What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
Apparently Briefing Room A is a bit of a John Lewis nightmare, so it's only right that she had a look at it.
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance. He made the tweets when in the army after fighting in Bosnia and Iraq and having mental health issues and has apologised for them.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1486020526497665025 because as I pointed out this morning, the Met police and Cressida Dick have no objection to its publication. It will I am told be a report that will make for very uncomfortable reading for the PM and Tory MPs. It is a description of the parties. Gray will make clear that it…
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
I feel a new Cummings revelation coming on this week.
He needs the Gray report to be out so he can reveal something that isn't in it.
At which point it would be game over for Boris unless Sue Gray was a total idiot (and she won't be)
“Here is an email of evidence I sent Sue Gray which has mysteriously not made it into the redacted summary presented by the PM at the despatch box.”
Steve Baker is right, it’s checkmate. My spirit has lifted from this morning, almost time for a glass of something.
Is it checkmate, tho? This is British politics, not chess. There are no rules which say You have lost, unless he is VONC’d, and even then he might stay on? Remember Brown clinging on after he clearly lost the ELECTION in 2010
I was not a fan of Mr Brown, but I think that is a myth. He was obliged to remain PM until all negotiating avenues were no longer open to him and that Cameron was able to demonstrate he had formed a coalition.
It is a myth. One of many about Gordon. He incited much Tory anger and this was for 3 reasons. He kept beating them. His manner as he did it was taunting and bombastic. He was Scottish.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
Iceland is worse than Norway, but it's pretty close.
In other news, the Labour NEC has voted against restoring the party whip to Jeremy Corbyn. That almost certainly means that in the absence of an apology for his response to the EHRC anti-Semitism report, he will not be a Labour candidate at the next general election.
I have lost 25kg+ since summer by skipping breakfast, and moderately sticking to a regime of dinners before 7pm, lowish carb, lowish alcohol etc.
And running every second day.
Amazing! I have lost 2.5kg+ by largely not behaving but doing a lot less misbehaving than I was doing in the run up to Christmas whilst head mashed with work. Really struggling to find time to do any exercise but that will change soon. A combination of longer days and a return to free gym at the hotel will sort me out.
I find the psychology of “every second day” works for me, somehow. I also eschew gyms as I hate strip-lighting.
30 to 60 mins running, outdoors, before 8am. Sticking to parks, canals etc as much as possible. Sets you up for the day. I have much more energy too. Tend to only need 6-7 hours sleep (previously needed 8).
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
Well, yes. But it does have at least one absurdly expensive McDonald's.
Maybe I was lucky, but the hotel was the one thing about Geneva that I didn't think was expensive - it was ~£130 per night in 2013 (~£175 to £200 now at the same hotel according to Google) for a 4 star hotel that was bloody excellent.
Everything is expensive there from Macdonalds to beers in a crappy “pub”. When I lived there I was seriously underwhelmed by the food - the Genevois would rave about certain restaurants and you would go and it was incredibly ordinary, very little variety and grossly overpriced.
You would be recommended an auberge in one of the very smart communes as being amazing and I would find myself afterwards with my best Alan Partridge “so what” face.
There also seemed to be very little joy in the restaurants - all taken a bit seriously.
The only place I really enjoyed was a very basic looking Peruvian place down a back street in Eaux Vives. Hope it’s still there.
Geneva is very po-faced and dull. Zurich is a little bit more fun, but not much?
I thoroughly recommend Lucerne. Beautiful and quite hedonistic by Swiss standards
And of course the Italian speaking bit is gorgeous, vivacious AND has great food. No getting away from the obscene prices tho
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
This bit is good:
The barrister Adam Wagner, an expert on Covid regulations, said Downing Street’s explanation “appears a clear admission of an illegal gathering”, and that its length was irrelevant.
Regulations at the time said that indoor gatherings had to be “reasonably necessary” for work purposes to be legal. Wagner argued that this was “the first time [No 10] have admitted that the PM was at an, to me, obviously illegal gathering with no real prospect of a reasonable excuse”. He added that the admission “ties the Met’s hands”, implying he believes the police would have to investigate.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
That as many as 14 on Labour's NEC still think Corbyn should have the whip is no laughing matter.
Starmer I can disagree with politically but respect but Labour is still not detoxified by any means and if he falls it's plausible a Corbynite could take over.
Definitely think I'd vote for LDs next time. Labour still is not fit.
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
The tweet thread said he was “unintentionally there” for the surprise. Hard to escape if it’s a surprise.
True, though I'm thinking more about his behaviour in the subsequent 18 months, especially since the party thing became a public issue. He knew about this party and did... What? With the information?
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Are you sure you didn't order a live bat stew somewhere near Wuhan in mid 2019 by any chance?
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
The tweet thread said he was “unintentionally there” for the surprise. Hard to escape if it’s a surprise.
This is why I mentioned Hunt earlier. The grassroots might not want him, but relatively speaking he's the stabilising big beast, untainted, and far from the madding crowd. There's no one else currently available with this profile.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
The tweet thread said he was “unintentionally there” for the surprise. Hard to escape if it’s a surprise.
True, though I'm thinking more about his behaviour in the subsequent 18 months, especially since the party thing became a public issue. He knew about this party and did... What? With the information?
The voters he needs to keep don’t like a grass. He’ll be alright
A moment of silence for Labour in their failed attempt to wrestle the political narrative away from the Conservatives. What will it take to Boris out of the limelight now that this has failed? If they don't try a lot harder, Labour could accidentally win the next election. Sort it out, please, Labour folk.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Are you sure you didn't order a live bat stew somewhere near Wuhan in mid 2019 by any chance?
I did order something unknown and wondered at the time why the waiter who brought it to me was in a hazmat suit.
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
This bit is good:
The barrister Adam Wagner, an expert on Covid regulations, said Downing Street’s explanation “appears a clear admission of an illegal gathering”, and that its length was irrelevant.
Regulations at the time said that indoor gatherings had to be “reasonably necessary” for work purposes to be legal. Wagner argued that this was “the first time [No 10] have admitted that the PM was at an, to me, obviously illegal gathering with no real prospect of a reasonable excuse”. He added that the admission “ties the Met’s hands”, implying he believes the police would have to investigate.
Away from the parties for a moment, I find the masks arguments needlessly aggravated.
I see no sense in calling those who prefer to avoid masking "selfish". Nobody is saying that people cannot wear masks if they so wish – and those that are worried can wear an FFP3. So there's nothing selfish about it whatsoever.
It's possibly a legacy of the covid cliche: "Masks are there to protect others, not yourself."
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
Millions of people who only get news from 2 mins slots on music radio or a quick five minutes with the headlines with Hugh Edwards at 10pm are going to only get one thing from today's back and forth:
The police have been called in to investigate all the parties at No 10 during lockdown.
I suspect that millions will be saying "about bloody time".
Is that what they are saying?
Nothing about police previously called now accept that it has reached their required threshold?
Lord Sumption was quite good at lunchtime: 'Most of it is guidance not law, and the law is a big dog's breakfast, so it is difficult to see what they can actually make stick." Ish.
