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.
That seems a very fair summary. There is still the danger of him being bulldozed by Boris during a campaign though. I remember, vividly, those factory workers with the "We Love Boris" placard. I can't ever imagine anyone with a "We Love Keir" placard. Therein lies the danger. Boris is capable of practically anything - but the Cost of Living may well do for him. We shall see.
Had a nap after work so I don't know if this has been posted.
Pundit Gevorg Mirzayan on Bucha:
"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations. [They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness"
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Had a nap after work so I don't know if this has been posted.
Pundit Gevorg Mirzayan on Bucha:
"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations. [They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness"
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Jacob Rees-Mogg assumes everyone is stupider than he is.
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.
I agree, that's why I am giving him 7/10.
But it gets harder. One of the big differences between 2017 and 2019 was that in 2017 no one thought Corbyn had a chance so he basically got a free pass for his delusions. When people thought he had a chance in 2019 they looked a bit more critically and things fell apart. Having made Labour competitive SKS will now get that scrutiny. I am not completely convinced he or his party are ready for that yet.
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.
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.
So the other half’s taken over big screen and sound to watch Arsenal 🥱 Is there a law every Arsenal game has to be screened live? Can we repeal it? Meanwhile here on PB chat Leon is hitting the gin like an old hack trapped in Sunderland on a Monday night. 🤦♀️
I’m sure you can figure out a way to distract your other half 😇
I bet she wishes I will. But I’ve decided to make her watch the full 90 minutes so that it teaches her a lesson. 😁
Not only has zahar got the coolest hair but he plays like best footballer in the world.
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.
Go to the Highlands. Then you can take the phone but it won't work so you can only use it as a camera.
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.
I'm amazed you are not still there: the Cambridge one way system is notorious.
Oxford's road system is much easier: they don't let you in unless you are a bus, so use the Park and Ride.
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.
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Jacob Rees-Mogg assumes everyone is stupider than he is.
And that's pretty fricking stupid...
To play devils advocate, Johnson is not a great details man. It’s not impossible that he was told that the events that happened were all in line with guidance. Doesn’t make it right, but the public have already decided anyway, whether he gets a shiny fpn or not. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone who gets a fpn challenges it, or refuses to pay. Burden off proof and all that.
"Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ Crunching data for book. % of state school pupils getting place at British uni by ethnicity, 2021
Chinese 72% Asian 55% Black 49% Other 48% Mixed 41% White 33%
White pupils had lowest entry rate, 2007-21 but Black pupils had biggest rate rise 2006-21, 22% -> 49% 8:33 pm · 31 Mar 2022"
To be fair largely matches GCSE results by ethnicity, though black pupils maybe a little over represented and white pupils a little underrepresented at university relative to average GCSE results (perhaps as more do apprenticeships).
British Chinese pupils well out in front on GCSE results and getting a place at university
Had a nap after work so I don't know if this has been posted.
Pundit Gevorg Mirzayan on Bucha:
"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations. [They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness"
So the same people who couldn't cover up a party are supposed to have faked this?
Simultaneously brilliant at the deception so no one can tell the difference, yet also useless enough that mighty Russian pundits can tell the difference at a glance.
I think these chap's might want to think about Occam's razor in these situations.
I say that as the scariest thing is I think many of these types believe what they say.
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Jacob Rees-Mogg assumes everyone is stupider than he is.
And that's pretty fricking stupid...
To play devils advocate, Johnson is not a great details man. It’s not impossible that he was told that the events that happened were all in line with guidance. Doesn’t make it right, but the public have already decided anyway, whether he gets a shiny fpn or not. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone who gets a fpn challenges it, or refuses to pay. Burden off proof and all that.
I note you have nothing to say in contradiction of my statements on the Moggster.
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.”
Ukraine FM - Mariupol atrocities will be much worse than Bucha
I am utterly bewildered that Mariupol has not fallen yet. The preparation for a seige there must have been immense. Where the hell are the defenders getting their amunition? We hear repeated stories of tens of thousands without water or food. The Russians are either utterly incompetent or content to stand back and blow the whole place to hell without risking more ground troops. It's weird.
