Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Quite. Just been rereading The Papers of Tony Veitch and bought McIlvanney's last and unfinished Jock noir, completed by Ian Rankin: not read yet.
"It is understood that up to 30 letters of no-confidence have been submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs."
Mail
If true, then I am thinking that any one of the serious contenders (Sunak, Truss, Hunt) could mobilise their support team to get over the line for the 54 required. So, now a matter of timing?
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
There might be the odd one still going in out of the way places like that but, no, I can assure you they have largely vanished. I guess because there are insufficient people like me who used to appreciate them. Not all change is for the better, imo, and this is one that isn't.
They were disgusting. Dried out sausages, chips, baked beans, "pies", desiccated eggs, all cooking away forever under unhygienic lamps in gruesome metal troughs
I love a good greasy spoon as much as the next red-blooded Briton. But a good greasy spoon means a full English breakfast cooked to order, hot and fresh, with mugs of strong tea and lashings of toast. The ones on the motorways were a pathetic, tragic imitation of that, closer to prison canteens then places a sane person would willingly eat
You're originally a working class type from the north, aren't you? That might explain your peculiar lack of judgement in these matters
A sprinkle of pre-flaked Parmesan for that final touch of sophistication.
I had a sparkling lunch with my daughter today: a few fat, intense Gordal olives, followed by an outstanding ragu of venison on papardelle with FRESHLY GRATED parmesan and two cold glasses of Gavi. Just perfect
And this was in a pub on... East Finchley High Street
When East Finchley High Street can offer up a beautifully well-judged lunch then the food revolution is virtually won. Certainly down in these parts
That's a great pub! I'm there with my wife quite often for lunch/dinner. The food is actually really good, well above standard fare in pubs and actually reasonably good value for the food. It's got a really nice vibe too.
Yeah, I love it, as does my 15 year old daughter, which is good, as she lives there. It's soothing and relaxed. Chilled and spacious. And after the refurb they've really upped their game. Better service, cracking food, not too expensive
Frankly, I wish it was round the corner on Parkway, Camden. I'd go twice a week
It's taken over from the Clissold as our go-to gastropub around there, you probably know it? A pub which used to be rather nice but now, apparently, does terrible Greek stuff, for no reason anyone understands
On Fortis Green? Never been to it, our neighbours said it wasn't very good. The husband recommended the stag to us when they had us over to welcome us just after we moved in. The neighbours have done well to make friends with us now that I've got all of my garden gadgets, they come over for wood fired pizza and regularly for smoked meats. The wife makes a pretty mean espresso martini and brings over loads of premade which I think is a fair trade!
The Clissold used to be a fine place, with good if not brilliant food, and a nice space out the back. It also has a colourful history. The Kinks formed there and played their first gig out the back. Rod Stewart and Viv Albertine and other various arty/counter-cultural types associated with Creighton Comp/Fortismere School (my daughter's school!) also hung out there
It was fun and the history made it special. But the revamp has turned it into a pseudo-Greek taverna (why? It was doing fine as it was?!) and has apparently ruined it.
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
So you’re not worried about what’s going on now with several bills going through parliament . What exactly is Starmer likely to do that could be worse than what the Tories are doing ?
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
There might be the odd one still going in out of the way places like that but, no, I can assure you they have largely vanished. I guess because there are insufficient people like me who used to appreciate them. Not all change is for the better, imo, and this is one that isn't.
They were disgusting. Dried out sausages, chips, baked beans, "pies", desiccated eggs, all cooking away forever under unhygienic lamps in gruesome metal troughs
I love a good greasy spoon as much as the next red-blooded Briton. But a good greasy spoon means a full English breakfast cooked to order, hot and fresh, with mugs of strong tea and lashings of toast. The ones on the motorways were a pathetic, tragic imitation of that, closer to prison canteens then places a sane person would willingly eat
You're originally a working class type from the north, aren't you? That might explain your peculiar lack of judgement in these matters
Well the ethic of a fry up is 'keep it simple' and they did that. You also don't want to sit there at a table waiting for it as if you're in a restaurant. You get tense doing that and lose your appetite, esp if it takes a long time. Apart from speed, self-service also means no potentially awkward interactions with waiters & waitresses and it allows you to pick exactly what you want from what you see, eg the best sausage, the egg that looks most yolky, etc. Plus, and maybe this is where we fundamentally differ, I positively like motorway service stations whereas it sounds as if you don't. I like the transient feeling, the anonymity, the sense that everyone's in their own bubble and just pushing pause on their life. It's like the clock's stopped and you are nowhere in particular and nobody in particular. Hard to explain, you could do it better, but that's how it feels and I really do like it. I always feel very calm in a motorway service station. Is it a class thing? No, so many things are, but I don't think this is.
No, it isn't a class thing, because I agree - I like motorway service stations for the exact same reason. I also like a good railway station and even a nice airport - if they are not horribly crowded - on partly the same basis. It IS the transience. The liminal space with a purpose. Yet motorway stations are even better because everyone is, as you say, voluntarily paused
You've been driving three hours. You fancy a stop. You get out and stretch your legs and head in to the Moto on the M3. You get a decent coffee (these days). You sigh and relax, think about buying something pointless for the car or the kids. It is a tiny tiny holiday in the hurly burly of life
But that doesn't stop the beans and eggs in open metal coffins being disgusting. They were
You can do a good fry up in a few minutes, from the start, if it is efficiently run and sufficiently busy. A great transport caff does exactly that. Bacon and sausages always sizzling on the griddle - and therefore ready to go - that's the key
Ok, we agree on the essentials then. Don't get all 'upmarket' with fry ups. There's no point and no need. Ingredients and timing is what it's about. I also take the point about the beans and the eggs sitting there and maybe going off. But this doesn't apply to sausages, which benefit from resting, so self-service works well for them. I'm surprised somebody like you who makes such a deal of 'taking back control' doesn't see the value in being able to choose your own sausage.
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
Used to be one just outside Hook on the way to Fleet which was a converted shipping container. I think there still should be a place for the artery clogging cuisine of yore.
PS Just checked - it's still there - the Shack Cafe
As I say, on occasion I like artery-clogging, sheer-heart-attack, egg-bangers-and-chips cuisine as much as anyone, but it can be done well and it can be done horribly, and in motorway service stations it was generally done industrially and horribly
Miss Molly's Tearoom in Redruth does a decent version, IIRC.
When in Redruth it has to be Morrish's Fish and Chips. Or that is my family mythology, anyway, and half of them came from Redruth (tho they have generally dispersed to "nicer" parts of Cornwall - or beyond)
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
There might be the odd one still going in out of the way places like that but, no, I can assure you they have largely vanished. I guess because there are insufficient people like me who used to appreciate them. Not all change is for the better, imo, and this is one that isn't.
They were disgusting. Dried out sausages, chips, baked beans, "pies", desiccated eggs, all cooking away forever under unhygienic lamps in gruesome metal troughs
I love a good greasy spoon as much as the next red-blooded Briton. But a good greasy spoon means a full English breakfast cooked to order, hot and fresh, with mugs of strong tea and lashings of toast. The ones on the motorways were a pathetic, tragic imitation of that, closer to prison canteens then places a sane person would willingly eat
You're originally a working class type from the north, aren't you? That might explain your peculiar lack of judgement in these matters
Well the ethic of a fry up is 'keep it simple' and they did that. You also don't want to sit there at a table waiting for it as if you're in a restaurant. You get tense doing that and lose your appetite, esp if it takes a long time. Apart from speed, self-service also means no potentially awkward interactions with waiters & waitresses and it allows you to pick exactly what you want from what you see, eg the best sausage, the egg that looks most yolky, etc. Plus, and maybe this is where we fundamentally differ, I positively like motorway service stations whereas it sounds as if you don't. I like the transient feeling, the anonymity, the sense that everyone's in their own bubble and just pushing pause on their life. It's like the clock's stopped and you are nowhere in particular and nobody in particular. Hard to explain, you could do it better, but that's how it feels and I really do like it. I always feel very calm in a motorway service station. Is it a class thing? No, so many things are, but I don't think this is.
No, it isn't a class thing, because I agree - I like motorway service stations for the exact same reason. I also like a good railway station and even a nice airport - if they are not horribly crowded - on partly the same basis. It IS the transience. The liminal space with a purpose. Yet motorway stations are even better because everyone is, as you say, voluntarily paused
You've been driving three hours. You fancy a stop. You get out and stretch your legs and head in to the Moto on the M3. You get a decent coffee (these days). You sigh and relax, think about buying something pointless for the car or the kids. It is a tiny tiny holiday in the hurly burly of life
But that doesn't stop the beans and eggs in open metal coffins being disgusting. They were
You can do a good fry up in a few minutes, from the start, if it is efficiently run and sufficiently busy. A great transport caff does exactly that. Bacon and sausages always sizzling on the griddle - and therefore ready to go - that's the key
Ok, we agree on the essentials then. Don't get all 'upmarket' with fry ups. There's no point and no need. Ingredients and timing is what it's about. I also take the point about the beans and the eggs sitting there and maybe going off. But this doesn't apply to sausages, which benefit from resting, so self-service works well for them. I'm surprised somebody like you who makes such a deal of 'taking back control' doesn't see the value in being able to choose your own sausage.
