Read this interview with Karaganov (reliable bellwether of 🇷🇺ruling elite majority consensus).
If afterwards you still harbor any illusions about sustainable negotiated settlement with Putin's Kremlin on European security order read it again. And again.
That interview is both worrying and hilarious in equal measure. Are the Russian leadership really that deluded?
It's interesting how such a massive 'intellect' ignores his country's repeated actions against Ukraine and the west.
This quote was also good: "First, Russians have a core gene of sovereignty." Yet, by his own words, other eastern European countries cannot have sovereignty; they need to be ruled by Russia, directly or indirectly.
He calls NATO a cancer. The real cancer is people like him and his chums in Putin's regime. The cancer needs removing. Preferably ending in trial at the Hague.
I disagree very slightly on the point of no oneupmanship between european nations. If it's in the sense of competing with one another to offer more, egging each other on to not let up, it's useful. But not sniping at one another.
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I’d vote for neither.
But then I’m not French. I go easy on the snails and frog legs.
You are asking us to choose with our UK understanding of things something we don’t understand? A different history producing different camps. Different borders and history with Germany? A more Nationalistic mindset than UK? Easier for African economic immigrants to get into France the UK? Why should they think and vote like us?
Rumours that a Russian column has been destroyed on the way to Izyum. One wonders how keen they actually are to get to the Donbass.
There's a hell of a lot of top end Ruskie-killing kit moving east from Kyiv....
Seems we are sending anti ship missiles which I assume are to defend Odessa
This is de facto arming of Ukraine by the UK and I do support it and hope it is expanded further by NATO as a whole
Still major questions about Mr Johnson's promise of those missiles. The UK doesn't have any in service that can be launched from the shore as they are, because you need the radar and electronics to point the missiles in the right direction. The Navy has just stopped using one type on its ships (which, NB, have the radar on them). It's possible that the missiles can be added to a similar type the Danes use which is apparently alreadu set up for land use, but otherwise, it's not at all clear whether those missiles are available at all or if some have to be built.
There are questions, but as far as I'm aware we've been fairly honest about our deliveries to Ukraine; delivering what we said we would. Unlike, say, Germany.
If we say we're going to deliver the capability, I'd be willing to assume we'd do so. We'll learn the answers to those questions soon enough...
Oh yes! I did wince when I saw the PM on his own with Mr Z. I did wonder what promises he was making without his handlers ...
Jack Higgins memorial post.
BJ had to be persuaded not to cosplay this for his Kyiv away day. It was only when it was pointed out this was in fact Fallschirmjäger Oberst Kurt Steiner that he desisted.
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
My cousin's son is a Fg Off in the RAF so he's probably making about 35k. The silly sod has just bunned up his pawg gf and she wants to buy a house. For duty reasons he has to live close to Brize-Norton and average house price around there seems to be about 400k! WTF is he supposed to do? The answer in his case is leave as soon as his return of service is up and go to Qatar Airways but that isn't a universally accessible solution. Young people are getting absolutely fucked.
Did there used to be housing on the base...?
There still is but his gf won't live somewhere that is reminiscent of Stan and Hilda Ogden's house without the muriel.
Don't recall it as like that, TBH. Anyway, he soon got posted and she, plus child, was whisked off to Canada.
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
Some peple seem to think it was easy to get on the property ladder in the 70's , it was far from it. You had to have saved with building societies for years before you were considered, amount you could borrow was severely limited to your salary etc. and interest rates were high and so people who managed it had peanuts left to live on. Envy is a terrible thing and many many people from then are living still in rented sub standard properties.
Presumably this is bad for Macron and Melenchon (and good for Le Pen)?
Where did those numbers come form? I thought that 'numbers' any numbers including allusions to tern out, could not be released till after poles close? so I doubt its official numbers, I suppose that there could be a private company doing an 'Exit pole' style serve that is released internationally but not in France until poles close, but that would seem to be, cutting very close to braking the law if not actually braking French law?
I’ve seen french outlets reporting turn-out so I presumed THAT is legal? Also it’s very hard to stop people simply observing how big the queues for the voting booths might be
However, I am in Turkey so perhaps this is French agencies reporting OUTSIDE France, thus evading the law?
We need a French political expert
The Department of the Interior releases turnout figures by department at 12:00 and 17:00, so all the numbers you’re seeing are official.
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I guess...maybe Le Pen, purely on the grounds that presumably she's moderated many of her positions and so has closer to mainstream support on some issues?
Read this interview with Karaganov (reliable bellwether of 🇷🇺ruling elite majority consensus).
If afterwards you still harbor any illusions about sustainable negotiated settlement with Putin's Kremlin on European security order read it again. And again.
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
Some peple seem to think it was easy to get on the property ladder in the 70's , it was far from it. You had to have saved with building societies for years before you were considered, amount you could borrow was severely limited to your salary etc. and interest rates were high and so people who managed it had peanuts left to live on. Envy is a terrible thing and many many people from then are living still in rented sub standard properties.
Late 60's/early 70's was probably best for house-buying. However, you could only quote one salary.
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
Some peple seem to think it was easy to get on the property ladder in the 70's , it was far from it. You had to have saved with building societies for years before you were considered, amount you could borrow was severely limited to your salary etc. and interest rates were high and so people who managed it had peanuts left to live on. Envy is a terrible thing and many many people from then are living still in rented sub standard properties.
Late 60's/early 70's was probably best for house-buying. However, you could only quote one salary.
Wasn't it 3x the higher one and 1 x the lower for a couple? But I may be thinking of the late 1980s when I bought my first house.
Read this interview with Karaganov (reliable bellwether of 🇷🇺ruling elite majority consensus).
If afterwards you still harbor any illusions about sustainable negotiated settlement with Putin's Kremlin on European security order read it again. And again.
As he says, war with West looks more inevitable as each day goes by.
Hope to God he is wrong.
Given an increase in NATO activity and membership was a pretty predictable outcome of Russia invading Ukraine, even though one of their many stupid reasons was purportedly wanting to prevent further NATO expansion, it is tempting to believe Putin in fact wanted that to happen. That he decided to go full Belarus, none of this partial relations with the West businss. That he'd tried for ages to paint the situation as Russia vs the West, but it was not really working, so he has made it true at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, since now people in Russia really are isolated and targeted by the West.
Agree with TSE. I'm one of the majority who believe restrictions were lifted too soon. In fact I think we've gone crackers on this. But then, we didn't bring in restrictions fast enough either. The NHS is on its knees right now and so are other industries. As a friend of mine comments, 'the country has gone to the dogs.' Not a reference to Big Dog.
