discussion is how some peopel assume that a process that began in 1885 is some sort of SNP conspiracy. But I hadn't realised that as has also been said it can seem very odd to see Scottish this and Scottish that to the degree that almost the only UJs in Edinburgh can seem the ones on the Castle, Holyrood, and some of the supermaket packets - and the huge one on the HMG office block near Waverley.
(The one at the Northern Lighthouse Board isn't a UJ, BTW).
Yes, I wouldn't think it's an SNP thing. Perhaps what it mainly is is a linguistic habit coming naturally when describing something that's related to a part of the UK rather than the whole. In which case would it change if the UK was no more? I don't know. Guess nobody does!
I feel really sorry for those PBers who are forced to read The Guardian with it's outrageous left liberal bias that it doesn't try very hard to disguise. It must be awful.
Personally I would expect the same sympathy if I were forced to read the Telegraph, Mail, Express or Sun. Luckily for me, though, nobody forces me to read such right-wing rags.
There are more than a few Ignatius J Reillys on PB.
Some of us choose to listen and try to understand what the other side is thinking, even if we disagree with it.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
They appear to have hired Dominic Cummings as their advisor to deal with scandals.
To stop digging when in a hole is one thing. To keep digging is another.
To hire Bagger 288 - well that is something else....
That reminds me - now that I've got a little more free time, I must assemble my Lego Bagger 288 again. It's rather large ...
1-in-1 scale?
Not quite.
It rather fills up our living room. Far too much money spent on bits and pieces for it as well. I assembled it, found issues, and need to fix a few things.
Guardian front page has 'Tory peer investigated for racist messages' at the top.
Strangely we didn't get the same prominance for Labour Lord convicted of child rape yesterday.
We did but you didn't look hard enough or often enough.
Wayback machine confirms it was never given the same prominance, despite being much more of a story (conviction vs investigation, single racist message vs multiple child rape).
This isn't a difficult one.
It was on the app.
I'm sure it was. I'm not saying they ignored it completely.
I'm saying they've got a much lesser story about a Tory at the very top of their website, when something far worse about an equivalent Labour figure was pushed down the page....
"Equivalent Labour figure" ?
...Appointed a life peer by Tony Blair, Ahmed resigned from the Labour party in 2013...
I guess the better way to ask this is if Ahmed was a Tory peer who resigned in 2013 would the headline have read as it did or "former Tory peer Lord Ahmed..."?
Being the Guardian, my guess is on the latter.
You are entitled to your prejudices as much as they are to theirs, I suppose. It doesn't do much to support @maaarsh 's complaint, though.
And indeed to your prejudices. Which you no doubt have.
Quick overview - Macron wins if Pécresse doesn't come second in the first round. If she does, Macron loses.
Of course. If he's in a run-off with Le Pen, or even more so Zemmour, he's home and dry. If he's up against Pécresse in the second round, it's not so obvious.
Do we have any insight on whether Mme Pécresse is more or less pro-UK than Macron?
Obviously it would be nice to have someone in the Elysee who likes us!
None of them like us particularly.
Zemmour regrets D-Day and regards it as an Anglo Saxon invasion of France.
Le Pen is instinctively protectionist and anti-free trade. She doesn't dislike us, but we'd constantly be butting heads as France attempted to export goods to the UK that had been subsidised by the French state.
Macron is a cock. I don't think he actually dislikes the UK, but he sees political mileage in being seen to fight us.
Pécresse is probably little different to Macron. She's rarely missed the opportunity to be rude about us.
Funnily enough, I think Le Pen might be the friendliest to us.
She is naturally anti-EU and, while she wouldn't Frexit, I think she would see us as a useful ally to stop Germany pushing France.
I also think she and BJ would be pragmatic when it came to joint issues including the Channel crisis.
Guardian front page has 'Tory peer investigated for racist messages' at the top.
Strangely we didn't get the same prominance for Labour Lord convicted of child rape yesterday.
We did but you didn't look hard enough or often enough.
Wayback machine confirms it was never given the same prominance, despite being much more of a story (conviction vs investigation, single racist message vs multiple child rape).
This isn't a difficult one.
It was on the app.
I'm sure it was. I'm not saying they ignored it completely.
I'm saying they've got a much lesser story about a Tory at the very top of their website, when something far worse about an equivalent Labour figure was pushed down the page....
"Equivalent Labour figure" ?
...Appointed a life peer by Tony Blair, Ahmed resigned from the Labour party in 2013...
I guess the better way to ask this is if Ahmed was a Tory peer who resigned in 2013 would the headline have read as it did or "former Tory peer Lord Ahmed..."?
Being the Guardian, my guess is on the latter.
You are entitled to your prejudices as much as they are to theirs, I suppose. It doesn't do much to support @maaarsh 's complaint, though.
And indeed to your prejudices. Which you no doubt have.
Is this a new "everyone is as prejudiced as me" defence being launched here?
A person in the southwest of England has become the first in the UK to test positive for a potentially dangerous strain of avian flu.
They had been in close contact with a large number of infected birds and are now in isolation but not ill. There is no evidence of onward transmission to anybody else, officials said.
