Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Time is running out for those betting on a March CON poll lead – politicalbetting.com

1235»

Comments

  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,705
    ydoethur said:

    GG has gone full 'For the Motherland, for Stalin!'
    Presumably the shutting down of lucrative RT gigs has sent him tonto.




    'sent him?'
    Is "tontoer" a word?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,375

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Six or seven cases..

    Tom Swarbrick
    @TomSwarbrick1
    Been reading the speech by @Baroness_Nichol about the hospital rape case.

    It is absolutely unbelievable.

    Write up here:
    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1504761409476993025


    Emma Harriet Nicholson
    @Baroness_Nichol

    I’ve at least six or seven cases

    https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1504884038137491461

    Some awful takes on this from NHS professionals. Shooting the messenger.

    How these people get to work with vulnerable people is a mystery.

    https://www.reduxx.org/post/nhs-mental-health-specialist-deletes-twitter-account-after-gaslighting-rape-victim
    I honestly don't understand what it is going on in these cases. I know the Baroness was making a point about there being a man on the ward, but that seems beside the point.

    Supposedly the ward staff's sole response to the suggestion there had been a rape on the ward was that there were no men on the ward, which seems to indicate a complete lack of any cognitive function whatsoever, investigation, or any instinct to believe or listen to the victim at all.

    I don't think it's particularly helpful to think of the main point being whether the assault or rape was perpetrated by a man or woman given the imbelic nature of the (apparent) response.
    Doesn't make sense given that women (in all senses) can and do commit sexual assaults.
    Because the very precise legal definition of a 'rape' is 'penetration by a penis.'

    So the hospital were dancing on the head of a pin here: 'well, she can't have been raped, no penises to do it.' Therefore implying there was no chance of any sexual assault at all.

    And the reason of course is because as @Cyclefree notes if they admitted there had been there was a major safeguarding breach.

    The issue now is that in addition to letting their patients be raped that hospital trust has committed the crime of perverting the course of justice.

    All in all it is a brutally clear exposition of why self identification without certain very strict safeguards (I.e. call yourself what you like but no accessing female only spaces until transition is complete) is a very bad idea.
    I'm not even sure it is a correct assessment of the law, it would appear by all accounts that the perpetrator had a penis.

    The law does say "his penis" (etc.) but there is plenty of law on the statute book that refers to "he" when it means "a person".
    i think you've slightly missed the point. We're not talking about the law on what rape is or isn't. That's crystal clear. It's the hospital's response that is the issue by conflating 'identifying as a woman' with 'not having a penis.'
    The fact is, surely, that a serious assault has been committed, whether or not it is 'rape' and the victim needs 'justice'.
    Which is conviction and punishment of the offender.
    That would be a part of it, certainly, and doubtless from the point of view of the victim much the most important part. But we also need to ask ourselves how a hospital trust could conceal a crime to support a policy, which is in itself a further criminal act.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,783


    Patrick Reevell
    @Reevellp
    Crazy scene. People in a Russian supermarket frantically scuffling for bags of sugar amid worries of shortages because of the war in Ukraine.

    https://twitter.com/Reevellp/status/1505124192848650241

    I read somewhere else that it was a Finnish-owned supermarket who are pulling out and that there was some special 'thing' about their sugar that makes it extra popular. So maybe not _quite_ as bad as it looks.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Six or seven cases..

    Tom Swarbrick
    @TomSwarbrick1
    Been reading the speech by @Baroness_Nichol about the hospital rape case.

    It is absolutely unbelievable.

    Write up here:
    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1504761409476993025


    Emma Harriet Nicholson
    @Baroness_Nichol

    I’ve at least six or seven cases

    https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1504884038137491461

    Some awful takes on this from NHS professionals. Shooting the messenger.

    How these people get to work with vulnerable people is a mystery.

    https://www.reduxx.org/post/nhs-mental-health-specialist-deletes-twitter-account-after-gaslighting-rape-victim
    I honestly don't understand what it is going on in these cases. I know the Baroness was making a point about there being a man on the ward, but that seems beside the point.

    Supposedly the ward staff's sole response to the suggestion there had been a rape on the ward was that there were no men on the ward, which seems to indicate a complete lack of any cognitive function whatsoever, investigation, or any instinct to believe or listen to the victim at all.

