Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
Horrible but it is the reality of war; there have been large civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is just something particularly dysfunctional about the brutality of the Russians, and the extent to which this war is bound up with a hatred of Ukraine and strange ideas about recreating an empire.
The best outcome for the world (but not the Ukranians) was always that this ends in a Vietnam/ Afghanistan style quagmire, so their will is completely broken.
I clearly have a totally different makeup to many posters on this thread.
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I'm getting cold sweats just thinking about it. Not one of life's adventurers.
I did this 20 years ago, pre internet. China and south east asia, as well as eastern europe.
Always spent half the day being shown around dingy hotel rooms and haggling over the price. It became boring after a while.
Certainly there is some spontaneity that is lost, but have to say overall I prefer being able to plan/book everything in advance. Its part of the fun.
Oi. Point of Order
2002 is *not* pre internet (unless you were standing on your head in a bucket for 10 25+ years).
Even the mulitmedia web was about 1994 on - when I developed my first website. The internet was well before that.
Amazon and the Internet Archive were both founded before 1997.
The internet itself was probably 1970s.
I think the question is which internet. I was using email in the early 1990’s and downloading weather modelling data by 1998, and using the Cambridge crystallographic database in 1996. But I don’t think the internet in that form can be said to have existed in the 70’s.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
I would personally give SKS something like 7/10 for his first 2 years. He has got rid of Corbyn and similar traitors. He has a secure grip on the party machinary so is less likely to be embarrassed at Conference etc. He is now getting consistent leads in the polls, albeit mid term. He has got rid of some of the duffers and appointed more competent replacements such as Rachel Reeves. He has got a bit better at PMQs without being great (admittedly a rather niche point).
OTOH He is still really boring. He has really struggled to find a big idea. His main argument is that I could run this government with very, very similar policies better than Boris. Even if this is true it is hardly inspiring.
As a Tory supporter I would not panic at the idea of him being PM (unlike Corbyn). As a Scot I could contemplate voting tactically for Labour now. I can imagine him winning. It still seems unlikely to me but it has definitely moved into the realm of the possible.
Moving Labour from impossible to unlikely for 2024 isn't to be sniffed at.
And Starmer has got one key differentiating policy from the incumbent- not being a sh1t. It shouldn't be necessary, but it might be enough.
He makes an interesting team with Angela Raynor. Something that didn't strike me until a couple of days ago. The two of them are better than their component parts. He makes her seem brighter and she makes him look more worldly.
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Good for you! Wandering alone around the world - especially Europe - not deciding where you will stay that night until you decide at the last minute, at about noon, is a truly wonderful experience. Absolute spontaneity
It is only possible because internet and smartphones
I did it in 2019 as a 3 week road trip around mainland Greece with my then partner. Spectacular fun. And we ended up in some mad places that I will never forget. Entire mountain villages with one taverna, one inhabitant, one chef, one screeching polecat, and one amazing lamb dinner followed by too much ouzo.
Enjoy
Not true. Spontaneous travel was possible before those things, if a bit more unpredictable.
Indeed, see Laurie Lee: 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'
I'd imagine the precariousness of their normal existence with not much to leave behind made it easier for folk just to take off in the past (thinking of Lee in particular).
Life wasn't always Rosie for him.
Surprising Lee has not be cancelled for his self confessed rape.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
A strong next move would be to expel Russias veto on security council until a change of government in Moscow.
I’m going to start a petition to ensure all Arsenals remaining matches this season must be screened live. The Nation needs good belly laughs right now.
She’s gone to bed, something about early start financial year meeting.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
I clearly have a totally different makeup to many posters on this thread.
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I'm getting cold sweats just thinking about it. Not one of life's adventurers.
I did this 20 years ago, pre internet. China and south east asia, as well as eastern europe.
Always spent half the day being shown around dingy hotel rooms and haggling over the price. It became boring after a while.
Certainly there is some spontaneity that is lost, but have to say overall I prefer being able to plan/book everything in advance. Its part of the fun.
Oi. Point of Order
2002 is *not* pre internet (unless you were standing on your head in a bucket for 10 25+ years).
Even the mulitmedia web was about 1994 on - when I developed my first website. The internet was well before that.
Amazon and the Internet Archive were both founded before 1997.
The internet itself was probably 1970s.
I think the question is which internet. I was using email in the early 1990’s and downloading weather modelling data by 1998, and using the Cambridge crystallographic database in 1996. But I don’t think the internet in that form can be said to have existed in the 70’s.
It wasn't accessible on the move until smartphones became the norm.
We were amazingly free in the past. I wandered about SE Asia with Mrs Foxy on £10 a day for 3 months. I just told my parents by airmail which plane to meet me off 3 months later when we left NZ, and they did.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
I would personally give SKS something like 7/10 for his first 2 years. He has got rid of Corbyn and similar traitors. He has a secure grip on the party machinary so is less likely to be embarrassed at Conference etc. He is now getting consistent leads in the polls, albeit mid term. He has got rid of some of the duffers and appointed more competent replacements such as Rachel Reeves. He has got a bit better at PMQs without being great (admittedly a rather niche point).
OTOH He is still really boring. He has really struggled to find a big idea. His main argument is that I could run this government with very, very similar policies better than Boris. Even if this is true it is hardly inspiring.
As a Tory supporter I would not panic at the idea of him being PM (unlike Corbyn). As a Scot I could contemplate voting tactically for Labour now. I can imagine him winning. It still seems unlikely to me but it has definitely moved into the realm of the possible.
Moving Labour from impossible to unlikely for 2024 isn't to be sniffed at.
And Starmer has got one key differentiating policy from the incumbent- not being a sh1t. It shouldn't be necessary, but it might be enough.
He makes an interesting team with Angela Raynor. Something that didn't strike me until a couple of days ago. The two of them are better than their component parts. He makes her seem brighter and she makes him look more worldly.
When he first got the gig, I remember thinking that his only hope of success was to be a Kenneth Horne type of figure- a leading man, sure, but the straight man that other louder characters flitted around. That makes Rayner some sort of Kenneth Williams.
It didn't work for a long time- but it seems to be doing so now.
Never has UK political polling felt so utterly trivial and meaningless. Like talking about next winter’s skiing, in the trenches of the Somme
Indeed, the urge to debate either probably comes from the same source
Yes but we are not at war ourselves, even if our sympathies go out to the Ukrainians.
Most UK general elections had a war going on somewhere else in the world at the same time
The multiple crises we face - as a nation, a continent, a world, a species - are orders of magnitude worse than anything we have known for many decades.
