Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
We like to wallow in despair in the UK but our food is actually quite cheap, compared even to many European countries, and the variety and range of produce on offer exceptional in a highly competitive market.
You know where hasn’t attracted many migrants? Scotland.
Some of the consequences of that may be seen in the latest SNP budget.
It's actually a big problem. Scotland's demographic profile is pretty bleak. And Scot Nattery doesn't help as it definitely puts off investors worried about potential loss of access to UK market.
I haven't looked through all the replies, but I posed the question earlier: what's the net non-rUK immigration rate to Scotland, and how does it compare to the overall UK rate?
The figures I found were: 20,000 to Scotland (population 5.45 million) 239,000 to UK (population 65 million)
Those rates are exactly the same.
Have I got my numbers wrong? Or is the idea that immigrants don't come to Scotland a lie?
I think London & SE skews the figs somewhat; I believe eg Glasgow and Newcastle's non UK born residents are similar. It's a problem for sure though. Unionists would rather bore on about how crap Scotland is as a destination than give 'the most powerful devolved administration in the world' a modicum of control over immigration.
Is the most powerful devolved administration in the world a genuine tagline?
Apologies, on checking it was one of the most powerful devolved administrations in the world, author one David Cameron.
Edit: though the Tele reports in another speech he said "In Scotland our plans are to create the strongest devolved government anywhere in the world, with important powers over taxation."
I know what you're thinking: did he hold two referendums or only one?
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
That website is mad, the more I look at it the worse it gets. Genuinely incredible prices.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Wow.
I will say for Waitrose and MS they do do very good food.
I don't think it's worth the premium they charge over what I can get from other supermarkets. Because they also do some very good food. And if I want genuinely premium stuff I'll buy from a farm shop.
But to be more expensive than Waitrose and the implication being comparable to Tesco in quality? That's mad. When I was in America I thought how cheap everything was, but clearly it's changed!
Despite @Leon's rabid ragings, Erewhon is very good. If I don't want to go all the way to an actual butcher, and I want to get a really good piece of meat, I'll go there. If I want great organic eggs, or truffle salami, or great cheese, then I'll go to Erewhon.
What I won't do is buy milk, or avocados, or bananas, or washing powder.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
We like to wallow in despair in the UK but our food is actually quite cheap, compared even to many European countries, and the variety and range of produce on offer exceptional in a highly competitive market.
We've got a lot to be thankful for.
Yep. Plenty of supermarket choice too. At the high, middling and cheap ends, too. We have delivery as standard as well.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
I look forward to you personally blaming Boris Johnson for the rail strikes in England, some of which involve also nationalised operators (and Railtrack of course).
Railtrack?!!!
Quite: cerebral eructation: I meant Network Rail. Apologies.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Wow.
I will say for Waitrose and MS they do do very good food.
I don't think it's worth the premium they charge over what I can get from other supermarkets. Because they also do some very good food. And if I want genuinely premium stuff I'll buy from a farm shop.
But to be more expensive than Waitrose and the implication being comparable to Tesco in quality? That's mad. When I was in America I thought how cheap everything was, but clearly it's changed!
Isn't part of this just the weakness of Sterling? If we were still getting $1.80 for every £1 then the prices in American shops wouldn't look as high as they do at the moment?
It's a measure of how much poorer we've become as a result of the weakness of the currency.
But, Sterling is an automatic stabiliser.
If it weakens in value it makes our exports more competitive and makes us a more attractive investment destination and thus staves off recession.
Yes, in the short term it's useful as you say. But in the long-term it reflects a weakness in the economy.
If we keep on devaluing the currency to be able to sell our exports that's a sign that our competitiveness is declining and we can only compete by cutting the value of our pay by devaluing the currency it's paid in.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Wow.
I will say for Waitrose and MS they do do very good food.
I don't think it's worth the premium they charge over what I can get from other supermarkets. Because they also do some very good food. And if I want genuinely premium stuff I'll buy from a farm shop.
But to be more expensive than Waitrose and the implication being comparable to Tesco in quality? That's mad. When I was in America I thought how cheap everything was, but clearly it's changed!
Despite @Leon's rabid ragings, Erewhon is very good. If I don't want to go all the way to an actual butcher, and I want to get a really good piece of meat, I'll go there. If I want great organic eggs, or truffle salami, or great cheese, then I'll go to Erewhon.
