Erstwhile Remainers, or regretful Leavers, arguing the toss about percentage points of GDP and customs forms are still missing the fundamental choice on identity that was made.
We chose an identity that doesn't exist.
That is why there is perpetual angst and the matter will not rest.
What?? Britishness does notr exist? Nor Englishness?
Go jump in a lake in Brussels. No wonder you guys lost. You would lose again. The mask just keeps slipping
My wife and I have British Passports
We have always been British ("subjects" let us not forget). Although many of us liked to think of ourselves as *also* citizens of the EU and the benefits that brought. 51% of the electorate were gulled into throwing that away on our behalf with nothing better (such as EEA) to replace it in order to advance the career ego of Boris Johnson and to give right wing nutjobs like @Leon something to jerk off about when he is not watching PornHub.
There wasn't much evidence of that before the referendum. And if there were so many benefits, why wasn't the Remain campaign able to mount a positive pro-EU campaign?
Because the negative messaging of Leave ( a negative message in itself) was greater than the negative messaging of Remain. Negative messaging resonates well with the terminally gullible. That is why it resonates so well with you clearly, and is why people who are essentially negative like you and Leon still believe in Brexit.
Perhaps the negative messaging worked because the EU was pretty unpopular with the voters. Even a lot of people who voted Remain did so on the basis of its being the lesser evil, not with any enthusiasm.
It's difficult to create a positive message when part of your platform is about how good it is to have opt outs, and another part is about denying the nature of the project itself.
Erstwhile Remainers, or regretful Leavers, arguing the toss about percentage points of GDP and customs forms are still missing the fundamental choice on identity that was made.
We chose an identity that doesn't exist.
That is why there is perpetual angst and the matter will not rest.
What?? Britishness does notr exist? Nor Englishness?
Go jump in a lake in Brussels. No wonder you guys lost. You would lose again. The mask just keeps slipping
My wife and I have British Passports
We have always been British ("subjects" let us not forget). Although many of us liked to think of ourselves as *also* citizens of the EU and the benefits that brought. 51% of the electorate were gulled into throwing that away on our behalf with nothing better (such as EEA) to replace it in order to advance the career ego of Boris Johnson and to give right wing nutjobs like @Leon something to jerk off about when he is not watching PornHub.
There wasn't much evidence of that before the referendum. And if there were so many benefits, why wasn't the Remain campaign able to mount a positive pro-EU campaign?
Because the negative messaging of Leave ( a negative message in itself) was greater than the negative messaging of Remain. Negative messaging resonates well with the terminally gullible. That is why it resonates so well with you clearly, and is why people who are essentially negative like you and Leon still believe in Brexit.
Perhaps the negative messaging worked because the EU was pretty unpopular with the voters. Even a lot of people who voted Remain did so on the basis of its being the lesser evil, not with any enthusiasm.
Re the first sentence, interesting point that I hadn't thought of and that of course works. Also unlike a GE campaign the Leave side didn't have an alternative (or you could argue there were multiple alternatives), therefore by its nature the campaign has to be negative (much as I dislike admitting that because I hate negative campaigning) because it has to focus almost entirely on what was wrong with the EU. If you are focusing on what is wrong with something it is very difficult to be positive.
That has for me put the Leave campaign in a slightly different and slightly more positive light now.
A few worrying signs that Erdogan may be interested in taking a leaf out of Putin's book.
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday warned Greece to demilitarize islands in the Aegean, saying he was “not joking” with such comments."
Yesterday he said Greece would face "catastrophic" consequences if it did not comply. All a new level of rhetoric, and somewhat concerning, although it is an advance of an election. Any action like this would obviously mean burning his bridges with NATO and a complete realignment in the region, so it still doesn't seem the most likely outcome.
To conclude on this point, what would be the most worrying scenario is if he decides it's in his interests to link up with Russia and China. This rabble-rousing may be part of his plan to extract as many concessions as possible from NATO and the EU so that this doesn't happen, but it's certainly a worry.
What's the situation on his blocking of Finland and Sweden ? If he's apparently decided not to make any comporomises at all, that would be a worry.
Erstwhile Remainers, or regretful Leavers, arguing the toss about percentage points of GDP and customs forms are still missing the fundamental choice on identity that was made.
We chose an identity that doesn't exist.
That is why there is perpetual angst and the matter will not rest.
What?? Britishness does notr exist? Nor Englishness?
Go jump in a lake in Brussels. No wonder you guys lost. You would lose again. The mask just keeps slipping
My wife and I have British Passports
We have always been British ("subjects" let us not forget). Although many of us liked to think of ourselves as *also* citizens of the EU and the benefits that brought. 51% of the electorate were gulled into throwing that away on our behalf with nothing better (such as EEA) to replace it in order to advance the career ego of Boris Johnson and to give right wing nutjobs like @Leon something to jerk off about when he is not watching PornHub.
There wasn't much evidence of that before the referendum. And if there were so many benefits, why wasn't the Remain campaign able to mount a positive pro-EU campaign?
Because the negative messaging of Leave ( a negative message in itself) was greater than the negative messaging of Remain. Negative messaging resonates well with the terminally gullible. That is why it resonates so well with you clearly, and is why people who are essentially negative like you and Leon still believe in Brexit.
Perhaps the negative messaging worked because the EU was pretty unpopular with the voters. Even a lot of people who voted Remain did so on the basis of its being the lesser evil, not with any enthusiasm.
Re the first sentence, interesting point that I hadn't thought of and that of course works. Also unlike a GE campaign the Leave side didn't have an alternative (or you could argue there were multiple alternatives), therefore by its nature the campaign has to be negative (much as I dislike admitting that because I hate negative campaigning) because it has to focus almost entirely on what was wrong with the EU. If you are focusing on what is wrong with something it is very difficult to be positive.
That has for me put the Leave campaign in a slightly different and slightly more positive light now.