I was wondering if the Ukraine are able to sneak in supplies of missiles and ammunition, don't know it sounds hard but maybe. But ultimately taking a city is hard, if the defenders don't what you to take it, look at Grozny, or any one of many city's in WW2 Stalingrad is the famas one, but there are plenty of others, in the Siege of Breslau, the Germans lost 6,000 solder's killed but managed to inflict 60,000 casualties on the Russian army. That sounds one sided, until you realise that the Germans also lost 80,000 civilians. Taking a city by forces against an armed and determined enemy is very very costly to all parties.
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Jacob Rees-Mogg assumes everyone is stupider than he is.
And that's pretty fricking stupid...
To play devils advocate, Johnson is not a great details man. It’s not impossible that he was told that the events that happened were all in line with guidance. Doesn’t make it right, but the public have already decided anyway, whether he gets a shiny fpn or not. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone who gets a fpn challenges it, or refuses to pay. Burden off proof and all that.
I note you have nothing to say in contradiction of my statements on the Moggster.
None needed! He is a stupid persons idea of clever, when in fact he seems to be very stupid indeed.
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
JRM has never faced a consequence for treating people like idiots, so long as he remains rich and can pretend he is being polite about it - one of those people who thinks maintaining civility is the be all and end all of treating people with respect.
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Jacob Rees-Mogg assumes everyone is stupider than he is.
And that's pretty fricking stupid...
To play devils advocate, Johnson is not a great details man. It’s not impossible that he was told that the events that happened were all in line with guidance. Doesn’t make it right, but the public have already decided anyway, whether he gets a shiny fpn or not.
Except people like JRM plainly do think it makes it right, and there are plenty of them around.
Since 1945 there have only been two occasions when one party has held the reins of power continuously for more than 10 years.
1979-1997 Conservatives 18 years
1997 to 2010 Labour 13 years
Since 2010 the Conservatives have been in power continuously and by 2024 it will be 14 years
In the last terms on both previous occasions the party in power changed their leader (John Major replaced Margaret Thatcher and Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair).
In 1997 the swing from Conservative to Labour was 10.2%
In 2010 the swing from Labour to Conservative was 6.4%
It will only take a swing of c. 4% from Conservative to Labour to end the tories’ 12 year reign even allowing for a DUP coalition again (smaller than 4% if you discount the DUP joining the tories).
So although Labour need c. 9% to gain an overall majority, they only need about 4% to likely be in power.
The most interesting outcome in my opinion would be if Labour require the SNP because the price of support will be Indyref2. I can see Labour going for that on a practical arrangement that still allows them to campaign for the union in Scotland.
* I don’t think Keir Starmer is Tony Blair. More John Smith. * But equally these are unprecedented times in almost every regard and Boris Johnson, whatever his cheerleaders might say, is a ??? liability.
So, who knows? Currently I’d predict a bigger swing than 2010 but a smaller one than 1997. Somewhere between the two.
(Don’t pile on if you question the above figures. I’ve worked from multiple sites. Kindly be polite if you think there’s a miscalculation).
Starmer: a depressing prime minister for depressing times. i can see it working
Life is shite, maybe Keir will bore us all close to death. But paradoxically we will survive
Boris’ quintessential optimism might seem painfully absurd by 2024 as we gnaw at the rancid corpses of the rats that fed on our famished granny, and then got poisoned because granny was irradiated
God I dunno. As you can see my mind is deranged. i am on the gin. the world is fucked
"Quintessential optimism" - lol
You are SUCH a sucker.
He's a con artist ffs.
Boris is now on his THIRD wife and creating his umpteenth family. If that isn’t “quintessential optimism” I don’t know what is
Ha, yes, but also no - it more supports the conman diagnosis.
Thing is, I understand the gratitude for Brexit and smashing Corbyn, I do, but it's time now to drop the hero worship and see through him. An obviously correct assessment is available and you need to assimilate it rather than clinging onto vestiges of belief in what you once thought he was about.
Look into his eyes. That's no cheery can-do optimist there. It's an empty calculating narcissist.
Nope. You're confusing him with Trump. Boris's problem is that he doesn't really do "calculating" and he takes a cheerful view of the human condition. He's written more books than Trump has read. I think it's fair to say that he does come across a bit entitled though - Eton, and all 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.
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.
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.
I don’t think Starmer would deliberately try to shaft you, if say he was selling you a second hand car. Johnson, on the other hand... He sell you a car, it would break down after 5 miles, and then it would turn out not to be his to sell, and you can’t find him or contact him. Right now boring old starmer looks like what the country needs. Shame he’ll be inheriting a car crash.
