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Another reason to lay Andy Burnham – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578
    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,148
    edited January 2022
    Ha ha.

    Afternoon all.

    This poll is causing some wonderful nationality vs georgraphy spattetes on the social media.

    (georgraphy is an accent).
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572
    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,561

    Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    Peter Ustinov for me.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited January 2022

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    What about a post on one of those "local" selling sites like GumTree? Making it clear willing to give them away to the right person, but bulk only.
  • Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    Peter Ustinov for me.
    Although I am not Welsh, I like mild versions of the accent. Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins have the finest voices in acting IMO.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,133
    edited January 2022

    Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    Peter Ustinov for me.
    Interestingly even Peter Ustinov is another one who slightly de-poshed his accent in his last decade. Very mellifluously posh tones throughout the 70s and 80s, but not in the early 2000's.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,633

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    In Leicester we have a couple of charity bookstores, who do only books, and will take by the box load. We have a charity vinyl/CD/DVD store too which can be great browsing.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,319
    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?


    For me the point is independence to make decisions in Scotland by Scottish electorate, may be better may be worse financially , who knows but at least it will be our decisions and we will not get the fake numbers we see now and politician's able to point at anyone else. Currently it is mainly owned by foreigners and almost all real decisions are made in England , ie Trident in middle of population, no say in bombing and killing children , little say in what our money is spent on with majority again decided in England. No matter who we elect England decide what happens, how much money we get , they also say we borrow money , etc , etc. I could go on for a fortnight.
    As we see lots of small countries make a good go of doing all right and despite being independent with less natural resources than Scotland are far richer than we are tied to England with them deciding our fate.
    It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out.
  • Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Had a similar situation with my dad's books a while back. A second-hand book shop took a fair few of them but all non fiction/history etc. Even came round to look at what there was and paid something for them. Unless the fiction is collectable they're not interested.

    Isn't Mortimer on here in the second hand books game?
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572

    DavidL said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    RP streets ahead

    The nation is in thrall to the poshest. This I am afraid is a serious obstacle for the fair Angela

    Why no Scots, except the obligatory weegie hate? Some Scots accents are lovely, and I thought they were generally rated most trustworthy, hence the banks having call centres there

    Yes, the Highland accent in particular is lovely, it has the same singing quality to it that the Welsh do and, well, they are not Welsh.
    The accent in The Flow Country, always reminds me of a mixture between "Scots" and RP. It has a beautiful educated sound to it. Quite the opposite of the aggressive cadences of Glasgow.
    I once stayed in a lighthouse cottage just north of Peterhead. Inside they had a book of poetry written in the local dialect, Buchan, along with an ?informal? Buchan-English dictionary.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,319

    Aslan said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    RP streets ahead

    The nation is in thrall to the poshest. This I am afraid is a serious obstacle for the fair Angela

    Why no Scots, except the obligatory weegie hate? Some Scots accents are lovely, and I thought they were generally rated most trustworthy, hence the banks having call centres there

    RP is not limited to the posh. That is heigtened RP, its own accent. Most middle income people across the South East (London aside) speak a form of RP.

    I agree with you a Scots accent rates extremely well. It was an advantage for Gordon Brown I think. The best is probably an Edinburgh accent.
    Thanks!
    Hmm, obviously not said by a Scot and by someone who has not heard many Edinburgh accents.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    edited January 2022
    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited January 2022
    Headline stats - 141,472 cases, 97 deaths.

    Admissions and mechanical ventilation beds in England down a tad, and down a decent amount since same time last week.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    edited January 2022

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    In a similar position myself. I've come to this strategy -

    1 - general books, usual paperback fiction etc. - feed into local charity shops, and the community store book recycling bookcase
    2 - more specialist/expensive - take them to the specialist Oxfam bookshop in Edinburgh (it has one just for books in the university quarter). There's one in Cambridge, I see. More efficient for me than taking all books, as I go in by bus, but you could taker the lot there.

    And when I get rid of really specialist books (aircraft and military and transport) I know a museum in that field which takes them for its sales stand. It's a long way away but happily a volunteer lives quite close by and comes round occasionally to take a boxful. I wonder if the Shuttleworth Veteran Aircraft Society at Old Warden do that? Might be worth a word with them.
  • Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    In a similar position myself. I've come to this strategy -

    1 - general books, usual paperback fiction etc. - feed into local charity shops, and the community store book recycling bookcase
    2 - more specialist/expensive - take them to the specialist Oxfam bookshop in Edinburgh (it has one just for books in the university quarter). There's one in Cambridge, I see. More efficient than taking all books, as I go in by bus, but you could taker the lot there.

    And when I get rid of really specialist books (aircraft and military and transport) I know a museum in that field which takes them for its sales stand. It's a long way away but happily a volunteer lives quite close by and comes round occasionally to take a boxful. I wonder if the Shuttleworth Veteran Aircraft Society at Old Warden do that? Might be worth a word with them.
    Is the museum East Fortune?
    Not visited it for an age (pre Concord), must get my ass together this year.
  • I thought we couldn't trust people to use common sense these days? Too confusing.

    Morrisons will remove “use-by” dates from milk packaging at the end of the month in an attempt to save millions of pints from being thrown away unnecessarily every year. The British supermarket is asking customers to use a simple and time-honoured test to work out if cow’s milk is usable: sniff it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/09/use-the-sniff-test-morrisons-to-scrap-use-by-dates-from-milk-packaging

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,319
    edited January 2022

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
  • Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    There's always the drastic and now dated elocution lessons option, although you might come out sounding like the blessed Margaret.
    Are elocution lessons still a thing? I seemed to remember growing up, lots of middle class parents seemed to be quite keen on sending their kids to them.
    I think some people going into the theatre still have them, but I think you're right, many fewer. It's always striking to me to see how many public figures have de-poshened their accents over the decades.

    I've no problem with RP, particularly, but in my mind the exaggerated intonations, tics and emphases of elolocution lessons stll somehow always come back to this. Steve Nallon has always been an absolute master at capturing Thatcher's exaggerated vocal tics and mannerisms.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88z_q4ctgIY
    Elocution does not have to be about accent. It can be mainly about enunciation. Communication, like singing, is enhanced by good enunciation. Mumbling and lazy enunciation is as damaging for speaking as it is for singing. This maybe the reason why Welsh people are generally pretty good as communicating perhaps?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    In a similar position myself. I've come to this strategy -

    1 - general books, usual paperback fiction etc. - feed into local charity shops, and the community store book recycling bookcase
    2 - more specialist/expensive - take them to the specialist Oxfam bookshop in Edinburgh (it has one just for books in the university quarter). There's one in Cambridge, I see. More efficient than taking all books, as I go in by bus, but you could taker the lot there.