A malignant and rising Chinese superpower, Russia genocidal and rampant in Eastern Europe, the real threat of nuclear war on top of actual war, the worst global plague in a century (still going, still hurting), a looming worldwide economic meltdown, multiple refugee horrors, and the prospect of Famine
And, on top of all that, apocalyptic climate change?
This is worse than any set of circumstances since World War Two. Arguably, with climate change, it is worse than THAT
on the other hand:
The climate is worming mush more slowly than predicted 10, 20, or ethne 30 years ago. and technology including eclectic cares, to small nuclear reactors are coming on stream.
Absolutes poverty is falling very rapidly, at the tern of the millennium about 30% of the people in the would lived on less than 1 doler a day (at 1990 prices) today the equivalent finger is about 10% and falling, with it access to clean water and electricity are rising fast, I forget the exact numen's but something like 250,000 people leave poverty every day and 300,000 get electricity in there house every day.
We have had a pandemic, it was bad, but we have created a vaccine in record time, and produced and distributed it, at a rate that no other generation could have imaged.
The War in Ukraine is horrible, but it looks like the good side have just won a victory, and at least according to UK numbers of total wars, and civil wars, this has been the least war decade ever. hopefully china and other nations are looking at Ukraine and thinking, lets not get ourselves in Putin's position.
And we as a speciose are acceding lots of new firsts like building rockets to take us to Mars.
Its very easy to look at the news and be depressed, but overall things are still good, this is the best time to be alive in human history and things are getting even better.
Bravo Rich. It’s nice to see someone not endlessly doomscrolling and doom predicting. Personally I blame 24 news coverage. More news is never good news. Thirty years ago we didn’t get to hear the news from everywhere, instantly, at 6 pm. Now we do. It’s led to a sense of things getting worse, especially in climate terms. There is no increase in the number of hurricanes each year for instance, yet most people think there is. If you see it every time one occurs, and not just see it, but have live reportage, it feels worse.
Edit - I see JJ made the same point.
Its not true though, the climate is warming pretty much on trend with the first ipcc report (1990) faster than ipcc 2 (1995) & 3 (2001) and pretty much on trend with 4 and 5
His point was about hurricanes and is correct.
I was just talking about Big Rich's post that said the world was heating more slowly than predicted "10, 20, or ethne 30 years ago."
I was pointing out it is heating as fast if not faster than the concensus models over that time period.
'The consensus modals', i.e. not the ones that where publied and agonised over by lots of people Like Al Gore in his silly film, that have not come trow,
What was Al Gore's prediction for temperature rises in his film?
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
This is second hand information so, might be incorrect but..
Apparently the mayors of many towns and city's where approached by Russian agents and offered money if they would help before the invasion, theses mayors reported this back to Keiv, who told them to keep the money to buy food for the city, play along and get any intel you can, from the list of towns and city's the Ukrainian where able to work out where the attacks would come form. the Mayer of Kherson, clams he was not approached by the Russians, umm, but when the Russians did approach he failed to give the order to blow up the bridges that the Russians needed to cross just out side his city.
This could be wrong, but for what its worth, the mayor has been formally sacked by the PM, so maybe some truth in it.
I clearly have a totally different makeup to many posters on this thread.
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I'm getting cold sweats just thinking about it. Not one of life's adventurers.
I did this 20 years ago, pre internet. China and south east asia, as well as eastern europe.
Always spent half the day being shown around dingy hotel rooms and haggling over the price. It became boring after a while.
Certainly there is some spontaneity that is lost, but have to say overall I prefer being able to plan/book everything in advance. Its part of the fun.
Oi. Point of Order
2002 is *not* pre internet (unless you were standing on your head in a bucket for 10 25+ years).
Even the mulitmedia web was about 1994 on - when I developed my first website. The internet was well before that.
Amazon and the Internet Archive were both founded before 1997.
The internet itself was probably 1970s.
I think the question is which internet. I was using email in the early 1990’s and downloading weather modelling data by 1998, and using the Cambridge crystallographic database in 1996. But I don’t think the internet in that form can be said to have existed in the 70’s.
It wasn't accessible on the move until smartphones became the norm.
We were amazingly free in the past. I wandered about SE Asia with Mrs Foxy on £10 a day for 3 months. I just told my parents by airmail which plane to meet me off 3 months later when we left NZ, and they did.
It wasn't ancient times, it was 1990.
I worked in NZ for a year (98 to 99). I sometimes wonder if I had the internet we have today, and things such as teams/zoom etc, if I would have stayed longer. As it was you could chat on the phone which is still pretty amazing, but to actually see someone in full sci fi video call could have made all the difference.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
The level of cluelessness about this by Farage was demonstrated by his recent tweets that the West was allienating Putin in 2014. The West certainly made mistakes between 2003 and 2008 on this front, almost none of which have made recent press coverage in the West, but Putin has since been off on his own track for fifteen years , and good old Nigel never seems to have a word of criticism for the dictator's domestic policies, either. I wonder why that could be.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Yes he was (and presumably still is) swinging in hard behind the 'poking the bear' nonsense. Absolute cretin.
Sadly a more widespread opinion than we might think, though people can be more subtle about it.
While I think he’s a ghastly, vulgar opportunist and pretty much in my personal political cess pit, I’m not sure Nige is a cretin, and I’m certain he’s following every twist and turn of Marine’s polling.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Dear me.The west are far from perfect but the only person to blame for this is Putin.
I’m struggling to see the provocation from either the EU or NATO.
Sometimes apologists go from claiming that Russia should have been allowed to join NATO on its own terms to claiming that Russia should have been allowed a veto on any other country joining NATO.
I’m going to start a petition to ensure all Arsenals remaining matches this season must be screened live. The Nation needs good belly laughs right now.
She’s gone to bed, something about early start financial year meeting.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
Horrible but it is the reality of war; there have been large civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is just something particularly dysfunctional about the brutality of the Russians, and the extent to which this war is bound up with a hatred of Ukraine and strange ideas about recreating an empire.
The best outcome for the world (but not the Ukranians) was always that this ends in a Vietnam/ Afghanistan style quagmire, so their will is completely broken.
Best outcome is a one-sided quagmire with Russia sustaining far greater losses than Ukraine, and in an ideal world running out of ammunition.
The arrogance of the first weeks of Russia’s war was helpful for Ukraine because Russian troops created lots of over extended salients which could then be attacked from the sides and back. We could probably do with a bit more Russian adventurism in the coming phases rather than some kind of grim holdout. Easier to then reverse and roll back, like the 1918 spring offensive.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
I clearly have a totally different makeup to many posters on this thread.
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I'm getting cold sweats just thinking about it. Not one of life's adventurers.
I did this 20 years ago, pre internet. China and south east asia, as well as eastern europe.
