Teddy Locsin Jr. @teddyboylocsin · 1h Told to choose between surrender and death, the encircled Ukrainian soldiers have chosen immortality. This resonates with all of us. Malraux said that courage is another fatherland to which belong all of the brave on all sides of all fights.
Re Alastair on cards, related but not at all the same, I have a party piece which goes as follows -
Somebody shuffles a pack of cards and gives it to me. I hold it face down and start flipping them over, one by one and quick. Before each one, I predict Red or Black, and if I’m right I score a point.
Beforehand I explain what I’m going to do and I ask people how many points they think I’ll manage to get. They say 26 or thereabouts. Why? I ask. Because it’s about a 50/50 chance each time, they say.
And I go, well I bet you I get at least 33 and maybe even close to 40.
Go for it, they say, and they crowd around excitedly (it’s a slow party).
So I do, and I always meet my mark. Much admiration ensues. Quite rightly because only a minority of people can do this.
Today we're delighted to welcome a three-generation Ukrainian family, along with their dog Max, to live with us in our home. Whilst their country goes through the turmoil of Putin's war, our country stands resolutely with the people of Ukraine.
If someone else has raised this, apologies, but does it not look likely that Johnson or his camp have leaked Sunak's green card, wife's tax affairs and so on? It seems to have been a very effective way to banjax Sunak's chances of being PM. Is banjax a word used outside Scotland by the way? It seems to have an unknown, perhaps Irish etymology.
Yes, that was my first thought. Unprovable, but a sound working hypothesis.
Ought to be “outwith Scotland”
On the etymology: no idea. All I can say is that it is a word I am familiar with. Often Scots have no idea that our vocabulary is specific to us, until someone points it out.
In the UK I’ve heard it mainly from Geordies; pretty sure it originates in Ireland
I don´t see a definition for "banjax" or any other spelling of the same in my Scots dictionary and it certainly feels more Irish than Scots, although I also read that it could be of Urdu/Hindustani derivation.
Re Alastair on cards, related but not at all the same, I have a party piece which goes as follows -
Somebody shuffles a pack of cards and gives it to me. I hold it face down and start flipping them over, one by one and quick. Before each one, I predict Red or Black, and if I’m right I score a point.
Beforehand I explain what I’m going to do and I ask people how many points they think I’ll manage to get. They say 26 or thereabouts. Why? I ask. Because it’s about a 50/50 chance each time, they say.
And I go, well I bet you I get at least 33 and maybe even close to 40.
Go for it, they say, and they crowd around excitedly (it’s a slow party).
So I do, and I always meet my mark. Much admiration ensues. Quite rightly because only a minority of people can do this.
That's totally out of this world.
Aha! Someone else *does* know what I was talking about on the previous thread!
NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted there is still no date for a Holyrood Bill for a second independence referendum despite saying it January it was just “weeks” away.
“I haven't decided on the specific date for that right now,” the First Minister said, while maintaining that she was sticking to her plan to have Indyref2 next year.
Ms Sturgeon has said she wants a referendum by the end of 2023, Covid permitting, with Scotland then becoming independent in 2026.
However Boris Johnson has refused to grant Holyrood the power it needs to hold a legally watertight vote, creating a constitutional impasse.
Ms Sturgeon has said she will pass a Referendum Bill at Holyrood regardless, however that would require prior sign-off by the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain.
Any legislation would then almost certainly be challenged at the UK Supreme Court, where recent decisions suggest it would probably be struck down as legislatively incompetent.
The situation has led to growing frustration in the Yes movement, with more SNP MPs suggesting the next general election should be used as a de facto Indyref2.
If someone else has raised this, apologies, but does it not look likely that Johnson or his camp have leaked Sunak's green card, wife's tax affairs and so on? It seems to have been a very effective way to banjax Sunak's chances of being PM. Is banjax a word used outside Scotland by the way? It seems to have an unknown, perhaps Irish etymology.
Yes, that was my first thought. Unprovable, but a sound working hypothesis.
Ought to be “outwith Scotland”
On the etymology: no idea. All I can say is that it is a word I am familiar with. Often Scots have no idea that our vocabulary is specific to us, until someone points it out.