    And when I get rid of really specialist books (aircraft and military and transport) I know a museum in that field which takes them for its sales stand. It's a long way away but happily a volunteer lives quite close by and comes round occasionally to take a boxful. I wonder if the Shuttleworth Veteran Aircraft Society at Old Warden do that? Might be worth a word with them.
    Is the museum East Fortune?
    Not visited it for an age (pre Concord), must get my ass together this year.
    No, the one in mind is a lot further. EF is now called the National Museum of Flight btw. I can't remember the details, but the hangars have been reorganized as you'd expect with the big bird under cover now.

    Something specially for @JosiasJessop come to think of it -

    https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/national-museum-of-flight/lego-concorde-model/





  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited January 2022
    London patient admissions heading in the right direction

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1480210062748622850?s=20
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
    Just what I was thinking, if I didn't already need to downsize ...
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,133
    edited January 2022

    Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    There's always the drastic and now dated elocution lessons option, although you might come out sounding like the blessed Margaret.
    Are elocution lessons still a thing? I seemed to remember growing up, lots of middle class parents seemed to be quite keen on sending their kids to them.
    I think some people going into the theatre still have them, but I think you're right, many fewer. It's always striking to me to see how many public figures have de-poshened their accents over the decades.

    I've no problem with RP, particularly, but in my mind the exaggerated intonations, tics and emphases of elolocution lessons stll somehow always come back to this. Steve Nallon has always been an absolute master at capturing Thatcher's exaggerated vocal tics and mannerisms.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88z_q4ctgIY
    Elocution does not have to be about accent. It can be mainly about enunciation. Communication, like singing, is enhanced by good enunciation. Mumbling and lazy enunciation is as damaging for speaking as it is for singing. This maybe the reason why Welsh people are generally pretty good as communicating perhaps?
    When it works for people, particularly in the public eye, it can help their clarity and communication. It probably achieved that effect for Thatcher, but it also created quite exaggerated and artificial intonations, easily mocked and sent up. There are many acting professionals, though, who've integrated the change very seamlessly into the way they speak.

    Thatcher enjoyed making an outsize impact, so I think she probably also enjoyed the exaggerated intonations and clarity, which definitely at times could veer into the ridiculous.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,401

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,319
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    In a similar position myself. I've come to this strategy -

    1 - general books, usual paperback fiction etc. - feed into local charity shops, and the community store book recycling bookcase
    2 - more specialist/expensive - take them to the specialist Oxfam bookshop in Edinburgh (it has one just for books in the university quarter). There's one in Cambridge, I see. More efficient than taking all books, as I go in by bus, but you could taker the lot there.

    And when I get rid of really specialist books (aircraft and military and transport) I know a museum in that field which takes them for its sales stand. It's a long way away but happily a volunteer lives quite close by and comes round occasionally to take a boxful. I wonder if the Shuttleworth Veteran Aircraft Society at Old Warden do that? Might be worth a word with them.
    Is the museum East Fortune?
    Not visited it for an age (pre Concord), must get my ass together this year.
    No, the one in mind is a lot further. EF is now called the National Museum of Flight btw. I can't remember the details, but the hangars have been reorganized as you'd expect with the big bird under cover now.

    Something specially for @JosiasJessop come to think of it -

    https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/national-museum-of-flight/lego-concorde-model/





    East Fortune is the one with Concorde, not aware of any others that have Concorde.
  • MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
    Just what I was thinking, if I didn't already need to downsize ...
    Depends what there is - if it is stuff of the depth of "The Secret Horsepower Race" - I would happily go for cost of postage plus packaging plus either a sensible price or donation to charity of choice.
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    lol. Anger managment still not going well then? I guess it was slightly more lucid a response than your one the other day which had a certain alcoholic flavour to it. As for me stalking you? Lol! I guess paranoia is maybe another thing that afflicts you? IIRC it is normally you that jumps on comments I make with some incoherent rambling, followed by a small brained and childish insult. It isn't my fault you always come off worse and make yourself look an even more stupid boorish oaf than you manage on your own.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,401

    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
    The boundary changes for Leigh are very poor for the Tories. Will be a Labour gain with any swing at all.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
    I don't actually. It's been hard enough selecting ones to get rid of, and if I went to make a list I'd end up deciding to keep half the ones that are now in boxes ready... ;)
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590
    Total number in hospital very slightly up, but back when it was flatling there was a weekly pattern of higher numbers Sunday and Monday due to lack of weekend discharges (ooo matron).

  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    lol. Anger managment still not going well then? I guess it was slightly more lucid a response than your one the other day which had a certain alcoholic flavour to it. As for me stalking you? Lol! I guess paranoia is maybe another thing that afflicts you? IIRC it is normally you that jumps on comments I make with some incoherent rambling, followed by a small brained and childish insult. It isn't my fault you always come off worse and make yourself look an even more stupid boorish oaf than you manage on your own.
    MalkyG is PB's own Father Jack....
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    In a similar position myself. I've come to this strategy -

    1 - general books, usual paperback fiction etc. - feed into local charity shops, and the community store book recycling bookcase
    2 - more specialist/expensive - take them to the specialist Oxfam bookshop in Edinburgh (it has one just for books in the university quarter). There's one in Cambridge, I see. More efficient than taking all books, as I go in by bus, but you could taker the lot there.

    And when I get rid of really specialist books (aircraft and military and transport) I know a museum in that field which takes them for its sales stand. It's a long way away but happily a volunteer lives quite close by and comes round occasionally to take a boxful. I wonder if the Shuttleworth Veteran Aircraft Society at Old Warden do that? Might be worth a word with them.
    Is the museum East Fortune?
    Not visited it for an age (pre Concord), must get my ass together this year.
    No, the one in mind is a lot further. EF is now called the National Museum of Flight btw. I can't remember the details, but the hangars have been reorganized as you'd expect with the big bird under cover now.

    Something specially for @JosiasJessop come to think of it -

    https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/national-museum-of-flight/lego-concorde-model/
    That speed build video was superb.

