I have decided that @Heathener is an experiment by @rcs1000 using GPT3 to pose as a commenter and keep the debate going. No sane individual could spew out this weird mix of random left wing piety, earnest yet eerie dullness, pro war craziness, with provocative dashes of bigotry and rank stupidity.
The syntax also has the odd lapse into total incoherence. Very telling. She’s a computer program and I for one salute Mr SMITHSON’s ingenuity
The Buddha avatar is a nice touch.
"I'm a lady. And a Buddhist. You can't touch me....it's not fair!"
As she launches a swift knee towards your bollocks....
A student activist has been ordered to pay just £22 after being found guilty of causing of more than £1,000 of criminal damage.
Charlie Turner, 19, a sociology student at the University of Brighton, was caught by police spraying red paint on the doors of Sovereign House, Church Street, Brighton, in the early hours of December 17 last year.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge but were convicted on March 29 following a trial at Brighton Magistrates’ Court earlier in the month.
Rachel Reeves has just given an excellent answer to Kay Burley on the gender debate
Upped her game since she was on R4 then:
Rachel Reeves tries and fails to square the Keir Starmer circle. Biology is a big part of sex but there are also people who strongly identify as the other sex and they have the "right" to self identify but also women are entitled to single sex spaces. WHICH IS IT? @BBCR4Today
LOL, day 3 of this. You’d have thought they’d have agreed on a coherent answer to the question by now.
Can’t wait for the day-long conference debate on the subject, selected in favour of debating energy prices or inflation.
They're failing because you can have self-ID or single sex spaces. You cannot have both. They are unwilling to make a choice. Or have made a choice which they know will be unpopular and are trying to hide it.
Labour are trying to be all things to all women (however defined) and are failing. They will continue to do so.
Surely the fundamental conflict you raise is between the primacy of single sex spaces and having *any* legal route to gender change that doesn't involve mandatory surgery. It's not in essence about how hard or easy the process is (important though that is).
Unless a physical sex change is on the critical path to the legal gender change you are always going to have male-bodied trans women and thus be faced with picking one of the following approaches:
(a) Trans women *are* women - so they can access women's spaces. The default is inclusion. Exceptions possible but must be justified.
(b) Trans women are *not* women - so they cannot access women's spaces. The default is exclusion. Exceptions possible but must be justified.
Forgetting about how we might disagree on what the answer should be, that's a correct framing, isn't it?
No. Not trying to be difficult here but the framing you have to look at is whether sex-based exemptions should exist at all. In order to make sense of your framing you first have to decide where the concept of "womens' spaces" comes from. Otherwise your framing is meaningless.
Pre-the Equality act there was no such concept in law. It was a matter of social convention. Then you have the Equality Act which says that people should not be discriminated against on the grounds of sex ie equal treatment for everyone but then specifically excluded certain areas because of sex ie women only spaces for certain purposes where they can be justified.
Currently, the framing for such sex-based exemptions is like your (b) ie the default is no discrimination unless there is a legitimate reason to discriminate and the method used is proportionate to that aim.
Transwomen are excluded from those exemptions not because they are not treated as women (legally) (they are) but because their sex has not changed and those exemptions exist because sex is key to why they are needed. (Bluntly the GRA introduces a polite legal fiction but comes up against the material reality of sex when it comes to the exemptions in the Equality Act.)
The framing that is now being proposed is not about whether transwomen are or are not treated as women but about the removal of the sex-based exemptions. Your position - and those of Stonewall and other trans charities - is very explicitly that those sex-based exemptions (and indeed sex as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act) should be removed in their entirety. Therefore there would be no such thing as womens' spaces ie spaces for those of the female sex with a female body at all.
In short, the question of inclusion or exclusion ie whether a transwoman could go into a female loo would not arise because there would be no female only loos.
Right, thanks.
I'm not arguing for the removal of sex-based exemptions. I'm persuaded of the case for a more streamlined gender transition process - with controls and with suitable guidance/rules in place for certain areas such as sports and prisons where sex has to be taken into account. I think such a reform will help trans people without in practice hurting anybody else. That's where I am on this. I'm not a TRA or Stonewall accolyte. They wouldn't have me.
But what I wanted to explore (because I think it's important) is you saying this -
"You can have self-ID or single sex spaces. You can't have both."
As if the fundamental conflict is between those 2 things. Which I can't see that it is. Self-Id is shorthand for a quicker easier demedicalized legal transition process. It's just that - a process.
Whereas the core 'in theory' conflict is not about a process it's about something more elemental - the divergence between sex and gender and which of these should normally prevail.
The only way to remove that conflict - and avoid the difficult questions being batted around - is to not have a divergence between sex and gender. And there are 2 ways to do this -
(a) Remove the legal route to a gender change. (b) Make a gender change conditional on a sex change.
Now there will be people in favour of one or other of these, but no political party is going anywhere near it. Because it's taking trans rights back decades.
Let's agree it's a non starter. I know you aren't arguing for it.
Leaving us back where we were. We DO have a conflict to resolve between sex and gender because we (legally) recognize transgenderism and we don't tie it to a sex change.
And then I think my framing works fine. What should the transition process be? What controls are needed? Should the default be trans exclusion or inclusion? What exceptions are needed either way?
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
It's been established that the same joke was used in rehearsal, hasn't it?
In which case, theory.
It was meant to be Hollywood Bantz. Edgy but staged to get publicity.
But something on the night snapped for Will, and the joke wasn't as funny as it had seemed before.
That's the risk of Bantz, that it becomes real.
Christ imagine having to sit in the audience and listen to the painfully crap unfunny jokes for both a rehearsal and the actual thing.....drive anybody to drink.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
Perhaps he is actually a very disturbed individual, as are lots of Hollywood elite.
I thought this was an interesting take on how things have changed over the years.
The End Of The Movie Star The 2022 Oscars debacle really got me to thinking, is this the age of the movie star, and the cult of celebrity ending? Yes, and I'll explain how and why it happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l04RZVeJViI&t=304s
I so hope that is true. I am more than fed up with movie stars thinking they know more about politics than the average Joe, or that their word is somehow more important. And don't get me started on people who are famous simply for being celebrities.
I've been on Le Pen for a while because for a while I've been worried the French will screw up their voting system and elect a Le Pen.
Also given there's a war on and the French history for capitulation and surrender it won't come as a shock that someone who is willing to collaborate with Putin.
Macron spent the period leading up to the invasion by floating the idea of a new European security deal with Russia and trying to persuade Ukraine to accept Russia's interpretation of Minsk II.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
It's not going to happen.
It's the economy that is the issue here. The cost of living squeeze. The Tories using so called woke issues, that really bother a few people on either extreme and most people don't seem to care about, will backfire.
The one thing Heathener may have a point on, too, is who wants to be seen to be siding with Pooty Poot.
Russian troops at Chernobyl are being treated for radiation sickness in Belarus, an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed.
Yaroslav Yemelianenko said yesterday that 'another batch of Russians' had been taken to the 'Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel' for treatment.
It comes after the nuclear power plant's workers said Russian soldiers' arrival at Chernobyl without anti-radiation gear when Moscow's forces seized the site last month was 'suicidal'.
Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest.
'With minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided,' he said, adding that radiation protection is 'mandatory because radiation is physics – it works without regard to status or shoulder straps.'
Those numbers are likely wrong, at least they don’t match sources I’ve found elsewhere, which suggest that the background radiation dose in the parts of Chernobyl immediately adjacent to the reactor (the “red forest“ can be /much/ higher than 10μSv/hr. According to the online sources I’ve seen, parts of the Red Forest still read levels of 10mSv/hr to this day. That’s a serious level of radiation - a level that you’d be fine with for an hour or two, but spend a few weeks there & you’re going to hit the LD50 radiation dose...
Worse, it sounds as if the Russian soldiers might have dug themselves in, which means a) they disturbed the topsoil and then b) slept on top of it. So they were potentially breathing in contaminated dust. This is much, much worse than just standing around near a radiation source.