Always spent half the day being shown around dingy hotel rooms and haggling over the price. It became boring after a while.
Certainly there is some spontaneity that is lost, but have to say overall I prefer being able to plan/book everything in advance. Its part of the fun.
Oi. Point of Order
2002 is *not* pre internet (unless you were standing on your head in a bucket for 10 25+ years).
Even the mulitmedia web was about 1994 on - when I developed my first website. The internet was well before that.
Amazon and the Internet Archive were both founded before 1997.
The internet itself was probably 1970s.
I remember buying a flight ticket online in 2000 - a long defunct airline flying from Stansted to Gdansk. But as I remember, reliable accommodation booking online outside of the UK didn't really get going until the late 00's. When it took off though the transformation was very fast. By 2012 the old way of doing things was dead.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
A strong next move would be to expel Russias veto on security council until a change of government in Moscow.
How would you do it exactly?
That’s a good point I concede. Let’s explore it. At the moment they they veto and be blocker on getting them for war crimes? It definitely puts pressure on Putin regime if you can do it, but linking it to regime change might be counterproductive? If it was technically possible is there a will to do it from US and China for it would set a precedent? China could be falling foul of the mechanism already, A US Napalming Vietnam villages would fall foul of the same mechanism? And what is regime change in China or US that allows them to have it back, what defines the policy has changed?
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Dear me.The west are far from perfect but the only person to blame for this is Putin.
I’m struggling to see the provocation from either the EU or NATO.
Sometimes apologists go from claiming that Russia should have been allowed to join NATO on its own terms to claiming that Russia should have been allowed a veto on any other country joining NATO.
A nation that is not a member of a collective group of nations should veto anyone who, wanted to join it. These people are something else.
If Finland does get accepted I wonder how the Russians will react. Badly I’d assume.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Yes he was (and presumably still is) swinging in hard behind the 'poking the bear' nonsense. Absolute cretin.
Sadly a more widespread opinion than we might think, though people can be more subtle about it.
I don't think it just Hungary and France either.
Between the inflation and the refugees, sympathy for Ukraine may well wear thin quite quickly here too.
I think because we are doing some things e.g. giving weapons it is staying on our front pages, and therefore support for the effort is generally popular. in other nations France and Hungary, especially it might not be so big in the headlines, but people are still feeling the higher petrol and electricity prices, and therefor more presser for peace.
I clearly have a totally different makeup to many posters on this thread.
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I'm getting cold sweats just thinking about it. Not one of life's adventurers.
I did this 20 years ago, pre internet. China and south east asia, as well as eastern europe.
Always spent half the day being shown around dingy hotel rooms and haggling over the price. It became boring after a while.
Certainly there is some spontaneity that is lost, but have to say overall I prefer being able to plan/book everything in advance. Its part of the fun.
Remember the days back when booking a hotel in some foreign country by sitting at your computer seemed such an unlikely way to succeed that, if you actually managed it, you’d send them a fax just to be sure?
I get the fact that 65 years year ago, India’s prime minister (Nehru) outlined what seemed to me, as an untrained diplomat, a pretty sensible doctrine, in which he said that India’s not in the business of condemnation...
I can certainly remember India condemning the Thatcher government back in the day. What a load of twaddle.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Yes he was (and presumably still is) swinging in hard behind the 'poking the bear' nonsense. Absolute cretin.
Sadly a more widespread opinion than we might think, though people can be more subtle about it.
I don't think it just Hungary and France either.
Between the inflation and the refugees, sympathy for Ukraine may well wear thin quite quickly here too.
1939 - "Why die for Danzig?"
2022 - "Why die for Kyiv?"
Think this is a factor esp in what you might call mid-way countries: not on front lines with Mother-Fucking Russia, but not far enough away (save for Sarah Palin's house) to think they are at some remove from dangers of conflict expanding.
Managed to find some people in Mariupol blaming Ukraine and both sidesing things at least. Just not as manyas Putin expected, obviously.
Inside #Mariupol we've been to the #Russian controlled north of the city, tens of thousands of people living in apocalyptic conditions our ⬇️ #RussianUkrainianWar @AJEnglish
Not impressed with that report. He was interviewing starving people who were accepting food and aid from the Russian occupiers. These people aren't exactly free to express their views about the war.
50 Democrats are believed to be solid so likely result is 53-47 if get all three of the above.
Overall market has 52/48 and 53/47 as joint favourites.
Listening to my US Libertarian Podcast -Reason, they seemed to think she would be good, I don't know enough, but the arguments form Libertarians I respect was quite competing. also of the US Republican seniters those are 3 I have time for, so perhaps, at lest from my perspective this might be a good pick, I think she will make it.
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Sounds good. Just out of interest - how is mask useage? I thought about a trip to mainland Europe this spring but was put off by the mask thing.
Outside of airports and planes mask wearing is over in Turkey - interior or coast. No one cares any more. They’ve had enough
I was going to ask, as I can't find it on their website - do Turkish Airlines require mask wearing in-flight?
I would personally give SKS something like 7/10 for his first 2 years. He has got rid of Corbyn and similar traitors. He has a secure grip on the party machinary so is less likely to be embarrassed at Conference etc. He is now getting consistent leads in the polls, albeit mid term. He has got rid of some of the duffers and appointed more competent replacements such as Rachel Reeves. He has got a bit better at PMQs without being great (admittedly a rather niche point).
OTOH He is still really boring. He has really struggled to find a big idea. His main argument is that I could run this government with very, very similar policies better than Boris. Even if this is true it is hardly inspiring.
As a Tory supporter I would not panic at the idea of him being PM (unlike Corbyn). As a Scot I could contemplate voting tactically for Labour now. I can imagine him winning. It still seems unlikely to me but it has definitely moved into the realm of the possible.
Moving Labour from impossible to unlikely for 2024 isn't to be sniffed at.
And Starmer has got one key differentiating policy from the incumbent- not being a sh1t. It shouldn't be necessary, but it might be enough.
He makes an interesting team with Angela Raynor. Something that didn't strike me until a couple of days ago. The two of them are better than their component parts. He makes her seem brighter and she makes him look more worldly.
When he first got the gig, I remember thinking that his only hope of success was to be a Kenneth Horne type of figure- a leading man, sure, but the straight man that other louder characters flitted around. That makes Rayner some sort of Kenneth Williams.
It didn't work for a long time- but it seems to be doing so now.
All I can now think of is who is Hugh Paddick then?
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Yes he was (and presumably still is) swinging in hard behind the 'poking the bear' nonsense. Absolute cretin.
Sadly a more widespread opinion than we might think, though people can be more subtle about it.