    Last week I spent a few hours taking apart my small Bucket Wheel Excavator model. Taking apart 4,000 pieces doesn't half make your fingers hurt...
  • dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    I have the same issue though it isn't urgent (yet). Being incurably tight-fisted I've occasionally wondered about setting up an online bookshop via Amazon or Ebay. How hard would that be? There must be someone out there who'd like a 1994 Nautical Almanack. Don't yachties collect them like Wisdens?
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    lol. Anger managment still not going well then? I guess it was slightly more lucid a response than your one the other day which had a certain alcoholic flavour to it. As for me stalking you? Lol! I guess paranoia is maybe another thing that afflicts you? IIRC it is normally you that jumps on comments I make with some incoherent rambling, followed by a small brained and childish insult. It isn't my fault you always come off worse and make yourself look an even more stupid boorish oaf than you manage on your own.
    MalkyG is PB's own Father Jack....
    yea, but Father Jack had some redeeming qualities.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,011
    dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    I have donated a large number to the Oxfam book shop in Skipton. A combination of fiction, non-fiction, old textbooks, etc.

    The other option for fiction is to leave them in a book swap location. We have them in the waiting rooms at our local station.

    Or, for a single book, I sometimes just leave it on the train once I've finished it. Let another passenger or railway employee have a read.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    .

    Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    Peter Ustinov for me.
    I saw an evening with Peter Ustinov in the New Theatre, Cardiff, circa 1991. Great voice, he was a sublime raconteur too.

    David Niven deserves an honourable mention.
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    UK cases by specimen date

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  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    UK cases by specimen date and scaled to 100K

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  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Local R

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  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590
    Mechanical ventilation down AGAIN.

    Starting to look like the increase in deaths (by actual date running average now 140 per day from 110) is genuinely an artefact of massive case numbers leading to other deaths getting called covid, because the number of covid patients in intensive care is even lower than November when we had lower deaths numbers.

    1500 people die every day, so if 5% of the population has covid there's scope for 75 deaths a day to be called covid without causing any excess death (obviously before adjusting for ages etc).
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Case summary

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  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,133
    edited January 2022

    .

    Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    Peter Ustinov for me.
    I saw an evening with Peter Ustinov in the New Theatre, Cardiff, circa 1991. Great voice, he was a sublime raconteur too.

    David Niven deserves an honourable mention.
    An extraordinary life. His voice in Quo Vadis is one of the richest-sounding English voices you'll ever hear, including a few songs he spontaneously composed himself on the set.
  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578

    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
    Yes, I haven't looked at the boundary changes although, and this is maybe simplistic, is that, if the Tories lose Tory areas in some seats, they gain them in others. I would say there is a slight danger in directly read across strength in local councils to MPs. as - for some reason - you don't tend to get the more radical shifts you see in other areas. So the Tories have no chance of capturing Stockport BC but have two of the constituencies. Likewise, In Tameside, ditto on the council but they are within striking distance in two of the (old) seats.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Hospitals

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  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Where are you getting the latter from?

    Scotland gets much more than the North East or North West or any other region AFAIK with needs.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Deaths

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  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,802

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Depending on the type loads of hospices accept second hand books.
  • Vaguely on topic I'm currently watching Cardiff v Preston North End on S4C replete with Welsh language commentary and I'm getting strong Channel 9 by The Fast Show vibes here.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    Age related data

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  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590
    Looks like things are falling away nearly as quickly as they came.

    image
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492
    maaarsh said:

    Mechanical ventilation down AGAIN.

    Starting to look like the increase in deaths (by actual date running average now 140 per day from 110) is genuinely an artefact of massive case numbers leading to other deaths getting called covid, because the number of covid patients in intensive care is even lower than November when we had lower deaths numbers.

    1500 people die every day, so if 5% of the population has covid there's scope for 75 deaths a day to be called covid without causing any excess death (obviously before adjusting for ages etc).

    Yes I've been thinking that, I don't know how to express it but 'incidental deaths' ?
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,589
    edited January 2022
    Re regional accents.

    I wonder how much the settings of TV programs has an effect.

    Are any of those 'comforting' dramas about vets set in London, Liverpool or Manchester ?

    I don't think so but instead they got Eastenders, Brookie and Corrie - places which seemed to be full of gangsters, murderers and general anti-social types.

    While Birmingham had Bennie from Crossroads - someone who became a byword for being thick.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    I thought we couldn't trust people to use common sense these days? Too confusing.

    Morrisons will remove “use-by” dates from milk packaging at the end of the month in an attempt to save millions of pints from being thrown away unnecessarily every year. The British supermarket is asking customers to use a simple and time-honoured test to work out if cow’s milk is usable: sniff it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/09/use-the-sniff-test-morrisons-to-scrap-use-by-dates-from-milk-packaging

    Quite right too, it routinely lasts a good 5 weeks beyond its expiry
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590
    BigRich said:

    maaarsh said:

    Mechanical ventilation down AGAIN.

    Starting to look like the increase in deaths (by actual date running average now 140 per day from 110) is genuinely an artefact of massive case numbers leading to other deaths getting called covid, because the number of covid patients in intensive care is even lower than November when we had lower deaths numbers.

    1500 people die every day, so if 5% of the population has covid there's scope for 75 deaths a day to be called covid without causing any excess death (obviously before adjusting for ages etc).

    Yes I've been thinking that, I don't know how to express it but 'incidental deaths' ?
    Yep - there's really no other explanation unless we think people are dropping like flies on general wards before even making intensive care.
  • Vaguely on topic I'm currently watching Cardiff v Preston North End on S4C replete with Welsh language commentary and I'm getting strong Channel 9 by The Fast Show vibes here.

    Growing up we could get S4C due to the guy installing the tv aerial pointing it the wrong way. There was a show called Sgorio, that was a round up of European football. At the same, it was basically the only place you could easily see say Barcelona or Real Madrid....it was 100% Fast Show..
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572

    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
    Just what I was thinking, if I didn't already need to downsize ...
    Depends what there is - if it is stuff of the depth of "The Secret Horsepower Race" - I would happily go for cost of postage plus packaging plus either a sensible price or donation to charity of choice.
    Well, some I've decided to keep (reluctantly, as we need the room) are Admiral Jackie Fisher's 'Memories' and 'Records', which someone gave to someone else (via a written dedication) in July 1920. Poor condition. Two quite remarkable books that I picked up at a jumble sale. They're perhaps the oldest - but I'm keeping them.