What I won't do is buy milk, or avocados, or bananas, or washing powder.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
Is that you confessing to being guilty for that fire too? Are you a vampire?
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hi Roger, yes, Boris is absolutely politically toxic for the SCons.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
I think NE Fife is SNP, edinburgh W yeah they may keep that, i find Edinburgh very hard to predict though. Initial thoughts only, and ive been struggling with fatigue all day so my spider senses may be a bit off
The LDs absolutely smashed it out the park in Edinburgh at the locals, grabbing a bunch of seats. Although Christine Jardine is a very average MP, Edinburgh West is becoming the biggest LD stronghold in Scotland.
NE Fife is a harder call (not least because the student population of St Andrews completely changes every four years), but the LDs did pretty well in the locals this year as well. In St Andrews itself, they managed to get position 1 and 2 in the STV voting. So, sure, the LDs will be reliant on tactical voting (and English students) to see their MP re-elected. But I think it's a better than 50% shot for them.
(In Fife - admittedly the whole council area - the LDs almost doubled their number of councillors in 2022, which is pretty impressive for a PR election.)
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
Is that you confessing to being guilty for that fire too? Are you a vampire?
Don't be silly. Vampires wouldn't like the weather in Wales. It's dragons that live...oh, FFS.
You know where hasn’t attracted many migrants? Scotland.
Some of the consequences of that may be seen in the latest SNP budget.
It's actually a big problem. Scotland's demographic profile is pretty bleak. And Scot Nattery doesn't help as it definitely puts off investors worried about potential loss of access to UK market.
I haven't looked through all the replies, but I posed the question earlier: what's the net non-rUK immigration rate to Scotland, and how does it compare to the overall UK rate?
The figures I found were: 20,000 to Scotland (population 5.45 million) 239,000 to UK (population 65 million)
Those rates are exactly the same.
Have I got my numbers wrong? Or is the idea that immigrants don't come to Scotland a lie?
I think London & SE skews the figs somewhat; I believe eg Glasgow and Newcastle's non UK born residents are similar. It's a problem for sure though. Unionists would rather bore on about how crap Scotland is as a destination than give 'the most powerful devolved administration in the world' a modicum of control over immigration.
Is the most powerful devolved administration in the world a genuine tagline?
Apologies, on checking it was one of the most powerful devolved administrations in the world, author one David Cameron.
Edit: though the Tele reports in another speech he said "In Scotland our plans are to create the strongest devolved government anywhere in the world, with important powers over taxation."
I know what you're thinking: did he hold two referendums or only one?
'Devolved' is, of course, a weasel word. Another rabid Unionist said that 'Power devolved is power retained'.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
I look forward to you personally blaming Boris Johnson for the rail strikes in England, some of which involve also nationalised operators (and Railtrack of course).
Railtrack?!!!
Quite: cerebral eructation: I meant Network Rail. Apologies.
Fairly soon of course to be Great British Railways.
Which has somehow so far given the impression of being an even worse mess than the current one!
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
I think NE Fife is SNP, edinburgh W yeah they may keep that, i find Edinburgh very hard to predict though. Initial thoughts only, and ive been struggling with fatigue all day so my spider senses may be a bit off
The LDs absolutely smashed it out the park in Edinburgh at the locals, grabbing a bunch of seats. Although Christine Jardine is a very average MP, Edinburgh West is becoming the biggest LD stronghold in Scotland.
NE Fife is a harder call (not least because the student population of St Andrews completely changes every four years), but the LDs did pretty well in the locals this year as well. In St Andrews itself, they managed to get position 1 and 2 in the STV voting. So, sure, the LDs will be reliant on tactical voting (and English students) to see their MP re-elected. But I think it's a better than 50% shot for them.
Fairy nuff. Im planning on looking at it all again once the Boris situation resolves and whether that impacts the unionist splits. I've also exceeded my limit in looking at Electoral Calcs seat changes so thats impacting my ability to play with ideas. Harumph.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
Unless Douglas does a double reverse ferret with pike then zero effect.
For more data on food prices in the US, here's the weekly ad for a local chain, which is somewhat more expensive than Fred Meyer's (although both are subsidiaries of Kroger): https://www.qfc.com/weeklyad
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
It speaks to a wider issue especially with Wales much the same that he has to go
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
Unless Douglas does a double reverse ferret with pike then zero effect.