While I think he’s a ghastly, vulgar opportunist and pretty much in my personal political cess pit, I’m not sure Nige is a cretin, and I’m certain he’s following every twist and turn of Marine’s polling.
I don't think being a cretin is necessarily a bar to political success. Some of my most deeply held beliefs might well be pretty stupid.
It's one month and one day to go before the local elections. I think nominations are closed here so pretty close to that time where I need to agonise of the full ordering. I do like the fact that I can rank the parties. It feels much more expressive than just choosing one. I really want the other parties to know that they're second, or 5th, or last.
Right now it feels like this: 1. Lib Dem 2. SNP 3. Labour 4. Green 5. random independent nutters 6. {Conservative/Alba} 7. {Conservative/Alba} 8+. Any current or former Farage vehicles, Nazis, Christians, Libertarians, or obvious paedophile candidates that would otherwise fit in the above categories
Can't yet decide between Salmond and Johnson for that all-important 6th spot.
Goodness me... I've found the candidate list and I'll need to scale back my ambitions a little. Not many options. Not many at all.
I think I'm the same. Is there any law against setting fire to the ballot paper?
I doubt it, but please don't, if they mark that they've issued it to you but then it is not in the box it messes up the verification.
Just draw penises all over it instead (just not a single penis in a box)
Woulda drawing of a penis not be counted as a vote for the Tories?
think an arse would be more appropriate
If you drew an arse, it would be rejected as a mark identifying the voter.
I get the fact that 65 years year ago, India’s prime minister (Nehru) outlined what seemed to me, as an untrained diplomat, a pretty sensible doctrine, in which he said that India’s not in the business of condemnation...
I can certainly remember India condemning the Thatcher government back in the day. What a load of twaddle.
Governments are generally in the habit of framing grubby political decisions as part of some grand principle or strategy.
Being a bit closer to the action it is to Germany's credit, for instance, that they haven't persisted in doing very little and framing it in the context of their post WW2 reluctance to be too involved, but instead appear to have decided things have indeed changed.
Independent.co.uk - Nigel Farage says Ukraine invasion is result of EU and Nato provoking Putin Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
Dear me.The west are far from perfect but the only person to blame for this is Putin.
I’m struggling to see the provocation from either the EU or NATO.
Sometimes apologists go from claiming that Russia should have been allowed to join NATO on its own terms to claiming that Russia should have been allowed a veto on any other country joining NATO.
Indeed, or its variant specific places should never have been allowed to join, which amounts to the same argument that Russia gets an veto because the reason is due to how it would upset Russia or put a burden on the West (a burden that only exists if it is accepted Russia might indeed invade those places).
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
A strong next move would be to expel Russias veto on security council until a change of government in Moscow.
How would you do it exactly?
That’s a good point I concede. Let’s explore it. At the moment they they veto and be blocker on getting them for war crimes? It definitely puts pressure on Putin regime if you can do it, but linking it to regime change might be counterproductive? If it was technically possible is there a will to do it from US and China for it would set a precedent? China could be falling foul of the mechanism already, A US Napalming Vietnam villages would fall foul of the same mechanism? And what is regime change in China or US that allows them to have it back, what defines the policy has changed?
I think you have just explained to yourself how unworkable your idea is tbh.
There appears to be a widening gap between what the Russian military can achieve at this point and the expectations of many Russians. The more Russian news presents a rosy picture of the war, the harder it will be for people to accept the likely terms of a compromise settlement.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
That’s a very good point. They’re masters of projection. Accusing “British” master information war fabricators of that which they are guilty of themselves.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
good point, I was slightly surprised that non of them seemed to be wounded in any way.
However its hard to think the Ukrainians can carry on much longer in the city, and I think if it was staged it would have been with a better camera and so on. so maybe.
Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
A strong next move would be to expel Russias veto on security council until a change of government in Moscow.
How would you do it exactly?
That’s a good point I concede. Let’s explore it. At the moment they they veto and be blocker on getting them for war crimes? It definitely puts pressure on Putin regime if you can do it, but linking it to regime change might be counterproductive? If it was technically possible is there a will to do it from US and China for it would set a precedent? China could be falling foul of the mechanism already, A US Napalming Vietnam villages would fall foul of the same mechanism? And what is regime change in China or US that allows them to have it back, what defines the policy has changed?
I think you have just explained to yourself how unworkable your idea is tbh.
Yes. I’m sorry. 😕 It sounded like the right thing not to let them have power and veto at UN though? Especially how they exploit that to delay justice for their victims.
Ukrainian mothers are writing the contact details of relatives on the backs of their toddlers, in case the parents get killed by shelling and the kid survives:
Seriously, fuck all of you scum that apologize for Russia. Fuck Trump, fuck Le Pen, fuck Orban, fuck Farage. Give the Ukrainians whatever they need: tanks, jet planes, submarines. Putin needs to be ended.
A strong next move would be to expel Russias veto on security council until a change of government in Moscow.
How would you do it exactly?
That’s a good point I concede. Let’s explore it. At the moment they they veto and be blocker on getting them for war crimes? It definitely puts pressure on Putin regime if you can do it, but linking it to regime change might be counterproductive? If it was technically possible is there a will to do it from US and China for it would set a precedent? China could be falling foul of the mechanism already, A US Napalming Vietnam villages would fall foul of the same mechanism? And what is regime change in China or US that allows them to have it back, what defines the policy has changed?
I think you have just explained to yourself how unworkable your idea is tbh.
Yes. I’m sorry. 😕 It sounded like the right thing not to let them have power and veto at UN though? Especially how they exploit that to delay justice for their victims.
Sure it's the 'right thing' - sadly, it's just not achievable.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
That’s a very good point. They’re masters of projection. Accusing “British” master information war fabricators of that which they are guilty of themselves.
This is a great video of Russian sappers in action clearing mines:
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
That’s a very good point. They’re masters of projection. Accusing “British” master information war fabricators of that which they are guilty of themselves.
This is a great video of Russian sappers in action clearing mines:
Who'd be a Russian cameraman, walking backwards through a minefield?
I'm thinking, pretty similar to similar staged photos & footage from WWI, WW2, etc., etc.
Though starting to get rather stale as a propaganda technique with 21st century audiences, so attuned to looking for "bloopers" in virtually every visual they consume?
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
Putinist response re; Bucha eerily similar to Soviet response re: Katyn. Though perhaps even less persuasive.
One anti-Putin Russian journalist said that the main characteristic of Putinist ideology is impunity, and that the difference with Nazism is that Putin would have gassed the Jews on live TV and said they were doing it to themselves.
I see PBers are overanalysing daft mid term polls again.
To think that one of our colleagues was calling a snap 2022 election only a few days ago.