I think the story is kind of plausible, but will wait for confirmation - I certainly wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.
It could be that my sources for the rad levels are wrong, but the dust inhalation due to trench digging is a massive issue that the twitter poster ignores. It could well be that the soldiers have been taken for examination in case of contamination?
Is this just another Daily Mail "massive doses of radiation from the topsoil gives you CANCER" scare story?
Well, it didn’t originate with the DM, but random Twitter account does not a reliable source make, so...
Has anyone else encountered the phenomenon whereby people are ill, ‘pass’ several LFTs (i.e. the tests are negative), yet still assume - and say - they have covid?
I’ve encountered this several times in the last few weeks. The common cold has not disappeared - and can be unpleasant.
Why do people say it’s covid when the tests say otherwise?
I've fallen guilty to this myself a bit. I had a sore throat then minor cold symptom, productive cough for about 10 days. I tested negative, but only one test cos I couldn't be arsed. I wonder if it was covid? No proof BUT with the prevalence so high, there is a good chance it was. The lateral flows are not 100% for detecting and are subject to operator error.
Also - does it matter now? I think we will be getting new advice from tomorrow when free testing ends.
I think the free advice is "there is no more Covid so why test any more".
You seek to be pretty ignorant if that's what you think.
I believe the free advice is "vaccines work so Covid is just another virus now, so why test any more?"
Covid or Common Cold or Flu it doesn't matter. Treat your symptoms. If you feel rotten, stay at home, as you would have before you'd even heard of Covid. If you're fine - don't.
And all that would be fine if BA1 Omicron was the virus and we're all now jabbed so screw it. Except it isn't - BA2 is the variant making people ill and we still need to keep track of variants which can keep mutating around the vaccines. We can't track if we don't bother to test any more.
We all need to treat it as any other virus - as we all agree (now, it wasn't the other fella's position) if you are ill you stay home. But largely we know that Norovirus is the arse-spraying mayhem friend of primary schools - it is what it is. If only Covid would stay as it is.
Covid is staying as it is. Viruses mutate, that's nothing new, but it is still Covid and the vaccine still works.
Common cold and influenza mutate too. We can monitor with scientific monitoring not every hypochondriac and their dog getting tested daily.
Well for instance I'd like to know now if a virus I get is covid or not because, given the falling off of booster efficacy over time, I'd like to know my likely immune status in the event a nastier variant emerges this summer.
In which case if it's idle curiosity like that you can pay for a test, just like you can pay for all sorts of other unnecessary tests etc privately.
That's what free choice and private enterprise are for, not the NHS.
You are mad, you realise?
I have a stockpile of free tests so large I have had to move some of the loo paper into the garage, wouldn't like the tax free housing gains I've made over the years by relentlessly protesting at any form of homebuilding to be frittered away paying for that shit.
I have a suspicion that quite a few people have accumulated vast stocks of covid tests. My work place has had then available like sweeties and the worried ones will have been swiping a box or two every day.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
Well Roman Polanski still has his awards...they all clapped like seals over him.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I've been on Le Pen for a while because for a while I've been worried the French will screw up their voting system and elect a Le Pen.
Also given there's a war on and the French history for capitulation and surrender it won't come as a shock that someone who is willing to collaborate with Putin.
Macron spent the period leading up to the invasion by floating the idea of a new European security deal with Russia and trying to persuade Ukraine to accept Russia's interpretation of Minsk II.
On Feb 7th Macron confidently announced to the world that his talks with Putin had resulted in preventing an invasion of Ukraine.
ON topic there is one known unknown which should give any bettor pause for thought
The Debates.
We know these can be crucial from our own elections, and indyref. The French prez debates were crucial last time when Le Pen blew it.
She’s not good at debates. Presumably she’s had training. Macron is annoying but he’s eloquent and smart and knows his onions. He will hope to outclass and expose her, again
But what if he doesn’t? That’s the moment when she *could* change the game, and win. I seriously doubt that she will. Yet it is something to consider
That's sort of what I was thinking,
Remember when everybody expected Obama was going to beet Romney in the debates? but Romney practiced hard and it looks like Obama did not, then on the day it was much closer perhaps even Romney won.
Could the same happen, possibly but I don't think it would overturn Macrons lead even if it did, Le Pen at best can match him, and that's not going to be enough.
Personally, I think that the French election could be like 2016 Redux, namely people saying Trump / Brexit couldn't happen when the signs are there staring us in the face.
Yes, I would agree there are a lot of French - usually professional, university-educated, middle age types who typically would have voted Socialist - who would never vote for Le Pen. However, at least from the conversations we have had with friends who would be typical establishment centre-right voters (older, definitely bourgeois and more socially conservative), there is a feeling that maybe there does need to be a shake up by voting for Le Pen. They may not but I suspect they are less determined to come out and oppose her as they did 5 years ago.
And that leads onto another point. Most of the commentary has focused on how much Le Pen is disliked and seen as a fascist. Which is true to a large degree. But what it doesn't take into account is that Macron is actively loathed in many quarters with a degree of hatred that was never seen with a Chirac, Mitterand or even Hollande (who was just seen as useless). He has managed to p1ss off many and I would argue that the anti-Macron sentiment is as powerful as the anti-Le Pen one.
So, at 10/1 or 11/1, Le Pen seems value. I would take anything up to 6/1 - ironically, where betting on both Brexit and Trump was on the days of the votes.
Yes. It isn't impossible. The difference is the polls though. There were plenty (most?) showing Leave ahead. There were a few with Trump ahead, and many within the 3% PV margin. There hasn't been a single one showing Le Pen winning. I agree they don't measure motivation to turnout well, mind.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
Except on PB, where people will snark about it for decades every time a film of his is mentioned.
Russian troops at Chernobyl are being treated for radiation sickness in Belarus, an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed.
Yaroslav Yemelianenko said yesterday that 'another batch of Russians' had been taken to the 'Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel' for treatment.
It comes after the nuclear power plant's workers said Russian soldiers' arrival at Chernobyl without anti-radiation gear when Moscow's forces seized the site last month was 'suicidal'.
Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest.
'With minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided,' he said, adding that radiation protection is 'mandatory because radiation is physics – it works without regard to status or shoulder straps.'
Those numbers are likely wrong, at least they don’t match sources I’ve found elsewhere, which suggest that the background radiation dose in the parts of Chernobyl immediately adjacent to the reactor (the “red forest“ can be /much/ higher than 10μSv/hr. According to the online sources I’ve seen, parts of the Red Forest still read levels of 10mSv/hr to this day. That’s a serious level of radiation - a level that you’d be fine with for an hour or two, but spend a few weeks there & you’re going to hit the LD50 radiation dose...
Worse, it sounds as if the Russian soldiers might have dug themselves in, which means a) they disturbed the topsoil and then b) slept on top of it. So they were potentially breathing in contaminated dust. This is much, much worse than just standing around near a radiation source.
I think the story is kind of plausible, but will wait for confirmation - I certainly wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.
It could be that my sources for the rad levels are wrong, but the dust inhalation due to trench digging is a massive issue that the twitter poster ignores. It could well be that the soldiers have been taken for examination in case of contamination?
Is this just another Daily Mail "massive doses of radiation from the topsoil gives you CANCER" scare story?
Well, it didn’t originate with the DM, but random Twitter account does not a reliable source make, so...
What?! That goes against everything I've learned in journalism school.
In all seriousness I'm not even opposed in itself to the idea of a news story around social media reaction to something, or referencing such, or being based on twitter information, but it needs to be significant and hold up, not just a quick way of padding out a story or spreading a rumour.
I've been on Le Pen for a while because for a while I've been worried the French will screw up their voting system and elect a Le Pen.
Also given there's a war on and the French history for capitulation and surrender it won't come as a shock that someone who is willing to collaborate with Putin.
Macron spent the period leading up to the invasion by floating the idea of a new European security deal with Russia and trying to persuade Ukraine to accept Russia's interpretation of Minsk II.
On Feb 7th Macron confidently announced to the world that his talks with Putin had resulted in preventing an invasion of Ukraine.