*hungry* (though some potatoes are boiling to go with the pickled herring and beetroot)
"It is understood that up to 30 letters of no-confidence have been submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs."
Mail
If true, then I am thinking that any one of the serious contenders (Sunak, Truss, Hunt) could mobilise their support team to get over the line for the 54 required. So, now a matter of timing?
Timing will be as soon as Sue Grey's report is out. No point going to early when that report is either fatal to Boris or a complete whitewash designed to protect Boris (which would be equally fatal).
It would be pretty remarkable for someone to to both win a huge majority and to lose it. Usually they at get out and the successor can be blamed for a bit part of it.
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
There might be the odd one still going in out of the way places like that but, no, I can assure you they have largely vanished. I guess because there are insufficient people like me who used to appreciate them. Not all change is for the better, imo, and this is one that isn't.
They were disgusting. Dried out sausages, chips, baked beans, "pies", desiccated eggs, all cooking away forever under unhygienic lamps in gruesome metal troughs
I love a good greasy spoon as much as the next red-blooded Briton. But a good greasy spoon means a full English breakfast cooked to order, hot and fresh, with mugs of strong tea and lashings of toast. The ones on the motorways were a pathetic, tragic imitation of that, closer to prison canteens then places a sane person would willingly eat
You're originally a working class type from the north, aren't you? That might explain your peculiar lack of judgement in these matters
A sprinkle of pre-flaked Parmesan for that final touch of sophistication.
I had a sparkling lunch with my daughter today: a few fat, intense Gordal olives, followed by an outstanding ragu of venison on papardelle with FRESHLY GRATED parmesan and two cold glasses of Gavi. Just perfect
And this was in a pub on... East Finchley High Street
When East Finchley High Street can offer up a beautifully well-judged lunch then the food revolution is virtually won. Certainly down in these parts
That's a great pub! I'm there with my wife quite often for lunch/dinner. The food is actually really good, well above standard fare in pubs and actually reasonably good value for the food. It's got a really nice vibe too.
Yeah, I love it, as does my 15 year old daughter, which is good, as she lives there. It's soothing and relaxed. Chilled and spacious. And after the refurb they've really upped their game. Better service, cracking food, not too expensive
Frankly, I wish it was round the corner on Parkway, Camden. I'd go twice a week
It's taken over from the Clissold as our go-to gastropub around there, you probably know it? A pub which used to be rather nice but now, apparently, does terrible Greek stuff, for no reason anyone understands
On Fortis Green? Never been to it, our neighbours said it wasn't very good. The husband recommended the stag to us when they had us over to welcome us just after we moved in. The neighbours have done well to make friends with us now that I've got all of my garden gadgets, they come over for wood fired pizza and regularly for smoked meats. The wife makes a pretty mean espresso martini and brings over loads of premade which I think is a fair trade!
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
So you’re not worried about what’s going on now with several bills going through parliament . What exactly is Starmer likely to do that could be worse than what the Tories are doing ?
I'm not particlulary concerned about any bills no. Starmer having no ideology is much more dangerous than Boris will ever be.
"The Metropolitan Police has made clear it is unlikely to launch a probe unless the Cabinet Office flags potential incidents where offences might have been committed;"
Mail
Why? Some of those involved have literally admitted to it on the record. Indeed, Johnson said he went to one for 25 mins and told this in the Commons! Hansard wrote it down.
PB lawyers - if I walk into a police station and say I committed a crime, do they say we will have to wait for an independent inquiry?
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
There might be the odd one still going in out of the way places like that but, no, I can assure you they have largely vanished. I guess because there are insufficient people like me who used to appreciate them. Not all change is for the better, imo, and this is one that isn't.
They were disgusting. Dried out sausages, chips, baked beans, "pies", desiccated eggs, all cooking away forever under unhygienic lamps in gruesome metal troughs
I love a good greasy spoon as much as the next red-blooded Briton. But a good greasy spoon means a full English breakfast cooked to order, hot and fresh, with mugs of strong tea and lashings of toast. The ones on the motorways were a pathetic, tragic imitation of that, closer to prison canteens then places a sane person would willingly eat
You're originally a working class type from the north, aren't you? That might explain your peculiar lack of judgement in these matters
Well the ethic of a fry up is 'keep it simple' and they did that. You also don't want to sit there at a table waiting for it as if you're in a restaurant. You get tense doing that and lose your appetite, esp if it takes a long time. Apart from speed, self-service also means no potentially awkward interactions with waiters & waitresses and it allows you to pick exactly what you want from what you see, eg the best sausage, the egg that looks most yolky, etc. Plus, and maybe this is where we fundamentally differ, I positively like motorway service stations whereas it sounds as if you don't. I like the transient feeling, the anonymity, the sense that everyone's in their own bubble and just pushing pause on their life. It's like the clock's stopped and you are nowhere in particular and nobody in particular. Hard to explain, you could do it better, but that's how it feels and I really do like it. I always feel very calm in a motorway service station. Is it a class thing? No, so many things are, but I don't think this is.
What a fabulous post . It’s a bit like my love of airports although I’m a nervous flyer to say the least ! I could be anyone going anywhere.
Cheers! Kindred spirits, perhaps, on this. I also dislike flying but like airports. Singapore Changi is my favourite. A cold Tiger beer in that tropical garden there is 20 mins that takes a lot of beating.
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
Why at least he understands that Justice Delayed is often Justice Denied and may properly fund our courts and justice system rather than throwing the money at the sexy bits (Police, Prisons) rather than the equally or more essential middle and end bits (Courts and Probation)
"The Metropolitan Police has made clear it is unlikely to launch a probe unless the Cabinet Office flags potential incidents where offences might have been committed;"
Mail
Why? Some of those involved have literally admitted to it on the record. Indeed, Johnson said he went to one for 25 mins and told this in the Commons! Hansard wrote it down.
PB lawyers - if I walk into a police station and say I committed a crime, do they say we will have to wait for an independent inquiry?
One really begins to wonder how many of the cops were at the party.
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
Why at least he understands that Justice Delayed is often Justice Denied and may properly fund our courts and justice system rather than throwing the money at the sexy bits (Police, Prisons) rather than the equally or more essential middle and end bits (Courts and Probation)
Yay! More spliff smokers in jail. Not exactly something I want.
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Have they gone?! I swear I saw one over Xmas, on the M4 and M5 down to Cornwall
But this perception could be because they have always been there, so a kind of mirage of memory takes over. Something so permanent cannot disappear
They were hideous. Good riddance
Used to be one just outside Hook on the way to Fleet which was a converted shipping container. I think there still should be a place for the artery clogging cuisine of yore.
PS Just checked - it's still there - the Shack Cafe
As I say, on occasion I like artery-clogging, sheer-heart-attack, egg-bangers-and-chips cuisine as much as anyone, but it can be done well and it can be done horribly, and in motorway service stations it was generally done industrially and horribly
Miss Molly's Tearoom in Redruth does a decent version, IIRC.
So what's your favorite breakfast spot in the Free State of Maryland? Or across the river in the Old Dominion, if you prefer?? Or even in Our Nation's Capital??
Re Pret, last time I was in London (nearly 20 years ago) it was my day-time go-to option; by current standards it did not seem too expensive (I was on vacation so didn't mind much anyway) I esp. liked their ham sandwiches on French bread (or reasonable facsimile). One of those washed down with a can of Coke could keep me going for a LONG time.
Best meal I ever enjoyed in UK, was at a B&B/bar/restaurant a few miles north (and above) Hebden Bridge. I stopped there late one winter afternoon to find a place to lay my weary head. Walked in the front door and was damn near knocked over by the wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen! Can't remember what I ate, wasn't esp. fancy but will never forget how good it was.
Alas, Damascus is a dry town (still) so we have no decent eateries at all.
Best breakfast I've had in recent years in MD was on the Eastern Shore. Middle of no-f***ing-where. I think it was a car sales showroom across from a falling down church at a crossroads of firebreaks in the loblolly forest that goes by the name of Royal Oak. The spot is called "t at the General Store" http://www.tatthegeneralstore.com
In DC there is an amazing Middle Eastern restaurant in the Navy Yards, Albi, that has a breakfast counter attached to it, Yellow the Cafe. That is excellent too. https://www.yellowthecafe.com
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
Oh dear
Blimey - if this was the extent of MalkyG's flaming then I guess he might actually have a point and will have to up my game.
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
Oh dear
Hello Malky, hope you are well. Bit of a smirr here but mostly dry. Got some Orkney pickled herring and Baxters beet to go with boiled potatoes and a decent NZ white.