Funny old world.
✋ that was me. Based on thinking they could get a majority now and struggle in 23 and 24 with periods of stagflation hollowing them out on managing economy and time for a change with momentum. Ignore HY or Prof Curtice saying the only reason for going early is improve your position not half it, but a majority of 24 and in till 28, secure your Legacy. The thread header says Starmer hasn’t sealed the deal, deny him time to do that is another consideration. And the Imran scenario another consideration, if Big Dog is about to fall (sounds like action movie pastiche) Boris can still be there in five years if he gets that election and wins majority.
Like you predicted May was about to call one. Like anyone on this site knows what is about to happen next.
a political betting site needs us to make creative predictions to find value?
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Good for you! Wandering alone around the world - especially Europe - not deciding where you will stay that night until you decide at the last minute, at about noon, is a truly wonderful experience. Absolute spontaneity
It is only possible because internet and smartphones
I did it in 2019 as a 3 week road trip around mainland Greece with my then partner. Spectacular fun. And we ended up in some mad places that I will never forget. Entire mountain villages with one taverna, one inhabitant, one chef, one screeching polecat, and one amazing lamb dinner followed by too much ouzo.
Enjoy
On my own travels from Dingle to Debrecen in both 2nd & 3rd millennia, only time I ever had a reservation (that I can recall anyway) was for a summer school dorm in 1984. Rest of time just winged it via guidebooks (Let's Go & Rick Steves). Worked great. Occasionally slept rough, but that was in good weather by my own choice, being too cheap to spring for something better at that moment.
Point taken. Let’s say it’s EASIER with smartphones, google maps, the net
Some of the glorious places we found in Greece would not have been in any guidebooks. Airbnbs etc
I think taking a smartphone on holiday with you is a contradiction in terms. You can't possibly have a relaxing experience if you take one of those things with you. The whole point of a holiday is to get away from everyday life.
Nah they are great on holiday.
I remember going on family holidays in the 80s and 90s, and the best feeling ever was on the first day of the trip when you walked out of the room with absolutely nothing to worry about for 2 weeks. And when you got home you were actually looking forward to normal life because you'd just had a total break from it.
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Good for you! Wandering alone around the world - especially Europe - not deciding where you will stay that night until you decide at the last minute, at about noon, is a truly wonderful experience. Absolute spontaneity
It is only possible because internet and smartphones
I did it in 2019 as a 3 week road trip around mainland Greece with my then partner. Spectacular fun. And we ended up in some mad places that I will never forget. Entire mountain villages with one taverna, one inhabitant, one chef, one screeching polecat, and one amazing lamb dinner followed by too much ouzo.
Enjoy
On my own travels from Dingle to Debrecen in both 2nd & 3rd millennia, only time I ever had a reservation (that I can recall anyway) was for a summer school dorm in 1984. Rest of time just winged it via guidebooks (Let's Go & Rick Steves). Worked great. Occasionally slept rough, but that was in good weather by my own choice, being too cheap to spring for something better at that moment.
Point taken. Let’s say it’s EASIER with smartphones, google maps, the net
Some of the glorious places we found in Greece would not have been in any guidebooks. Airbnbs etc
I think taking a smartphone on holiday with you is a contradiction in terms. You can't possibly have a relaxing experience if you take one of those things with you. The whole point of a holiday is to get away from everyday life.
Nah they are great on holiday.
I remember going on family holidays in the 80s and 90s, and the best feeling ever was on the first day of the trip when you walked out of the room with absolutely nothing to worry about for 2 weeks. And when you got home you were actually looking forward to normal life because you'd just had a total break from it.
A 2 week holiday? I feel a four yorkshireman contest coming on...
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Good for you! Wandering alone around the world - especially Europe - not deciding where you will stay that night until you decide at the last minute, at about noon, is a truly wonderful experience. Absolute spontaneity
It is only possible because internet and smartphones
I did it in 2019 as a 3 week road trip around mainland Greece with my then partner. Spectacular fun. And we ended up in some mad places that I will never forget. Entire mountain villages with one taverna, one inhabitant, one chef, one screeching polecat, and one amazing lamb dinner followed by too much ouzo.
Enjoy
On my own travels from Dingle to Debrecen in both 2nd & 3rd millennia, only time I ever had a reservation (that I can recall anyway) was for a summer school dorm in 1984. Rest of time just winged it via guidebooks (Let's Go & Rick Steves). Worked great. Occasionally slept rough, but that was in good weather by my own choice, being too cheap to spring for something better at that moment.
Point taken. Let’s say it’s EASIER with smartphones, google maps, the net
Some of the glorious places we found in Greece would not have been in any guidebooks. Airbnbs etc
I think taking a smartphone on holiday with you is a contradiction in terms. You can't possibly have a relaxing experience if you take one of those things with you. The whole point of a holiday is to get away from everyday life.
Nah they are great on holiday.
I remember going on family holidays in the 80s and 90s, and the best feeling ever was on the first day of the trip when you walked out of the room with absolutely nothing to worry about for 2 weeks. And when you got home you were actually looking forward to normal life because you'd just had a total break from it.
I recall camping in Wasdale in 2003, at Easter, with my future wife. No radio, no internet, no newspapers. Suddenly all concern about the footy dropped away, and we just had three lovely days walking, eating pub food for dinner, and relaxing. Bliss. And now I sit next to her at 11 pm with both of us on the internet...
I see PBers are overanalysing daft mid term polls again.
To think that one of our colleagues was calling a snap 2022 election only a few days ago.
Funny old world.
✋ that was me. Based on thinking they could get a majority now and struggle in 23 and 24 with periods of stagflation hollowing them out on managing economy and time for a change with momentum. Ignore HY or Prof Curtice saying the only reason for going early is improve your position not half it, but a majority of 24 and in till 28, secure your Legacy. The thread header says Starmer hasn’t sealed the deal, deny him time to do that is another consideration. And the Imran scenario another consideration, if Big Dog is about to fall (sounds like action movie pastiche) Boris can still be there in five years if he gets that election and wins majority.
Like you predicted May was about to call one. Like anyone on this site knows what is about to happen next.
a political betting site needs us to make creative predictions to find value?
May of course lost her majority by calling a snap election. Boris would lose a majority of 80 on current polls and Starmer would become PM.
If he even tried he would lose a VONC within a week, Tory MPs, especially in marginal seats, will not vote for their execution
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Good for you! Wandering alone around the world - especially Europe - not deciding where you will stay that night until you decide at the last minute, at about noon, is a truly wonderful experience. Absolute spontaneity
It is only possible because internet and smartphones
I did it in 2019 as a 3 week road trip around mainland Greece with my then partner. Spectacular fun. And we ended up in some mad places that I will never forget. Entire mountain villages with one taverna, one inhabitant, one chef, one screeching polecat, and one amazing lamb dinner followed by too much ouzo.
