“Not really. If you spend money on holidays, for a family, you tend to end up in something like that. Unless you really fight the demand for luxury bathrooms etc.”
+++++
I do not wish to pry into PB-ears private circumstances, but this is an intriguing comment
If you had a family holiday here - the Galle hotel we have been discussing - you’d need three rooms for yourself, one for you and the partner, two for the kids
But let’s budget and say just two rooms, and the kids share
Rooms are £500 a night. That’s £1000 a night. For two weeks that’s £14,000. Add in flights to Sri Lanka, trips, and the rest, and you’re heading for £20,000. For a winter holiday
Exactly how wealthy is the average PB-er?!
I am in the top 2% of income in the country and would consider that exhorbitant. My boys holiday on their own now, but I am off to Costa Rica later in the year for a budget of £2000 each for a fortnight for myself and Mrs Foxy, including direct flights and trips.
I am not really a fan of luxury, and prefer 3 star type smaller places, as less sterile and more local colour.
5 star hotels and 1st class flights at the expense of pharma companies no longer allowed now under the ABPI code eh? Must be a bummer!
Getting at doctors are we, the Scots being quiet this afternoon? There were plenty of medics eschewing those voluntarily!
That moron is the scum of the earth, most obnoxious cretin on the site.
Haha, if it is not Pope Malcolm the First himself! Psychological projection again eh, Your Holiness? How are the anger management sessions going, not o well I guess?
It is not possible to be a cretin and a moron. These archaic psychiatric categories don't allow for overlap. Use of either these offensive words nowadays normally indicates the lower intelligence of the person that uses them. You are clearly aligning with the norm.
Arsehole the two together do not even begin describe the reality of you. Frankenstein was more human , you stupid piece of excrement. Now F*** off scumbag
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
The head office of one of my old companies was at Saltaire, just outside Bradford. I used to try to arrange meetings for just after lunch, so I would have to stay over in a local hotel, allowing me time to walk over the moors to Ilkley. A spectacular walk.
Leon is comparing the best places in the locations he often gets paid to go to with the worst places in the UK.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Have a nice Friday everyone. I am off to the pub. Highly disappointed I won't be able to laugh at Malcolm's inarticulate attempts to insult me, but some joys in life one has to miss out on. Play nicely everyone!
Don't let them know you are coming or the place will be emptied. Hope you get a bad pint and shit your breeks. Keep F***ing off.
“Not really. If you spend money on holidays, for a family, you tend to end up in something like that. Unless you really fight the demand for luxury bathrooms etc.”
+++++
I do not wish to pry into PB-ears private circumstances, but this is an intriguing comment
If you had a family holiday here - the Galle hotel we have been discussing - you’d need three rooms for yourself, one for you and the partner, two for the kids
But let’s budget and say just two rooms, and the kids share
Rooms are £500 a night. That’s £1000 a night. For two weeks that’s £14,000. Add in flights to Sri Lanka, trips, and the rest, and you’re heading for £20,000. For a winter holiday
Exactly how wealthy is the average PB-er?!
Well I push up the average lol.
Good to hear!
I’m quite well off, I guess, but I would blink furiously at dropping £20k on a winter holiday
In my professional capacity for the Knappers Gazette I’ve done trips that would have cost £100,000 for 2 weeks. They were great fun. But they certainly weren’t worth £100,000. I suppose some people are just so rich it doesn’t matter
Spend £100k every two weeks and it adds up to £2.6m in a year, or £26m in a decade.
There have been a few lottery jackpots that would still be left largely intact after that.
The economics of the holiday industry baffle me. I don't feel well-off. But I know what the average family income is, and we earn a fair bit more than that. I usually tick one of the top two boxes in surveys on the 'household income' page. And while I'll never feel entirely comfortable, we're probably top decile for capital. And yet almost all holidays I see advertised are wildly, wildly unaffordable. I consider £3000 for a week away for five towards the upper end of extravagant. Yet almost any foreign family holiday that isn't transparently worse than staying at home seems to be more than this. I simply don't understand how this works. There surely can't be that many people who can afford a holiday like this every year. And don't get me started on Disneyland. Not that I want to go - but I don't see how more than a tiny proportion of the population can ever afford it.
The average family holiday to Spain or France, even in the height of summer, would cost far less than £3,000 probably under £1,000
Well maybe. But just getting four return tickets by air in the school holidays would cost over £1000. There must be cheap holidays out there - or no-one would be able to afford holidays at all. But those that I've seen look awful - at least compared to the option of staying at home. I don't know much about the abroad market. But I know a fair bit about the British market. And it's dashed difficult to get a self-catering place for 5 in the school holidays for much under £1000.
A family holiday in France or Spain for under £1000, for a fortnight, during the school hols? How? Surely impossible, unless you drive and camp or something, and do it mega cheap, buying all your food in the nearest Aldi
How many do that?
I guess for a week at a two star hotel, but even then you’d be hard pushed with a family
Even if you drive, the ferry costs at that time push the bill up quite steeply. The overnight from Portsmouth to St Malo is really convenient and great fun (especially with a few friends' families) but costs a few bob in the school holidays. More than flying, although you then save on the car hire.
Maybe @Leon could write an article on it. Take some nephews or nieces (none over 16) on a camping trip to Normandy on a budget. Now that would really be something to brag about!
Arse licking to Leon now, can you get lower than a rattlesnake in a rut.
PS. I doubt I can get lower than your IQ. I was teasing Leon you dipshit!
Butt licker extrodinaire , now F Off scumbag, as if I care what you are doing or thinking.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
One reviewer, swimming adainst the tide, gave it 10/10. But she's from Blackpool.
I have to confess, this is a minor hobby of mine. Finding the WORST reviewed hotels on booking.com and tripadvisor
It offers much hilarity. And it would make a great article for a lad magazine: staying at the worst 5. How bad can they be? Sadly, these magazines no longer exist
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
For someone who voted for Brexit, you don't half seem keen to sh*t on the UK.
Go a mile or two from the plush hotels you stay at abroad and find the worst place. Go on.
Calm down
I'm perfectly calm, thanks. Why not actually give a considered response.
Actually, Swansea is very near the Mumbles and the Gower.
Heck, my son wants to go back to Portsmouth. Portsmouth.
For the Historic Dockyard, the seafront (and it is nice in places), and Portchester Castle. We never got to the Armouries Museum on the hill or the RM museum.
Prince Andrew blackballed from the Royal and Ancient. Sometime you yearn for a Jeremy Corbyn to create a culture where all this crap is swept away. I suppose he can always join Groucho's if he leaves his mobile outside
Corbyn didn't seem exercised by paedophilia in Islington Labour Party, why would he care about it in the Royal Family?