I'm losing count with his changes - almost as bad as keeping up with Slab leaders.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
I meant Monumental error
Hmmm you say that but.....
most companies would go on as they are geared up to homeworking due to covid
Insurance payouts for burnt property would give a fiscal stimulus directly into the econonmy
Levelling up would happen as people worked from home as spent money in their home community
All those russian assets in london would become charred ash and the insurance payouts blocked by sanctions
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
I think NE Fife is SNP, edinburgh W yeah they may keep that, i find Edinburgh very hard to predict though. Initial thoughts only, and ive been struggling with fatigue all day so my spider senses may be a bit off
The LDs absolutely smashed it out the park in Edinburgh at the locals, grabbing a bunch of seats. Although Christine Jardine is a very average MP, Edinburgh West is becoming the biggest LD stronghold in Scotland.
NE Fife is a harder call (not least because the student population of St Andrews completely changes every four years), but the LDs did pretty well in the locals this year as well. In St Andrews itself, they managed to get position 1 and 2 in the STV voting. So, sure, the LDs will be reliant on tactical voting (and English students) to see their MP re-elected. But I think it's a better than 50% shot for them.
Fairy nuff. Im planning on looking at it all again once the Boris situation resolves and whether that impacts the unionist splits. I've also exceeded my limit in looking at Electoral Calcs seat changes so thats impacting my ability to play with ideas. Harumph.
Electoral calculus currently has it as 53% chance SNP gain, 47% chance LD hold. I'd probably spin those around.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
I meant Monumental error
Hmmm you say that but.....
most companies would go on as they are geared up to homeworking due to covid
Insurance payouts for burnt property would give a fiscal stimulus directly into the econonmy
Levelling up would happen as people worked from home as spent money in their home community
All those russian assets in london would become charred ash and the insurance payouts blocked by sanctions
It would in otherwords have some upsides
Plus we could rebuild London properly, unlike Charles II's rather feeble efforts.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
I think NE Fife is SNP, edinburgh W yeah they may keep that, i find Edinburgh very hard to predict though. Initial thoughts only, and ive been struggling with fatigue all day so my spider senses may be a bit off
I think the LibDem MP for NE Fife, Wendy Chamberlain, is quite highly regarded. I imagine she'll be actively digging herself in. So long as they can suppress Tory vote think they would be OK.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
Unless Douglas does a double reverse ferret with pike then zero effect.
I'm losing count with his changes - almost as bad as keeping up with Slab leaders.
Reversing his position was a big mistake. This 'not in wartime' garbage is a cop out. He reversed because the numbers he expected up front werent there and he panicked. He looks weak when he had, briefly, looked principled and taking a stand and a lead. That just makes his current weakness, well, weaker.
Will Depp winning the case effect the culture wars at all or do people think it'll pretty much have no impact?
From what I read, neither party came out looking like super nice people. Don't think it will have much impact on anything else, except Mr Depp's career may restart better than hers.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
I think NE Fife is SNP, edinburgh W yeah they may keep that, i find Edinburgh very hard to predict though. Initial thoughts only, and ive been struggling with fatigue all day so my spider senses may be a bit off
The LDs absolutely smashed it out the park in Edinburgh at the locals, grabbing a bunch of seats. Although Christine Jardine is a very average MP, Edinburgh West is becoming the biggest LD stronghold in Scotland.
NE Fife is a harder call (not least because the student population of St Andrews completely changes every four years), but the LDs did pretty well in the locals this year as well. In St Andrews itself, they managed to get position 1 and 2 in the STV voting. So, sure, the LDs will be reliant on tactical voting (and English students) to see their MP re-elected. But I think it's a better than 50% shot for them.
Fairy nuff. Im planning on looking at it all again once the Boris situation resolves and whether that impacts the unionist splits. I've also exceeded my limit in looking at Electoral Calcs seat changes so thats impacting my ability to play with ideas. Harumph.
Electoral calculus currently has it as 53% chance SNP gain, 47% chance LD hold. I'd probably spin those around.
Ah ok thank you. In my head i'd been thinking about 60/40 SNP/LD so will look again once fallout from Boris has occured.
Incidentally on the subject of railways, the new headquarters of Great British Railways (OK, I'm back and I didn't puke too much) is being decided. The first part of the process is shortlisting the likely spots, which is announced in the next 2-3 weeks.
Could be some value in the following being on it:
Crewe Darlington Derby Swindon York
It does depend a bit on what the government want to achieve and what they hope to announce.