Enjoy
On my own travels from Dingle to Debrecen in both 2nd & 3rd millennia, only time I ever had a reservation (that I can recall anyway) was for a summer school dorm in 1984. Rest of time just winged it via guidebooks (Let's Go & Rick Steves). Worked great. Occasionally slept rough, but that was in good weather by my own choice, being too cheap to spring for something better at that moment.
Point taken. Let’s say it’s EASIER with smartphones, google maps, the net
Some of the glorious places we found in Greece would not have been in any guidebooks. Airbnbs etc
I'd drive into a town, find somewhere to park as close to the centre as I could (which was often the town square if there was no market that day) and see if the nearest hotel that looked good had a room. That normally worked.
Once drove around Cambridge (Eng not Mass) trying to figure out where the hell I was and how the hell to get away and somewhere I could park and maybe find some room at some in or something.
Took at least half an hour, getting dizzy, swearing then weeping as I kept passing the same fucking landmarks time after time, before I finally cracked the code.
This is Douglas Adams on the subject:
“He had extracted himself from the Cambridge one-way system by the usual method, which involved going round and round it faster and faster until he achieved a sort of escape velocity and flew off at a tangent in a random direction, which he was now trying to identify and correct for.”
I know that quote, and have *never* experienced that in Cambridge. Even when I first moved here, and had friends at the uni which meant that I'd go to all sorts of nooks and crannies (since I had a car...)
In fact, I find it hard to think of where he's referring to - and I've walked or run nearly every (non-college) street in Cambridge,
It was like that in the 1980s. My dad was disabled, and on one occasion we were trying to drive somewhere apparently quite simple and easily walked (for the able bodied) but kept ending up back where we started.
A policeman (yes, this *was* a different age) stopped to help us, and gave us a long and very complicated set of directions. "Or..." he said, and he and his mate cleared everyone back out of the way, dragged a big concrete council bin out of the way (told you this was a long time ago) and we drove the wrong way up a street, mounted the pavement, and zipped round where we needed to be.
My Cambridgian (sp?) experience happened after dark, and as I recall my trouble was trying to extricate myself from the ring road or some such circling what I think was the city center or core or whatever the heck it is. Just kept going round and round and round.
It's one month and one day to go before the local elections. I think nominations are closed here so pretty close to that time where I need to agonise of the full ordering. I do like the fact that I can rank the parties. It feels much more expressive than just choosing one. I really want the other parties to know that they're second, or 5th, or last.
Right now it feels like this: 1. Lib Dem 2. SNP 3. Labour 4. Green 5. random independent nutters 6. {Conservative/Alba} 7. {Conservative/Alba} 8+. Any current or former Farage vehicles, Nazis, Christians, Libertarians, or obvious paedophile candidates that would otherwise fit in the above categories
Can't yet decide between Salmond and Johnson for that all-important 6th spot.
Goodness me... I've found the candidate list and I'll need to scale back my ambitions a little. Not many options. Not many at all.
I think I'm the same. Is there any law against setting fire to the ballot paper?
I doubt it, but please don't, if they mark that they've issued it to you but then it is not in the box it messes up the verification.
Just draw penises all over it instead (just not a single penis in a box)
Woulda drawing of a penis not be counted as a vote for the Tories?
think an arse would be more appropriate
If you drew an arse, it would be rejected as a mark identifying the voter.
I disagree with you Farooq. It could be how to make a peachy choice. 🍑
It's one month and one day to go before the local elections. I think nominations are closed here so pretty close to that time where I need to agonise of the full ordering. I do like the fact that I can rank the parties. It feels much more expressive than just choosing one. I really want the other parties to know that they're second, or 5th, or last.
Right now it feels like this: 1. Lib Dem 2. SNP 3. Labour 4. Green 5. random independent nutters 6. {Conservative/Alba} 7. {Conservative/Alba} 8+. Any current or former Farage vehicles, Nazis, Christians, Libertarians, or obvious paedophile candidates that would otherwise fit in the above categories
Can't yet decide between Salmond and Johnson for that all-important 6th spot.
Goodness me... I've found the candidate list and I'll need to scale back my ambitions a little. Not many options. Not many at all.
I think I'm the same. Is there any law against setting fire to the ballot paper?
I doubt it, but please don't, if they mark that they've issued it to you but then it is not in the box it messes up the verification.
Just draw penises all over it instead (just not a single penis in a box)
Woulda drawing of a penis not be counted as a vote for the Tories?
think an arse would be more appropriate
If you drew an arse, it would be rejected as a mark identifying the voter.
I disagree with you Farooq. It could be how to make a peachy choice. 🍑
I clearly have a totally different makeup to many posters on this thread.
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I'm getting cold sweats just thinking about it. Not one of life's adventurers.
I did this 20 years ago, pre internet. China and south east asia, as well as eastern europe.
Always spent half the day being shown around dingy hotel rooms and haggling over the price. It became boring after a while.
Certainly there is some spontaneity that is lost, but have to say overall I prefer being able to plan/book everything in advance. Its part of the fun.
Always used to buy a plane ticket somewhere, then buy the guidebook at the airport, read it on the plane, and go from there. Never planned anything. Used the guidebook to decide which accommodation to try, so generally spent little time find a place for each location.
Then I got married for the first time at the age of 45. Things have not been the same since ...
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
Perhaps its a result of British reporting focus, but the Russians seem bizarrely fixated on the UK compared to some others, notwithstanding this particular example having a reason for that.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
That’s a very good point. They’re masters of projection. Accusing “British” master information war fabricators of that which they are guilty of themselves.
This is a great video of Russian sappers in action clearing mines:
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Good for you! Wandering alone around the world - especially Europe - not deciding where you will stay that night until you decide at the last minute, at about noon, is a truly wonderful experience. Absolute spontaneity
It is only possible because internet and smartphones
I did it in 2019 as a 3 week road trip around mainland Greece with my then partner. Spectacular fun. And we ended up in some mad places that I will never forget. Entire mountain villages with one taverna, one inhabitant, one chef, one screeching polecat, and one amazing lamb dinner followed by too much ouzo.
Enjoy
On my own travels from Dingle to Debrecen in both 2nd & 3rd millennia, only time I ever had a reservation (that I can recall anyway) was for a summer school dorm in 1984. Rest of time just winged it via guidebooks (Let's Go & Rick Steves). Worked great. Occasionally slept rough, but that was in good weather by my own choice, being too cheap to spring for something better at that moment.