It's rare I agree with the Prime Minister but his comments on the anti-vaccine brigade are to be welcomed. They have individually and collectively done a great deal of harm.
While I respect their right not to be vaccinated if they choose and equally I respect their right to be treated just like everyone else if they get sick, the fact remains vaccinations are and will be the only path back to the new normal - going back to pre-Covid isn't going to happen however much some may desire it.
How so? Do you expect us to be shuffling around in masks forever?
I think we will be back to Freedon Day style by easter, but can easily see healthcare keeping masks for ever.
The Duke of York has not ruled out making a settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, The Times understands.
As he awaits the decision by a New York judge on his application to have the lawsuit against him dismissed, the possibility of an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre is “on the table”.
A person in the southwest of England has become the first in the UK to test positive for a potentially dangerous strain of avian flu.
They had been in close contact with a large number of infected birds and are now in isolation but not ill. There is no evidence of onward transmission to anybody else, officials said.
Quick overview - Macron wins if Pécresse doesn't come second in the first round. If she does, Macron loses.
Of course. If he's in a run-off with Le Pen, or even more so Zemmour, he's home and dry. If he's up against Pécresse in the second round, it's not so obvious.
Do we have any insight on whether Mme Pécresse is more or less pro-UK than Macron?
Obviously it would be nice to have someone in the Elysee who likes us!
None of them like us particularly.
Zemmour regrets D-Day and regards it as an Anglo Saxon invasion of France.
Le Pen is instinctively protectionist and anti-free trade. She doesn't dislike us, but we'd constantly be butting heads as France attempted to export goods to the UK that had been subsidised by the French state.
Macron is a cock. I don't think he actually dislikes the UK, but he sees political mileage in being seen to fight us.
Pécresse is probably little different to Macron. She's rarely missed the opportunity to be rude about us.
Funnily enough, I think Le Pen might be the friendliest to us.
She is naturally anti-EU and, while she wouldn't Frexit, I think she would see us as a useful ally to stop Germany pushing France.
I also think she and BJ would be pragmatic when it came to joint issues including the Channel crisis.
Pecresse is the candidate of the Tories sister party, Les Republicains, so obviously if I was French I would vote for her
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are some bizarre entries on there. I mean, nobody is going to argue with Leicester, Stoke or Jaywick. But Canterbury, Abingdon? These are nice places.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
It's one of the nice features of walking around the large Scottish cities the number of buildings that are named after local heroes particularly Gordon Brown in Edinburgh.
A person in the southwest of England has become the first in the UK to test positive for a potentially dangerous strain of avian flu.
They had been in close contact with a large number of infected birds and are now in isolation but not ill. There is no evidence of onward transmission to anybody else, officials said.
The below is the best info we have, but known to be a considerable underestimate (because we don't pick up anywhere near all of infections in the cases figures, especially not those early in the first wave):
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
It's rare I agree with the Prime Minister but his comments on the anti-vaccine brigade are to be welcomed. They have individually and collectively done a great deal of harm.
While I respect their right not to be vaccinated if they choose and equally I respect their right to be treated just like everyone else if they get sick, the fact remains vaccinations are and will be the only path back to the new normal - going back to pre-Covid isn't going to happen however much some may desire it.
How so? Do you expect us to be shuffling around in masks forever?
I think we will be back to Freedon Day style by easter, but can easily see healthcare keeping masks for ever.
I don't think so, we eventually get to a place where everyone has had the virus a few times and those older people who didn't get the vaccine have already died of it.
You really think healthcare will let go that easily?
I think the people who work in healthcare will want to get rid of them, I mean if we're registering just 5-10 deaths per day from COVID 6 months from now what's the value in holding onto the measures?
The only way we get that low on covid deaths is to stop testing everyone all the time. Maybe I'm too pessimistic, but I see healthcare in general liking masks etc. Not everyone sure, but a lot of them.
The clinicians I work with absolutely despise them. But they are predominantly working with children and find them a particular impediment to effective communication (both from child to them, for the older children who have to wear them and from them to child for all the children).
Quick overview - Macron wins if Pécresse doesn't come second in the first round. If she does, Macron loses.
Of course. If he's in a run-off with Le Pen, or even more so Zemmour, he's home and dry. If he's up against Pécresse in the second round, it's not so obvious.
Do we have any insight on whether Mme Pécresse is more or less pro-UK than Macron?
Obviously it would be nice to have someone in the Elysee who likes us!
Whoever wins the presidency will be less anti-UK after the election than before.
A person in the southwest of England has become the first in the UK to test positive for a potentially dangerous strain of avian flu.
They had been in close contact with a large number of infected birds and are now in isolation but not ill. There is no evidence of onward transmission to anybody else, officials said.
WhatsApp boasts of its "secure" and end-to-end encrypted messaging system, and the security types keep saying that encryption like WhatsApp means that terrorists and crooks can use it to evade GCHQ snooping.
And yet, here is another story with full details of what was said on WhatsApp.