And now of course without free LFT's we've no knowledge of the real figures, which just perpetuates the fear. Johnson is an f-ing idiot.
Speaking of which, he must be cross not to command the front pages. I'm surprised. Only The Observer and Express lead with his photo op trip to Ukraine.
When everyone knows that Johnson's life is just one giant ego trip even newspapers as crass as the Sun and Mail baulk at being sucked into it
What on earth are you going to do when he wins GE24
At least he’ll have the comfort of knowing he didn’t vote for him. The self justifying reasons of those who did will be quite the sight.
My estimate of top 5:
Vaccines We can’t trust the party of Corbyn The sanctity of M&S changing rooms Ukraine BJ may be a FLSOJ but he likes a laff
The vaccines didn't make much difference in the end did they? The UK was about in the middle of the European averages on deaths and economic fuckedness.
If you are saying the early production and distribution of the vaccines I would tend to agree. We were only a few months ahead of Europe and they largely caught up by the first booster. If you are saying the vaccines at all then I would seriously disagree. It is the vaccines that are allowing us to live something like a normal life, even if there are deaths and illness along the way.
What this shows, in my view, is that the question asked in the header is really meaningless. In the overall scheme of things waiting another 4-5 months before lifting the restrictions would have had a minimal impact on the consequential deaths, not least because compliance was clearly waning. The economic damage would have been greater but again, in fairness, would probably have been lost in the noise.
The delusion that there was some exact time to go into lockdown, come out of lockdown, start wearing masks, stop wearing masks, allowing large social events, not allowing them, even with hindsight let alone at the time, is one of the more bizarre aspects of this pandemic. The assumptions underlying these contentions are legion and almost completely unvouched.
We never got close to the NHS collapsing. You can argue on that basis we were locked down far too much. On the other hand the pandemic had a cumulative effect on the NHS that we are still living with and if we had locked down more this might not be quite so bad now. I very much doubt that another 3 months one way or the other would change that.
Presumably this is bad for Macron and Melenchon (and good for Le Pen)?
IMAGINE THE HILARITY if Macron does not make the last two
Who would PB-ers vote for in a Melenchon v Le Pen run off?
That’s really tricky. If it wasn’t for Putin I’d go for Le Pen, but Putin is there, and her victory would encourage and galvanize him: yuk
But as far as I can see Melenchon is as mad as Corbyn, and possibly more dangerous, and it is arguable that a Melenchon victory would please Putin even more, as Melenchon is even less keen on NATO than Le Pen, plus Melenchon would fuck the economy
So I’d go for Le Pen, I guess
What would others do?
I don't know much about Melenchon. He might be mostly in line with my way of thinking, and not as mad as Corbyn. But if I accept your premise that he'd be as bad as Le Pen, then I'd work out what I'd need to do to help make sure neither of them won a majority in the National Assembly elections.
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I’d vote for neither.
But then I’m not French. I go easy on the snails and frog legs.
You are asking us to choose with our UK understanding of things something we don’t understand? A different history producing different camps. Different borders and history with Germany? A more Nationalistic mindset than UK? Easier for African economic immigrants to get into France the UK? Why should they think and vote like us?
Oh please, it's a game we all play whenever we comment about another country's politic. You've never commented on American politics, Canadian, French, etc? I don't buy it. And when we do we naturally, though mistakenly, will rely on our own frames of reference, and everyone does that too - I know plenty of Canadians for instance who presume British Left and Right wings must be totally analogous with their own versions, but as the USA shows they can be very different on some issues.
1st estimates of results will be projected by polling orgs & TV at 8pm Paris time when voting ends. These projections, usually very accurate, are NOT based on exit-polls which are illegal in 🇫🇷. They are based on weighted samples of actual votes cast in bellwether districts ENDS
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I’d vote for neither.
But then I’m not French. I go easy on the snails and frog legs.
You are asking us to choose with our UK understanding of things something we don’t understand? A different history producing different camps. Different borders and history with Germany? A more Nationalistic mindset than UK? Easier for African economic immigrants to get into France the UK? Why should they think and vote like us?
Oh please, it's a game we all play whenever we comment about another country's politic. You've never commented on American politics, Canadian, French, etc? I don't buy it. And when we do we naturally, though mistakenly, will rely on our own frames of reference, and everyone does that too - I know plenty of Canadians for instance who presume British Left and Right wings must be totally analogous with their own versions, but as the USA shows they can be very different on some issues.
Rubbish post from you Kle. Commenting on and voting for are two completely different things.
On the visit by the PM to Kyiv and the support for Ukraine, it seems to me that the problem for some people is that the narrative was wrong.
France and Germany should have been right and the UK Government should have been wrong.
In the event, the UK government policy has proven to be right and the original policies of France and Germany to be wrong.
To repeat a favourite quote - when Foch was asked if he was responsible for the Victory on the Marne, in WWI, he paused and replied that he was quite certain that he would have been blamed for the defeat.
Delusion, people know that UK was the laundry for Russia and its crooks, doubtful if France and Germany got anywhere near them for sucking up Russian cash. At least France and Germany were paying for goods not taking backhanders.
Paying for goods to the current Russian government is *giving* backhanders.
That's how Putinism works - the Thieves By Statute get to steal 10-20% off the top of every deal. Putin gets a cut.
In addition, a number of European politicians were quite openly receiving "consultancy" jobs etc from Russia state enterprising. Schroeder was simply the most shameless.
The Nord Stream 2 project was all about being able to sell gas to Western Europe, while being able to cut off Eastern Europe at whim. It was quite explicitly selling Eastern Europe (including Ukraine) to Russia.
Yes but as I said at least they were buying something rather than just taking cash
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
Some peple seem to think it was easy to get on the property ladder in the 70's , it was far from it. You had to have saved with building societies for years before you were considered, amount you could borrow was severely limited to your salary etc. and interest rates were high and so people who managed it had peanuts left to live on. Envy is a terrible thing and many many people from then are living still in rented sub standard properties.
Late 60's/early 70's was probably best for house-buying. However, you could only quote one salary.
Wasn't it 3x the higher one and 1 x the lower for a couple? But I may be thinking of the late 1980s when I bought my first house.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I’d vote for neither.
But then I’m not French. I go easy on the snails and frog legs.
