The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
I did see over the weekend, a claim that Ukraine have lost 70 tanks in this war - but has captured 120, so they now have 50 more than at the start of the conflict!
Apparently many of the captured tanks were useless, containing log books of unserviceable items on each vehicle, many of which made them totally unsuitable to be near an actual enemy who might shoot back.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
Here's a report on the claim in the Jerusalem Post.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
Potential Wordle spoiler alert. Got the final four letters correct today in 3. Was then faced with the choice of 5 further unused first letters all of which made common words. Bit annoying. Not half as much if I hadn't got it on the second. But it became a pot luck guessing game, not a moderately diverting challenge.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Gentle reminder that it takes just one punch to knock someone out and a head to smash into a curb.
Smith had an opportunity later go on the (verbal) offensive, and get extra points for exposing just how damaging alopecia is for people - a couple of friends have struggled with it.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Didn't the speakers on last nights 'The Falklands' take the view that the war was won despite the logistics, not because of them?
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Indeed - it all comes back to logistics. IIRC the Gulf War One thing was largely to do with having spare engines for the the tanks. The Americans beat the problems of breakdowns by having lots of spare tank engines and training to swap them rapidly.
I was thinking about that when considering the Russian exercises in the Far East. The Japanese (whose comments about the Kuril Islands the Russians were responding to) have a reputation for their armed forces being in a good state.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
Potential Wordle spoiler alert. Got the final four letters correct today in 3. Was then faced with the choice of 5 further unused first letters all of which made common words. Bit annoying. Not half as much if I hadn't got it on the second. But it became a pot luck guessing game, not a moderately diverting challenge.
Create a word with the options and see which comes up or what doesn’t. Then you’re good
Yes. However they were five consonants. So wouldn't have been easy.
I contrived a word with 3 or 4 consonants and a vowel I had. All drew a blank. What was left however unlikely was the truth.
This, I think, is a common wordle inefficiency. Elimination of "fairly common" letters is key, rather than necessarily trying to get "hits" on "most common letters". For example, in French wordle, it seems to be important to figure out the vowels in play, and whether you have one of the enormously common "-er" or "-ee" forms, so I start with "coeur" to get a go on that.
(aimer and aimee are good follow-ups if you get an e (depending on whether you get an r too)
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
I recall a story that after the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and the end of the various wars with neighbours, that a large number of military vehicles were parked up in single, huge area.
They were neglected and the brush and grass built up. Then one hot summer a bush fire ripped through the place, destroying everything.....
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
Take the point Mr T, but I've looked at the comments again and don't see them as satirical. Particularly the second. However, I may be being unduly sensitive.
Potential Wordle spoiler alert. Got the final four letters correct today in 3. Was then faced with the choice of 5 further unused first letters all of which made common words. Bit annoying. Not half as much if I hadn't got it on the second. But it became a pot luck guessing game, not a moderately diverting challenge.
I found it comfortable enough.
I doubt the frequency of words matches the frequency of their general use in print, but I also doubt that each 5-letter word in their glossary has the same chance of selection.
Anecdata time: speaking to the (very pro-Western) Russian wife of a friend of mine. Has been having conversations with her sister who is still in Russia (is everyone still following this?). Sister in Russia overwhelmingly believes what the Russians are doing is right. There is apparently a law now about calling the war a special operation. But in Russia plenty of Russians are on Putin's side.
This doesn't surprise me.
Propaganda works because people want to believe good things about their own side.
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
Take the point Mr T, but I've looked at the comments again and don't see them as satirical. Particularly the second. However, I may be being unduly sensitive.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Indeed - it all comes back to logistics. IIRC the Gulf War One thing was largely to do with having spare engines for the the tanks. The Americans beat the problems of breakdowns by having lots of spare tank engines and training to swap them rapidly.
I was thinking about that when considering the Russian exercises in the Far East. The Japanese (whose comments about the Kuril Islands the Russians were responding to) have a reputation for their armed forces being in a good state.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
Except nukes. And that for how long? Based on other weaponry, Putin would have few qualms about using nukes against an enemy who can't reply in kind. So I now expect Japan to push for them - "for regional stability".
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
I can’t stand Gervais, he’s just as smug and self-satisfied as the rest of the Hollywood crowd.
The roasting of Tinseltown at the Globes was long overdue though, and was well written and executed.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
A piece I read a few weeks back says it's the non-commissioned officers' job to look after the equipment and the Russian army does not have a well defined NCO cadre.
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
Yes, I agree. I think it’s a perfectly acceptable target to take a pot shot at. I didn’t realise the ‘goodie bag’ was worth that much.
One luvvie, Jane Seymour IIRC, was interviewed and said how hard it would be for them all to party with everything going on in Ukraine. Yet they managed. Of course life goes on but it’s the sanctimonious nature of it.
Potential Wordle spoiler alert. Got the final four letters correct today in 3. Was then faced with the choice of 5 further unused first letters all of which made common words. Bit annoying. Not half as much if I hadn't got it on the second. But it became a pot luck guessing game, not a moderately diverting challenge.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Indeed - it all comes back to logistics. IIRC the Gulf War One thing was largely to do with having spare engines for the the tanks. The Americans beat the problems of breakdowns by having lots of spare tank engines and training to swap them rapidly.
I was thinking about that when considering the Russian exercises in the Far East. The Japanese (whose comments about the Kuril Islands the Russians were responding to) have a reputation for their armed forces being in a good state.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
Except nukes. And that for how long? Based on other weaponry, Putin would have few qualms about using nukes against an enemy who can't reply in kind. So I now expect Japan to push for them - "for regional stability".
The Japanese have an interesting deterrent.