Even the Remain campaign said basically the EU was a complete basket case but that leaving would be worse still. CCHQ was addicted to negative campaigning so never made the positive case for the EU. They'd concluded from 2010 and Sindyref that their methods worked, when sceptics might have said both those campaigns almost failed despite pushing at an open door.
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
This is exactly what we need to be looking for Wooly switchers. If it’s just to displeased to shyness it’s 1992 all over again for Labour.
I still have feeling Tories are going to finish 260 seats at next election though. I think voters are making up their minds about now.
Erstwhile Remainers, or regretful Leavers, arguing the toss about percentage points of GDP and customs forms are still missing the fundamental choice on identity that was made.
We chose an identity that doesn't exist.
That is why there is perpetual angst and the matter will not rest.
What?? Britishness does notr exist? Nor Englishness?
Go jump in a lake in Brussels. No wonder you guys lost. You would lose again. The mask just keeps slipping
My wife and I have British Passports
We have always been British ("subjects" let us not forget). Although many of us liked to think of ourselves as *also* citizens of the EU and the benefits that brought. 51% of the electorate were gulled into throwing that away on our behalf with nothing better (such as EEA) to replace it in order to advance the career ego of Boris Johnson and to give right wing nutjobs like @Leon something to jerk off about when he is not watching PornHub.
There wasn't much evidence of that before the referendum. And if there were so many benefits, why wasn't the Remain campaign able to mount a positive pro-EU campaign?
Because the negative messaging of Leave ( a negative message in itself) was greater than the negative messaging of Remain. Negative messaging resonates well with the terminally gullible. That is why it resonates so well with you clearly, and is why people who are essentially negative like you and Leon still believe in Brexit.
Perhaps the negative messaging worked because the EU was pretty unpopular with the voters. Even a lot of people who voted Remain did so on the basis of its being the lesser evil, not with any enthusiasm.
I don't think there's much doubt that the reality of Brexit has proven a disappointment to many, but, those who continually highlight the wrong/right polling are guilty of a lack of imagination.
If we'd voted 53/47 to Remain, as most polls indicated in the last few days before the referendum, then we'd have continued to have had net EU immigration at 300k+ per year, and we'd have been fighting the advancement of President Juncker's agenda for greater political, social and fiscal union at European Council meetings every 6 months. We'd have almost certainly signed up to the EU vaccine scheme, and been frustrated by it, during the pandemic, and been obliged to pursue a common position on Ukraine through the CFSP, where our strong line would have been watered down. We'd have found Ursula von der Leyen equally frustrating in her political ineptitude, and we'd have lost plenty of QMV votes through eurozone caucusing; our digital/financial services would have moved very slowly if at all, frustrating the City.
We'd be getting just as high polling for wrong/right as we do now, just in the other direction, with a similar movement for a re-vote.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
Rail passengers aren't innocent though, they're the ones whose service the staff the fares should be paying for. If wages go up, fares should go up accordingly, so passengers are absolutely connected.
You're "innocent" of the dispute if you don't use rails, if you do, you're a party to the dispute.
But passengers can't resolve the dispute, so calling them a party to it doesn't seem to ring true.
We already use imperial measures for many, many things in this country. As far as I know, it's no longer illegal to use them on market stalls or in butchers etc either and hasn't been for some time. Most retailers won't bother with them but as Richard says giving people more choice is hardly worth worrying about.
It's just another headline grabbing 'policy' that makes no difference (akin to the endless 'pubs will be allowed to open past 11pm for [insert holiday/sporting event here] when in fact they have been allowed to open past 11pm for more than 15 years!!)
Will they be allowed to refuse to use metric altogether under the new rules? If so, and the shop refuses to use metric, how does that provide the customer with more choice?
I don't know, and I don't think that it does. But why would a shop do that? I suspect most will use metric only or both – as they do now.
Yes, I can't imagine why a shop would do anything that might make it harder for consumers to compare prices and figure out if they are being ripped off...
In the good old days of "custom and practice" certain professions charged for 16 ounces and gave 14 ounces in the pound. Think of RN ship's pursers, who were originally commercial contractors rather than administrative officers.
I'm just thinking how many folk don't know even how many ounces there are in a pound ...
14 lbs in a stone is a good one to follow the 16 oz in a pound. It's probably good for the brain this sort of thing. I'm sure metrication has led to a reduction in IQs across the board. Einstein, I'm sure, was a fan of imperial measures.
Prof Einstein was born in Wuerttemberg in 1879; it had already been incorporated into the Kaiserreich, which went metric in 1872.
Yep. And look what happened to the Kaiserreich. And AE, sensibly, didn't hang around there too long either. My point proved, I think?
No; because his theories don't depend on units. Think about it. e = mc2 whether one measures it in joules, calories, or feet-poundsweightatGreenwichObservatory.
What’s the PB sitrep on war in Ukraine? Our national media are starting to give us pessimism on how it’s going now and likely to end up? ☹️
There have been no changes in the frontline for two days in a row. We're increasingly close to a stalemate.
If the pace of Western supplies of equipment and ammunition can be maintained or increased then I am confident Ukraine can prevail. However, that's a big ask, and supplies to Ukraine seem to be adhoc and piecemeal. They need more consistent supplies to replace losses and equip new units.
Is stalemate good or bad for us at this stage? I guessing good, it means Puking not winning and we got extra gear on way.
We're just inching toward a new shape for the Shithole Formerly Known As Ukraine. The Russians can't go much further west and the Ukrainians can't push them back. VVP will probably trade Black Sea access for removal of sanctions and call it good for another 5-10 years.
Erstwhile Remainers, or regretful Leavers, arguing the toss about percentage points of GDP and customs forms are still missing the fundamental choice on identity that was made.
We chose an identity that doesn't exist.
That is why there is perpetual angst and the matter will not rest.
What?? Britishness does notr exist? Nor Englishness?