The big lesson from all this is that we need a written constitution that can only be overridden by a super majority (two-thirds) vote in either Parliament or by referendum. Now we've had one PM in Downing Street getting away with the kind of grift and dishonesty Johnson has, others will be encouraged to do the same unless enforceable checks are put in place.
Perhaps something will come of Brown's constitutional convention.
The big lesson from all this is that we need a written constitution that can only be overridden by a super majority (two-thirds) vote in either Parliament or by referendum. Now we've had one PM in Downing Street getting away with the kind of grift and dishonesty Johnson has, others will be encouraged to do the same unless enforceable checks are put in place.
Perhaps something will come of Brown's constitutional convention.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
Haven’t they done up Bradford, and the centre is now quite nice?
Britain is weird for holidays. The most unexpected places can be amazing, but also the opposite, let’s face it
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
Haven’t they done up Bradford, and the centre is now quite nice?
Britain is weird for holidays. The most unexpected places can be amazing, but also the opposite, let’s face it
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
Haven’t they done up Bradford, and the centre is now quite nice?
Britain is weird for holidays. The most unexpected places can be amazing, but also the opposite, let’s face it
Bradford City Centre is surprisingly nice. Basically they decided they had far more office spaces than they could conceivably needed. So the council acquired and knocked down all the ugliest ones and replthem with - largely - open space,which allowed the wonderful Victorian architecture which the city still retains to be much more visible. No city centre in Britain had improved as much in the past 15 years as Bradford.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
Haven’t they done up Bradford, and the centre is now quite nice?
Britain is weird for holidays. The most unexpected places can be amazing, but also the opposite, let’s face it
Grimsby's been gentrified
A cousin moved to Grimsby some years ago. Went up there for her wedding. I've not seen the whole town but everywhere I did go appeared really quite prosperous.
At the risk of sounding like @Leon here is a well-known picture of Naples in today's Times .
In the centre you can see a park with bare trees. It's the Villa Communale and I used to play there as a child. Just at the end of it there is a large pink building and to the left is my family's palazzo where I spent a large part of my childhood.
I have such happy memories of the city. As soon as I can I will visit again. To me it is home in a way that the London of my childhood never was.
And it is also a great place to visit - and not just to see Pompei. It is one of the great cities of Europe with such a wealth of history, art and architecture.
I note a couple of French Presidential opinion polls today have shown Le Pen a couple of points in front of Pecresse in the battle to challenge Macron in round two. After her selection, Pecresse got a bit of a polling bounce but that has faded and the fact she is polling four points worse than Fillon who lost out last time as the LR candidate.
At the risk of sounding like @Leon here is a well-known picture of Naples in today's Times .
In the centre you can see a park with bare trees. It's the Villa Communale and I used to play there as a child. Just at the end of it there is a large pink building and to the left is my family's palazzo where I spent a large part of my childhood.
I have such happy memories of the city. As soon as I can I will visit again. To me it is home in a way that the London of my childhood never was.
And it is also a great place to visit - and not just to see Pompei. It is one of the great cities of Europe with such a wealth of history, art and architecture.
My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets.
Off thread: I'm on the tram into town. Despite TFGM's pleas, mask wearing on the previously mask-enthusiastic Altrincham line is well under 25%. People are basically not playing any more.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
Off thread: I'm on the tram into town. Despite TFGM's pleas, mask wearing on the previously mask-enthusiastic Altrincham line is well under 25%. People are basically not playing any more.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
This it the type of hotel that the civil service send you to, whilst travelling on government business.
At the risk of sounding like @Leon here is a well-known picture of Naples in today's Times .
In the centre you can see a park with bare trees. It's the Villa Communale and I used to play there as a child. Just at the end of it there is a large pink building and to the left is my family's palazzo where I spent a large part of my childhood.
I have such happy memories of the city. As soon as I can I will visit again. To me it is home in a way that the London of my childhood never was.
And it is also a great place to visit - and not just to see Pompei. It is one of the great cities of Europe with such a wealth of history, art and architecture.
Has a few top drawer Caravaggios. One of them, The Martyrdom of St Ursula (possibly the last picture he painted), rather strangely, is located in a bank.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
This it the type of hotel that the civil service send you to, whilst travelling on government business.
If you have a suitcase full of wine, would you actually notice?
The stitch-up story is the Mail's main headline now, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's increasingly obvious no one has any idea what is going to turn out with this story.
Off thread: I'm on the tram into town. Despite TFGM's pleas, mask wearing on the previously mask-enthusiastic Altrincham line is well under 25%. People are basically not playing any more.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
Apparently, their career never really took off in the 1980s because they wouldn’t play on Friday evenings when Tranmere Rovers were at home. Which I always thought was cool.
I note a couple of French Presidential opinion polls today have shown Le Pen a couple of points in front of Pecresse in the battle to challenge Macron in round two. After her selection, Pecresse got a bit of a polling bounce but that has faded and the fact she is polling four points worse than Fillon who lost out last time as the LR candidate.
Thanks for that. I'm topping up. I am thinking her chances of being president are at least 12 per cent (60x20).
Stephen Bush @stephenkb · 4h Yet to see a poll or sit in on a focus group where it's not clear that people a) think that the allegations are true and b) expect there to be some kind of fix or cover-up.
The public get a lot wrong or misunderstand a lot, but occasionally they absolutely nail it.
And even if they're not right (NARRATOR: they are), it doesn't really matter. Once the public are set in a belief, it's damn hard to shift them.
The government ratings have bounced up off the worst of the precipice. But it will never be glad confident morning for Bozza again.
Dead cat bounce, just wait and see the effect of this latest nonsense
Actually, although we have had our differences on this matter, I think there could be something in this. The delay/dilution just looks terrible. It's the sort of thing that cuts through: er, why are they doing this now?
Starmer should be attacking the Met as it is clearly an utter nonsense, but then he is compromised by his connections to the Met and the CPS
If I were Leader of the Labour Party, I'd think VERY long and hard before attacking the Met.
As soon as he does that, the Conservatives reframe the debate as them defending the Police from Labour's attacks. That's the last thing Labour want, and leans into an area of traditional weakness for Labour and strength for the Tories (law'n'order).
I agree there are things to criticise... but it'd be bad politics from his perspective.
I doubt Johnson has committed a serious crime. The issue is he is unfit for office and acts to undermine good governance. It is a political issue that needs to be resolved through political judgment. The real risk is he can get away with saying, the poIice don't think I committed a serious crime so it's all fine.