You are asking us to choose with our UK understanding of things something we don’t understand? A different history producing different camps. Different borders and history with Germany? A more Nationalistic mindset than UK? Easier for African economic immigrants to get into France the UK? Why should they think and vote like us?
Oh please, it's a game we all play whenever we comment about another country's politic. You've never commented on American politics, Canadian, French, etc? I don't buy it. And when we do we naturally, though mistakenly, will rely on our own frames of reference, and everyone does that too - I know plenty of Canadians for instance who presume British Left and Right wings must be totally analogous with their own versions, but as the USA shows they can be very different on some issues.
Rubbish post from you Kle. Commenting on and voting for are two completely different things.
It's a hypothetical vote, thus not actually serious, and so no different to commenting, since if we actually had skin in the game we'd behave differently.
Lighten up. Take your comment at face value and no one should ever say 'I would vote X over Y' about any country but their own since we only have a 'UK udnerstanding of things something we don't understand'. Where's the interest or fun in just performing a gallic shrug about everything because of the astounding insight that other countries are other countries?
I simply do not buy that even you have never, for example, said something like 'I would never vote for Trump' on the basis that you could not choose with your UK understanding.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Rumours that a Russian column has been destroyed on the way to Izyum. One wonders how keen they actually are to get to the Donbass.
There's a hell of a lot of top end Ruskie-killing kit moving east from Kyiv....
Seems we are sending anti ship missiles which I assume are to defend Odessa
This is de facto arming of Ukraine by the UK and I do support it and hope it is expanded further by NATO as a whole
Still major questions about Mr Johnson's promise of those missiles. The UK doesn't have any in service that can be launched from the shore as they are, because you need the radar and electronics to point the missiles in the right direction. The Navy has just stopped using one type on its ships (which, NB, have the radar on them). It's possible that the missiles can be added to a similar type the Danes use which is apparently alreadu set up for land use, but otherwise, it's not at all clear whether those missiles are available at all or if some have to be built.
There are questions, but as far as I'm aware we've been fairly honest about our deliveries to Ukraine; delivering what we said we would. Unlike, say, Germany.
If we say we're going to deliver the capability, I'd be willing to assume we'd do so. We'll learn the answers to those questions soon enough...
Yes I implicitly trust Johnson and his cronies, just look at all those Ukranian refugees we have taken in NOT after all the promises made
Agree with TSE. I'm one of the majority who believe restrictions were lifted too soon. In fact I think we've gone crackers on this. But then, we didn't bring in restrictions fast enough either. The NHS is on its knees right now and so are other industries. As a friend of mine comments, 'the country has gone to the dogs.' Not a reference to Big Dog.
And now of course without free LFT's we've no knowledge of the real figures, which just perpetuates the fear. Johnson is an f-ing idiot.
Speaking of which, he must be cross not to command the front pages. I'm surprised. Only The Observer and Express lead with his photo op trip to Ukraine.
When everyone knows that Johnson's life is just one giant ego trip even newspapers as crass as the Sun and Mail baulk at being sucked into it
What on earth are you going to do when he wins GE24
At least he’ll have the comfort of knowing he didn’t vote for him. The self justifying reasons of those who did will be quite the sight.
My estimate of top 5:
Vaccines We can’t trust the party of Corbyn The sanctity of M&S changing rooms Ukraine BJ may be a FLSOJ but he likes a laff
The vaccines didn't make much difference in the end did they? The UK was about in the middle of the European averages on deaths and economic fuckedness.
If you are saying the early production and distribution of the vaccines I would tend to agree.
I meant vaccine performance relative to similar countries. I wasn't disputing the efficacy of the vaccines themselves. Though I still haven't had one or Covid as far as I know.
Off topic, I went round Charleston (https://www.charleston.org.uk/) with a friend yesterday and picked up a book which is focused on the people in the Bloomsbury Group more than the paintings and sculptures, amazing though some of them are. The sense of uninhibited curiosity and zeal to break boundaries is overpowering and mostly admirable, though some details gave me pause. One of the group, looking at a baby, says "I'm going to marry her when she grows up", and as the baby goes into her teens he starts asking her, and after several refusals she finally agrees at age 17 - and they have an apparently happy marriage. Euuu, not sure about any of that.
But the other thing is that they don't sound all that nice - to each other or to people outside the group. They are so busy breaking taboos and and creating that they seemingly don't have time for ordinary love and kindness. Or did they, and it just hasn't caught the eye of biographers as much as the art and the ideas? Do others here know more?
You are far from the first to find that there was an element in the intellectual gatherings of the nineteenth and early twentieth century (at least) that is rather self obsessed and rather lacking in compassion. The later often provides an interesting contrast to their apparent politics.
This lack of humanity can also be observed in the vaporings of some factions in what led to the French Revolution. And, indeed, the Russian Revolution....
I agree about French and Russian revolutionaries in general. But actually, the Bloomsbury Group seems very apolitical, especially for the frenzied times when it was at its peak. The only member with much of a political profile is Keynes, and he's criticised by the others for being involved in the WW1 war effort.
The political circle around the Fabian Society (the Webbs and so on) seem notably absent from the Bloomsbury group, and looking at the books at Charleston I noticed an almost complete absence of political books. Was there much interaction between the groups?
When I grew up in the late 60s, there was a real division between the political activists like me and the hippies who saw liberation in terms of personal freedom and introspection; we thought they were harmless but a distraction; they thought we were boring and conformist. I wonder if there was something similar in the Fabian/Bloomsbury relationship, even though they seem to have moved in similar intellectual circles? Do you recommend a more general book on the different schools of thought in the 30s?
If you are saying the early production and distribution of the vaccines I would tend to agree. We were only a few months ahead of Europe and they largely caught up by the first booster. If you are saying the vaccines at all then I would seriously disagree. It is the vaccines that are allowing us to live something like a normal life, even if there are deaths and illness along the way.
I don't know what the latest figure is but by last autumn the estimate was that vaccines had already saved something like 160,000 lives in the UK. They have made a huge difference to the severity of the disease, and a combination of backing multiple vaccines, early approval, fast rollout, stretched dosing interval (which was very controversial), bought, at an enormous cost, a lot of protection for the UK population just when we needed it. You only have to look at what happened in India with Delta to see what could have happened here without the vaccines arriving when they did.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
"Chancellor orders hunt for 'Red Throat' leaker of billionaire heiress wife's non-dom tax status as he moves family out of Downing St and friends say he might quit politics completely - while personal ratings plunge again
Rishi Sunak moves family out from No 11 flat amid public scrutiny over tax affairs Friends of the Chancellor said he considered quitting the Cabinet over backlash Opponents called on the White House to investigate his previous US green card US rules say card holders should not be 'employed by a foreign Government"
Presumably this is bad for Macron and Melenchon (and good for Le Pen)?
