I don't think about Brexit nearly as much as you do.
Plainly untrue. Unless you are additionally thinking of sapphic sex as often as Leon is.
Talking of which @leon have you seen KaDeWe? Valerie Stoll is so cute and the sapphic love affair soooo good.
Because I have German ancestry I like practicing my German with the subtitles off.
Never heard it called that before!
It’s a night club. A Jewish night club. The whole things a bit like Babylon Berlin only without police, shop workers instead. period Berlin comes across a really bohemian and I like that.
Don’t know if any of this helps explain.
I was just commenting that this particular activity is not normally called 'practicing my German with the subtitles off.'
"All Covid restrictions in England could end in March under No 10 plans Guidance may replace legal requirements as Boris Johnson indicates UK must now live with the virus"
Another story predicting the retention of masking - so not an end to Plan B at all…
From that story: But ministers are expected to continue in the short term with rules mandating mask-wearing in shops and on public transport.
The statutory instrument for masks expires on Wednesday next week. They will have to publish a statutory instrument extending that in the nearish future so we will know soon enough.
It would be an absolutely bizarre move, but that’s what all the papers are being briefed, it would seem. When will this ever end?
Is this negative briefing so that the actual announcement of ‘no more restrictions at all’ is a big moment?
Quite possibly so. As I say above, an extension of masking means an extension of (some of the most visible parts) of Plan B. It would face a huge rebellion I think. Which Bozzatron won’t want.
Regarding to Graun story, the bulk of that yarn is about binning self-isolation and test and trace laws (replacing with guidance) which does indeed meet its sunset in March.
The element about continued maskery is a line buried in the story.
Although at least there's talk of getting rid of them in schools. Sooner the fecking better AFAIAC.
I don't think about Brexit nearly as much as you do.
Plainly untrue. Unless you are additionally thinking of sapphic sex as often as Leon is.
Talking of which @leon have you seen KaDeWe? Valerie Stoll is so cute and the sapphic love affair soooo good.
Because I have German ancestry I like practicing my German with the subtitles off.
Never heard it called that before!
It’s a night club. A Jewish night club. The whole things a bit like Babylon Berlin only without police, shop workers instead. period Berlin comes across a really bohemian and I like that.
Don’t know if any of this helps explain.
I was just commenting that this particular activity is not normally called 'practicing my German with the subtitles off.'
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
You clearly don't read my many posts that are scare-mongering about Covid, boasting about my sex life, boasting about selling stories from my young mistress about UFOS in Tooting to the Mail, recounting my adventures in Antarctica, discussing the best way to make a smoked haddock risotto, or baiting anyone with a Scot Nat tendency
Stay. Hang out. My output is diverse, but hysterical
No, it's not.
It's not even funny any more - it's the boring old guff we've had from @SeanT and Martin Day since the late 2000s.
The regurgitated excreta of legends I fear.
+1
SeanT isn’t the SeanT he used to be. The harder he tries the more he fails.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
That said, presumably Bozzatron will face a huge rebellion if he tries to extend the mask mandate? Would appear to be odd politics given the febrile atmosphere in the PCP.
I have to confess that the confidence with which the papers are predicting it does not chime with any Parliamentary scrutiny of the measure. Maybe they figure that the SoS will just put them through without it, despite Johnson’s contrary indications
Off topic (sorry), back to the BBC. I watched the BBC1 killer roads doc tonight and something smelled fishy. They quoted 1600 road deaths in 2021 and talked about a reversing trend. I’m always suspicious about short term data, so I looked up all road deaths in the U.K. for the last 20 years. In that time we’ve gone from around 3000 per year to about 1700 in 2019. In 2020 this was down significantly to around 1400. Then back up in 2021 to 1600. So they have taken a rise in 2020 from the low recordeded in the first year of the pandemic, you know, the one with the proper lockdown, and used this to assert that the decline in road deaths has been reversed. They then had the nerve to blame this on the police for not doing enough. Frankly if I could be arsed I’d complain, but the standard bbc response is to say ‘we think we got it about right’. Wankers. Either they just don’t understand numbers, trends and data, or they are deceitful wankers.
I haven't seen the programme but it sounded fishy to me on a report I heard earlier.