"The Metropolitan Police has made clear it is unlikely to launch a probe unless the Cabinet Office flags potential incidents where offences might have been committed;"
Mail
Why? Some of those involved have literally admitted to it on the record. Indeed, Johnson said he went to one for 25 mins and told this in the Commons! Hansard wrote it down.
PB lawyers - if I walk into a police station and say I committed a crime, do they say we will have to wait for an independent inquiry?
Commons is not prosecutable, no? Immunity for MPs (but not MSPs or MWPs I believe).
Has the parish councillor (PC) published the latest Scottish sub-sample proving that the Conservatives are about to triumphantly gain Gordon from the SNP? Must have missed it.
(YouGov are the only pollster to routinely correctly weight geographical sub-samples; Fieldwork: 12th - 13th January 2022; Weighted sample = 145)
I’m sure HY will be along in a minute to hail this as a victory for the Union, again.
That Slab figure does surprise me, even now. Scon, not quite so much - the bedrock British nationalists.
Would be rather different for Holyrood of course - a lot more Green, though whether that comes from SNP, Labour, SLD and/or all of them is a good question.
But subsamples.
That SLab figure doesn’t surprise me. There is a Labour activist who occasionally pops up here (forgotten username I’m afraid) who is always banging on about if Labour ever rise again in England then they will automatically rise again in Scotland. I have disputed this assertion of his for many years. We’re about to find out who’s right! Labour are back in England. My contention is that this is a disaster for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union rather than the SNP. Time will tell.
In the short term the BJ scandals are simply going to play straight into the hands of the main anti-Con party. In Scotland’s case the SNP.
It is actually the SLD figure that stuck out for me. This is tactical unwind taking place in currently strong SCon areas. I expect the SLD vote share to shoot up at the next GE, but with a poor show of actual seats won.
There is no a priori reason, in any case, for Labour Scotland Branch to track Mummy in England. One could go up and the other down . For one thing, the political competition is so different. The SNP have already mopped up a lot of the less nationalistic voters and the latter have gone in part to the Tories with their No Surrender with Ruthie campaigning. Plus more parties so more complex local battles.
Plus there are huge policy problems. In England they now have to worry about not dissing Brexit; in Scotland it's completely the other way round (and they were already being suspected as a pro-Brexit party years back when Mr Corbyn was in charge).
Of course, they don't have the huge disadvantage of being led by Messrs Johnson and R-M etc that the Scons have, but oin the other hand Scottish Labour aren't a separate party at all. Firstly, they don't even have financial independence. So Jenny Formby could yank Kezia Dugdale's lead when they had that row about spending money on the latter's court case. And secondly, tightening up the exception in the electoral legislation on descriptive names for parties would kill even that that pretence.
Focus will shift from the Tories to Labour very soon now. Starmer & Co look to be reasonably robust (although some front-benchers are frankly just not up to it). Sarwar & Co are in a dire situation: their team is appallingly weak.
But as I say, all will clarify with time. One constant remains in SLab’s favour: the overwhelming support from BBC Scotland.
TBH, all Sarwar needs to achieve in May's local elections is for Labour to be the largest party in Glasgow which is entirely doable if the Tories get squeezed out and the Greens also gain seats at the expense of the SNP.
Difficult to tell how bad it is. Maybe not apocalyptic, given the incredible size of the explosion in those amazing images. I guess they had tons of warning at least, thank God it happened in a remote part of the Pacific
The person who stayed behind to film the waves is.... brave
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
One observation about this website and the comments on it, is that in the case of Labour and the Conservatives, it always seems like "the leader is about to go". But they very rarely are, in reality. They are more likely to hang on. Corbyn was a good example of this. It got really bad, and he just hung on. Boris could follow a similar path, he just clings on through whatever madness gets unearthed, until he eventually gets comprehensively beaten in an election and has to go. From a conservative point of view, I think that it is easy to be fed up with him and want to topple him, but they have to find a leader who can recreate the electoral formula that was successful in 2019. In the end, this is easier said than done. Might be better to see what happens at end of the current crisis, see if Boris can pull the situation back somehow.
It would set a dreadful precedent if Johnson survives this.
It is one thing surviving incompetence like Major, May, Corbyn and Starmer. Quite another, outrageous mendacity and corruption.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
OH FFS I am commissioned to visit Odessa (a long held ambition) in March. All exes paid
I suppose if they invade now it might all be over by then, and the thousands of corpses will have been buried in huge pits up near Kiev, so they won't disturb my journey? One can but hope
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Has the parish councillor (PC) published the latest Scottish sub-sample proving that the Conservatives are about to triumphantly gain Gordon from the SNP? Must have missed it.
(YouGov are the only pollster to routinely correctly weight geographical sub-samples; Fieldwork: 12th - 13th January 2022; Weighted sample = 145)
I’m sure HY will be along in a minute to hail this as a victory for the Union, again.
That Slab figure does surprise me, even now. Scon, not quite so much - the bedrock British nationalists.
Would be rather different for Holyrood of course - a lot more Green, though whether that comes from SNP, Labour, SLD and/or all of them is a good question.
But subsamples.
That SLab figure doesn’t surprise me. There is a Labour activist who occasionally pops up here (forgotten username I’m afraid) who is always banging on about if Labour ever rise again in England then they will automatically rise again in Scotland. I have disputed this assertion of his for many years. We’re about to find out who’s right! Labour are back in England. My contention is that this is a disaster for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union rather than the SNP. Time will tell.
In the short term the BJ scandals are simply going to play straight into the hands of the main anti-Con party. In Scotland’s case the SNP.
It is actually the SLD figure that stuck out for me. This is tactical unwind taking place in currently strong SCon areas. I expect the SLD vote share to shoot up at the next GE, but with a poor show of actual seats won.
There is no a priori reason, in any case, for Labour Scotland Branch to track Mummy in England. One could go up and the other down . For one thing, the political competition is so different. The SNP have already mopped up a lot of the less nationalistic voters and the latter have gone in part to the Tories with their No Surrender with Ruthie campaigning. Plus more parties so more complex local battles.
Plus there are huge policy problems. In England they now have to worry about not dissing Brexit; in Scotland it's completely the other way round (and they were already being suspected as a pro-Brexit party years back when Mr Corbyn was in charge).
Of course, they don't have the huge disadvantage of being led by Messrs Johnson and R-M etc that the Scons have, but oin the other hand Scottish Labour aren't a separate party at all. Firstly, they don't even have financial independence. So Jenny Formby could yank Kezia Dugdale's lead when they had that row about spending money on the latter's court case. And secondly, tightening up the exception in the electoral legislation on descriptive names for parties would kill even that that pretence.
Focus will shift from the Tories to Labour very soon now. Starmer & Co look to be reasonably robust (although some front-benchers are frankly just not up to it). Sarwar & Co are in a dire situation: their team is appallingly weak.
But as I say, all will clarify with time. One constant remains in SLab’s favour: the overwhelming support from BBC Scotland.
TBH, all Sarwar needs to achieve in May's local elections is for Labour to be the largest party in Glasgow which is entirely doable if the Tories get squeezed out and the Greens also gain seats at the expense of the SNP.
Not sure about that. As I said previously SLab might benefit in Glasgow from more general SCon but I very much doubt they’ll take all 7 of their seats, also SNP have a good chance of getting back the 2 Alba seats. SLab’s performance in the Glasgow regional list last year was hardly stellar.
Still, if Anas just points at a few more full wheelie bins..
"The Metropolitan Police has made clear it is unlikely to launch a probe unless the Cabinet Office flags potential incidents where offences might have been committed;"
Mail
Why? Some of those involved have literally admitted to it on the record. Indeed, Johnson said he went to one for 25 mins and told this in the Commons! Hansard wrote it down.
PB lawyers - if I walk into a police station and say I committed a crime, do they say we will have to wait for an independent inquiry?
Commons is not prosecutable, no? Immunity for MPs (but not MSPs or MWPs I believe).
The fundamental point is that doing over some student who had a house party for his mates for ten grand is easy. Going after the Prime Minister and his hangers-on is a whole different matter.
It gives the distinct appearance that the Metropolitan Police are unwilling to act out of cowardice, sloth, or some combination of the two.
Coming on top of the legion of other scandals in which it has been embroiled, it is small wonder that this is an organisation that struggles to command respect.
I can report that John Lewis, Brent X, is alive and kicking.
Also for @Farooq from the previous thread, my home is infinitely more elegant and, importantly, comfortable than anything that ghastly Lulu character will have dreamt up. One of the many advantages of having an elegant Italian mother is developing a good eye for clothes, shoes, handbags and interior decoration.
Of course if you want something that looks like a headache-inducing brothel I am not your woman. But I think you've probably guessed that by now
Even more than Corbyn Boris needs to be told by Starmer to get a suit and shirts that fit him and to brush his hair. He looks a disgrace. It is pathetic in a man of his age.