    Also, a 1961 edition of a wonderful book: 'Calculating engines etc.' by Charles Babbage. It includes chapters on 'Picking locks and deciphering', 'Laplace, Biot and Himboldt' and 'Sketch of the Analytical Engine'. Quite an amazing book in immaculate condition.

    The ones I'm giving away are buried under Christmas decorations in the garage. There's a lot of modern trash novels as well. ;)
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,319

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    lol. Anger managment still not going well then? I guess it was slightly more lucid a response than your one the other day which had a certain alcoholic flavour to it. As for me stalking you? Lol! I guess paranoia is maybe another thing that afflicts you? IIRC it is normally you that jumps on comments I make with some incoherent rambling, followed by a small brained and childish insult. It isn't my fault you always come off worse and make yourself look an even more stupid boorish oaf than you manage on your own.
    MalkyG is PB's own Father Jack....
    When conversing with scumbags you have to use language they understand. You will notice it is always directed to the same scumbag as well.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,802
    dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    Don't support Oxfam book stores. They're actively putting independent book shops out of business. Oxfam as a charity is also of questionable worthiness but that's a personal issue. Putting legitimate book shops out of business by marginally undercutting them is morally wrong.

    Better off giving them away to hospices and other charity based care settings.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918
    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    Unless the Tory Party regains a clear poll lead however they won't be gaining any seats, more a case of minimising losses.

    For Labour to get a majority certainly they would need to win every seat in the Greater Manchester area and probably to get most seats too
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited January 2022
    IshmaelZ said:

    I thought we couldn't trust people to use common sense these days? Too confusing.

    Morrisons will remove “use-by” dates from milk packaging at the end of the month in an attempt to save millions of pints from being thrown away unnecessarily every year. The British supermarket is asking customers to use a simple and time-honoured test to work out if cow’s milk is usable: sniff it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/09/use-the-sniff-test-morrisons-to-scrap-use-by-dates-from-milk-packaging

    Quite right too, it routinely lasts a good 5 weeks beyond its expiry
    As long as I can remember I have used the sniff test. But I was around at a friends in the summer for a party and they were pouring gallons of the stuff down the sink and instructing their kids to go to the local Tesco's to get more because it had passed the date. And I did ask but does it smell and they said but the date says used by....
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572
    Thanks for the books advice everyone. Much appreciated.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    I believe Oxfam has some charity shops that exclusively do books, I they may take books in large amounts.

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,319

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Perhaps but when talking to imbeciles like Foremain you have to keep it simple. Point is we get about 40% of what we contribute and we should be responsible for 100%, the rest is squandered on vanity Westminster projects and Tories bankbooks.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    edited January 2022
    MaxPB said:

    dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    Don't support Oxfam book stores. They're actively putting independent book shops out of business. Oxfam as a charity is also of questionable worthiness but that's a personal issue. Putting legitimate book shops out of business by marginally undercutting them is morally wrong.

    Better off giving them away to hospices and other charity based care settings.
    There is no other practical option in my case for making sure certain books go to good homes: specifically academic books in a university quarter. They are wasted on hospices.

    Edit: but general books and hospices is a good idea - as also might be local army barracks for a certain kind of novel, come to think of it.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,035
    While we're talking about accents, this is pretty entertaining:

    https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/what-is-the-sexiest-american-accent

    A survey of hostel workers in the US asking which American accent they find the sexiest:

    1. Deep South (20%)
    2. New Yorker (18%)
    3. Bostonian (17%)
    4. Southern Californian (16%)
    5. Texan (14%)
    6. Midwestern (10%)
    7. Minnesotan (5%)

    Brits apparently find Valley Girl accents the sexiest, presumably because they think it means an easy lay...

  • maaarsh said:

    Mechanical ventilation down AGAIN.

    Starting to look like the increase in deaths (by actual date running average now 140 per day from 110) is genuinely an artefact of massive case numbers leading to other deaths getting called covid, because the number of covid patients in intensive care is even lower than November when we had lower deaths numbers.

    1500 people die every day, so if 5% of the population has covid there's scope for 75 deaths a day to be called covid without causing any excess death (obviously before adjusting for ages etc).

    Given its deaths within 28 days of having covid its possible that about 15% of all deaths are currently falling into that category whether they have anything to do with covid of not.
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    lol. Anger managment still not going well then? I guess it was slightly more lucid a response than your one the other day which had a certain alcoholic flavour to it. As for me stalking you? Lol! I guess paranoia is maybe another thing that afflicts you? IIRC it is normally you that jumps on comments I make with some incoherent rambling, followed by a small brained and childish insult. It isn't my fault you always come off worse and make yourself look an even more stupid boorish oaf than you manage on your own.
    MalkyG is PB's own Father Jack....
    When conversing with scumbags you have to use language they understand. You will notice it is always directed to the same scumbag as well.
    Haha. A bit more projection going on there. You really should submit yourself to the BPS; they would have a field day. So much material. Thanks for the lesson on communication though. I am sure so many PB regulars will compare and contrast our posting styles and find your suggestion on language highly amusing.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    COVID Summary

    - Cases are still going up. R is diving across the UK though, with some areas already below 1.0

    image

    - Admissions, with some missing data, but still looks down.

    image

    - Mechanical ventilator beds. Again, missing data, but again looks down, if we guesstimate
    - Deaths on a slow, steady rise. Will we see a repeat of the London situation?

    image

    image
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Give to a jumble sale for a charity you are ok with. Donkey's years ago I used to run the book section of the local LD jumble sale where I used to live. It was a real money maker although you may be surprised as to what books sold. Really nice coffee table books, factual books, etc don't sell but Jeffery Archer, Barbara Cartland, etc, etc I could sell all day long usually 5 or 10 at a time. So a lot does depend on the type of book and quality may work against you.
  • MrEd said:

    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
    Yes, I haven't looked at the boundary changes although, and this is maybe simplistic, is that, if the Tories lose Tory areas in some seats, they gain them in others. I would say there is a slight danger in directly read across strength in local councils to MPs. as - for some reason - you don't tend to get the more radical shifts you see in other areas. So the Tories have no chance of capturing Stockport BC but have two of the constituencies. Likewise, In Tameside, ditto on the council but they are within striking distance in two of the (old) seats.
    Hazel Grove is very weird in particular, the constituency itself has trended heavily towards the Tories but the Lib Dems have virtually all the seats at the local level. Clearly a lot of voters vote LD at a local level there and Tory in general elections.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918
    After imposing another lockdown the governing VVD party in the Netherlands falls from 26% to 19%

    https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1480208919947530244?s=20
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,802
    Carnyx said:

    MaxPB said:

    dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    Don't support Oxfam book stores. They're actively putting independent book shops out of business. Oxfam as a charity is also of questionable worthiness but that's a personal issue. Putting legitimate book shops out of business by marginally undercutting them is morally wrong.