- They maintain a spare space program, using 3 stage solid fuel rockets. Which are fairly rubbish for launching satellites. But have a considerable resemblance to a heavy ICBM. - They have a huge stockpile of reprocessed plutonium. All strictly monitored and accounted for with international monitoring etc. - They also have a big pile of unprocessed used reactor fuel rods that are quite old. So all the Pu-240 will have decayed to U-236....
The consensus is that Japan could have a bomb on a missile very quickly if they chose. So their deterrent is "Don't push us. Otherwise we will be nuclear armed in a very short time."
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
Take the point Mr T, but I've looked at the comments again and don't see them as satirical. Particularly the second. However, I may be being unduly sensitive.
Irrelevantly to everything except we are talking films, The Hunt on Netflix is excellent if you like comedy horror action social satire kinda stuff. The gas station scenes are brilliant.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding some of them don't have engines.
I can imagine that's perfectly possible. It might even be easier to store them without engines, and put them in if they're needed.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
It is interesting that when we thought the place we would need them was in Germany, we stored them in Gloucestershire. When we determined that they would probably be needed in the Middle East, we stored them in Germany. Now we might need them in Eastern Europe, I assume we ship them to Canada?
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However if then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Is Hollywood no making higher brow movies with big box office potential? Or are audiences no longer interested in them? The last Best Picture winner I’ve seen was Argo in 2012. You’re going back to before I was born to find many I’ve not seen before then, and even then I’ve seen quite a few.
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
He's mocking the entire event and the media circus that goes with it. Piers Morgan doing similar with regards to the "goody bags" pointing out that they could have donated the money to Ukrainian refugee charities instead of handing out product placement tat to people who don't need them.
Again again violence is Bad. But perhaps this slap - against its host and the entire event and all it stands for - was needed at least metaphorically.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Indeed - it all comes back to logistics. IIRC the Gulf War One thing was largely to do with having spare engines for the the tanks. The Americans beat the problems of breakdowns by having lots of spare tank engines and training to swap them rapidly.
I was thinking about that when considering the Russian exercises in the Far East. The Japanese (whose comments about the Kuril Islands the Russians were responding to) have a reputation for their armed forces being in a good state.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
Except nukes. And that for how long? Based on other weaponry, Putin would have few qualms about using nukes against an enemy who can't reply in kind. So I now expect Japan to push for them - "for regional stability".
The Japanese have an interesting deterrent.
- They maintain a spare space program, using 3 stage solid fuel rockets. Which are fairly rubbish for launching satellites. But have a considerable resemblance to a heavy ICBM. - They have a huge stockpile of reprocessed plutonium. All strictly monitored and accounted for with international monitoring etc. - They also have a big pile of unprocessed used reactor fuel rods that are quite old. So all the Pu-240 will have decayed to U-236....
The consensus is that Japan could have a bomb on a missile very quickly if they chose. So their deterrent is "Don't push us. Otherwise we will be nuclear armed in a very short time."
I strongly suspect that Japan's next major contribution to military development will be in the field of robotics. The skills and manufacturing capacity that produces their mechanical carers is more than capable of providing something very different in short order.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
I never have thought much of him. Now my opinion has changed. I think even less of him.
Nope I disagree. I think he is spot on and would have loved to have seen him deliver those lines. That Goodie bag he refers to was given this year (as for the last 19 years) to every nominee and is worth £76,000 ($100,000). I think that is a perfect target for this sort of satire.
Take the point Mr T, but I've looked at the comments again and don't see them as satirical. Particularly the second. However, I may be being unduly sensitive.
Because of the last 2 words? That's him imagining what the academy is thinking. And he's probably right.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
Anecdata time: speaking to the (very pro-Western) Russian wife of a friend of mine. Has been having conversations with her sister who is still in Russia (is everyone still following this?). Sister in Russia overwhelmingly believes what the Russians are doing is right. There is apparently a law now about calling the war a special operation. But in Russia plenty of Russians are on Putin's side.
I can confirm this of my own Russian acquaintances living here - i.e. their families back home buy the Kremlin line. Seems to be quite common.
The Russian propoganda machine is relentless, and has been for years on the subject of Ukraine. A huge proportion of Russians have been totally brainwashed.
For all that we complain about Western media, and I have been pretty vocal about their very poor performance during the pandemic, having a free press is the hallmark of a democratic state.
One thing to note is that almost all 'Russians' outside Russia and thus with access to a free press, are not inline with Putin's policy. Of not the significant is Estonia and Latvia, where significant 'ethnic Russian' populations exist that have been thought to be Pro-Russia and therefore seen as dangers to the states they exist in, but from what I can see, Most, or at lest a large majority are looking on with horror. and presumably are gong to be a lot less pro-Russia/Putin from now on.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
Indeed, so many small businesses find their working capital in the equity in the owner's house. If that were not available to the bank hundreds of thousands of loans would be called in.
And rising energy bills and mortgage rates and high inflation are the reason fewer potential first time buyers are looking to buy. Not really good news
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
According to @bellingcat the Russian FSB paid billions of $ to ensure that some shadowy political class in Ukraine supported this war & created an internal coup d'état immediately after the invasion. But Ukrainian agents who took the money ditched them. They just screwed them over https://twitter.com/IuliiaMendel/status/1508092951997595650
Of course the FSB paid them billions.
Yeah, right.
#BillionsNeverLeftMoscow
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who had 4kg of cocaine, was arrested for possession of 3kg of cocaine, charged with having 2kg of cocaine, found guilty of having 1kg of cocaine, and cleared on appeal because the police didn't actually find any coke.
That’s Russian military procurement. The Kremlin funded 100 planes The General received an order for 90 The manufacturer received an order for 80 The factory received an order for 70 The delivery to the regiment was of 60 An inspection of the hanger found 50 …but only 30 had engines installed, and 15 of those were missing avionics and weapons systems.