That as many as 14 on Labour's NEC still think Corbyn should have the whip is no laughing matter.
Starmer I can disagree with politically but respect but Labour is still not detoxified by any means and if he falls it's plausible a Corbynite could take over.
Definitely think I'd vote for LDs next time. Labour still is not fit.
Hence also why most polls still suggest a hung parliament, not a Labour majority
What’s this news about Rishi attending a Cobra meeting at the same time AND IN THE SAME ROOM as Boris’s birthday surprise.
Does Lulu Lytle go to COBRA now?
Boris is running a fucking circus. Whitehall appears to be a state of total disarray. The country simply cannot afford a day more of these mythomaniacs in charge.
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
This bit is good:
The barrister Adam Wagner, an expert on Covid regulations, said Downing Street’s explanation “appears a clear admission of an illegal gathering”, and that its length was irrelevant.
Regulations at the time said that indoor gatherings had to be “reasonably necessary” for work purposes to be legal. Wagner argued that this was “the first time [No 10] have admitted that the PM was at an, to me, obviously illegal gathering with no real prospect of a reasonable excuse”. He added that the admission “ties the Met’s hands”, implying he believes the police would have to investigate.
So who was the organiser and liable for the £10k?
Boris will canvass for donations from party donors if found guilty.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Witchetty grubs..... Australian outback..... are quite tasty. Fried grasshoppers .... Thailand ..... the legs get stuck in one's teeth.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
For those interested in the minutiae of the vaccine delate - Johnson & Johnson reported FY results and gave '22 guidance. Projecting vaccine sales will be $3bn-3.5bn and will add 0.5% to company organic revenue growth
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
Will still not vote SF or SDLP if Protestants
SDLP...... possible. More likely to vote Alliance, though.
I have lost 25kg+ since summer by skipping breakfast, and moderately sticking to a regime of dinners before 7pm, lowish carb, lowish alcohol etc.
And running every second day.
Yep - exercise and lower calorie intake will do it for you. Or anyone.
The point is that apart from initially, and indeed during a week in Greece, I’ve barely watched what I eat.
I just try to follow the simple rules above. And if I don’t, there’s always tomorrow.
The weight continues to come off regardless.
It is why the diet book business is so lucrative. You could write a diet book saying eat hotdogs for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch and a bacon sandwich for supper and it would work because for the vast majority of people it is unregulated/snacking/grazing that increases their calorie intake while not satisfying them. So anything which regulates their food intake will almost always result in them eating less than they usually do regardless of what they actually eat.
Alcohol and fruit juices (if people consume them) is usually the easiest way to lose immediate weight.
Edit: and of course people lose weight by funky diets grazing through the day whatever but it almost always means they regulate their intake vs previously.
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
Will still not vote SF or SDLP if Protestants
SDLP...... possible. More likely to vote Alliance, though.
Plenty of young Catholics will also vote Alliance, the long term growth party in NI is Alliance, not SF or DUP, followed by UUP and SDLP.
That is more a shift to moderation than to Nationalists
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
Today suggests BJ has been trying to smokescreen once again. He didn't even tell his Cabinet about the Met Police investigation. That tells me that once again he is obfuscating.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
Yes I think I could eat just about anything deep fried. With enough Tommy K, obvs.
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
Will still not vote SF or SDLP if Protestants
SDLP...... possible. More likely to vote Alliance, though.
Plenty of young Catholics will also vote Alliance, the long term growth party in NI is Alliance, not SF or DUP, followed by UUP and SDLP.
That is more a shift to moderation than to Nationalists
Obviously you’re a NI expert, but I’d suggest there are three things happening at once.
1. A split in Unionism, occasioned by Brexit 2. A shift to moderation, probably generational 3. A de-toxification of Sinn Fein, perhaps aided by success south of the border, although this has allowed them to “stabilise” their vote rather than increase it.
Quite a complex picture.
I had assumed that Unionists - appalled by the prospect of a Sinn Fein FM - would “swing back” to the DUP or perhaps rally around the UUP, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
A moment of silence for Labour in their failed attempt to wrestle the political narrative away from the Conservatives. What will it take to Boris out of the limelight now that this has failed? If they don't try a lot harder, Labour could accidentally win the next election. Sort it out, please, Labour folk.
The real comedy being that: (a) the NEC has no power over the PLP - the body who suspended the whip (b) the Jeremy has not fulfilled the terms set out by the PLP to enable the restoration of the whip
So Pillock and the others knew that their attempt would be laughed out and it was. And yet they still do so because if you are the hard left your real enemy is and always was the Labour Party.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
Were you writing a report you know your boss wouldn't like but wanted to be published in full - adding an independent third party (say the Met Police) to ensure publication couldn't be avoided would be a very Machiavellian way of ensuring publication.
Jesus Christ I just weighed myself. I thought Sri Lankan food was meant to be healthy and, er, slimming?
it was one of those moments when you look down at the scales and scoff and think Surely not, what nonsense, that’s wrong, so you go find another set of scales and… it’s right.
OMG
I have renewed empathy for Boris “cheese and wine” Johnson, and I’m afraid you can expect weekly if not daily updates on my attempt, beginning after this next Martini but one, to shed the REDACTED pounds I have somehow put on since last summer
Ugh!
Your muscle/fat ratio is key though. If that's high you might still look ok despite the scales telling a horror story.
An example of a man with a high muscle/fat ratio is Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yes, I think you’re right. I started going to the gym about 5 years ago and I am much more “buff” (as much as you can be for a man of my advanced years) than I used to be. Toned, even. Also a tan at the moment
Before my gym days I would have noticed the serious weight gain earlier, as when I am fat my face turns into a football, right now it’s more kind of rugby ball
But it’s too much. It has to go. Time for some serious austerity. Sigh
Yes, if you let things go in late middle age you lose your facial features. This is worse than carrying a bit extra around the middle since there's no easy way to hide it. So it is worth making the effort, hard as it can be sometimes. And I say this with absolutely no insight or empathy as somebody who's weighed exactly the same - ten twelve - for the last 35 years.
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
Will still not vote SF or SDLP if Protestants
SDLP...... possible. More likely to vote Alliance, though.
Plenty of young Catholics will also vote Alliance, the long term growth party in NI is Alliance, not SF or DUP, followed by UUP and SDLP.
That is more a shift to moderation than to Nationalists
Alternative view is that it's a shift from worrying about the border. Comparable to the shift in the Republic to stop worrying about the Treaty. If we hadn't left the EU the border would have effectively vanished by 2040. Might still if we get back soon.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
As a matter of fact staying in posh hotels, and being driven around to see things, and having meetings organised for you, is fine for writing about places overseas with insight. Was VS Naipaul's modus operandi and no-one has written more perceptively than him.
I have lost 25kg+ since summer by skipping breakfast, and moderately sticking to a regime of dinners before 7pm, lowish carb, lowish alcohol etc.
And running every second day.
Yep - exercise and lower calorie intake will do it for you. Or anyone.
The point is that apart from initially, and indeed during a week in Greece, I’ve barely watched what I eat.
I just try to follow the simple rules above. And if I don’t, there’s always tomorrow.