In the UK I’ve heard it mainly from Geordies; pretty sure it originates in Ireland
I don´t see a definition for "banjax" or any other spelling of the same in my Scots dictionary and it certainly feels more Irish than Scots, although I also read that it could be of Urdu/Hindustani derivation.
Collins suggests possibly Dublin slang for bollocks. However. Was common is my youth in Lancashire rugby circles. Although it was pronounced banjo. As in, "He's proper banjoed him! Gerrim sent off!"
If someone else has raised this, apologies, but does it not look likely that Johnson or his camp have leaked Sunak's green card, wife's tax affairs and so on? It seems to have been a very effective way to banjax Sunak's chances of being PM. Is banjax a word used outside Scotland by the way? It seems to have an unknown, perhaps Irish etymology.
Yes, that was my first thought. Unprovable, but a sound working hypothesis.
Ought to be “outwith Scotland”
On the etymology: no idea. All I can say is that it is a word I am familiar with. Often Scots have no idea that our vocabulary is specific to us, until someone points it out.
In the UK I’ve heard it mainly from Geordies; pretty sure it originates in Ireland
I don´t see a definition for "banjax" or any other spelling of the same in my Scots dictionary and it certainly feels more Irish than Scots, although I also read that it could be of Urdu/Hindustani derivation.
Collins suggests possibly Dublin slang for bollocks. However. Was common is my youth in Lancashire rugby circles. Although it was pronounced banjo. As in, "He's proper banjoed him! Gerrim sent off!"
Also in the capacious bag of Scots words for getting pished, eg 'He wiz fuckin banjoed last night'. I daresay some other English speaking nations use it similarly.
Inflation is the absolutely worst thing for any government, as there isn't very much they can do about it without massive other negative knock-on effects. While at the same time, it is visible every day to everybody, food, fuel, etc, rather than for instance the use of fiscal drag in their taxes where most people don't realise a bit more tax has been taken each year in real terms.
Not necessarily.
Go back to the 70s and look at the elections in those inflationary years. It wasn’t inflation per se that determined the result but views on Government competence.
Callaghan’s Government probably would have won an election called in late 1978 even given inflation rates were high. What killed its chances was that the Winter of Discontent showed a Government that had lost control of how to run the country. The same goes for Heath in February 1974.
This also isn’t a 1070s style inflation situation - it’s actually more akin to the 50s US situation, which also saw inflation post WW2/the Korea war but which still managed to post healthy growth and not yet things spiral.
I was quite young in the Seventies, but the Callaghan government had brought inflation down to 10% from a high when Labour took office of near 27%, so in the context of the times was under control.
It was the collapse of his 5% policy after the Ford workers got 17% that led to the Winter of Discontent.
I used to go shopping with my gran in the late 70s and she used to have "last week's" price for things written on her shopping list. She'd build up a stock cupboard of tins and wotnot whenever they were a good price.
I remember the Daily Mirror in the 70s used to have a basket of groceries which were originally costed at £5. Not sure when it started but I would love to find out what it would cost now. There doesn't seem to be any mention of what the items were on the Interweb.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
The main problem with the current bout of inflation is that is isn’t wage/price driven.
If it was it would be easy - if a little painful - to fix.
We have the worst of all possible inflations. It’s external and we have no tools to deal with it.
Excellent point. A lot is caused by supply chain issues. Then you have the high amount of Chinese demand for certain goods. And then energy. Raising interest rates does nothing for any of them bar hurt your economy.
Its even worse, the usual lever to pull when inflation is increasing is to raise interest rates, but far too many people are over-leveraged with mortgages where they have never paid historic normal level of interest on them. The housing market has risen on lack of supply and the fact you can get a mortgage with bugger all interest rate. If the BoE was to ramp up interest rates to 3%, we would start seeing masses of defaults.
Exactly, which is why I’m sceptical we will see interest rates rise by any significant amount (and, by that, I mean anything above 2%). Too many consumers would go back busy. Bill Gross of Pimco states the US economy can’t hear anything more than 3% interest rates for the same reason.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
It's a class forum. We should close membership and charge visitors a fiver a post.
Brexit Bonus................. Incredible stat: Scotland is to receive £32m from UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, which is a WHOPPING £151 million short of what we would have had as part of the EU.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
If we'd had neutral umpires, you'd have lost this by a hundred runs.