FPT because it's too frightening to be allowed to remain there:
Yes yes I know it's (republished in) the New European, but if anyone fancies being terrified like when they first watched Threads, have a read of this.
There is a certain type of hyperventilating right wing French academic that I am always wary of when it comes to strategic military analysis.
I don't know much about the Zircon missile, but I doubt it is as game-changing as the Russians are playing it up to be. A quick review of blogs and online discussions reveals this:
"The issue is plain and simple, Zircon missiles can be destroyed by weapon systems currently in operation. The only problem that Zircon’s pose is that they need to extend their detection ranges (radar) to give them more time to shoot at it. That’s all there is to the hype of hyper-sonic is that it closes the distance faster and gives defenses less time to take it out. And with the missile only being able to flip on it’s seeker warhead during the last few seconds, due to the limitations on it’s own range, it makes a very interesting paradox that the pro-russian/pro-chinese trolls have to overcome as the Zircon has to detect and maneuver to intercept in 5 seconds or so (based on their own released seeker head ranges) as the speed of the missile overwhelms the range of it’s own seeker head range. Even plain supersonic missiles would have more time to detect and maneuver to intercept then a hyper-sonic and give a better possibility to hit a target.
"Using a CG group, one of the most focused targets by the trolls, the carrier group would place it’s radar pickets out further to give them a far longer detection range then it would have under normal peacetime scenarios. 3–4–5x the normal radar range are to be expected. That leaves far more time for the escorts to pound a massed strike of Zircons from long range and throughout the rest of their flight.
"When we start talking about Mach 20+ hyper-sonic missiles, then that becomes more worrisome. But, hyper-sonic missiles will have to lose their guidance fins as that speed will rip them off at low altitude and higher air pressure."
Sounds very reasonable to me.
The Russian game appears to me to be to scare the Europeans into preemptive surrender by talking up the threat, rather than to actually start a hot war. Because Russia would be decimated in a hot war. And Putin knows that.
A person in the southwest of England has become the first in the UK to test positive for a potentially dangerous strain of avian flu.
They had been in close contact with a large number of infected birds and are now in isolation but not ill. There is no evidence of onward transmission to anybody else, officials said.
WhatsApp boasts of its "secure" and end-to-end encrypted messaging system, and the security types keep saying that encryption like WhatsApp means that terrorists and crooks can use it to evade GCHQ snooping.
And yet, here is another story with full details of what was said on WhatsApp.
It's not quite the full story - Boris managed to destroy part of it by the looks of it.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
How would we know?
Would it be worse than the DoY being publicly bankrupted and Ms G not being paid (never mind the legal eagles)?
The below is the best info we have, but known to be a considerable underestimate (because we don't pick up anywhere near all of infections in the cases figures, especially not those early in the first wave):
(sourced via Meaghan Kall)
Wonder whether the greater incidence of female reinfection is real or an artifact of measurement, and if it is, what is the reason.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Andrew needs to end up clearly bankrupt as otherwise the damage to the Royal Family will be irreversible.
It's rare I agree with the Prime Minister but his comments on the anti-vaccine brigade are to be welcomed. They have individually and collectively done a great deal of harm.
While I respect their right not to be vaccinated if they choose and equally I respect their right to be treated just like everyone else if they get sick, the fact remains vaccinations are and will be the only path back to the new normal - going back to pre-Covid isn't going to happen however much some may desire it.
How so? Do you expect us to be shuffling around in masks forever?
I think we will be back to Freedon Day style by easter, but can easily see healthcare keeping masks for ever.
I don't think so, we eventually get to a place where everyone has had the virus a few times and those older people who didn't get the vaccine have already died of it.
You really think healthcare will let go that easily?
I think the people who work in healthcare will want to get rid of them, I mean if we're registering just 5-10 deaths per day from COVID 6 months from now what's the value in holding onto the measures?
The only way we get that low on covid deaths is to stop testing everyone all the time. Maybe I'm too pessimistic, but I see healthcare in general liking masks etc. Not everyone sure, but a lot of them.
The clinicians I work with absolutely despise them. But they are predominantly working with children and find them a particular impediment to effective communication (both from child to them, for the older children who have to wear them and from them to child for all the children).
Indeed they are a severe barrier to effective communication, both with children and with adults.
Its a good job he had a snafu with his change of phone....
This paragraph at the very bottom of Geidt's letter to the PM seems very important. He says that if he'd seen the WhatsApp exchange he likely would have found that the PM didn't follow the rules on declaring his interests.
That’s a bit of a shitty statement to include… if he had done this then he would have broken the rules but o can’t prove that he did do this do I’ll just throw it out there…
It's one of the nice features of walking around the large Scottish cities the number of buildings that are named after local heroes particularly Gordon Brown in Edinburgh.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Kingston-upon-Thames. (If you define county town as 'where the council offices are located')
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Quick overview - Macron wins if Pécresse doesn't come second in the first round. If she does, Macron loses.
Of course. If he's in a run-off with Le Pen, or even more so Zemmour, he's home and dry. If he's up against Pécresse in the second round, it's not so obvious.