Honestly, it's embarrassing.
And that is why in the words of Gordon Brown,
"I take full responsibility for what happened, I have said all along that when I saw this first I was horrified, I was shocked, I was very angry indeed. The person who was responsible went immediately and has lost his job"
ON topic there is one known unknown which should give any bettor pause for thought
The Debates.
We know these can be crucial from our own elections, and indyref. The French prez debates were crucial last time when Le Pen blew it.
She’s not good at debates. Presumably she’s had training. Macron is annoying but he’s eloquent and smart and knows his onions. He will hope to outclass and expose her, again
But what if he doesn’t? That’s the moment when she *could* change the game, and win. I seriously doubt that she will. Yet it is something to consider
That's sort of what I was thinking,
Remember when everybody expected Obama was going to beet Romney in the debates? but Romney practiced hard and it looks like Obama did not, then on the day it was much closer perhaps even Romney won.
Could the same happen, possibly but I don't think it would overturn Macrons lead even if it did, Le Pen at best can match him, and that's not going to be enough.
Personally, I think that the French election could be like 2016 Redux, namely people saying Trump / Brexit couldn't happen when the signs are there staring us in the face.
Yes, I would agree there are a lot of French - usually professional, university-educated, middle age types who typically would have voted Socialist - who would never vote for Le Pen. However, at least from the conversations we have had with friends who would be typical establishment centre-right voters (older, definitely bourgeois and more socially conservative), there is a feeling that maybe there does need to be a shake up by voting for Le Pen. They may not but I suspect they are less determined to come out and oppose her as they did 5 years ago.
And that leads onto another point. Most of the commentary has focused on how much Le Pen is disliked and seen as a fascist. Which is true to a large degree. But what it doesn't take into account is that Macron is actively loathed in many quarters with a degree of hatred that was never seen with a Chirac, Mitterand or even Hollande (who was just seen as useless). He has managed to p1ss off many and I would argue that the anti-Macron sentiment is as powerful as the anti-Le Pen one.
So, at 10/1 or 11/1, Le Pen seems value. I would take anything up to 6/1 - ironically, where betting on both Brexit and Trump was on the days of the votes.
The irony is that in 2018 Trump and Brexit were in the market's memory and Le Pen was way too short at 3/1 or 4/1. Now Biden and so on has led to the opposite error, and Le Pen is much closer but much longer odds.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
I think -- given his history -- you would do well to take anything said by Jamie with some caution.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
It's been established that the same joke was used in rehearsal, hasn't it?
In which case, theory.
It was meant to be Hollywood Bantz. Edgy but staged to get publicity.
But something on the night snapped for Will, and the joke wasn't as funny as it had seemed before.
That's the risk of Bantz, that it becomes real.
From what I saw, he didn't understand it until his wife explained it to him. Maybe she wasn't in the rehearsal to point out to him that he shouldn't be laughing.
ON topic there is one known unknown which should give any bettor pause for thought
The Debates.
We know these can be crucial from our own elections, and indyref. The French prez debates were crucial last time when Le Pen blew it.
She’s not good at debates. Presumably she’s had training. Macron is annoying but he’s eloquent and smart and knows his onions. He will hope to outclass and expose her, again
But what if he doesn’t? That’s the moment when she *could* change the game, and win. I seriously doubt that she will. Yet it is something to consider
That's sort of what I was thinking,
Remember when everybody expected Obama was going to beet Romney in the debates? but Romney practiced hard and it looks like Obama did not, then on the day it was much closer perhaps even Romney won.
Could the same happen, possibly but I don't think it would overturn Macrons lead even if it did, Le Pen at best can match him, and that's not going to be enough.
Personally, I think that the French election could be like 2016 Redux, namely people saying Trump / Brexit couldn't happen when the signs are there staring us in the face.
Yes, I would agree there are a lot of French - usually professional, university-educated, middle age types who typically would have voted Socialist - who would never vote for Le Pen. However, at least from the conversations we have had with friends who would be typical establishment centre-right voters (older, definitely bourgeois and more socially conservative), there is a feeling that maybe there does need to be a shake up by voting for Le Pen. They may not but I suspect they are less determined to come out and oppose her as they did 5 years ago.
And that leads onto another point. Most of the commentary has focused on how much Le Pen is disliked and seen as a fascist. Which is true to a large degree. But what it doesn't take into account is that Macron is actively loathed in many quarters with a degree of hatred that was never seen with a Chirac, Mitterand or even Hollande (who was just seen as useless). He has managed to p1ss off many and I would argue that the anti-Macron sentiment is as powerful as the anti-Le Pen one.
So, at 10/1 or 11/1, Le Pen seems value. I would take anything up to 6/1 - ironically, where betting on both Brexit and Trump was on the days of the votes.
The irony is that in 2018 Trump and Brexit were in the market's memory and Le Pen was way too short at 3/1 or 4/1. Now Biden and so on has led to the opposite error, and Le Pen is much closer but much longer odds.
Yes the French election has been very weird and hard to read. I still lean strongly towards Norfolkpassmore's opinion i.e. a 58-42% Macron win on a lowish turnout but we'll see.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
Except on PB, where people will snark about it for decades every time a film of his is mentioned.
I'll still go watch his movies though. But I'll often be thinking it highly likely he has beaten or assaulted many people during his career, given his casual justifications (he was angry, you see, which no one ever is), the fact it wasnt an instant reaction, and because bullies act that way because they know they can, so they keep doing it.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
I dont agree. If you like Will Smith and his movies it wont make a scrap of diffence,
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
I think -- given his history -- you would do well to take anything said by Jamie with some caution.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
Edit: I see Mr W has stated his preferred pronouns are he/his, so 'the party will support him'.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
"Fixated" because it is literally what he said.
Some posters seem to be projecting quite hard onto this story, because they desperately want this to be a wedge issue for the Conservatives. It doesn't need to be, because there is nothing contradictory between supporting trans individuals, and telling trans activists to get knotted.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Got to love the hypocritical moralising of Hollywood.....where at the end of the day, you can do what the hell you like as long as you bring in the Benjamins (that the dollar variety, not the high class hookers called Benjamin, although they are most welcome).
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
Tad fatphobic there....its all about body positivity these days.
Has anyone else encountered the phenomenon whereby people are ill, ‘pass’ several LFTs (i.e. the tests are negative), yet still assume - and say - they have covid?
I’ve encountered this several times in the last few weeks. The common cold has not disappeared - and can be unpleasant.
Why do people say it’s covid when the tests say otherwise?
I've fallen guilty to this myself a bit. I had a sore throat then minor cold symptom, productive cough for about 10 days. I tested negative, but only one test cos I couldn't be arsed. I wonder if it was covid? No proof BUT with the prevalence so high, there is a good chance it was. The lateral flows are not 100% for detecting and are subject to operator error.
Also - does it matter now? I think we will be getting new advice from tomorrow when free testing ends.
I think the free advice is "there is no more Covid so why test any more".
You seek to be pretty ignorant if that's what you think.
I believe the free advice is "vaccines work so Covid is just another virus now, so why test any more?"
Covid or Common Cold or Flu it doesn't matter. Treat your symptoms. If you feel rotten, stay at home, as you would have before you'd even heard of Covid. If you're fine - don't.
And all that would be fine if BA1 Omicron was the virus and we're all now jabbed so screw it. Except it isn't - BA2 is the variant making people ill and we still need to keep track of variants which can keep mutating around the vaccines. We can't track if we don't bother to test any more.
We all need to treat it as any other virus - as we all agree (now, it wasn't the other fella's position) if you are ill you stay home. But largely we know that Norovirus is the arse-spraying mayhem friend of primary schools - it is what it is. If only Covid would stay as it is.
Covid is staying as it is. Viruses mutate, that's nothing new, but it is still Covid and the vaccine still works.
Common cold and influenza mutate too. We can monitor with scientific monitoring not every hypochondriac and their dog getting tested daily.