Starmer would happily sell you a piece of shit car. But when you complain he’d point to page 12 paragraph 8 sub clause 7, little (II) to prove that you had no reclaim
Ukraine FM - Mariupol atrocities will be much worse than Bucha
I am utterly bewildered that Mariupol has not fallen yet. The preparation for a seige there must have been immense. Where the hell are the defenders getting their amunition? We hear repeated stories of tens of thousands without water or food. The Russians are either utterly incompetent or content to stand back and blow the whole place to hell without risking more ground troops. It's weird.
I was wondering if the Ukraine are able to sneak in supplies of missiles and ammunition, don't know it sounds hard but maybe. But ultimately taking a city is hard, if the defenders don't what you to take it, look at Grozny, or any one of many city's in WW2 Stalingrad is the famas one, but there are plenty of others, in the Siege of Breslau, the Germans lost 6,000 solder's killed but managed to inflict 60,000 casualties on the Russian army. That sounds one sided, until you realise that the Germans also lost 80,000 civilians. Taking a city by forces against an armed and determined enemy is very very costly to all parties.
Is one source of ammo for UKR forces, what they've captured/liberated from the invaders?
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
Jacob Rees-Mogg assumes everyone is stupider than he is.
And that's pretty fricking stupid...
To play devils advocate, Johnson is not a great details man. It’s not impossible that he was told that the events that happened were all in line with guidance. Doesn’t make it right, but the public have already decided anyway, whether he gets a shiny fpn or not.
Except people like JRM plainly do think it makes it right, and there are plenty of them around.
So the other half’s taken over big screen and sound to watch Arsenal 🥱 Is there a law every Arsenal game has to be screened live? Can we repeal it? Meanwhile here on PB chat Leon is hitting the gin like an old hack trapped in Sunderland on a Monday night. 🤦♀️
I’m sure you can figure out a way to distract your other half 😇
I bet she wishes I will. But I’ve decided to make her watch the full 90 minutes so that it teaches her a lesson. 😁
Not only has zahar got the coolest hair but he plays like best footballer in the world.
Whose the resident gooner, is it TLG? Definitely the goon show, who though tonite would be such fun.
Taveris built like he should be a brilliant footballer, has he only really been involved in football for a few months is that why he plays like this?
This evening's French Presidential polling continues the theme of a closing gap between Macron and Marine Le Pen. One run off has the gap to just three points though in the context of a first round gap of three and a half points it shows Le Pen has to be almost level with Macron at the end of Round 1 to have a realistic chance in the run off.
Melenchon continues to poll strongly and up to 17% yet still down on his 2017 numbers as is every candidate other than Macron and Le Pen.
This is normal. Put your house on Macron. Faced with Le Pen the French ALWAYS do the right thing.
Hope so, but I'm getting less confident. Seems Macron is copping the blame for cost of living increases and embargoing Russian fuel to avoid funding genocide in Ukraine isn't necessarily a vote winner
Le Pen has been directly funded by Russia and publicly supported its previous invasion of Ukraine.
What is her stated position on the current war?
Confused. Le Pen is struggling to pivot quickly enough to incontestable developments, but roughly:
Putin is a great man. He will never do anything in Ukraine.
(2 days later). I respect sovereignty of all countries - of Ukraine as well as France - that's why I oppose Russian breaching Ukrainian soverignty
We mustn't take sides because that will push Russia into the arms of China. Two of them together is far more scary
Russia is a great nation and won't go away.
Yes these look like war crimes and must be investigated quickly.
I oppose sanctions on Russia because French people need cheap fuel.
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,
Edit: DNA was a student there in the 1970s. Has the one-way system been abandoned or the area demolished/redeveloped (e.g. Grafton Centre)?
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.
“overall things are still good, this is the best time to be alive in human history and things are getting even better.”
By some measures, Ed Sheeran is the most popular solo musician on the planet. I rest my case
By other measures/claims, he is a good 'repurposer'.
Ed Sheeran does not stir me at all. He doesn't seem to have any good tunes. I am a fan of Rock n Roll, Blues, R&B, Folk, Bob Dylan. I accept he is popular with others though.
I was referring to the multiple accusations of plagiarism outstanding against him.
I agree. I cannot fathom how anyone thinks he is a great songwriter.
Ukraine FM - Mariupol atrocities will be much worse than Bucha
I am utterly bewildered that Mariupol has not fallen yet. The preparation for a seige there must have been immense. Where the hell are the defenders getting their amunition? We hear repeated stories of tens of thousands without water or food. The Russians are either utterly incompetent or content to stand back and blow the whole place to hell without risking more ground troops. It's weird.