Where did those numbers come form? I thought that 'numbers' any numbers including allusions to tern out, could not be released till after poles close? so I doubt its official numbers, I suppose that there could be a private company doing an 'Exit pole' style serve that is released internationally but not in France until poles close, but that would seem to be, cutting very close to braking the law if not actually braking French law?
I’ve seen french outlets reporting turn-out so I presumed THAT is legal? Also it’s very hard to stop people simply observing how big the queues for the voting booths might be
However, I am in Turkey so perhaps this is French agencies reporting OUTSIDE France, thus evading the law?
We need a French political expert
The Department of the Interior releases turnout figures by department at 12:00 and 17:00, so all the numbers you’re seeing are official.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
The weather is very good across France so that shouldn’t effect turnout . The Paris figures are poor for Macron but there are also some poor showings for Le Pen favouring areas .
Also Ramadan could be effecting things in Paris so the pattern of when more people might turnout might change during the day .
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I genuinely think that is an impossible choice. Biden was self evidently useless but not insanely dangerous like his opponent. So Biden was an easy choice for all his faults. Both of these people are odious to an extreme but it is very hard to say who is worse. I would probably go Le Pen but I don't believe a word of her supposed new centrism.
"Chancellor orders hunt for 'Red Throat' leaker of billionaire heiress wife's non-dom tax status as he moves family out of Downing St and friends say he might quit politics completely - while personal ratings plunge again
Rishi Sunak moves family out from No 11 flat amid public scrutiny over tax affairs Friends of the Chancellor said he considered quitting the Cabinet over backlash Opponents called on the White House to investigate his previous US green card US rules say card holders should not be 'employed by a foreign Government"
"Chancellor orders hunt for 'Red Throat' leaker of billionaire heiress wife's non-dom tax status as he moves family out of Downing St and friends say he might quit politics completely - while personal ratings plunge again
Rishi Sunak moves family out from No 11 flat amid public scrutiny over tax affairs Friends of the Chancellor said he considered quitting the Cabinet over backlash Opponents called on the White House to investigate his previous US green card US rules say card holders should not be 'employed by a foreign Government"
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
Some peple seem to think it was easy to get on the property ladder in the 70's , it was far from it. You had to have saved with building societies for years before you were considered, amount you could borrow was severely limited to your salary etc. and interest rates were high and so people who managed it had peanuts left to live on. Envy is a terrible thing and many many people from then are living still in rented sub standard properties.
Late 60's/early 70's was probably best for house-buying. However, you could only quote one salary.
Wasn't it 3x the higher one and 1 x the lower for a couple? But I may be thinking of the late 1980s when I bought my first house.
Certainly only mine in the late 60's.
And mine
Actually my wife has not worked in the work sense since we married in 1964 though she did do some part time work in my businesses in the 1990s
Radio 4 trailer for 1pm news sounding very excited about possible upset in France
Well, exciting elections are more interesting, we yearn for them every time but are rarely given them.
I liked the comment someone made the other day that it might actually be better for Le Pen not to top the first round, as then people really might worry she would win and so help consolidate opposition to her better. I don't really buy that, I think her prospects are pretty locked in regardless, but it'd be good spin.
"Chancellor orders hunt for 'Red Throat' leaker of billionaire heiress wife's non-dom tax status as he moves family out of Downing St and friends say he might quit politics completely - while personal ratings plunge again
Rishi Sunak moves family out from No 11 flat amid public scrutiny over tax affairs Friends of the Chancellor said he considered quitting the Cabinet over backlash Opponents called on the White House to investigate his previous US green card US rules say card holders should not be 'employed by a foreign Government"
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I genuinely think that is an impossible choice. Biden was self evidently useless but not insanely dangerous like his opponent. So Biden was an easy choice for all his faults. Both of these people are odious to an extreme but it is very hard to say who is worse. I would probably go Le Pen but I don't believe a word of her supposed new centrism.
How is Melenchon dangerous exactly? At worst he'd turn out like Hollande and I can see him getting on well with Scholz despite differences on NATO.
My favoured outcome now is a Le Pen victory in France in the First Round, with Macron only just beating Melenchon, for maximum hilarity, angst, drama and bantz, but then - boringly - Macron just edging it, after everyone has crapped themselves
Because in the end a Le Pen victory is a bad thing, and a Macron victory is a less bad thing
More of them too! I’m sure they’re all welcomed by the Ukranians.
Interesting that Martlet is so inter-compatible with Starstreak (and it's guidance system) that they can be mounted on the same multiple launcher.
I’m sure the designers and manufacturers of all these weapons systems are very happy indeed, that they have proven so effective against exactly the enemy they would have been designed for, but never expected to actually face.
One of few good things to have come out of this war, is that the rest of the world can now see that Russian forces are a paper tiger against modern Western weaponry.
China will be taking note. We need to maintain technology gap over potential adversaries - that means review of academic links as well as commercial. Arms expenditure must also rise unfortunately.
Taiwan will also be taking note. Looks like the defenders need to spend $1 for each $1,000 the attackers need to spend. So a few billion $'s in defensive weapons orders coming right up....
Given that the Chinese are mostly using Russian kit, while the Taiwanese have US and French kit, the chances of invasion have to have diminished somewhat.
Crikey, not one of you is prepared to make the forced choice. Melenchon versus Le Pen
That is damnably effete
I'd vote Mélenchon over Le Pen for sure. I'd prefer Le Pen over Macron to win on entertainment grounds.
Well done that man
May I ask why? Is it your Inner Anarchist or some actual preference over policies?
Not seeking to troll. Genuinely curious.
This is a fun thought experiment
I'd prefer JLM over Madame Fasho on policy grounds particularly on green matters workers' rights and recognising the need to Ctrl-Alt-Del France with a 6th Republic.
The differences between MLP and EM are insignificant in policy terms (from the perspective of an ultra left eco-anarchist) as they are both slaves to capital so we may as well have the luridly amusing option.