Do we have any insight on whether Mme Pécresse is more or less pro-UK than Macron?
Obviously it would be nice to have someone in the Elysee who likes us!
None of them like us particularly.
Zemmour regrets D-Day and regards it as an Anglo Saxon invasion of France.
Le Pen is instinctively protectionist and anti-free trade. She doesn't dislike us, but we'd constantly be butting heads as France attempted to export goods to the UK that had been subsidised by the French state.
Macron is a cock. I don't think he actually dislikes the UK, but he sees political mileage in being seen to fight us.
Pécresse is probably little different to Macron. She's rarely missed the opportunity to be rude about us.
Funnily enough, I think Le Pen might be the friendliest to us.
She is naturally anti-EU and, while she wouldn't Frexit, I think she would see us as a useful ally to stop Germany pushing France.
I also think she and BJ would be pragmatic when it came to joint issues including the Channel crisis.
Le Pen has publicly praised the decision to build migrant centres near France's neighbours. She supports encouraging migrants to "self deport".
In France, there is no "Channel Crisis", there are merely people they don't want in France, choosing to leave France. There is literally not a single centime of benefit to a French leader in preventing migrants from jumping on boats and heading to England (or buses and going to Belgium).
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Kingston-upon-Thames. (If you define county town as 'where the council offices are located')
That's the answer to another geography question. Which county's county hall is extraterritorial? (It's definitely the only one)
Edit: but won't be much longer. They are moving it to Reigate apparently.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Appleby and Huntingdon both immediately spring to mind.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Strictly speaking there aren't any counties in Scotland any more - so you might want to scratch Berwick. But certainly B-u-T is not in the Scottish Borders Region.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Appleby and Huntingdon both immediately spring to mind.
Yes, I suppose I meant (but did not say) that the county still has to exist!
They appear to have hired Dominic Cummings as their advisor to deal with scandals.
To stop digging when in a hole is one thing. To keep digging is another.
To hire Bagger 288 - well that is something else....
That reminds me - now that I've got a little more free time, I must assemble my Lego Bagger 288 again. It's rather large ...
1-in-1 scale?
Not quite.
It rather fills up our living room. Far too much money spent on bits and pieces for it as well. I assembled it, found issues, and need to fix a few things.
You've proved you need a bigger house.....
Mrs J might be reading this. If she is, can you all say: "You really need to buy a bigger house so your husband can do inside activities such as ludicrously large Lego or model railways, all of which may cost more than the new house itself, so he doesn't need to escape outdoors all the time."
I'm sure it'll go down well.
Which makes me think: it was once said that the B2 bomber cost its weight in gold. In other words, a B2 bomber's cost was greater than the equivalent mass of gold. I bet a house made of normal-sized Lego would be many times the cost of a real house.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Kingston-upon-Thames. (If you define county town as 'where the council offices are located')
That's the answer to another geography question. Which county's county hall is extraterritorial? (It's definitely the only one)
Edit: but won't be much longer. They are moving it to Reigate apparently.
Took their time with that one, it's been 50 years at least.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Strictly speaking there aren't any counties in Scotland any more - so you might want to scratch Berwick. But certainly B-u-T is not in the Scottish Borders Region.
Okay so we return to Abingdon being the one and only county town of one extant county that is now in another county.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Strictly speaking there aren't any counties in Scotland any more - so you might want to scratch Berwick. But certainly B-u-T is not in the Scottish Borders Region.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Kingston-upon-Thames. (If you define county town as 'where the council offices are located')
That's the answer to another geography question. Which county's county hall is extraterritorial? (It's definitely the only one)
Edit: but won't be much longer. They are moving it to Reigate apparently.
Took their time with that one, it's been 50 years at least.
Indeed. A shame, because it was a great pub quiz question.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Kingston-upon-Thames. (If you define county town as 'where the council offices are located')
That's the answer to another geography question. Which county's county hall is extraterritorial? (It's definitely the only one)
Edit: but won't be much longer. They are moving it to Reigate apparently.
Cambridgeshire is nearly doing the opposite. They're moving out of Shire Hall in Cambridge to Alconbury, on the far side of Huntingdon, and well into the old Huntingdonshire.
They appear to have hired Dominic Cummings as their advisor to deal with scandals.
To stop digging when in a hole is one thing. To keep digging is another.
To hire Bagger 288 - well that is something else....
That reminds me - now that I've got a little more free time, I must assemble my Lego Bagger 288 again. It's rather large ...
1-in-1 scale?
Not quite.
It rather fills up our living room. Far too much money spent on bits and pieces for it as well. I assembled it, found issues, and need to fix a few things.
You've proved you need a bigger house.....
Mrs J might be reading this. If she is, can you all say: "You really need to buy a bigger house so your husband can do inside activities such as ludicrously large Lego or model railways, all of which may cost more than the new house itself, so he doesn't need to escape outdoors all the time."
I'm sure it'll go down well.
Which makes me think: it was once said that the B2 bomber cost its weight in gold. In other words, a B2 bomber's cost was greater than the equivalent mass of gold. I bet a house made of normal-sized Lego would be many times the cost of a real house.