I was wondering if the Ukraine are able to sneak in supplies of missiles and ammunition, don't know it sounds hard but maybe. But ultimately taking a city is hard, if the defenders don't what you to take it, look at Grozny, or any one of many city's in WW2 Stalingrad is the famas one, but there are plenty of others, in the Siege of Breslau, the Germans lost 6,000 solder's killed but managed to inflict 60,000 casualties on the Russian army. That sounds one sided, until you realise that the Germans also lost 80,000 civilians. Taking a city by forces against an armed and determined enemy is very very costly to all parties.
Is one source of ammo for UKR forces, what they've captured/liberated from the invaders?
Good point, and possibly, I do hope that the Ukrainians can get too the city soon, but I don't think they can.
I do wonder if the Russians have now agreed to the humanitarian convoys out, partly in the hope that the people fighting in the city will also leave with them?
Had a nap after work so I don't know if this has been posted.
Pundit Gevorg Mirzayan on Bucha:
"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations. [They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness"
One of the replies to that Tweet is probably the most disturbing and upsetting that I've seen. It is a couple of photos from some of the atrocities that have been committed by the Russians. They have committed acts of unspeakable evil.
If you do click on the link then be warned. It is truly awful.
This evening's French Presidential polling continues the theme of a closing gap between Macron and Marine Le Pen. One run off has the gap to just three points though in the context of a first round gap of three and a half points it shows Le Pen has to be almost level with Macron at the end of Round 1 to have a realistic chance in the run off.
Melenchon continues to poll strongly and up to 17% yet still down on his 2017 numbers as is every candidate other than Macron and Le Pen.
This is normal. Put your house on Macron. Faced with Le Pen the French ALWAYS do the right thing.
Hope so, but I'm getting less confident. Seems Macron is copping the blame for cost of living increases and embargoing Russian fuel to avoid funding genocide in Ukraine isn't necessarily a vote winner
Le Pen has been directly funded by Russia and publicly supported its previous invasion of Ukraine.
What is her stated position on the current war?
Confused. Le Pen is struggling to pivot quickly enough to incontestable developments, but roughly:
Putin is a great man. He will never do anything in Ukraine.
(2 days later). I respect sovereignty of all countries - of Ukraine as well as France - that's why I oppose Russian breaching Ukrainian soverignty
We mustn't take sides because that will push Russia into the arms of China. Two of them together is far more scary
Russia is a great nation and won't go away.
Yes these look like war crimes and must be investigated quickly.
I oppose sanctions on Russia because French people need cheap fuel.
Sadly that last one, might be a vote winner, and might be why Macron is not pushing for sanctions himself.
Bought an Interrail ticket with my mate in the Summer of '81. Rocked up at the station at night. Caught the next train to wherever it was going. Slept on it. Spent the day in whichever city we woke up in. Repeat. Bliss and larks. We were 14.
Ok, this did make me chuckle at the idea people in real life would actually make a different selection at the shops where there was both. I honestly cannot recall how specific the stuff in England is, I know I've seen bags proclaiming British and Irish potatoes, which I obviously refused to purchase.
Love that in Scotland you can choose between unionist carrots and nationalist carrots
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.
Hmmm.... so Survation had Labour 7% ahead a few days ago, and Redfield & Wilton have them 6% ahead today.
I wonder if it’s the effect of partygate being back in the news ?
That and inflation and pisspoor spring statement by Sunak.
Petrol stations all sold out around me. Is this a Leicester thing, or national?
Probably the eco loons from Just Stop Oil. They have made absurd demands of the govt and are blocking fuel terminals until the govt yield. There was an article in the graun about them. They saw how the 2000 fuel protests succeeded and are trying to ape that. The govt were warned weeks ago. Did nothing of course.
Ukraine FM - Mariupol atrocities will be much worse than Bucha
I am utterly bewildered that Mariupol has not fallen yet. The preparation for a seige there must have been immense. Where the hell are the defenders getting their amunition? We hear repeated stories of tens of thousands without water or food. The Russians are either utterly incompetent or content to stand back and blow the whole place to hell without risking more ground troops. It's weird.