Well for instance I'd like to know now if a virus I get is covid or not because, given the falling off of booster efficacy over time, I'd like to know my likely immune status in the event a nastier variant emerges this summer.
In which case if it's idle curiosity like that you can pay for a test, just like you can pay for all sorts of other unnecessary tests etc privately.
That's what free choice and private enterprise are for, not the NHS.
You are mad, you realise?
I have a stockpile of free tests so large I have had to move some of the loo paper into the garage, wouldn't like the tax free housing gains I've made over the years by relentlessly protesting at any form of homebuilding to be frittered away paying for that shit.
I have a suspicion that quite a few people have accumulated vast stocks of covid tests. My work place has had then available like sweeties and the worried ones will have been swiping a box or two every day.
We have 4 packs of tests at home.
But my place of work was handing them out or they would have gone in the skip so anyone on site at the time got a few to take home
Manchester United are exploring the possibility of including Anthony Martial to facilitate a move for Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, sources have told ESPN.
Harry will be chaining himself to the gates of Tottenham training ground in a reversal of start of the season. Pleaseeeeeeeee can I stay after all, pleeeeeease don't send me to Man Utd, its worse than here.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
Yep, that's what I'd always assumed to be the meaning of trans, ie specifically non specific but covering a lot of non binary and gender fluid states of mind and being.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
I imagine the demand in Hollywood for high quality hand crafted bespoke flint dildos is very high.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
What fix? I knew nothing of this individual before yesterday - but from what I've learned in the last 24 hours it wouldn't surprise me to find he is in a fix of some sort. Though how bad a fix can it be if his only way out is changing his gender?
"Want to be trans" seems correct to me, since at present there is nothing outwardly about him which is anything but male.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Fuck me. So If you’re white and you think Will Smith is a cock for punching someone then you’re anti black. Fuck off the Guardian, you socially-regressive, race-baiting rag.’
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
Particularly important is the conclusion, that some kind of settlement in which Ukraine cedes Donbas to Russia ain't gonna work:
This is why taking Donbas is not a satisfactory consolation prize for Putin, let alone for those hardliners demanding that he stick to his maximalist objectives. It is simply a recipe for continued instability, turning Putin’s folly of 2014 into an even greater catastrophe, serving as a continuing drain on Russia’s dwindling economic and military resources.
Thanks for posting this, Richard.
This bit of Girkin's assessment of the war stood out for me:
The war, he insists, must either be won completely or it will be lost completely. Losing he acknowledges as a distinct possibility. As things stand there are only a few weeks left before the forces in the Donbas will be unable to function.
Now Girkin may well have an interest in being overly apocalyptic, but it is interesting that he sees the possibility of total defeat, and even more so that he thinks the Russian position in the Donbas might soon become untenable.
We don't hear very much about what is happening in and around Donbas, so it's very hard to form a view as to whether that is exaggerated. Still, I think the assessment that Putin keeping Donbas as a consolation prize won't work looks compelling.
Girkin/"Strelkov" is pretty much the major reason while Ukraine´s Russian speakers will never be pro-Putin. He is a disgusting murderer and torturer personally responsible for some particularly vile crimes in Ukraine and beyond. The fact that he and similar vermin have been in charge in the so-called DNR and LNR and the barbaric, mafia-style cruelties they are responsible for is exactly why no civilised person, Russian speaking or not, would want to have anything to do with a Putinist state in Ukraine. So if Girkin thinks that he faces complete defeat, he may well be right, but it is a deserved defeat, and he carries much of the blame personally if it happens. If this defeat leads to Girkin either being tried at The Hague and imprisoned for life, then that is the least he deserves. To be honest he will probably end up being tortured to death himself, and hard not to think that a depraved death would match the despicible life he has lived. The same, of course, also applies to the filth that sent him.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
I imagine the demand in Hollywood for high quality hand crafted bespoke flint dildos is very high.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
I imagine the demand in Hollywood for high quality hand crafted bespoke flint dildos is very high.
Exactly. My connections are flawless
As indeed (it is said in Hollywood) are your flint dildos.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Polanski, and Weinstein too.
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Fuck me. So If you’re white and you think Will Smith is a cock for punching someone then you’re anti black. Fuck off the Guardian, you socially-regressive, race-baiting rag.’
Putin has just announced that from tomorrow energy will only be paid for in roubles
Actually this delaration was made a few days ago and gas flows to Europe are either down or stopped altogether. Gas pressure here in Estonia is already low, and my fairly elderly boiler keeps going out, which is a bit of a nuisance when its -9 outside. However I will take weeks of cold showers if it weakens that murderer to destruction.
We have been getting plenty of inbound cyber attacks here too. with Air Baltic being a bit of a target, so my assumption would be that cyberwar is behind the attacks on BA and on the UK energy system. Indeed, any IT failure at present is likely to be at least a knock on from very aggressive Russian cyber attack activity. I just hope that GCHQ´s much vaunted "offensive capability" is causing reasonable problems for the enemy too.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
I imagine the demand in Hollywood for high quality hand crafted bespoke flint dildos is very high.
Exactly. My connections are flawless
As indeed (it is said in Hollywood) are your flint dildos.
One would hope so. The thought of shards of silica breaking off is horrible to contemplate.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Fuck me. So If you’re white and you think Will Smith is a cock for punching someone then you’re anti black. Fuck off the Guardian, you socially-regressive, race-baiting rag.’
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Polanski, and Weinstein too.
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
Sure but I don’t see how it’s related. Will Smith socking one to some lippy bastard that bad mouthed his missus is what normal people would do (or want to do). It was the speech afterwards that displayed a state of over therapisation that people find it hard to relate to.
And his entire star has shone so brightly because he’s an Everyman, we all saw him as the goofy but likeable kid with Jazzy Jeff and on Fresh Prince, saw him take a step up with Bad Boys and then couldn’t believe it when OUR GUY was cast to save the earth against the aliens in the summer popcorn smash hit.
It’s the same phenomena as someone like Harry Styles or Ed Sheran, normal kids that we saw before they were polished and celeb royalty, that soared to heights that made everyone that saw them early feel good.
His response should be a simple “sorry for the display of emotion and anger but no one disrespects my family without consequence”. Job done.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Polanski, and Weinstein too.
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
Russian troops at Chernobyl are being treated for radiation sickness in Belarus, an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed.
Yaroslav Yemelianenko said yesterday that 'another batch of Russians' had been taken to the 'Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel' for treatment.
It comes after the nuclear power plant's workers said Russian soldiers' arrival at Chernobyl without anti-radiation gear when Moscow's forces seized the site last month was 'suicidal'.
Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest.
'With minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided,' he said, adding that radiation protection is 'mandatory because radiation is physics – it works without regard to status or shoulder straps.'
Those numbers are likely wrong, at least they don’t match sources I’ve found elsewhere, which suggest that the background radiation dose in the parts of Chernobyl immediately adjacent to the reactor (the “red forest“ can be /much/ higher than 10μSv/hr. According to the online sources I’ve seen, parts of the Red Forest still read levels of 10mSv/hr to this day. That’s a serious level of radiation - a level that you’d be fine with for an hour or two, but spend a few weeks there & you’re going to hit the LD50 radiation dose...
Worse, it sounds as if the Russian soldiers might have dug themselves in, which means a) they disturbed the topsoil and then b) slept on top of it. So they were potentially breathing in contaminated dust. This is much, much worse than just standing around near a radiation source.
I think the story is entirely plausible, but will wait for confirmation - I certainly wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.
If they’ve been “digging in”, in the contamination zone close to the reactor, with no PPE against radiation, then their dose will have been very high over a period of weeks.
When they built the new containment structure, the biggest problem they had was getting enough trained people to work at the site, because of the strict limits on radiation exposure. In some places, each team could only work for a few minutes per day, even with extensive PPE.
I doubt the Russian army went in with Geiger counters and radiation monitor badges.
Read the linked tweets, this is discussed. They've raised their risk of getting cancer but nobody knowledgeable-sounding thinks they'd have got radiation sickness.