I shouldn't give myself ideas ...
I assume you saw James May's Toy Stories where he did indeed build a house out of lego...
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Which state is Kansas City in?
Trick question when there is more than one Kansas City. Kansas would still be a correct answer even though it is smaller than the other.
Oscar-nominated director Peter Bogdanovich has passed away at the age of 82. He was responsible for films such as 'The Last Picture Show,' 'Paper Moon,' 'What's Up Doc?' and more: http://thr.cm/VKy2SSB
The Duke of York has not ruled out making a settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, The Times understands.
As he awaits the decision by a New York judge on his application to have the lawsuit against him dismissed, the possibility of an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre is “on the table”.
That would be bonkers and most unlikely. This is first and foremost a reputation saving exercise both for himself and his family. Having said that a settlement could easily lead to a criminal prosecution. He's got to fight it tooth and nail.
(His Mother and nephew are both well able to chip in if necessary)
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
It was the county town of Berwickshire, yes.
That's a great example. Are there any others, other than Abingdon (Berks then Oxon) and Berwick (Berwicks then Northumberland)?
Strictly speaking there aren't any counties in Scotland any more - so you might want to scratch Berwick. But certainly B-u-T is not in the Scottish Borders Region.
Are they all Gau now? (Innocent face)
I imagine Archibald Ramsay MP would have liked that. But they are called Regions, or just Councils now as it is unitary structure so no counties to contrast against. e.g. Highland Council.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
Fine. But she is our Queen, and any nonsense she gets up to in her personal life is very much our business. That's kinda the deal - her 'family' represent all of us, whether they (or us) like it.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
It's not so much whether HMtQ can as whether she should. Apparently.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
I dont think his point was she couldn't afford to pay it, but the reaction if she did.
Even though the common reaction to agreeing a settlement is to take it as an at best partial admission of guilt (notwithstanding official agreement not to treat such so) I doubt her paying it would cause more than minor ruction.
The Duke of York has not ruled out making a settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, The Times understands.
As he awaits the decision by a New York judge on his application to have the lawsuit against him dismissed, the possibility of an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre is “on the table”.
That would be bonkers and most unlikely. This is first and foremost a reputation saving exercise both for himself and his family. Having said that a settlement could easily lead to a criminal prosecution. He's got to fight it tooth and nail.
(His Mother and nephew are both well able to chip in if necessary)
I'd agree. Even if you argue that a settlement is not an admission of guilt, it certainly says 'we are not confident enough of winning in court to let it go that far'
They appear to have hired Dominic Cummings as their advisor to deal with scandals.
To stop digging when in a hole is one thing. To keep digging is another.
To hire Bagger 288 - well that is something else....
That reminds me - now that I've got a little more free time, I must assemble my Lego Bagger 288 again. It's rather large ...
1-in-1 scale?
Not quite.
It rather fills up our living room. Far too much money spent on bits and pieces for it as well. I assembled it, found issues, and need to fix a few things.
You've proved you need a bigger house.....
Mrs J might be reading this. If she is, can you all say: "You really need to buy a bigger house so your husband can do inside activities such as ludicrously large Lego or model railways, all of which may cost more than the new house itself, so he doesn't need to escape outdoors all the time."
I'm sure it'll go down well.
Which makes me think: it was once said that the B2 bomber cost its weight in gold. In other words, a B2 bomber's cost was greater than the equivalent mass of gold. I bet a house made of normal-sized Lego would be many times the cost of a real house.
I shouldn't give myself ideas ...
No.
You need a house with a large workshop (say double garage sized), properly insulated, heated and lighted, concrete floor finished with non-skid, a reasonable range of machine tools - lathe, 5 axis CNC etc. Obviously a complete set of manual tools and regular power tools, bits, taps, dies etc
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Berwick upon Tweed.
Ha – indeed also in another country in that case! (I assume it was once county town of Berwickshire?)
Yes. And biggest port in Scotland prior to the English massacre and annexation.
Not Sure Why Canterbury Is Listed, It's pretty pleasant, affluent and in the last year has been relatively free of tourists.
Leicester is ranked lower than Abingdon??
The latter is perfectly pleasant in my experience.
Leicester is the dullest city in the UK, a sort of inherently boring place.
Yes I was surprised to see Abingdon. I worked there for a year in the early 90s and thought it a very pleasant place. If its position is justified it must have taken one hell of a dive.
There are two theories about Abingdon. One is that the council wanted to turn it into a shithole and the other is that they did it because they are fucking useless.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
It's also the answer to a geography quiz question.
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
Kingston-upon-Thames. (If you define county town as 'where the council offices are located')
That's the answer to another geography question. Which county's county hall is extraterritorial? (It's definitely the only one)
Edit: but won't be much longer. They are moving it to Reigate apparently.
Took their time with that one, it's been 50 years at least.
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
It's not so much whether HMtQ can as whether she should. Apparently.
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
The context is such that I wonder if Boris didn't want to start afresh leaving the old Whatsapp acccount behind.