I suspect the latter. The Russian and Chechen soldiers clearly are less keen to engage than the defenders. Indeed, being either Azov or tarred with being Azov, I am sure that many of the defenders will consider death in battle far preferable to capture.
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'
One time, indeed just about first time I attempted to use technology to actually make a reservation, I failed upward.
Had a pre-paid UK phone card, purchased in London for purpose of calling youth hostel in Bologna reserve a space. But when I tried to use it, could not get through. Found out later that the're been disruption of service for some reason - the only damn day I ever wanted to use it.
So trundled on up to Stanstead, where I learned my Ryan Air flight to "Bologna" was actually headed to Forli.
While standing in line to board, met an Italian/British couple he called the hostel for me. Turned out they were full up. "Don't worry," he said as we boarded the plane, "we'll think of something."
He ended up calling ahead, got me a cheap but decent hotel room in Forli - after negotiating me a cheaper rate.
That's what I call la dolce vita. BTW spent that night a) watching hilariously-dubbed version of "The Longest Day" on Italian tv; and b) reading "The Making of the Prime Minister 1964" by Anthony Howard, a really great book IF you're a political junkie.
And on the issue of the day, fish and chips, in all its battered, oily, greasy glory is a fantastic meal. Once a year. More than that is too much.
Geales out of choice for me pre-pandemic but I see it has now closed its doors for good.
Used to be a great New School chippy on Parkway, Camden.
Hook.
Also closed by the demic
In travel news, I am in Izmir. My informed advice: never go to Izmir
Was briefly Greek under the Treaty of Sevres, 1920, until the Turks drove them out in 1922.
Was longly Greek 688-133BC, as Smyrna. Zero remains though.
A lot of the local population is actually still of Ionian Greek origin, but long since converted to Islam, and not likely to respond well to questions on the whys and wherefores of their Greek origin. It was the Ionian heartland, like Chios opposite.
Today i learned about Afro-Turks (having seen some black people on my plane into Izmir, speaking pure Turkish, which made me confused). They mainly live in Izmir, and predominantly descend from the Ottoman slave trade
This is what’s so frustrating about Izmir. It has a magnificently plural history (for good or bad) but it looks like a notably poorer part of West Bromwich (apart from the sea)
I am determined to find better things tomorrow. There are said to be brilliant remnants of this 5000 year history, if you look REALLY HARD
Izmir (or Smyrna) has a history of conflict not unlike parts of Ukraine.
It's exactly a century since the Turkish Army burnt out the Greek and Armenian populations, killing between 10k and 100k of them. The population of the city halved between 1918 and 1927.
(For context, this was at the end of a Graeco-Turkish war.)
It began four days after the Turkish military captured the city on 9 September, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War, more than three years after the landing of Greek army troops at Smyrna on 15 May 1919. Estimated Greek and Armenian deaths resulting from the fire range from 10,000 to 125,000.
Approximately 80,000 to 400,000 Greek and Armenian refugees crammed the waterfront to escape from the fire. They were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly two weeks. Turkish troops and irregulars had started committing massacres and atrocities against the Greek and Armenian population in the city before the outbreak of the fire. Many women were raped. Tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian men were subsequently deported into the interior of Anatolia, where most of them died in harsh conditions.
"Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ Crunching data for book. % of state school pupils getting place at British uni by ethnicity, 2021
Chinese 72% Asian 55% Black 49% Other 48% Mixed 41% White 33%
White pupils had lowest entry rate, 2007-21 but Black pupils had biggest rate rise 2006-21, 22% -> 49% 8:33 pm · 31 Mar 2022"
This, if really true, is a fascinating piece of data. But it is extremely hard to analyse objectively what it means.
From the point of view of this white, northern, robust, high employment levels, working class industrial town where everyone goes to the same state comp which hes a reasonably formidable reputation for getting pupils into Oxbridge etc but also a high rate of leavers at 16, pupils with zero paper qualifications I suggest this:
Lots more white (than other ethnicities) 16-22s of all classes, especially real working class, have obvious opportunities for doing exactly as they like - proper job, staying local, being where white van man is king, mates you have always known - without thinking about higher education and a £50k+ debt.
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.
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.
Milton Keynes is of course the classic trap. You enter a network of identical roundabouts connected by identical roads. With luck you end up at your destination but rarely understanding how you got there.
Had a nap after work so I don't know if this has been posted.
Pundit Gevorg Mirzayan on Bucha:
"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations. [They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness"
Much though I would like it to be true a 50% reduction in SNP support seems....unlikely.