    I don't think it's particularly helpful to think of the main point being whether the assault or rape was perpetrated by a man or woman given the imbelic nature of the (apparent) response.
    Doesn't make sense given that women (in all senses) can and do commit sexual assaults.
    Because the very precise legal definition of a 'rape' is 'penetration by a penis.'

    So the hospital were dancing on the head of a pin here: 'well, she can't have been raped, no penises to do it.' Therefore implying there was no chance of any sexual assault at all.

    And the reason of course is because as @Cyclefree notes if they admitted there had been there was a major safeguarding breach.

    The issue now is that in addition to letting their patients be raped that hospital trust has committed the crime of perverting the course of justice.

    All in all it is a brutally clear exposition of why self identification without certain very strict safeguards (I.e. call yourself what you like but no accessing female only spaces until transition is complete) is a very bad idea.
    I'm not even sure it is a correct assessment of the law, it would appear by all accounts that the perpetrator had a penis.

    The law does say "his penis" (etc.) but there is plenty of law on the statute book that refers to "he" when it means "a person".
    i think you've slightly missed the point. We're not talking about the law on what rape is or isn't. That's crystal clear. It's the hospital's response that is the issue by conflating 'identifying as a woman' with 'not having a penis.'
    The fact is, surely, that a serious assault has been committed, whether or not it is 'rape' and the victim needs 'justice'.
    Which is conviction and punishment of the offender.
    That would be a part of it, certainly, and doubtless from the point of view of the victim much the most important part. But we also need to ask ourselves how a hospital trust could conceal a crime to support a policy, which is in itself a further criminal act.
    Hospital trusts (and the organisation that proceeded them) have a long history of covering up crimes. As I recall a politician even suggested that those uncovering said crimes were "attacking the NHS".


    For The Greater Good.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,424

    Grandfathers - one too young for the First, too old for the Second (and I remember it coming up in conversation in the sixties). The other, also too young for the First lied about his age to sign up. Pretty promptly ended up a POW and spent a year or so in a German camp.

    Grandmothers. One, the eldest of 10 in Wick, fisherman father, was sent into Service, but her Granny read of a murder in Glasgow, so she was diverted to London instead. When I tried to explain to her how to use an escalator she commented she’d been running on and off them as a teenager. When she’d remark “worse things happen at sea” she knew of what she spoke.

    The other grandmother was the youngest of 11, so while her elder siblings were sent out to work, like my Wick Grandmother, she and her older sister were trained as a teacher and pharmacist respectively. When she got her first car in the 1920s to drive to Glamis school, her engineer brother advised her that as roads then had a considerable camber, best to drive in the middle, a habit she found difficult to shake. I wish I’d understood at the time what a kick it gave her to tell people that her grandchild was going to Oxford - an unimaginable achievement for a jute mill worker’s daughter. As a teenager I was mortified.

    My mother qualified as a pharmacist in the late 20's.Many years later her granddaughter followed her into the profession and remarked that of her fellow students several had fathers who were pharmacists, one or two had mother who were, but no-one else had a Granny who was!
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,375
    Btw, if gridwatch is accurate (big 'if' I know) currently 59% of our electricity is from wind or solar, and just 8% from gas. We're even exporting substantial amounts of power to France.

    Hardly surprising given it's perfect conditions, windy, warm but not too warm, and sunny, but good news nevertheless.

    I'm off to the gym. See you later.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,812
    ydoethur said:

    Btw, if gridwatch is accurate (big 'if' I know) currently 59% of our electricity is from wind or solar, and just 8% from gas. We're even exporting substantial amounts of power to France.

    Hardly surprising given it's perfect conditions, windy, warm but not too warm, and sunny, but good news nevertheless.

    I'm off to the gym. See you later.

    Hope that that exercise bike is linked to the grid, I am about to put a kettle on.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,424
    edited March 2022

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Six or seven cases..

    Tom Swarbrick
    @TomSwarbrick1
    Been reading the speech by @Baroness_Nichol about the hospital rape case.

    It is absolutely unbelievable.

    Write up here:
    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1504761409476993025


    Emma Harriet Nicholson
    @Baroness_Nichol

    I’ve at least six or seven cases

    https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1504884038137491461

    Some awful takes on this from NHS professionals. Shooting the messenger.