But even allowing for Wharf and Blackwell having a terrible time in the middle, it's a bit irrelevant given that it appears you are going to be relegated at the end of the season anyway.
In any case, let's have no more of that silly condescension about 'minor counties.' Your first choice side went to the final session against a second-string side. You are not in for a good season even before the points deductions. If Gloucestershire learn how to put first innings runs on the board, they still could.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Do we have any idea how many troops the Russians have put into Mariupol and what it has cost them?
I don't think anybody knows that, maybe even the Russians would struggle to give a precise number, partly because they are using a lot of the PMC (mercenaries) and Chechen fighters there.
On recent number I have seen is 8,000 Russians (including PMCs and Chechens) on the ground in the city. which sounds credible, but I have no way of verifying this sort of number.
If we'd had neutral umpires, you'd have lost this by a hundred runs.
But even allowing for Wharf and Blackwell having a terrible time in the middle, it's a bit irrelevant given that it appears you are going to be relegated at the end of the season anyway.
In any case, let's have no more of that silly condescension about 'minor counties.' Your first choice side went to the final session against a second-string side. You are not in for a good season even before the points deductions. If Gloucestershire learn how to put first innings runs on the board, they still could.
King Harry, don’t say I didn’t warn you. 😝
My Dad said Bracey was good. Hari hit him twice on the head breaking two helmets, and gave him bump the size of an egg, but he didn’t go down and fought like a lion. Shame he is no good any test cricket with average of 2.7.
This Yorkshire side have great young players, so no condensation from you too. King Harry, Bessy, Matty Fisher and Thompson.
Re Alastair on cards, related but not at all the same, I have a party piece which goes as follows -
Somebody shuffles a pack of cards and gives it to me. I hold it face down and start flipping them over, one by one and quick. Before each one, I predict Red or Black, and if I’m right I score a point.
Beforehand I explain what I’m going to do and I ask people how many points they think I’ll manage to get. They say 26 or thereabouts. Why? I ask. Because it’s about a 50/50 chance each time, they say.
And I go, well I bet you I get at least 33 and maybe even close to 40.
Go for it, they say, and they crowd around excitedly (it’s a slow party).
So I do, and I always meet my mark. Much admiration ensues. Quite rightly because only a minority of people can do this.
That's totally out of this world.
Cheers, Andy. Yes, those were the days, when I used to thrill a group of people with that. Lost the knack now. Just tried it again and got ... well I won't say.
United Kingdom government official This week I’ll be travelling to India, to deepen the long-term partnership between our countries.
I would hope he will try and peel India away from the pro-Russian coalition. Unfortunately, they are another country for whom the lure of cheap energy is too great.
Teddy Locsin Jr. @teddyboylocsin · 1h Told to choose between surrender and death, the encircled Ukrainian soldiers have chosen immortality. This resonates with all of us. Malraux said that courage is another fatherland to which belong all of the brave on all sides of all fights.
Its so sad, if the west had got off its bottom a month ago with delivering heavy weapons, including tanks, the Ukrainians might be in a position now to drive an armed thrust to relevel the city.
I’ve seen some horrific things on Twitter regarding the Shanghai lockdown - cats in bags, people committing suicidal because of lockdowns, cops bludgeoning dogs to death through fear of having Covid..
Ugh. Our restrictions were Draconian but that really is next level
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
Twitter can be a useful resource if you follow a small number of reliable / interesting sources, particularly if not on divisive topics i.e. politics, and you don't treat it as the be all and end of "facts".
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
what does 'to Penelopise' mean?
"to act or behave like Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, who undid at night the work she did by day, to gain time from her suitors."
ie to delay, and to gain time - perhaps by spinning out your immediate tasks
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
The main problem with the current bout of inflation is that is isn’t wage/price driven.
If it was it would be easy - if a little painful - to fix.
We have the worst of all possible inflations. It’s external and we have no tools to deal with it.
Excellent point. A lot is caused by supply chain issues. Then you have the high amount of Chinese demand for certain goods. And then energy. Raising interest rates does nothing for any of them bar hurt your economy.