Go jump in a lake in Brussels. No wonder you guys lost. You would lose again. The mask just keeps slipping
My wife and I have British Passports
We have always been British ("subjects" let us not forget). Although many of us liked to think of ourselves as *also* citizens of the EU and the benefits that brought. 51% of the electorate were gulled into throwing that away on our behalf with nothing better (such as EEA) to replace it in order to advance the career ego of Boris Johnson and to give right wing nutjobs like @Leon something to jerk off about when he is not watching PornHub.
There wasn't much evidence of that before the referendum. And if there were so many benefits, why wasn't the Remain campaign able to mount a positive pro-EU campaign?
Because the negative messaging of Leave ( a negative message in itself) was greater than the negative messaging of Remain. Negative messaging resonates well with the terminally gullible. That is why it resonates so well with you clearly, and is why people who are essentially negative like you and Leon still believe in Brexit.
Perhaps the negative messaging worked because the EU was pretty unpopular with the voters. Even a lot of people who voted Remain did so on the basis of its being the lesser evil, not with any enthusiasm.
I think the positive messaging of Leave was more than the positive messaging of Remain too.
Remainers may want to call Leavers positive arguments "unicorns" but that's just more negativity.
Agreed. The Remain campaign was paltry and grim. Putting Scrooge in charge of public-holiday scheduling wouldn't have been less disheartening. Nevertheless, the very quiddity of Remain was negative, as it was asking people to reject deprivation. It was like asking people what would they prefer: winning the lottery or not being burgled? Leave in contrast was promising liberty, security, tranquillity and wealth. The wretched buggers at Remain never stood an earthly.
What’s the PB sitrep on war in Ukraine? Our national media are starting to give us pessimism on how it’s going now and likely to end up? ☹️
There have been no changes in the frontline for two days in a row. We're increasingly close to a stalemate.
If the pace of Western supplies of equipment and ammunition can be maintained or increased then I am confident Ukraine can prevail. However, that's a big ask, and supplies to Ukraine seem to be adhoc and piecemeal. They need more consistent supplies to replace losses and equip new units.
Is stalemate good or bad for us at this stage? I guessing good, it means Puking not winning and we got extra gear on way.
We're just inching toward a new shape for the Shithole Formerly Known As Ukraine. The Russians can't go much further west and the Ukrainians can't push them back. VVP will probably trade Black Sea access for removal of sanctions and call it good for another 5-10 years.
And we must resist that, for the last part of your post. Putin has made it clear what he wants, and as long as Ukraine wants to resist that, we should help them. Otherwise we'll be back here - in fact, in a worse position - in a few years.
Sanctions must not be removed until Russia withdraws from Ukraine. In other words, when it is defeated and knows it is defeated.
The astonishing thing to me is that Russia has been so clear in what their strategic objectives are - and they are not good for Europe or the world.
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
This is exactly what we need to be looking for Wooly switchers. If it’s just to displeased to shyness it’s 1992 all over again for Labour.
I still have feeling Tories are going to finish 260 seats at next election though. I think voters are making up their minds about now.
Im leaning more towards 290 to 300, but labour minority administrstion. I think it will be very close on vote share
In the early 1990s I walked into Liverpool Street station early on a Sunday morning. It looked like that, with all the shops shut and no staff visible. The entire City of London used to be tumbleweed territory on Sunday mornings.
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
The 24/25th May poll has broadly the same shape and gives a breakdown for Tory voters. All figures are (% 2019 voters)
Con vote : 73% of Con 2019 / 1% of Lab 2019 / 6% of Lib Dem 2019 Lab vote : 10% of Con 2019 / 83% of Lab 2019 / 35% of Lib Dem 2019 LD : 6% of Con 2019 / 7% of Lab 2019 / 54% of Lib Dem 2019. Reform UK : 8% of Con 2019 (0 LD & Lab) Green : 2% of Con 2019 / 7% of Lab 2019 / 5% of Lib Dem 2019 Other 2% of Con 2019 / 1% of Lab 2019.
Broad right/left blocks are as follows.
Con + Reform = 81% of Con 2019 / 1% of Lab 2019 / 6% of Lib Dem 2019 Lab + Green + LD = 18% of Con 2019 / 97% of Lab 2019 / 94% of Lib Dem 2019.
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
This is exactly what we need to be looking for Wooly switchers. If it’s just to displeased to shyness it’s 1992 all over again for Labour.
I still have feeling Tories are going to finish 260 seats at next election though. I think voters are making up their minds about now.
Im leaning more towards 290 to 300, but labour minority administrstion. I think it will be very close on vote share
We are only 30 out in our prediction! It only needs me to add 15 and you to take 15 off over next two years. 🙂
I think it’s always effective when politicians explain things to us. Lady Thatcher very good at this.
Difference was that she actually believed in what she said, and that she also believed that what she was doing was in the best interests of the country. Boris Johnson doesn't believe in anything other than doing what is in the best interest of his ego
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
How many of them were low propensity voters? They may be reanimated when the social media culture war is restarted 2024.
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
This is exactly what we need to be looking for Wooly switchers. If it’s just to displeased to shyness it’s 1992 all over again for Labour.
I still have feeling Tories are going to finish 260 seats at next election though. I think voters are making up their minds about now.
Im leaning more towards 290 to 300, but labour minority administrstion. I think it will be very close on vote share
We are only 30 out in our prediction! It only needs me to add 15 and you to take 15 off over next two years. 🙂
Not a hugely unlikely outcome! Big difference to Starmer though - tories 260 to 275 he will be relatively comfortable as minority PM Towards 300 it all collapses mid term to a new election
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
How many of them were low propensity voters? They may be reanimated when the social media culture war is restarted 2024.
A reignited phoney brexit war and the culture war is where he will be looking for a chunk of his swingback
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
Right. But if I'm doing a journey of 140 miles and Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 hours 20 minutes, I know by inspection that's 60 minutes more than I would expect, so therefore there's something out of the ordinary to expect on the road - whether that's congestion, long periods of roadworks with painfully slow speed limits, or just much more at sub-70 speed limits than the average journey.