Personally, I would have said the obvious place for any railway based HQ is Crewe. But that means it probably won't get it.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
It speaks to a wider issue especially with Wales much the same that he has to go
I was looking at the new boundaries in Wales before i ran out of free looks with EC. The Tories might have a big big problem winning much at all in the new 32.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
I meant Monumental error
Hmmm you say that but.....
most companies would go on as they are geared up to homeworking due to covid
Insurance payouts for burnt property would give a fiscal stimulus directly into the econonmy
Levelling up would happen as people worked from home as spent money in their home community
All those russian assets in london would become charred ash and the insurance payouts blocked by sanctions
It would in otherwords have some upsides
Plus we could rebuild London properly, unlike Charles II's rather feeble efforts.
We had the chance to do that in 1945. Look how well that worked out.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Rejoin is for the moment not going to occur. But completely consistent with the Brexit decision is a sane two stage process, which should have occurred post 2016, namely that the UK joins EFTA and the EU agrees at the same time to allow derogation from FOM in exactly the same sort of move as allowed a permanent opt out from the Euro.
If parliament and the EU had both acted sensibly after 2016 the populists and extremists of all colours would have been all side lined, Brexit would have been honoured and the world would still be spinning round. Yes, there would still be a debate going on. That's democracy.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Wow.
I will say for Waitrose and MS they do do very good food.
I don't think it's worth the premium they charge over what I can get from other supermarkets. Because they also do some very good food. And if I want genuinely premium stuff I'll buy from a farm shop.
But to be more expensive than Waitrose and the implication being comparable to Tesco in quality? That's mad. When I was in America I thought how cheap everything was, but clearly it's changed!
Tesco Finest is often better than Waitrose in my experience.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
Or Notre Dame rather more recently.
Well, actually it did. If the ceiling hadn't been stone, the whole lot could have gone, instead of just the roof.
But - that was a fire *in* the roof. Not one coming at it from all directions.
Incidentally on the subject of railways, the new headquarters of Great British Railways (OK, I'm back and I didn't puke too much) is being decided. The first part of the process is shortlisting the likely spots, which is announced in the next 2-3 weeks.
Could be some value in the following being on it:
Crewe Darlington Derby Swindon York
It does depend a bit on what the government want to achieve and what they hope to announce.
Personally, I would have said the obvious place for any railway based HQ is Crewe. But that means it probably won't get it.
The obvious place is Birmingham, which *should* be the UK’s logistics capital.
Incidentally on the subject of railways, the new headquarters of Great British Railways (OK, I'm back and I didn't puke too much) is being decided. The first part of the process is shortlisting the likely spots, which is announced in the next 2-3 weeks.
Could be some value in the following being on it:
Crewe Darlington Derby Swindon York
It does depend a bit on what the government want to achieve and what they hope to announce.
Personally, I would have said the obvious place for any railway based HQ is Crewe. But that means it probably won't get it.
The obvious place is Birmingham, which *should* be the UK’s logistics capital.
Both Rugby and Stafford would have better claims than Birmingham. And I don't think either should be listed ahead of those five.
Incidentally on the subject of railways, the new headquarters of Great British Railways (OK, I'm back and I didn't puke too much) is being decided. The first part of the process is shortlisting the likely spots, which is announced in the next 2-3 weeks.
Could be some value in the following being on it:
Crewe Darlington Derby Swindon York
It does depend a bit on what the government want to achieve and what they hope to announce.
Personally, I would have said the obvious place for any railway based HQ is Crewe. But that means it probably won't get it.
The obvious place is Birmingham, which *should* be the UK’s logistics capital.
Won’t be Darlington - we already for treasury north.
However, if GBR wants to get money it would make since to ignore the advice and head there
York already has a number of Network Rail people there so would make sense.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Wow.
I will say for Waitrose and MS they do do very good food.
I don't think it's worth the premium they charge over what I can get from other supermarkets. Because they also do some very good food. And if I want genuinely premium stuff I'll buy from a farm shop.
But to be more expensive than Waitrose and the implication being comparable to Tesco in quality? That's mad. When I was in America I thought how cheap everything was, but clearly it's changed!
Tesco Finest is often better than Waitrose in my experience.
Waitrose ready meals are very bland for some reason.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
A lot of the south coast is moving quite quickly to Labour, for some reason. Worthing is the classic (from 0 seats to control in a few years), but Portsmouth, Southampton and as you say Bournemouth fit the pattern, and Brighton and Hove would too if there wasn't a more left-wing alternative.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
It speaks to a wider issue especially with Wales much the same that he has to go
I was looking at the new boundaries in Wales before i ran out of free looks with EC. The Tories might have a big big problem winning much at all in the new 32.