    How these people get to work with vulnerable people is a mystery.

    https://www.reduxx.org/post/nhs-mental-health-specialist-deletes-twitter-account-after-gaslighting-rape-victim
    I honestly don't understand what it is going on in these cases. I know the Baroness was making a point about there being a man on the ward, but that seems beside the point.

    Supposedly the ward staff's sole response to the suggestion there had been a rape on the ward was that there were no men on the ward, which seems to indicate a complete lack of any cognitive function whatsoever, investigation, or any instinct to believe or listen to the victim at all.

    I don't think it's particularly helpful to think of the main point being whether the assault or rape was perpetrated by a man or woman given the imbelic nature of the (apparent) response.
    Doesn't make sense given that women (in all senses) can and do commit sexual assaults.
    Because the very precise legal definition of a 'rape' is 'penetration by a penis.'

    So the hospital were dancing on the head of a pin here: 'well, she can't have been raped, no penises to do it.' Therefore implying there was no chance of any sexual assault at all.

    And the reason of course is because as @Cyclefree notes if they admitted there had been there was a major safeguarding breach.

    The issue now is that in addition to letting their patients be raped that hospital trust has committed the crime of perverting the course of justice.

    All in all it is a brutally clear exposition of why self identification without certain very strict safeguards (I.e. call yourself what you like but no accessing female only spaces until transition is complete) is a very bad idea.
    I suspect that, sorry Ms Cyclefree, but there were a couple of 'tough' Sisters on that ward:
    'What, a man on my ward! Nonsense!'
    And no-one argued with them.
    That's an old fashioned take.

    More likely, everyone in the hospital had done their TransFriendly training - therefore self identification trumps all. Anyone accusing a self-identified woman of rape, is "accusing" them of being a man. Since they aren't a man (see training) the complaint is false and transphobic.

    We live in an age where everyone has been trained. Those involved in Rotherham from the official side did thousands of hours on safeguarding, protecting the interests of the child, safety cases etc etc. A number of them had post graduate degrees in child care related areas. Many of them still maintain that they were committed to the highest standards of child care. They probably believe it as well - have they not lined their walls with the finest collection of certificates for all the courses they have done?
    Take the point Mr M, but then I'm an old man, and it's twenty years since I had much to do with ward sisters!

    Lack of simple common sense in interpreting the rules.

    Edit. And, see my earlier post, whatever is or isn't plain as a pikestaff, there's unquestionably been an assault.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,249

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Six or seven cases..

    Tom Swarbrick
    @TomSwarbrick1
    Been reading the speech by @Baroness_Nichol about the hospital rape case.

    It is absolutely unbelievable.

    Write up here:
    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1504761409476993025


    Emma Harriet Nicholson
    @Baroness_Nichol

    I’ve at least six or seven cases

    https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1504884038137491461

    Some awful takes on this from NHS professionals. Shooting the messenger.

    How these people get to work with vulnerable people is a mystery.

    https://www.reduxx.org/post/nhs-mental-health-specialist-deletes-twitter-account-after-gaslighting-rape-victim
    I honestly don't understand what it is going on in these cases. I know the Baroness was making a point about there being a man on the ward, but that seems beside the point.

    Supposedly the ward staff's sole response to the suggestion there had been a rape on the ward was that there were no men on the ward, which seems to indicate a complete lack of any cognitive function whatsoever, investigation, or any instinct to believe or listen to the victim at all.

    I don't think it's particularly helpful to think of the main point being whether the assault or rape was perpetrated by a man or woman given the imbelic nature of the (apparent) response.
    Doesn't make sense given that women (in all senses) can and do commit sexual assaults.
    Because the very precise legal definition of a 'rape' is 'penetration by a penis.'

    So the hospital were dancing on the head of a pin here: 'well, she can't have been raped, no penises to do it.' Therefore implying there was no chance of any sexual assault at all.

    And the reason of course is because as @Cyclefree notes if they admitted there had been there was a major safeguarding breach.

    The issue now is that in addition to letting their patients be raped that hospital trust has committed the crime of perverting the course of justice.