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
I think officials having given up resigning over this stuff. It makes not a jot of difference - Boris's henchmen just smear them anyway - so they may as well stay in post.
Oscar-nominated director Peter Bogdanovich has passed away at the age of 82. He was responsible for films such as 'The Last Picture Show,' 'Paper Moon,' 'What's Up Doc?' and more: http://thr.cm/VKy2SSB
The news is wall to wall Jonson playing fast and loose with the truth. What little space there is left is devoted to the sexual deviancy of the Queen's son.
As a country we don't look very classy at the moment.
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
I think officials having given up resigning over this stuff. It makes not a jot of difference - Boris's henchmen just smear them anyway - so they may as well stay in post.
Sad but probably true.
The death of integrity in government is possibly the most serious charge that I'd throw at the current bunch of charlatans.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
Missing the point spectacularly once again, it's not if she could, it is a case of should she?
As an aside, if she's so wealthy, why is she leaching of the taxpayers at nearly 100 million quid a year with the Sovereign Grant?
Quick overview - Macron wins if Pécresse doesn't come second in the first round. If she does, Macron loses.
Of course. If he's in a run-off with Le Pen, or even more so Zemmour, he's home and dry. If he's up against Pécresse in the second round, it's not so obvious.
Do we have any insight on whether Mme Pécresse is more or less pro-UK than Macron?
Obviously it would be nice to have someone in the Elysee who likes us!
None of them like us particularly.
Zemmour regrets D-Day and regards it as an Anglo Saxon invasion of France.
Le Pen is instinctively protectionist and anti-free trade. She doesn't dislike us, but we'd constantly be butting heads as France attempted to export goods to the UK that had been subsidised by the French state.
Macron is a cock. I don't think he actually dislikes the UK, but he sees political mileage in being seen to fight us.
Pécresse is probably little different to Macron. She's rarely missed the opportunity to be rude about us.
Funnily enough, I think Le Pen might be the friendliest to us.
She is naturally anti-EU and, while she wouldn't Frexit, I think she would see us as a useful ally to stop Germany pushing France.
I also think she and BJ would be pragmatic when it came to joint issues including the Channel crisis.
Le Pen has publicly praised the decision to build migrant centres near France's neighbours. She supports encouraging migrants to "self deport".
In France, there is no "Channel Crisis", there are merely people they don't want in France, choosing to leave France. There is literally not a single centime of benefit to a French leader in preventing migrants from jumping on boats and heading to England (or buses and going to Belgium).
True but - at the risk of outraging a few here - the more pertinent question is whether she wants any migrant centres in the first place. It is one thing when they are already, another when you have the option to close and deport.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
You'd have thought given God appointed the royal family, and him being omnipotent and all, he could make this scandal go away?
They appear to have hired Dominic Cummings as their advisor to deal with scandals.
To stop digging when in a hole is one thing. To keep digging is another.
To hire Bagger 288 - well that is something else....
That reminds me - now that I've got a little more free time, I must assemble my Lego Bagger 288 again. It's rather large ...
1-in-1 scale?
Not quite.
It rather fills up our living room. Far too much money spent on bits and pieces for it as well. I assembled it, found issues, and need to fix a few things.
You've proved you need a bigger house.....
Mrs J might be reading this. If she is, can you all say: "You really need to buy a bigger house so your husband can do inside activities such as ludicrously large Lego or model railways, all of which may cost more than the new house itself, so he doesn't need to escape outdoors all the time."
I'm sure it'll go down well.
Which makes me think: it was once said that the B2 bomber cost its weight in gold. In other words, a B2 bomber's cost was greater than the equivalent mass of gold. I bet a house made of normal-sized Lego would be many times the cost of a real house.
I shouldn't give myself ideas ...
I assume you saw James May's Toy Stories where he did indeed build a house out of lego...
Nope. But thanks, I'll see it if is on youutooobe.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
Missing the point spectacularly once again, it's not if she could, it is a case of should she?
As an aside, if she's so wealthy, why is she leaching of the taxpayers at nearly 100 million quid a year with the Sovereign Grant?
Make her pay her own way.
As I recall, Tony Blair was nearly stupid enough to fall for Prince Charles' idea - the Royal Family gets back the full income from the Crown estate, no civil list etc.
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
At best he was misled by their incompetence. That's at best. It doesn't speak to much professional pride to put up with that.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
You'd have thought given God appointed the royal family, and him being omnipotent and all, he could make this scandal go away?
God ensured he moved from 2nd in the line of succession in 1981 to 9th now.
God only anoints the monarch not the rest of the family
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
I think officials having given up resigning over this stuff. It makes not a jot of difference - Boris's henchmen just smear them anyway - so they may as well stay in post.
Sad but probably true.
The death of integrity in government is possibly the most serious charge that I'd throw at the current bunch of charlatans.
Death of integrity - but was it murder or neglect?
Having read the exchange of letters between Geidt and Johnson, I'm left somewhat bewildered that Geidt hasn't resigned. It's clear that Geidt felt that he was badly misled by Johnson (and others in the Cabinet Office), and that there was something akin to a cover-up - although he declines to use that exact phrase. I'm not sure an apology from Johnson suffices - it wouldn't for me.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
The context is such that I wonder if Boris didn't want to start afresh leaving the old Whatsapp acccount behind.