Its even worse, the usual lever to pull when inflation is increasing is to raise interest rates, but far too many people are over-leveraged with mortgages where they have never paid historic normal level of interest on them. The housing market has risen on lack of supply and the fact you can get a mortgage with bugger all interest rate. If the BoE was to ramp up interest rates to 3%, we would start seeing masses of defaults.
It also doesn’t work as well as it did given the shift to fixed mortgages
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
It is but, as with Leon, I found he didn’t say anything new. One point he made (about the Ukrainians potentially beating the Russians) should be an obvious one given what is happening and the other (the U.K. / US seem to have done worse when it comes to Covid) wasn’t backed up by any data or evidence so it was hard to check (especially as Alastair has a track record of making comments when it comes to criticising the U.K., especially compared with Europe).
He’s an excellent writer, is very smart and makes some excellent points but it wasn’t a great article despite the eloquence.
I rather strongly disagree, assuming you're referring to the header. Your payrise is somebody else's inflation. It's an economic virus. The monetarist idea of just suppressing growth works, but it's very painful.
Teddy Locsin Jr. @teddyboylocsin · 1h Told to choose between surrender and death, the encircled Ukrainian soldiers have chosen immortality. This resonates with all of us. Malraux said that courage is another fatherland to which belong all of the brave on all sides of all fights.
Its so sad, if the west had got off its bottom a month ago with delivering heavy weapons, including tanks, the Ukrainians might be in a position now to drive an armed thrust to relevel the city.
Relieve not relevel! I think the Russians have been doing a good job of levelling it…
The main problem with the current bout of inflation is that is isn’t wage/price driven.
If it was it would be easy - if a little painful - to fix.
We have the worst of all possible inflations. It’s external and we have no tools to deal with it.
Excellent point. A lot is caused by supply chain issues. Then you have the high amount of Chinese demand for certain goods. And then energy. Raising interest rates does nothing for any of them bar hurt your economy.
Its even worse, the usual lever to pull when inflation is increasing is to raise interest rates, but far too many people are over-leveraged with mortgages where they have never paid historic normal level of interest on them. The housing market has risen on lack of supply and the fact you can get a mortgage with bugger all interest rate. If the BoE was to ramp up interest rates to 3%, we would start seeing masses of defaults.
Exactly, which is why I’m sceptical we will see interest rates rise by any significant amount (and, by that, I mean anything above 2%). Too many consumers would go back busy. Bill Gross of Pimco states the US economy can’t hear anything more than 3% interest rates for the same reason.
Bill Gross hasn't been of PIMCO for many years!
Minor point
Ok, Bill Gross ex-head of PIMCO - but he is still a legend
I’m sitting outside what seems to be quite a popular bar in Olot. My lack of Catalan/Spanish is causing occasional confusion. I ordered a beer and was brought a bottle. I drank that, but it was quite gassy so I tried to order a draught beer for my second. I got one, but I now appear to be the only person in the whole place drinking a pint!
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
I cannot decide whether you are joking or trolling. This place is more like the WW1 trenches - put down in the first year of the war and never moved again...
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
I cannot decide whether you are joking or trolling. This place is more like the WW1 trenches - put down in the first year of the war and never moved again...
Not changing your mind doesn't mean you aren't listening. This place is far more cordial than Twitter.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It is explaining things that perhaps we see, but not everyone else does. To improve public discourse, we have to disconnect from getting sucked in to this tribal idiocy which inevitably seems to happen if you use almost any form of social media and express opinions on it. I like PB because it is almost from a pre social media era, there is actual debate, and this tribal stuff doesn't really go on, but shades of it still prop up; particularly with the 'like' button - the temptation is to express opinions which you know are going to be popular, generally anti-boris, anti-Corbyn, pro Ukraine, anti- misognyny, etc; so you rack up 'likes'.
On the same subject as Mr Meeks, Jon Haidt has written an interesting (and quite similar) article suggesting the world changed in a profound way, at some point between 2011 and 2015.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
I hope he is making money from Medium (some people do). He deserves to be paid for his writing (even if he doesn't need the cash)
This is actually a rare piece by him where I would say No, that would NOT get taken by a proper magazine/newspaper. But, as you say, the writing style is always fluid and lucid
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
I hope he is making money from Medium (some people do). He deserves to be paid for his writing (even if he doesn't need the cash)
This is actually a rare piece by him where I would say No, that would NOT get taken by a proper magazine/newspaper. But, as you say, the writing style is always fluid and lucid
I thought substack was where it was at if you wanted to make money out of writing?