    All in all it is a brutally clear exposition of why self identification without certain very strict safeguards (I.e. call yourself what you like but no accessing female only spaces until transition is complete) is a very bad idea.
    I suspect that, sorry Ms Cyclefree, but there were a couple of 'tough' Sisters on that ward:
    'What, a man on my ward! Nonsense!'
    And no-one argued with them.
    That's an old fashioned take.

    More likely, everyone in the hospital had done their TransFriendly training - therefore self identification trumps all. Anyone accusing a self-identified woman of rape, is "accusing" them of being a man. Since they aren't a man (see training) the complaint is false and transphobic.

    We live in an age where everyone has been trained. Those involved in Rotherham from the official side did thousands of hours on safeguarding, protecting the interests of the child, safety cases etc etc. A number of them had post graduate degrees in child care related areas. Many of them still maintain that they were committed to the highest standards of child care. They probably believe it as well - have they not lined their walls with the finest collection of certificates for all the courses they have done?
    Take the point Mr M, but then I'm an old man, and it's twenty years since I had much to do with ward sisters!

    Lack of simple common sense in interpreting the rules.
    I've dealt with various NHS staff more recently than that. Also various other people in large organisations - the same issues occur everywhere.

    At first you think you are encountering dumb insolence or malicious compliance. Then you realise it is a combination of a complete absence of personal, discretionary, decision making and a worship of The Rules.

    This pair of mental feature makes a perfect servant for a large bureaucracy. It also creates a mental structure where behaviour that is completely sociopathic is undertaken without *realising it*. The person in question is probably, in everyday life, perfectly nice to pets, small children etc. But once they get their "professional head" on, any rule will be followed. No matter the result.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,355
    edited March 2022
    ydoethur said:

    Btw, if gridwatch is accurate (big 'if' I know) currently 59% of our electricity is from wind or solar, and just 8% from gas. We're even exporting substantial amounts of power to France.

    Hardly surprising given it's perfect conditions, windy, warm but not too warm, and sunny, but good news nevertheless.

    I'm off to the gym. See you later.

    Even if the solar figure is an overestimate, the figure to concentrate on is the GW supplied by fossil fuels - currently only 2.37 GW (plus whatever portion of the interconnector supply is fossil fuels burnt in Belgium or the Netherlands).

    Anyone know what the 150 MW currently being supplied by "Other" is?

    The only thing I can think of is other forms of storage, such as batteries, or various experimental odds and ends.

    EDIT: Storage is unlikely, because it's been at a fairly constant level for the last day or so, which means no electricity being stored overnight.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,714

    Henri Vanhanen
    @HenriVanhanen
    Russian aggression in #Ukraine has had a decisive impact on European security. Here in the North too, the development is moving in a direction that Putin certainly did not expect: #NATO membership for Finland is on the table now.

    A thread about 🇫🇮 and NATO.

    https://twitter.com/HenriVanhanen/status/1505115738922758147
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,424

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    Taz said:

    Six or seven cases..

    Tom Swarbrick
    @TomSwarbrick1
    Been reading the speech by @Baroness_Nichol about the hospital rape case.

    It is absolutely unbelievable.

    Write up here:
    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1504761409476993025


    Emma Harriet Nicholson
    @Baroness_Nichol

    I’ve at least six or seven cases

    https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1504884038137491461

    Some awful takes on this from NHS professionals. Shooting the messenger.

    How these people get to work with vulnerable people is a mystery.

    https://www.reduxx.org/post/nhs-mental-health-specialist-deletes-twitter-account-after-gaslighting-rape-victim
    I honestly don't understand what it is going on in these cases. I know the Baroness was making a point about there being a man on the ward, but that seems beside the point.

    Supposedly the ward staff's sole response to the suggestion there had been a rape on the ward was that there were no men on the ward, which seems to indicate a complete lack of any cognitive function whatsoever, investigation, or any instinct to believe or listen to the victim at all.

    I don't think it's particularly helpful to think of the main point being whether the assault or rape was perpetrated by a man or woman given the imbelic nature of the (apparent) response.
    Doesn't make sense given that women (in all senses) can and do commit sexual assaults.
    Because the very precise legal definition of a 'rape' is 'penetration by a penis.'

    So the hospital were dancing on the head of a pin here: 'well, she can't have been raped, no penises to do it.' Therefore implying there was no chance of any sexual assault at all.