My favoured outcome now is a Le Pen victory in France in the First Round, with Macron only just beating Melenchon, for maximum hilarity, angst, drama and bantz, but then - boringly - Macron just edging it, after everyone has crapped themselves
Because in the end a Le Pen victory is a bad thing, and a Macron victory is a less bad thing
The r4 bloke was sounding scoop-of-a-lifetime excited about his French news on WATO, if you can listen on Sounds app or whatever
Would you rather be beaten up by skinheads or the cops?
There is a right answer, by the way, and it applies by analogy in the Melenchon / Le Pen question too, if you can work it out.
On the basis the question suggests it will be beaten up and no more, I'd go for skinheads, as presumably they won't be able to arrest me and screw me over afterwards on top of the beating.
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
That's not quite true: the housing stock has increased by an awful lot in that period. But the number of households has increased much faster than the population.
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
That's not quite true: the housing stock has increased by an awful lot in that period. But the number of households has increased much faster than the population.
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I genuinely think that is an impossible choice. Biden was self evidently useless but not insanely dangerous like his opponent. So Biden was an easy choice for all his faults. Both of these people are odious to an extreme but it is very hard to say who is worse. I would probably go Le Pen but I don't believe a word of her supposed new centrism.
How is Melenchon dangerous exactly? At worst he'd turn out like Hollande and I can see him getting on well with Scholz despite differences on NATO.
He wants France to withdraw from NATO and broadly become pacifist. He claimed that Venezuela had a free election. He called the US and Iran equally responsible. He supported Putin's murderous campaign in Syria. He has come dangerously near to anti-Semitism.
For me, that makes him dangerous. But I would say the same about Le Pen. I really don't like Macron but I would obviously for him in preference to either of these.
Would you rather be beaten up by skinheads or the cops?
There is a right answer, by the way, and it applies by analogy in the Melenchon / Le Pen question too, if you can work it out.
On the basis the question suggests it will be beaten up and no more, I'd go for skinheads, as presumably they won't be able to arrest me and screw me over afterwards on top of the beating.
Yes. Better to be beaten up by skinheads because there's always a chance that the cops will come and save you. If the cops are beating you up, the skinheads probably aren't going to turn up and help you.
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I’d vote for neither.
But then I’m not French. I go easy on the snails and frog legs.
You are asking us to choose with our UK understanding of things something we don’t understand? A different history producing different camps. Different borders and history with Germany? A more Nationalistic mindset than UK? Easier for African economic immigrants to get into France the UK? Why should they think and vote like us?
Oh please, it's a game we all play whenever we comment about another country's politic. You've never commented on American politics, Canadian, French, etc? I don't buy it. And when we do we naturally, though mistakenly, will rely on our own frames of reference, and everyone does that too - I know plenty of Canadians for instance who presume British Left and Right wings must be totally analogous with their own versions, but as the USA shows they can be very different on some issues.
Rubbish post from you Kle. Commenting on and voting for are two completely different things.
It's a hypothetical vote, thus not actually serious, and so no different to commenting, since if we actually had skin in the game we'd behave differently.
Lighten up. Take your comment at face value and no one should ever say 'I would vote X over Y' about any country but their own since we only have a 'UK udnerstanding of things something we don't understand'. Where's the interest or fun in just performing a gallic shrug about everything because of the astounding insight that other countries are other countries?
I simply do not buy that even you have never, for example, said something like 'I would never vote for Trump' on the basis that you could not choose with your UK understanding.
You do like digging yourself deeper into your own hole don’t you? As someone replied, commenting and analysing is fair, not living in country to suffer consequences of a vote, is something else. 😤
Not living somewhere to suffer the consequence of a vote, that’s very different than discussing the platform and policy positions in other countries.
So, going back to my original post you said was complete rubbish, I stand by what I said - unless we feel French Nationalism, to be able to vote in French election you need to be socialised there to some degree, you’d need to feel it, an emotional element missing from what Leon is asking us to do. Do you see what I mean. I wouldn’t have a clue who to vote for in US or In Ireland or France or many other places around the world. But, this is my point, if I was born and brought up there it will be easy to choose, because I would feel it, I would feel my part in its history and future and it’s political tribes.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
This is not exactly new. Several years ago now the son of a friend was reduced to clearing. Nothing was available unless he was able to produce an English address and pay fees in which event the world was his oyster.
It would be fun to have a similar system in the UK. Johnson, Starmer, Sunak, Farage, Corbyn, Davey, Sturgeon (why not?), Truss, Rayner etc. all slugging it out in the first round. (Although, probably, it would still come back to Johnson v Starmer in R2.)
This is not exactly new. Several years ago now the son of a friend was reduced to clearing. Nothing was available unless he was able to produce an English address and pay fees in which event the world was his oyster.
And the freebie courses are Theology and Basket Weaving, not Law or Physics
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
That's not quite true: the housing stock has increased by an awful lot in that period. But the number of households has increased much faster than the population.
I haven't clicked through to the videos, but if you're saying it's the reduction in household size, then you're spot on imo. Demand has increased because people like living apart. It fashionable to say it's the fault of immigrants, but it's more true to say that people don't like living with their granny.
1st estimates of results will be projected by polling orgs & TV at 8pm Paris time when voting ends. These projections, usually very accurate, are NOT based on exit-polls which are illegal in 🇫🇷. They are based on weighted samples of actual votes cast in bellwether districts ENDS
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
That's not quite true: the housing stock has increased by an awful lot in that period. But the number of households has increased much faster than the population.
I haven't clicked through to the videos, but if you're saying it's the reduction in household size, then you're spot on imo. Demand has increased because people like living apart. It fashionable to say it's the fault of immigrants, but it's more true to say that people don't like living with their granny.
1st estimates of results will be projected by polling orgs & TV at 8pm Paris time when voting ends. These projections, usually very accurate, are NOT based on exit-polls which are illegal in 🇫🇷. They are based on weighted samples of actual votes cast in bellwether districts ENDS
I think that there is a good chance that 2 or even 3 candidates will be pretty close to each other, maybe 10ths of a percent. Is it really that accurate?
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
More of them too! I’m sure they’re all welcomed by the Ukranians.
Interesting that Martlet is so inter-compatible with Starstreak (and it's guidance system) that they can be mounted on the same multiple launcher.
I’m sure the designers and manufacturers of all these weapons systems are very happy indeed, that they have proven so effective against exactly the enemy they would have been designed for, but never expected to actually face.
One of few good things to have come out of this war, is that the rest of the world can now see that Russian forces are a paper tiger against modern Western weaponry.
All of Martlet, Starstreak and NLAWs are made by the former Shorts Missile Systems company unit in Belfast, now part of Thales I think.