That doesn't last long btw. Not sure exactly how long. But days not months.
Well, you can get exceptional supermarket food in the US. But you will pay through the absolute nose for it. Erewhon - here in Los Angeles - is craptacularly expensive, but they have outstanding bread, salami, cheese etc.
Bloody hell, I've just looked at some of their produce and it makes Waitrose look cheap.
Also: NOT EVEN THAT GOOD
I confess i am geekily obsessed with charcuterie, cheese, breads, picnic fruits and veggies, and wine, but anyway, they are quite a good way of judging a food culture (at least in the west)
That insane posho LA supermarket has moderately pleasant cheese and rather average salami and it costs about five trillion dollars
It actually has very good cheese, very good salami, and excellent fresh meat.
But it is insanely expensive. Like 3-4x the price of Tesco or Sainsbury's.
Wow.
I will say for Waitrose and MS they do do very good food.
I don't think it's worth the premium they charge over what I can get from other supermarkets. Because they also do some very good food. And if I want genuinely premium stuff I'll buy from a farm shop.
But to be more expensive than Waitrose and the implication being comparable to Tesco in quality? That's mad. When I was in America I thought how cheap everything was, but clearly it's changed!
Tesco Finest is often better than Waitrose in my experience.
More interesting is Vardy v Rooney, where it is outstandingly obvious who should win on the merits but less obvious by what evidential route the judge will get to the destination.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
A lot of the south coast is moving quite quickly to Labour, for some reason. Worthing is the classic (from 0 seats to control in a few years), but Portsmouth, Southampton and as you say Bournemouth fit the pattern, and Brighton and Hove would too if there wasn't a more left-wing alternative.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
Brexit effects on ferries and trade? But that doesn't fit either so far as I am aware.
Incidentally on the subject of railways, the new headquarters of Great British Railways (OK, I'm back and I didn't puke too much) is being decided. The first part of the process is shortlisting the likely spots, which is announced in the next 2-3 weeks.
Could be some value in the following being on it:
Crewe Darlington Derby Swindon York
It does depend a bit on what the government want to achieve and what they hope to announce.
Personally, I would have said the obvious place for any railway based HQ is Crewe. But that means it probably won't get it.
The obvious place is Birmingham, which *should* be the UK’s logistics capital.
Both Rugby and Stafford would have better claims than Birmingham. And I don't think either should be listed ahead of those five.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
Wasn't St Paul's covered in wooden scaffolding at the time?
More interesting is Vardy v Rooney, where it is outstandingly obvious who should win on the merits but less obvious by what evidential route the judge will get to the destination.
Given the way the judge in the pretrial hearing interpreted the law, which to put it mildly was counter-intuitive, I'm intrigued as to how you think the answer can be obvious.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660. Discuss.
Well, we've had the plague. When do you expect London to burn to the ground?
How soon can you set light to it?
That would be a monumental error
Most monuments we have are stone and would survive ydoethurs arson attempts
Didn't save St Paul's or Baynard's Castle in 1666.
Wasn't St Paul's covered in wooden scaffolding at the time?
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
A lot of the south coast is moving quite quickly to Labour, for some reason. Worthing is the classic (from 0 seats to control in a few years), but Portsmouth, Southampton and as you say Bournemouth fit the pattern, and Brighton and Hove would too if there wasn't a more left-wing alternative.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
I wonder if Cumbria on the new boundaries could go from Tories 5, LD1 to a Lab/LD clean sweep next time.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
It speaks to a wider issue especially with Wales much the same that he has to go
I was looking at the new boundaries in Wales before i ran out of free looks with EC. The Tories might have a big big problem winning much at all in the new 32.
Yes. They are pretty dire with even a moderate swing.
Can someone explain in two sentences or less why Johnny Depp lost in London but has won in America?
Preparation. He didn't prepare in London and was slaughtered.
In the US, he was massively (and brilliantly) prepped by a team of lawyers and PR people. Every facial expression, every gesture, every off the cuff remark was tested and honed.
Heard, on the other hand, was complacent. She thought that it would be a repeat of the London trial. Which is an extremely expensive error for her - both in terms of damage to her reputation, damage to her bank balance and damage to her prospects.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
It speaks to a wider issue especially with Wales much the same that he has to go
I was looking at the new boundaries in Wales before i ran out of free looks with EC. The Tories might have a big big problem winning much at all in the new 32.