The brilliant thing is Google Maps will also tell you about things like accidents, road closures, sections of slow traffic. So you not only know to expect something, but you know what and where to expect it.
During a journey. Not so much when planning a journey.
Google maps is generally brilliant - and the detours it sometimes comes up with during a journey are often very useful. But it can also leave you in some sticky spots, try to direct you down places your car shouldn't go, and where it doesn't have the latest data can lead you badly astray. With a good dose of common sense, using it for navigation works fine.
I've found that in cities it tends to underestimate how difficult right turns can be in moderate traffic. I wish it would penalise them some more in the algorithm.
An instructor friend says good driving is about avoiding right turns.
In the early 1990s I walked into Liverpool Street station early on a Sunday morning. It looked like that, with all the shops shut and no staff visible. The entire City of London used to be tumbleweed territory on Sunday mornings.
If you’re a trainspotter you’d love this one. A train across the lower Caucasus. It’s actually quite busy on board
It’s classic late Soviet rolling stock right down to the brusque surly woman manning the samovar and checking the tickets
Evoking memories of my trip on the trans Siberian in 1992
I think it’s always effective when politicians explain things to us. Lady Thatcher very good at this.
It cannot be right size of government has increased 23% since 2015. Cut that waste and we are all richer. Is the gist of what he is saying.
He’s attacking the fact Tax is too high, and he’s going to do something about it. That’s what people want to hear isn’t it?
More local homes for local people. Communities have been waiting decades for a PM with that policy.
This is all great vote winning stuff from Boris. Absolutely fizzing with ideas and policy here.
You are Nadine Dorries and I claim my £5!
Cheeky! Watch it for yourself, this is a different Boris you would have to admit. It’s like Snow White woken up or something. Where has this Boris and all this policy been hiding?
LuckyMan had been posting back to the wall Boris is going to be good, and is right to be fair.
What’s the PB sitrep on war in Ukraine? Our national media are starting to give us pessimism on how it’s going now and likely to end up? ☹️
There have been no changes in the frontline for two days in a row. We're increasingly close to a stalemate.
If the pace of Western supplies of equipment and ammunition can be maintained or increased then I am confident Ukraine can prevail. However, that's a big ask, and supplies to Ukraine seem to be adhoc and piecemeal. They need more consistent supplies to replace losses and equip new units.
Is stalemate good or bad for us at this stage? I guessing good, it means Puking not winning and we got extra gear on way.
We're just inching toward a new shape for the Shithole Formerly Known As Ukraine. The Russians can't go much further west and the Ukrainians can't push them back. VVP will probably trade Black Sea access for removal of sanctions and call it good for another 5-10 years.
It's possible. Or if the West is serious it will provide equipment and training for a New Model Ukrainian Army that will rout the Russians in a counterattack as the Croats did the Serbs in the 1990s.
In the early 1990s I walked into Liverpool Street station early on a Sunday morning. It looked like that, with all the shops shut and no staff visible. The entire City of London used to be tumbleweed territory on Sunday mornings.
If you’re a trainspotter you’d love this one. A train across the lower Caucasus. It’s actually quite busy on board
It’s classic late Soviet rolling stock right down to the brusque surly woman manning the samovar and checking the tickets
Evoking memories of my trip on the trans Siberian in 1992
I'm worse than a trainspotter. I like the infrastructure, and the first question I had when I saw your picture was : "What is the gauge?"
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
“A staggering 10 mass shootings since Friday deepens national trauma from recent massacres at a Buffalo supermarket, a Texas elementary school, and a mass shooting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma medical center.~~😪”
In the early 1990s I walked into Liverpool Street station early on a Sunday morning. It looked like that, with all the shops shut and no staff visible. The entire City of London used to be tumbleweed territory on Sunday mornings.
If you’re a trainspotter you’d love this one. A train across the lower Caucasus. It’s actually quite busy on board
It’s classic late Soviet rolling stock right down to the brusque surly woman manning the samovar and checking the tickets
Evoking memories of my trip on the trans Siberian in 1992
I'm worse than a trainspotter. I like the infrastructure, and the first question I had when I saw your picture was : "What is the gauge?"
It’s one of those CCCP trains where you have to climb 2 metres from the platform up into the carriage
I see there is a suggestion for increasing the age you can buy tobacco products by 1 year every year, thus making it a total ban on current children for their entire lives.
Much as a despise smoking, I despise more the nanny state telling us what we can and can not do.
Mr. Royale, if we're trotting out the classics, then people wibbling about leaving the EU not going well should remember the Romans in the Second Punic War.
Days after losing their largest ever army in the annihilation of Cannae the field upon which Hannibal's victorious army was encamped was sold for the full market value.
Clearly a rigged market but also a very effective declaration of intent. Surprised Zelensky hasn't tried something similar.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So are the railwaymen supposed to accept a swingeing real terms cut in wages then? I suspect you might think differently if you were a railwayman.
In the early 1990s I walked into Liverpool Street station early on a Sunday morning. It looked like that, with all the shops shut and no staff visible. The entire City of London used to be tumbleweed territory on Sunday mornings.
If you’re a trainspotter you’d love this one. A train across the lower Caucasus. It’s actually quite busy on board
It’s classic late Soviet rolling stock right down to the brusque surly woman manning the samovar and checking the tickets
Evoking memories of my trip on the trans Siberian in 1992
I'm worse than a trainspotter. I like the infrastructure, and the first question I had when I saw your picture was : "What is the gauge?"
It’s one of those CCCP trains where you have to climb 2 metres from the platform up into the carriage
Just so you can attract any ladies on the train with your encyclopaedic knowledge, the train you are on runs on standard Russian gauge tracks, 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in).
(Yes, I looked it up. And no, it won't work as a chat-up line...)