It is fairly obvious Boris will have to resign if he gets a fixed penalty notice but of course if he does not then he would be in the clear
But not in the court of public opinion
Not in the clear - LYING TO PARLIAMENT.
Yeah but lying to parliament is fine now because of Brexit and owning the Libs and Boris is just Boris and look he got the big calls right and let's focus on Levelling Up Ukraine not this Westminster village pyramid of piffle and he's a leader not a lawyer and only lawyers are into this he said she said truth and untruth rhubarb. Am I getting the hang of this?
The "stitch-up" story is now the Mail's main headline, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's obvious no one knows what is going to happen with this story.
The guy who has most accurately nailed it today is
"He’s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he’s not willing to let go, he’s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!"
Which is spot on. The smarmy briefings about Bozza expecting the report to be OKish just dried up 48 hours ago. He was, I am guessing, shown a draft at that stage which left him dead in the water, and he is now like a man being attacked with a chainsaw, willing to jump off any cliff that will have him even if that only prolongs his life by about 10 seconds.
I note a couple of French Presidential opinion polls today have shown Le Pen a couple of points in front of Pecresse in the battle to challenge Macron in round two. After her selection, Pecresse got a bit of a polling bounce but that has faded and the fact she is polling four points worse than Fillon who lost out last time as the LR candidate.
Thanks for that. I'm topping up. I am thinking her chances of being president are at least 12 per cent (60x20).
If I was French I suppose I would be voting for Pecresse with little enthusiam.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
This it the type of hotel that the civil service send you to, whilst travelling on government business.
My sympathies
3/10 is the lowest score on booking.com that I can find in the UK. If anyone can beat that please do tell! These places are funny
I believe that technically the lowest POSSIBLE score is 2.5
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
This it the type of hotel that the civil service send you to, whilst travelling on government business.
My sympathies
3/10 is the lowest score on booking.com that I can find in the UK. If anyone can beat that please do tell! These places are funny
I believe that technically the lowest POSSIBLE score is 2.5
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
Haven’t they done up Bradford, and the centre is now quite nice?
Britain is weird for holidays. The most unexpected places can be amazing, but also the opposite, let’s face it
Grimsby's been gentrified
A cousin moved to Grimsby some years ago. Went up there for her wedding. I've not seen the whole town but everywhere I did go appeared really quite prosperous.
The stitch-up story is the Mail's main headline now, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's increasingly obvious no one has any idea what is going to turn out with this story.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
This it the type of hotel that the civil service send you to, whilst travelling on government business.
My sympathies
3/10 is the lowest score on booking.com that I can find in the UK. If anyone can beat that please do tell! These places are funny
I believe that technically the lowest POSSIBLE score is 2.5
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
Someone was recommending Bradford as a good holiday base and I was actually considering it as a back up last summer when UK accommodation became really tight. No-one thinks of going there but it is close to beautiful countryside and interesting places to visit. Also apparently good, and good-value, traditional station hotels.
Haven’t they done up Bradford, and the centre is now quite nice?
Britain is weird for holidays. The most unexpected places can be amazing, but also the opposite, let’s face it
Grimsby's been gentrified
A cousin moved to Grimsby some years ago. Went up there for her wedding. I've not seen the whole town but everywhere I did go appeared really quite prosperous.
Today I learnt that some large builders are placing POs with no prices on them and then agreeing prices when things arrive on site in order to guarantee labour and materials. Imagine trying to manage that?
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
Quite frankly, if that kind of quality holiday accommodation is already available in Swansea at these incredible prices, then the Spanish tourist industry needs to get a wiggle on. The world is changing
Indeed you can get actual hotels for about £300 a week in August in outer Manchester
Admittedly it does only have a 3/10 rating from booking.com with some actually quite critical reviews:
Very poor 2.0 Liked · Competitive on price. Disliked · Genuinely one of the worst places I have stayed anywhere in the UK. Dilapidated and unclean, with a tense atmosphere leading to a general feeling of a lack of safety.
2.0 Liked · the only good thing was the clean bathroom Disliked · first i was surprised by the amount charged to deposit the room key (£ 20). the room was stinking a lot of cigarettes, it was difficult to sleep with the smell, when i managed to sleep there was a noise in the next room, the noise remained for hours, some woman was screaming and hitting the wall of my room. when i woke up and went to the bathroom, i came across several items thrown down the corridor in front of my room, it seems like a hurricane passed through the night.
Horrible 1.0 Liked · Property is filthy It’s not fit for a dog let alone a person Disliked · Everything, it’s needs shutting down
2.0 Liked · leaving... my favourite moment was leaving Disliked · upon arriving i was given tiny box room no bigger than my left nut, when i booked and paid for twin bed ensuite an tv... i was itching like katie price underwear in them bed sheets, i would of felt breathing in toxic gas would of been healthier.. sat down on the toilet for an after work no.2 and slid into next doors room... i had to go buy 4 bottles of air freshener and flooded the room with it however it didn't get rid of the dead old man smell... HOWEVER if homeless consider it liveable, man like me... no chance i was out of there, packed up and left
This it the type of hotel that the civil service send you to, whilst travelling on government business.
My sympathies
3/10 is the lowest score on booking.com that I can find in the UK. If anyone can beat that please do tell! These places are funny
I believe that technically the lowest POSSIBLE score is 2.5
I note a couple of French Presidential opinion polls today have shown Le Pen a couple of points in front of Pecresse in the battle to challenge Macron in round two. After her selection, Pecresse got a bit of a polling bounce but that has faded and the fact she is polling four points worse than Fillon who lost out last time as the LR candidate.
Opinionway however still has Pecresse and Le Pen tied for 2nd.
Though yes, if Zemmour was not running it would definitely be a Le Pen v Macron runoff and Pecresse would be eliminated in the first round as Fillon was eliminated in round 1 in 2017.
In the runoff it is Macron 52% Pecresse 48% and Macron 57% Le Pen 43%
Off thread: I'm on the tram into town. Despite TFGM's pleas, mask wearing on the previously mask-enthusiastic Altrincham line is well under 25%. People are basically not playing any more.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
The "stitch-up" story is now the Mail's main headline, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's obvious no one knows what is going to happen with this story.
The guy who has most accurately nailed it today is
"He’s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he’s not willing to let go, he’s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!"
Which is spot on. The smarmy briefings about Bozza expecting the report to be OKish just dried up 48 hours ago. He was, I am guessing, shown a draft at that stage which left him dead in the water, and he is now like a man being attacked with a chainsaw, willing to jump off any cliff that will have him even if that only prolongs his life by about 10 seconds.
