Is it worth just trawling the counties for any more who rhyme?
Pity John Noakes isn't still with us.
Haha - I can just imagine Blue Peter: "After last week's trampolining world-record attempt, it's more bouncers for John this week as he teams up with Crawley to open the batting for England."
Remember him turning out for Castleford in some Rugby League friendly or summat. Gutsy bloke.
LD vote looks quite efficiently concentrated where it needs to be, especially as their overall score is on the lower side of recent polls.
They are rapidly becoming a South of England party. That has advantages and disadvantages.
It does mean the LDs have replaced the Tories as the new party of the posh post Brexit
Orkney and Shetland and Caithness are hardly Surrey.
Even in Scotland the LDs tend to now represent the posher bits eg Edinburgh West, Caithness, North East Fife
Edinburgh West isn't THAT posh. In fact I just happened to be passing AC-H's office the other day..
Compared to most of Scotland all of Edinburgh is posh and Edinburgh West is a middle class part of the city.
NE Fife contains posh St Andrews of course too
A socio economic expert on Scotland as well, is there no start to your talents?!
It helps to be posh to see posh, so clearly that rules out you!
I sure ain't posh but then I don't share your sort's obsession with class. I'd estimate you as C1>B, ie not a hope in hell of being considered posh. Unselfconscious use of the word posh is a bit of a tell fyi.
“Posh” was Gordon Brown code for “English”. SLab’s dogwhistle.
Is it worth just trawling the counties for any more who rhyme?
Pity John Noakes isn't still with us.
Haha - I can just imagine Blue Peter: "After last week's trampolining world-record attempt, it's more bouncers for John this week as he teams up with Crawley to open the batting for England."
Remember him turning out for Castleford in some Rugby League friendly or summat. Gutsy bloke.
And climbing up Nelson's Column without safety apparatus - makes me go cold looking at it!
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Maybe not, but you can have frosty but peaceful relations.
Yes, but Putin will not negotiate and avcept a neutral or demilitarised Crimea. That is abject defeat for him.
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Peaceful perhaps, but not easy. Thankfully, Zelensky seems to be motivated by the best interests of his country rather than a visceral hatred of the enemy. Hopefully Putin will prove to have a smidgen of that mentality too, we'll see.
Isn’t Mélenchon anti-NATO and anti-EU? Seems odd for him to surge in France with those policies at the minute?
Pro-NATO folk consolidating behind Macron, the more obviously Putiny characters getting some bleeding to Melenchon, who I'm guessing is of that ilk but not as obviously?
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Well nations can be pretty forgiving pretty quickly, but it would require the end of the Putin regime and replacement by a contrite new government.
My son and daughter in law are expecting their third child in September and this has prompted them to seek a buyer for their home as they need to upgrade to 4 bedrooms
We have been chatting and agreed that in any home they purchase they will take into account the insulation levels and upgrade including installing solar panels
They will seek to negotiate the price and this raises the question about home sales and just how much buyers will be seeking to make them as energy efficient as possible and of course this will not be at taxpayers expense
Just one of the many things that will change in the coming months and years
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Well nations can be pretty forgiving pretty quickly, but it would require the end of the Putin regime and replacement by a contrite new government.
So never.
Contrite with a large cheque book just maybe. So never.
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
I said earlier that England has around the same number of empty homes as Ireland (200-250k). I pointed out that Ireland has one in eight homes empty; I didn't mention that England has about twelve times as many homes (24m to 2m), so has an empty homes ratio of about one in a hundred.
I did say that France has over 2.5m empty homes. I didn't mention Germany (1.8m), Italy (over 2m) or Spain (3.4m).
Isn’t Mélenchon anti-NATO and anti-EU? Seems odd for him to surge in France with those policies at the minute?
Pro-NATO folk consolidating behind Macron, the more obviously Putiny characters getting some bleeding to Melenchon, who I'm guessing is of that ilk but not as obviously?
Makes sense I suppose. Macron being attacked from the left might make for a more tense election.
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Maybe not, but you can have frosty but peaceful relations.
Yes, but Putin will not negotiate and avcept a neutral or demilitarised Crimea. That is abject defeat for him.
I don't think there's peace with Putin at the helm. He needs either to retire or to "retire".
I agree. I have been saying that from round about day one.