I've just been on a day-tour of north London - taking my older daughter to get jab number 2, then visiting the site of the Battle of Barnet - it was very nearby and I am watching The White Queen on Amazon Prime - then went into Chipping Barnet, then a gastropub lunch in East Finchley, then Hampstead and then Camden
Everywhere is RAMMED. I haven't seen London this lively in yonks. Most pubs are pleasantly full - people were QUEUEING to get into the Spaniard's by Kenwood, the markets are chocka, shops are bustling, high streets are crowded. The UK economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic size this last quarter and it actually feels like it. Like normality plus an extra sense of relief that this winter is so much better than the last, and that Covid might finally be effing off
We could be in for an economic boomlet, despite the threat of inflation etc, simple from the sheer animal spirits that will be unleashed as we are uncaged. It definitely felt that way today in the Smoke
Yay
Counter-example: on Wednesday evening two friends and I ate at Dishoom by Covent Garden. Normally there's a 100 person queue outside. We didn't need to queue at all.
Central London won't recover until WFH is abandoned AND the international tourists return. Could be a while, I fear
I was in London in late November, and then it really was rocking. Last week? It was pretty quiet. But that's not only Covid. The reality is that the first half of January is always quiet. (Indeed, it's my favourite time to get bookings at places you can't normally get bookings at.)
I'll tell you what's been hammered by Covid: Pret-A-Manger. Two of three nearest ones to my apartment have shut.
Yes, Pret has been found wanting post-pandemic. Shit quality, expensive for what you get and usually close to much better options for coffee, lunch, breakfast or everything. Pret has done a lot better in outer London locations than inner London. Why would I go to Pret when I can go to Redemption Roasters? The coffee is cheaper, better and they pay their staff fairly as well as supporting a worthy cause. Why would I get lunch from Pret when it's more expensive than the actually decent hot lunch options in M&S?
Their USP as a fast, fairly cheap and good quality cafe has been destroyed. Smaller chains without the legacy costs of high rents and too many locations are making mincemeat of them in central London and the square mile.
Pret has suffered from a calamitous decline in relative quality. I am sure it began pretty much the day they were taken over.
On Camden High Street there is a Pret, which still does pretty well, but I am not sure why, and how long it will last, because - as you imply - right next door there is an M&S Food Hall serving the same sandwiches salads and wraps, with just as interesting ingredients, probably better, and a vastly wider selection of fruit, drinks, juices, etc, to go with. And there are 3,000 places nearby doing good coffee
Unless they up their game, they are doomed in London where there is any competition
Their USP is (was?) prevalence.
If you were in a rush, you knew you could get a decent seafood sarnie, reasonably healthy, fresh and tasty, no more than 500 yards from wherever you were, even if you had to pay the sort of money northerners on PB claim they get a full beef dinner (with wine) for.
If they aren’t prevalent anymore (and they probably don’t deserve to be), people will try their competitors, and probably independents will benefit.
Good.
The one place where I WOULD like a Pret is the one place you cannot find them: motorway service stations, which are STILL bastions of universal junk food: Burger King, greasy spoons, and a W H Smiths selling crisps and sweets, unless you are lucky enough to find one with an M&S or Waitrose outlet doing snacks
It is utterly mystifying. The rest of the UK has advanced 40 years, gastronomically, yet motorway stops stay resolutely in the year 1981
The greasy spoons have gone. One of the (many) pleasures of stopping off at a motorway service station was the opportunity for (say) a sausage egg & chips at one of those places where you help yourself to portions of the eponymous from great big open shallow steel containers. It's no longer the case. I've stopped even looking for them now. I know they're not there.
Calmac ferries still do stuff along those lines, or I effing hope so. Haven’t been able to partake for a couple of years 🙁
When I used to travel to Arran for Children’s Hearings (pre Covid) I used to save myself for a Calmac breakfast. If I was feeling particularly greedy I would have another on the sail home.
"It is understood that up to 30 letters of no-confidence have been submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs."
Mail
If true, then I am thinking that any one of the serious contenders (Sunak, Truss, Hunt) could mobilise their support team to get over the line for the 54 required. So, now a matter of timing?
Timing will be as soon as Sue Grey's report is out. No point going to early when that report is either fatal to Boris or a complete whitewash designed to protect Boris (which would be equally fatal).
"The Metropolitan Police has made clear it is unlikely to launch a probe unless the Cabinet Office flags potential incidents where offences might have been committed;"
Mail
Why? Some of those involved have literally admitted to it on the record. Indeed, Johnson said he went to one for 25 mins and told this in the Commons! Hansard wrote it down.
PB lawyers - if I walk into a police station and say I committed a crime, do they say we will have to wait for an independent inquiry?
Commons is not prosecutable, no? Immunity for MPs (but not MSPs or MWPs I believe).
The fundamental point is that doing over some student who had a house party for his mates for ten grand is easy. Going after the Prime Minister and his hangers-on is a whole different matter.
It gives the distinct appearance that the Metropolitan Police are unwilling to act out of cowardice, sloth, or some combination of the two.
Coming on top of the legion of other scandals in which it has been embroiled, it is small wonder that this is an organisation that struggles to command respect.
Didn’t we have this discussed a few days back namely that the fines were for people who got arsey when told to disperse?
Has the parish councillor (PC) published the latest Scottish sub-sample proving that the Conservatives are about to triumphantly gain Gordon from the SNP? Must have missed it.
(YouGov are the only pollster to routinely correctly weight geographical sub-samples; Fieldwork: 12th - 13th January 2022; Weighted sample = 145)
I’m sure HY will be along in a minute to hail this as a victory for the Union, again.
That Slab figure does surprise me, even now. Scon, not quite so much - the bedrock British nationalists.
Would be rather different for Holyrood of course - a lot more Green, though whether that comes from SNP, Labour, SLD and/or all of them is a good question.
But subsamples.
That SLab figure doesn’t surprise me. There is a Labour activist who occasionally pops up here (forgotten username I’m afraid) who is always banging on about if Labour ever rise again in England then they will automatically rise again in Scotland. I have disputed this assertion of his for many years. We’re about to find out who’s right! Labour are back in England. My contention is that this is a disaster for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union rather than the SNP. Time will tell.
In the short term the BJ scandals are simply going to play straight into the hands of the main anti-Con party. In Scotland’s case the SNP.
It is actually the SLD figure that stuck out for me. This is tactical unwind taking place in currently strong SCon areas. I expect the SLD vote share to shoot up at the next GE, but with a poor show of actual seats won.
There is no a priori reason, in any case, for Labour Scotland Branch to track Mummy in England. One could go up and the other down . For one thing, the political competition is so different. The SNP have already mopped up a lot of the less nationalistic voters and the latter have gone in part to the Tories with their No Surrender with Ruthie campaigning. Plus more parties so more complex local battles.
Plus there are huge policy problems. In England they now have to worry about not dissing Brexit; in Scotland it's completely the other way round (and they were already being suspected as a pro-Brexit party years back when Mr Corbyn was in charge).
Of course, they don't have the huge disadvantage of being led by Messrs Johnson and R-M etc that the Scons have, but oin the other hand Scottish Labour aren't a separate party at all. Firstly, they don't even have financial independence. So Jenny Formby could yank Kezia Dugdale's lead when they had that row about spending money on the latter's court case. And secondly, tightening up the exception in the electoral legislation on descriptive names for parties would kill even that that pretence.
Focus will shift from the Tories to Labour very soon now. Starmer & Co look to be reasonably robust (although some front-benchers are frankly just not up to it). Sarwar & Co are in a dire situation: their team is appallingly weak.
But as I say, all will clarify with time. One constant remains in SLab’s favour: the overwhelming support from BBC Scotland.
TBH, all Sarwar needs to achieve in May's local elections is for Labour to be the largest party in Glasgow which is entirely doable if the Tories get squeezed out and the Greens also gain seats at the expense of the SNP.
Yes, I tend to agree. SLab could tank everywhere else, but if they manage largest party in Glasgow it’ll be the headline on the BBC.
Other councils that SLab will be focussed on include Aberdeen, East Lothian, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.
Glasgow result last time:
SNP 39 councillors Lab 31 councillors Con 8 councillors Grn 7 councillors
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
1951. Came back in 54. We have been relegated twice. Spent a grand total of 4 seasons out of the top division. By far the best record of anyone. Agree Benitez isn't the problem. We keep attracting hugely internationally well regarded managers who fail. Ironically. With us unable to spend under FFP, the situation is ideal for one David Moyes right now. 13 points from our first six games. 6 from last 13. We are in worse free fall than the Tory Party.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
What's the latest?
Can’t say what the latest is but was in Kiev last November and was surprised at how relaxed it was given the tension. Very good city and some great restaurants.
Has the parish councillor (PC) published the latest Scottish sub-sample proving that the Conservatives are about to triumphantly gain Gordon from the SNP? Must have missed it.