    And the reason of course is because as @Cyclefree notes if they admitted there had been there was a major safeguarding breach.

    The issue now is that in addition to letting their patients be raped that hospital trust has committed the crime of perverting the course of justice.

    All in all it is a brutally clear exposition of why self identification without certain very strict safeguards (I.e. call yourself what you like but no accessing female only spaces until transition is complete) is a very bad idea.
    I suspect that, sorry Ms Cyclefree, but there were a couple of 'tough' Sisters on that ward:
    'What, a man on my ward! Nonsense!'
    And no-one argued with them.
    That's an old fashioned take.

    More likely, everyone in the hospital had done their TransFriendly training - therefore self identification trumps all. Anyone accusing a self-identified woman of rape, is "accusing" them of being a man. Since they aren't a man (see training) the complaint is false and transphobic.

    We live in an age where everyone has been trained. Those involved in Rotherham from the official side did thousands of hours on safeguarding, protecting the interests of the child, safety cases etc etc. A number of them had post graduate degrees in child care related areas. Many of them still maintain that they were committed to the highest standards of child care. They probably believe it as well - have they not lined their walls with the finest collection of certificates for all the courses they have done?
    Take the point Mr M, but then I'm an old man, and it's twenty years since I had much to do with ward sisters!

    Lack of simple common sense in interpreting the rules.
    I've dealt with various NHS staff more recently than that. Also various other people in large organisations - the same issues occur everywhere.

    At first you think you are encountering dumb insolence or malicious compliance. Then you realise it is a combination of a complete absence of personal, discretionary, decision making and a worship of The Rules.

    This pair of mental feature makes a perfect servant for a large bureaucracy. It also creates a mental structure where behaviour that is completely sociopathic is undertaken without *realising it*. The person in question is probably, in everyday life, perfectly nice to pets, small children etc. But once they get their "professional head" on, any rule will be followed. No matter the result.
    Things haven't changed a lot in twenty years from the sound of it. I suspect, certainly in the health professions, that there's also a fear of falling foul of the Registering Authority.

    Every so often I look at the decisions of that for pharmacy, and I rather suspect the current 'arms length' body sometimes takes a view which would not, thirty or so years ago have been taken by the professional body, then the disciplinary authority.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,812
    Seems the cars have what I would call mud guards on their front wheels. Presumably a new safety feature but it looks a bit odd.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,590
    In my view this has nothing to do with arguments about the rights of women/trans women and EVERYTHING to do with how defensive institutions are about anything that could lead expose their own poor practice and failures in care. Having been involved in the process of reporting a (comparatively trivial) case of poor care and the speed with which it went from "let's find out the root cause of what happened and prevent it happening again" to "it didn't happen and no-one is admitting any liability" - even when I offered to sign NDAs or whatever was needed to give them legal reassurance that there would be no comeback.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,355

    ydoethur said:

    Btw, if gridwatch is accurate (big 'if' I know) currently 59% of our electricity is from wind or solar, and just 8% from gas. We're even exporting substantial amounts of power to France.

    Hardly surprising given it's perfect conditions, windy, warm but not too warm, and sunny, but good news nevertheless.

    I'm off to the gym. See you later.

    Even if the solar figure is an overestimate, the figure to concentrate on is the GW supplied by fossil fuels - currently only 2.37 GW (plus whatever portion of the interconnector supply is fossil fuels burnt in Belgium or the Netherlands).

    Anyone know what the 150 MW currently being supplied by "Other" is?

    The only thing I can think of is other forms of storage, such as batteries, or various experimental odds and ends.

    EDIT: Storage is unlikely, because it's been at a fairly constant level for the last day or so, which means no electricity being stored overnight.
    Oh, okay, so one of them is a battery - there are some batteries on the site of the former West Burton power plant, but the old Ironbridge Power Station is still included with a code under "Other", so that's a bit weird.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    My great great g g g g (x 38) grandfather fought and won the Siege of Chartres in 911, after which he converted to fierce Catholicism, seized many lands west of the Seine, and married a five year old girl. That’s what war does to you.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,812
    Leon said:

    My great great g g g g (x 38) grandfather fought and won the Siege of Chartres in 911, after which he converted to fierce Catholicism, seized many lands west of the Seine, and married a five year old girl. That’s what war does to you.