10 were shot down in Ukraine, so Putin thinks he has 90 left..
There was a claim by Ukraine yesterday that the Russians have setup a centre for refurbishing the tanks they have in storage, and that they're finding lots of them don't have engines.
IIRC during the First Gulf war, the UK military stripped all the spares etc from the Army of The Rhine to send to Saudi.
As a result they were down to single figures of running tanks in Germany.
Yes, it seems to be common for militaries to economize on spare parts (and ammunition).
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Didn't the speakers on last nights 'The Falklands' take the view that the war was won despite the logistics, not because of them?
I don't think it was particularly critical of the logistics (I may have forgotten it and obviously the loss of the Atlantic Conveyor was a big blow) but primarily of Tony Wilson's part in the war in totality. The creation of the unnecessary 2nd front was criticized for many reasons, but one was by the head of logistics who now had to split his difficult supply problems to two locations unnecessarily.
Another issue was no overall command. Again Tony Wilson was the worst example of this, but the bizarre situation of the SAS effectively inviting themselves into the war and basically operating using the old boy network was just weird. The guy in charge of the SAS seemed impressive. Another example was the taking out of ground attack aircraft, only achieved because the SAS lied to Sandy Woodward about radar being present. The point being his focus was on ships not the army. Of course we are only hearing this from the SAS guys point of view so may not be fair. He lied to get the decision he thought was correct.
The reason why nothing round here is selling for less than £100,000 is because everything that used to cost £90,000 now costs £110,000 and is still being sold in hours.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
Completely disagreed. Infinity War was outstanding and nothing had been done before in its depth, that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar beyond visual effects is ridiculous.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yup, fuck the poor. Again.
Rishi would be proud.
I genuinely think cost of living is going to destroy this Government. This is probably the biggest crisis in well over a decade and yet it goes barely reported.
"In the annals of Soviet military history, Russia’s 4th Guards tank division is legendary - its reputation forged at Stalingrad and in the liberation of Poland from the Nazis.
On Saturday, it was rooted in Trostyanets, a town 220 miles east of Kyiv. If evidence was needed that Vladimir Putin’s invasion was faltering, the images emerging from Trostyanets of burnt-out howitzers and tanks belonging to the elite division will surely shake the resolve of even the Kremlin’s most loyal supporters."
I think they mean routed, but either way - major set back for Putin's forces.
"They built a range of surveillance drones, as well as large 1.5-metre eight-rotor machines capable of dropping bombs and rocket-propelled anti-tank grenades"
Interesting - if they have combined anti-tank weapons with a cheap(ish) drone, that is something that other militaries will need to think about. The big disadvantage of the basic man portable systems is the need to get close to the tanks. If instead of human bravery, you can send a machine.
That’s as sporting as longbowmen taking on the flower of French chivalry by (just for @Morris_Dancer)firing arrows at them from a distance
Anecdata time: speaking to the (very pro-Western) Russian wife of a friend of mine. Has been having conversations with her sister who is still in Russia (is everyone still following this?). Sister in Russia overwhelmingly believes what the Russians are doing is right. There is apparently a law now about calling the war a special operation. But in Russia plenty of Russians are on Putin's side.
I can confirm this of my own Russian acquaintances living here - i.e. their families back home buy the Kremlin line. Seems to be quite common.
The Russian propoganda machine is relentless, and has been for years on the subject of Ukraine. A huge proportion of Russians have been totally brainwashed.
For all that we complain about Western media, and I have been pretty vocal about their very poor performance during the pandemic, having a free press is the hallmark of a democratic state.
One thing to note is that almost all 'Russians' outside Russia and thus with access to a free press, are not inline with Putin's policy. Of not the significant is Estonia and Latvia, where significant 'ethnic Russian' populations exist that have been thought to be Pro-Russia and therefore seen as dangers to the states they exist in, but from what I can see, Most, or at lest a large majority are looking on with horror. and presumably are gong to be a lot less pro-Russia/Putin from now on.
An integrated immigrant can, of course, be 'pro' their original homeland but anti it's current Government.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yes it is first time buyer properties which are seeing falling demand, as well as second rungs on the ladder ie flats and semi detached properties.
Big detached houses in the countryside or wealthy suburbs are still seeing higher prices
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Especially if it is sufficiently impactful (in the current climate) for it to become a "banks and government" problem rather than "people at the edge of affordability" problem. Otherwise a lot of people sold the "sunny uplands of unlimited prosperity through house ownership" story that the Baby Boom generation experienced are going to get put in the mincer.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yes it is first time buyer properties which are seeing falling demand, as well as second rungs on the ladder ie flats and semi detached properties.
Big detached houses in the countryside or wealthy suburbs are still seeing higher prices
Putin’s spokesman says that Russia won’t supply Europe with gas for free if they refuse to pay in rubles. We’re getting closer to the tap being turned off.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
I believe the housing market will see a dramatic adjustment for climate change reasons
Building Societies are already offering cheaper mortgages for energy efficient homes and if it is mandated homes must achieve an energy rating of C or better, expect to see home owners facing the choice of greening their homes or many thousands being negotiated off the price when they sell to allow the buyers to green them
I have listened to political parties supporting the greening of homes but at a frightening cost to the exchequer, when by the simple process of regulation a large amount of the cost is born by sellers and buyers
I also expect that this energy crisis is already seeing home owners investing in improving insulation, solar panels, heat pumps, and easy to do low energy light bulbs
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
- They maintain a spare space program, using 3 stage solid fuel rockets. Which are fairly rubbish for launching satellites. But have a considerable resemblance to a heavy ICBM. - They have a huge stockpile of reprocessed plutonium. All strictly monitored and accounted for with international monitoring etc. - They also have a big pile of unprocessed used reactor fuel rods that are quite old. So all the Pu-240 will have decayed to U-236....