Point taken. Let’s say it’s EASIER with smartphones, google maps, the net
Some of the glorious places we found in Greece would not have been in any guidebooks. Airbnbs etc
I think taking a smartphone on holiday with you is a contradiction in terms. You can't possibly have a relaxing experience if you take one of those things with you. The whole point of a holiday is to get away from everyday life.
Nah they are great on holiday.
I remember going on family holidays in the 80s and 90s, and the best feeling ever was on the first day of the trip when you walked out of the room with absolutely nothing to worry about for 2 weeks. And when you got home you were actually looking forward to normal life because you'd just had a total break from it.
I recall camping in Wasdale in 2003, at Easter, with my future wife. No radio, no internet, no newspapers. Suddenly all concern about the footy dropped away, and we just had three lovely days walking, eating pub food for dinner, and relaxing. Bliss. And now I sit next to her at 11 pm with both of us on the internet...
When May called her snap election, we were in the Outer Hebrides. Had a weird conversation with my brother by phone on the way home in which he was convinced I was winding him up when I claimed not to know an election had been called (I wasn't). I thought he was joking about May going to the country, so we chatted about it for a few minutes before either I realised he wasn't joking or he realised that I thought he was.
I see PBers are overanalysing daft mid term polls again.
To think that one of our colleagues was calling a snap 2022 election only a few days ago.
Funny old world.
✋ that was me. Based on thinking they could get a majority now and struggle in 23 and 24 with periods of stagflation hollowing them out on managing economy and time for a change with momentum. Ignore HY or Prof Curtice saying the only reason for going early is improve your position not half it, but a majority of 24 and in till 28, secure your Legacy. The thread header says Starmer hasn’t sealed the deal, deny him time to do that is another consideration. And the Imran scenario another consideration, if Big Dog is about to fall (sounds like action movie pastiche) Boris can still be there in five years if he gets that election and wins majority.
Like you predicted May was about to call one. Like anyone on this site knows what is about to happen next.
a political betting site needs us to make creative predictions to find value?
May of course lost her majority by calling a snap election. Boris would lose a majority of 80 on current polls and Starmer would become PM.
If he even tried he would lose a VONC within a week, Tory MPs, especially in marginal seats, will not vote for their execution
As we saw with Corbyn and Labour a party absolutely can pretty much knowingly walk to its own execution in the right circumstances though, including a vote on that occasion. And at the least might not take action to prevent it.
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
Perhaps its a result of British reporting focus, but the Russians seem bizarrely fixated on the UK compared to some others, notwithstanding this particular example having a reason for that.
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
It's interesting how much they are focusing on Britain. Alexander Dugin wrote a piece a view days ago which said their main enemies were "the UK, the US and the states in the coastal zones".
Foxy, what do your Georgia contacts (or old vibes) tell you about US Senate race?
My own fearless forecast is, when all is said and done, Peach State will reject Walker, reelect Rev. Warnock.
I left more than 4 decades ago, and haven't been back. I have no idea.
My working theory is that
1) Black voters will stay with the Rev AND turn out in sufficient numbers (thank you Stacey Abrams); and
2) Suburban voters will also stay with Warnock AND turn out above-average as per usual;
3) Hershel Walker will prove unable to > hide or deal with his past and his lies > show he's really ready for post-NFL prime time; and > avoid screwing up on the long campaign trail
But only takes a few fumbles, flags, interceptions, etc. to turn my ecstasy of victory into the agony of defeat.
PS - You should go back for some fresh watermelon and boiled peanuts (though not at same time).
What do we make of UK government throwing itself behind crypto currency, planning to make London the world hub for it? Apparently it’s big story on the news and will bring in stable money, that will help our country my brother thinks, just messaging me about it.
I see PBers are overanalysing daft mid term polls again.
To think that one of our colleagues was calling a snap 2022 election only a few days ago.
Funny old world.
✋ that was me. Based on thinking they could get a majority now and struggle in 23 and 24 with periods of stagflation hollowing them out on managing economy and time for a change with momentum. Ignore HY or Prof Curtice saying the only reason for going early is improve your position not half it, but a majority of 24 and in till 28, secure your Legacy. The thread header says Starmer hasn’t sealed the deal, deny him time to do that is another consideration. And the Imran scenario another consideration, if Big Dog is about to fall (sounds like action movie pastiche) Boris can still be there in five years if he gets that election and wins majority.
Like you predicted May was about to call one. Like anyone on this site knows what is about to happen next.
a political betting site needs us to make creative predictions to find value?
May of course lost her majority by calling a snap election. Boris would lose a majority of 80 on current polls and Starmer would become PM.
If he even tried he would lose a VONC within a week, Tory MPs, especially in marginal seats, will not vote for their execution
I forget the sequence. Johnson goes to the Queen and says "I want an election". Can she say "Hang on a minute, let me see if someone else has a majority?" Otherwise it's too late for a VONC.
After much soul searching I decided that I don’t have any useful skills to help anyone do anything in or around Ukraine, so I’ve gone on holiday instead. I’m unemployed and homeless at the moment, so three weeks in Catalonia seemed just the thing to cheer me up a bit!
I flew into Girona yesterday (for £50.98 return with Ryanair!) and I’m loving it. I’ve thoroughly explored Girona - I’ve walked over twenty miles since I arrived yesterday afternoon (including lots of stairs; there are loads of little streets here that are basically just steep staircases) only pausing for booze and food breaks.
Tomorrow I’m planning to walk to Figueres. This might be a bold ambition - it’s about thirty miles - if I get blisters I might have to catch a bus, and then abandon my plan to walk to France the following day. I hope I make it because I really want to visit the tiny tortoise sanctuary (the Pyrenees tortoises are tiny, not the sanctuary) that’s on the route I want to take from Figueres to France.
I haven’t even booked a room in Figueres yet, only my room for tonight is booked here in Girona, so my plans might change before the night is out. For now I’m just going to enjoy a few more beers in this bar in Placa de la Indepencia.
How is travel, now?
Are we back to normal levels of paperwork?
It’s been fine for months. I remember going to Spain in the autumn when it was customary for PBers to frown upon any travel and declare themselves housebound until 2053.
There were about two forms that took about 10 minutes each to fill out. Was a lovely holiday.
I wonder if the experience of Mariupol convinced the Russians of the madness of trying to take Kiev?
We assumed it would fall because we assumed the Russians would advance and that was the first major city they encountered. I've no idea what will happen there now but we can't rule out the idea that the Russians may fail to take it. Of course if the land corridor to Crimea is the main aim perhaps Putin will throw the kitchen sink at it.
Looking back it's a wonder they were able to take Kherson so easily.