It really does seem very strange how all this has happened at the last minute, considering that the publication was expected so imminently a couple of days ago.
Wouldn't it be funny if it came out that the report had been leaked to the prime minister ahead of publication and he had leaned on the police to prevent it being published? The end result would be to make things about ten times worse than they would have been.
The "stitch-up" story is now the Mail's main headline, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's obvious no one knows what is going to happen with this story.
The guy who has most accurately nailed it today is
"He’s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he’s not willing to let go, he’s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!"
Which is spot on. The smarmy briefings about Bozza expecting the report to be OKish just dried up 48 hours ago. He was, I am guessing, shown a draft at that stage which left him dead in the water, and he is now like a man being attacked with a chainsaw, willing to jump off any cliff that will have him even if that only prolongs his life by about 10 seconds.
It really does seem very strange how all this has happened at the last minute, considering that the publication was expected so imminently a couple of days ago.
Wouldn't it be funny if it came out that the report had been leaked to the prime minister ahead of publication and he had leaned on the police to prevent it being published? The end result would be to make things about ten times worse than they would have been.
I doubt it was leaked, my guess is SG sent him the final draft with Suck on this, fat boi scrawled across the cover.
Looking a little further afield, Portugal votes on Sunday and it could be much more interesting than I thought a few weeks back when Costa's Socialists looked to be cruising to an easy re-election.
Last week, a couple of polls put the opposition Social Democrats ahead but it seems Costa has woken up and smelt the coffee as the Socialists have rallied. The daily rolling Pitagorica poll has re-established a 5-point lead for the Government while the more substantial (2,192 respondents compared with 608) CESOP poll has a 3point advantage (36-33) for the Socialists.
It looks as though Costa's gambit of a snap election to get a parliamentary majority will fail. The Socialists are on 108 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly and will be around the same if not a notch lower. The Social Democrats under Rul Rio got 79 seats last time on 28% of the vote but will likely be in the 90s on 33%.
So what about prospective minority party support for either of the two main parties? For Costa, the Left Bloc and the Unitary Democratic Coalition will likely win 10 seats between them which would be enough for Costa but having abandoned him before, will these parties want to go back to supporting the Socialist Government?
For Rio, Liberal Initiative and its 5-6 seats look a possible ally but the populist CHEGA, itself a split from the Social Democrats, with its likely 8-9 seats could be a step too far. Even with both groups, it's likely Rio will be short of a majority.
In two weeks, we have a regional election in Castile-Leon. The triumph of PP in last year's Madrid local elections propelled Pablo Casado's party from the doldrums to an opinion poll lead over PSOE. The polls have steadied and the two main parties are closely matched in the mid-20s with VOX coming up fast toward 20% and UP in the low teens.
The province is currently governed by a coalition of PP (29 seats) and Citizens (12) which enjoys a one-seat edge over the opposition headed by PSOE on 35 with others (including VOX and Podemos) on five.
As we know, Citizens has bene hollowed out across Spain and VOX is on the rise. Having been well ahead and looking like getting a majority alone, however, PP have eased back in recent polling and now are projected to win 36 seats (still a gain of seven) with PSOE set to drop from 35 to 27. The big winners are VOX (up from one to ten) and a PP-VOX coalition would have a comfortable majority.
There are no real options for PSOE so it will either be a PP minority supported by VOX or a full PP-VOX coalition you would think but it will be indicative as to whether Casado wants to be seen to be getting close to VOX (which might drive some of his more liberal voters to PSOE) which is now his only option short of a Grand Coalition with the PSOE.
The "stitch-up" story is now the Mail's main headline, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's obvious no one knows what is going to happen with this story.
The guy who has most accurately nailed it today is
"He’s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he’s not willing to let go, he’s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!"
Which is spot on. The smarmy briefings about Bozza expecting the report to be OKish just dried up 48 hours ago. He was, I am guessing, shown a draft at that stage which left him dead in the water, and he is now like a man being attacked with a chainsaw, willing to jump off any cliff that will have him even if that only prolongs his life by about 10 seconds.
It really does seem very strange how all this has happened at the last minute, considering that the publication was expected so imminently a couple of days ago.
Wouldn't it be funny if it came out that the report had been leaked to the prime minister ahead of publication and he had leaned on the police to prevent it being published? The end result would be to make things about ten times worse than they would have been.
There would however be something richly ironic if Boris Johnson, a man who couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery was fired for - organising a pissup.
Off thread: I'm on the tram into town. Despite TFGM's pleas, mask wearing on the previously mask-enthusiastic Altrincham line is well under 25%. People are basically not playing any more.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
The "stitch-up" story is now the Mail's main headline, and Cummings hasn't even put another appearance yet. Not the end of the week most of us were expecting, and it's obvious no one knows what is going to happen with this story.
The guy who has most accurately nailed it today is
"He’s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he’s not willing to let go, he’s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!"
Which is spot on. The smarmy briefings about Bozza expecting the report to be OKish just dried up 48 hours ago. He was, I am guessing, shown a draft at that stage which left him dead in the water, and he is now like a man being attacked with a chainsaw, willing to jump off any cliff that will have him even if that only prolongs his life by about 10 seconds.
It really does seem very strange how all this has happened at the last minute, considering that the publication was expected so imminently a couple of days ago.
Wouldn't it be funny if it came out that the report had been leaked to the prime minister ahead of publication and he had leaned on the police to prevent it being published? The end result would be to make things about ten times worse than they would have been.
I doubt it was leaked, my guess is SG sent him the final draft with Suck on this, fat boi scrawled across the cover.
Stephen Bush @stephenkb · 4h Yet to see a poll or sit in on a focus group where it's not clear that people a) think that the allegations are true and b) expect there to be some kind of fix or cover-up.
The public get a lot wrong or misunderstand a lot, but occasionally they absolutely nail it.
And even if they're not right (NARRATOR: they are), it doesn't really matter. Once the public are set in a belief, it's damn hard to shift them.
The government ratings have bounced up off the worst of the precipice. But it will never be glad confident morning for Bozza again.
Dead cat bounce, just wait and see the effect of this latest nonsense
Actually, although we have had our differences on this matter, I think there could be something in this. The delay/dilution just looks terrible. It's the sort of thing that cuts through: er, why are they doing this now?
Starmer should be attacking the Met as it is clearly an utter nonsense, but then he is compromised by his connections to the Met and the CPS
If I were Leader of the Labour Party, I'd think VERY long and hard before attacking the Met.