The consensus is that Japan could have a bomb on a missile very quickly if they chose. So their deterrent is "Don't push us. Otherwise we will be nuclear armed in a very short time."
It's not just the rockets, Japan is very careful to have a suitable indigenous capability to produce the necessary electronics, computer systems for simulation, machine tools, metallurgy, chemical industry, and so on. Almost as though someone had thought "what would it take to build a bomb in the face of sanctions and trade embargoes?"
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
I suspect there's a bit of lag here. The comfortably off have a bit of post-furlough fat stored to carry them for the next few months, but not for ever.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yup, fuck the poor. Again.
Rishi would be proud.
I genuinely think cost of living is going to destroy this Government. This is probably the biggest crisis in well over a decade and yet it goes barely reported.
Not sure about your last four words. It seems to me to be reported upon constantly, only second to events in Ukraine (with a blip today for the Oscars).
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
Completely disagreed. Infinity War was outstanding and nothing had been done before in its depth, that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar beyond visual effects is ridiculous.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
Nothing before had the depth of Marvel Infinity War? Really? I’ll need to think about that.
Marvel is to cinema what the X Factor is to music. Good commercial product first and foremost.
And rising energy bills and mortgage rates and high inflation are the reason fewer potential first time buyers are looking to buy. Not really good news
All, or at least much, the result of the Tory policies. We'll have you singing the Red Flag soon.
Anecdata time: speaking to the (very pro-Western) Russian wife of a friend of mine. Has been having conversations with her sister who is still in Russia (is everyone still following this?). Sister in Russia overwhelmingly believes what the Russians are doing is right. There is apparently a law now about calling the war a special operation. But in Russia plenty of Russians are on Putin's side.
I can confirm this of my own Russian acquaintances living here - i.e. their families back home buy the Kremlin line. Seems to be quite common.
The Russian propoganda machine is relentless, and has been for years on the subject of Ukraine. A huge proportion of Russians have been totally brainwashed.
For all that we complain about Western media, and I have been pretty vocal about their very poor performance during the pandemic, having a free press is the hallmark of a democratic state.
One thing to note is that almost all 'Russians' outside Russia and thus with access to a free press, are not inline with Putin's policy. Of not the significant is Estonia and Latvia, where significant 'ethnic Russian' populations exist that have been thought to be Pro-Russia and therefore seen as dangers to the states they exist in, but from what I can see, Most, or at lest a large majority are looking on with horror. and presumably are gong to be a lot less pro-Russia/Putin from now on.
The fact that they can clearly see ethnic Russians being fired on, having their homes destroyed, and being turned into refugees and corpses, must eliminate any lingering doubts in those neighbouring countries.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
I've only had one interaction with the Japanese military on a brief flying visit to Atsugi. It was 'Fried Chicken Friday' which is apparently a huge deal. I had to explain to the officer hosting us that I was a vegetarian and couldn't participate but intended no disrepect. The Senior NCO in charge of catering was summoned and told to make me vegetable tempura. The same NCO brought it out and was made to stand to attention next to me while the honoured guest ate it.
So if the rest of their military is up to the standard of their catering they are shit hot.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However if then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Is Hollywood no making higher brow movies with big box office potential? Or are audiences no longer interested in them? The last Best Picture winner I’ve seen was Argo in 2012. You’re going back to before I was born to find many I’ve not seen before then, and even then I’ve seen quite a few.
The trouble with the 'highbrow' films is that most people - even if they are interested in watching them - are not interested in spending £30 or more for a couple to go and see them in the cinema. They would rather wait for them to appear on TV and watch them in the comfort of their own home. The comic book films and their ilk lend themselves to the big cinema experience but that is not necessary nor, for many people even desirable for a more paced, intelligent film.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
Houses are becoming less affordable for the poor because their earnings are going down because of inflation (read the article) and the rich aren't impacted because they get above inflation rises and they're rich in the first place
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However if then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Is Hollywood no making higher brow movies with big box office potential? Or are audiences no longer interested in them? The last Best Picture winner I’ve seen was Argo in 2012. You’re going back to before I was born to find many I’ve not seen before then, and even then I’ve seen quite a few.
Braveheart, Titanic, Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Ben Hur, Bridge on River Kwai, Sound of Music, The Godfather, Rocky, Rain Man, Silence of the Lambs, Forest Gump, Slumdog Millionaire. All box office hits which won the Oscar.
Why is the Academy now so detached from what its audience watches?
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yup, fuck the poor. Again.
Rishi would be proud.
I genuinely think cost of living is going to destroy this Government. This is probably the biggest crisis in well over a decade and yet it goes barely reported.
Not sure about your last four words. It seems to me to be reported upon constantly, only second to events in Ukraine (with a blip today for the Oscars).
I just know, homelessness in London is going to explode again
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
Completely disagreed. Infinity War was outstanding and nothing had been done before in its depth, that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar beyond visual effects is ridiculous.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
Nothing before had the depth of Marvel Infinity War? Really? I’ll need to think about that.
Marvel is to cinema what the X Factor is to music. Good commercial product first and foremost.
I wouldn't think about it too much. People out there prefer Banksy to Raphael and Infinity War to War Requiem and they are perfectly entitled to.
There is a bigger question about "sophisticated" taste but it is a rocky road to go down albeit this is PB and we like rocky roads especially when such a debate would include such buzzwords as intellectual...snobbery...elitist...education...etc
Anecdata time: speaking to the (very pro-Western) Russian wife of a friend of mine. Has been having conversations with her sister who is still in Russia (is everyone still following this?). Sister in Russia overwhelmingly believes what the Russians are doing is right. There is apparently a law now about calling the war a special operation. But in Russia plenty of Russians are on Putin's side.