This is a form of a particularly annoying type of "journalism" where they breathlessly report that X is at the highest/lowest level for Y years. It is completely meaningless. Show that it is statistically significant before taking one step further. Quite often such stories are regurgitating crap put out by charities that skate perilously close to political campaigning.
Its totally shocking....I mean we haven't just had 2 years of this with COVID stats....
Wait until 2022 shows a negative value for "excess deaths". (against a 5-year rolling average) The usual suspects will be screaming about 2020 being a one-off and should be excluded from the stats.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Why should Moscow go to Scotland?
It's north of the middle of the England Scotland divide.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Beijing city officials are recommending people stop ordering items to be delivered from overseas, after saying a local woman may have been infected by Omicron after opening a parcel.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Why should Moscow go to Scotland?
It's north of the middle of the England Scotland divide.
Well, yes, but jt's also in the middle of Russia. I mean, wouldn't they object to it being given to Scotland?
That said, presumably Bozzatron will face a huge rebellion if he tries to extend the mask mandate? Would appear to be odd politics given the febrile atmosphere in the PCP.
I have to confess that the confidence with which the papers are predicting it does not chime with any Parliamentary scrutiny of the measure. Maybe they figure that the SoS will just put them through without it, despite Johnson’s contrary indications
Am amazed the Bakers and the Harpers aren’t already raising it - mind you they probably have more pressing matters on their minds…
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
I pay very little attention to soccer (or to sport in general, excluding road cycling) so was surprised to discover that Man U is no longer a thing. Well, it still exists probably, but much in the way that East Fife still exists. (Presumably.)
Make Brexit Work is absolutely brilliant for Labour, not only because its a Domo Cumo 3 worder and because of its beautiful play on words with “Work”, but also because its wishy washy enough to be all things to all people.
Can Keir sell it? Probably not.
Keri doesn’t need to sell it, the point is that it demonstrates that no one has received their personal unicorn and it’s Boris’s / the Tories fault.
That said, presumably Bozzatron will face a huge rebellion if he tries to extend the mask mandate? Would appear to be odd politics given the febrile atmosphere in the PCP.
I have to confess that the confidence with which the papers are predicting it does not chime with any Parliamentary scrutiny of the measure. Maybe they figure that the SoS will just put them through without it, despite Johnson’s contrary indications
Am amazed the Bakers and the Harpers aren’t already raising it - mind you they probably have more pressing matters on their minds…
It's a ploy to give Boris some red meat to chuck at them when the time comes. He may not get to do it and I highly doubt Rishi will keep any restrictions.
I know who sent the email to Martin Reynolds on 20 May 2020 telling him the planned “bring your own booze” party should not go ahead - though the sender tells me he does not want to be seen as agent provocateur against the prime minister and has asked me not to name him. Before I go on, I regard the evidence of this “senior official” - as styled by Dominic Cummings in his Monday blog - as compelling, because if it turns out he is lying he knows it will come out and he would be seriously damaged. The email was copied to an official in Reynolds’s office and to the PM’s then main aide - now estranged - Mr Cummings.
Sue Gray, who is investigating that party and others, can easily find the email, since there will not be so many received by Mr Reynolds and Mr Cummings on 20 May.
She has also told the sender of the dynamite email she would like to speak with him but has not yet
Off topic (sorry), back to the BBC. I watched the BBC1 killer roads doc tonight and something smelled fishy. They quoted 1600 road deaths in 2021 and talked about a reversing trend. I’m always suspicious about short term data, so I looked up all road deaths in the U.K. for the last 20 years. In that time we’ve gone from around 3000 per year to about 1700 in 2019. In 2020 this was down significantly to around 1400. Then back up in 2021 to 1600. So they have taken a rise in 2020 from the low recordeded in the first year of the pandemic, you know, the one with the proper lockdown, and used this to assert that the decline in road deaths has been reversed. They then had the nerve to blame this on the police for not doing enough. Frankly if I could be arsed I’d complain, but the standard bbc response is to say ‘we think we got it about right’. Wankers. Either they just don’t understand numbers, trends and data, or they are deceitful wankers.
Regression to the mean stats over traffic deaths was a big trick for justification for speed cameras.....road has big year of accidents, in goes traffic camera, magic it goes down the next year, speed camera was effective, but when you zoom out, you find its just regression to the mean.
Yes it was. I once called out liars in a cinema after an ad about that.