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Well nations can be pretty forgiving pretty quickly, but it would require the end of the Putin regime and replacement by a contrite new government.
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
France and Germany seem to get on OK these days. And if I were Ukrainian I'd find it a whole heap easier to ascribe most of the blame to Putin than to AH.
My son and daughter in law are expecting their third child in September and this has prompted them to seek a buyer for their home as they need to upgrade to 4 bedrooms
We have been chatting and agreed that in any home they purchase they will take into account the insulation levels and upgrade including installing solar panels
They will seek to negotiate the price and this raises the question about home sales and just how much buyers will be seeking to make them as energy efficient as possible and of course this will not be at taxpayers expense
Just one of the many things that will change in the coming months and years
All the best to them, they might be a bit limited for choice. Not sure what things are like where they are but this is where I live:
I have never seen so few properties on the market in and around my estate.
LD vote looks quite efficiently concentrated where it needs to be, especially as their overall score is on the lower side of recent polls.
They are rapidly becoming a South of England party. That has advantages and disadvantages.
It does mean the LDs have replaced the Tories as the new party of the posh post Brexit
Orkney and Shetland and Caithness are hardly Surrey.
Even in Scotland the LDs tend to now represent the posher bits eg Edinburgh West, Caithness, North East Fife
Edinburgh West isn't THAT posh. In fact I just happened to be passing AC-H's office the other day..
Compared to most of Scotland all of Edinburgh is posh and Edinburgh West is a middle class part of the city.
NE Fife contains posh St Andrews of course too
A socio economic expert on Scotland as well, is there no start to your talents?!
It helps to be posh to see posh, so clearly that rules out you!
I sure ain't posh but then I don't share your sort's obsession with class. I'd estimate you as C1>B, ie not a hope in hell of being considered posh. Unselfconscious use of the word posh is a bit of a tell fyi.
“Posh” was Gordon Brown code for “English”. SLab’s dogwhistle.
Except much of Scotland is posher than most of England outside London and the South East, certainly around Edinburgh and Aberdeenshire and St Andrews for example.
After all the only royal palaces and residences outside London and the South and Norfolk are in Scotland, Holyroodhouse, Birkhall and Balmoral
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Christ, I hope someone briefs them on which silhouettes NOT to run towards if you only have one of them. There’s some to leave to your mates with NLAW and Javelin.
Been watching Martin Lewis - there is going to be lots of pressure ramping up on Rishi over the cost of living crisis very soon.
High petrol prices are absolutely killer for any government.
Remarkable how little public reaction so far. Are we using cars less, said the man knowing he would still have to spend another £160 on fuel this week?
Electric vehicles never looked more attractive.
The government should really start ensuring a larger charging point infrastructure.
Have you seen the new electric BMW SUV? No-one could ever say that looked attractive.
The eldest son of a Tory MP and former government minister is among a group of British ex-servicemen who have joined the war in Ukraine.
Ben Grant, 30, who spent more than five years as a commando in the Royal Marines, is part of group of seven ex-servicemen who arrived in Ukraine over the weekend to fight invading Russian forces.
His mother is Helen Grant, the Conservative MP for Maidstone and Boris Johnson’s special envoy on girls’ education. She is also a former minister for sport and tourism.
The Guardian spoke to Grant in the ticket hall of Lviv station on Saturday as he waited to board a train for Kyiv.
He said: “I haven’t been sent, nothing to do with the government, nothing to do with my mother. Just wanna make that clear, completely off my own back, I decided to do this. I didn’t even tell my mum, but it is what it is.”
Grant, said he chose to head for Ukraine after seeing footage of Russian bombing of a house where a child could be heard screaming. He said: “I thought, I am a father of three, and if that was my kids I know what I would do, I would go and fight. Then I thought I would want another load of people who might be skilled enough to help me come and help me, come and help me, save my family.”
I said earlier that England has around the same number of empty homes as Ireland (200-250k). I pointed out that Ireland has one in eight homes empty; I didn't mention that England has about twelve times as many homes (24m to 2m), so has an empty homes ratio of about one in a hundred.
I did say that France has over 2.5m empty homes. I didn't mention Germany (1.8m), Italy (over 2m) or Spain (3.4m).