Yes. They are pretty dire with even a moderate swing.
Even Monmouth gets a fat chunk of Newport. They might hold Montgomery and Brecon and Preseli looks better than Monmouth now but the rest..... nah
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
Yeah. Don't think I've ever been to Dorset. Folk just have stereotypes about places. I was astonished at the makeup of Tunbridge Wells council too.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
A lot of the south coast is moving quite quickly to Labour, for some reason. Worthing is the classic (from 0 seats to control in a few years), but Portsmouth, Southampton and as you say Bournemouth fit the pattern, and Brighton and Hove would too if there wasn't a more left-wing alternative.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
Central Bournemouth has a young population nowadays, and age is a great predictor of voting.
Twitter - John Stevens@johnestevens 🚨 Sir Graham Brady just seen walking out of Parliament… does this mean the 54 letter are in or does it indicate absolutely nothing?
Hi Fitalass. Is Johnson as much of a problem for the Scottish Tories as we're led to believe?
Hes so toxic now you can ignore local, regional and national impact. Its all bad, all the time
83% disapproval rate should scare conservative mps and show him the doorn next week
But it's Scotland with only 5 MPs, sorry 5 Tory MPs, so it doesn't count.
It speaks to a wider issue especially with Wales much the same that he has to go
I was looking at the new boundaries in Wales before i ran out of free looks with EC. The Tories might have a big big problem winning much at all in the new 32.
Yes. They are pretty dire with even a moderate swing.
Even Monmouth gets a fat chunk of Newport. They might hold Montgomery and Brecon and Preseli looks better than Monmouth now but the rest..... nah
Newport is trending Tory, more so now the tolls on the Severn Bridge have been abolished. Both seats were only narrow holds for Labour last time.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
Baxter concurs. He gives the SLDs a 19% chance of winning the new Highland North seat.
Can someone explain in two sentences or less why Johnny Depp lost in London but has won in America?
Preparation. He didn't prepare in London and was slaughtered.
In the US, he was massively (and brilliantly) prepped by a team of lawyers and PR people. Every facial expression, every gesture, every off the cuff remark was tested and honed.
Heard, on the other hand, was complacent. She thought that it would be a repeat of the London trial. Which is an extremely expensive error for her - both in terms of damage to her reputation, damage to her bank balance and damage to her prospects.
Guess it's fortunate she didn't donate that $7 million after all.
The train drivers' union Aslef has rejected the latest 4.2% pay deal from ScotRail. The union's national executive said it would ballot for industrial action unless ScotRail offered further talks. Many drivers have been refusing to work overtime or on rest days during the pay dispute. The driver shortage has led to the now-nationalised train operator cutting a third of services under a temporary timetable.
Transport Scotland said it was disappointed that Aslef had rejected a deal which it described as "both fair and affordable".
Scotland's Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth had said earlier this week she was hopeful the 4.2% pay offer would resolve the dispute. However, it was turned down by a meeting of Aslef's national executive committee on Wednesday.
Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Aslef wants to negotiate a fair deal for our members, we are once again calling on ScotRail to return to the talks, so we can negotiate a fair pay offer that we can put to our members."
ScotRail introduced an emergency timetable last month to give customers a degree of certainty about services after being hit by numerous cancellations.
But the timetable involved almost 700 fewer services a day, with many later trains no longer running.
The SNP won 48 seats at the last UK General Election.
What do we think about next time - higher or lower?
Much lower as Scottish voters hand the SNP Gov at Holyrood a very negative midterm report card.. The SNP failures/scandals have been piling up in a holding pattern for the last year, now its all starting to unravel as we move on from the Covid pandemic. The ferry scandal was finally cutting through, but the impact of the Scotrail chaos has been immediate across the country with no sign of it improving anytime soon.
The Scottish electorate is not noted for delivering negative reports of the performance of the SNP. I'm not sure that's going to change any time soon.
I reckon there's a good chance they make fifty again next time. Cumulative effect of continuing Labour weakness with its old core vote, and Ross wrecking his credibility through his vacillation over Boris Johnson.