(YouGov are the only pollster to routinely correctly weight geographical sub-samples; Fieldwork: 12th - 13th January 2022; Weighted sample = 145)
I’m sure HY will be along in a minute to hail this as a victory for the Union, again.
That Slab figure does surprise me, even now. Scon, not quite so much - the bedrock British nationalists.
Would be rather different for Holyrood of course - a lot more Green, though whether that comes from SNP, Labour, SLD and/or all of them is a good question.
But subsamples.
That SLab figure doesn’t surprise me. There is a Labour activist who occasionally pops up here (forgotten username I’m afraid) who is always banging on about if Labour ever rise again in England then they will automatically rise again in Scotland. I have disputed this assertion of his for many years. We’re about to find out who’s right! Labour are back in England. My contention is that this is a disaster for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union rather than the SNP. Time will tell.
In the short term the BJ scandals are simply going to play straight into the hands of the main anti-Con party. In Scotland’s case the SNP.
It is actually the SLD figure that stuck out for me. This is tactical unwind taking place in currently strong SCon areas. I expect the SLD vote share to shoot up at the next GE, but with a poor show of actual seats won.
There is no a priori reason, in any case, for Labour Scotland Branch to track Mummy in England. One could go up and the other down . For one thing, the political competition is so different. The SNP have already mopped up a lot of the less nationalistic voters and the latter have gone in part to the Tories with their No Surrender with Ruthie campaigning. Plus more parties so more complex local battles.
Plus there are huge policy problems. In England they now have to worry about not dissing Brexit; in Scotland it's completely the other way round (and they were already being suspected as a pro-Brexit party years back when Mr Corbyn was in charge).
Of course, they don't have the huge disadvantage of being led by Messrs Johnson and R-M etc that the Scons have, but oin the other hand Scottish Labour aren't a separate party at all. Firstly, they don't even have financial independence. So Jenny Formby could yank Kezia Dugdale's lead when they had that row about spending money on the latter's court case. And secondly, tightening up the exception in the electoral legislation on descriptive names for parties would kill even that that pretence.
Focus will shift from the Tories to Labour very soon now. Starmer & Co look to be reasonably robust (although some front-benchers are frankly just not up to it). Sarwar & Co are in a dire situation: their team is appallingly weak.
But as I say, all will clarify with time. One constant remains in SLab’s favour: the overwhelming support from BBC Scotland.
TBH, all Sarwar needs to achieve in May's local elections is for Labour to be the largest party in Glasgow which is entirely doable if the Tories get squeezed out and the Greens also gain seats at the expense of the SNP.
Not sure about that. As I said previously SLab might benefit from SCon travails in Glasgow but I very much doubt they’ll take all 7 of their seats, also SNP have a good chance of getting back the 2 Alba seats. SLab’s performance in the Glasgow regional list last year was hardly stellar.
Still, if Anas just points at a few more full wheelie bins..
Slab does better at local elections than Holyrood at least in places like Glasgow or N Lanarkshire and they are more transfer friendly. They also gained a by election in the Partick East/Kelvindale last year on transfers. I'm not saying it WILL happen but it is entirely plausible based on local issues. Sarwar would get a media bounce from that (even if it would be wrong to try and transpose that to Slab's fortunes at Holyrood or even Westminster).
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
I know you said no sympathies but you have mine.
And whilst you focus on the vaccine issue I also hope the callous bastards on the far right, some of whom frequent this place, will read this and post with a good deal more grace and compassion than is sometimes evident. This remains a bloody nasty virus, especially for many of our most vulnerable.
Incidentally a good friend of mine is incapable of having the vaccines because she has anaphylactic reaction to one of the ingredients. So we should also temper comments about those unvaccinated.
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
1951. Came back in 54. We have been relegated twice. Spent a grand total of 4 seasons out of the top division. By far the best record of anyone. Agree Benitez isn't the problem. We keep attracting hugely internationally well regarded managers who fail. Ironically. With us unable to spend under FFP, the situation is ideal for one David Moyes right now.
Sean Dyche would be a good fit and time coming to an end at Burnley. Probably not very popular with the fans though!
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
Are you on the Ross or the Jack wing of Britnattery, @JBriskin3
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
1951. Came back in 54. We have been relegated twice. Spent a grand total of 4 seasons out of the top division. By far the best record of anyone. Agree Benitez isn't the problem. We keep attracting hugely internationally well regarded managers who fail. Ironically. With us unable to spend under FFP, the situation is ideal for one David Moyes right now.
Sean Dyche would be a good fit and time coming to an end at Burnley. Probably not very popular with the fans though!
A few seasons ago I backed Everton to go down @ 25-1. The one thing I didn’t want was Big Sam turning up at Goodison Park. Of course, that’s exactly what happened.
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
Are you on the Ross or the Jack wing of Britnattery, @JBriskin3
I don't understand what "Jack" is referring to - but I have a Union Flag baccy tin if that helps.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
I don't think that Javid will back down on this (the principle of mandatory vaccination to protect vulnerable people) and a lot of the heel-diggers won't back down, either. So, lots of sackings coming in a health service that's already desperately short-staffed.
Don't know if this, in and of itself, will be politically important though. The wave of departures from the care sector over vaccine refuser sentiment didn't cause much blow-back, after all. And Labour will find it hard to attack the Government over these sackings without making it look as if they're more interested in the obstinacy of the workforce than the welfare of the patients.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
The two Premiership teams I always hope to lose are Everton and Chelsea. It’s because Glasgow Rangers types support them.
"It is understood that up to 30 letters of no-confidence have been submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs."
Mail
If true, then I am thinking that any one of the serious contenders (Sunak, Truss, Hunt) could mobilise their support team to get over the line for the 54 required. So, now a matter of timing?
Timing will be as soon as Sue Grey's report is out. No point going to early when that report is either fatal to Boris or a complete whitewash designed to protect Boris (which would be equally fatal).
GRAY
G
R
A
Y
FFS.
Sue Grey No A!
I only do that when you do it, and only about 1 time in 10 btw
Here's the thing that rankles. 6 points from 13 games. 5 of them are from games against Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea. All 3 we were the better team and looked comfortable at that level. But we are getting caned by our relegation rivals. It is clearly more than simply not being good enough.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
I know you said no sympathies but you have mine.
And whilst you focus on the vaccine issue I also hope the callous bastards on the far right, some of whom frequent this place, will read this and post with a good deal more grace and compassion than is sometimes evident. This remains a bloody nasty virus, especially for many of our most vulnerable.
Incidentally a good friend of mine is incapable of having the vaccines because she has anaphylactic reaction to one of the ingredients. So we should also temper comments about those unvaccinated.
Sure - there are absolutely a small number of people who can't have them. And thats why those of us who can HAVE to have them, to protect people like your good friend.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
I don't think that Javid will back down on this (the principle of mandatory vaccination to protect vulnerable people) and a lot of the heel-diggers won't back down, either. So, lots of sackings coming in a health service that's already desperately short-staffed.
Don't know if this, in and of itself, will be politically important though. The wave of departures from the care sector over vaccine refuser sentiment didn't cause much blow-back, after all. And Labour will find it hard to attack the Government over these sackings without making it look as if they're more interested in the obstinacy of the workforce than the welfare of the patients.
The next thing we may see, although I would hope not, is people being fired from other roles for not being vaccinated. IKEA has already made tentative moves on this with their sick pay policy, and I'm pretty sure many private schools will not be far behind.
The irony of that happening when the pandemic may finally be winding down would be remarkable but it doesn't mean it won't happen.
Here's another guess - it will then start being applied to other vaccines too, especially flu.
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
I don't think that Javid will back down on this (the principle of mandatory vaccination to protect vulnerable people) and a lot of the heel-diggers won't back down, either. So, lots of sackings coming in a health service that's already desperately short-staffed.
Don't know if this, in and of itself, will be politically important though. The wave of departures from the care sector over vaccine refuser sentiment didn't cause much blow-back, after all. And Labour will find it hard to attack the Government over these sackings without making it look as if they're more interested in the obstinacy of the workforce than the welfare of the patients.
Meanwhile, Novax has spent enough time in Oz to have got himself jabbed!
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
I know you said no sympathies but you have mine.
And whilst you focus on the vaccine issue I also hope the callous bastards on the far right, some of whom frequent this place, will read this and post with a good deal more grace and compassion than is sometimes evident. This remains a bloody nasty virus, especially for many of our most vulnerable.
Incidentally a good friend of mine is incapable of having the vaccines because she has anaphylactic reaction to one of the ingredients. So we should also temper comments about those unvaccinated.
I have no issue with anyone who is unable to have the vaccine. Only those who could do, but choose not too. Has your friend had discussions about all available vaccines though? They are not the same, so maybe one type is possible? I’m not sure who you are referring too ‘far right’. There is no one on this site who fits that description. There are some who think the price in individual freedom has been too high, and that we have reached the time to stop measures designed for a pre vaccination world. I would halt plan b immediately, but I have no power.