I think it’s always effective when politicians explain things to us. Lady Thatcher very good at this.
It cannot be right size of government has increased 23% since 2015. Cut that waste and we are all richer. Is the gist of what he is saying.
He’s attacking the fact Tax is too high, and he’s going to do something about it. That’s what people want to hear isn’t it?
More local homes for local people. Communities have been waiting decades for a PM with that policy.
This is all great vote winning stuff from Boris. Absolutely fizzing with ideas and policy here.
You are Nadine Dorries and I claim my £5!
Cheeky! Watch it for yourself, this is a different Boris you would have to admit. It’s like Snow White woken up or something. Where has this Boris and all this policy been hiding?
LuckyMan had been posting back to the wall Boris is going to be good, and is right to be fair.
Presumably the general angst (including me) about this government being aimless and having no clear idea of where it is going has struck home. But can he deliver this time?
For all his alleged luck in elections his time of office has been so far dominated by Covid, driving everything else off the table. I fear the next year is going to be dominated by a recession caused by both Covid and sanctions related to Ukraine. But we will see.
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
My Audi Sat Nav with live predictive traffic is chillingly accurate. It beats even Google Maps, although its live rerouting can get a bit silly at times when it advises you leave the M25 for two junctions to save 90 seconds. Still, one can ignore it.
Im just looking at a little nugget of info from YouGovs Boris/Leadership poll https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results (the 1-3 June Times one) Now, there is no formal VI but there are current and 2019 figures for the 3 main UK wide parties It looks to me like the Tories have lost towards a third of their 2019 voters (i assume to not likely to vote or not certain to vote) and Lab/LD are broadly flat? Strongly suggests/supports its Boris/certainty to vote, stupid The figures look 34/39/13 ish on a very rough extrapolation (but no turnout filters etc applied) Interesting though, its disappearing tory voters............ Edit - where are the switchers?
How many of them were low propensity voters? They may be reanimated when the social media culture war is restarted 2024.
A reignited phoney brexit war and the culture war is where he will be looking for a chunk of his swingback
The phoney Brexit war will have less effect as the consequences become ever clearer.
We already use imperial measures for many, many things in this country. As far as I know, it's no longer illegal to use them on market stalls or in butchers etc either and hasn't been for some time. Most retailers won't bother with them but as Richard says giving people more choice is hardly worth worrying about.
It's just another headline grabbing 'policy' that makes no difference (akin to the endless 'pubs will be allowed to open past 11pm for [insert holiday/sporting event here] when in fact they have been allowed to open past 11pm for more than 15 years!!)
Will they be allowed to refuse to use metric altogether under the new rules? If so, and the shop refuses to use metric, how does that provide the customer with more choice?
It doesn't, but it gives people selling stuff a small opportunity to mislead customers. So there is extra choice for sellers.
And there are rules to protect against that. It’s the principles vs detailed regulation debate
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
Right. But if I'm doing a journey of 140 miles and Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 hours 20 minutes, I know by inspection that's 60 minutes more than I would expect, so therefore there's something out of the ordinary to expect on the road - whether that's congestion, long periods of roadworks with painfully slow speed limits, or just much more at sub-70 speed limits than the average journey.
The brilliant thing is Google Maps will also tell you about things like accidents, road closures, sections of slow traffic. So you not only know to expect something, but you know what and where to expect it.
During a journey. Not so much when planning a journey.
Well... yes. No amount of brainy calculations or clever apps are going to predict tanker of vegetable oil overturning on the M4 westbound at Swindon before it's happened.
You just toggle "without traffic" if you just want to know the optimum journey time.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
Back in the day when I was commuting I would celebrate delayed trains and cancellations... basically like getting an after tax payrise.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So are the railwaymen supposed to accept a swingeing real terms cut in wages then? I suspect you might think differently if you were a railwayman.
Surely they can find a way to negotiate without punishing innocent people who can't resolve the dispute.
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
Right. But if I'm doing a journey of 140 miles and Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 hours 20 minutes, I know by inspection that's 60 minutes more than I would expect, so therefore there's something out of the ordinary to expect on the road - whether that's congestion, long periods of roadworks with painfully slow speed limits, or just much more at sub-70 speed limits than the average journey.
The brilliant thing is Google Maps will also tell you about things like accidents, road closures, sections of slow traffic. So you not only know to expect something, but you know what and where to expect it.
During a journey. Not so much when planning a journey.
Google maps is generally brilliant - and the detours it sometimes comes up with during a journey are often very useful. But it can also leave you in some sticky spots, try to direct you down places your car shouldn't go, and where it doesn't have the latest data can lead you badly astray. With a good dose of common sense, using it for navigation works fine.
I've found that in cities it tends to underestimate how difficult right turns can be in moderate traffic. I wish it would penalise them some more in the algorithm.
An instructor friend says good driving is about avoiding right turns.
..
Google maps has the perfectly fine Set depart or arrive time option that gives you a 90% range if you say you want to set off at 8am on Saturday or arrive by 9am on Thursday etc
So, if I want to arrive at my work car park by 9am tomorrow, it gives a 1h15m journey time and a typically 55m-1h50m range, which I'd say is fair.
And can also use for finding more typical timings if the live traffic is out of whack.
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
Right. But if I'm doing a journey of 140 miles and Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 hours 20 minutes, I know by inspection that's 60 minutes more than I would expect, so therefore there's something out of the ordinary to expect on the road - whether that's congestion, long periods of roadworks with painfully slow speed limits, or just much more at sub-70 speed limits than the average journey.
The brilliant thing is Google Maps will also tell you about things like accidents, road closures, sections of slow traffic. So you not only know to expect something, but you know what and where to expect it.
During a journey. Not so much when planning a journey.
Google maps is generally brilliant - and the detours it sometimes comes up with during a journey are often very useful. But it can also leave you in some sticky spots, try to direct you down places your car shouldn't go, and where it doesn't have the latest data can lead you badly astray. With a good dose of common sense, using it for navigation works fine.