I can confirm this of my own Russian acquaintances living here - i.e. their families back home buy the Kremlin line. Seems to be quite common.
The Russian propoganda machine is relentless, and has been for years on the subject of Ukraine. A huge proportion of Russians have been totally brainwashed.
For all that we complain about Western media, and I have been pretty vocal about their very poor performance during the pandemic, having a free press is the hallmark of a democratic state.
One thing to note is that almost all 'Russians' outside Russia and thus with access to a free press, are not inline with Putin's policy. Of not the significant is Estonia and Latvia, where significant 'ethnic Russian' populations exist that have been thought to be Pro-Russia and therefore seen as dangers to the states they exist in, but from what I can see, Most, or at lest a large majority are looking on with horror. and presumably are gong to be a lot less pro-Russia/Putin from now on.
The fact that they can clearly see ethnic Russians being fired on, having their homes destroyed, and being turned into refugees and corpses, must eliminate any lingering doubts in those neighbouring countries.
I don't know much about Estonian politics if there are pro-Russia parties in there parliament it will be interesting to see how they do in the next election.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
When CoL starts to properly bite, those polls are going to get wide
This has been the catalyst for polls to move on every occasion previously historically although we are in crazy times right now so we will see peoples' priorities.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
Houses are becoming less affordable for the poor because their earnings are going down because of inflation (read the article) and the rich aren't impacted because they get above inflation rises and they're rich in the first place
Also inflation actively helps homeowners, as it reduces the level of mortgages over time.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
Completely disagreed. Infinity War was outstanding and nothing had been done before in its depth, that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar beyond visual effects is ridiculous.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
It’s quite good fun going back on Wikipedia through the years and seeing when the Academy really dropped a bollock.
1994 really is a group of death year, any one of the nominees would have walked it these days. Forrest Gump (winner), Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, Four Weddings.
And that’s without considering the likes of Jurassic Park, Ground Hog Day and Falling Down that weren’t even nominated.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yup, fuck the poor. Again.
Rishi would be proud.
I genuinely think cost of living is going to destroy this Government. This is probably the biggest crisis in well over a decade and yet it goes barely reported.
I think you are absolutely right, this will destroy this govt unless they act quickly.
The party of the preservation of wealth is presiding over the biggest decline in living standards for many a year.
Zelenskyy on Johnson: much keener than Macron to send military support. “Johnson is a leader who is helping more. The leaders of countries react according to how their constituents act. In this case, Johnson is an example. Britain is definitely on our side.
“It is not performing a balancing act. Britain sees no alternative for the way out of the situation. Britain wants Ukraine to win and Russia to lose.” British Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles sent to Ukraine are now ready to be deployed against Russian warplanes.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
It will take a steep rise in interest rates to see mortgage repayment costs significantly overtake rent costs.
Especially since renters can face annual increases in their costs whereas your cost to your home is locked in when you buy, so although interest rates can change (and buyers should have checked that before they bought) inflation is working in the home owners favour at eroding the real cost of their debt.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
I've only had one interaction with the Japanese military on a brief flying visit to Atsugi. It was 'Fried Chicken Friday' which is apparently a huge deal. I had to explain to the officer hosting us that I was a vegetarian and couldn't participate but intended no disrepect. The Senior NCO in charge of catering was summoned and told to make me vegetable tempura. The same NCO brought it out and was made to stand to attention next to me while the honoured guest ate it.
So if the rest of their military is up to the standard of their catering they are shit hot.
I was about to mention their advanced catering technology. This monster boasts the capacity for 600 servings of rice, 800 onigiri, or 1500 bowls of miso soup. (On paper it could do 1800 bowls of miso soup if you did it with just seaweed and no tofu, but they wouldn't do that, they're not savages.)
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
Completely disagreed. Infinity War was outstanding and nothing had been done before in its depth, that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar beyond visual effects is ridiculous.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
It’s quite good fun going back on Wikipedia through the years and seeing when the Academy really dropped a bollock.
1994 really is a group of death year, any one of the nominees would have walked it these days. Forrest Gump (winner), Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, Four Weddings.
And that’s without considering the likes of Jurassic Park, Ground Hog Day and Falling Down that weren’t even nominated.
What the changes to internet and streaming have done is hollowed out the 'mid-range' film, ie those which would have a budget of around $50m-$100m.
Now it's either go cheap, or go massive, or go home.
The Harry Potter films are a classic example of where the Oscars get it wrong. Nominated 12 times over the eight films, they did not win a single one. Not all the films were classics, but none were poor, and they were immensely popular. In particular, IMO the later films were really well done. And the stories were good.
Why didn't they win? Because they were too popular? Because they were films for kids?
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
A fall in house prices is not the same as negative equity.
Unless you bought at the market peak, put down no deposit and paid off none of the amount borrowed it takes a substantial fall in house prices to be anywhere near negative equity.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
Yup, fuck the poor. Again.
Rishi would be proud.
I genuinely think cost of living is going to destroy this Government. This is probably the biggest crisis in well over a decade and yet it goes barely reported.
I think you are absolutely right, this will destroy this govt unless they act quickly.
The party of the preservation of wealth is presiding over the biggest decline in living standards for many a year.
I would quite like to be wrong, as people are going to end up homeless.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
Agreed - the problem with a "market correction" is that part of the market that it corrects. If this does *not* rapidly become a banks (and government) problem, it absolutely minces a lot of ordinary people who were told (by regulated advisors) that their mortgages were "affordable" (narrator: they never really were, and they never really had the risk explained appropriately)
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
It will take a steep rise in interest rates to see mortgage repayment costs significantly overtake rent costs.