Yes, hardly a 50% drop. The two Scottish polls earlier do however both suggest that something is happening in terms of an SNP->Lab shift. The gap is still very large, but Sarwar seems to have a respectable rating and if Labour can pick up a few points more, seats will start to fall.
It surely depends where the increased Lab vote is coming from. If they are winning back trad voters from SNP in Central Belt, while Tory vote stays solid in NE and South, then SNP could be squeezed from both directions. This happened, to some extent, in 2017 when SNP lost 20 seats. If its just a transfer of Unionist voters back from Tory to Lab then its not going to change things very much.
Yep. Combined Unionist vote on last 5 Survation polls:
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.
Not had much to do with the Cambridge ring road, but Coventry still brings out a cold sweat. When I moved there I drove round it at night three times to try to get to grips. It’s the only road I know where you are meant to use the outside line unless entering/exiting. Hard to get used to when you are told to keep left everywhere else.
I live 40 minutes from MK and have been there numerous times. I will not enter without sat nav on as the roads and roundabouts look so similar that it is very easy to get lost. Having said that, there is order to them with their names and the grid structure they broadly follow.
It is also incredibly well setup for cycling with separate bike paths everywhere. There is also almost every kind of activity that you can think of there. From snow domes to rock climbing. Far worse places to live I imagine.
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.
Milton Keynes is of course the classic trap. You enter a network of identical roundabouts connected by identical roads. With luck you end up at your destination but rarely understanding how you got there.
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).
I hope @MrEd hasn't been driven off here too, another one who people have been just horrible to.
The entertaining posters get driven off and others come back with new user names. (Not that I'd know which column to put MrEd in). Why would someone change their username?
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.
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.
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.
Me too. I also enjoy the planning, the anticipation.
Nothing against those who want to just find somewhere to stay once they arrive though - each to their own.
I did it for a month around Sydney and Melbourne back in 2017.
Great fun and variety - varied from a suite high in the Sydney Hilton with a bridge view on the "free night with our Hilton credit card" offer to a dodgy 'room' over a gambling den.
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’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.
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.
Milton Keynes is of course the classic trap. You enter a network of identical roundabouts connected by identical roads. With luck you end up at your destination but rarely understanding how you got there.
I just take the train
I've just been planning a trip to Vienna & Salzburg by train next spring using the excellent Man in Seat Sixty-One website. :-)
Had a nap after work so I don't know if this has been posted.
Pundit Gevorg Mirzayan on Bucha:
"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations. [They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness"
According to the BBC, Boris Johnson was given the "wrong information" over whether parties were held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
And all of a sudden there's an excuse for making the underlings 'responsible'.
That is course, until Johnson himself gets an FPN.
I see they haven’t given up insulting our intelligence.
JRM has never faced a consequence for treating people like idiots, so long as he remains rich and can pretend he is being polite about it - one of those people who thinks maintaining civility is the be all and end all of treating people with respect.
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.
Which is why the Ukrainians have sacked the leaders of Kherson
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.
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,
Edit: DNA was a student there in the 1970s. Has the one-way system been abandoned or the area demolished/redeveloped (e.g. Grafton Centre)?
1977 -- Restricted access to St Andrews Street, Trumpington St/King's Parade.
1981-83 -- Kite redevelopment to build the Grafton Centre.
1992 -- Ban on traffic in triangle of Trinity St, Market St, Sidney St (except for access).
1997 -- Barriers on Thompson's Lane.
1999 -- Restricted access to Emmanuel Rd, Parker St, Park Parade (except for access).
2002 -- Silver St restricted access. (Man killed in 2006 by the rising bollards).
So, DNA's Cambridge road system from the early 1970s has long, long gone.
In general, Cambridge City Council should have acted much earlier -- but there was a vast non-resident shoppers' lobby within the Cambridgeshire County Council. Out of towners wanted to be able to park to go to Eaden Lilley and Joshua Taylor (both now gone).
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.
In olden times hotels seemed less concerned to try and always be full, and the cost of the room was the cost of the room. Nowadays with dynamic pricing, at best turning up unbooked will cost you more and at worst you’ll have to go from hotel to hotel and take what you can find.
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
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.
Why Farage ?
He's never been in government.
Why don't you concentrate on the likes of Schroeder and Merkel or in this country Osborne and Mandelson.