It will come down to getting the vote out. That will prove the SNPs biggest challenge after running the shop since 2007 up there and a lot will hang on where any referendum proposal is at. If no referendum has been achieved, nationalist turnout will drop off, they wont be able to campaign on a 'give us all the seats and we give you a referendum' style ticket again. That being said, labours recovery will be limited but visible i think and the Tories will struggle compared to 17 and 19, probably retreating from their comparative upturn in central areas etc under Ruth and they are in full retreat in Edinburgh. They might cobble together 20 or 21% if Boris goes. I can see something like 40 SNP 28 Lab 20 Tory. Labour gaining back 4 or 5, Tories holding borders plus a couple in the NE, LDs holding the northern islands, maybe Caithness, SNP get the rest although i think Ayrshire will be very interesting.
I think the LDs hold O&S, Edinburgh West and (probably) North East Fife. I doubt they'll hold on to the successor of the Caithness seat. Indeed, I doubt they'll even be particularly close.
Baxter concurs. He gives the SLDs a 19% chance of winning the new Highland North seat.
I think even 19% is pushing it; I wouldn't be surprised to see the LDs 20% behind there. (And I'm quite fond of old Jamie. Or maybe that's just by comparison to his colleagues.)
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
A lot of the south coast is moving quite quickly to Labour, for some reason. Worthing is the classic (from 0 seats to control in a few years), but Portsmouth, Southampton and as you say Bournemouth fit the pattern, and Brighton and Hove would too if there wasn't a more left-wing alternative.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
Central Bournemouth has a young population nowadays, and age is a great predictor of voting.
Is that other young hotspot not Bovington Camp near Wool?
@dixiedean - you’ve never been to Dorset? I reckon the biggest town/city in Britain that I’ve never been to is Bristol (I’ve stood on Temple Meads station during a locomotive change, but that doesn’t count).
As for counties, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Herefordshire and I don’t know Shropshire (been through it on the train).
Can someone explain in two sentences or less why Johnny Depp lost in London but has won in America?
Preparation. He didn't prepare in London and was slaughtered.
In the US, he was massively (and brilliantly) prepped by a team of lawyers and PR people. Every facial expression, every gesture, every off the cuff remark was tested and honed.
Heard, on the other hand, was complacent. She thought that it would be a repeat of the London trial. Which is an extremely expensive error for her - both in terms of damage to her reputation, damage to her bank balance and damage to her prospects.
At risk of sounding cynical, 36 year old actresses in Hollywood who have no particular talent for acting (and rather a lot who do) have few prospects anyway.
Can someone explain in two sentences or less why Johnny Depp lost in London but has won in America?
Preparation. He didn't prepare in London and was slaughtered.
In the US, he was massively (and brilliantly) prepped by a team of lawyers and PR people. Every facial expression, every gesture, every off the cuff remark was tested and honed.
Heard, on the other hand, was complacent. She thought that it would be a repeat of the London trial. Which is an extremely expensive error for her - both in terms of damage to her reputation, damage to her bank balance and damage to her prospects.
No costs award in US cases usually so it's just the 15m.
Exactly as I was discussing the other night (last night?) and I was much pooh-poohed. Yet I am right. If a Tory is gunning for this then you can be sure a Labour govt under 2nd vote Starmer will actively pursue it
Indeed it may be the way Starmer buys off the SNP and LDs to get a functional NOM govt
If opposition to Boris is associated with rejoinery then I'd say that helps Boris with his backbenches.
Poor move by Ellwood.
Looks at constituency.
Bournemouth East trending leftwards, predicted Labour gain by electoral calculus.
Gosh. So is Bournemouth West too. When did that happen? If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
It's probably associated in the minds of many with well-to-do old people, but actually Bournemouth is, as best I can make out, a city of about 200,000 people which is only middling economically and has a substantial student population. It's not nearly as Tory friendly as, for example, neighbouring Christchurch (which was one of only two Conservative gains in the 1997 General Election, and the only one not recaptured from a defector.)
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
A lot of the south coast is moving quite quickly to Labour, for some reason. Worthing is the classic (from 0 seats to control in a few years), but Portsmouth, Southampton and as you say Bournemouth fit the pattern, and Brighton and Hove would too if there wasn't a more left-wing alternative.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
London effect?
Brighton has looked towards the capital for ages- in particular, the funky lefty version not the city. After all, it's close and on a (by south east standards) super whizzy train line.
Now Brighton is unaffordable, the same demographic is moving out- either to nearby Worthing, or similar but less convenient south coast resort cities, like Portsmouth (especially the Southsea end) or Bournemouth.