Especially since renters can face annual increases in their costs whereas your cost to your home is locked in when you buy, so although interest rates can change (and buyers should have checked that before they bought) inflation is working in the home owners favour at eroding the real cost of their debt.
Yes but that's irrelevant to someone who is paying a mortgage precisely because they can't afford rent on the equivalent property, is it not? If I usually drive a Kia and am hit by a sharp increase in the price of Kias it isn't a huge consolation that they still aren't catching up with ferraris any time soon
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
I've only had one interaction with the Japanese military on a brief flying visit to Atsugi. It was 'Fried Chicken Friday' which is apparently a huge deal. I had to explain to the officer hosting us that I was a vegetarian and couldn't participate but intended no disrepect. The Senior NCO in charge of catering was summoned and told to make me vegetable tempura. The same NCO brought it out and was made to stand to attention next to me while the honoured guest ate it.
So if the rest of their military is up to the standard of their catering they are shit hot.
I was about to mention their advanced catering technology. This monster boasts the capacity for 600 servings of rice, 800 onigiri, or 1500 bowls of miso soup. (On paper it could do 1800 bowls of miso soup if you did it with just seaweed and no tofu, but they wouldn't do that, they're not savages.)
I loved the immaculate lift attendants who, as you entered the lifts in department stores, would say, in Japanese "please, thank you, I'm sorry". Do they still do that?
The Harry Potter films are a classic example of where the Oscars get it wrong. Nominated 12 times over the eight films, they did not win a single one. Not all the films were classics, but none were poor, and they were immensely popular. In particular, IMO the later films were really well done. And the stories were good.
Why didn't they win? Because they were too popular? Because they were films for kids?
They were all poor. They were boring, banal, and derivative. Brilliant for kids in which case they should have a Kids' Oscars.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
It will take a steep rise in interest rates to see mortgage repayment costs significantly overtake rent costs.
Especially since renters can face annual increases in their costs whereas your cost to your home is locked in when you buy, so although interest rates can change (and buyers should have checked that before they bought) inflation is working in the home owners favour at eroding the real cost of their debt.
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
The only think to do about the Will Smith spat is to ignore it. I say that on the basis that the hacks love this and tabloid rags feast on this sort of thing.
Otherwise the Oscars just make me sad, without falling for false nostalgia it does seem that films are not what they once were. Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood started chucking out some decent films?
I blame the internet personally. It’s hard to create something new, when the entire archive is available on demand for little money.
It produces films that make money, like Spiderman and films that are good like Belfast (I also enjoyed West Side Story).
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
It’s been up it’s own arse for 10 years but before that there were loads of winners that were either box office smashes for the budget (Kings Speech, Argo) or box office behemoths in their own right (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator).
True, a bit more recent then but as you say over the last decade not a single Oscar winner has been a box office hit.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Not hugely original or outstanding. Saturday Matinee popcorn fare.
Completely disagreed. Infinity War was outstanding and nothing had been done before in its depth, that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar beyond visual effects is ridiculous.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
It’s quite good fun going back on Wikipedia through the years and seeing when the Academy really dropped a bollock.
1994 really is a group of death year, any one of the nominees would have walked it these days. Forrest Gump (winner), Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, Four Weddings.
And that’s without considering the likes of Jurassic Park, Ground Hog Day and Falling Down that weren’t even nominated.
Looking at it, it's around 2001/2011 when it crossed over. The Artist, then Argo (which is commercial), then 12 Years a Slave then especially Birdman/Spotlight/Moonlight....
These are not mass market films. Argo was probably the last one, and that was over 10 years ago.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
I think the problem you have - whilst I agree with you about houses being a place to live rather than an investment - is that the Government of all stripes has so utterly screwed the pension system over the last few decades that their home is the lifeline for many people to allow them to have any sort of retirement. More over as has already been noted, many people use their homes as collateral for all manner of enterprises, especially business start ups.
So whilst I actually agree with you on balance about houses being homes not investments and also that I would welcome a big correction, this is just one part of a massively failed system and a correction in this area is only going to lead to massive pain and more failure in others.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
You seem to know and care about the poor as much as our own dear chancellor does. Poor people have mortgages on houses they live in (not as investments). As and when these become variable rate if they aren't already they will become far more volatile than rent. People who can't afford the sudden increase will become both homeless and, negative equity being what it is, bankrupt. So well done, carry on having no sympathy for them.
It will take a steep rise in interest rates to see mortgage repayment costs significantly overtake rent costs.
Especially since renters can face annual increases in their costs whereas your cost to your home is locked in when you buy, so although interest rates can change (and buyers should have checked that before they bought) inflation is working in the home owners favour at eroding the real cost of their debt.
Yes but that's irrelevant to someone who is paying a mortgage precisely because they can't afford rent on the equivalent property, is it not? If I usually drive a Kia and am hit by a sharp increase in the price of Kias it isn't a huge consolation that they still aren't catching up with ferraris any time soon
No, its not irrelevant. Paying rent on the equivalent property is renting a Kia, not a Ferrari, what are you talking about?
If people can't afford to rent a Kia, then Ferraris aren't even relevant to the conversation and we should be wondering why they can't and how to resolve that.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
I've only had one interaction with the Japanese military on a brief flying visit to Atsugi. It was 'Fried Chicken Friday' which is apparently a huge deal. I had to explain to the officer hosting us that I was a vegetarian and couldn't participate but intended no disrepect. The Senior NCO in charge of catering was summoned and told to make me vegetable tempura. The same NCO brought it out and was made to stand to attention next to me while the honoured guest ate it.
So if the rest of their military is up to the standard of their catering they are shit hot.
A story about Japanese and meals.