Incidentally, while I know worldometers is a little rustic in the numbers it reports, with pleasing symmetry, worldwide deaths have now reached a daily low not seen for exactly two years.
Of course, that assumes that China isn't secretly racking up thousands of deaths we're not getting to hear about.
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
Differences in voting preferences in French elections are largely captured by a commune's (roughly the same as a precinct, for those in the US) distance from a train station
“In our recent report of severe flooding we wrote that “sixty thousand pigs had been swept to their deaths”. We should have written “sixty sows and pigs…..”
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Fuck me. So If you’re white and you think Will Smith is a cock for punching someone then you’re anti black. Fuck off the Guardian, you socially-regressive, race-baiting rag.’
Well when you start from Thomas the Tank Engine is a tyrannical totalitarian nightmare full of classism, sexism, anti-environmentalism bordering on racism, this is where you end up....
I am not making this is up, the Guardian have published more than one article claiming this.
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Polanski, and Weinstein too.
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
Sure but I don’t see how it’s related. Will Smith socking one to some lippy bastard that bad mouthed his missus is what normal people would do (or want to do). It was the speech afterwards that displayed a state of over therapisation that people find it hard to relate to.
And his entire star has shone so brightly because he’s an Everyman, we all saw him as the goofy but likeable kid with Jazzy Jeff and on Fresh Prince, saw him take a step up with Bad Boys and then couldn’t believe it when OUR GUY was cast to save the earth against the aliens in the summer popcorn smash hit.
It’s the same phenomena as someone like Harry Styles or Ed Sheran, normal kids that we saw before they were polished and celeb royalty, that soared to heights that made everyone that saw them early feel good.
His response should be a simple “sorry for the display of emotion and anger but no one disrespects my family without consequence”. Job done.
And as always, disregard everything before the "but"
Incidentally, while I know worldometers is a little rustic in the numbers it reports, with pleasing symmetry, worldwide deaths have now reached a daily low not seen for exactly two years.
Of course, that assumes that China isn't secretly racking up thousands of deaths we're not getting to hear about.
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
Off topic, my wife is on her way to visit childhood friends in Kent. Chaos on the ECML means that after being sat going nowhere for an hour and a half her train was then terminated at Newark. Hopefully she'll reach her destination before the day is out. Either that or she'll be back home later!
++Betting Post ++ Smarkets has a 63% chance of a Tory hold in the Melton council by-election tonight. This looks free money to this observer. They've held this ward every time this Century. Only possible fly in the ointment is there is a LD candidate this time. They've never stood before. But with a Labour one too, I can't see other than a hold. DYOR as ever, mind.
“In our recent report of severe flooding we wrote that “sixty thousand pigs had been swept to their deaths”. We should have written “sixty sows and pigs…..”
There was also the Australian local newspaper than transcribed an advert from someone selling their home with the warning "no Asians" when it should have been something completely innocuous:
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
People will forget it in a week or still defend him on the basis "I'd be mad if someone insulted my partner" type nonsense. Mel Gibson still gets work, and many others.
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
‘Fuck me. So If you’re white and you think Will Smith is a cock for punching someone then you’re anti black. Fuck off the Guardian, you socially-regressive, race-baiting rag.’
Well when you start from Thomas the Tank Engine is a tyrannical totalitarian nightmare full of classism, sexism, anti-environmentalism bordering on racism, this is where you end up....
I am not making this is up, the Guardian have published more than one article claiming this.
Ha ha - do you remember 'Meerkats adverts are racist'?
Putin really is the most boring of mass-murderers.
There hasn't been a good tyrant since Napoleon.
Wrong. D’Annunzio the dictator of Fiume. 1919
This is just how it BEGAN, and it got better
“After a necromantic ceremony with his mistress in a cemetery in Venice he set out to conquer Fiume,”
One excerpt:
‘According to Bey’s account: Artists, bohemians, adventurers, anarchists (D’Annunzio corresponded with Malatesta), fugitives and Stateless refugees, homosexuals, military dandies (the uniform was black with pirate skull-&-crossbones, later stolen by the SS), and crank reformers of every stripe (including Buddhists, Theosophists and Vedantists) began to show up at Fiume in droves. The party never stopped. Every morning D’Annunzio read poetry and manifestos from his balcony; every evening a concert, then fireworks. This made up the entire activity of the government.’
“In our recent report of severe flooding we wrote that “sixty thousand pigs had been swept to their deaths”. We should have written “sixty sows and pigs…..”
Reminds me of a George W Bush joke.
Condaleeza Rice arrives in the Oval Office for her morning briefing to W.
After the pleasantries W asks her what the news overnight is from Iraq.
“Well Mr President, 6 Brazilian soldiers were killed early this morning”
“Jesus H Christ Condy, 6 Brazilian soldiers”
He gets up and walks around the room head in hands and turns to her
“Condy, remind me, how many millions in a Brazilian?”
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
Also Chris Rock is a dude and a pro. To carry on with the show the way he did
It was a very ugly and very stupid joke. I would hope that his career is extinguished. Far more at fault than Smith.
It was an ugly and very stupid joke but making a mistake or bad joke shouldn't lead to people getting cancelled.
A slap was well deserved, losing his career is not. Though it's amusing the number of people who seem to think people losing their career and being cancelled is less distressing and less severe than a slap.
“In our recent report of severe flooding we wrote that “sixty thousand pigs had been swept to their deaths”. We should have written “sixty sows and pigs…..”
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
Bin bag full of custard?
That flatters him but yes
I don't fancy his/her chances at the next election much!
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
Also Chris Rock is a dude and a pro. To carry on with the show the way he did
It was a very ugly and very stupid joke. I would hope that his career is extinguished. Far more at fault than Smith.
It’s quite easy to make jokes at the expense of others. It’s why most of us do it to our mates down the pub, because we’re not pro comedians who can deploy more sophisticated humour. But most of us do it in a jovial friendly way and don’t seek to humiliate the target.
You’d expect far better than this punching down from a comedian of Chris Rock’s stature. Perhaps he’d have got away with knocking Will Smith himself down a peg or two, as part of a routine about all the best actor nominees. Easily done as others have said, given things like the excessive party bag. But to go for his wife over a medical condition was bizarre.
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
Also Chris Rock is a dude and a pro. To carry on with the show the way he did
It was a very ugly and very stupid joke. I would hope that his career is extinguished. Far more at fault than Smith.
It was an ugly and very stupid joke but making a mistake or bad joke shouldn't lead to people getting cancelled.
A slap was well deserved, losing his career is not. Though it's amusing the number of people who seem to think people losing their career and being cancelled is less distressing and less severe than a slap.
Putin has just announced that from tomorrow energy will only be paid for in roubles
Actually this delaration was made a few days ago and gas flows to Europe are either down or stopped altogether. Gas pressure here in Estonia is already low, and my fairly elderly boiler keeps going out, which is a bit of a nuisance when its -9 outside. However I will take weeks of cold showers if it weakens that murderer to destruction.
We have been getting plenty of inbound cyber attacks here too. with Air Baltic being a bit of a target, so my assumption would be that cyberwar is behind the attacks on BA and on the UK energy system. Indeed, any IT failure at present is likely to be at least a knock on from very aggressive Russian cyber attack activity. I just hope that GCHQ´s much vaunted "offensive capability" is causing reasonable problems for the enemy too.
This was today and Sky have said just now that Germany and France are to pay in euros and Putin has confirmed gas supply will be halted
Sky have said France may not be as seriously affected as Germany but that both countries are ready to implement emergency measures
I would suggest this is far more important that millionaire celebrities acting badly, as they do, or issues around women
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Polanski, and Weinstein too.
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
Most of the stuff that makes up the $140,000 total is the equivalent of the rubbish money off vouchers for Virgin Wines that are stuffed into every subscription magazine.
The Will Smith thing looks worse and worse in retrospect. His whole career tainted. It will probably be his epitaph. Madness
Why??
I may be totally off base here but I suspect people are over-analysing his decision and under-weighting the possible impact of alcohol in it. It's an award ceremony, there's lots of wine, he probably just did something stupid for the obvious reason.