As soon as he does that, the Conservatives reframe the debate as them defending the Police from Labour's attacks. That's the last thing Labour want, and leans into an area of traditional weakness for Labour and strength for the Tories (law'n'order).
I agree there are things to criticise... but it'd be bad politics from his perspective.
I doubt Johnson has committed a serious crime. The issue is he is unfit for office and acts to undermine good governance. It is a political issue that needs to be resolved through political judgment. The real risk is he can get away with saying, the poIice don't think I committed a serious crime so it's all fine.
It is fairly obvious Boris will have to resign if he gets a fixed penalty notice but of course if he does not then he would be in the clear
But not in the court of public opinion
Not in the clear - LYING TO PARLIAMENT.
Yeah but lying to parliament is fine now because of Brexit and owning the Libs and Boris is just Boris and look he got the big calls right and let's focus on Levelling Up Ukraine not this Westminster village pyramid of piffle and he's a leader not a lawyer and only lawyers are into this he said she said truth and untruth rhubarb. Am I getting the hang of this?
Sam Coates Sky @SamCoatesSky More clarification from the Met today, this via PA
Metropolitan Police officers are currently investigating possible breaches of Covid rules that could warrant fixed penalty notices rather than more serious offences, the PA news agency understands.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
For someone who voted for Brexit, you don't half seem keen to sh*t on the UK.
Go a mile or two from the plush hotels you stay at abroad and find the worst place. Go on.
Calm down
I'm perfectly calm, thanks. Why not actually give a considered response.
Actually, Swansea is very near the Mumbles and the Gower.
Heck, my son wants to go back to Portsmouth. Portsmouth.
For the Historic Dockyard, the seafront (and it is nice in places), and Portchester Castle. We never got to the Armouries Museum on the hill or the RM museum.
Ah The Mumbles. When I was part of the bar staff at the Students Union in Cardiff in the 80s one of the tasks you had to do before you could be a fully fledged staff member was to drink the Mumbles Mile. At its height the Mile apparently had 26 pubs along its length and you were supposed to drink a pint in each. I would be pretty damn sure no one ever did and thankfully when I did it there were I think around 20 pubs and we had a half at each. We were stupid but not that stupid.
I don't remember much else about the Mumbles but we did used to climb on the Gower and also it was a prime spot for both geology and archaeology field trips. Great part of the world.
Quite a groundswell this evening for the report to be published from all quarters, left and right. I don't think anyone appreciates being taken for mugs and no one likes the whiff of cover up.
I'm not convinced the Met/No.10 will be able to hold out against this. We don't live in the 1950's.
Stephen Bush @stephenkb · 4h Yet to see a poll or sit in on a focus group where it's not clear that people a) think that the allegations are true and b) expect there to be some kind of fix or cover-up.
The public get a lot wrong or misunderstand a lot, but occasionally they absolutely nail it.
And even if they're not right (NARRATOR: they are), it doesn't really matter. Once the public are set in a belief, it's damn hard to shift them.
The government ratings have bounced up off the worst of the precipice. But it will never be glad confident morning for Bozza again.
Dead cat bounce, just wait and see the effect of this latest nonsense
Actually, although we have had our differences on this matter, I think there could be something in this. The delay/dilution just looks terrible. It's the sort of thing that cuts through: er, why are they doing this now?
Starmer should be attacking the Met as it is clearly an utter nonsense, but then he is compromised by his connections to the Met and the CPS
If I were Leader of the Labour Party, I'd think VERY long and hard before attacking the Met.
As soon as he does that, the Conservatives reframe the debate as them defending the Police from Labour's attacks. That's the last thing Labour want, and leans into an area of traditional weakness for Labour and strength for the Tories (law'n'order).
I agree there are things to criticise... but it'd be bad politics from his perspective.
I doubt Johnson has committed a serious crime. The issue is he is unfit for office and acts to undermine good governance. It is a political issue that needs to be resolved through political judgment. The real risk is he can get away with saying, the poIice don't think I committed a serious crime so it's all fine.
It is fairly obvious Boris will have to resign if he gets a fixed penalty notice but of course if he does not then he would be in the clear
But not in the court of public opinion
Not in the clear - LYING TO PARLIAMENT.
Yeah but lying to parliament is fine now because of Brexit and owning the Libs and Boris is just Boris and look he got the big calls right and let's focus on Levelling Up Ukraine not this Westminster village pyramid of piffle and he's a leader not a lawyer and only lawyers are into this he said she said truth and untruth rhubarb. Am I getting the hang of this?
It's as though James Joyce had become HYUFD's script-writer.
Off thread: I'm on the tram into town. Despite TFGM's pleas, mask wearing on the previously mask-enthusiastic Altrincham line is well under 25%. People are basically not playing any more.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
I expect everyone will be doing the Len Ganley stance...
Todays YG fits the weeks pattern of narrowing Polls
Looks like SKS lead now about 6, any other leader would surely be at least 25% ahead
At a guess, the bulk of the electorate is unenthusiastic about Labour, and a larger percentage of it than is comfortable for us to contemplate is still willing to give Johnson the benefit of the doubt (or, at any rate, to write off his misdemeanours as trivia or as harmless eccentricities.)
AIUI the people behind the recent Kantar poll, which gave Labour a 4% lead, suggested that their results were narrower than other recent surveys because it presented voters with a forced choice, i.e. there was no "don't know" option - suggesting that, when respondents were denied the chance to dither, a lot of waverers decided to stick with the Tories.
Labour lost a large chunk of its habit vote in 2019, and its bedrock support was lower than that of the Conservatives even before this happened. There are also, most likely, over two years left to go until the next GE - an age for other events to play out, well beyond the current concerns about lockdown parties and the cost of living.
If Johnson's MPs fail to throw him out, and he therefore ends up leading the party into the next election, then it is far from a foregone conclusion that he wouldn't win it, albeit with a reduced majority.
I referenced the film “Twelve Monkeys” in a conversation at work. My colleague pointed out he was 1 when it came out…
Never even heard of it
Worth watching. About the accidental release of a virus by a scientist that devastates humankind. The survivors send someone back through time to try and prevent it happening.
I referenced the film “Twelve Monkeys” in a conversation at work. My colleague pointed out he was 1 when it came out…
Never even heard of it
Worth watching. About the accidental release of a virus by a scientist that devastates humankind. The survivors send someone back through time to try and prevent it happening.
Quite a groundswell this evening for the report to be published from all quarters, left and right. I don't think anyone appreciates being taken for mugs and no one likes the whiff of cover up.