England's housing market is just messed up. At that sort of empty homes ratio, buyers can't exert much choice over which house they buy- it's just grabbing whatever is in roughly the right location, whatever the cost and quality.
With the consequences we see around us. Goodness knows how this gets fixed.
Plot twist!! Washington indicates it wasn't pre-consulted on Poland's decision to transfer jets...
Victoria Nuland, State Department Undersecretary, just told Senate cmtte hearing: "To my knowledge, it wasn't pre-consulted with us that they planned to give these planes to us."
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Is it rubble?
The ruble is certainly in truble.
(I think I may have nicked that gag from an episode of Metal Mickey.)
My son and daughter in law are expecting their third child in September and this has prompted them to seek a buyer for their home as they need to upgrade to 4 bedrooms
We have been chatting and agreed that in any home they purchase they will take into account the insulation levels and upgrade including installing solar panels
They will seek to negotiate the price and this raises the question about home sales and just how much buyers will be seeking to make them as energy efficient as possible and of course this will not be at taxpayers expense
Just one of the many things that will change in the coming months and years
All the best to them, they might be a bit limited for choice. Not sure what things are like where they are but this is where I live:
I have never seen so few properties on the market in and around my estate.
Actually my son has his own house and lived with his now wife in hers, and so they are in the fortunate position of being able to upgrade by selling both
There is a shortage but there are some available but you have to act quickly
LD vote looks quite efficiently concentrated where it needs to be, especially as their overall score is on the lower side of recent polls.
They are rapidly becoming a South of England party. That has advantages and disadvantages.
It does mean the LDs have replaced the Tories as the new party of the posh post Brexit
Orkney and Shetland and Caithness are hardly Surrey.
Even in Scotland the LDs tend to now represent the posher bits eg Edinburgh West, Caithness, North East Fife
Edinburgh West isn't THAT posh. In fact I just happened to be passing AC-H's office the other day..
Compared to most of Scotland all of Edinburgh is posh and Edinburgh West is a middle class part of the city.
NE Fife contains posh St Andrews of course too
A socio economic expert on Scotland as well, is there no start to your talents?!
It helps to be posh to see posh, so clearly that rules out you!
I sure ain't posh but then I don't share your sort's obsession with class. I'd estimate you as C1>B, ie not a hope in hell of being considered posh. Unselfconscious use of the word posh is a bit of a tell fyi.
“Posh” was Gordon Brown code for “English”. SLab’s dogwhistle.
Except much of Scotland is posher than most of England outside London and the South East, certainly around Edinburgh and Aberdeenshire and St Andrews for example.
After all the only royal palaces and residences outside London and the South and Norfolk are in Scotland, Holyroodhouse, Birkhall and Balmoral
Wester Hailes and West Granton particularly favoured by the smart set, for instance. The Kensington and Notting Hill of Edinburgh.
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Well nations can be pretty forgiving pretty quickly, but it would require the end of the Putin regime and replacement by a contrite new government.
So never.
Is the bastard Putin imortal?
The key word was contrite, and in action more than words. I don't see that even if that insecure little troll pops his clogs.
Isn’t Mélenchon anti-NATO and anti-EU? Seems odd for him to surge in France with those policies at the minute?
Pro-NATO folk consolidating behind Macron, the more obviously Putiny characters getting some bleeding to Melenchon, who I'm guessing is of that ilk but not as obviously?
Makes sense I suppose. Macron being attacked from the left might make for a more tense election.
He hasn't even surged more steadily crept up while the right wing vote is split and he might only need to win over Rousell's vote.
I'm not an expert on Melenchon's positions although I do think it would be a better policy debate with him in the runoff even if he gets crushed by Macron (up to 69-31% in some runoff polls). He was quite forthright on criticising NATO a couple of days ago which seemed brave to say the least. I would have thought he could do as well as 40% by being populist on domestic issues but if the debate is around NATO/security I suppose that plays far more to Macron's advantage
Might need a couple of Ukranian bouncers there, Putin doesn't take the hint when he's not wanted.
He's going to accuse the pub of seeking to join Wetherspoons and note also that the snug is ethnically Russian and should become a separate independent pub with one of his mates as landlord.
Edit: In fact, fuck-it, he's going to demolish the whole pub (if he can get his demo crew through the traffic lights on the High Street).