My pet hate was 'This is the sound of a car doing 30mph hitting a child' followed by the squeal of brakes and then a child sobbing.
Well, if it was braking, it wasn't doing 30mph at the moment of impact, was it? I'm willing to bet that if you drive straight over a child even at 30mph you'll kill it.
Well, yes, except speed cameras WORK
I was prone to speeding on clear roads. I do it a lot less having paid a few fines and acquired a few points, from speed cameras, over the years (clean now)
One can object to them on pure libertarian grounds, but they are certainly effective at stopping speeding
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Why should Moscow go to Scotland?
It's north of the middle of the England Scotland divide.
Well, yes, but jt's also in the middle of Russia. I mean, wouldn't they object to it being given to Scotland?
I'm arbitrarily dividing the world, first of all between England and France along the 49th parallel, so that France gets to keep Paris but we may have to submit back to Norman rule to appease our reclaimed lands north of their capital.
After Scotland gets independence it'll surely want to keep control of lands north of its border with England.
I reckon Scotland gets Moscow.
It could also get most of Belfast if it wanted. Most of Eire going back to England could be a bit tricky.
I know who sent the email to Martin Reynolds on 20 May 2020 telling him the planned “bring your own booze” party should not go ahead - though the sender tells me he does not want to be seen as agent provocateur against the prime minister and has asked me not to name him. Before I go on, I regard the evidence of this “senior official” - as styled by Dominic Cummings in his Monday blog - as compelling, because if it turns out he is lying he knows it will come out and he would be seriously damaged. The email was copied to an official in Reynolds’s office and to the PM’s then main aide - now estranged - Mr Cummings.
Sue Gray, who is investigating that party and others, can easily find the email, since there will not be so many received by Mr Reynolds and Mr Cummings on 20 May.
She has also told the sender of the dynamite email she would like to speak with him but has not yet
...
Pesto is great at keeping sources anonymous....too lazy to put "they".
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Why should Moscow go to Scotland?
It's north of the middle of the England Scotland divide.
Well, yes, but jt's also in the middle of Russia. I mean, wouldn't they object to it being given to Scotland?
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
Off topic (sorry), back to the BBC. I watched the BBC1 killer roads doc tonight and something smelled fishy. They quoted 1600 road deaths in 2021 and talked about a reversing trend. I’m always suspicious about short term data, so I looked up all road deaths in the U.K. for the last 20 years. In that time we’ve gone from around 3000 per year to about 1700 in 2019. In 2020 this was down significantly to around 1400. Then back up in 2021 to 1600. So they have taken a rise in 2020 from the low recordeded in the first year of the pandemic, you know, the one with the proper lockdown, and used this to assert that the decline in road deaths has been reversed. They then had the nerve to blame this on the police for not doing enough. Frankly if I could be arsed I’d complain, but the standard bbc response is to say ‘we think we got it about right’. Wankers. Either they just don’t understand numbers, trends and data, or they are deceitful wankers.
Regression to the mean stats over traffic deaths was a big trick for justification for speed cameras.....road has big year of accidents, in goes traffic camera, magic it goes down the next year, speed camera was effective, but when you zoom out, you find its just regression to the mean.
Yes it was. I once called out liars in a cinema after an ad about that.
My pet hate was 'This is the sound of a car doing 30mph hitting a child' followed by the squeal of brakes and then a child sobbing.
Well, if it was braking, it wasn't doing 30mph at the moment of impact, was it? I'm willing to bet that if you drive straight over a child even at 30mph you'll kill it.
Well, yes, except speed cameras WORK
I was prone to speeding on clear roads. I do it a lot less having paid a few fines and acquired a few points, from speed cameras, over the years (clean now)
One can object to them on pure libertarian grounds, but they are certainly effective at stopping speeding
I have no issue with speed cameras, and find the average speed cameras very good on road works etc. The issue is the misuse of statistics to show that a new speed camera has had an effect. Site one at the scene of a fatal accident and you are almost certain to achieve a 100 % reduction in deaths at that site, unless there is a specific issue there. Pretending that the return to the mean does not mean the camera is saving lives.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Why should Moscow go to Scotland?
It's north of the middle of the England Scotland divide.
Well, yes, but jt's also in the middle of Russia. I mean, wouldn't they object to it being given to Scotland?
They might be distinctly bolshoi about it.