I'm not convinced the Met/No.10 will be able to hold out against this. We don't live in the 1950's.
I think thats right even the suspicion of a cover up is far more damaging to Boris than the actual offence.
For the first time i think he may have shit his pot full if the report doesnt come out next week
Quite a groundswell this evening for the report to be published from all quarters, left and right. I don't think anyone appreciates being taken for mugs and no one likes the whiff of cover up.
I'm not convinced the Met/No.10 will be able to hold out against this. We don't live in the 1950's.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
So, you're positing a world where wages in Southern Spain have outgrown the UK to such an extent that everyone is holidaying in Swansea?
Now, I might be wrong, but that doesn't sound exactly like a dream scenario.
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
So, you're positing a world where wages in Southern Spain have outgrown the UK to such an extent that everyone is holidaying in Swansea?
Now, I might be wrong, but that doesn't sound exactly like a dream scenario.
At the risk of sounding like @Leon here is a well-known picture of Naples in today's Times .
In the centre you can see a park with bare trees. It's the Villa Communale and I used to play there as a child. Just at the end of it there is a large pink building and to the left is my family's palazzo where I spent a large part of my childhood.
I have such happy memories of the city. As soon as I can I will visit again. To me it is home in a way that the London of my childhood never was.
And it is also a great place to visit - and not just to see Pompei. It is one of the great cities of Europe with such a wealth of history, art and architecture.
And it used to be as easy to live in and work there as it is in Swansea. That was until 52% of the UK who wouldn't recognise European culture if bit them on the backside decided it left us open to them coming here
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
So, you're positing a world where wages in Southern Spain have outgrown the UK to such an extent that everyone is holidaying in Swansea?
Now, I might be wrong, but that doesn't sound exactly like a dream scenario.
Today I learnt that some large builders are placing POs with no prices on them and then agreeing prices when things arrive on site in order to guarantee labour and materials. Imagine trying to manage that?
Here’s one for PB. The other night I had a dream that my heart was removed and subsequently I was on a waiting list for a transplant. I then proceeded to have a panic attack about not having a heart and then being unable to breathe. I then woke up and was relieved I did indeed still have my heart (to the best of my knowledge).
To be fair to @HYUFD he does have a point about Swansea. For instance you could rent a two bedroom, four bed family house near the centre for about £600, even in August. Leaving you a tidy £400 to spend on heroin, I mean food and transport
Most of the evening can be spent eating out and on the town or seeing a show at Swansea Theatre.
Indeed if even Benidorm becomes too expensive in the height of summer, I suspect more and more families will spend their summers at beach resorts in the UK and maybe only go to Spain in the autumn or winter when it is cheaper but still warmer than the UK
So, you're positing a world where wages in Southern Spain have outgrown the UK to such an extent that everyone is holidaying in Swansea?
Now, I might be wrong, but that doesn't sound exactly like a dream scenario.
The joys of Brexit...
Never mind, you can always nip over to Skegness for your hols. An old Leicester tradition.
PS: Never got there myself. Could be splendid for all I know.
“Not really. If you spend money on holidays, for a family, you tend to end up in something like that. Unless you really fight the demand for luxury bathrooms etc.”
+++++
I do not wish to pry into PB-ears private circumstances, but this is an intriguing comment
If you had a family holiday here - the Galle hotel we have been discussing - you’d need three rooms for yourself, one for you and the partner, two for the kids
But let’s budget and say just two rooms, and the kids share
Rooms are £500 a night. That’s £1000 a night. For two weeks that’s £14,000. Add in flights to Sri Lanka, trips, and the rest, and you’re heading for £20,000. For a winter holiday
Exactly how wealthy is the average PB-er?!
Well I push up the average lol.
Good to hear!
I’m quite well off, I guess, but I would blink furiously at dropping £20k on a winter holiday
In my professional capacity for the Knappers Gazette I’ve done trips that would have cost £100,000 for 2 weeks. They were great fun. But they certainly weren’t worth £100,000. I suppose some people are just so rich it doesn’t matter
Spend £100k every two weeks and it adds up to £2.6m in a year, or £26m in a decade.
There have been a few lottery jackpots that would still be left largely intact after that.
The economics of the holiday industry baffle me. I don't feel well-off. But I know what the average family income is, and we earn a fair bit more than that. I usually tick one of the top two boxes in surveys on the 'household income' page. And while I'll never feel entirely comfortable, we're probably top decile for capital. And yet almost all holidays I see advertised are wildly, wildly unaffordable. I consider £3000 for a week away for five towards the upper end of extravagant. Yet almost any foreign family holiday that isn't transparently worse than staying at home seems to be more than this. I simply don't understand how this works. There surely can't be that many people who can afford a holiday like this every year. And don't get me started on Disneyland. Not that I want to go - but I don't see how more than a tiny proportion of the population can ever afford it.
The average family holiday to Spain or France, even in the height of summer, would cost far less than £3,000 probably under £1,000
Well maybe. But just getting four return tickets by air in the school holidays would cost over £1000. There must be cheap holidays out there - or no-one would be able to afford holidays at all. But those that I've seen look awful - at least compared to the option of staying at home. I don't know much about the abroad market. But I know a fair bit about the British market. And it's dashed difficult to get a self-catering place for 5 in the school holidays for much under £1000.
A family holiday in France or Spain for under £1000, for a fortnight, during the school hols? How? Surely impossible, unless you drive and camp or something, and do it mega cheap, buying all your food in the nearest Aldi
How many do that?
I guess for a week at a two star hotel, but even then you’d be hard pushed with a family
Even if you drive, the ferry costs at that time push the bill up quite steeply. The overnight from Portsmouth to St Malo is really convenient and great fun (especially with a few friends' families) but costs a few bob in the school holidays. More than flying, although you then save on the car hire.
Maybe @Leon could write an article on it. Take some nephews or nieces (none over 16) on a camping trip to Normandy on a budget. Now that would really be something to brag about!
Arse licking to Leon now, can you get lower than a rattlesnake in a rut.
PS. I doubt I can get lower than your IQ. I was teasing Leon you dipshit!
Butt licker extrodinaire , now F Off scumbag, as if I care what you are doing or thinking.
5 posts of rants in a row indicates you care a teensy-weensy bit.
On a personal note my 18 year old granddaughter has just phoned from Leeds University to say she has been awarded a place at Kyoto University in September, as part of her Italy and Japan languages and culture course.
She has learnt Japanese to a sufficient level in just 4 months
On a personal note my 18 year old granddaughter has just phoned from Leeds University to say she has been awarded a place at Kyoto University in September, as part of her Italy and Japan languages and culture course.