    Better off giving them away to hospices and other charity based care settings.
    There is no other practical option in my case for making sure certain books go to good homes: specifically academic books in a university quarter. They are wasted on hospices.
    Yes it does depend on what kind of books they are, yet I'd rather sell them on Amazon marketplace myself and give the money away than support Oxfam bookshops. The way they target independent shops on high streets then undercut them because they have little to no operating costs is actually wrong. They've also taken to try and shaming publishers into giving them new books from first printings so that they can stock the latest titles rather than wait for the public to finish them and give them away. Oxfam as a charity is already of dubious moral fortitude after all of the reports and cover ups of sexual abuse by charity workers of children and women who needed their help.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited January 2022
    It seems with the expansion of broadcasting right the mighty Sgorio isn't what it once was. Now you have the joys of Welsh Premier League rather than coverage of El Classico.
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Perhaps but when talking to imbeciles like Foremain you have to keep it simple. Point is we get about 40% of what we contribute and we should be responsible for 100%, the rest is squandered on vanity Westminster projects and Tories bankbooks.
    Yes, but we are all so grateful for your ability to use your vast and superior intellect to make these matters understandable in an unbiased and sober manner. I find myself overwhelmed and amazed at your patience, erudition and articulate explanation of all things Scottish. We all thank you for your highly amusing contributions.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,355

    It is essential the public inquiry looks at the use of modelling by public policy decision makers.

    Because it 'aint working at the moment.



    Andrew Lilico
    @andrew_lilico
    Replying to
    @brianmoore666
    and
    @DPJHodges
    But behavioural changes are *part* of any story of what will happen. One can't say "I was right but behaviour changed". One's view of & predictions about behaviour are a fundamental part of any policy-actionable model. If one got the behaviour wrong one's model was wrong.

    I think the real issue is that people's expectation of what "models" means wildly differs from the reality of what modelling is actually about in reality.
    Lilico does modelling all day long. So you might be able to say that about the journos like Hodges but not Lilico.
    But there are different types of models. Even within a single field like meteorology, you will have deterministic predictive models such as short-range weather forecast models, you will have probabilistic predictive models such as medium to long range weather forecast models, you will have conceptual toy models, such as energy balance models at the simple end of climate modelling, or you will have scenario modelling as with the more complicated end of climate modelling.

    All the criticism of the Covid models has been on the basis that they are most similar to deterministic predictive models, when to my eye they look more like a mix of conceptual toy models and scenario models.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572
    kjh said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Give to a jumble sale for a charity you are ok with. Donkey's years ago I used to run the book section of the local LD jumble sale where I used to live. It was a real money maker although you may be surprised as to what books sold. Really nice coffee table books, factual books, etc don't sell but Jeffery Archer, Barbara Cartland, etc, etc I could sell all day long usually 5 or 10 at a time. So a lot does depend on the type of book and quality may work against you.
    I did that with a previous load, but I'm having trouble finding suitable ones. What amazed me was that I gave them a really obscure book: "The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program" about the A-12 stealth bomber that only got to a wooden mock-up stage.

    It went immediately. Perhaps people like catastrophe books? ;)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_A-12_Avenger_II
  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578

    MrEd said:

    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
    Yes, I haven't looked at the boundary changes although, and this is maybe simplistic, is that, if the Tories lose Tory areas in some seats, they gain them in others. I would say there is a slight danger in directly read across strength in local councils to MPs. as - for some reason - you don't tend to get the more radical shifts you see in other areas. So the Tories have no chance of capturing Stockport BC but have two of the constituencies. Likewise, In Tameside, ditto on the council but they are within striking distance in two of the (old) seats.
    Hazel Grove is very weird in particular, the constituency itself has trended heavily towards the Tories but the Lib Dems have virtually all the seats at the local level. Clearly a lot of voters vote LD at a local level there and Tory in general elections.
    The disconnect was never as extreme as it is now in GM when it comes to the difference between the local councils and the Parliamentary seats. As I said, some of the councils are reasonably well regarded but the pattern pushes me to the view that the 2019 GE Red Wall voting was driven more by Brexit than thinking Corbyn was sh1t.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,918
    MrEd said:

    MrEd said:

    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
    Yes, I haven't looked at the boundary changes although, and this is maybe simplistic, is that, if the Tories lose Tory areas in some seats, they gain them in others. I would say there is a slight danger in directly read across strength in local councils to MPs. as - for some reason - you don't tend to get the more radical shifts you see in other areas. So the Tories have no chance of capturing Stockport BC but have two of the constituencies. Likewise, In Tameside, ditto on the council but they are within striking distance in two of the (old) seats.
    Hazel Grove is very weird in particular, the constituency itself has trended heavily towards the Tories but the Lib Dems have virtually all the seats at the local level. Clearly a lot of voters vote LD at a local level there and Tory in general elections.
    The disconnect was never as extreme as it is now in GM when it comes to the difference between the local councils and the Parliamentary seats. As I said, some of the councils are reasonably well regarded but the pattern pushes me to the view that the 2019 GE Red Wall voting was driven more by Brexit than thinking Corbyn was sh1t.
    Of course, after all most Red Wall seats voted for Corbyn in 2017, they only did not vote for him in 2019 after he failed to support getting Brexit done.

    Stopping Corbyn got the Tories most seats but the need to get Brexit done gave the Tories a clear majority
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,188
    edited January 2022
    maaarsh said:

    BigRich said:

    maaarsh said:

    Mechanical ventilation down AGAIN.

    Starting to look like the increase in deaths (by actual date running average now 140 per day from 110) is genuinely an artefact of massive case numbers leading to other deaths getting called covid, because the number of covid patients in intensive care is even lower than November when we had lower deaths numbers.