I said earlier that England has around the same number of empty homes as Ireland (200-250k). I pointed out that Ireland has one in eight homes empty; I didn't mention that England has about twelve times as many homes (24m to 2m), so has an empty homes ratio of about one in a hundred.
I did say that France has over 2.5m empty homes. I didn't mention Germany (1.8m), Italy (over 2m) or Spain (3.4m).
We've now had Russia saying 'We'll stop if we get x, y, and z' - big demands but stopping short of demanding the whole country. We now have Ukraine saying 'No, but let's talk'. This is hopeful. We should pray and really believe that there can be a peaceful outcome to this situation.
I don't mean to be glib, but there's a very easy peaceful solution. Russia goes home. They won't be chased over the border. The killing stops if the aggressor stops.
Maybe in the short run. But Ukraine is never going to forgive Russia for this. Never.
Well nations can be pretty forgiving pretty quickly, but it would require the end of the Putin regime and replacement by a contrite new government.
So never.
Is the bastard Putin imortal?
The key word was contrite, and in action more than words. I don't see that even if that insecure little troll pops his clogs.
It's very hard to know. Kremninology is impossible these days because it is the study of structures and relationships, and there aren't any: everything happens inside Putin's head. It's noticeable that we see no breathless and probably wildly inaccurate reports about the hawkish tendency headed by Obolensky vs the loose alliance of doves led by Bezhukov. There are no such people, unless they emerge from the woodwork after Putin's entirely accidental defenestration in the coming days
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
In fairness he did say he wanted to recreate the Soviet Union.
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Autarky beckons for Russia. Generally doesn't go well. Cf Albania, North Korea
It will be so funny if Melenchon scrapes into the runoff.
Still looks like a Macron v Le Pen runoff but Melenchon making a late rally with the left getting behind him.
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Macron is home and dry
Ironically Le Pen now runs him closest in runoff polls
Not that surprising, though.
In different ways, Zemmour and Mélenchon are just beyond the pale. I'm not taking questions on that, they just are.
Pécresse has turned out to be a disappointing candidate, a bit like TMay in 2017. She is also a bit stuffed in terms of ideology- she has to distance herself from Macron without going too far into Loonyville, and that leaves her with a fairly small space.
If you want a convincing rival for Macron, you probably end up with someone like le Pen; shades of the great realignment along a national populist vs. global liberal axis. But once that alignment properly shakes out, national populism probably loses handily.
Plot twist!! Washington indicates it wasn't pre-consulted on Poland's decision to transfer jets...
Victoria Nuland, State Department Undersecretary, just told Senate cmtte hearing: "To my knowledge, it wasn't pre-consulted with us that they planned to give these planes to us."
Sky News is suggesting that the US is going cool on the whole idea of providing or in this case just enabling air reinforcements to Ukraine. Logistical difficulties of providing Poland with replacements promised to Taiwan. Worried that it would be seen as escalation. A no fly zone by the back door. etc etc
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Autarky beckons for Russia. Generally doesn't go well. Cf Albania, North Korea
And a self-inflicted holodomor; their wheat comes from Ukraine.
It will be so funny if Melenchon scrapes into the runoff.
Still looks like a Macron v Le Pen runoff but Melenchon making a late rally with the left getting behind him.
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Macron is home and dry
Ironically Le Pen now runs him closest in runoff polls
Not that surprising, though.
In different ways, Zemmour and Mélenchon are just beyond the pale. I'm not taking questions on that, they just are.
Pécresse has turned out to be a disappointing candidate, a bit like TMay in 2017. She is also a bit stuffed in terms of ideology- she has to distance herself from Macron without going too far into Loonyville, and that leaves her with a fairly small space.
If you want a convincing rival for Macron, you probably end up with someone like le Pen; shades of the great realignment along a national populist vs. global liberal axis. But once that alignment properly shakes out, national populism probably loses handily.
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
And, moreover, when we now learn that the absurd UK anti-fracking campaign was funded by Russia
Isn’t Mélenchon anti-NATO and anti-EU? Seems odd for him to surge in France with those policies at the minute?
Pro-NATO folk consolidating behind Macron, the more obviously Putiny characters getting some bleeding to Melenchon, who I'm guessing is of that ilk but not as obviously?