Here's the George Osborne who so many PBers shake their pompoms for:
UK Chancellor George Osborne has been praised by Chinese state media for focusing on business ahead of human rights during his visit to Xinjiang.
The Global Times said he was "the first Western official in recent years who focused on business potential rather than raising a magnifying glass to the 'human rights issue'".
Conservative MPs who have called the UK to take a tougher stance against China have been described by George Osborne as “hotheads” who should be “careful what you wish for”.
The former Chancellor, one of the architects of David Cameron’s government’s “golden era” of relations with Beijing, hit out at backbench critics of the Prime Minister’s new foreign and defence strategy.
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.
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).
Comments
Yes 47%
No 53%
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1511049569450303496?s=20&t=XduXeXEJZGSqBL1v661hPw
Yes now polling worse in Scotland than Le Pen is in France
@GoodwinMJ
Crunching data for book. % of state school pupils getting place at British uni by ethnicity, 2021
Chinese 72%
Asian 55%
Black 49%
Other 48%
Mixed 41%
White 33%
White pupils had lowest entry rate, 2007-21 but Black pupils had biggest rate rise 2006-21, 22% -> 49%
8:33 pm · 31 Mar 2022"
And that's pretty fricking stupid...
But it gets harder. One of the big differences between 2017 and 2019 was that in 2017 no one thought Corbyn had a chance so he basically got a free pass for his delusions. When people thought he had a chance in 2019 they looked a bit more critically and things fell apart. Having made Labour competitive SKS will now get that scrutiny. I am not completely convinced he or his party are ready for that yet.
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.
Not only has zahar got the coolest hair but he plays like best footballer in the world.
Happy memories cycling along the Great Glen...
Westminster voting intention:
LAB: 42% (+5)
CON: 36% (+1)
LDEM: 9% (-)
GRN: 4% (-1)
REF: 3% (-2)
via @RedfieldWilton, 03 Apr
Chgs. w/ 27 Mar
Oxford's road system is much easier: they don't let you in unless you are a bus, so use the Park and Ride.
It’ll be interesting to see if anyone who gets a fpn challenges it, or refuses to pay. Burden off proof and all that.
British Chinese pupils well out in front on GCSE results and getting a place at university
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/11-to-16-years-old/gcse-results-attainment-8-for-children-aged-14-to-16-key-stage-4/latest
White students got the highest percentage of first class degrees at University though
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/higher-education/undergraduate-degree-results/latest
I think these chap's might want to think about Occam's razor in these situations.
I say that as the scariest thing is I think many of these types believe what they say.
“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 wonder if the footage of the war crimes/genocide in Ukraine is having an impact with voters.
Taveris built like he should be a brilliant footballer, has he only really been involved in football for a few months is that why he plays like this?
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,
Edit: DNA was a student there in the 1970s. Has the one-way system been abandoned or the area demolished/redeveloped (e.g. Grafton Centre)?
The idea of going on a trip abroad without having accommodation arranged in advance for every night would just stress me out.
I agree. I cannot fathom how anyone thinks he is a great songwriter.
I do wonder if the Russians have now agreed to the humanitarian convoys out, partly in the hope that the people fighting in the city will also leave with them?
If you do click on the link then be warned. It is truly awful.
We were 14.
Petrol stations all sold out around me. Is this a Leicester thing, or national?
Love that in Scotland you can choose between unionist carrots and nationalist carrots
https://twitter.com/lijukic/status/1511013465951019010?cxt=HHwWhIC9jbuvmfgpAAAA
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.
World War 3 by focus group.
We are in frightening times.
Had a pre-paid UK phone card, purchased in London for purpose of calling youth hostel in Bologna reserve a space. But when I tried to use it, could not get through. Found out later that the're been disruption of service for some reason - the only damn day I ever wanted to use it.
So trundled on up to Stanstead, where I learned my Ryan Air flight to "Bologna" was actually headed to Forli.
While standing in line to board, met an Italian/British couple he called the hostel for me. Turned out they were full up. "Don't worry," he said as we boarded the plane, "we'll think of something."
He ended up calling ahead, got me a cheap but decent hotel room in Forli - after negotiating me a cheaper rate.
That's what I call la dolce vita. BTW spent that night a) watching hilariously-dubbed version of "The Longest Day" on Italian tv; and b) reading "The Making of the Prime Minister 1964" by Anthony Howard, a really great book IF you're a political junkie.