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
I’m sitting outside what seems to be quite a popular bar in Olot. My lack of Catalan/Spanish is causing occasional confusion. I ordered a beer and was brought a bottle. I drank that, but it was quite gassy so I tried to order a draught beer for my second. I got one, but I now appear to be the only person in the whole place drinking a pint!
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
I hope he is making money from Medium (some people do). He deserves to be paid for his writing (even if he doesn't need the cash)
This is actually a rare piece by him where I would say No, that would NOT get taken by a proper magazine/newspaper. But, as you say, the writing style is always fluid and lucid
I thought substack was where it was at if you wanted to make money out of writing?
How does making money from Medium (or substack) work?
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
I hope he is making money from Medium (some people do). He deserves to be paid for his writing (even if he doesn't need the cash)
This is actually a rare piece by him where I would say No, that would NOT get taken by a proper magazine/newspaper. But, as you say, the writing style is always fluid and lucid
I thought substack was where it was at if you wanted to make money out of writing?
How does making money from Medium (or substack) work?
Substack enable you to easily offer a subscription newsletter / articles. I think a lot of people offer a mixture, some free content and then some paid content (plus things like Q&As). Some writers with a well known reputation are doing very well out of it.
Substack take care of all the payment processing and distribution for a small cut.
Teddy Locsin Jr. @teddyboylocsin · 1h Told to choose between surrender and death, the encircled Ukrainian soldiers have chosen immortality. This resonates with all of us. Malraux said that courage is another fatherland to which belong all of the brave on all sides of all fights.
Its so sad, if the west had got off its bottom a month ago with delivering heavy weapons, including tanks, the Ukrainians might be in a position now to drive an armed thrust to relevel the city.
Relieve not relevel! I think the Russians have been doing a good job of levelling it…
They're going to test the defenses with ΦАБ-3000 followed by thermobarics.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
If we thought the two sides were remotely level pegging in conventional terms that might be so, but why surrender the moral high ground if you don't have to? that's bringing a gun to a knife fight when you have a Gerber mini-magnum and the opposition has a plastic picnic knife.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
It's rare for anybody to say new things but AM's style appeals to me. It's crisp and elegant with a sly kick and a pleasant aftertaste.
I hope he is making money from Medium (some people do). He deserves to be paid for his writing (even if he doesn't need the cash)
This is actually a rare piece by him where I would say No, that would NOT get taken by a proper magazine/newspaper. But, as you say, the writing style is always fluid and lucid
I thought substack was where it was at if you wanted to make money out of writing?
Substack is definitely the place to be if you want major bucks
I do believe, however, that some people make modest sums from Medium
It would be interesting to see how much this site could make, if it went behind a substack paywall
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
On a non-Nato member? If it was tactical nukes definitely not. I still think it unlikely if it was a full nuclear attack on Ukraine. What would more likely happen is a huge conventional attack on the Russian military.
The one that I find most surprising is re-emergence of the daily email newsletter. Some of these are making incredibly good money by just providing a synopsis of some topic with a little bit of insight, and then they sell advertising space in the newsletter.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
I had thought that one potential conventional response would be to sink Russia's Black Sea fleet in retaliation, but Ukraine got the big one first.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
On a non-Nato member? If it was tactical nukes definitely not. I still think it unlikely if it was a full nuclear attack on Ukraine. What would more likely happen is a huge conventional attack on the Russian military.
I doubt there would be any NATO response unless NATO territory was immediately impacted or NATO forces directly attacked. Putin has so far been scrupulously careful to avoid any direct confrontation with NATO forces and there should be no NATO forces directly alongside Ukrainian forces (weaponry notwithstanding).
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
On a non-Nato member? If it was tactical nukes definitely not. I still think it unlikely if it was a full nuclear attack on Ukraine. What would more likely happen is a huge conventional attack on the Russian military.
I doubt there would be any NATO response unless NATO territory was immediately impacted or NATO forces directly attacked. Putin has so far been scrupulously careful to avoid any direct confrontation with NATO forces and there should be no NATO forces directly alongside Ukrainian forces (weaponry notwithstanding).