I'm sure theY'll delay it if it's suggested. They lead on Stalin.
Off topic (sorry), back to the BBC. I watched the BBC1 killer roads doc tonight and something smelled fishy. They quoted 1600 road deaths in 2021 and talked about a reversing trend. I’m always suspicious about short term data, so I looked up all road deaths in the U.K. for the last 20 years. In that time we’ve gone from around 3000 per year to about 1700 in 2019. In 2020 this was down significantly to around 1400. Then back up in 2021 to 1600. So they have taken a rise in 2020 from the low recordeded in the first year of the pandemic, you know, the one with the proper lockdown, and used this to assert that the decline in road deaths has been reversed. They then had the nerve to blame this on the police for not doing enough. Frankly if I could be arsed I’d complain, but the standard bbc response is to say ‘we think we got it about right’. Wankers. Either they just don’t understand numbers, trends and data, or they are deceitful wankers.
Regression to the mean stats over traffic deaths was a big trick for justification for speed cameras.....road has big year of accidents, in goes traffic camera, magic it goes down the next year, speed camera was effective, but when you zoom out, you find its just regression to the mean.
Yes it was. I once called out liars in a cinema after an ad about that.
My pet hate was 'This is the sound of a car doing 30mph hitting a child' followed by the squeal of brakes and then a child sobbing.
Well, if it was braking, it wasn't doing 30mph at the moment of impact, was it? I'm willing to bet that if you drive straight over a child even at 30mph you'll kill it.
Well, yes, except speed cameras WORK
I was prone to speeding on clear roads. I do it a lot less having paid a few fines and acquired a few points, from speed cameras, over the years (clean now)
One can object to them on pure libertarian grounds, but they are certainly effective at stopping speeding
I have no issue with speed cameras, and find the average speed cameras very good on road works etc. The issue is the misuse of statistics to show that a new speed camera has had an effect. Site one at the scene of a fatal accident and you are almost certain to achieve a 100 % reduction in deaths at that site, unless there is a specific issue there. Pretending that the return to the mean does not mean the camera is saving lives.
If I remember correctly there was a big dust up during New Labour years where the statistician asked to review this noted this was regression to the mean and the immediate "effectiveness" was being used to justify ever larger amounts of spending on speed camera was an illusion. I seemed to remember she was not asked to continue her analysis.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
Beijing city officials are recommending people stop ordering items to be delivered from overseas, after saying a local woman may have been infected by Omicron after opening a parcel.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
It is possibly the shark-jumping moment for Chinese Covid control
As we all know, the main method Omicron enters your country is via FOREIGN MAIL FROM CANADA
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
If you take Canada's most southerly point there are more people living north of there in the USA than live in Canada.
Beijing city officials are recommending people stop ordering items to be delivered from overseas, after saying a local woman may have been infected by Omicron after opening a parcel.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
It is possibly the shark-jumping moment for Chinese Covid control
As we all know, the main method Omicron enters your country is via FOREIGN MAIL FROM CANADA
Didn't they previously claim an outbreak was some frozen fish from abroad?
I know who sent the email to Martin Reynolds on 20 May 2020 telling him the planned “bring your own booze” party should not go ahead - though the sender tells me he does not want to be seen as agent provocateur against the prime minister and has asked me not to name him. Before I go on, I regard the evidence of this “senior official” - as styled by Dominic Cummings in his Monday blog - as compelling, because if it turns out he is lying he knows it will come out and he would be seriously damaged. The email was copied to an official in Reynolds’s office and to the PM’s then main aide - now estranged - Mr Cummings.
Sue Gray, who is investigating that party and others, can easily find the email, since there will not be so many received by Mr Reynolds and Mr Cummings on 20 May.
She has also told the sender of the dynamite email she would like to speak with him but has not yet
...
Pesto is great at keeping sources anonymous....too lazy to put "they".
Sounds like this email is the big moment, the smoking gun? Totally contradicts what Boris said last week to the commons, in his fulsome apology, gives every MP the cover they need.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
What a superb statistic
Talking of great statistics, according to a pornstar on the Triggernometry podcast, yesterday, only 40% of men who have ever existed, have successfully procreated. 80% of women.