Makes sense I suppose. Macron being attacked from the left might make for a more tense election.
He hasn't even surged more steadily crept up while the right wing vote is split and he might only need to win over Rousell's vote.
I'm not an expert on Melenchon's positions although I do think it would be a better policy debate with him in the runoff even if he gets crushed by Macron (up to 69-31% in some runoff polls). He was quite forthright on criticising NATO a couple of days ago which seemed brave to say the least. I would have thought he could do as well as 40% by being populist on domestic issues but if the debate is around NATO/security I suppose that plays far more to Macron's advantage
After all the nutty Right Populists haven't done much in the final two, give the nutty Left Populist a crack at it!
It will be so funny if Melenchon scrapes into the runoff.
Still looks like a Macron v Le Pen runoff but Melenchon making a late rally with the left getting behind him.
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Polls are giving Macron war bounce, the actual vote may not, polling still a long way off, so what are you calling late rally? The election hasn’t really got going yet. This can get very tight for Macron regardless his opponent, because it won’t be a left or right opponent, it will be a strong nationalist, eurosceptic opponent in either Le Pen or Melenchon, armed with what they didn’t have last time, they know his true agenda, that means he won’t get a lot of abstensions in his favour this time, his agenda brought from left to right together with yellow shirts on. I wouldn’t rule out a Macron loss at this stage once it gets down to real issues and what voters on the ground want.
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
And, moreover, when we now learn that the absurd UK anti-fracking campaign was funded by Russia
It'll be interesting to see which organisations/campaigns now start struggling for funds.
Plot twist!! Washington indicates it wasn't pre-consulted on Poland's decision to transfer jets...
Victoria Nuland, State Department Undersecretary, just told Senate cmtte hearing: "To my knowledge, it wasn't pre-consulted with us that they planned to give these planes to us."
Sky News is suggesting that the US is going cool on the whole idea of providing or in this case just enabling air reinforcements to Ukraine. Logistical difficulties of providing Poland with replacements promised to Taiwan. Worried that it would be seen as escalation. A no fly zone by the back door. etc etc
FFS
I disagree. This has to be done very delicately. We do edge close to outright confrontation, which means outright war
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
And, moreover, when we now learn that the absurd UK anti-fracking campaign was funded by Russia
It'll be interesting to see which organisations/campaigns now start struggling for funds.
It will be so funny if Melenchon scrapes into the runoff.
Still looks like a Macron v Le Pen runoff but Melenchon making a late rally with the left getting behind him.
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Macron is home and dry
Ironically Le Pen now runs him closest in runoff polls
Not that surprising, though.
In different ways, Zemmour and Mélenchon are just beyond the pale. I'm not taking questions on that, they just are.
Pécresse has turned out to be a disappointing candidate, a bit like TMay in 2017. She is also a bit stuffed in terms of ideology- she has to distance herself from Macron without going too far into Loonyville, and that leaves her with a fairly small space.
If you want a convincing rival for Macron, you probably end up with someone like le Pen; shades of the great realignment along a national populist vs. global liberal axis. But once that alignment properly shakes out, national populism probably loses handily.
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Autarky beckons for Russia. Generally doesn't go well. Cf Albania, North Korea
And a self-inflicted holodomor; their wheat comes from Ukraine.
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
And, moreover, when we now learn that the absurd UK anti-fracking campaign was funded by Russia
It'll be interesting to see which organisations/campaigns now start struggling for funds.
Please XR. Please XR.
Why would the Russians fund XR? Surely the last thing they want is an accelerated move away from dependence on fossil fuels!
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
And, moreover, when we now learn that the absurd UK anti-fracking campaign was funded by Russia
Probably it was but the usual form is to deny that voters can be influenced by online activity.
Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble. https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
Autarky beckons for Russia. Generally doesn't go well. Cf Albania, North Korea
And a self-inflicted holodomor; their wheat comes from Ukraine.
Ummm, I think Russia is a net exporter of wheat
Wheat, yes. Food it is about neutral. Which implies quite the change to the Russian diet.
At least, I assume so. A lack of exports will do nothing to help the ruble or foster foreign exchange reserves for imports.
It will be so funny if Melenchon scrapes into the runoff.
Still looks like a Macron v Le Pen runoff but Melenchon making a late rally with the left getting behind him.