Difficult to tell how bad it is. Maybe not apocalyptic, given the incredible size of the explosion in those amazing images. I guess they had tons of warning at least, thank God it happened in a remote part of the Pacific
The person who stayed behind to film the waves is.... brave
Thanks for posting.
You're right, hard to tell severity. My impression is that it's bad enough, but not the worst.
Local geography will be a factor, saw report that somebody was predicting before the explosion, that if it happened, storm surge would esp. impact the capital, at least by the waterfront. Which would be a big problem, not just there but for national infrastructure & economy in general, but for disaster relief.
Good news is that Australian, New Zealand and (no doubt) American navy, air force, etc. have already been mobilized and are on there way. And even though Tongans are cut off (mostly) from the world, they will know this without needing a news bulletin.
I fear for this country having a former leader of the CPS as PM.
So you’re not worried about what’s going on now with several bills going through parliament . What exactly is Starmer likely to do that could be worse than what the Tories are doing ?
I'm not particlulary concerned about any bills no. Starmer having no ideology is much more dangerous than Boris will ever be.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
Sympathies. I believe Quebec is the first to bring in financial penalties. They are introducing a Health Solidarity Payment for the unvaxxed. Still in the planning stage.
Conservative politicians should be talking about how they made the right decisions about Omicron and how the economy and society benefitted from it while demanding the removal of all remaining restrictions.
Instead they're having to deal with the consequences of stupidity and immaturity from Downing Street.
Ironic isn't it.
Yet that plank jn Wales called it a ‘dangerous experiment’.
The Welsh and Scottish administrations got it wrong and sacrificed their hospitality industry at the critical time of year for those businesses to own the Tories. They failed. The press needs to hold them to account.
You mean apart from BBC Scotland amplifying the complaints of every hospitality representative and their granny day in and day out, or sending camera crews to follow any partying Jock they could find in Carlisle on 31/12/21?
Am I wrong, or is PB full of people who think that Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon ordered the pub doors to be welded up?
You are not wrong.
Some not-taking-the-SNP-to-account from a surprising source.
Pretty amazing coming from Leask.
I think Leask’s been pretty turned off by the riper end of Cyberbritnattery, and he feels validated by the splitting off of Wings from mainstream Indy support. Wouldn’t put him in our camp yet but a rare open mind on the Herald is to be welcomed.
Oh for the days of Bell and McIlvanney.
Cyberbritnattery? Nice try but is your team which is the zealot nationalists. Hence the perfectly named Cybernats for your lot (although I prefer the term SNP Types)
Are you on the Ross or the Jack wing of Britnattery, @JBriskin3
I don't understand what "Jack" is referring to - but I have a Union Flag baccy tin if that helps.
Lol - took me a while (I'm drunk) - but you're perhaps reffering to the Union flag as Jack.
As I said I've got a Union flag tobacco tin.
I like Ross. For me he won the Holyrood election debate last year by quite a margin.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
An interesting and imaginative comparison, but I don't quite buy it. Boris will be far more controversial than Heath ever was
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
I don't think that Javid will back down on this (the principle of mandatory vaccination to protect vulnerable people) and a lot of the heel-diggers won't back down, either. So, lots of sackings coming in a health service that's already desperately short-staffed.
Don't know if this, in and of itself, will be politically important though. The wave of departures from the care sector over vaccine refuser sentiment didn't cause much blow-back, after all. And Labour will find it hard to attack the Government over these sackings without making it look as if they're more interested in the obstinacy of the workforce than the welfare of the patients.
My hunch is it won’t be that many doctors. I’d hope they are more sensible. But we will see.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
An interesting and imaginative comparison, but I don't quite buy it. Boris will be far more controversial than Heath ever was
Has the parish councillor (PC) published the latest Scottish sub-sample proving that the Conservatives are about to triumphantly gain Gordon from the SNP? Must have missed it.
(YouGov are the only pollster to routinely correctly weight geographical sub-samples; Fieldwork: 12th - 13th January 2022; Weighted sample = 145)
I’m sure HY will be along in a minute to hail this as a victory for the Union, again.
That Slab figure does surprise me, even now. Scon, not quite so much - the bedrock British nationalists.
Would be rather different for Holyrood of course - a lot more Green, though whether that comes from SNP, Labour, SLD and/or all of them is a good question.
But subsamples.
That SLab figure doesn’t surprise me. There is a Labour activist who occasionally pops up here (forgotten username I’m afraid) who is always banging on about if Labour ever rise again in England then they will automatically rise again in Scotland. I have disputed this assertion of his for many years. We’re about to find out who’s right! Labour are back in England. My contention is that this is a disaster for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union rather than the SNP. Time will tell.
In the short term the BJ scandals are simply going to play straight into the hands of the main anti-Con party. In Scotland’s case the SNP.
It is actually the SLD figure that stuck out for me. This is tactical unwind taking place in currently strong SCon areas. I expect the SLD vote share to shoot up at the next GE, but with a poor show of actual seats won.
There is no a priori reason, in any case, for Labour Scotland Branch to track Mummy in England. One could go up and the other down . For one thing, the political competition is so different. The SNP have already mopped up a lot of the less nationalistic voters and the latter have gone in part to the Tories with their No Surrender with Ruthie campaigning. Plus more parties so more complex local battles.
Plus there are huge policy problems. In England they now have to worry about not dissing Brexit; in Scotland it's completely the other way round (and they were already being suspected as a pro-Brexit party years back when Mr Corbyn was in charge).
Of course, they don't have the huge disadvantage of being led by Messrs Johnson and R-M etc that the Scons have, but oin the other hand Scottish Labour aren't a separate party at all. Firstly, they don't even have financial independence. So Jenny Formby could yank Kezia Dugdale's lead when they had that row about spending money on the latter's court case. And secondly, tightening up the exception in the electoral legislation on descriptive names for parties would kill even that that pretence.
Focus will shift from the Tories to Labour very soon now. Starmer & Co look to be reasonably robust (although some front-benchers are frankly just not up to it). Sarwar & Co are in a dire situation: their team is appallingly weak.
But as I say, all will clarify with time. One constant remains in SLab’s favour: the overwhelming support from BBC Scotland.
TBH, all Sarwar needs to achieve in May's local elections is for Labour to be the largest party in Glasgow which is entirely doable if the Tories get squeezed out and the Greens also gain seats at the expense of the SNP.
Not sure about that. As I said previously SLab might benefit from SCon travails in Glasgow but I very much doubt they’ll take all 7 of their seats, also SNP have a good chance of getting back the 2 Alba seats. SLab’s performance in the Glasgow regional list last year was hardly stellar.
Still, if Anas just points at a few more full wheelie bins..
Slab does better at local elections than Holyrood at least in places like Glasgow or N Lanarkshire and they are more transfer friendly. They also gained a by election in the Partick East/Kelvindale last year on transfers. I'm not saying it WILL happen but it is entirely plausible based on local issues. Sarwar would get a media bounce from that (even if it would be wrong to try and transpose that to Slab's fortunes at Holyrood or even Westminster).
STV as used in Scottish local elections is much more suited to tactical voting, so Slab, Slibdem and Scons give each other their second and third choices.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
An interesting and imaginative comparison, but I don't quite buy it. Boris will be far more controversial than Heath ever was
Possibly. But he's also a lot less competent.
Can't argue with that
A better comparison for Boris might be a revolutionary leader who is quickly deposed, becoming highly contentious and reviled by many, even as the faithful stand firm
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
An interesting and imaginative comparison, but I don't quite buy it. Boris will be far more controversial than Heath ever was
Possibly. But he's also a lot less competent.
And Heath never attracted the amount of ridicule Boris has in recent weeks.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
An interesting and imaginative comparison, but I don't quite buy it. Boris will be far more controversial than Heath ever was
Possibly. But he's also a lot less competent.
Can't argue with that
A better comparison for Boris might be a revolutionary leader who is quickly deposed, becoming highly contentious and reviled by many, even as the faithful stand firm
Robespierre?
Bernardo O'Higgins? Crucial in Chilean independence. Unable to take power at once due to a lack of trust, but made life hell for the official leader until he could overthrow him. Ruled with the help of a powerful minority faction but spent his six years in power pissing them off until they finally deposed him.
Difficult to tell how bad it is. Maybe not apocalyptic, given the incredible size of the explosion in those amazing images. I guess they had tons of warning at least, thank God it happened in a remote part of the Pacific
The person who stayed behind to film the waves is.... brave
Thanks for posting.
You're right, hard to tell severity. My impression is that it's bad enough, but not the worst.
Local geography will be a factor, saw report that somebody was predicting before the explosion, that if it happened, storm surge would esp. impact the capital, at least by the waterfront. Which would be a big problem, not just there but for national infrastructure & economy in general, but for disaster relief.
Good news is that Australian, New Zealand and (no doubt) American navy, air force, etc. have already been mobilized and are on there way. And even though Tongans are cut off (mostly) from the world, they will know this without needing a news bulletin.