What is that. 41 days between the two photos.
https://twitter.com/LucasfilmGames/status/1510995979448688645?t=SgCzgNpzNQoRHtA5HOVqoQ&s=19
It's exactly a century since the Turkish Army burnt out the Greek and Armenian populations, killing between 10k and 100k of them. The population of the city halved between 1918 and 1927.
(For context, this was at the end of a Graeco-Turkish war.)
It began four days after the Turkish military captured the city on 9 September, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War, more than three years after the landing of Greek army troops at Smyrna on 15 May 1919. Estimated Greek and Armenian deaths resulting from the fire range from 10,000 to 125,000.
Approximately 80,000 to 400,000 Greek and Armenian refugees crammed the waterfront to escape from the fire. They were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly two weeks. Turkish troops and irregulars had started committing massacres and atrocities against the Greek and Armenian population in the city before the outbreak of the fire. Many women were raped. Tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian men were subsequently deported into the interior of Anatolia, where most of them died in harsh conditions.
The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city; the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Smyrna
From the point of view of this white, northern, robust, high employment levels, working class industrial town where everyone goes to the same state comp which hes a reasonably formidable reputation for getting pupils into Oxbridge etc but also a high rate of leavers at 16, pupils with zero paper qualifications I suggest this:
Lots more white (than other ethnicities) 16-22s of all classes, especially real working class, have obvious opportunities for doing exactly as they like - proper job, staying local, being where white van man is king, mates you have always known - without thinking about higher education and a £50k+ debt.
Convention suggests they are wrong. They are not.
People think. This government needs hoying oot.
Only one way to do that.
Nothing against those who want to just find somewhere to stay once they arrive though - each to their own.
Combined Unionist vote on last 5 Survation polls:
52%
49%
50%
51%
50%
It is also incredibly well setup for cycling with separate bike paths everywhere. There is also almost every kind of activity that you can think of there. From snow domes to rock climbing. Far worse places to live I imagine.
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.
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.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/twaj6n/ukrainian_mothers_are_writing_their_family/
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.
Great fun and variety - varied from a suite high in the Sydney Hilton with a bridge view on the "free night with our Hilton credit card" offer to a dodgy 'room' over a gambling den.
https://twitter.com/elintnews/status/1511059265905172485?s=21&t=HFvMw5radvxw2h73Fq5J4g
https://www.seat61.com
After the committee vote, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will move to discharge the nomination of Judge Jackson and send it to the Senate floor.
The discharge vote on the floor could happen around 5:30-630 p.m. ET, according to GOP Sen. John Thune’s office.
https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ketanji-brown-jackson-confirmation-vote-senate-committee/index.html
2002 is *not* pre internet (unless you were standing on your head in a bucket for
1025+ 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.
1981-83 -- Kite redevelopment to build the Grafton Centre.
1992 -- Ban on traffic in triangle of Trinity St, Market St, Sidney St (except for access).
1997 -- Barriers on Thompson's Lane.
1999 -- Restricted access to Emmanuel Rd, Parker St, Park Parade (except for access).
2002 -- Silver St restricted access. (Man killed in 2006 by the rising bollards).
So, DNA's Cambridge road system from the early 1970s has long, long gone.
In general, Cambridge City Council should have acted much earlier -- but there was a vast non-resident shoppers' lobby within the Cambridgeshire County Council. Out of towners wanted to be able to park to go to Eaden Lilley and Joshua Taylor (both now gone).
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
https://twitter.com/JazeeraBernard/status/1509611509466468352
He's never been in government.
Why don't you concentrate on the likes of Schroeder and Merkel or in this country Osborne and Mandelson.
Here's the George Osborne who so many PBers shake their pompoms for:
UK Chancellor George Osborne has been praised by Chinese state media for focusing on business ahead of human rights during his visit to Xinjiang.
The Global Times said he was "the first Western official in recent years who focused on business potential rather than raising a magnifying glass to the 'human rights issue'".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34356097
And this is him a year ago:
Conservative MPs who have called the UK to take a tougher stance against China have been described by George Osborne as “hotheads” who should be “careful what you wish for”.
The former Chancellor, one of the architects of David Cameron’s government’s “golden era” of relations with Beijing, hit out at backbench critics of the Prime Minister’s new foreign and defence strategy.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/integrated-review-tories-new-cold-war-china-hotheads-george-osborne-917981
Already some Putin friendly leaders are laying the groundwork to remain on his side.