The weight continues to come off regardless.
It is why the diet book business is so lucrative. You could write a diet book saying eat hotdogs for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch and a bacon sandwich for supper and it would work because for the vast majority of people it is unregulated/snacking/grazing that increases their calorie intake while not satisfying them. So anything which regulates their food intake will almost always result in them eating less than they usually do regardless of what they actually eat.
Alcohol and fruit juices (if people consume them) is usually the easiest way to lose immediate weight.
Edit: and of course people lose weight by funky diets grazing through the day whatever but it almost always means they regulate their intake vs previously.
This is true. The last time I was this fat I lost it all in about 2 months, simply by watching - quite carefully - what I ate and refusing anything extra, from a biscuit to an extra bit of cheese. And skipping a meal a day. After a fortnight or so it became 2nd nature
I kick started it with a pretty intense fast, however, which really works, whatever dieticians say, because you lose a lot quickly. Sure, its just water or whatever, but it is highly encouraging when you lose 8 pounds in the first two weeks, and that encouragement gives you the enthusiasm to continue
A lot of diets fail because people get discouraged. They don’t see quick results. So: fast first, but then don’t return to your previous intake, stay at a reduced calorie level. And go for a walk instead of lunch
I accept I am speaking as a fat guy (at the moment) here, so it may sound like poor advice, but it isn’t
A key plot device in Peter May's mystery The Black House is a bird that tastes of fish and is farmed annually by Scottish fishermen who stay for several days killing it on a rock covered in seagull shit.
That said, it's supposed to be a major delicacy in the Western Isles.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
I find Leon’s travelogues quite interesting, but I’ve noticed over the years that he has really shit taste in music and film/TV, which has started to make me doubt his taste in food/alchohol/places to stay.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Tesla = the new Range Rover, BMW and Audi in one.
That is quite a compliment, though probably not intended as such. I have had all three brands before the Tesla and have to say Tesla is better. And it has a fart machine.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
Today suggests BJ has been trying to smokescreen once again. He didn't even tell his Cabinet about the Met Police investigation. That tells me that once again he is obfuscating.
I’ve been out shopping. What have I missed? About as much as the cabinet by the sound of it. 😇
History might say he played the crisis pretty well really. It’s not really unprecedented for governments to have crisis weeks and recover. Blair and Thatcher had to endure bad weeks of pressure only to go on to comfortable election wins - I think Thatcher herself remarked she thought she might even be ousted by the end of one day in the Westland kerfuffle.
You got to look at the fundamentals Heathen - policy disputes and electorate complaining about lack of delivery.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
I wonder if you might find it in yourself to scroll past Leon’s posts if you find them that unsettling, rather than whingeing like my toddler in response to him.
I feel a new Cummings revelation coming on this week.
He needs the Gray report to be out so he can reveal something that isn't in it.
At which point it would be game over for Boris unless Sue Gray was a total idiot (and she won't be)
“Here is an email of evidence I sent Sue Gray which has mysteriously not made it into the redacted summary presented by the PM at the despatch box.”
Steve Baker is right, it’s checkmate. My spirit has lifted from this morning, almost time for a glass of something.
Is it checkmate, tho? This is British politics, not chess. There are no rules which say You have lost, unless he is VONC’d, and even then he might stay on? Remember Brown clinging on after he clearly lost the ELECTION in 2010
I was not a fan of Mr Brown, but I think that is a myth. He was obliged to remain PM until all negotiating avenues were no longer open to him and that Cameron was able to demonstrate he had formed a coalition.
Correct. "Clinging on" being there needs to be a Prime Minister. Whilst Labour had not won a majority nobody else had, and until the machinery of state were clear that an alternative government could be formed his had to continue in office.
Thing is, in 1992 when the exit poll came out, Brown went on the BBC election programme and said (I paraphrase) "Major has lost his majority, he needs to resign immediately".
Away from the parties for a moment, I find the masks arguments needlessly aggravated.
I see no sense in calling those who prefer to avoid masking "selfish". Nobody is saying that people cannot wear masks if they so wish – and those that are worried can wear an FFP3. So there's nothing selfish about it whatsoever.
It's possibly a legacy of the covid cliche: "Masks are there to protect others, not yourself."
Have you not heard the story about the US Supreme Court?
Gorsuch is alone in refusing to wear a mask, and so one of the liberal justices feels forced to participate in the Court remotely, because they have a pre-existing condition.
So people are still making decisions on the basis of that belief, that masks protect others, and you are reliant on others wearing masks to be protected.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
As a matter of fact staying in posh hotels, and being driven around to see things, and having meetings organised for you, is fine for writing about places overseas with insight. Was VS Naipaul's modus operandi and no-one has written more perceptively than him.
I really think Naipaul was the finest “British” writer of the post-war era.
I have lost 25kg+ since summer by skipping breakfast, and moderately sticking to a regime of dinners before 7pm, lowish carb, lowish alcohol etc.
And running every second day.
Yep - exercise and lower calorie intake will do it for you. Or anyone.
The point is that apart from initially, and indeed during a week in Greece, I’ve barely watched what I eat.
I just try to follow the simple rules above. And if I don’t, there’s always tomorrow.
The weight continues to come off regardless.
It is why the diet book business is so lucrative. You could write a diet book saying eat hotdogs for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch and a bacon sandwich for supper and it would work because for the vast majority of people it is unregulated/snacking/grazing that increases their calorie intake while not satisfying them. So anything which regulates their food intake will almost always result in them eating less than they usually do regardless of what they actually eat.
Alcohol and fruit juices (if people consume them) is usually the easiest way to lose immediate weight.
Edit: and of course people lose weight by funky diets grazing through the day whatever but it almost always means they regulate their intake vs previously.
This is true. The last time I was this fat I lost it all in about 2 months, simply by watching - quite carefully - what I ate and refusing anything extra, from a biscuit to an extra bit of cheese. And skipping a meal a day. After a fortnight or so it became 2nd nature
I kick started it with a pretty intense fast, however, which really works, whatever dieticians say, because you lose a lot quickly. Sure, its just water or whatever, but it is highly encouraging when you lose 8 pounds in the first two weeks, and that encouragement gives you the enthusiasm to continue
A lot of diets fail because people get discouraged. They don’t see quick results. So: fast first, but then don’t return to your previous intake, stay at a reduced calorie level. And go for a walk instead of lunch
I accept I am speaking as a fat guy (at the moment) here, so it may sound like poor advice, but it isn’t
No you're absolutely right. People on diets get on the scales more (itself a problem because imo no one need weigh themselves but I digress) and if they aren't constantly lowering their weight they do indeed get disheartened and lapse.
I have no problem with fasting or even the 5:2 - whatever floats peoples' boats. It is embarking upon a regime whereas previously there was unfettered eating and drinking that is the important thing.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
Hmm. Wiki says re drunken shrimp:
'Another version is based on shrimp that are submerged in a bowl of rice wine. The rice wine forces the shrimp to expel their wastes. Once done, the shrimp are anesthetized and are taken from the bowl, de-shelled and eaten alive.[4][5]
Consuming uncooked freshwater shrimps may be a serious health hazard due to the risk of paragonimiasis.'