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
I think this analysis is probably correct. Perhaps 75% chance.
There is, however, a chance (25%, imo) that the war metastasises.
I did a module on the Cuban missile crisis, back in my university days, and imo, the current situation is far more serious with a greater possibility a major Russia/NATO conflict.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
what does 'to Penelopise' mean?
As I recall @AlastairMeeks always puts a very rarely used word in his articles, so that he can find them easily via google.
That is a really excellent piece, well worth reading.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Mr Meeks can be a brilliant writer, at times - I remember urging him to go pro, at one point
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
what does 'to Penelopise' mean?
As I recall @AlastairMeeks always puts a very rarely used word in his articles, so that he can find them easily via google.
I'm in touch with one of the last defenders of Mariupol. He's wounded. After Bucha massacre, he says, "surrender is not an option." He feels their stand accomplished its mission. They tied up so much Russian firepower it gave other cities a chance to survive. https://twitter.com/shustry/status/1515609442305429512
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
On a non-Nato member? If it was tactical nukes definitely not. I still think it unlikely if it was a full nuclear attack on Ukraine. What would more likely happen is a huge conventional attack on the Russian military.
I doubt there would be any NATO response unless NATO territory was immediately impacted or NATO forces directly attacked. Putin has so far been scrupulously careful to avoid any direct confrontation with NATO forces and there should be no NATO forces directly alongside Ukrainian forces (weaponry notwithstanding).
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
I think this analysis is probably correct. Perhaps 75% chance.
There is, however, a chance (25%, imo) that the war metastasises.
I did a module on the Cuban midsole crisis, back in my university days, and imo, the current situation is far more serious with a greater possibility a major Russia/NATO conflict.
Cuban midsole crisis sounds like something @TSE would suffer from. ;-)
I’ve seen some horrific things on Twitter regarding the Shanghai lockdown - cats in bags, people committing suicidal because of lockdowns, cops bludgeoning dogs to death through fear of having Covid..
Ugh. Our restrictions were Draconian but that really is next level
Our restrictions were not Draconian, they were measured and generally effective.
I doubt there would be any NATO response unless NATO territory was immediately impacted or NATO forces directly attacked. Putin has so far been scrupulously careful to avoid any direct confrontation with NATO forces and there should be no NATO forces directly alongside Ukrainian forces (weaponry notwithstanding).
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
I think this analysis is probably correct. Perhaps 75% chance.
There is, however, a chance (25%, imo) that the war metastasises.
I did a module on the Cuban missile crisis, back in my university days, and imo, the current situation is far more serious with a greater possibility a major Russia/NATO conflict.
I certainly don't rule out confrontation by accident - a Russian missiles aimed at Lviv ends up hitting a target in Poland, a Russian aircraft ends up firing at a NATO plane thinking it's Ukrainian and so on.
I suspect there are protocols in place to prevent such isolated incidents needlessly escalating into something far worse. I also suspect Putin will know the use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine is a line not to be crossed.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
On a non-Nato member? If it was tactical nukes definitely not. I still think it unlikely if it was a full nuclear attack on Ukraine. What would more likely happen is a huge conventional attack on the Russian military.
I doubt there would be any NATO response unless NATO territory was immediately impacted or NATO forces directly attacked. Putin has so far been scrupulously careful to avoid any direct confrontation with NATO forces and there should be no NATO forces directly alongside Ukrainian forces (weaponry notwithstanding).
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
You don't think there would be any Nato response of any kind to a nuclear attack on Ukraine? Wouldn't that make a nuclear strike on the west of the country near inevitable?
I’m sitting outside what seems to be quite a popular bar in Olot. My lack of Catalan/Spanish is causing occasional confusion. I ordered a beer and was brought a bottle. I drank that, but it was quite gassy so I tried to order a draught beer for my second. I got one, but I now appear to be the only person in the whole place drinking a pint!
Inflation is the absolutely worst thing for any government, as there isn't very much they can do about it without massive other negative knock-on effects. While at the same time, it is visible every day to everybody, food, fuel, etc, rather than for instance the use of fiscal drag in their taxes where most people don't realise a bit more tax has been taken each year in real terms.