Although I'm also going to put in writing that I don't think it will really hurt his career. It was a one-off and didn't leave any major damage. I think he'll apologise for it a couple more times in interviews and it will fade away.
1. He didn’t look remotely drunk
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
Will Smith is a huge star, give it about a month and his next big movie will get announced. Nobody is going to remember this.
I disagree. The Academy has been forced to take steps, and this morning they are saying he might be expelled
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Nah, I know a very senior exec at one of the big studios, the feeling is that no one cares. Will Smith is a huge and bankable star, this doesn't change that one iota. The Academy are an irrelevant organisation, especially now that they've given him their highest acting accolade and are unlikely to take it back.
Lol. You’re not the only person who ‘knows people in Hollywood’
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
All this cancelling tendency in Hollywood is quite tedious, when set in context against the decades of fawning over child rapist Roman Polanski. Will Smith seems a good lad. He slapped a cheeky bugger who was telling tired jokes that punch down. He’ll be fine.
Polanski, and Weinstein too.
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
Looking and looking at it and without the effing and jeffing afterwards from Smith it all looked like a stunt. Rock leaning forward and remarkably unfazed by the actual slap. An unexpected slap to the face is a deeply discombobulating thing and Rock didn't miss a beat.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
No. Check the videos of Chris Rock afterwards. Completely stunned. Definitely not staged
Also Chris Rock is a dude and a pro. To carry on with the show the way he did
It was a very ugly and very stupid joke. I would hope that his career is extinguished. Far more at fault than Smith.
It’s quite easy to make jokes at the expense of others. It’s why most of us do it to our mates down the pub, because we’re not pro comedians who can deploy more sophisticated humour. But most of us do it in a jovial friendly way and don’t seek to humiliate the target.
You’d expect far better than this punching down from a comedian of Chris Rock’s stature. Perhaps he’d have got away with knocking Will Smith himself down a peg or two, as part of a routine about all the best actor nominees. Easily done as others have said, given things like the excessive party bag. But to go for his wife over a medical condition was bizarre.
This idea of "punching up" vs "punching down" is an insidious concept that has crept into thinking of some in comedy and with a weird belief that everybody is on board with it. If you only punch up, a very successful comedians like Carr and Gervais routine would have to become taking the piss out literally the Queen and Boris.
Interestingly, the most popular British comedian online at the moment (by a country mile), his whole act is taking the piss out of normal folk in the audience. Some of it is incredibly brutal, but gets millions of hits and selling every show.
Putin really is the most boring of mass-murderers.
There hasn't been a good tyrant since Napoleon.
Wrong. D’Annunzio the dictator of Fiume. 1919
This is just how it BEGAN, and it got better
“After a necromantic ceremony with his mistress in a cemetery in Venice he set out to conquer Fiume,”
One excerpt:
‘According to Bey’s account: Artists, bohemians, adventurers, anarchists (D’Annunzio corresponded with Malatesta), fugitives and Stateless refugees, homosexuals, military dandies (the uniform was black with pirate skull-&-crossbones, later stolen by the SS), and crank reformers of every stripe (including Buddhists, Theosophists and Vedantists) began to show up at Fiume in droves. The party never stopped. Every morning D’Annunzio read poetry and manifestos from his balcony; every evening a concert, then fireworks. This made up the entire activity of the government.’
Is it true that Will Smith was shown initially laughing at Chris Rock's joke, and it was only AFTER he saw the reaction on Jada's face that he got up to hit Rock?
Is it true that Will Smith was shown initially laughing at Chris Rock's joke, and it was only AFTER he saw the reaction on Jada's face that he got up to hit Rock?
They're failing because you can have self-ID or single sex spaces. You cannot have both. They are unwilling to make a choice. Or have made a choice which they know will be unpopular and are trying to hide it.
Labour are trying to be all things to all women (however defined) and are failing. They will continue to do so.
Surely the fundamental conflict you raise is between the primacy of single sex spaces and having *any* legal route to gender change that doesn't involve mandatory surgery. It's not in essence about how hard or easy the process is (important though that is).
Unless a physical sex change is on the critical path to the legal gender change you are always going to have male-bodied trans women and thus be faced with picking one of the following approaches:
(a) Trans women *are* women - so they can access women's spaces. The default is inclusion. Exceptions possible but must be justified.
(b) Trans women are *not* women - so they cannot access women's spaces. The default is exclusion. Exceptions possible but must be justified.
Forgetting about how we might disagree on what the answer should be, that's a correct framing, isn't it?
No. Not trying to be difficult here but the framing you have to look at is whether sex-based exemptions should exist at all. In order to make sense of your framing you first have to decide where the concept of "womens' spaces" comes from. Otherwise your framing is meaningless.
Pre-the Equality act there was no such concept in law. It was a matter of social convention. Then you have the Equality Act which says that people should not be discriminated against on the grounds of sex ie equal treatment for everyone but then specifically excluded certain areas because of sex ie women only spaces for certain purposes where they can be justified.
Currently, the framing for such sex-based exemptions is like your (b) ie the default is no discrimination unless there is a legitimate reason to discriminate and the method used is proportionate to that aim.
Transwomen are excluded from those exemptions not because they are not treated as women (legally) (they are) but because their sex has not changed and those exemptions exist because sex is key to why they are needed. (Bluntly the GRA introduces a polite legal fiction but comes up against the material reality of sex when it comes to the exemptions in the Equality Act.)
The framing that is now being proposed is not about whether transwomen are or are not treated as women but about the removal of the sex-based exemptions. Your position - and those of Stonewall and other trans charities - is very explicitly that those sex-based exemptions (and indeed sex as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act) should be removed in their entirety. Therefore there would be no such thing as womens' spaces ie spaces for those of the female sex with a female body at all.
In short, the question of inclusion or exclusion ie whether a transwoman could go into a female loo would not arise because there would be no female only loos.
Right, thanks.
I'm not arguing for the removal of sex-based exemptions. I'm persuaded of the case for a more streamlined gender transition process - with controls and with suitable guidance/rules in place for certain areas such as sports and prisons where sex has to be taken into account. I think such a reform will help trans people without in practice hurting anybody else. That's where I am on this. I'm not a TRA or Stonewall accolyte. They wouldn't have me.
But what I wanted to explore (because I think it's important) is you saying this -
"You can have self-ID or single sex spaces. You can't have both."
As if the fundamental conflict is between those 2 things. Which I can't see that it is. Self-Id is shorthand for a quicker easier demedicalized legal transition process. It's just that - a process.
Whereas the core 'in theory' conflict is not about a process it's about something more elemental - the divergence between sex and gender and which of these should normally prevail.
The only way to remove that conflict - and avoid the difficult questions being batted around - is to not have a divergence between sex and gender. And there are 2 ways to do this -
(a) Remove the legal route to a gender change. (b) Make a gender change conditional on a sex change.
Now there will be people in favour of one or other of these, but no political party is going anywhere near it. Because it's taking trans rights back decades.
Let's agree it's a non starter. I know you aren't arguing for it.
Leaving us back where we were. We DO have a conflict to resolve between sex and gender because we (legally) recognize transgenderism and we don't tie it to a sex change.
And then I think my framing works fine. What should the transition process be? What controls are needed? Should the default be trans exclusion or inclusion? What exceptions are needed either way?
Some people believe in gender. Many do not. It is like insisting that everyone has a soul. So we should not be trying to insist everyone has a gender.
What we should be doing is providing a route for those have gender dysphoria to change their legal status if they want to. That should not be conditional upon surgery (though it would in theory remove all the problems). Two reasons: (1) it is expensive, delayed, difficult & risky; (2) not everyone with dysphoria wants to transition physically.
What a change in legal status should be dependant on are 2 things: a medical diagnosis & proof & an intention that it's a permanent change. These are necessary to provide safeguards that the legal change is not abused by those who are not dysphoric at all.