Just had the haulage company on the phone again. With all of the paperwork fully assembled for the many many products on their truck from many many companies it took 5 hours to process them through customs. That's after hours of queues to get to the border.
So much for Brexit having been delivered and that's it now done. We have a border operating model that doesn't operate. There is no benefit to the UK in turning a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hour border crossing.
Do you regret voting for brexit now? I know this is not your version of brexit, but you did contribute to this. (Genuine question - I'm not trying to be sarky or snide.)
Of course I regret it - its turned into the catastrofuck. We're a trading nation. We voted to leave a load of political restrictions on a project we were increasingly distant from. Stepping off an EU that was increasingly Schengen and Euro and closer bounds at a time of our choosing felt better than waiting to be flung to the outer reaches of a twin track Europe.
But never did I conceive that we would impose 30 years of red tape, and demolish our just in time supply chain, and voluntarily put up as many barriers and impediments to trade as we could. Its the polar opposite of what the current government have spent decades doing and delivers a worse position post-Brexit than we had.
As I keep saying, the current Border Operating Model does not work. So regardless of Brexit being done it isn't over, as we will need to remove many of our self-imposed barriers so that we can trade again.
You voted for structural change and now spend all your time saying that structural change is the last thing we need.
Did you completely miss the referendum campaign? Vote Leave's position on leaving the single market featured heavily in it.
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
Jesus Christ I just weighed myself. I thought Sri Lankan food was meant to be healthy and, er, slimming?
it was one of those moments when you look down at the scales and scoff and think Surely not, what nonsense, that’s wrong, so you go find another set of scales and… it’s right.
OMG
I have renewed empathy for Boris “cheese and wine” Johnson, and I’m afraid you can expect weekly if not daily updates on my attempt, beginning after this next Martini but one, to shed the REDACTED pounds I have somehow put on since last summer
Ugh!
It’s weird, the last time I was in Sri Lanka I was slim as a reed and could have scoffed myself silly, yet the food was mediocre if not rubbish
This time I have discovered brilliant food everywhere, not least in my own damn hotel, and it costs pennies, and now I can’t eat it. God is cruelly teaching me some perverse lesson, in His ineffable way, the wanker
Cheer up. Granted, ravages of inexorable time and wretched (if enjoyable) excess are catching up with you. And are preparing to lap you on the track, more than once IF you're lucky
On the bright side, you are in prime position to join Marie Osmond on the Nutri-System Weight-Loss Team!
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Tesla = the new Range Rover, BMW and Audi in one.
Almost. Audi drivers don't think they're saving the world.
Just had the haulage company on the phone again. With all of the paperwork fully assembled for the many many products on their truck from many many companies it took 5 hours to process them through customs. That's after hours of queues to get to the border.
So much for Brexit having been delivered and that's it now done. We have a border operating model that doesn't operate. There is no benefit to the UK in turning a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hour border crossing.
Do you regret voting for brexit now? I know this is not your version of brexit, but you did contribute to this. (Genuine question - I'm not trying to be sarky or snide.)
Of course I regret it - its turned into the catastrofuck. We're a trading nation. We voted to leave a load of political restrictions on a project we were increasingly distant from. Stepping off an EU that was increasingly Schengen and Euro and closer bounds at a time of our choosing felt better than waiting to be flung to the outer reaches of a twin track Europe.
But never did I conceive that we would impose 30 years of red tape, and demolish our just in time supply chain, and voluntarily put up as many barriers and impediments to trade as we could. Its the polar opposite of what the current government have spent decades doing and delivers a worse position post-Brexit than we had.
As I keep saying, the current Border Operating Model does not work. So regardless of Brexit being done it isn't over, as we will need to remove many of our self-imposed barriers so that we can trade again.
You voted for structural change and now spend all your time saying that structural change is the last thing we need.
Did you completely miss the referendum campaign? Vote Leave's position on leaving the single market featured heavily in it.
Ironic when you (Remainer turned Brexiter) criticise Rochdale (Brexiter turned Remainer).
We just need Big G (Remainer turned pearl clutcher) to pile in.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Tesla = the new Range Rover, BMW and Audi in one.
Are Tesla another manufacturer who only include indicators as expensive optional extras?
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
A key plot device in Peter May's mystery The Black House is a bird that tastes of fish and is farmed annually by Scottish fishermen who stay for several days killing it on a rock covered in seagull shit.
That said, it's supposed to be a major delicacy in the Western Isles.
Jesus Christ I just weighed myself. I thought Sri Lankan food was meant to be healthy and, er, slimming?
it was one of those moments when you look down at the scales and scoff and think Surely not, what nonsense, that’s wrong, so you go find another set of scales and… it’s right.
OMG
I have renewed empathy for Boris “cheese and wine” Johnson, and I’m afraid you can expect weekly if not daily updates on my attempt, beginning after this next Martini but one, to shed the REDACTED pounds I have somehow put on since last summer
Ugh!
Your muscle/fat ratio is key though. If that's high you might still look ok despite the scales telling a horror story.
An example of a man with a high muscle/fat ratio is Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yes, I think you’re right. I started going to the gym about 5 years ago and I am much more “buff” (as much as you can be for a man of my advanced years) than I used to be. Toned, even. Also a tan at the moment
Before my gym days I would have noticed the serious weight gain earlier, as when I am fat my face turns into a football, right now it’s more kind of rugby ball
But it’s too much. It has to go. Time for some serious austerity. Sigh
Yes, if you let things go in late middle age you lose your facial features. This is worse than carrying a bit extra around the middle since there's no easy way to hide it. So it is worth making the effort, hard as it can be sometimes. And I say this with absolutely no insight or empathy as somebody who's weighed exactly the same - ten twelve - for the last 35 years.
Is that luck of the physiological draw or sheer discipline? Honest question
When I lost my real fat about 8 years ago I stayed disciplined for 6, it was fucking Covid that arsed it all up. The Lockdown lard. It’s been gyrating ever since
My fear is that in later middle age if you lose a ton you can also age 30 years. Happened to Nigel Lawson, as I recall, then he started dyeing his hair beetroot, to make up for it, which didn’t help
I have to get out of this hotel. NOW. It has the best food per dollar I have ever encountered. Superb, freshly made curries for £4
I need to check into a hostel above a weirdly expensive McDonalds.
I recommend Geneva.
Where some of the cheaper dishes involve piles of bread dipped into a vast vat of melted cheese... or lake fish swamped in butter sauce with a pile of chips.
But yes, the worst value for money hotel I ever stayed in was in Geneva. £250 a night for something hovering around student halls of residence standards.
I had great food in Switzerland last summer, especially in the Italian bit, but my God, it was fucking expensive, luckily I wasn’t paying
For a diet surely the best place in the advanced world is Norway. Obscenely pricey AND it’s shit? Iceland close behind
If the only options were rotting shark then you would lose five stone in a month.
True story: when I was a young man doing my first gigs for the Flint Knappers Gazette I was sent to Iceland with a photographer friend (those were the days), My commission was: Oh just go and find something interesting . Literally (as I say those were the days!)