    1500 people die every day, so if 5% of the population has covid there's scope for 75 deaths a day to be called covid without causing any excess death (obviously before adjusting for ages etc).

    Yes I've been thinking that, I don't know how to express it but 'incidental deaths' ?
    Yep - there's really no other explanation unless we think people are dropping like flies on general wards before even making intensive care.
    5% of the population might have Covid, but the deaths stat is based on within 28 days of a positive test. Someone might have Covid, but if they're in a road traffic accident then even though they've died "with Covid" and have never bothered to test themselves (Or report a test) they won't be included on these figures because they were never tested in the previous 28 days.
    You need to use the precise case numbers rather than estimated ONS prevalence for this one.
    Age stratification will lower it too.
  • HYUFD said:

    MrEd said:

    MrEd said:

    MrEd said:

    dixiedean said:

    MrEd said:

    HYUFD said:

    Drakeford won one election in Wales, a country that has not voted anything other than Labour in a national election for the last 100 years. Does not mean he would have any appeal whatsover in England.

    In fact the Welsh Conservatives also had their best ever performance at a Senedd election last year against Drakeford Labour. Burnham on the other hand won even Tory Trafford in the last Greater Manchester Mayoral election.

    While his northern accent may not be universally popular it is more popular in the redwall, the key swing region for Labour to prevent another Tory majority

    Although Trafford these days is not really Tory. It's a Labour council and there has been an influx of professional, middle-class types who (a) have found Chorlton and Didsbury too expensive and like the housing stock, particularly in the north of the borough (b) more importantly, it still retains the 11+, which is a big draw and which the Labour Council has smartly kept on - the 11+ used to be the defining issue in Trafford elections.
    In fact. The Tory borough in GM is now Bolton. Has the safest Tory MP in GM too. Which is quite a turn around.
    Yes, it is quite a shift and is still continuing. As @Gary_Burton said, there is an argument for saying Brady loses at the next election (although my feeling is he will cling on, although I haven't looked at the new boundaries). Perhaps what is more interesting is that what happens to the Brexit vote next time - seats like Wigan, Makerfield, Ashton-U-L, Stalybridge, Worsley and Oldham East have a Brexit vote that is essentially the Labour majority, give or take a couple of hundred votes. It will depend on how the Tory party realigns - and the next leader will be critical here - to its RW voters.
    I think boundary changes are quite bad for the Tories in greater Manchester (although Brady's seat is unchanged) as they dilute a lot of the Tory strength in their new seats as well as target seats. I wouldn't be totally confident of Labour gaining Leigh at the next election especially if there's a Tory recovery nationally but I can't see the Tories gaining anything they didn't in 2019 as Labour did very well across the whole of Greater Manchester with the exception of Bolton in last year's council elections. Labour's local election results in Salford in particular were extremely strong, making inroads into Tory middle class areas like Worsley as well.
    Yes, I haven't looked at the boundary changes although, and this is maybe simplistic, is that, if the Tories lose Tory areas in some seats, they gain them in others. I would say there is a slight danger in directly read across strength in local councils to MPs. as - for some reason - you don't tend to get the more radical shifts you see in other areas. So the Tories have no chance of capturing Stockport BC but have two of the constituencies. Likewise, In Tameside, ditto on the council but they are within striking distance in two of the (old) seats.
    Hazel Grove is very weird in particular, the constituency itself has trended heavily towards the Tories but the Lib Dems have virtually all the seats at the local level. Clearly a lot of voters vote LD at a local level there and Tory in general elections.
    The disconnect was never as extreme as it is now in GM when it comes to the difference between the local councils and the Parliamentary seats. As I said, some of the councils are reasonably well regarded but the pattern pushes me to the view that the 2019 GE Red Wall voting was driven more by Brexit than thinking Corbyn was sh1t.
    Of course, after all most Red Wall seats voted for Corbyn in 2017, they only did not vote for him in 2019 after he failed to support getting Brexit done.

    Stopping Corbyn got the Tories most seats but the need to get Brexit done gave the Tories a clear majority
    Simplistic nonsense. I am sure some Tories voted to "get Brexit done", but a lot, if not most, voted to Keep Corbyn Out. Because your friends keep repeating a slogan does not make it a statement of fact.
  • IshmaelZ said:

    I thought we couldn't trust people to use common sense these days? Too confusing.

    Morrisons will remove “use-by” dates from milk packaging at the end of the month in an attempt to save millions of pints from being thrown away unnecessarily every year. The British supermarket is asking customers to use a simple and time-honoured test to work out if cow’s milk is usable: sniff it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/09/use-the-sniff-test-morrisons-to-scrap-use-by-dates-from-milk-packaging

    Quite right too, it routinely lasts a good 5 weeks beyond its expiry
    As long as I can remember I have used the sniff test. But I was around at a friends in the summer for a party and they were pouring gallons of the stuff down the sink and instructing their kids to go to the local Tesco's to get more because it had passed the date. And I did ask but does it smell and they said but the date says used by....
    I have a bottle of port somewhere at the back of the cupboard. Says 1982. Still tastes OK in moderation.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    MaxPB said:

    Carnyx said:

    MaxPB said:

    dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    Don't support Oxfam book stores. They're actively putting independent book shops out of business. Oxfam as a charity is also of questionable worthiness but that's a personal issue. Putting legitimate book shops out of business by marginally undercutting them is morally wrong.

    Better off giving them away to hospices and other charity based care settings.
    There is no other practical option in my case for making sure certain books go to good homes: specifically academic books in a university quarter. They are wasted on hospices.
    Yes it does depend on what kind of books they are, yet I'd rather sell them on Amazon marketplace myself and give the money away than support Oxfam bookshops. The way they target independent shops on high streets then undercut them because they have little to no operating costs is actually wrong. They've also taken to try and shaming publishers into giving them new books from first printings so that they can stock the latest titles rather than wait for the public to finish them and give them away. Oxfam as a charity is already of dubious moral fortitude after all of the reports and cover ups of sexual abuse by charity workers of children and women who needed their help.
    I'd have to put many of my books in the recycling bin - as nobody local would want them - if I were forced to sell them piecemeal, simply because I don't have time for that - especially the small but real minority of false claims by dodgy customers; the HMRC hassle; and so on.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492
    HYUFD said:

    After imposing another lockdown the governing VVD party in the Netherlands falls from 26% to 19%

    https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1480208919947530244?s=20

    Didn't they recently have an election in the Netherlands? presumably a few years before the next.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,419
    It is definitely @malcolmg's day for getting pestered! To add to the chorus Malcolm, I am curious as to what you make of my proposed new legislative instrument to renew the UK.