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Macron is home and dry
Ironically Le Pen now runs him closest in runoff polls
Not that surprising, though.
In different ways, Zemmour and Mélenchon are just beyond the pale. I'm not taking questions on that, they just are.
Pécresse has turned out to be a disappointing candidate, a bit like TMay in 2017. She is also a bit stuffed in terms of ideology- she has to distance herself from Macron without going too far into Loonyville, and that leaves her with a fairly small space.
If you want a convincing rival for Macron, you probably end up with someone like le Pen; shades of the great realignment along a national populist vs. global liberal axis. But once that alignment properly shakes out, national populism probably loses handily.
Zemmour the weakest opposing candidate here, although not much in it.
What about Macron versus the centre-right female candidate? Can't remember her name.
I think some of the pollsters aren't even bothering doing hypothetical runoffs for Pecresse because she seems so unlikely to get into the runoff. That said it still seems strange to do polls for Zemmour (and Melenchon) and not her.
@IAPonomarenko Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim: “We’re getting prepared for yet another Russian assault. In particular, we have booked 50 buses to transport new POWs.”
It will be so funny if Melenchon scrapes into the runoff.
Still looks like a Macron v Le Pen runoff but Melenchon making a late rally with the left getting behind him.
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Polls are giving Macron war bounce, the actual vote may not, polling still a long way off, so what are you calling late rally? The election hasn’t really got going yet. This can get very tight for Macron regardless his opponent, because it won’t be a left or right opponent, it will be a strong nationalist, eurosceptic opponent in either Le Pen or Melenchon, armed with what they didn’t have last time, they know his true agenda, that means he won’t get a lot of abstensions in his favour this time, his agenda brought from left to right together with yellow shirts on. I wouldn’t rule out a Macron loss at this stage once it gets down to real issues and what voters on the ground want.
No chance the French will vote for any Putin apologist . The candidate that could have given him problems was Pécresse before her campaign hit the buffers .
Un envío de lanzagranadas e instructores N-LAW de países de la #OTAN llegó a #Kharkiv . Ya los combatientes están en instrucción y desplegados. Translated from Spanish by #UCRANIA REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE:
A consignment of N-LAW grenade launchers and trainers from #OTAN countries arrived at #Kharkiv . The combatants are already in training and deployed.
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Reality is bitting as we need to transition to net zero, but ensure we are self reliant during the transition including new oil and gas production
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
And, moreover, when we now learn that the absurd UK anti-fracking campaign was funded by Russia
It'll be interesting to see which organisations/campaigns now start struggling for funds.
Please XR. Please XR.
Why would the Russians fund XR? Surely the last thing they want is an accelerated move away from dependence on fossil fuels!
The Russians know we need them. Whatever XR say. If we don't produce them, then we buy them.
Comments
cf the brutally accurate Private Eye parody of a Scarfe cartoon. Caption: "This is Mrs Thatcher. I hate her."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGZ-h70IK9s
Do you really want to trip trap, trip trap over that bridge?
So never.
We have been chatting and agreed that in any home they purchase they will take into account the insulation levels and upgrade including installing solar panels
They will seek to negotiate the price and this raises the question about home sales and just how much buyers will be seeking to make them as energy efficient as possible and of course this will not be at taxpayers expense
Just one of the many things that will change in the coming months and years
I did say that France has over 2.5m empty homes. I didn't mention Germany (1.8m), Italy (over 2m) or Spain (3.4m).
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1501303979153711108?t=my_acjjaJNB2pd8Pd7j3cw&s=19
I have never seen so few properties on the market in and around my estate.
If Putin falls out of a window, then there's an opportunity.
After all the only royal palaces and residences outside London and the South and Norfolk are in Scotland, Holyroodhouse, Birkhall and Balmoral
Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP)
All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble.
https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145
#Ukraine: Georgian volunteers, led by the former Georgian Defence Minister, captured a Russian BMP-2 IFV.
Note Barrett Model 99 AMR. https://t.co/k7SVVnpHI7
Ben Grant, 30, who spent more than five years as a commando in the Royal Marines, is part of group of seven ex-servicemen who arrived in Ukraine over the weekend to fight invading Russian forces.