Beijing city officials are recommending people stop ordering items to be delivered from overseas, after saying a local woman may have been infected by Omicron after opening a parcel.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
It is possibly the shark-jumping moment for Chinese Covid control
As we all know, the main method Omicron enters your country is via FOREIGN MAIL FROM CANADA
Didn't they previously claim an outbreak was some frozen fish from abroad?
ISTR NZ claimed this too back in 2020. I don’t recall any studies, although there were of course outbreaks associated with meat processing plants. May be other reasons for those.
I know who sent the email to Martin Reynolds on 20 May 2020 telling him the planned “bring your own booze” party should not go ahead - though the sender tells me he does not want to be seen as agent provocateur against the prime minister and has asked me not to name him. Before I go on, I regard the evidence of this “senior official” - as styled by Dominic Cummings in his Monday blog - as compelling, because if it turns out he is lying he knows it will come out and he would be seriously damaged. The email was copied to an official in Reynolds’s office and to the PM’s then main aide - now estranged - Mr Cummings.
Sue Gray, who is investigating that party and others, can easily find the email, since there will not be so many received by Mr Reynolds and Mr Cummings on 20 May.
She has also told the sender of the dynamite email she would like to speak with him but has not yet
...
Pesto is great at keeping sources anonymous....too lazy to put "they".
Sounds like this email is the big moment, the smoking gun? Totally contradicts what Boris said last week to the commons, in his fulsome apology, gives every MP the cover they need.
Boris lied about lying about lying about lying about lying about an event that he didn't know happened despite being there.
Beijing city officials are recommending people stop ordering items to be delivered from overseas, after saying a local woman may have been infected by Omicron after opening a parcel.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
Fortress China isn't really going to be complete until they've got the Fuller Domes in place over the major cities.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
Thank goodness for the Gulf Stream otherwise winters in the North and Scotland would be closer to Russian or Canadian winters
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
If you take Canada's most southerly point there are more people living north of there in the USA than live in Canada.
Canada's most southerly point is further south than all of mainland France.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
I pay very little attention to soccer (or to sport in general, excluding road cycling) so was surprised to discover that Man U is no longer a thing. Well, it still exists probably, but much in the way that East Fife still exists. (Presumably.)
You have to explain that one it makes no sense.
And could you switch your avatar too, it looks like a Midwich Cuckoo. How about something scandi?
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
If you take Canada's most southerly point there are more people living north of there in the USA than live in Canada.
Canada's most southerly point is further south than all of mainland France.
Yes southern Canada gets as good summers as New England or the south of France, certainly sunnier than ours anyway
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
If you take Canada's most southerly point there are more people living north of there in the USA than live in Canada.
Canada's most southerly point is further south than all of mainland France.
That's why I thought the 49th would be a fairer line for the world border than the south of Canada for us and France. We ought to get Normandy and Brittany, but France should keep Paris.
Having been so surprised to realise the other day that Bristol was east of Edinburgh, I thought I'd have a look at some latitude lines. Because I sometimes find that kind of thing fun.
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
We are a long, long way north. Less than 2% of the world's population lives north of Manchester.
What a superb statistic
Talking of great statistics, according to a pornstar on the Triggernometry podcast, yesterday, only 40% of men who have ever existed, have successfully procreated. 80% of women.
Beijing city officials are recommending people stop ordering items to be delivered from overseas, after saying a local woman may have been infected by Omicron after opening a parcel.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
It is possibly the shark-jumping moment for Chinese Covid control
As we all know, the main method Omicron enters your country is via FOREIGN MAIL FROM CANADA
Didn't they previously claim an outbreak was some frozen fish from abroad?
Yes, the original outbreak. In Wuhan. That is to say, they claimed that the outbreak of a weirdly infectious apparently-humanized novel bat coronavirus in WUHAN was nothing to do with the world's one and only lab investigating the possibilities of a weirdly infectious novel bat coronavirus was.... also in Wuhan
A lab which was, by the by, trying to make this same virus weirdly infectious via humanized mice
Pff! Coincidences happen all the time. OK this is a million to one. But still
I know who sent the email to Martin Reynolds on 20 May 2020 telling him the planned “bring your own booze” party should not go ahead - though the sender tells me he does not want to be seen as agent provocateur against the prime minister and has asked me not to name him. Before I go on, I regard the evidence of this “senior official” - as styled by Dominic Cummings in his Monday blog - as compelling, because if it turns out he is lying he knows it will come out and he would be seriously damaged. The email was copied to an official in Reynolds’s office and to the PM’s then main aide - now estranged - Mr Cummings.