So I went and had a laugh and we met girls and it was all great and then we got a boat over the Arctic Ocean to the Vestman Islands, and we climbed a live volcano and I took out the two early Ecstasy tablet sI had smuggled in, via my sheepskin coat, and me and my tog friend had one each - this is when E was brilliant, late 80s - and we literally danced on the volcano until we were utterly exhausted with laughter and then we stomped down the lava off the volcano with an appetite like Daniel Lambert after a diet and we marched into the only restaurant to discover that the ONLY dish they were serving was…. Puffin
Two puffin each. Boiled. Beaks and claws on, and heads, everything.
Despite our ravenous hunger we could not eat a morsel. Puffin is disgusting. Like fishy liver, gone rancid.
I think we found a pizzeria the next day and forced them to open at about 10am
Rotted shark (Iceland) Snake blood (China) Snake bile (China) Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Balat - half formed chicken embryo in an egg - in Indonesia (actually delicious - meaty egg! - but the concept and the sight, OMG) Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
I had fried (I think) tree frog in China. Bit crunchy but OK. Quite small. Yours must have been a big frog, I guess.
Hmm. Wiki says re drunken shrimp:
'Another version is based on shrimp that are submerged in a bowl of rice wine. The rice wine forces the shrimp to expel their wastes. Once done, the shrimp are anesthetized and are taken from the bowl, de-shelled and eaten alive.[4][5]
Consuming uncooked freshwater shrimps may be a serious health hazard due to the risk of paragonimiasis.'
Just had the haulage company on the phone again. With all of the paperwork fully assembled for the many many products on their truck from many many companies it took 5 hours to process them through customs. That's after hours of queues to get to the border.
So much for Brexit having been delivered and that's it now done. We have a border operating model that doesn't operate. There is no benefit to the UK in turning a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hour border crossing.
Do you regret voting for brexit now? I know this is not your version of brexit, but you did contribute to this. (Genuine question - I'm not trying to be sarky or snide.)
Of course I regret it - its turned into the catastrofuck. We're a trading nation. We voted to leave a load of political restrictions on a project we were increasingly distant from. Stepping off an EU that was increasingly Schengen and Euro and closer bounds at a time of our choosing felt better than waiting to be flung to the outer reaches of a twin track Europe.
But never did I conceive that we would impose 30 years of red tape, and demolish our just in time supply chain, and voluntarily put up as many barriers and impediments to trade as we could. Its the polar opposite of what the current government have spent decades doing and delivers a worse position post-Brexit than we had.
As I keep saying, the current Border Operating Model does not work. So regardless of Brexit being done it isn't over, as we will need to remove many of our self-imposed barriers so that we can trade again.
You voted for structural change and now spend all your time saying that structural change is the last thing we need.
Did you completely miss the referendum campaign? Vote Leave's position on leaving the single market featured heavily in it.
That was a Remain poster and being blunt shows how beyond crap the Remain campaign was...
Away from the parties for a moment, I find the masks arguments needlessly aggravated.
I see no sense in calling those who prefer to avoid masking "selfish". Nobody is saying that people cannot wear masks if they so wish – and those that are worried can wear an FFP3. So there's nothing selfish about it whatsoever.
It's possibly a legacy of the covid cliche: "Masks are there to protect others, not yourself."
Have you not heard the story about the US Supreme Court?
Gorsuch is alone in refusing to wear a mask, and so one of the liberal justices feels forced to participate in the Court remotely, because they have a pre-existing condition.
So people are still making decisions on the basis of that belief, that masks protect others, and you are reliant on others wearing masks to be protected.
I hadn't but that's a great example – as you might expect SC judges to be more clued up.
Lots of Joe Public still seem to think that is the case (you read it frequently on PB) – it's amazing how these daft covid cliches have become part of common understanding.
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
Will still not vote SF or SDLP if Protestants
SDLP...... possible. More likely to vote Alliance, though.
Plenty of young Catholics will also vote Alliance, the long term growth party in NI is Alliance, not SF or DUP, followed by UUP and SDLP.
That is more a shift to moderation than to Nationalists
Obviously you’re a NI expert, but I’d suggest there are three things happening at once.
1. A split in Unionism, occasioned by Brexit 2. A shift to moderation, probably generational 3. A de-toxification of Sinn Fein, perhaps aided by success south of the border, although this has allowed them to “stabilise” their vote rather than increase it.
Quite a complex picture.
I had assumed that Unionists - appalled by the prospect of a Sinn Fein FM - would “swing back” to the DUP or perhaps rally around the UUP, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.
Unionists, especially those now voting TUV, will only swing back to DUP once Donaldson has collapsed the Stormont Executive.
That will happen if the UK government has not triggered Article 16 by April
I feel a new Cummings revelation coming on this week.
He needs the Gray report to be out so he can reveal something that isn't in it.
At which point it would be game over for Boris unless Sue Gray was a total idiot (and she won't be)
“Here is an email of evidence I sent Sue Gray which has mysteriously not made it into the redacted summary presented by the PM at the despatch box.”
Steve Baker is right, it’s checkmate. My spirit has lifted from this morning, almost time for a glass of something.
Is it checkmate, tho? This is British politics, not chess. There are no rules which say You have lost, unless he is VONC’d, and even then he might stay on? Remember Brown clinging on after he clearly lost the ELECTION in 2010
I was not a fan of Mr Brown, but I think that is a myth. He was obliged to remain PM until all negotiating avenues were no longer open to him and that Cameron was able to demonstrate he had formed a coalition.
Correct. "Clinging on" being there needs to be a Prime Minister. Whilst Labour had not won a majority nobody else had, and until the machinery of state were clear that an alternative government could be formed his had to continue in office.
Thing is, in 1992 when the exit poll came out, Brown went on the BBC election programme and said (I paraphrase) "Major has lost his majority, he needs to resign immediately".
Sure! But political spin from a politician in advance of knowing how many seats have been won is very different from direct instructions from the cabinet office after finding out how many seats have been won.
What is absolutely clear is that far from squatting, Brown forced the pace of the coalition talks by insisting that time was up and he must quit. At the point where the palace was forced to call Cameron nobody was clear whether his government could command a majority in the Commons. Which is why they wanted Brown not to resign when he did.
Just had the haulage company on the phone again. With all of the paperwork fully assembled for the many many products on their truck from many many companies it took 5 hours to process them through customs. That's after hours of queues to get to the border.
So much for Brexit having been delivered and that's it now done. We have a border operating model that doesn't operate. There is no benefit to the UK in turning a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hour border crossing.
Do you regret voting for brexit now? I know this is not your version of brexit, but you did contribute to this. (Genuine question - I'm not trying to be sarky or snide.)
Of course I regret it - its turned into the catastrofuck. We're a trading nation. We voted to leave a load of political restrictions on a project we were increasingly distant from. Stepping off an EU that was increasingly Schengen and Euro and closer bounds at a time of our choosing felt better than waiting to be flung to the outer reaches of a twin track Europe.