Not necessarily.
Go back to the 70s and look at the elections in those inflationary years. It wasn’t inflation per se that determined the result but views on Government competence.
Callaghan’s Government probably would have won an election called in late 1978 even given inflation rates were high. What killed its chances was that the Winter of Discontent showed a Government that had lost control of how to run the country. The same goes for Heath in February 1974.
This also isn’t a 1070s style inflation situation - it’s actually more akin to the 50s US situation, which also saw inflation post WW2/the Korea war but which still managed to post healthy growth and not yet things spiral.
I was quite young in the Seventies, but the Callaghan government had brought inflation down to 10% from a high when Labour took office of near 27%, so in the context of the times was under control.
It was the collapse of his 5% policy after the Ford workers got 17% that led to the Winter of Discontent.
Which goes back to the point - Callaghan was popular when he was deemed to be in control. It is the loss of competence that dooms Governments.
(I’d argue the same with Major in the 1990s - it was his perceived incompetence, than sleaze, that doomed him).
Major was doomed because the very real sacrifices made by ordinary people, some of whom lost their homes, to support the pound in the ERM, were shown to be worthless when the government abandoned that policy on Black Wednesday. And that is the danger of partygate for the current shower. There were other factors too, of course.
RAF base at Linton I have been by it lots of times, I spent many nights at pyjama party’s at friends at Linton on Ouse. Discussion at dinner table, we in Yorkshire stand together, not in our back yard, we support the protesting residence, 500 migrants staying there for months is 500 too many, will children and women be safe out and about on their own?
Except one voice, ideal place as anywhere for it, fly in and out, house and feed, walk around the grounds, trade in local shops, administrators can be on site processing so better than dumped out in nowhere waiting for a postman or a police van with cages in it.
So you see Farooq, I am a Lib Dem not a Tory! And a good Christian so stick that up your Iron Age twaddle 😇
I do think my family and girlfriend will divorce me any moment 🤭. We have been playing the really nasty horse racing game and they have been ganging up on me. 🫠
Comments
A far-right grifter? Has this ever happened before?
Teddy Locsin Jr.
@teddyboylocsin
·
1h
Told to choose between surrender and death, the encircled Ukrainian soldiers have chosen immortality. This resonates with all of us. Malraux said that courage is another fatherland to which belong all of the brave on all sides of all fights.
https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/1515692032039264258
https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1515719225586954240?s=20&t=-gW5F9eC3Dd9BckDTXkQ5g
Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail.
She posted footage of the visit on her own Instagram account with her mask on.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-61135232
NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted there is still no date for a Holyrood Bill for a second independence referendum despite saying it January it was just “weeks” away.
“I haven't decided on the specific date for that right now,” the First Minister said, while maintaining that she was sticking to her plan to have Indyref2 next year.
Ms Sturgeon has said she wants a referendum by the end of 2023, Covid permitting, with Scotland then becoming independent in 2026.
However Boris Johnson has refused to grant Holyrood the power it needs to hold a legally watertight vote, creating a constitutional impasse.
Ms Sturgeon has said she will pass a Referendum Bill at Holyrood regardless, however that would require prior sign-off by the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain.
Any legislation would then almost certainly be challenged at the UK Supreme Court, where recent decisions suggest it would probably be struck down as legislatively incompetent.
The situation has led to growing frustration in the Yes movement, with more SNP MPs suggesting the next general election should be used as a de facto Indyref2.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20074435.sturgeon-admits-still-no-date-indyref2-legislation/?ref=twtrec
However. Was common is my youth in Lancashire rugby circles. Although it was pronounced banjo.
As in, "He's proper banjoed him! Gerrim sent off!"
Still, we probably find out who the new doctor is today.
(And it also speaks somewhat to the virtues of PB. We mostly get along pretty well, and we are mostly willing to listen to people outside of our tribe.)
Incredible stat: Scotland is to receive £32m from UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, which is a WHOPPING £151 million short of what we would have had as part of the EU.
+ UK deciding where it is spent. Not Scot Gov.
Orkney badly hit by this:
But even allowing for Wharf and Blackwell having a terrible time in the middle, it's a bit irrelevant given that it appears you are going to be relegated at the end of the season anyway.