Isn’t that exactly what his advisers told him to do? They were horrified when they discovered how many people had direct access to the PM
Guardian front page has 'Tory peer investigated for racist messages' at the top.
Strangely we didn't get the same prominance for Labour Lord convicted of child rape yesterday.
We did but you didn't look hard enough or often enough.
Wayback machine confirms it was never given the same prominance, despite being much more of a story (conviction vs investigation, single racist message vs multiple child rape).
This isn't a difficult one.
It was on the app.
I'm sure it was. I'm not saying they ignored it completely.
I'm saying they've got a much lesser story about a Tory at the very top of their website, when something far worse about an equivalent Labour figure was pushed down the page....
"Equivalent Labour figure" ?
...Appointed a life peer by Tony Blair, Ahmed resigned from the Labour party in 2013...
I guess the better way to ask this is if Ahmed was a Tory peer who resigned in 2013 would the headline have read as it did or "former Tory peer Lord Ahmed..."?
Being the Guardian, my guess is on the latter.
You are entitled to your prejudices as much as they are to theirs, I suppose. It doesn't do much to support @maaarsh 's complaint, though.
And indeed to your prejudices. Which you no doubt have.
Is this a new "everyone is as prejudiced as me" defence being launched here?
Guardian front page has 'Tory peer investigated for racist messages' at the top.
Strangely we didn't get the same prominance for Labour Lord convicted of child rape yesterday.
We did but you didn't look hard enough or often enough.
Wayback machine confirms it was never given the same prominance, despite being much more of a story (conviction vs investigation, single racist message vs multiple child rape).
This isn't a difficult one.
It was on the app.
I'm sure it was. I'm not saying they ignored it completely.
I'm saying they've got a much lesser story about a Tory at the very top of their website, when something far worse about an equivalent Labour figure was pushed down the page....
"Equivalent Labour figure" ?
...Appointed a life peer by Tony Blair, Ahmed resigned from the Labour party in 2013...
I guess the better way to ask this is if Ahmed was a Tory peer who resigned in 2013 would the headline have read as it did or "former Tory peer Lord Ahmed..."?
Being the Guardian, my guess is on the latter.
You are entitled to your prejudices as much as they are to theirs, I suppose. It doesn't do much to support @maaarsh 's complaint, though.
And indeed to your prejudices. Which you no doubt have.
Is this a new "everyone is as prejudiced as me" defence being launched here?
Not at all. It is to point out that we all have prejudices, even your good self. Nigel's answer suggested others had them but not himself. I was merely pointing that out.
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
Yet more rubbish from our non Tory republican LD.
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
Missing the point spectacularly once again, it's not if she could, it is a case of should she?
As an aside, if she's so wealthy, why is she leaching of the taxpayers at nearly 100 million quid a year with the Sovereign Grant?
Make her pay her own way.
She claims from the Sovereign Grant only for the royal duties she does as Head of State and her immediate family do, none of which now goes to Andrew as he no longer does royal duties
Comments
Zemmour regrets D-Day and regards it as an Anglo Saxon invasion of France.
Le Pen is instinctively protectionist and anti-free trade. She doesn't dislike us, but we'd constantly be butting heads as France attempted to export goods to the UK that had been subsidised by the French state.
Macron is a cock. I don't think he actually dislikes the UK, but he sees political mileage in being seen to fight us.
Pécresse is probably little different to Macron. She's rarely missed the opportunity to be rude about us.
More Tory sleaze incoming.
Mate of Call Me Dave
As they say, know your enemies.
In act of supreme stupidity, they contemplated selling the old Town Hall - aside from the fact that it's the town museum, it's the symbol of Abingdon. Imagine selling Tower Bridge, in London.... or Big Ben. Or selling the Castle in Edinburgh...
Some locals came up with a cunning plan. Immediately the idea was publicly mooted, the local Freemasons said they would buy it. They didn't have the money, but several of the councillors were big into anti-Masonic stuff. So instantly the idea of selling the Old Town Hall was off the agenda. Forever....
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-johnson-pmqs-untruths_uk_61d5fbcde4b0bcd2195abfe3
She is naturally anti-EU and, while she wouldn't Frexit, I think she would see us as a useful ally to stop Germany pushing France.
I also think she and BJ would be pragmatic when it came to joint issues including the Channel crisis.
They had been in close contact with a large number of infected birds and are now in isolation but not ill. There is no evidence of onward transmission to anybody else, officials said.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-didnt-disclose-tory-donor-texts-because-i-changed-number-says-johnson-q8j73jpmc
As he awaits the decision by a New York judge on his application to have the lawsuit against him dismissed, the possibility of an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre is “on the table”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-andrew-hasnt-ruled-out-settling-over-sex-case-vfwd5ms7l
Blatant use of fear to push an agenda. Fwiw, I agree with that agenda and am proud of what the UK has done in developing and exporting vaccines.