We were doing some work with a Japanese manufacturer, and they sent over a boss and a couple of engineers to work with us. The engineers did not speak good English, and we did not speak Japanese, but we managed to communicate via the language of tech. It actually worked quite well.
One evening we took them out to the Maharajah on Castle Hill, here in Cambridge. Not a posh place, but good nosh. One of the engineers did not know Chinese food, so ordered whatever one of our engineers had. So that engineer ordered the hottest phaal in the place. The Japanese engineer took a few mouthfuls, and sweat poured down his face. He stared at his boss, and only when his boss gave a nod did he get up and leave the table, reappearing only once the main courses had disappeared.
It was a dickish thing four our engineer to do, but the self-control of waiting for his boss to give him permission to leave the table amazed me.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
"All investments can go down in value as well as up".
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon.
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
Great destination, rubbish journey to get there
A bit like going to the gym, "no pain, no gain".
Yes, but a bit flippant. The pain will consist of converting very poor people into very poor homeless people, the gain will accrue further up the food chain.
If you look at the graph in the Telegraph article, the rich's houses have got more expensive and more in demand.
So another transfer of wealth
So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
I think the problem you have - whilst I agree with you about houses being a place to live rather than an investment - is that the Government of all stripes has so utterly screwed the pension system over the last few decades that their home is the lifeline for many people to allow them to have any sort of retirement. More over as has already been noted, many people use their homes as collateral for all manner of enterprises, especially business start ups.
So whilst I actually agree with you on balance about houses being homes not investments and also that I would welcome a big correction, this is just one part of a massively failed system and a correction in this area is only going to lead to massive pain and more failure in others.
Oh I 100% agree with all that.
The problem is that I don't see the pain the correction will result in as a reason not to have the correction.
Its a bit like the issue with obesity. Eating healthier and exercising can be painful, its hard and difficult, but it doesn't make it the wrong thing to do. The easier thing to do is to say "I wouldn't start from here" but if you've got "here" and need to get "there" then there aren't any quick and easy and painless solutions, but that doesn't make wallowing and doing nothing the right solution either.
The Harry Potter films are a classic example of where the Oscars get it wrong. Nominated 12 times over the eight films, they did not win a single one. Not all the films were classics, but none were poor, and they were immensely popular. In particular, IMO the later films were really well done. And the stories were good.
Why didn't they win? Because they were too popular? Because they were films for kids?
They were all poor. They were boring, banal, and derivative. Brilliant for kids in which case they should have a Kids' Oscars.
I disagree. In the later films, sets, special effects, costumes etc were all very, very good.
Despite my great reluctance to comment on showbiz, here goes:
1. Chris Rock's 'joke' was in very poor taste. Mrs (?) Smith has alopecia; if she'd lost her hair through having chemo for cancer, for example, people would have been horrified at the joke. It's not that different. 2. Nevertheless, Smith shouldn't have assaulted him. 3. Despite 1. and 2. above, I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
Its Ricky Gervais I feel sorry for...
Then again maybe not. He has been asked what he would have been saying if he was hosting. And he tweeted:
I'd start with "Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn't be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508133398480576512
and
"I'm proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them." https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1508146459039916033
It’s crudely made but he is drawing attention to an important point
Comments
Last film we saw at the cinema
Apparently many of the captured tanks were useless, containing log books of unserviceable items on each vehicle, many of which made them totally unsuitable to be near an actual enemy who might shoot back.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-702428
However when was the Oscar last won by a film which was a box office hit? Titanic? No wonder their ratings are in decline
Makes a mockery of the comparisons of armed forces that involve counting how many tank hulls and airframes that they have.
How many can move? How many have trained personnel to use them?
Smith had an opportunity later go on the (verbal) offensive, and get extra points for exposing just how damaging alopecia is for people - a couple of friends have struggled with it.
BTW, here's a Ukrainian storage area for tanks - 400 of them. It may be that some of these could be brought back into use and modernised - but most are probably only fit for scrap.
I wonder if the Russian 'storage' is as good. The lie would be to say tanks in such storage are in any way usable for warfighting without a lot of effort.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572149/Stunning-images-huge-abandoned-tank-graveyard-Ukraine-machines-come-retirement-tensions-Russia-continue-escalate.html
I was thinking about that when considering the Russian exercises in the Far East. The Japanese (whose comments about the Kuril Islands the Russians were responding to) have a reputation for their armed forces being in a good state.
It is quite possible that the Japanese have a stronger military than anything the Russians could send to the area.
(aimer and aimee are good follow-ups if you get an e (depending on whether you get an r too)
They were neglected and the brush and grass built up. Then one hot summer a bush fire ripped through the place, destroying everything.....
Propaganda works because people want to believe good things about their own side.
The roasting of Tinseltown at the Globes was long overdue though, and was well written and executed.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/feb/16/british-tanks-sent-germany-storage
One luvvie, Jane Seymour IIRC, was interviewed and said how hard it would be for them all to party with everything going on in Ukraine. Yet they managed. Of course life goes on but it’s the sanctimonious nature of it.
Housing market collapsing from bottom up
- They maintain a spare space program, using 3 stage solid fuel rockets. Which are fairly rubbish for launching satellites. But have a considerable resemblance to a heavy ICBM.
- They have a huge stockpile of reprocessed plutonium. All strictly monitored and accounted for with international monitoring etc.
- They also have a big pile of unprocessed used reactor fuel rods that are quite old. So all the Pu-240 will have decayed to U-236....
The consensus is that Japan could have a bomb on a missile very quickly if they chose. So their deterrent is "Don't push us. Otherwise we will be nuclear armed in a very short time."
We're well overdue a "correction" to the housing market. It would be fantastic if house price to earnings ratios could be corrected back to 3-4x rather than 7-8x ratios.