But never did I conceive that we would impose 30 years of red tape, and demolish our just in time supply chain, and voluntarily put up as many barriers and impediments to trade as we could. Its the polar opposite of what the current government have spent decades doing and delivers a worse position post-Brexit than we had.
As I keep saying, the current Border Operating Model does not work. So regardless of Brexit being done it isn't over, as we will need to remove many of our self-imposed barriers so that we can trade again.
You voted for structural change and now spend all your time saying that structural change is the last thing we need.
Did you completely miss the referendum campaign? Vote Leave's position on leaving the single market featured heavily in it.
Utterly and completely insane. I hope I live long enough to see Gove, Cummins and Johnson being taken down the river and into imprisonment via Traitors Gate.
I realise it won't happen of course, but I still hope to see us Rejoin!
A key plot device in Peter May's mystery The Black House is a bird that tastes of fish and is farmed annually by Scottish fishermen who stay for several days killing it on a rock covered in seagull shit.
That said, it's supposed to be a major delicacy in the Western Isles.
Apologies if already posted but Pesto has tweeted that the report is finished and has been sent to the PM. It will be published in full tonight or tomorrow. Apparently!
Rollercoaster! - The early exit's back in to just over 3.
Fantastic market to surf if you can 'feel' the waves.
Raab was just asked on Sky if he’d be taking over if the PM had to resign with immediate effect. Looked a bit awkward. “The business of government would continue regardless” or something like that. Followed by “blah blah SUE GRAY!”.
Away from the parties for a moment, I find the masks arguments needlessly aggravated.
I see no sense in calling those who prefer to avoid masking "selfish". Nobody is saying that people cannot wear masks if they so wish – and those that are worried can wear an FFP3. So there's nothing selfish about it whatsoever.
It's possibly a legacy of the covid cliche: "Masks are there to protect others, not yourself."
Have you not heard the story about the US Supreme Court?
Gorsuch is alone in refusing to wear a mask, and so one of the liberal justices feels forced to participate in the Court remotely, because they have a pre-existing condition.
So people are still making decisions on the basis of that belief, that masks protect others, and you are reliant on others wearing masks to be protected.
Yes but sadly Americans went batshit crazy and partisan with regards to masks and much else besides when this began.
It'd take a greater man than Biden to pull America back from the abyss but at least there's not a Trump there anymore actively trying to push her into it.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
I find Leon’s travelogues quite interesting, but I’ve noticed over the years that he has really shit taste in music and film/TV, which has started to make me doubt his taste in food/alchohol/places to stay.
If he went all food & travel and no politics there'd be no complaints from me.
Remember that UUP chap Ladyt Davidson said would save the Union? Having a bit of a sticky time. (Interesting issue of whether he is also showing a failure of leadership. But certainly nobody at the UUP thought to do a bit of searching, it seems.)
'THE Ulster Unionist Party leader has asked colleagues whether he should resign amid a controversy over historical tweets.
Doug Beattie, who Ruth Davidson has said is "quite possibly" the man who'll save the Union, has faced accusations of misogyny and racism over the content of tweets posted before he entered political life.
The Upper Bann MLA conceded that the posts, the majority of which were written around a decade ago, were “horrendous and horrific”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: “I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers through my chairman, Danny Kennedy, and if either group feels I should step down, then I will.
“Likewise, if they think I should refer myself to the party executive or the wider council on a vote of no confidence then I shall do that as well, and the party will decide whether or not they can follow my leadership.”'
As far as I can see the worst thing Doug Beattie did was insult Edwin Poot's wife.
As his main target voters are middle class soft Unionist Alliance voters he may even end up with a poll bounce from that! (Even if he shouldn't have done it)
"A series of derogatory messages came to light referring to women, Muslims, members of the Travelling community and people with mental health issues."
Care to do a word by word analysis of your comparison with that rather nasty tweet about Mrs Poots? And why should middle class and relatively centrist voters be at all impressed by the Mrs Poots joke? Which was extremely personal - look at it.
As Poots is a hardline DUPer.
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
Their children, as they become voting adults, on the other hand......
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
Will still not vote SF or SDLP if Protestants
SDLP...... possible. More likely to vote Alliance, though.
Plenty of young Catholics will also vote Alliance, the long term growth party in NI is Alliance, not SF or DUP, followed by UUP and SDLP.
That is more a shift to moderation than to Nationalists
Obviously you’re a NI expert, but I’d suggest there are three things happening at once.
1. A split in Unionism, occasioned by Brexit 2. A shift to moderation, probably generational 3. A de-toxification of Sinn Fein, perhaps aided by success south of the border, although this has allowed them to “stabilise” their vote rather than increase it.
Quite a complex picture.
I had assumed that Unionists - appalled by the prospect of a Sinn Fein FM - would “swing back” to the DUP or perhaps rally around the UUP, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.
Unionists, especially those now voting TUV, will only swing back to DUP once Donaldson has collapsed the Stormont Executive.
That will happen if the UK government has not triggered Article 16 by April
The great risk for unionists is that Sinn Fein governs well and appears to be non-mental, attracting votes from SDLP/Alliance etc.
Just had the haulage company on the phone again. With all of the paperwork fully assembled for the many many products on their truck from many many companies it took 5 hours to process them through customs. That's after hours of queues to get to the border.
So much for Brexit having been delivered and that's it now done. We have a border operating model that doesn't operate. There is no benefit to the UK in turning a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hour border crossing.
Do you regret voting for brexit now? I know this is not your version of brexit, but you did contribute to this. (Genuine question - I'm not trying to be sarky or snide.)
Of course I regret it - its turned into the catastrofuck. We're a trading nation. We voted to leave a load of political restrictions on a project we were increasingly distant from. Stepping off an EU that was increasingly Schengen and Euro and closer bounds at a time of our choosing felt better than waiting to be flung to the outer reaches of a twin track Europe.
But never did I conceive that we would impose 30 years of red tape, and demolish our just in time supply chain, and voluntarily put up as many barriers and impediments to trade as we could. Its the polar opposite of what the current government have spent decades doing and delivers a worse position post-Brexit than we had.
As I keep saying, the current Border Operating Model does not work. So regardless of Brexit being done it isn't over, as we will need to remove many of our self-imposed barriers so that we can trade again.
You voted for structural change and now spend all your time saying that structural change is the last thing we need.
Did you completely miss the referendum campaign? Vote Leave's position on leaving the single market featured heavily in it.
Sure - structural change. Departing from the EU. The simple reality being that I know that the EU and the EEA are different things and you think they are the same.
Leaving the EU is not the reason we have transformed a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hours on a good day border crossing. Thats a political choice we have made, nothing to do with the EU or the referendum. We can make different choices and adopt a Border Operating Model that works and we will still not be in the EU.
I feel a new Cummings revelation coming on this week.
He needs the Gray report to be out so he can reveal something that isn't in it.
At which point it would be game over for Boris unless Sue Gray was a total idiot (and she won't be)
“Here is an email of evidence I sent Sue Gray which has mysteriously not made it into the redacted summary presented by the PM at the despatch box.”
Steve Baker is right, it’s checkmate. My spirit has lifted from this morning, almost time for a glass of something.