Sue Gray, who is investigating that party and others, can easily find the email, since there will not be so many received by Mr Reynolds and Mr Cummings on 20 May.
She has also told the sender of the dynamite email she would like to speak with him but has not yet
...
Pesto is great at keeping sources anonymous....too lazy to put "they".
Sounds like this email is the big moment, the smoking gun? Totally contradicts what Boris said last week to the commons, in his fulsome apology, gives every MP the cover they need.
Boris lied about lying about lying about lying about lying about an event that he didn't know happened despite being there.
Put like that, maybe BoJo's post-Downing Street job should be one of the guards to the Sapphire City;
If Labour do return to power, especially if they get an unexpected majority, I wonder how long it will be before their ill-concealed Remainer instincts come to the fore?
Half of them are the bastard offspring of A C Grayling and @Scott_xP
They have never accepted Brexit, they would reverse it tomorrow (by a coup, if necessary) and Starmer is one of theirs. A 2nd voter. A Trumpite on the left, who was willing to overturn democracy by thwarting the referendum
Can they really keep their primal instincts concealed? It's like asking alcoholics to be happy with alcohol free lager, even tho their best friend now has the keys to the pub. It's not gonna work
At some point this is gonna become a real problem for Labour, I just wonder if it will be before or after the next election. If the polls stay amazing (for the left), it might come before
There's no way back without a referendum which would take years to organize and legislate for.
Not really. Cameron got elected in 2014 and called his EU vote in 2016
Starmer could do the same
And if we are ever going to Rejoin it need to be sooner rather than later, the more years go by, the more the UK settles into an ex-EU situation, the more theidea of Rejoining seems insane
I predict this will become quite a burning issue, if Labour retains dazzling polls. Watch the Guardian op-ed pages
"Time for a Rethink" blah blah blah
"Starmer has a golden opportunity to settle the EU Question"
And so forth
There’s no chance of the UK rejoining for the foreseeable future . The EU doesn’t want another load of drama , Remainers I know still think Brexit is a fxcking disaster but wouldn’t want another referendum anytime soon . There would have to be a massive shift in opinion to a huge majority to rejoin and I can’t see that happening for a generation.
So within the next Parliament then? Or is that just a Scottish thing?
Off topic (sorry), back to the BBC. I watched the BBC1 killer roads doc tonight and something smelled fishy. They quoted 1600 road deaths in 2021 and talked about a reversing trend. I’m always suspicious about short term data, so I looked up all road deaths in the U.K. for the last 20 years. In that time we’ve gone from around 3000 per year to about 1700 in 2019. In 2020 this was down significantly to around 1400. Then back up in 2021 to 1600. So they have taken a rise in 2020 from the low recordeded in the first year of the pandemic, you know, the one with the proper lockdown, and used this to assert that the decline in road deaths has been reversed. They then had the nerve to blame this on the police for not doing enough. Frankly if I could be arsed I’d complain, but the standard bbc response is to say ‘we think we got it about right’. Wankers. Either they just don’t understand numbers, trends and data, or they are deceitful wankers.
Regression to the mean stats over traffic deaths was a big trick for justification for speed cameras.....road has big year of accidents, in goes traffic camera, magic it goes down the next year, speed camera was effective, but when you zoom out, you find its just regression to the mean.
Yes it was. I once called out liars in a cinema after an ad about that.
My pet hate was 'This is the sound of a car doing 30mph hitting a child' followed by the squeal of brakes and then a child sobbing.
Well, if it was braking, it wasn't doing 30mph at the moment of impact, was it? I'm willing to bet that if you drive straight over a child even at 30mph you'll kill it.
Well, yes, except speed cameras WORK
I was prone to speeding on clear roads. I do it a lot less having paid a few fines and acquired a few points, from speed cameras, over the years (clean now)
One can object to them on pure libertarian grounds, but they are certainly effective at stopping speeding
I have no issue with speed cameras, and find the average speed cameras very good on road works etc. The issue is the misuse of statistics to show that a new speed camera has had an effect. Site one at the scene of a fatal accident and you are almost certain to achieve a 100 % reduction in deaths at that site, unless there is a specific issue there. Pretending that the return to the mean does not mean the camera is saving lives.