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/military-base-near-tewkesbury-270m-4263646
Interestingly, apparently much of the storage there is climate controlled. Vital for anything electrical, electronic optical.
In 2017 it almost seemed to have picked a winner, La La Land, which made $448 million at the box office. However then it got cancelled on the podium and the winner was announced as Moonlight instead which had takings of just $65 million.
It is fine to sometimes honour high art, independent films but you cannot completely ignore what the public watch every year and expect to remain relevant.
For example Marvel and dc films have dominated the box office recently yet not 1 has got near the best picture Oscar
Again again violence is Bad. But perhaps this slap - against its host and the entire event and all it stands for - was needed at least metaphorically.
So another transfer of wealth
Rishi would be proud.
Another issue was no overall command. Again Tony Wilson was the worst example of this, but the bizarre situation of the SAS effectively inviting themselves into the war and basically operating using the old boy network was just weird. The guy in charge of the SAS seemed impressive. Another example was the taking out of ground attack aircraft, only achieved because the SAS lied to Sandy Woodward about radar being present. The point being his focus was on ships not the army. Of course we are only hearing this from the SAS guys point of view so may not be fair. He lied to get the decision he thought was correct.
The reason why nothing round here is selling for less than £100,000 is because everything that used to cost £90,000 now costs £110,000 and is still being sold in hours.
Was "Green Book" (never even heard of it) really a better film than Infinity War? I doubt it.
Some people don't want to take comedy, or action, or comic films seriously. That just makes them conceited, not enlightened.
Look at Mr Pioneer.
Big detached houses in the countryside or wealthy suburbs are still seeing higher prices
Building Societies are already offering cheaper mortgages for energy efficient homes and if it is mandated homes must achieve an energy rating of C or better, expect to see home owners facing the choice of greening their homes or many thousands being negotiated off the price when they sell to allow the buyers to green them
I have listened to political parties supporting the greening of homes but at a frightening cost to the exchequer, when by the simple process of regulation a large amount of the cost is born by sellers and buyers
I also expect that this energy crisis is already seeing home owners investing in improving insulation, solar panels, heat pumps, and easy to do low energy light bulbs
I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for people who are investing in housing that then see their investments lose value. For people living in their homes rather than using them as investments, they won't become homeless unless they can no longer afford the mortgage repayments which is just the same if they can't afford the rent. The supposed "value" of the house is not really that relevant so long as you're not planning on moving any time soon. So houses are becoming more affordable for the poor and less affordable for the rich - isn't that a good news story?
Are you in favour of more affordable housing, or more "housing wealth", you seem to be giving out mixed signals.
Marvel is to cinema what the X Factor is to music. Good commercial product first and foremost.
So if the rest of their military is up to the standard of their catering they are shit hot.
Why is the Academy now so detached from what its audience watches?
There is a bigger question about "sophisticated" taste but it is a rocky road to go down albeit this is PB and we like rocky roads especially when such a debate would include such buzzwords as intellectual...snobbery...elitist...education...etc
1994 really is a group of death year, any one of the nominees would have walked it these days. Forrest Gump (winner), Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, Four Weddings.
And that’s without considering the likes of Jurassic Park, Ground Hog Day and Falling Down that weren’t even nominated.
The party of the preservation of wealth is presiding over the biggest decline in living standards for many a year.
“It is not performing a balancing act. Britain sees no alternative for the way out of the situation. Britain wants Ukraine to win and Russia to lose.”
British Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles sent to Ukraine are now ready to be deployed against Russian warplanes.
https://twitter.com/afneil/status/1508360077014614017
Especially since renters can face annual increases in their costs whereas your cost to your home is locked in when you buy, so although interest rates can change (and buyers should have checked that before they bought) inflation is working in the home owners favour at eroding the real cost of their debt.
Now it's either go cheap, or go massive, or go home.
Why didn't they win? Because they were too popular? Because they were films for kids?
Unless you bought at the market peak, put down no deposit and paid off none of the amount borrowed it takes a substantial fall in house prices to be anywhere near negative equity.
I hope you are keeping safe and well, Taz.
These are not mass market films. Argo was probably the last one, and that was over 10 years ago.
So whilst I actually agree with you on balance about houses being homes not investments and also that I would welcome a big correction, this is just one part of a massively failed system and a correction in this area is only going to lead to massive pain and more failure in others.
If people can't afford to rent a Kia, then Ferraris aren't even relevant to the conversation and we should be wondering why they can't and how to resolve that.
And the Tories are going to do nothing, unlike those big banks who take our money.
We were doing some work with a Japanese manufacturer, and they sent over a boss and a couple of engineers to work with us. The engineers did not speak good English, and we did not speak Japanese, but we managed to communicate via the language of tech. It actually worked quite well.
One evening we took them out to the Maharajah on Castle Hill, here in Cambridge. Not a posh place, but good nosh. One of the engineers did not know Chinese food, so ordered whatever one of our engineers had. So that engineer ordered the hottest phaal in the place. The Japanese engineer took a few mouthfuls, and sweat poured down his face. He stared at his boss, and only when his boss gave a nod did he get up and leave the table, reappearing only once the main courses had disappeared.
It was a dickish thing four our engineer to do, but the self-control of waiting for his boss to give him permission to leave the table amazed me.
The problem is that I don't see the pain the correction will result in as a reason not to have the correction.
Its a bit like the issue with obesity. Eating healthier and exercising can be painful, its hard and difficult, but it doesn't make it the wrong thing to do. The easier thing to do is to say "I wouldn't start from here" but if you've got "here" and need to get "there" then there aren't any quick and easy and painless solutions, but that doesn't make wallowing and doing nothing the right solution either.