    A new 'Council of the Isles' consists of 5 members, the heads of the UK Government, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, the Northern Irish Government, and someone to represent the English.

    The COTI exists to approve UK Government finance bills, major foreign policy decisions, defence and infrastructure decisions. It cannot propose legislation, but if something is voted down, the proposal must be revised, amended, and pass the HOC before being brought back. It's a bit like the House of Lords.

    It only sits for a short discussion and a vote when there is one on.

    Say the Scottish Government was strongly against a UK Government initiative. With the support of the Welsh and Northern Irish Governments, it could vote the proposal down.

    I think this would give the home nations a renewed stake in the Union. It would also result in more considered decisions taken within the remit described above. What do you think?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Perhaps but when talking to imbeciles like Foremain you have to keep it simple. Point is we get about 40% of what we contribute and we should be responsible for 100%, the rest is squandered on vanity Westminster projects and Tories bankbooks.
    Yes, but we are all so grateful for your ability to use your vast and superior intellect to make these matters understandable in an unbiased and sober manner. I find myself overwhelmed and amazed at your patience, erudition and articulate explanation of all things Scottish. We all thank you for your highly amusing contributions.
    Tell me, is not wanting to be ruled from London inherently anti-English racism?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    Carnyx said:

    MaxPB said:

    Carnyx said:

    MaxPB said:

    dixiedean said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Oxfam books collect from your door in a van.
    Well, they do round here.
    Don't support Oxfam book stores. They're actively putting independent book shops out of business. Oxfam as a charity is also of questionable worthiness but that's a personal issue. Putting legitimate book shops out of business by marginally undercutting them is morally wrong.

    Better off giving them away to hospices and other charity based care settings.
    There is no other practical option in my case for making sure certain books go to good homes: specifically academic books in a university quarter. They are wasted on hospices.
    Yes it does depend on what kind of books they are, yet I'd rather sell them on Amazon marketplace myself and give the money away than support Oxfam bookshops. The way they target independent shops on high streets then undercut them because they have little to no operating costs is actually wrong. They've also taken to try and shaming publishers into giving them new books from first printings so that they can stock the latest titles rather than wait for the public to finish them and give them away. Oxfam as a charity is already of dubious moral fortitude after all of the reports and cover ups of sexual abuse by charity workers of children and women who needed their help.
    I'd have to put many of my books in the recycling bin - as nobody local would want them - if I were forced to sell them piecemeal, simply because I don't have time for that - especially the small but real minority of false claims by dodgy customers; the HMRC hassle; and so on.
    Throwing out books is always painful. It seems vaguely sinful.
    I was thinking that too - having been emptying my father's house lately. A lot went to the destinations I mentioned eaqrlier. But there is a limit to what one can do with large numbers of textbooks from the 1950s if one does not want to spend one's life with the increasing complications of online sales, esepcially to foreign parts and with the HMRC tending to take sometimes more of an interest than the actual sales justify, from what I gather. Best put to recycling for more books etc.
  • Carnyx said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Perhaps but when talking to imbeciles like Foremain you have to keep it simple. Point is we get about 40% of what we contribute and we should be responsible for 100%, the rest is squandered on vanity Westminster projects and Tories bankbooks.
    Yes, but we are all so grateful for your ability to use your vast and superior intellect to make these matters understandable in an unbiased and sober manner. I find myself overwhelmed and amazed at your patience, erudition and articulate explanation of all things Scottish. We all thank you for your highly amusing contributions.
    Tell me, is not wanting to be ruled from London inherently anti-English racism?
    Of course not and I can completely understand and respect your approach to this. However, thugs like MalcolmG do not help your cause. His approach suggests that Scottish independence is to people like him little more more than racist anti-English prejudice. For that he deserves to be mocked at the very least.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368

    .

    Foxy said:

    One of the weakest PB headers in a long time. Total pish.

    It uses a daft tweet about a dafter survey to make at least one interesting point - the one of the biggest problems with Corbynism was Corbyn.

    Also, there are lots of stories about past leaders that show that accents do matter, or at least are thought to matter. Didn't Thatcher have voice-coaching? Ed Miliband supposedly had nose surgery to tone down the whine of his voice. Appearances, and early impressions created by accents, do matter.
    One thing about accents is that people hold onto them consciously or subconsciously if they are proud of them, and lose them fairly quickly if not.

    I came back from Atlanta aged 15, but lost my American accent within 6 months, apart from the odd word. I picked up a bit of a Kiwi twang working there, but only odd word persists.

    I meet lots of Scots, Irish, Geordies and Scousers here who have kept their accents for decades, but Brum accents fade very quickly.

    I quite like Brummies though, it is the part of England most like America in its attitude to wealth, its creation and its relation to social class.
    I couldn't disagree more. I have not lived in the Birmingham area since 1976 when I was 14 and I still sound like a low rent Jasper Carrott. The Birmingham accent is an horrific nasal abomination.

    I always wanted to sound like James Mason or Patrick McNee. My MP in North Herefordshire (Leominster) Peter Temple-Morris sounded like Patrick McNee, he was worth a vote just for that.
    Peter Ustinov for me.
    I saw an evening with Peter Ustinov in the New Theatre, Cardiff, circa 1991. Great voice, he was a sublime raconteur too.

    David Niven deserves an honourable mention.
    An extraordinary life. His voice in Quo Vadis is one of the richest-sounding English voices you'll ever hear, including a few songs he spontaneously composed himself on the set.
    Always the gentleman.