I've found that in cities it tends to underestimate how difficult right turns can be in moderate traffic. I wish it would penalise them some more in the algorithm.
Possibly too American, perhaps doesn't consider as it should that rights are more awkward in the UK?
The one thing I find very annoying is with the voice guidance if you're on a road with lots of roundabouts, which again is something Americans don't have so much. Instead of telling you when to turn left or right, it tells you (often 3 times) to go straight. In one mile take the second exit, in 400 yards take the second exit; take the second exit, in one mile take the second exit *and repeat*
It doesn't do that with normal junctions, it doesn't tell you to go straight every junction so there really should be no need to do that with straights at roundabouts either. If I end up on a road with lots of roundabouts I'll normally end up muting the voice guidance, but I'd like to have it when I'm supposed to turn left or right rather than keep going straight.
I'm amazed anyone uses voice guidance at all. I just follow the map, although my car has a HUD display, which makes that easier.
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
Right. But if I'm doing a journey of 140 miles and Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 hours 20 minutes, I know by inspection that's 60 minutes more than I would expect, so therefore there's something out of the ordinary to expect on the road - whether that's congestion, long periods of roadworks with painfully slow speed limits, or just much more at sub-70 speed limits than the average journey.
The brilliant thing is Google Maps will also tell you about things like accidents, road closures, sections of slow traffic. So you not only know to expect something, but you know what and where to expect it.
During a journey. Not so much when planning a journey.
Google maps is generally brilliant - and the detours it sometimes comes up with during a journey are often very useful. But it can also leave you in some sticky spots, try to direct you down places your car shouldn't go, and where it doesn't have the latest data can lead you badly astray. With a good dose of common sense, using it for navigation works fine.
On one cycle route Google maps appeared to want me to cycle on water. In fact the route was correct but goggle maps didn't show the foot/cycle bridge but seemed to know it was there for the route. I checked on another map that there was a bridge.
On our Normandy cycle ride using the cycle option it suggested a ferry to Jersey or Guernsey from our start point and a ferry back to our end point. It only involved about 100 metres cycling as opposed to the 400 km we planned to do. But in fairness to Goggle it didn't know our motives for getting from a) to b) i.e. pointless travel for the sheer enjoyment.
In the early 1990s I walked into Liverpool Street station early on a Sunday morning. It looked like that, with all the shops shut and no staff visible. The entire City of London used to be tumbleweed territory on Sunday mornings.
If you’re a trainspotter you’d love this one. A train across the lower Caucasus. It’s actually quite busy on board
It’s classic late Soviet rolling stock right down to the brusque surly woman manning the samovar and checking the tickets
Evoking memories of my trip on the trans Siberian in 1992
I'm worse than a trainspotter. I like the infrastructure, and the first question I had when I saw your picture was : "What is the gauge?"
It’s one of those CCCP trains where you have to climb 2 metres from the platform up into the carriage
Just so you can attract any ladies on the train with your encyclopaedic knowledge, the train you are on runs on standard Russian gauge tracks, 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in).
(Yes, I looked it up. And no, it won't work as a chat-up line...)
I see there is a suggestion for increasing the age you can buy tobacco products by 1 year every year, thus making it a total ban on current children for their entire lives.
Much as a despise smoking, I despise more the nanny state telling us what we can and can not do.
It's a bit strange because current policies: high tax, stop smoking support, no smoking in public indoors - seem to be working in reducing the number of people who smoke.
Making it illegal risks creating all the problems we have with illegal drugs for tobacco. Bad plan.
So it fails on a practical level even before considering the issue of personal liberty.
I see the Economist cover story this week paints Britain as “stagnation nation”, while the FT is reporting that the UK is “set for the highest inflation in the G7 until 2024”.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
That's of little help if your job requires you to get into your workplace.
This strike is disastrous timing for a rail system that needs to attract back as many passengers as it can after the Covid disruptions.
I can understand the staff wanting more money, but that either comes from increased state subsidy or passengers' pockets. The government have spent billions supporting the network during Covid, and have an investment budget into the railways for tens of billions over the next few years.
The money has to come from somewhere. I can't see fares increasing for those who are equally (or more) hard-up being popular. And if you want state subsidies increasing, I'd have to ask where the money comes from. Do we want network enhancements scrapping?
Also note: we moved back to a semi-nationalised 'British Railways', and within a year we have our first near-national strike for over two decades.
Dumb final paragraph. Great British Railways doesn't come into force until next year, and five or more of the franchises are nationalised in any case and have been so for some time.
Next you'll be extolling the safety benefits of a privatised railway ... by using a nationalised railway as your exemplar.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
That's of little help if your job requires you to get into your workplace.
This strike is disastrous timing for a rail system that needs to attract back as many passengers as it can after the Covid disruptions.
I can understand the staff wanting more money, but that either comes from increased state subsidy or passengers' pockets. The government have spent billions supporting the network during Covid, and have an investment budget into the railways for tens of billions over the next few years.
The money has to come from somewhere. I can't see fares increasing for those who are equally (or more) hard-up being popular. And if you want state subsidies increasing, I'd have to ask where the money comes from. Do we want network enhancements scrapping?
Also note: we moved back to a semi-nationalised 'British Railways', and within a year we have our first near-national strike for over two decades.
During Covid when hardly any trains were running thousands of rail workers received full pay for very limited working.
Are you sure about that? The people who will cause the biggest disruption with this strike are the signal men / women and they were working all the time.
And it's a simple test because without signal men you can run virtually no services.
40,000-50,000 people are going on strike, I doubt more than 5% of these are signalmen
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
That's of little help if your job requires you to get into your workplace.
This strike is disastrous timing for a rail system that needs to attract back as many passengers as it can after the Covid disruptions.
I can understand the staff wanting more money, but that either comes from increased state subsidy or passengers' pockets. The government have spent billions supporting the network during Covid, and have an investment budget into the railways for tens of billions over the next few years.