It seems to be a pan-European sector company that is working reasonably well. AIUI because of effective guarantees for all the participating companies / countries.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
All gone now
Meanwhile, on your behalf, over lunch I'll ask my friend about the time she was sat on a beach in Hawaii with Frank Zappa and the UFOs appeared....
This is not exactly new. Several years ago now the son of a friend was reduced to clearing. Nothing was available unless he was able to produce an English address and pay fees in which event the world was his oyster.
And the freebie courses are Theology and Basket Weaving, not Law or Physics
Theology is an essential course. All young Scots need to learn of the blessed Nicola, the evil serpent cast from heaven and the promised land, which we are due to reach within a generation (or maybe 2).
On topic, COVID and NHS waiting lists won’t matter one bit.
“Will I and my children/grandchildren be better off under Labour?”
That’s the key question. I have no idea how the politicians will play it and how the public will react.
Grandchildren? That's a laugh when the client state voters put in place a government that repeatedly raise costs and taxes on the young and triple lock in their pensions. +2.5% for national insurance whilst promising to reduce income tax says it all.
I’ve made this point many times, but one of the things that made me think Labour were doing better in 2017 than many expected was what a 60-something in a pub told my dad.
He said “I’ve never voted Labour before, but I don’t want my granddaughters to be lumbered with huge debt from tuition fees.”
Scrapping tuition fees is popular with older voters, even if it doesn’t benefit them directly.
Of course, how you find that is another matter, but it doesn’t really matter. The old aren’t quite as selfish as PB makes them out to be.
So one bloke in a pub might have voted Labour five years ago.
Yet this generation of pensioners will be the richest ever and their grandchildren the first in many to be poorer than their parents. The pensioners think that is because they "worked hard all their lives" and that the young "are lazy and fickle". It is actually because of political choices the pensioners have made about where wealth is distributed in society.
Mrs C and I often think about how we were the 'lucky generation'. Or at least those a bit younger than us were. We were children in wartime and during rationing, which at least meant that our young teeth weren't corrupted with sugary drinks and sweets. We had free higher education, although it was assumed by the authorities that one's parents would pay maintenance (which wasn't always the case) I think those born in the late 40's probably did as well as any; 20 or so in the late 60's. Certainly tougher for our grandchildren.
The main reason it's tougher is because it's difficult to get on the property ladder, and the main reason for that is because the population has increased from 54 million to 68 million over the last 30 years or so. By contrast between roughly 1970 and 1990 it hardly increased at all.
That's not quite true: the housing stock has increased by an awful lot in that period. But the number of households has increased much faster than the population.
I haven't clicked through to the videos, but if you're saying it's the reduction in household size, then you're spot on imo. Demand has increased because people like living apart. It fashionable to say it's the fault of immigrants, but it's more true to say that people don't like living with their granny.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
All gone now
Red mullet is such a fine fish.
And best to have your finest meal on the last day, rather than the first.
My favoured outcome now is a Le Pen victory in France in the First Round, with Macron only just beating Melenchon, for maximum hilarity, angst, drama and bantz, but then - boringly - Macron just edging it, after everyone has crapped themselves
Because in the end a Le Pen victory is a bad thing, and a Macron victory is a less bad thing
The r4 bloke was sounding scoop-of-a-lifetime excited about his French news on WATO, if you can listen on Sounds app or whatever
Random fact, only 23 world leaders took up office before 2000. Given over a third of those are monarchs, that does at least say most of the old dictators have died or been removed by now. Often by other dictators, but still, any change at least gives possibility of improvement.
Edit: Several other newer leaders are not technically monarchs, but in reality might as well be as they inherit presidencies from their fathers.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
All gone now
Lol - looks like a a scene from Top Cat!
Fresh and grilled red mullet is a gift from God. Possibly my favourite fish - and I love fish
And when it is eaten in the Aegean sun with a crisp cold local white….
It’ll be interesting to see my bill. That was a genuinely superb meal. Everything was exactly right, down to the delicious olives, the cracked sea salt, the fresh baked crusty rustic bread. Simple Perfection
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I genuinely think that is an impossible choice. Biden was self evidently useless but not insanely dangerous like his opponent. So Biden was an easy choice for all his faults. Both of these people are odious to an extreme but it is very hard to say who is worse. I would probably go Le Pen but I don't believe a word of her supposed new centrism.
How is Melenchon dangerous exactly? At worst he'd turn out like Hollande and I can see him getting on well with Scholz despite differences on NATO.
He wants France to withdraw from NATO and broadly become pacifist. He claimed that Venezuela had a free election. He called the US and Iran equally responsible. He supported Putin's murderous campaign in Syria. He has come dangerously near to anti-Semitism.
For me, that makes him dangerous. But I would say the same about Le Pen. I really don't like Macron but I would obviously for him in preference to either of these.
Melenchon is the French Corbyn, even more left than Hollande was
Le Pen is the French Farage crosses with Nick Griffin, even if she has moderated her views a bit.
My favoured outcome now is a Le Pen victory in France in the First Round, with Macron only just beating Melenchon, for maximum hilarity, angst, drama and bantz, but then - boringly - Macron just edging it, after everyone has crapped themselves
Because in the end a Le Pen victory is a bad thing, and a Macron victory is a less bad thing
The r4 bloke was sounding scoop-of-a-lifetime excited about his French news on WATO, if you can listen on Sounds app or whatever
Crikey, not one of you is prepared to make the forced choice. Melenchon versus Le Pen
That is damnably effete
I'd need to have a think about which was most beneficial to the UK.
I think French politics are going into a measure turmoil as they come to terms with their recent history, now that M Macron has taken the lid off the pressure-cooker both on colonial history and economic reform.
Listening to the international coverage, France Profonde has some serious coming to terms with itself to do.
When performing seal Macron is the stable one, there's some reform to do.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
All gone now
Meanwhile, on your behalf, over lunch I'll ask my friend about the time she was sat on a beach in Hawaii with Frank Zappa and the UFOs appeared....
Read this interview with Karaganov (reliable bellwether of 🇷🇺ruling elite majority consensus).
If afterwards you still harbor any illusions about sustainable negotiated settlement with Putin's Kremlin on European security order read it again. And again.
As he says, war with West looks more inevitable as each day goes by.
Hope to God he is wrong.
Indeed. Anyone with eyes and honest evidence knows that war with the West is not just unwinnable for Russia, but could only end in rout for them, unless:
1. The Putinists are very confident that they can mobilize 5th columns to great effect, or they can bring in China on their side (no other ally would make a significant difference), OR 2. It goes nuclear.