She has learnt Japanese to a sufficient level in just 4 months
Here’s one for PB. The other night I had a dream that my heart was removed and subsequently I was on a waiting list for a transplant. I then proceeded to have a panic attack about not having a heart and then being unable to breathe. I then woke up and was relieved I did indeed still have my heart (to the best of my knowledge).
What could it mean??
Nothing at all. Perhaps @Leon was musing about aztecs on here and your subconscious ran with the idea of hearts being ripped out for shits and giggles... Dream analysis really is a load of piffle.
On a personal note my 18 year old granddaughter has just phoned from Leeds University to say she has been awarded a place at Kyoto University in September, as part of her Italy and Japan languages and culture course.
She has learnt Japanese to a sufficient level in just 4 months
We are very proud of her
Impossible. No foreign study is possible since we left Erasmus.
Quite a groundswell this evening for the report to be published from all quarters, left and right. I don't think anyone appreciates being taken for mugs and no one likes the whiff of cover up.
I'm not convinced the Met/No.10 will be able to hold out against this. We don't live in the 1950's.
I think thats right even the suspicion of a cover up is far more damaging to Boris than the actual offence.
For the first time i think he may have shit his pot full if the report doesnt come out next week
You may well be right. OTOH the police can hide behind due process, the PM can hide behind the police, and heaven knows how long the police can string their investigation out for.
Here’s one for PB. The other night I had a dream that my heart was removed and subsequently I was on a waiting list for a transplant. I then proceeded to have a panic attack about not having a heart and then being unable to breathe. I then woke up and was relieved I did indeed still have my heart (to the best of my knowledge).
Here’s one for PB. The other night I had a dream that my heart was removed and subsequently I was on a waiting list for a transplant. I then proceeded to have a panic attack about not having a heart and then being unable to breathe. I then woke up and was relieved I did indeed still have my heart (to the best of my knowledge).
I referenced the film “Twelve Monkeys” in a conversation at work. My colleague pointed out he was 1 when it came out…
Never even heard of it
Worth watching. About the accidental release of a virus by a scientist that devastates humankind. The survivors send someone back through time to try and prevent it happening.
Brad Pitt & Bruce Willis.
Not a Christmas film.
Sounds too close to reality to me
Nowhere close to reality… Bruce Willis only does Christmas films
On a personal note my 18 year old granddaughter has just phoned from Leeds University to say she has been awarded a place at Kyoto University in September, as part of her Italy and Japan languages and culture course.
She has learnt Japanese to a sufficient level in just 4 months
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 8m If senior officers within the Met can't get the basics right on an investigation containing this level of national interest what hope does any ordinary member of the public have when it comes to day to day offences.
Looking like the Met will need a complete clear out when we finally get rid of the greased piglet. Like every other institution in the UK at this rate except so far the supreme court and the Palace.
On a personal note my 18 year old granddaughter has just phoned from Leeds University to say she has been awarded a place at Kyoto University in September, as part of her Italy and Japan languages and culture course.
She has learnt Japanese to a sufficient level in just 4 months
We are very proud of her
Great stuff. It's a fantastic city of which I have many happy memories. She will absolutely love it.
As mentioned earlier on, don't forget that that article was published before the police both said they were only investigating fixed penalty notices, and then issued another bizarre briefing a bit later on, apparently telling people not to get the wrong idea about information prejudicing investigations, as they didn't really mean that
Got to day 5 of Covid. Took another LFT test in the expectation that I would be free in a couple of days time, but thats not going to happen. I am still infectious. Makes sense as I am feeling a bit rough, although the main illness has passed.
Coming to terms with the fact that I may need to self isolate for the full 11 days. (10 days plus the day of test).
Obviously I'm glad i'm not welded in to an apartment block, but this requirement to self isolate is highly draconian and intrusive.
Given that the virus is absolutely everywhere, and isn't killing people at anything like the numbers of 2020; I would suggest these rules are excessive and need to be quickly scrapped.
If they aren't scrapped people will start to ignore and disobey them. I could have avoided the whole thing by just not taking a covid test and regarding the episode as a bout of winter flu, which is what it would normally be described as.
Comments
Leon is comparing the best places in the locations he often gets paid to go to with the worst places in the UK.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1756675-d12421535-Reviews-Assheton_Arms_Hotel-Middleton_Rochdale_Greater_Manchester_England.html
One reviewer, swimming against the tide, gave it 10/10. But she's from Blackpool.
It offers much hilarity. And it would make a great article for a lad magazine: staying at the worst 5. How bad can they be? Sadly, these magazines no longer exist
Actually, Swansea is very near the Mumbles and the Gower.
Heck, my son wants to go back to Portsmouth. Portsmouth.
For the Historic Dockyard, the seafront (and it is nice in places), and Portchester Castle. We never got to the Armouries Museum on the hill or the RM museum.
Or are you referring to the golf club?
TripAdvisor is even funnier, Look at the “traveller’s tips”
“Sleep in your car instead”
And the photos are Trainspotting meets horror movie. Superb
Basically they decided they had far more office spaces than they could conceivably needed. So the council acquired and knocked down all the ugliest ones and replthem with - largely - open space,which allowed the wonderful Victorian architecture which the city still retains to be much more visible.
No city centre in Britain had improved as much in the past 15 years as Bradford.
.
In the centre you can see a park with bare trees. It's the Villa Communale and I used to play there as a child. Just at the end of it there is a large pink building and to the left is my family's palazzo where I spent a large part of my childhood.
I have such happy memories of the city. As soon as I can I will visit again. To me it is home in a way that the London of my childhood never was.
And it is also a great place to visit - and not just to see Pompei. It is one of the great cities of Europe with such a wealth of history, art and architecture.
I note a couple of French Presidential opinion polls today have shown Le Pen a couple of points in front of Pecresse in the battle to challenge Macron in round two. After her selection, Pecresse got a bit of a polling bounce but that has faded and the fact she is polling four points worse than Fillon who lost out last time as the LR candidate.
Less topically still, off to a gig tonight. Half Man Half Biscuit at the Ritz. Really looking forward to it - basically the only remaining band I haven't seen that I haven't. Wanted to see them for years, decades.
https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/1486982816810291205
"He’s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he’s not willing to let go, he’s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!"
Which is spot on. The smarmy briefings about Bozza expecting the report to be OKish just dried up 48 hours ago. He was, I am guessing, shown a draft at that stage which left him dead in the water, and he is now like a man being attacked with a chainsaw, willing to jump off any cliff that will have him even if that only prolongs his life by about 10 seconds.