Hm - now I'm as libertarian as the next one in my objection in principle to speed cameras. But the point is they are generally sited at the right points. Who cares if someone is buzzing through the empty unspeed-camera'd open countryside at 70 rather than 60 - but it is rather important that he slows down properly to 30 when coming into the village. This is hard to do, and feels unnaturally slow after bezzing along at 60 (or 70). A well-placed speed camera does the job of actually slowing traffic down to the right speed, rather than slowing it down to a speed which feels slow enough to the driver but which is still dangerously fast to the pedestrian.
Comments
The obviously famous 49th, dividing so much of Canada and the USA, runs quite conveniently between UK's Jersey and France's Chausey, and then through just north of Paris. I think it's the perfect line to divide the world between England and France (don't worry Scotland, I'll get to you soon).
The line carries on through into Germany, leaving most of it in England but all of Bavaria in France. All of Austria except one village goes to France, almost all of Czechia to England. Further round Volgograd is France and then then the border runs through Kazakhstan.
Then I thought I'd have a look at the England Scotland border, to see how we can divide the world after our inevitable split. Obviously it's a trickier border to track around the globe, going from as north as Berwick to as south as the Mull of Galloway. When I tracked this disputed zone I felt colder on behalf of our northern cousins.
Berwick is level with Moscow, which I think ought to go to Scotland. Also on that most north of England line is the north shore of Lake Baikal. The lake's southern shore is level with London. The world's largest lake which has enough water to cover a flat Britain with 110 metre depth, but was cold enough to freeze for an army to march over it, is south of Scotland. The line also runs through Kazakhstan.
Looking back over to the other side of the Atlantic, the very Southern tip of Scotland at the Mull of Galloway is level with around the middle of Polar Bear Provincial Park. A park in Ontario where Polar Bears live is level with the southern end of Scotland. I reckon they'd get on better than pandas in Scotland.
SeanT isn’t the SeanT he used to be. The harder he tries the more he fails.
The usual suspects will be screaming about 2020 being a one-off and should be excluded from the stats.
They repeated the theory that Covid-19 could be spread internationally on imports of frozen food, something many scientists have questioned.
Pesto
I know who sent the email to Martin Reynolds on 20 May 2020 telling him the planned “bring your own booze” party should not go ahead - though the sender tells me he does not want to be seen as agent provocateur against the prime minister and has asked me not to name him.
Before I go on, I regard the evidence of this “senior official” - as styled by Dominic Cummings in his Monday blog - as compelling, because if it turns out he is lying he knows it will come out and he would be seriously damaged.
The email was copied to an official in Reynolds’s office and to the PM’s then main aide - now estranged - Mr Cummings.
Sue Gray, who is investigating that party and others, can easily find the email, since there will not be so many received by Mr Reynolds and Mr Cummings on 20 May.
She has also told the sender of the dynamite email she would like to speak with him but has not yet
...
I was prone to speeding on clear roads. I do it a lot less having paid a few fines and acquired a few points, from speed cameras, over the years (clean now)
One can object to them on pure libertarian grounds, but they are certainly effective at stopping speeding
After Scotland gets independence it'll surely want to keep control of lands north of its border with England.
I reckon Scotland gets Moscow.
It could also get most of Belfast if it wanted. Most of Eire going back to England could be a bit tricky.
As we all know, the main method Omicron enters your country is via FOREIGN MAIL FROM CANADA
New Thread
And could you switch your avatar too, it looks like a Midwich Cuckoo. How about something scandi?
50% Labour
Stunning.
A lab which was, by the by, trying to make this same virus weirdly infectious via humanized mice
Pff! Coincidences happen all the time. OK this is a million to one. But still
https://youtu.be/02gfh-h6mTQ
(You know, multiple guards who either always lie, always tell the truth...)
(Also, just to be clear, that's Sapphire, not Sapphic.)
But the point is they are generally sited at the right points. Who cares if someone is buzzing through the empty unspeed-camera'd open countryside at 70 rather than 60 - but it is rather important that he slows down properly to 30 when coming into the village. This is hard to do, and feels unnaturally slow after bezzing along at 60 (or 70). A well-placed speed camera does the job of actually slowing traffic down to the right speed, rather than slowing it down to a speed which feels slow enough to the driver but which is still dangerously fast to the pedestrian.