The money has to come from somewhere. I can't see fares increasing for those who are equally (or more) hard-up being popular. And if you want state subsidies increasing, I'd have to ask where the money comes from. Do we want network enhancements scrapping?
Also note: we moved back to a semi-nationalised 'British Railways', and within a year we have our first near-national strike for over two decades.
I was answering a point about money, and I was sticking to the point.
Yes, we know strikes are inconvenient. Ideally they don't happen. But I think it's unwise for people to always blame the people taking the strike action, as some instinctively do. For every "but there's no need to strike" there's also a "but there's no need for an organisation to give people cause to strike". The healthiest reaction to hearing about a strike is to not make up your mind about whose fault it is before looking into the details. Sometimes the unions are right and sometimes they're wrong.
Agreed. And they are very possibly right in this case. The last major strike – the Tube strike in early spring – was ludicrous. This one seems more reasonable.
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
My Audi Sat Nav with live predictive traffic is chillingly accurate. It beats even Google Maps, although its live rerouting can get a bit silly at times when it advises you leave the M25 for two junctions to save 90 seconds. Still, one can ignore it.
M11 Junction 7A to Harlow opens soon (tomorrow, perhaps). It'll be interesting to see how quickly the various services update their maps to include it.
The junction will save Mrs J a good few minutes every day.
It doesn't appear to be on Google Maps or Bing Maps yet - then again, it doesn't need to be until it is open.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
Back in the day when I was commuting I would celebrate delayed trains and cancellations... basically like getting an after tax payrise.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
That's of little help if your job requires you to get into your workplace.
This strike is disastrous timing for a rail system that needs to attract back as many passengers as it can after the Covid disruptions.
I can understand the staff wanting more money, but that either comes from increased state subsidy or passengers' pockets. The government have spent billions supporting the network during Covid, and have an investment budget into the railways for tens of billions over the next few years.
The money has to come from somewhere. I can't see fares increasing for those who are equally (or more) hard-up being popular. And if you want state subsidies increasing, I'd have to ask where the money comes from. Do we want network enhancements scrapping?
Also note: we moved back to a semi-nationalised 'British Railways', and within a year we have our first near-national strike for over two decades.
Dumb final paragraph. Great British Railways doesn't come into force until next year, and five or more of the franchises are nationalised in any case and have been so for some time.
Next you'll be extolling the safety benefits of a privatised railway ... by using a nationalised railways as your exemplar.
Funny old world.
You have utterly failed to address my points about safety on the railways, and instead just make stupid comments such as the above. Until you do, I'll take any post you can make on the topic as being utterly clueless.
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So are the railwaymen supposed to accept a swingeing real terms cut in wages then? I suspect you might think differently if you were a railwayman.
Surely they can find a way to negotiate without punishing innocent people who can't resolve the dispute.
Oh why don't we play cards for her, he sneeringly replied, And just to make it interesting we'll have a shilling on the side.
'They described Starmer as "weak", a "slippery slimeball", "a people pleaser", having "no vision" and "someone who opposes for opposition's sake'.
Apart from a 'slippery slimeball' which I do not recognise, the rest is accurate and his performance at PMQs yesterday was panned across the media
I do not know if labour recognise they have a 'Starmer' problem and while he may well be a lawyer he is not a politician and we are seeing the public express a plague on all your houses
I expect the 148 will see Boris off before GE 24 and I do think with a new leader the conservatives could actually win yet again
Of course if Durham Police intervene, which I do nor expect, a whole new political scene immediately opens
I refer this mistaken Gentleman to the post I made some moments ago 😆
On this I think we should quietly agree to disagree, but I do like the Gentleman
That Boris is still there at the election and that the Tories lose the election is totally obvious now, there are more thoughtful things to discuss - such as on what platform do the Tories regain power on anytime soon? Boris hard Brexit with **** business? Or If in the post Boris situation they repudiate the Boris era, attack the Boris era as in Conservative especially fiscally, how much of Boris Brexit deal will Tories be attacking? Do they hold the new voters Brexit Boris brought along?
To what degree has this Boris era damaged the Tory brand for years to come?
Partygate damaged Boris, as far as brexit, covid and Ukraine he has a pass mark from me
Indeed, all the evidence is partygate 'ratnered' his personal brand and a new leader facing Starmer would have a good chance of a majority
Not based on the latest focus groups. The Tory brand is damaged after they voted to keep Johnson.
Yes but the 148 will terminate his premiership in due course
That's not nearly enough. And if the required 32 couldn't find reason to eject Johnson on his behaviour over the last two years they never will. Johnson could shoot Starmer dead right between the eyes and claim Parliamentary Privilege, and these guys would back him up. You are not going to find your 32.
Anyway, what happens next? Starmer gets his FPN and resigns, thus absolving Johnson of any Partygate guilt. Priti will bully Durham Constabulary into issuing the FPNs a day or two before the by elections. Another problem solved. Next, the economy. If Sunak can't find free magic money Johnson needs to find someone who can.
If Johnson remains unpopular after all that there must be some Trumpian means he can look at to bolster his position.
You are underestimating Mr Johnson's resolve BigG.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
Do not mention early GE please
The issue with this is fewer and fewer people have been given any reason to believe him. He's back in his comfort zone. Big promises, precious little detail.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
Do not mention early GE please
Early GE? Looking at the polls and the economics, I don't see it. And 40% of his MPs having just said he shouldn't be PM.
Simplest explanation is the campaigning rather than governing is BoJo's Happy Place.
I just use Google Maps to tell me when I'm going to arrive. It's pretty damn accurate in my experience. All this mental calculation is very impressive but it feels a bit like learning pi to 100 decimal places. I don't feel like there's any need.