This, if true, looks a lot worse in Fiji. Tho some in the thread say it is also Tonga. Did they get no warning?
"KNOWKNEE @JohnnyTeisi · 13h This family were in church. They’d just finish having choir practice and the tsunami hit 😩❤️🇹🇴"
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
Based on what?
I was at lunch and one of my nervous friends opined the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to the worst crisis since Cuba and we'd all be facing incineration by this time next month.
I'm much less convinced - Putin will be aware of significant non-military consequences if he moves into the whole of Ukraine. Strengthening the Russian hold around Dombass is a maybe but Russian tanks driving into Kiev - I still can't see it.
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 53m Boris Johnson needs to survive until 7 June to outlast Brown
However, since he has lasted this long he would be listed PM from 2019-22, which looks decent even if he were to go now.
It wouldn't be humiliating, but it also wouldn't be a substantial Premiership of the sort that gets you a lesson about you in school a century later. And at some level, that's what he's after, isn't he?
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Boris will not be an also ran, however abject his departure and brief his tenure, simply because he forced through Brexit (after winning the referendum) by cleverly securing an election and then romping home with a big majority: which enabled Brexit to be concluded (when it was about to be derailed)
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
He will be like Edward Heath. A stunning election victory from unpromising circumstances followed by a brief and catastrophic premiership with just one lasting achievement, over Europe.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
An interesting and imaginative comparison, but I don't quite buy it. Boris will be far more controversial than Heath ever was
Possibly. But he's also a lot less competent.
Can't argue with that
A better comparison for Boris might be a revolutionary leader who is quickly deposed, becoming highly contentious and reviled by many, even as the faithful stand firm
Robespierre?
Bernardo O'Higgins? Crucial in Chilean independence. Unable to take power at once due to a lack of trust, but made life hell for the official leader until he could overthrow him. Ruled with the help of a powerful minority faction but spent his six years in power pissing them off until they finally deposed him.
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
I agree.
I suppose the 'nudge' unit are telling them that saturation will make things worse, but feck it. At least it would make the rest of us feel something was being done about a group of people who seemed determined to force another lockdown on England if they can.
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
Unfortunately, it's not from Tonga, but Indonesia and it's a tidal bore not a tsunami but apart from that, all good.
Just perusing the 10/1 about Everton and wondering.
Do it, if Everton go down, you'll have money to drown your sorrows.
Today plumbed new depths. We've had a crippling time with injuries, true. But we're back to close to full strength (as near as any can hope to be at this time of year). Yet we were totally outplayed by Norwich.
When were Everton last relegated? I think it is unlikely myself.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
1951. Came back in 54. We have been relegated twice. Spent a grand total of 4 seasons out of the top division. By far the best record of anyone. Agree Benitez isn't the problem. We keep attracting hugely internationally well regarded managers who fail. Ironically. With us unable to spend under FFP, the situation is ideal for one David Moyes right now. 13 points from our first six games. 6 from last 13. We are in worse free fall than the Tory Party.
Benitez got Newcastle relegated, but he wasn't the problem there either.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
I agree.
I suppose the 'nudge' unit are telling them that saturation will make things worse, but feck it. At least it would make the rest of us feel something was being done about a group of people who seemed determined to force another lockdown on England if they can.
I dont think anti vaccers want a lockdown. I suspect there is a pretty strong correlation of anti vax and anti lockdown. It’s the modellers you want to watch...
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
Unfortunately, it's not from Tonga, but Indonesia and it's a tidal bore not a tsunami but apart from that, all good.
lol. Fair enough
They did get some great footage tho, and it WAS all staged, see here:
1000s of NHS staff have just THREE weeks to get first jab in order to be fully up to date with vax by April sacking deadline says Dr Mosley in Mail
800 clinical and 200 non clinical at my Trust it seems.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
800 clinical? Bloody hell.
Javid needs a way around this.
The simplest answer often the best. Quietly abandon mandatory vaccination for NHS workers next week alongside the end of Plan B measures and hope no one really notices...
Andrew Lilico @andrew_lilico · 2h If we date the start of the omicron wave to 6-Dec, there have now been more than 4m cases in this wave in England. Remember: that's not infections. That's cases. That 4m cases probably means over 10m infections, possibly over 15m.
We do have restrictions on, so we can't simply conclude from the cases graph falling that we're passed the HIT absent restrictions. But I estimated omicron meant we needed about 20% of people infected to return to the unrestricted HIT. 10-15m infections should be enough for that.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
I agree.
I suppose the 'nudge' unit are telling them that saturation will make things worse, but feck it. At least it would make the rest of us feel something was being done about a group of people who seemed determined to force another lockdown on England if they can.
Again I am reminded of the way the Thatcher Government reacted to AIDS and decided to go for the hard sell.
Scaring the wits out of people works.
"Don't die of ignorance" would be just as apt a catchphrase now as it was back in the 80s.
Evening all. Had to call an ambulance for my 74 year old mum this afternoon. She's suffering long covid, has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and is a few days into beat blockers for that. Breathing has been hard, this afternoon was seriously laboured and gaspy so I called 999.
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
This seems like the sort of thing the government should be throwing the kitchen sink at, yet I have seen surprisingly little effective advertising to convince people to get the vaccine.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
Since it became apparent that the Omicron variant was both less virulent and spreading very easily and rapidly, the drive to get people vaccinated has eased right off - understandably, in my view, especially given its infectiousness. It's ripping through the population so quickly (indeed, so fast that it looks like we may already be through the peak caseload) that it's too late for the jabs to save most of the remaining unvaccinated people who are going to get it. Thus the incentive to hurry along has been removed. Or, to look at it another way, it was one thing to get the boosters through all the elderly, middle-aged and vulnerable people who hadn't yet had them and were desperate for their turn; now we're down to third jabs for unconcerned youngsters and trying to persuade the heel-diggers to have their firsts, the imperative simply isn't there anymore.
I've previously spoken of the possible benefits of mandatory vaccination, not for the sake of the refusers but to prevent the healthcare system from crashing and to avert the re-imposition of drastic lockdown measures that immiserate the whole community. Now that it's become apparent both that the pressure on the healthcare system from illness amongst the unvaccinated (as significant as it is) is not as drastic as was feared, and that lockdowns won't be making a comeback anyway because they don't work very well against Omicron, I'm content to allow the refusers to face the consequences of their choices.
There is arguably a place for coercive measures in a period of emergency where there is a clear and substantial threat to the community, or for people in a position of particular responsibility: I remain in favour of mandatory jabs for health and care staff, who can always avoid them by the expedient of quitting if they're really determined not to have them. However, things get a great deal more murky if we're contemplating subjecting the unwilling to medical interventions primarily for the sake of convenience, or saving money, or saving them from themselves. We could do wonders for the nation's health and the wider economy if only we forced everyone to get weighed each year and imposed punitive taxes on fat people, for example, but excessive state intrusion into people's private lives should give us all pause for thought.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine looks pretty imminent...
Based on what?
I was at lunch and one of my nervous friends opined the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to the worst crisis since Cuba and we'd all be facing incineration by this time next month.
I'm much less convinced - Putin will be aware of significant non-military consequences if he moves into the whole of Ukraine. Strengthening the Russian hold around Dombass is a maybe but Russian tanks driving into Kiev - I still can't see it.
What I can't get my head around - although I am sure others will understand it better than I do - is why Putin decided to demand things he knows the West cannot deliver. He could have said that Ukraine was in the Russian sphere of influence and that the West had no right to interfere. NATO and the EU may not have liked that but they would not go to war over it. But the demand that NATO pull out of all the former Eastern Bloc countries was just fantasy. There is simply no way they would agree to that. There is no way under the Treaty they could. So why make such unacceptable demands?
Comments
Mail
If true, then I am thinking that any one of the serious contenders (Sunak, Truss, Hunt) could mobilise their support team to get over the line for the 54 required. So, now a matter of timing?
It was fun and the history made it special. But the revamp has turned it into a pseudo-Greek taverna (why? It was doing fine as it was?!) and has apparently ruined it.
So praise the Lord for the Bald Faced Stag
London is truly BACK!
Mail
Why? Some of those involved have literally admitted to it on the record. Indeed, Johnson said he went to one for 25 mins and told this in the Commons! Hansard wrote it down.
PB lawyers - if I walk into a police station and say I committed a crime, do they say we will have to wait for an independent inquiry?
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lockdown-wine-cooler-as-seen-on-10-downing-street-cookology-cwc34bk-48cm-wine-cooler-34-bottles-in-black-3872427
Best breakfast I've had in recent years in MD was on the Eastern Shore. Middle of no-f***ing-where. I think it was a car sales showroom across from a falling down church at a crossroads of firebreaks in the loblolly forest that goes by the name of Royal Oak. The spot is called "t at the General Store" http://www.tatthegeneralstore.com
In DC there is an amazing Middle Eastern restaurant in the Navy Yards, Albi, that has a breakfast counter attached to it, Yellow the Cafe. That is excellent too. https://www.yellowthecafe.com
"Big Dog looking for one of these....."
https://twitter.com/DonLew87/status/1482342784505987081?s=20
Difficult to tell how bad it is. Maybe not apocalyptic, given the incredible size of the explosion in those amazing images. I guess they had tons of warning at least, thank God it happened in a remote part of the Pacific
The person who stayed behind to film the waves is.... brave
That's not something one reads too often.