In any case, let's have no more of that silly condescension about 'minor counties.' Your first choice side went to the final session against a second-string side. You are not in for a good season even before the points deductions. If Gloucestershire learn how to put first innings runs on the board, they still could.
Boris Johnson
@BorisJohnson
·
4h
United Kingdom government official
This week I’ll be travelling to India, to deepen the long-term partnership between our countries.
“Licence to kill?”
Available on bbc sounds;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001687x
At the root of it is the Tory policy of defunding the justice/prisons system. A basic function of the state that the tories have fucked up.
Makes me incredibly angry. The party of law and order? A sick joke.
On recent number I have seen is 8,000 Russians (including PMCs and Chechens) on the ground in the city. which sounds credible, but I have no way of verifying this sort of number.
My Dad said Bracey was good. Hari hit him twice on the head breaking two helmets, and gave him bump the size of an egg, but he didn’t go down and fought like a lion. Shame he is no good any test cricket with average of 2.7.
This Yorkshire side have great young players, so no condensation from you too. King Harry, Bessy, Matty Fisher and Thompson.
"However, short of a revolutionary democratic uprising in Belarus and Russia, there are no good options.
I remain a lot more hopeful about this possibility than most mainstream commentators."
https://medium.com/mosquito-ridge/ukraine-whats-now-at-stake-592fd1c3d4e0
Ugh. Our restrictions were
Draconian but that really is next level
But that article is not especially insightful, tho it is typically eloquent. It's pretty obvious that social media encourages the formation of socio-political opinion bubbles, and that these can be exploited by outsiders to entrench division. Russia has already been doing this for years
Not sure he says anything new? But Meeks can be forgiven the odd duff article for simply introducing me to the verb "to penelopise" in one of his headers
Mind you fan rumours are around 50% accurate so who knows.
ie to delay, and to gain time - perhaps by spinning out your immediate tasks
He’s an excellent writer, is very smart and makes some excellent points but it wasn’t a great article despite the eloquence.
Ok, Bill Gross ex-head of PIMCO - but he is still a legend
To improve public discourse, we have to disconnect from getting sucked in to this tribal idiocy which inevitably seems to happen if you use almost any form of social media and express opinions on it.
I like PB because it is almost from a pre social media era, there is actual debate, and this tribal stuff doesn't really go on, but shades of it still prop up; particularly with the 'like' button - the temptation is to express opinions which you know are going to be popular, generally anti-boris, anti-Corbyn, pro Ukraine, anti- misognyny, etc; so you rack up 'likes'.
On the same subject as Mr Meeks, Jon Haidt has written an interesting (and quite similar) article suggesting the world changed in a profound way, at some point between 2011 and 2015.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
This is actually a rare piece by him where I would say No, that would NOT get taken by a proper magazine/newspaper. But, as you say, the writing style is always fluid and lucid
Substack take care of all the payment processing and distribution for a small cut.
I do believe, however, that some people make modest sums from Medium
It would be interesting to see how much this site could make, if it went behind a substack paywall
Its like we are all still on dial-up internet.
One of my raised beds has done rather well on the tulip front....
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
There is, however, a chance (25%, imo) that the war metastasises.
I did a module on the Cuban missile crisis, back in my university days, and imo, the current situation is far more serious with a greater possibility a major Russia/NATO conflict.
https://twitter.com/shustry/status/1515609442305429512
Ursula von der Leyen says she doesn’t distinguish between heavy and light arms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/17/eu-chief-urges-member-states-to-give-ukraine-weapons-quickly
I suspect there are protocols in place to prevent such isolated incidents needlessly escalating into something far worse. I also suspect Putin will know the use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine is a line not to be crossed.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iphd74cb450f/ios
Except one voice, ideal place as anywhere for it, fly in and out, house and feed, walk around the grounds, trade in local shops, administrators can be on site processing so better than dumped out in nowhere waiting for a postman or a police van with cages in it.
So you see Farooq, I am a Lib Dem not a Tory! And a good Christian so stick that up your Iron Age twaddle 😇
I do think my family and girlfriend will divorce me any moment 🤭. We have been playing the really nasty horse racing game and they have been ganging up on me. 🫠