His mother is Helen Grant, the Conservative MP for Maidstone and Boris Johnson’s special envoy on girls’ education. She is also a former minister for sport and tourism.
The Guardian spoke to Grant in the ticket hall of Lviv station on Saturday as he waited to board a train for Kyiv.
He said: “I haven’t been sent, nothing to do with the government, nothing to do with my mother. Just wanna make that clear, completely off my own back, I decided to do this. I didn’t even tell my mum, but it is what it is.”
Grant, said he chose to head for Ukraine after seeing footage of Russian bombing of a house where a child could be heard screaming. He said: “I thought, I am a father of three, and if that was my kids I know what I would do, I would go and fight. Then I thought I would want another load of people who might be skilled enough to help me come and help me, come and help me, save my family.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/08/tory-mps-son-among-uk-ex-servicemen-heading-to-ukrainian-front-line
With the consequences we see around us. Goodness knows how this gets fixed.
In this case, could be somewhat less dramatic (pun intended). For example, consultations (that she was aware of) had suggested other alternatives?
Just sayin'
(I think I may have nicked that gag from an episode of Metal Mickey.)
God speed them
There is a shortage but there are some available but you have to act quickly
However the polls show Macron would trounce Melenchon in any runoff, even more than he would beat Zemmour
Boris Johnson has opened the door to a return to fracking in the UK, The Telegraph understands.
Wants his ministers to look again at whether it can play a part in improving UK energy independence. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/03/08/boris-johnson-looks-fracking-amid-energy-supply-crisis/
I'm not an expert on Melenchon's positions although I do think it would be a better policy debate with him in the runoff even if he gets crushed by Macron (up to 69-31% in some runoff polls). He was quite forthright on criticising NATO a couple of days ago which seemed brave to say the least. I would have thought he could do as well as 40% by being populist on domestic issues but if the debate is around NATO/security I suppose that plays far more to Macron's advantage
Edit: In fact, fuck-it, he's going to demolish the whole pub (if he can get his demo crew through the traffic lights on the High Street).
I thought fracking in the UK had been ruled out on geological grounds?
What time does the PB Geology team clock-on, it'd be good to have an informed view on this.
Otherwise they'll oppose it followed by their councillors and MPs.
In different ways, Zemmour and Mélenchon are just beyond the pale. I'm not taking questions on that, they just are.
Pécresse has turned out to be a disappointing candidate, a bit like TMay in 2017. She is also a bit stuffed in terms of ideology- she has to distance herself from Macron without going too far into Loonyville, and that leaves her with a fairly small space.
If you want a convincing rival for Macron, you probably end up with someone like le Pen; shades of the great realignment along a national populist vs. global liberal axis. But once that alignment properly shakes out, national populism probably loses handily.
FFS
For those who object they need to explain and justify impoverishing our citizens when a compromise is available and when others will continue and send their product to us anyway
This is another consequence of this war
⏫Macron (LREM): 61 % (+3,5)
⏬Le Pen (RN): 39 % (-3,5)
🆕Macron (LREM): 68,5 %
🆕Mélenchon (FI): 31,5 %
⏫Macron (LREM): 69,5 % (+4)
⏬Zemmour (R!): 30,5 % (-4)
Zemmour the weakest opposing candidate here, although not much in it.
Anyway, Isee I got played.
Foreign exchange will open tomorrow. For currencies other than, er, the ruble.
A nice demonstration of the current state of paranoia of Russian police… https://t.co/XgdN75lgJE
At least, I assume so. A lack of exports will do nothing to help the ruble or foster foreign exchange reserves for imports.
Twat.
Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim: “We’re getting prepared for yet another Russian assault. In particular, we have booked 50 buses to transport new POWs.”
https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1501326237603483648
Un envío de lanzagranadas e instructores N-LAW de países de la #OTAN llegó a #Kharkiv . Ya los combatientes están en instrucción y desplegados.
Translated from Spanish by
#UCRANIA REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE:
A consignment of N-LAW grenade launchers and trainers from #OTAN countries arrived at #Kharkiv . The combatants are already in training and deployed.
https://twitter.com/henrycontra/status/1501326564662853643?s=20&t=3tamDoDdZPnl45tq5lTwug
Go, the NLAWs
Rennes on Tursday are a challenge. Quite a decent side, so I am told.
To Albania we're on our way....