Benitez will go, but it isn't him that's the problem. Something toxic is going on.
It is one thing surviving incompetence like Major, May, Corbyn and Starmer. Quite another, outrageous mendacity and corruption.
I suppose if they invade now it might all be over by then, and the thousands of corpses will have been buried in huge pits up near Kiev, so they won't disturb my journey? One can but hope
Action packed, sure. And maybe making a difference, depending on how much the UK rolls back/forward on you-know-what.
But Thatcher, Blair and Churchill were substantial. Cameron, Major, Wilson, Macmillan, Attlee, significant. Below them, the also-rans, who look like getting another added to their list.
Still, if Anas just points at a few more full wheelie bins..
It gives the distinct appearance that the Metropolitan Police are unwilling to act out of cowardice, sloth, or some combination of the two.
Coming on top of the legion of other scandals in which it has been embroiled, it is small wonder that this is an organisation that struggles to command respect.
G
R
A
Y
FFS.
Other councils that SLab will be focussed on include Aberdeen, East Lothian, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.
Glasgow result last time:
SNP 39 councillors
Lab 31 councillors
Con 8 councillors
Grn 7 councillors
Currently SNP minority control
She's ok, so you don't need to express your sympathies - now sat at home having had an hour of treatment and lots of checks. Likely an acute burst of laboured breathing from those conditions combined with an anxiety attack.
Reason for the post - the paramedic was on her own. Lots of single crews because they are "dropping like flies" with Omicron. Hospitals critically busy with patients - mostly younger and middle aged vax deniers. All of them say how sorry they are they denied the vaccines as they get hooked up to the machines.
Whilst I don't support mandatory vaccinations and a "your papers please" society, we do need to punish the wazzocks refusing to get jabbed. If not a tax hike how about an economic recovery payments for everyone who has been jabbed. No jab, no dough.
We have been relegated twice. Spent a grand total of 4 seasons out of the top division. By far the best record of anyone.
Agree Benitez isn't the problem. We keep attracting hugely internationally well regarded managers who fail.
Ironically. With us unable to spend under FFP, the situation is ideal for one David Moyes right now.
13 points from our first six games.
6 from last 13.
We are in worse free fall than the Tory Party.
And whilst you focus on the vaccine issue I also hope the callous bastards on the far right, some of whom frequent this place, will read this and post with a good deal more grace and compassion than is sometimes evident. This remains a bloody nasty virus, especially for many of our most vulnerable.
Incidentally a good friend of mine is incapable of having the vaccines because she has anaphylactic reaction to one of the ingredients. So we should also temper comments about those unvaccinated.
He changed the country in a fundamental and historic way. Which you cannot say of the other minor PMs, like May, Brown, Callaghan etc
Now he may be seen as a terrible villain, or he may be partly exonerated by posterity (who knows) but he's definitely not a minor footnote of an also-ran
It looks like he will be historically unique, and in his very own category: remarkably brief period in office, outstandingly important in British history, absurdly dramatic departure from Number 10
Don't know if this, in and of itself, will be politically important though. The wave of departures from the care sector over vaccine refuser sentiment didn't cause much blow-back, after all. And Labour will find it hard to attack the Government over these sackings without making it look as if they're more interested in the obstinacy of the workforce than the welfare of the patients.
Not quite the epitaph he wanted.
No A!
I only do that when you do it, and only about 1 time in 10 btw
6 points from 13 games. 5 of them are from games against Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea.
All 3 we were the better team and looked comfortable at that level.
But we are getting caned by our relegation rivals. It is clearly more than simply not being good enough.
If anti vaxxers really are apologising as they're hooked up to the machines, someone should get their consent to be filmed and put together a tv commercial that's just a hard hitting reel of people on their death beds telling people to get jabbed. And it should be running 24/7. Every ad break. Every youtube preroll. Saturation coverage.
The irony of that happening when the pandemic may finally be winding down would be remarkable but it doesn't mean it won't happen.
Here's another guess - it will then start being applied to other vaccines too, especially flu.
Has your friend had discussions about all available vaccines though? They are not the same, so maybe one type is possible?
I’m not sure who you are referring too ‘far right’. There is no one on this site who fits that description. There are some who think the price in individual freedom has been too high, and that we have reached the time to stop measures designed for a pre vaccination world.
I would halt plan b immediately, but I have no power.
You're right, hard to tell severity. My impression is that it's bad enough, but not the worst.
Local geography will be a factor, saw report that somebody was predicting before the explosion, that if it happened, storm surge would esp. impact the capital, at least by the waterfront. Which would be a big problem, not just there but for national infrastructure & economy in general, but for disaster relief.
Good news is that Australian, New Zealand and (no doubt) American navy, air force, etc. have already been mobilized and are on there way. And even though Tongans are cut off (mostly) from the world, they will know this without needing a news bulletin.
I believe Quebec is the first to bring in financial penalties. They are introducing a Health Solidarity Payment for the unvaxxed. Still in the planning stage.
I don't understand what "Jack" is referring to - but I have a Union Flag baccy tin if that helps.
Douglas or Alistair.
As I said I've got a Union flag tobacco tin.
I like Ross. For me he won the Holyrood election debate last year by quite a margin.
April is a very bad month to have a baby.
My ideology nowadays is simply Anti-SNP Type. We need a broad coalition for the sake of the north part of this island.
As for Johnson's...
A better comparison for Boris might be a revolutionary leader who is quickly deposed, becoming highly contentious and reviled by many, even as the faithful stand firm
Robespierre?
"KNOWKNEE
@JohnnyTeisi
· 13h
This family were in church. They’d just finish having choir practice and the tsunami hit 😩❤️🇹🇴"
https://twitter.com/JohnnyTeisi/status/1482232568770887681?s=20
I was at lunch and one of my nervous friends opined the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to the worst crisis since Cuba and we'd all be facing incineration by this time next month.
I'm much less convinced - Putin will be aware of significant non-military consequences if he moves into the whole of Ukraine. Strengthening the Russian hold around Dombass is a maybe but Russian tanks driving into Kiev - I still can't see it.
Javid needs a way around this.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'Higgins_F.C.
https://twitter.com/sirajnoorani/status/1482258754666065923?s=20
EDIT: I reckon they knew the tsunami was coming (check the lifebelts) and they staged it all, trying to get the most hair-raising tsunami video. And they succeeded
I suppose the 'nudge' unit are telling them that saturation will make things worse, but feck it. At least it would make the rest of us feel something was being done about a group of people who seemed determined to force another lockdown on England if they can.
It’s the modellers you want to watch...
They did get some great footage tho, and it WAS all staged, see here:
https://twitter.com/Abdulrahman1492/status/1482375703731617801?s=20
Andrew Lilico
@andrew_lilico
·
2h
If we date the start of the omicron wave to 6-Dec, there have now been more than 4m cases in this wave in England. Remember: that's not infections. That's cases. That 4m cases probably means over 10m infections, possibly over 15m.
We do have restrictions on, so we can't simply conclude from the cases graph falling that we're passed the HIT absent restrictions. But I estimated omicron meant we needed about 20% of people infected to return to the unrestricted HIT. 10-15m infections should be enough for that.
Scaring the wits out of people works.
"Don't die of ignorance" would be just as apt a catchphrase now as it was back in the 80s.
Private hospitals seem short of staff too. Lots have burnt out and quit, across sectors.
I've previously spoken of the possible benefits of mandatory vaccination, not for the sake of the refusers but to prevent the healthcare system from crashing and to avert the re-imposition of drastic lockdown measures that immiserate the whole community. Now that it's become apparent both that the pressure on the healthcare system from illness amongst the unvaccinated (as significant as it is) is not as drastic as was feared, and that lockdowns won't be making a comeback anyway because they don't work very well against Omicron, I'm content to allow the refusers to face the consequences of their choices.
There is arguably a place for coercive measures in a period of emergency where there is a clear and substantial threat to the community, or for people in a position of particular responsibility: I remain in favour of mandatory jabs for health and care staff, who can always avoid them by the expedient of quitting if they're really determined not to have them. However, things get a great deal more murky if we're contemplating subjecting the unwilling to medical interventions primarily for the sake of convenience, or saving money, or saving them from themselves. We could do wonders for the nation's health and the wider economy if only we forced everyone to get weighed each year and imposed punitive taxes on fat people, for example, but excessive state intrusion into people's private lives should give us all pause for thought.
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-face-masks-make-people-look-more-attractive-study-suggests-12515676