Is it checkmate, tho? This is British politics, not chess. There are no rules which say You have lost, unless he is VONC’d, and even then he might stay on? Remember Brown clinging on after he clearly lost the ELECTION in 2010
I was not a fan of Mr Brown, but I think that is a myth. He was obliged to remain PM until all negotiating avenues were no longer open to him and that Cameron was able to demonstrate he had formed a coalition.
Correct. "Clinging on" being there needs to be a Prime Minister. Whilst Labour had not won a majority nobody else had, and until the machinery of state were clear that an alternative government could be formed his had to continue in office.
Thing is, in 1992 when the exit poll came out, Brown went on the BBC election programme and said (I paraphrase) "Major has lost his majority, he needs to resign immediately".
Sure! But political spin from a politician in advance of knowing how many seats have been won is very different from direct instructions from the cabinet office after finding out how many seats have been won.
What is absolutely clear is that far from squatting, Brown forced the pace of the coalition talks by insisting that time was up and he must quit. At the point where the palace was forced to call Cameron nobody was clear whether his government could command a majority in the Commons. Which is why they wanted Brown not to resign when he did.
On current polls Boris would also likely stay in No 10 a few days after the election, if Labour do win 300 or so seats but short of a majority until Starmer completed confidence and supply talks with Davey
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
I find Leon’s travelogues quite interesting, but I’ve noticed over the years that he has really shit taste in music and film/TV, which has started to make me doubt his taste in food/alchohol/places to stay.
If he went all food & travel and no politics there'd be no complaints from me.
Oh yeah, his politics are batshit too. But he’s not alone there.
Totally O/t but tomorrow I am logging into a discussion about electric cars (etc) vs Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) ones. Some of the questions posed are: 1. I have heard that ICE cars cannot refuel at home while you sleep. How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Is this several times a year? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home?
2. Which parts will I need service on and how often? The car salesperson mentioned a box with gears in it. What is this, and will I receive a warning with an indicator when I need to change gear? What about mufflers, tailpipes, filters, oil, and pollution control equipment. The sales rep said I have to change those frequently.
3. Can I accelerate and brake with one pedal as I do today with my electric car?
4. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? I assume so, but need to ask to be sure.
5. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in petrol cars?
6. We currently pay about £2/100 kilometres to drive our electric car. I have heard that petrol can cost up to five times as much, so I reckon we will lose some money in the beginning. We drive about 20,000 kilometres a year. Let’s hope more people start using petrol so prices go down.
7. Is it true that petrol is flammable? Should I empty the tank and store the petrol somewhere else while the car is in the garage?
8. Is there an automatic system to prevent petrol from catching fire or exploding in a collision? What does this cost?
9. I’m told ICE cars are noisy. Will that upset my neighbours?
10. I understand the main ingredient in petrol is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution to these problems?
I have a Tesla. I am almost as smug about that as Leon is about his foreign trips, but I do not feel the need to post on PB when I am driving it.
Quite. It really is pathetic. His posts are 'I this' 'Me that' constantly - an incessant barrage of me-filled posts. If Leon was really as content as he brags he wouldn't be feeling the need to come on here the whole time telling everyone how wonderful it (he) is. He'd put it away and immerse himself in the countries he claims to know so much about (from his rooftop bars).
As a matter of fact staying in posh hotels, and being driven around to see things, and having meetings organised for you, is fine for writing about places overseas with insight. Was VS Naipaul's modus operandi and no-one has written more perceptively than him.
I really think Naipaul was the finest “British” writer of the post-war era.
Wonder what he would have made of Boris et al.
Interesting thought, Naipaul on Boris. But he tended to look beyond personalities although good at capturing them.
I remember being stunned by the quality of Naipaul's first travel book, "The Middle Passage". He was a guy who didn't do sentimentality.
Everyone in the country knows the service isn't good enough. The question is, who will put the most effort into fixing it, someone who has always relied on it or someone who has chosen not to use it?
Well, for a start, effort isn't everything; a fool who has an obsession with purity but realises the service is poor might well put in a lot of effort, but a fat lot of good that effort will do if it's uninformed or blinded by ideology. What you want is someone with understanding of how huge organisations work, how to improve them, and how to get value for money from them, against the hugely difficult problems of political interference, the institutional inertia, the changing technology, and the reluctance to learn from best practice elsewhere.
Whether a candidate uses private healthcare is just about the most irrelevant criterion you could come up with, especially since nearly all qualified candidates will have done.
It might not the most relevant factor but neither is it anywhere near the least. Somebody who believes in public healthcare to the extent they don't go private despite being able to afford it is likely to be a better choice to run it than somebody with similar profile and abilities who lacks that strength of belief. Ditto with education. Double ditto with education in fact.
You clearly know very little about hiring if you think there are ever two equal profiles. People who support Labour need to grow up on the public sector/ private divide. It was clearly one of the things Blair never succeeded in changing. The approach you have borders on the fanatical. You are public sector puritans, where the public sector, and the NHS in particular is some repository of all virtue, and anyone that doesn't align is a heretic or infidel. Sorry to break it to you but there really are just as many selfish nasty self serving people in the public sector as there are in private. They just manifest their behaviours in slightly different ways. As for education, I can tell you as someone that went to a comp (a pretty bad one) and sent my kids privately, the public sector could learn a lot from the private, double ditto, if you like, but the puritans just don't want to hear it.
Comments
Raab: “that’s a matter for Sue Gray”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c78186f2-7d63-11ec-89e2-46a7a39080ac?shareToken=dbdfe67d9e504580e6cf1de8bcd905f7
If Rishi knew about this... Where does that leave Rishi?
Beattie at the end of the day is only targeting a small pool of voters ie relatively wealthy, middle class soft Unionists who might swing between UUP and Alliance. He made the tweets when in the army after fighting in Bosnia and Iraq and having mental health issues and has apologised for them.
Nationalists and leftwingers in NI will vote SF or SDLP, hardline Unionists will vote DUP or TUV so he will never win either of those groups whatever he tweets
because as I pointed out this morning, the Met police and Cressida Dick have no objection to its publication. It will I am told be a report that will make for very uncomfortable reading for the PM and Tory MPs. It is a description of the parties. Gray will make clear that it…
We're in the endgame now....
Potentially the lot of them knew. I mean. You would wouldn't you? Folk talk to each other.
30 to 60 mins running, outdoors, before 8am. Sticking to parks, canals etc as much as possible. Sets you up for the day. I have much more energy too. Tend to only need 6-7 hours sleep (previously needed 8).
I’m a new man.
And I have a little knowledge of which I speak.
I thoroughly recommend Lucerne. Beautiful and quite hedonistic by Swiss standards
And of course the Italian speaking bit is gorgeous, vivacious AND has great food. No getting away from the obscene prices tho
The barrister Adam Wagner, an expert on Covid regulations, said Downing Street’s explanation “appears a clear admission of an illegal gathering”, and that its length was irrelevant.