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Wonderful red mullet plus local wine plus this superb Izmir version of Greek salad: with Turkish cheese and dill (so goes brilliantly with fish)
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
All gone now
Lol - looks like a a scene from Top Cat!
Fresh and grilled red mullet is a gift from God...
I don't doubt it.
Having just sent our nephew and niece off on their way after a (very) full English brunch cooked by yours truly, I can promise I will not be eating again for at least another few days*
(*A promise I will reneg on sometime later this evening when the leftover cheeseboard beckons.)
Crikey, not one of you is prepared to make the forced choice. Melenchon versus Le Pen
That is damnably effete
I'd need to have a think about which was most beneficial to the UK.
I think French politics are going into a measure turmoil as they come to terms with their recent history, now that M Macron has taken the lid off the pressure-cooker both on colonial history and economic reform.
Listening to the international coverage, France Profonde has some serious coming to terms with itself to do.
When performing seal Macron is the stable one, there's some reform to do.
Read this interview with Karaganov (reliable bellwether of 🇷🇺ruling elite majority consensus).
If afterwards you still harbor any illusions about sustainable negotiated settlement with Putin's Kremlin on European security order read it again. And again.
As he says, war with West looks more inevitable as each day goes by.
Hope to God he is wrong.
Indeed. Anyone with eyes and honest evidence knows that war with the West is not just unwinnable for Russia, but could only end in rout for them, unless:
1. The Putinists are very confident that they can mobilize 5th columns to great effect, or they can bring in China on their side (no other ally would make a significant difference), OR 2. It goes nuclear.
The danger is he mentions continued NATO military supplies to Ukraine could see a Russian hit on the line of communication. That is where the danger would be
More of them too! I’m sure they’re all welcomed by the Ukranians.
Interesting that Martlet is so inter-compatible with Starstreak (and it's guidance system) that they can be mounted on the same multiple launcher.
I’m sure the designers and manufacturers of all these weapons systems are very happy indeed, that they have proven so effective against exactly the enemy they would have been designed for, but never expected to actually face.
One of few good things to have come out of this war, is that the rest of the world can now see that Russian forces are a paper tiger against modern Western weaponry.
China will be taking note. We need to maintain technology gap over potential adversaries - that means review of academic links as well as commercial. Arms expenditure must also rise unfortunately.
Taiwan will also be taking note. Looks like the defenders need to spend $1 for each $1,000 the attackers need to spend. So a few billion $'s in defensive weapons orders coming right up....
Given that the Chinese are mostly using Russian kit, while the Taiwanese have US and French kit, the chances of invasion have to have diminished somewhat.
What land-based anti-ship missiles does Taiwan have? Perhaps they can field test them in Odesa to see if they are fit for purpose?
Poor turnout in Paris will have the Macron camp worried .
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
What's the weather like. I know I could look, but lunch is ready, there's a glass of a nice Sicilian red waiting for me.
Black pudding and egg sandwich and some hipster pale ale for me ...
Local beef and simply enormous Yorkshires at the local pub after a walk for me.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
Come on don't tease. Since none of us know her you could share 'some of the most interesting things' about her. Given the things you have mentioned, they must be pretty amazing!
Which do you choose? Just abstaining or spoiling your ballot is leaving this invidious choice to others, which is somewhat lame
I genuinely think that is an impossible choice. Biden was self evidently useless but not insanely dangerous like his opponent. So Biden was an easy choice for all his faults. Both of these people are odious to an extreme but it is very hard to say who is worse. I would probably go Le Pen but I don't believe a word of her supposed new centrism.
How is Melenchon dangerous exactly? At worst he'd turn out like Hollande and I can see him getting on well with Scholz despite differences on NATO.
Don't think so - my reading of him is a wilder and less personally modest version of Corbyn. Sure, I'd vote for him over Le Pen but I'd vote for Macron over either (and I absolutely disagree with MoonRabbit that you have to be French to work it out).
As for the other poser, I suppose I'd rather be beaten up by skinheads than the cops. In the former case, you can complain to the cops. if in the latter, there is a more fundamental problem.
Comments
Fantastic if accurate, but how did the Ukrainians do it and how much of it was destroyed?
a) Artillery I suspect it was too far behind the lines for artolatry.
b) Drones, I don't think Ukraine has enough armed caring drones in use at the moment, but maybe
c) Ground to Ground Missiles, I thought that Ukraine only had a few of these left,
d) airplanes, I 'm parity confidant that Ukraine only had a handful of working plains left.
e) it could have been an ambush buy Ukrainians infiltrates with NLAW or similar?
Russian convoys getting destroyed is great so would love more inflation,
my guess is b or e, but well done to whichever Ukrainians where involved.
It's interesting how such a massive 'intellect' ignores his country's repeated actions against Ukraine and the west.
This quote was also good: "First, Russians have a core gene of sovereignty." Yet, by his own words, other eastern European countries cannot have sovereignty; they need to be ruled by Russia, directly or indirectly.
He calls NATO a cancer. The real cancer is people like him and his chums in Putin's regime. The cancer needs removing. Preferably ending in trial at the Hague.
But then I’m not French. I go easy on the snails and frog legs.
You are asking us to choose with our UK understanding of things something we don’t understand? A different history producing different camps. Different borders and history with Germany? A more Nationalistic mindset than UK? Easier for African economic immigrants to get into France the UK? Why should they think and vote like us?
BJ had to be persuaded not to cosplay this for his Kyiv away day. It was only when it was pointed out this was in fact Fallschirmjäger Oberst Kurt Steiner that he desisted.
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1513115084591095814
Hope to God he is wrong.
Has PB discussed the impact of the French holiday on the vote?
That is damnably effete
What this shows, in my view, is that the question asked in the header is really meaningless. In the overall scheme of things waiting another 4-5 months before lifting the restrictions would have had a minimal impact on the consequential deaths, not least because compliance was clearly waning. The economic damage would have been greater but again, in fairness, would probably have been lost in the noise.
The delusion that there was some exact time to go into lockdown, come out of lockdown, start wearing masks, stop wearing masks, allowing large social events, not allowing them, even with hindsight let alone at the time, is one of the more bizarre aspects of this pandemic. The assumptions underlying these contentions are legion and almost completely unvouched.