But don't link the lifting of restrictions to this. If we have to wait for ROW to get to 90% vaxxed to go to the Rugby...
The other question which has not been fully answered is who would pay the cost of any settlement, which could easily be millions of pounds. With Andrew’s financial arrangements shrouded in mystery, until now it has been assumed that the Queen is paying her son’s legal fees. Some reports have also suggested that she would stump up for any settlement.
The below is the best info we have, but known to be a considerable underestimate (because we don't pick up anywhere near all of infections in the cases figures, especially not those early in the first wave):
(sourced via Meaghan Kall)
Which county town of one county is now in another county?
And yet, here is another story with full details of what was said on WhatsApp.
I don't know much about the Zircon missile, but I doubt it is as game-changing as the Russians are playing it up to be. A quick review of blogs and online discussions reveals this:
"The issue is plain and simple, Zircon missiles can be destroyed by weapon systems currently in operation. The only problem that Zircon’s pose is that they need to extend their detection ranges (radar) to give them more time to shoot at it. That’s all there is to the hype of hyper-sonic is that it closes the distance faster and gives defenses less time to take it out. And with the missile only being able to flip on it’s seeker warhead during the last few seconds, due to the limitations on it’s own range, it makes a very interesting paradox that the pro-russian/pro-chinese trolls have to overcome as the Zircon has to detect and maneuver to intercept in 5 seconds or so (based on their own released seeker head ranges) as the speed of the missile overwhelms the range of it’s own seeker head range. Even plain supersonic missiles would have more time to detect and maneuver to intercept then a hyper-sonic and give a better possibility to hit a target.
"Using a CG group, one of the most focused targets by the trolls, the carrier group would place it’s radar pickets out further to give them a far longer detection range then it would have under normal peacetime scenarios. 3–4–5x the normal radar range are to be expected. That leaves far more time for the escorts to pound a massed strike of Zircons from long range and throughout the rest of their flight.
"When we start talking about Mach 20+ hyper-sonic missiles, then that becomes more worrisome. But, hyper-sonic missiles will have to lose their guidance fins as that speed will rip them off at low altitude and higher air pressure."
Sounds very reasonable to me.
The Russian game appears to me to be to scare the Europeans into preemptive surrender by talking up the threat, rather than to actually start a hot war. Because Russia would be decimated in a hot war. And Putin knows that.
Would it be worse than the DoY being publicly bankrupted and Ms G not being paid (never mind the legal eagles)?
https://twitter.com/LozzaFox/status/1479130423896592388?s=20
(Something something remain voters
In France, there is no "Channel Crisis", there are merely people they don't want in France, choosing to leave France. There is literally not a single centime of benefit to a French leader in preventing migrants from jumping on boats and heading to England (or buses and going to Belgium).
Edit: but won't be much longer. They are moving it to Reigate apparently.
I'm sure it'll go down well.
Which makes me think: it was once said that the B2 bomber cost its weight in gold. In other words, a B2 bomber's cost was greater than the equivalent mass of gold. I bet a house made of normal-sized Lego would be many times the cost of a real house.
I shouldn't give myself ideas ...
The Queen has a private estate worth hundreds of millions which could easily fund any settlement for the minor royal who is now only 9th in the line of succession
Oscar-nominated director Peter Bogdanovich has passed away at the age of 82. He was responsible for films such as 'The Last Picture Show,' 'Paper Moon,' 'What's Up Doc?' and more: http://thr.cm/VKy2SSB
https://twitter.com/THR/status/1479145858918756359?s=20
(His Mother and nephew are both well able to chip in if necessary)
The one place in Wales where thousands attended two events despite Covid rules
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/one-place-wales-thousands-attended-22657010#ICID=Android_DailyPostNewsApp_AppShare
Even though the common reaction to agreeing a settlement is to take it as an at best partial admission of guilt (notwithstanding official agreement not to treat such so) I doubt her paying it would cause more than minor ruction.
You need a house with a large workshop (say double garage sized), properly insulated, heated and lighted, concrete floor finished with non-skid, a reasonable range of machine tools - lathe, 5 axis CNC etc. Obviously a complete set of manual tools and regular power tools, bits, taps, dies etc
An operational TRIGA is an optional extra.
And on Johnson's phone, and the idea that in changing his number lots of stuff went missing. I'm not the best at technology, and I suspect Boris isn't. But what I'd do is ask a techie friend to do it for me to ensure everything came across. Do people seriously believe that Boris did his phone transfer himself without asking one of the IT bods to do it for him?
The whole thing looks very fishy to me, although the Geidt-Johnson letters don't seem to have attracted that much attention, on here or elsewhere.
As a country we don't look very classy at the moment.
Even as an off shore theme park
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/02/trump-kansas-city-missouri-super-bowl-tweet
The death of integrity in government is possibly the most serious charge that I'd throw at the current bunch of charlatans.
As an aside, if she's so wealthy, why is she leaching of the taxpayers at nearly 100 million quid a year with the Sovereign Grant?
Make her pay her own way.
God only anoints the monarch not the rest of the family