Regulations at the time said that indoor gatherings had to be “reasonably necessary” for work purposes to be legal. Wagner argued that this was “the first time [No 10] have admitted that the PM was at an, to me, obviously illegal gathering with no real prospect of a reasonable excuse”. He added that the admission “ties the Met’s hands”, implying he believes the police would have to investigate.
Snake blood (China)
Snake bile (China)
Drunken shrimp [ie live shrimp in a soup] (China)
= the worst culinary experiences of my life although I can taste each of those right this minute so I can't say they weren't memorable.
Starmer I can disagree with politically but respect but Labour is still not detoxified by any means and if he falls it's plausible a Corbynite could take over.
Definitely think I'd vote for LDs next time. Labour still is not fit.
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1486019587065929733?s=20
What will it take to Boris out of the limelight now that this has failed? If they don't try a lot harder, Labour could accidentally win the next election. Sort it out, please, Labour folk.
I see no sense in calling those who prefer to avoid masking "selfish". Nobody is saying that people cannot wear masks if they so wish – and those that are worried can wear an FFP3. So there's nothing selfish about it whatsoever.
It's possibly a legacy of the covid cliche: "Masks are there to protect others, not yourself."
I just try to follow the simple rules above. And if I don’t, there’s always tomorrow.
The weight continues to come off regardless.
Nothing about police previously called now accept that it has reached their required threshold?
Lord Sumption was quite good at lunchtime: 'Most of it is guidance not law, and the law is a big dog's breakfast, so it is difficult to see what they can actually make stick." Ish.
I'm available for communications advice, political strategy, and bar mitzvahs.
Fried crickets in avocado dip - Mexico
Puffin, like I say, Vestman Islands, Iceland
Tarantula, in Skeon, Cambodia
Mealy worm things - Australia
But worse, far worse, than any of these - worse even than the gunge-filled thorax of the tarantula in Skeon - was also in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, bought at their central market
Dried frog
I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was. Like chewing the corpse of a mummified dolphin who had famously bad breath. Jesus
Perfect profile.
Does he want it though.
Alcohol and fruit juices (if people consume them) is usually the easiest way to lose immediate weight.
Edit: and of course people lose weight by funky diets grazing through the day whatever but it almost always means they regulate their intake vs previously.
Tinned preserved silk worm larvae in Korea
The smell alone was so bad I had to go out of my hotel room and throw them down a public toilet. My own toilet would not do
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beondegi
That is more a shift to moderation than to Nationalists
Sue Gray's report now reportedly set to be published this week after Met says no need to hold material back
We are going to need a free Cycle (sic) 🙂
Don’t get your hopes up it moves the dial enough, now number ten are happy to get it out there.
https://twitter.com/KateEMcCann/status/1486024273445769220
Today suggests BJ has been trying to smokescreen once again. He didn't even tell his Cabinet about the Met Police investigation. That tells me that once again he is obfuscating.
1. A split in Unionism, occasioned by Brexit
2. A shift to moderation, probably generational
3. A de-toxification of Sinn Fein, perhaps aided by success south of the border, although this has allowed them to “stabilise” their vote rather than increase it.
Quite a complex picture.
I had assumed that Unionists - appalled by the prospect of a Sinn Fein FM - would “swing back” to the DUP or perhaps rally around the UUP, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.
(a) the NEC has no power over the PLP - the body who suspended the whip
(b) the Jeremy has not fulfilled the terms set out by the PLP to enable the restoration of the whip
So Pillock and the others knew that their attempt would be laughed out and it was. And yet they still do so because if you are the hard left your real enemy is and always was the Labour Party.
To be fair to Pesto he said it will go to No. 10 tonight or tomorrow. So he agrees.
I kick started it with a pretty intense fast, however, which really works, whatever dieticians say, because you lose a lot quickly. Sure, its just water or whatever, but it is highly encouraging when you lose 8 pounds in the first two weeks, and that encouragement gives you the enthusiasm to continue
A lot of diets fail because people get discouraged. They don’t see quick results. So: fast first, but then don’t return to your previous intake, stay at a reduced calorie level. And go for a walk instead of lunch
I accept I am speaking as a fat guy (at the moment) here, so it may sound like poor advice, but it isn’t
That said, it's supposed to be a major delicacy in the Western Isles.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/scottish-food
History might say he played the crisis pretty well really. It’s not really unprecedented for governments to have crisis weeks and recover. Blair and Thatcher had to endure bad weeks of pressure only to go on to comfortable election wins - I think Thatcher herself remarked she thought she might even be ousted by the end of one day in the Westland kerfuffle.
You got to look at the fundamentals Heathen - policy disputes and electorate complaining about lack of delivery.
Gorsuch is alone in refusing to wear a mask, and so one of the liberal justices feels forced to participate in the Court remotely, because they have a pre-existing condition.
So people are still making decisions on the basis of that belief, that masks protect others, and you are reliant on others wearing masks to be protected.
Wonder what he would have made of Boris et al.
I have no problem with fasting or even the 5:2 - whatever floats peoples' boats. It is embarking upon a regime whereas previously there was unfettered eating and drinking that is the important thing.
NEVER DRY A FROG
'Another version is based on shrimp that are submerged in a bowl of rice wine. The rice wine forces the shrimp to expel their wastes. Once done, the shrimp are anesthetized and are taken from the bowl, de-shelled and eaten alive.[4][5]
Consuming uncooked freshwater shrimps may be a serious health hazard due to the risk of paragonimiasis.'
Did you completely miss the referendum campaign? Vote Leave's position on leaving the single market featured heavily in it.
On the bright side, you are in prime position to join Marie Osmond on the Nutri-System Weight-Loss Team!
We just need Big G (Remainer turned pearl clutcher) to pile in.
Fantastic market to surf if you can 'feel' the waves.
When I lost my real fat about 8 years ago I stayed disciplined for 6, it was fucking Covid that arsed it all up. The Lockdown lard. It’s been gyrating ever since
My fear is that in later middle age if you lose a ton you can also age 30 years. Happened to Nigel Lawson, as I recall, then he started dyeing his hair beetroot, to make up for it, which didn’t help
Lots of Joe Public still seem to think that is the case (you read it frequently on PB) – it's amazing how these daft covid cliches have become part of common understanding.
That will happen if the UK government has not triggered Article 16 by April
What is absolutely clear is that far from squatting, Brown forced the pace of the coalition talks by insisting that time was up and he must quit. At the point where the palace was forced to call Cameron nobody was clear whether his government could command a majority in the Commons. Which is why they wanted Brown not to resign when he did.
I realise it won't happen of course, but I still hope to see us Rejoin!
I presume you can’t get it via ordinary channels.
It'd take a greater man than Biden to pull America back from the abyss but at least there's not a Trump there anymore actively trying to push her into it.
See SNP for details.
Leaving the EU is not the reason we have transformed a 20 minute border crossing into an 8 hours on a good day border crossing. Thats a political choice we have made, nothing to do with the EU or the referendum. We can make different choices and adopt a Border Operating Model that works and we will still not be in the EU.
But he’s not alone there.
I remember being stunned by the quality of Naipaul's first travel book, "The Middle Passage". He was a guy who didn't do sentimentality.
Maybe its a Long March from wherever he is 😆