As with some Conservative gains in the north, that Brecht line about politicians choosing a new electorate is kind of coming true.
@dixiedean - you’ve never been to Dorset? I reckon the biggest town/city in Britain that I’ve never been to is Bristol (I’ve stood on Temple Meads station during a locomotive change, but that doesn’t count).
Comments
We've got a lot to be thankful for.
If you'd asked, and I know nowt about the area. Haven't even been there, I'd have said 15 to 20 k Tory majorities.
What I won't do is buy milk, or avocados, or bananas, or washing powder.
We have delivery as standard as well.
If we keep on devaluing the currency to be able to sell our exports that's a sign that our competitiveness is declining and we can only compete by cutting the value of our pay by devaluing the currency it's paid in.
NE Fife is a harder call (not least because the student population of St Andrews completely changes every four years), but the LDs did pretty well in the locals this year as well. In St Andrews itself, they managed to get position 1 and 2 in the STV voting. So, sure, the LDs will be reliant on tactical voting (and English students) to see their MP re-elected. But I think it's a better than 50% shot for them.
(In Fife - admittedly the whole council area - the LDs almost doubled their number of councillors in 2022, which is pretty impressive for a PR election.)
Which has somehow so far given the impression of being an even worse mess than the current one!
Im planning on looking at it all again once the Boris situation resolves and whether that impacts the unionist splits. I've also exceeded my limit in looking at Electoral Calcs seat changes so thats impacting my ability to play with ideas. Harumph.
most companies would go on as they are geared up to homeworking due to covid
Insurance payouts for burnt property would give a fiscal stimulus directly into the econonmy
Levelling up would happen as people worked from home as spent money in their home community
All those russian assets in london would become charred ash and the insurance payouts blocked by sanctions
It would in otherwords have some upsides
Ukrainian forces capture Hampden Park.
Could be some value in the following being on it:
Crewe
Darlington
Derby
Swindon
York
It does depend a bit on what the government want to achieve and what they hope to announce.
Personally, I would have said the obvious place for any railway based HQ is Crewe. But that means it probably won't get it.
Ellwood has a majority of just under 9,000 and his seat is listed as Labour target 106 with a 9% swing needed to capture. Assuming UNS, if his unseating were Labour's high water mark it would get them well into largest party territory, though still about 30 short of a majority.
If parliament and the EU had both acted sensibly after 2016 the populists and extremists of all colours would have been all side lined, Brexit would have been honoured and the world would still be spinning round. Yes, there would still be a debate going on. That's democracy.
Scotland 0-2 Ukraine
But - that was a fire *in* the roof. Not one coming at it from all directions.
https://twitter.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1532081904601669632
However, if GBR wants to get money it would make since to ignore the advice and head there
York already has a number of Network Rail people there so would make sense.
I'm not sure why. They don't all have big universities!
Not sure exactly how long. But days not months.
Did you have Covid at the time?
https://twitter.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1532081904601669632?s=20&t=fW2lfL87JTwX3oIY58bFTg
In the US, he was massively (and brilliantly) prepped by a team of lawyers and PR people. Every facial expression, every gesture, every off the cuff remark was tested and honed.
Heard, on the other hand, was complacent. She thought that it would be a repeat of the London trial. Which is an extremely expensive error for her - both in terms of damage to her reputation, damage to her bank balance and damage to her prospects.
Folk just have stereotypes about places.
I was astonished at the makeup of Tunbridge Wells council too.
As for counties, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Herefordshire and I don’t know Shropshire (been through it on the train).
Cutting through Scotland like they're a Russian armoured convoy that took a wrong turn.
https://twitter.com/DavidDPaxton/status/1532089064937209858
and more LOLS
The National tomorrow: 'Scotland's World Cup dream dashed by Westminster-funded Ukraine'.
https://twitter.com/trivet1806/status/1532090494087577600
Though they seem to have let Kate Middleton get away with it.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/01/sarah-everard-vigil-met-to-prosecute-six-for-allegedly-breaching-covid-rules
Brighton has looked towards the capital for ages- in particular, the funky lefty version not the city. After all, it's close and on a (by south east standards) super whizzy train line.
Now Brighton is unaffordable, the same demographic is moving out- either to nearby Worthing, or similar but less convenient south coast resort cities, like Portsmouth (especially the Southsea end) or Bournemouth.
As with some Conservative gains in the north, that Brecht line about politicians choosing a new electorate is kind of coming true.