    And your excuse?

    (sorry, couldn't resist)
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,955
    Man, I feel a bit shit now. My ebay purchase from Dnipro which I'd written off as a contribution to the struggle has turned up, better up my other contributions. Big ups to Ukrposhta though.








  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,243
    Taz said:

    Six or seven cases..

    Tom Swarbrick
    @TomSwarbrick1
    Been reading the speech by @Baroness_Nichol about the hospital rape case.

    It is absolutely unbelievable.

    Write up here:
    https://twitter.com/TomSwarbrick1/status/1504761409476993025


    Emma Harriet Nicholson
    @Baroness_Nichol

    I’ve at least six or seven cases

    https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1504884038137491461

    Some awful takes on this from NHS professionals. Shooting the messenger.

    How these people get to work with vulnerable people is a mystery.

    https://www.reduxx.org/post/nhs-mental-health-specialist-deletes-twitter-account-after-gaslighting-rape-victim
    The issue seems to be the statement to the police “she was not raped because there were no men on the ward”. The ants wasting police time at least surely? Although why did it take a year for the truth to be discovered if it just took a review of CCTV images?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,243

    Sobering to read some of the comments on this thread about relatives' experiences - they were such an amazing generation. My own parents were lucky - my father had a desk job in intelligence (which he almost never talked about, loyal to the Official Secrets Act), my mother worked for UNRRA for refugees, and talked matter-of-factly as the worst moment being driving through Hammersmith while the buildings on both sides were on fire. Neither experienced any harm at all.

    On a more cheerful note, it's always fun to argue about lists, and here's the happiness list, with FINLAND winning again. Makes sense!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/19/finland-named-worlds-happiest-country-for-fifth-year-running

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=baHsoEAAMZU
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    For those interested in a feminist perspective on trans issues and women’s rights Amazon has Kathleen Stock’s “Material Girls” for 99p on Kindle.
  • NorthofStokeNorthofStoke Posts: 1,758

    For those interested in a feminist perspective on trans issues and women’s rights Amazon has Kathleen Stock’s “Material Girls” for 99p on Kindle.

    I've bought that but not read it. Can thoroughly recommend Trans by Helen Joyce. A superb book.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,787
    F1: Mercedes look to have improved, perhaps not enough to compete for pole, but we shall soon see. Qualifying is at 3pm. I'll put up the pre-qualifying tosh once the markets on Ladbrokes re-emerge.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,243
    edited March 2022
    Leon said:

    My great great g g g g (x 38) grandfather fought and won the Siege of Chartres in 911, after which he converted to fierce Catholicism, seized many lands west of the Seine, and married a five year old girl. That’s what war does to you.

    I think you meant to post that under your @Charles account
  • BalrogBalrog Posts: 207

    My mother was at the younger end of a large family, so most of my maternal cousins are older than I, and several of them served in WWII. It was discovered some time after the war that one, in the WRNS, had sent the signal which sent another, a Commando, ashore at Walcheren Island on the Dutch coast in November 1944.

    My grandfather was serving in the marines and died in November 1944 at Walcheren. A lot of people died in that operation.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,860
    Applicant said:

    .

    Sobering to read some of the comments on this thread about relatives' experiences - they were such an amazing generation. My own parents were lucky - my father had a desk job in intelligence (which he almost never talked about, loyal to the Official Secrets Act), my mother worked for UNRRA for refugees, and talked matter-of-factly as the worst moment being driving through Hammersmith while the buildings on both sides were on fire. Neither experienced any harm at all.

    On a more cheerful note, it's always fun to argue about lists, and here's the happiness list, with FINLAND winning again. Makes sense!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/19/finland-named-worlds-happiest-country-for-fifth-year-running

    Finland, Finland, Finland
    The country where I quite want to be
    Your mountains so lofty
    Your treetops so tall
    Finland, Finland, Finland
    Finland has it all

    Finland’s not really mountainous.

    That reminds me of how Norway tried, but failed, to gift Finland a mountaintop close to their mutual border, for Finland’s 100th anniversary, that would have become the highest point in Finland. Such an imaginative gift.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,075
    edited March 2022
    ..
This discussion has been closed.