We never got close to the NHS collapsing. You can argue on that basis we were locked down far too much. On the other hand the pandemic had a cumulative effect on the NHS that we are still living with and if we had locked down more this might not be quite so bad now. I very much doubt that another 3 months one way or the other would change that.
https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1513117655452078083
At least I honestly answered Leon’s question.
Across the rest of France it’s a mixed bag with some Macron strongholds in the sw having good turnout . In the se some good signs for Le Pen with turnout holding up well mostly but also some notable large drops in areas that she she would be expected to do very well in . Notably Les Bouches de Rhône turnout is low compared to 2017 down nearly ten points at Midday .
Lighten up. Take your comment at face value and no one should ever say 'I would vote X over Y' about any country but their own since we only have a 'UK udnerstanding of things something we don't understand'. Where's the interest or fun in just performing a gallic shrug about everything because of the astounding insight that other countries are other countries?
I simply do not buy that even you have never, for example, said something like 'I would never vote for Trump' on the basis that you could not choose with your UK understanding.
Have you actually answered your own question Leon? Just to prove its not booby trapped.
The political circle around the Fabian Society (the Webbs and so on) seem notably absent from the Bloomsbury group, and looking at the books at Charleston I noticed an almost complete absence of political books. Was there much interaction between the groups?
When I grew up in the late 60s, there was a real division between the political activists like me and the hippies who saw liberation in terms of personal freedom and introspection; we thought they were harmless but a distraction; they thought we were boring and conformist. I wonder if there was something similar in the Fabian/Bloomsbury relationship, even though they seem to have moved in similar intellectual circles? Do you recommend a more general book on the different schools of thought in the 30s?
Also Ramadan could be effecting things in Paris so the pattern of when more people might turnout might change during the day .
Well done that man
May I ask why? Is it your Inner Anarchist or some actual preference over policies?
Not seeking to troll. Genuinely curious.
This is a fun thought experiment
EXCLUSIVE Scots well qualified for a university education face a squeeze, with the number of places funded by the Scottish government about to drop
https://twitter.com/SundayTimesSco/status/1513085149931618308
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituencies_for_French_residents_overseas
Actually my wife has not worked in the work sense since we married in 1964 though she did do some part time work in my businesses in the 1990s
She did bring up 3 children though
I liked the comment someone made the other day that it might actually be better for Le Pen not to top the first round, as then people really might worry she would win and so help consolidate opposition to her better. I don't really buy that, I think her prospects are pretty locked in regardless, but it'd be good spin.
With a gun at my head, though, I’d choose Melenchon. He seems more honest than Le Pen.
Because in the end a Le Pen victory is a bad thing, and a Macron victory is a less bad thing
The differences between MLP and EM are insignificant in policy terms (from the perspective of an ultra left eco-anarchist) as they are both slaves to capital so we may as well have the luridly amusing option.
There is a right answer, by the way, and it applies by analogy in the Melenchon / Le Pen question too, if you can work it out.
1 PM = 5 mins time yookay time.
Switzerland and Liechtenstein get their own one though.
I did a video on it...
https://youtu.be/wDjdXl9IUdc
I am no expert on this but the above points are taken from this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Mélenchon#Foreign_policy
For me, that makes him dangerous. But I would say the same about Le Pen. I really don't like Macron but I would obviously for him in preference to either of these.
OR cops have more to lose on conviction therefore powerful motive to finish you off, so skinheads
If the cops are beating you up, the skinheads probably aren't going to turn up and help you.
Now apply this to unpleasant political extremes.
Not living somewhere to suffer the consequence of a vote, that’s very different than discussing the platform and policy positions in other countries.
So, going back to my original post you said was complete rubbish, I stand by what I said - unless we feel French Nationalism, to be able to vote in French election you need to be socialised there to some degree, you’d need to feel it, an emotional element missing from what Leon is asking us to do. Do you see what I mean. I wouldn’t have a clue who to vote for in US or In Ireland or France or many other places around the world. But, this is my point, if I was born and brought up there it will be easy to choose, because I would feel it, I would feel my part in its history and future and it’s political tribes.
With our friend down from Kent, whose father was in the White Rose resistance in Berlin with Sophie Scholl but he managed to escape to Canada. Our friend was in LA in the sixties, one of her best friends was killed by the Manson family. She was very close to Jim Morrison (took a lot of effort to keep her virginity from him!), managed The Doors for a while after his death. She was a Vogue cover girl and is still a working model in her 70's.
(And none of that is the most interesting things about her!)
It would be fun to have a similar system in the UK. Johnson, Starmer, Sunak, Farage, Corbyn, Davey, Sturgeon (why not?), Truss, Rayner etc. all slugging it out in the first round. (Although, probably, it would still come back to Johnson v Starmer in R2.)
Demand has increased because people like living apart. It fashionable to say it's the fault of immigrants, but it's more true to say that people don't like living with their granny.
After moaning about Turkish food all week, on my very last day I have once of the nicest lunches I can remember in years
All gone now
Very little to see here
You're welcome.
It seems to be a pan-European sector company that is working reasonably well. AIUI because of effective guarantees for all the participating companies / countries.
And best to have your finest meal on the last day, rather than the first.
Edit: Several other newer leaders are not technically monarchs, but in reality might as well be as they inherit presidencies from their fathers.
And when it is eaten in the Aegean sun with a crisp cold local white….
It’ll be interesting to see my bill. That was a genuinely superb meal. Everything was exactly right, down to the delicious olives, the cracked sea salt, the fresh baked crusty rustic bread. Simple Perfection
Le Pen is the French Farage crosses with Nick Griffin, even if she has moderated her views a bit.
Macron is the French Nick Clegg.
That is French voters' choice today
I think French politics are going into a measure turmoil as they come to terms with their recent history, now that M Macron has taken the lid off the pressure-cooker both on colonial history and economic reform.
Listening to the international coverage, France Profonde has some serious coming to terms with itself to do.
When performing seal Macron is the stable one, there's some reform to do.
1. The Putinists are very confident that they can mobilize 5th columns to great effect, or they can bring in China on their side (no other ally would make a significant difference), OR
2. It goes nuclear.
Having just sent our nephew and niece off on their way after a (very) full English brunch cooked by yours truly, I can promise I will not be eating again for at least another few days*
(*A promise I will reneg on sometime later this evening when the leftover cheeseboard beckons.)
As for the other poser, I suppose I'd rather be beaten up by skinheads than the cops. In the former case, you can complain to the cops. if in the latter, there is a more fundamental problem.