Major surrender of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, 250plus.
so F ing sad, trooly brave men, who held on longer than anybody expected,
Yes and I hope they are treated honourably.
By surrendering en masse, they have probably increased their chances of survival, as they're a noticeable block.
There seems to be some doubt about the authenticity of the video. The so-called prisoners (who don't look hench enough to be regular soldiers) look in very good health for volunteers who have been holding out under terrible conditions for a month. Russia keeps making idiotic claims about Ukraine faking videos, which to my mind makes it likely to be something they'd do themselves.
One suggestion is that it is surrenders at Chernobyl, which is one known occurrence.
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
Perhaps its a result of British reporting focus, but the Russians seem bizarrely fixated on the UK compared to some others, notwithstanding this particular example having a reason for that.
Maybe they feel having spashed the cash..
Perhaps that noted anglophile Vladimir Putin & Co were under impression that, once an English gentleman was bought, he'd stay bought?
NOT having had the advantages of an English public school education?
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
Perhaps its a result of British reporting focus, but the Russians seem bizarrely fixated on the UK compared to some others, notwithstanding this particular example having a reason for that.
Maybe they feel having spashed the cash..
People never mention the declining fidelity from those who have been bought when they talk about societal decline. It's a bloody disgrace, when I bribe someone I expect a little integrity, thank you very much.
Comments
The best outcome for the world (but not the Ukranians) was always that this ends in a Vietnam/ Afghanistan style quagmire, so their will is completely broken.
Tell Sid!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60985496
Also sounds like Schumer thinks he's got the votes lined up to confirm KBJ.
Time for Emmerdale. 🤗
Former Brexit Party chief says the attack on Ukraine is a ‘consequence of EU and Nato expansion’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-ukraine-russia-eu-b2022400.html
Sadly a more widespread opinion than we might think, though people can be more subtle about it.
We were amazingly free in the past. I wandered about SE Asia with Mrs Foxy on £10 a day for 3 months. I just told my parents by airmail which plane to meet me off 3 months later when we left NZ, and they did.
It wasn't ancient times, it was 1990.
I’m struggling to see the provocation from either the EU or NATO.
It didn't work for a long time- but it seems to be doing so now.
Apparently the mayors of many towns and city's where approached by Russian agents and offered money if they would help before the invasion, theses mayors reported this back to Keiv, who told them to keep the money to buy food for the city, play along and get any intel you can, from the list of towns and city's the Ukrainian where able to work out where the attacks would come form. the Mayer of Kherson, clams he was not approached by the Russians, umm, but when the Russians did approach he failed to give the order to blow up the bridges that the Russians needed to cross just out side his city.
This could be wrong, but for what its worth, the mayor has been formally sacked by the PM, so maybe some truth in it.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/understand-indias-ukraine-position-nehrus-doctrine-sensible-australian-high-commissioner/articleshow/90649799.cms
Between the inflation and the refugees, sympathy for Ukraine may well wear thin quite quickly here too.
The arrogance of the first weeks of Russia’s war was helpful for Ukraine because Russian troops created lots of over extended salients which could then be attacked from the sides and back. We could probably do with a bit more Russian adventurism in the coming phases rather than some kind of grim holdout. Easier to then reverse and roll back, like the 1918 spring offensive.
Collins - 98% Yes
Murkowski - 63% Yes
Romney 63% Yes
50 Democrats are believed to be solid so likely result is 53-47 if get all three of the above.
Overall market has 52/48 and 53/47 as joint favourites.
wanted to join it. These people are something else.
If Finland does get accepted I wonder how the Russians will react. Badly I’d assume.
I get the fact that 65 years year ago, India’s prime minister (Nehru) outlined what seemed to me, as an untrained diplomat, a pretty sensible doctrine, in which he said that India’s not in the business of condemnation...
I can certainly remember India condemning the Thatcher government back in the day. What a load of twaddle.
2022 - "Why die for Kyiv?"
Think this is a factor esp in what you might call mid-way countries: not on front lines with Mother-Fucking Russia, but not far enough away (save for Sarah Palin's house) to think they are at some remove from dangers of conflict expanding.
Directly rebuts Russia's claim that bodies only appeared after they left.
By @malachybrowne @bottidavid @heytherehaley
https://nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html
https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1511067472803282950
Being a bit closer to the action it is to Germany's credit, for instance, that they haven't persisted in doing very little and framing it in the context of their post WW2 reluctance to be too involved, but instead appear to have decided things have indeed changed.
https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/1510882418802282496
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1511080696424636420
However its hard to think the Ukrainians can carry on much longer in the city, and I think if it was staged it would have been with a better camera and so on. so maybe.
To think that one of our colleagues was calling a snap 2022 election only a few days ago.
Funny old world.
https://twitter.com/MarQs__/status/1511008321410641924?t=HbmDogBzYxqsnKc6fDcRzQ&s=19
Who'd be a Russian cameraman, walking backwards through a minefield?
Though starting to get rather stale as a propaganda technique with 21st century audiences, so attuned to looking for "bloopers" in virtually every visual they consume?
Update: Russia's delegate to the United Nations: The position of the British presidency of the Security Council is disgraceful and a disgrace to its history.
https://twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1511066707858763780
After an unfair fight, the opposition parties start to blame each other" (£)
https://www.economist.com/europe/viktor-orbans-victory-is-a-triumph-for-illiberal-nationalism/21808575
My own fearless forecast is, when all is said and done, Peach State will reject Walker, reelect Rev. Warnock.
Like you predicted May was about to call one. Like anyone on this site knows what is about to happen next.
a political betting site needs us to make creative predictions to find value?
And now I sit next to her at 11 pm with both of us on the internet...
If he even tried he would lose a VONC within a week, Tory MPs, especially in marginal seats, will not vote for their execution
Then I got married for the first time at the age of 45. Things have not been the same since ...
Any fule kno that the PB Original Sin is citing Scottish subsamples.
Just ask @StuartDickson …
Are we back to normal levels of paperwork?
1) Black voters will stay with the Rev AND turn out in sufficient numbers (thank you Stacey Abrams); and
2) Suburban voters will also stay with Warnock AND turn out above-average as per usual;
3) Hershel Walker will prove unable to
> hide or deal with his past and his lies
> show he's really ready for post-NFL prime time; and
> avoid screwing up on the long campaign trail
But only takes a few fumbles, flags, interceptions, etc. to turn my ecstasy of victory into the agony of defeat.
PS - You should go back for some fresh watermelon and boiled peanuts (though not at same time).
There were about two forms that took about 10 minutes each to fill out. Was a lovely holiday.
NOT having had the advantages of an English public school education?