3/10 is the lowest score on booking.com that I can find in the UK. If anyone can beat that please do tell! These places are funny
I believe that technically the lowest POSSIBLE score is 2.5
FUCK YOUIs it?As you say it does seem a bit feisty. Everyone chill out, its Friday evening!
You can check his blog for anything interesting
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g528783-d12477437-Reviews-IBC_Iverley_House-Kidderminster_Worcestershire_England.html
and another
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g528783-d8352883-Reviews-Ismere_Barns_Cottages-Kidderminster_Worcestershire_England.html
and
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1929575-d6427936-Reviews-The_Old_Vicarage-Malborough_Salcombe_Devon_England.html
Unfortunately sudden bad weather warning for us tomorrow ...
Macron 24%
Pecresse 17%
Le Pen 17%
Zemmour 13%
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1487022873374072833?s=20&t=099vXqvXdtxpM3-faF2IVA
Though yes, if Zemmour was not running it would definitely be a Le Pen v Macron runoff and Pecresse would be eliminated in the first round as Fillon was eliminated in round 1 in 2017.
In the runoff it is Macron 52% Pecresse 48% and Macron 57% Le Pen 43%
https://twitter.com/CNEWS/status/1486935747500326914?s=20&t=099vXqvXdtxpM3-faF2IVA
Wouldn't it be funny if it came out that the report had been leaked to the prime minister ahead of publication and he had leaned on the police to prevent it being published? The end result would be to make things about ten times worse than they would have been.
Looks like SKS lead now about 6, any other leader would surely be at least 25% ahead
Last week, a couple of polls put the opposition Social Democrats ahead but it seems Costa has woken up and smelt the coffee as the Socialists have rallied. The daily rolling Pitagorica poll has re-established a 5-point lead for the Government while the more substantial (2,192 respondents compared with 608) CESOP poll has a 3point advantage (36-33) for the Socialists.
It looks as though Costa's gambit of a snap election to get a parliamentary majority will fail. The Socialists are on 108 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly and will be around the same if not a notch lower. The Social Democrats under Rul Rio got 79 seats last time on 28% of the vote but will likely be in the 90s on 33%.
So what about prospective minority party support for either of the two main parties? For Costa, the Left Bloc and the Unitary Democratic Coalition will likely win 10 seats between them which would be enough for Costa but having abandoned him before, will these parties want to go back to supporting the Socialist Government?
For Rio, Liberal Initiative and its 5-6 seats look a possible ally but the populist CHEGA, itself a split from the Social Democrats, with its likely 8-9 seats could be a step too far. Even with both groups, it's likely Rio will be short of a majority.
In two weeks, we have a regional election in Castile-Leon. The triumph of PP in last year's Madrid local elections propelled Pablo Casado's party from the doldrums to an opinion poll lead over PSOE. The polls have steadied and the two main parties are closely matched in the mid-20s with VOX coming up fast toward 20% and UP in the low teens.
The province is currently governed by a coalition of PP (29 seats) and Citizens (12) which enjoys a one-seat edge over the opposition headed by PSOE on 35 with others (including VOX and Podemos) on five.
As we know, Citizens has bene hollowed out across Spain and VOX is on the rise. Having been well ahead and looking like getting a majority alone, however, PP have eased back in recent polling and now are projected to win 36 seats (still a gain of seven) with PSOE set to drop from 35 to 27. The big winners are VOX (up from one to ten) and a PP-VOX coalition would have a comfortable majority.
There are no real options for PSOE so it will either be a PP minority supported by VOX or a full PP-VOX coalition you would think but it will be indicative as to whether Casado wants to be seen to be getting close to VOX (which might drive some of his more liberal voters to PSOE) which is now his only option short of a Grand Coalition with the PSOE.
"Who cares what you think?
[Middle finger]
Bl**dy voters..."
I don't remember much else about the Mumbles but we did used to climb on the Gower and also it was a prime spot for both geology and archaeology field trips. Great part of the world.
I'm not convinced the Met/No.10 will be able to hold out against this. We don't live in the 1950's.
YG = 6
THEREFORE YG = BODMAS
I referenced the film “Twelve Monkeys” in a conversation at work. My colleague pointed out he was 1 when it came out…
Therefore YG = BODMAS
Tank driving opportunities abound for Johnson.
AIUI the people behind the recent Kantar poll, which gave Labour a 4% lead, suggested that their results were narrower than other recent surveys because it presented voters with a forced choice, i.e. there was no "don't know" option - suggesting that, when respondents were denied the chance to dither, a lot of waverers decided to stick with the Tories.
Labour lost a large chunk of its habit vote in 2019, and its bedrock support was lower than that of the Conservatives even before this happened. There are also, most likely, over two years left to go until the next GE - an age for other events to play out, well beyond the current concerns about lockdown parties and the cost of living.
If Johnson's MPs fail to throw him out, and he therefore ends up leading the party into the next election, then it is far from a foregone conclusion that he wouldn't win it, albeit with a reduced majority.
Brad Pitt & Bruce Willis.
Not a Christmas film.
For the first time i think he may have shit his pot full if the report doesnt come out next week
Now, I might be wrong, but that doesn't sound exactly like a dream scenario.
What could it mean??
PS: Never got there myself. Could be splendid for all I know.
She has learnt Japanese to a sufficient level in just 4 months
We are very proud of her
TheSecretBarrister, January 28, 2022"
https://thesecretbarrister.com/2022/01/28/why-on-earth-would-the-metropolitan-police-ask-sue-gray-to-redact-key-parts-of-her-independent-report/
Seriously, though, I’m impressed (and jealous!)
@DPJHodges
·
8m
If senior officers within the Met can't get the basics right on an investigation containing this level of national interest what hope does any ordinary member of the public have when it comes to day to day offences.
https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1487143946174152704
===
Looking like the Met will need a complete clear out when we finally get rid of the greased piglet. Like every other institution in the UK at this rate except so far the supreme court and the Palace.
Coming to terms with the fact that I may need to self isolate for the full 11 days. (10 days plus the day of test).
Obviously I'm glad i'm not welded in to an apartment block, but this requirement to self isolate is highly draconian and intrusive.
Given that the virus is absolutely everywhere, and isn't killing people at anything like the numbers of 2020; I would suggest these rules are excessive and need to be quickly scrapped.
If they aren't scrapped people will start to ignore and disobey them. I could have avoided the whole thing by just not taking a covid test and regarding the episode as a bout of winter flu, which is what it would normally be described as.