    I read "The Moon's a Balloon" aged 12. He gave no indication of the living hell Hjordis put him through in his later years. Graham Lord's book "Niv" puts the record straight.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,355

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    The Barnett formula is designed to move towards an equal allocation of spending per capita, but it needs a hefty dose of inflation and stable relative populations to reach its intended target.
  • you can leave books in a public place with a message to pass on when read. Rather fun as well .Technically littering I suppose but just think of yourself as a book leaving equivalent of Banksy
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,419
    Carnyx said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Perhaps but when talking to imbeciles like Foremain you have to keep it simple. Point is we get about 40% of what we contribute and we should be responsible for 100%, the rest is squandered on vanity Westminster projects and Tories bankbooks.
    Yes, but we are all so grateful for your ability to use your vast and superior intellect to make these matters understandable in an unbiased and sober manner. I find myself overwhelmed and amazed at your patience, erudition and articulate explanation of all things Scottish. We all thank you for your highly amusing contributions.
    Tell me, is not wanting to be ruled from London inherently anti-English racism?
    No more than strong disapproval of the actions of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism - there just seems to be a high degree of correlation.
  • JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,291
    O/T I see on twitter that Sky News will have a YouGov poll of Tory members on attitudes towards Johnson and contenders. Said it would be published 5 mins ago!
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,405

    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
    Just what I was thinking, if I didn't already need to downsize ...
    Depends what there is - if it is stuff of the depth of "The Secret Horsepower Race" - I would happily go for cost of postage plus packaging plus either a sensible price or donation to charity of choice.
    Well, some I've decided to keep (reluctantly, as we need the room) are Admiral Jackie Fisher's 'Memories' and 'Records', which someone gave to someone else (via a written dedication) in July 1920. Poor condition. Two quite remarkable books that I picked up at a jumble sale. They're perhaps the oldest - but I'm keeping them.

    Also, a 1961 edition of a wonderful book: 'Calculating engines etc.' by Charles Babbage. It includes chapters on 'Picking locks and deciphering', 'Laplace, Biot and Himboldt' and 'Sketch of the Analytical Engine'. Quite an amazing book in immaculate condition.

    The ones I'm giving away are buried under Christmas decorations in the garage. There's a lot of modern trash novels as well. ;)
    You got a copy of ‘The ice twins’ in there? Asking for a friend...
  • Carnyx said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    @MoonRabbit
    FPT
    I’ll have a go with you now Malky 🙂

    The point of supporting Scottish Nationalism in political elections is to end up in a better place? To be very honest, Even as an English I am right behind any push for a better place for Scottish common origin, ethnicity, and cultural identity in this world and all that. Like anywhere. And as an English person would like fairness in this world for Scotland politically and economically.

    But say you are rich because you are free, actually having financial clout in this world would be a bonus - I’m not sure I would define as a strong place for Independent Scotland. So We can agree Scotland got to come out from divorce in a economic and political strong place in the world?

    So what’s driving Scottish Nationalism right now, particularly now? If it’s turning to localism to fight globalisation I’m not convinced to be honest. In an independent Scotland, who owns Scotland? Who owns the land? Who owns the properties? Who owns the factories and all the other industries people work in?

    This isn’t questions or debate I think for me and you, but amongst you Scots I think, so you nail down where you are going.

    To fight back against the horrors of global capital of the last 40 years needs friends, bridges bustling with commerce. Whatever the divorce settlement, that’s where you need to be. Do you see my point?

    MalcolmG:
    "It can never be right or natural for someone else to be taking all your money and deciding what is done with it when you can never vote them out."

    I guess quite a few English people would agree with your last sentence as they have never been given a vote on whether they should carry on giving such huge quantities of cash to the Scots.
    Usual bollox from you, with 85%+ of the population you can change it any time you wish. However been too afraid to do so as you could not sponge off us. Get a backbone.
    PS: Go F*** yourself as well, go stalk someone else.
    The truth is as you probably really know that it is all a bit more complicated. Scotland gets a quite a bit more money than it should on the basis of its population and quite a bit less than it should if treated as an English region on the basis of its needs. The Barnet formula is designed to move very slowly but inextricably towards the latter and away from the former.
    Perhaps but when talking to imbeciles like Foremain you have to keep it simple. Point is we get about 40% of what we contribute and we should be responsible for 100%, the rest is squandered on vanity Westminster projects and Tories bankbooks.
    Yes, but we are all so grateful for your ability to use your vast and superior intellect to make these matters understandable in an unbiased and sober manner. I find myself overwhelmed and amazed at your patience, erudition and articulate explanation of all things Scottish. We all thank you for your highly amusing contributions.
    Tell me, is not wanting to be ruled from London inherently anti-English racism?
    No more than strong disapproval of the actions of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism - there just seems to be a high degree of correlation.
    It is a good analogy. It occurred to me in my response to @Carnyx that if Scottish independence was articulated more often by people such as he, more English people might find it less polarising and perhaps be a little more sympathetic.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572

    Carnyx said:

    Off-topic:

    A little advice required for a first-world problem.

    I've got a few hundred books I'm looking at getting rid of: a combination of paperbacks, hardbacks, fiction, non-fiction, old and new. The non-fiction is on a wide range of topics, from shipbuilding and railways to steelmaking and fire codes.

    Ideally I want to give them away (I don't want money for them), and I have a hatred of binning books, as though it is sacrilege. And some of them are rather nice. Our road does not get enough foot traffic to leave them out for people to pick up.

    I used to take them to charity shops, but all the ones I have tried in nearby towns said they'll now only accept in ones or twos. I am aware of services that allow you to sell books online (e.g. Ziffit) but they seem to be an absolute con - and I'd rather the books go to charity or to someone who will use them well.

    So, any advice on where to get rid of a bulk load of books? Would a second-hand bookshop accept them? Cambridge area ideally. Or is there an avenue I haven't mentioned?

    TIA.

    Have you got a list? :-)
    Just what I was thinking, if I didn't already need to downsize ...
    Depends what there is - if it is stuff of the depth of "The Secret Horsepower Race" - I would happily go for cost of postage plus packaging plus either a sensible price or donation to charity of choice.
    Well, some I've decided to keep (reluctantly, as we need the room) are Admiral Jackie Fisher's 'Memories' and 'Records', which someone gave to someone else (via a written dedication) in July 1920. Poor condition. Two quite remarkable books that I picked up at a jumble sale. They're perhaps the oldest - but I'm keeping them.

    Also, a 1961 edition of a wonderful book: 'Calculating engines etc.' by Charles Babbage. It includes chapters on 'Picking locks and deciphering', 'Laplace, Biot and Himboldt' and 'Sketch of the Analytical Engine'. Quite an amazing book in immaculate condition.

    The ones I'm giving away are buried under Christmas decorations in the garage. There's a lot of modern trash novels as well. ;)
    You got a copy of ‘The ice twins’ in there? Asking for a friend...
    I think there are a couple of his books in there, yes. Both read twice. ;)
This discussion has been closed.