Your legal status changes but if you retain the body you were born with you cannot have access to those places or situations where your physical body is relevant ie a man becoming a woman but retaining male genitalia does not get to be in a woman's rape refuge or changing room or loo. If they surgically transition they do.
(Sport is different: nothing can remove the advantages of male puberty so transgender sportspeople will have to have their own category or participate in their birth category in those sports where the physical body is relevant.)
That recognises the need for a legal gender change for those with this condition, builds in safeguards to prevent its abuse but recognises the importance of the physical body and keeps a male body out of female only spaces (and vice versa).
I fundamentally oppose a demedicalized process of changing gender. The issue only arises because there are people with this medical condition. So it is absolutely right that only those people with it should be able to do this. There is no basis at all for saying that anyone at all without gender dysphoria should be allowed to change gender for no reason at all, which is what self-ID means. None at all. Nor any need. A person can call themselves anything at all, wear what they want etc. A legal change is unnecessary. If anything self-ID is a bloody great loophole for those with evil intent.
Take for example the Scottish Bill. Under it a convicted sex offender in England could move to Scotland, change his name then declare he is a woman & after 3 months apply for a GRC & get it after a further 3 months. All his legal documents get changed at once. Now he/she can legally access places where women are. He/she of course is not a transgender person in any sense of the word.
The Scottish government was asked during consultation to put a block on sex offenders doing just this. And refused.
The current process is about right for something that is so significant & which affects others - spouses, children etc. The one thing which definitely does need considerable improvement is the time taken to get a medical diagnosis. But that is an issue of resources. Not law.
‘Tory MPs vote through care cap ‘catastrophe’ for poor Brits despite revolt’
…Those with assets including their home of £75,000 to £150,000 face the biggest hit, the study found.
Someone with around £110,000 in assets could lose 78% of their total wealth even after the cap is in place, while someone with £500,000 could use up only 17%.
People in Red Wall seats in North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, where wealth tends to be lower, would “see the biggest erosion of their protection against large care costs, as a result of the proposed amendment”, the report warned.
Convenient this is flying under the radar. It’s almost as if the levelling up rhetoric is all bullshit. A lot of these people will have gone Tory, cos Brexit. I hope they realise the error of their ways.
Supposedly they will ignore the financial beating they are taking, the lack of levelling up monies being spent and the growing disparity between the north and dahn sarf because she-cocked deviants are coming for our wives and daughters.
Tories stirring up the culture war because it’s the only thing they have left?
Be interesting to see how they square that with having a trans MP in their ranks.
*Wants to be* trans is the term that PBers seem to be fixated upon for reasons not entirely clear to me. Wouldn't surprise me if Jamie has been told that the party will support them(?) as long as horses aren't frightened, no in depth interviews in OK! etc.
I think the point is that he tests the limits of self-certification. I'm seeing a fat cowardly liar playing a card to get out of a fix of some kind; he is a less trustworthy Boris Johnson. "Want to be trans" is just slightly odd, surely more correctly he *is* btrans and wants to be a woman?
Bin bag full of custard?
That flatters him but yes
I don't fancy his/her chances at the next election much!
His old seat won't exist. Or rather it is changed out of all recognition.
The new Bridgend seat is 78.2 % (Labour dominated) Ogmore in a reverse takeover.
The rest of old Bridgend disappears into Aberafan-Porthcawl (Stephen Kinnock's seat).
So, bang, bang, Dr Jamie's gone. I bet he doesn't even stand.
But, I suspect we will be hearing more from Dr Jamie before 2024 -- while he still has his moments in the Sun.
Comments
"I'm a lady. And a Buddhist. You can't touch me....it's not fair!"
As she launches a swift knee towards your bollocks....
In which case, theory.
It was meant to be Hollywood Bantz. Edgy but staged to get publicity.
But something on the night snapped for Will, and the joke wasn't as funny as it had seemed before.
That's the risk of Bantz, that it becomes real.
I'm not arguing for the removal of sex-based exemptions. I'm persuaded of the case for a more streamlined gender transition process - with controls and with suitable guidance/rules in place for certain areas such as sports and prisons where sex has to be taken into account. I think such a reform will help trans people without in practice hurting anybody else. That's where I am on this. I'm not a TRA or Stonewall accolyte. They wouldn't have me.
But what I wanted to explore (because I think it's important) is you saying this -
"You can have self-ID or single sex spaces. You can't have both."
As if the fundamental conflict is between those 2 things. Which I can't see that it is. Self-Id is shorthand for a quicker easier demedicalized legal transition process. It's just that - a process.
Whereas the core 'in theory' conflict is not about a process it's about something more elemental - the divergence between sex and gender and which of these should normally prevail.
The only way to remove that conflict - and avoid the difficult questions being batted around - is to not have a divergence between sex and gender. And there are 2 ways to do this -
(a) Remove the legal route to a gender change.
(b) Make a gender change conditional on a sex change.
Now there will be people in favour of one or other of these, but no political party is going anywhere near it. Because it's taking trans rights back decades.
Let's agree it's a non starter. I know you aren't arguing for it.
Leaving us back where we were. We DO have a conflict to resolve between sex and gender because we (legally) recognize transgenderism and we don't tie it to a sex change.
And then I think my framing works fine. What should the transition process be? What controls are needed? Should the default be trans exclusion or inclusion? What exceptions are needed either way?
2. Just one of the videos of the slapping and its aftermath has been seen 80 million times. Bigger than his movies. It’s not going to fade away, he will always be the guy that did that bad stupid crazy thing at the Oscars. It’s a tragedy for him, I fear
More embarrassing is the phony apology from him and the hand wringing from the Academy about it. The truth lies in the action - if you're important enough you can assault people and people wont even care in the moment, let alone later. Even Guido reader polls knew better on this issue.
https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1509414334828589059
It's the economy that is the issue here. The cost of living squeeze. The Tories using so called woke issues, that really bother a few people on either extreme and most people don't seem to care about, will backfire.
The one thing Heathener may have a point on, too, is who wants to be seen to be siding with Pooty Poot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHZ1jumzFmo
Honestly, it's embarrassing.
The difference is the polls though. There were plenty (most?) showing Leave ahead. There were a few with Trump ahead, and many within the 3% PV margin.
There hasn't been a single one showing Le Pen winning. I agree they don't measure motivation to turnout well, mind.
In all seriousness I'm not even opposed in itself to the idea of a news story around social media reaction to something, or referencing such, or being based on twitter information, but it needs to be significant and hold up, not just a quick way of padding out a story or spreading a rumour.
The 18 to 24 age group go 65 to 35 for Macron but this completely reverses in the 25 to 34 with Le Pen winning that 63 to 37 .
The key group though is bad news for Le Pen 65+ go for Macron 64 to 36 and this as we’ve seen in the UK are much more likely to vote .
Another interesting result is men favour Macron 58 to 42 , women only narrowly 52 to 48.
"I take full responsibility for what happened, I have said all along that when I saw this first I was horrified, I was shocked, I was very angry indeed. The person who was responsible went immediately and has lost his job"
French intelligence chief Vidaud fired over Russian war failings
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60938538
Here, he is in his Union Jack tie and mask
https://tinyurl.com/32r7h9wx
He is possibly the most bonkers Welsh Tory MP for some time -- a real accolade considering the competition.
I was aware of him before this week, not in a good way, and I wouldn't believe him if he told me today was Thursday.
Edit: I see Mr W has stated his preferred pronouns are he/his, so 'the party will support him'.
The head of French military intelligence, Gen Eric Vidaud, is losing his job after failing to predict Russia's war in Ukraine, reports say.
Seven months after he took on the role, one report said he was blamed for "inadequate briefings" and a "lack of mastery of subjects".
The US correctly assessed that Russia was planning a large-scale invasion, while France concluded it was unlikely.
----------
I see Macron has found his fall guy.
Generally these things ARE forgotten. This feels different. We shall see
Some posters seem to be projecting quite hard onto this story, because they desperately want this to be a wedge issue for the Conservatives. It doesn't need to be, because there is nothing contradictory between supporting trans individuals, and telling trans activists to get knotted.
And quite right, too.
But my place of work was handing them out or they would have gone in the skip so anyone on site at the time got a few to take home
Harry will be chaining himself to the gates of Tottenham training ground in a reversal of start of the season. Pleaseeeeeeeee can I stay after all, pleeeeeease don't send me to Man Utd, its worse than here.
Imagine if Starmer had excrement on his nose. Now that would be hilarious!
I sense genuine shock. And a feeling they have to do something serious. This can never be repeated so they have to take a stand
Will Smith’s career will not end, of course.
I knew nothing of this individual before yesterday - but from what I've learned in the last 24 hours it wouldn't surprise me to find he is in a fix of some sort. Though how bad a fix can it be if his only way out is changing his gender?
"Want to be trans" seems correct to me, since at present there is nothing outwardly about him which is anything but male.
‘Fuck me. So If you’re white and you think Will Smith is a cock for punching someone then you’re anti black.
Fuck off the Guardian, you socially-regressive, race-baiting rag.’
https://twitter.com/jonathanpienews/status/1509158626417594376?s=21&t=EXMD_7Pl0T8-j6r4pg-41g
Or be in election year.
The swearing and the feud suggests it was real but it didn't otherwise look it.
https://twitter.com/cjr1968/status/1509453584148094980
But that’s why I think this is bigger than people realise. It feels like a house of cards tumbling down, and it may be a ‘simple slap’ that starts it
Eg people are losing their shit over the sheer excess and entitlement of Hollywood and the celeb industry
Check this viral tweet.
‘Losing my mind over the items in the Oscar nominees’ gift bag this year. We truly are peasants to these people.’
https://twitter.com/filmaroni/status/1509343022340837377?s=21&t=numwisbktG4WLb_roaAnJg
‘Source because I almost didn’t believe it was real:’
https://twitter.com/filmaroni/status/1509343442991730693?s=21&t=numwisbktG4WLb_roaAnJg
We have been getting plenty of inbound cyber attacks here too. with Air Baltic being a bit of a target, so my assumption would be that cyberwar is behind the attacks on BA and on the UK energy system. Indeed, any IT failure at present is likely to be at least a knock on from very aggressive Russian cyber attack activity. I just hope that GCHQ´s much vaunted "offensive capability" is causing reasonable problems for the enemy too.
And his entire star has shone so brightly because he’s an Everyman, we all saw him as the goofy but likeable kid with Jazzy Jeff and on Fresh Prince, saw him take a step up with Bad Boys and then couldn’t believe it when OUR GUY was cast to save the earth against the aliens in the summer popcorn smash hit.
It’s the same phenomena as someone like Harry Styles or Ed Sheran, normal kids that we saw before they were polished and celeb royalty, that soared to heights that made everyone that saw them early feel good.
His response should be a simple “sorry for the display of emotion and anger but no one disrespects my family without consequence”. Job done.
https://andywightman.scot/
Of course, that assumes that China isn't secretly racking up thousands of deaths we're not getting to hear about.
https://twitter.com/mrstanlei/status/1509266902018936833?s=21&t=numwisbktG4WLb_roaAnJg
Also Chris Rock is a dude and a pro. To carry on with the show the way he did
https://twitter.com/gelliottmorris/status/1509523399722340357
“In our recent report of severe flooding we wrote that “sixty thousand pigs had been swept to their deaths”. We should have written “sixty sows and pigs…..”
I am not making this is up, the Guardian have published more than one article claiming this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lyex2tSUyA
This is just how it BEGAN, and it got better
“After a necromantic ceremony with his mistress in a cemetery in Venice he set out to conquer Fiume,”
One excerpt:
‘According to Bey’s account: Artists, bohemians, adventurers, anarchists (D’Annunzio corresponded with Malatesta), fugitives and Stateless refugees, homosexuals, military dandies (the uniform was black with pirate skull-&-crossbones, later stolen by the SS), and crank reformers of every stripe (including Buddhists, Theosophists and Vedantists) began to show up at Fiume in droves. The party never stopped. Every morning D’Annunzio read poetry and manifestos from his balcony; every evening a concert, then fireworks. This made up the entire activity of the government.’
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/gabriele-d-annunzio-and-the-free-state-of-fiume/
Condaleeza Rice arrives in the Oval Office for her morning briefing to W.
After the pleasantries W asks her what the news overnight is from Iraq.
“Well Mr President, 6 Brazilian soldiers were killed early this morning”
“Jesus H Christ Condy, 6 Brazilian soldiers”
He gets up and walks around the room head in hands and turns to her
“Condy, remind me, how many millions in a Brazilian?”
A slap was well deserved, losing his career is not. Though it's amusing the number of people who seem to think people losing their career and being cancelled is less distressing and less severe than a slap.
You’d expect far better than this punching down from a comedian of Chris Rock’s stature. Perhaps he’d have got away with knocking Will Smith himself down a peg or two, as part of a routine about all the best actor nominees. Easily done as others have said, given things like the excessive party bag. But to go for his wife over a medical condition was bizarre.
"But I feel, on reflection, both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked – at least I didn’t get up and slap anybody, which is good."
https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/1509533618691096578
Sky have said France may not be as seriously affected as Germany but that both countries are ready to implement emergency measures
I would suggest this is far more important that millionaire celebrities acting badly, as they do, or issues around women
A load of nonsense.
Interestingly, the most popular British comedian online at the moment (by a country mile), his whole act is taking the piss out of normal folk in the audience. Some of it is incredibly brutal, but gets millions of hits and selling every show.
What we should be doing is providing a route for those have gender dysphoria to change their legal status if they want to. That should not be conditional upon surgery (though it would in theory remove all the problems). Two reasons: (1) it is expensive, delayed, difficult & risky; (2) not everyone with dysphoria wants to transition physically.
What a change in legal status should be dependant on are 2 things: a medical diagnosis & proof & an intention that it's a permanent change. These are necessary to provide safeguards that the legal change is not abused by those who are not dysphoric at all.
Your legal status changes but if you retain the body you were born with you cannot have access to those places or situations where your physical body is relevant ie a man becoming a woman but retaining male genitalia does not get to be in a woman's rape refuge or changing room or loo. If they surgically transition they do.
(Sport is different: nothing can remove the advantages of male puberty so transgender sportspeople will have to have their own category or participate in their birth category in those sports where the physical body is relevant.)
That recognises the need for a legal gender change for those with this condition, builds in safeguards to prevent its abuse but recognises the importance of the physical body and keeps a male body out of female only spaces (and vice versa).
I fundamentally oppose a demedicalized process of changing gender. The issue only arises because there are people with this medical condition. So it is absolutely right that only those people with it should be able to do this. There is no basis at all for saying that anyone at all without gender dysphoria should be allowed to change gender for no reason at all, which is what self-ID means. None at all. Nor any need. A person can call themselves anything at all, wear what they want etc. A legal change is unnecessary. If anything self-ID is a bloody great loophole for those with evil intent.
Take for example the Scottish Bill. Under it a convicted sex offender in England could move to Scotland, change his name then declare he is a woman & after 3 months apply for a GRC & get it after a further 3 months. All his legal documents get changed at once. Now he/she can legally access places where women are. He/she of course is not a transgender person in any sense of the word.
The Scottish government was asked during consultation to put a block on sex offenders doing just this. And refused.
The current process is about right for something that is so significant & which affects others - spouses, children etc. The one thing which definitely does need considerable improvement is the time taken to get a medical diagnosis. But that is an issue of resources. Not law.
The new Bridgend seat is 78.2 % (Labour dominated) Ogmore in a reverse takeover.
The rest of old Bridgend disappears into Aberafan-Porthcawl (Stephen Kinnock's seat).
So, bang, bang, Dr Jamie's gone. I bet he doesn't even stand.
But, I suspect we will be hearing more from Dr Jamie before 2024 -- while he still has his moments in the Sun.
Of course, it has nothing to do with Russian airstrikes
https://mobile.twitter.com/SamRamani2/status/1509239572886130689