Right. But if I'm doing a journey of 140 miles and Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 hours 20 minutes, I know by inspection that's 60 minutes more than I would expect, so therefore there's something out of the ordinary to expect on the road - whether that's congestion, long periods of roadworks with painfully slow speed limits, or just much more at sub-70 speed limits than the average journey.
The brilliant thing is Google Maps will also tell you about things like accidents, road closures, sections of slow traffic. So you not only know to expect something, but you know what and where to expect it.
During a journey. Not so much when planning a journey.
Google maps is generally brilliant - and the detours it sometimes comes up with during a journey are often very useful. But it can also leave you in some sticky spots, try to direct you down places your car shouldn't go, and where it doesn't have the latest data can lead you badly astray. With a good dose of common sense, using it for navigation works fine.
On one cycle route Google maps appeared to want me to cycle on water. In fact the route was correct but goggle maps didn't show the foot/cycle bridge but seemed to know it was there for the route. I checked on another map that there was a bridge.
On our Normandy cycle ride using the cycle option it suggested a ferry to Jersey or Guernsey from our start point and a ferry back to our end point. It only involved about 100 metres cycling as opposed to the 400 km we planned to do. But in fairness to Goggle it didn't know our motives for getting from a) to b) i.e. pointless travel for the sheer enjoyment.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
Do not mention early GE please
Hes going for May/June 23 after a spring giveaway and before the 12 month challenge
PS. I will be voting LD for as long as The Clown remains Tory leader. This has convinced me not to lend vote to the Labour dinosaurs.
If the cost of living rises by 10%, I think it's perfectly legitimate to use whatever means at your disposal to try to secure an equivalent pay rise.
In the case of salaried professionals, that's usually quitting your job at Corporation X and going to work at Corporation Y on a 10% better package. That is how the game is played.
In the case of workers where the pool of employers is small (or the state), the only real option other than quitting and doing something else entirely (with the step back in pay that usually entails) is collective bargaining.
It is not rail workers fault that the cost of living has gone up by 10%.
It's not rail passengers' fault either, but as ever they are the ones that the unions punish.
So your point is we should all just shut up and accept 10% pay cuts?
I don't care what the unions do as long as they don't punish the innocent.
That sounds pretty entitled. Not every inconvenience in your cotton wool life is a "punishment".
Given how much rail season tickets cost, feeling entitled that the workers will turn up and do their job seems quite fair.
You can get a pro-rata refund if you're unable to travel though
That's of little help if your job requires you to get into your workplace.
This strike is disastrous timing for a rail system that needs to attract back as many passengers as it can after the Covid disruptions.
I can understand the staff wanting more money, but that either comes from increased state subsidy or passengers' pockets. The government have spent billions supporting the network during Covid, and have an investment budget into the railways for tens of billions over the next few years.
The money has to come from somewhere. I can't see fares increasing for those who are equally (or more) hard-up being popular. And if you want state subsidies increasing, I'd have to ask where the money comes from. Do we want network enhancements scrapping?
Also note: we moved back to a semi-nationalised 'British Railways', and within a year we have our first near-national strike for over two decades.
During Covid when hardly any trains were running thousands of rail workers received full pay for very limited working.
Are you sure about that? The people who will cause the biggest disruption with this strike are the signal men / women and they were working all the time.
And it's a simple test because without signal men you can run virtually no services.
40,000-50,000 people are going on strike, I doubt more than 5% of these are signalmen
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
Do not mention early GE please
Hes going for May/June 23 after a spring giveaway and before the 12 month challenge
The next stop is Aberdour says my slow moving train. Always reminds me of Half o'er, half o'er to Aberdour It's fifty fathoms deep, And there lies guid Sir Patrick Spens Wi'the Scots lords at his feet.
The benefit of a GE now(ish) is that it’s before the very worst of the economic news, and although there are signs of Brexgret, it is still limited to what passes for the intellectual right.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
Do not mention early GE please
Early GE? Looking at the polls and the economics, I don't see it. And 40% of his MPs having just said he shouldn't be PM.
Simplest explanation is the campaigning rather than governing is BoJo's Happy Place.
“We will supercharge leaseholders’ ability to buy their own freeholds”
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
How about assessing it not as a flawless policy, not as one that may actually kick costs and inherent vices into the future - this is about Boris and Tories winning the next election, so consider it as a Prime Minister saying “mortgages used to be 3x wages, now 9x wages, but we are going to help you!” Voters will say. I like that sound of that, what have I got to lose voting for that?
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
Wether it’s another 30 months or not - the starting gun on the next general election was fired by the Prime Minister today. This is full on electioneering mode. Evidence? Eye catching voter catching ideas to be delivered and payed for in future. Evidence? As we slip from high inflation to stagnant growth in 2023, spending will slow in favour of tax cuts - that sounds to me like voters happy for election time, the cost of that manufactured happiness comes other side of the election. Tell me I’m wrong.
BBC have just said the same - Boris in full campaigning mode
Do not mention early GE please
Hes going for May/June 23 after a spring giveaway and before the 12 month challenge
And before the Boundary Review?
Hmmmm i forgot that but maybe he thinks if he can recover the numbers there is more benefit earlier..... Maybe autumn 23 after the boundaries? Or Final report June 23, ram it through, July election?
The next stop is Aberdour says my slow moving train. Always reminds me of Half o'er, half o'er to Aberdour It's fifty fathoms deep, And there lies guid Sir Patrick Spens Wi'the Scots lords at his feet.
Depending on the direction, you'll have passed, or be passing, the monument to Alexander III and his fall off the cliff on the [edit] Pettycur! side of Burntisland:
Quhen Alysandyr oure kyng wes dede That Scotland led in luive and le. Away wes sonce of ale and brede, Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle; Oure gold wes changed into lede. Cryst! Borne into Virgynyte, Succour Scotland and remede, That stad is in perplexyte.
Comments
That has for me put the Leave campaign in a slightly different and slightly more positive light now.
What's the situation on his blocking of Finland and Sweden ? If he's apparently decided not to make any comporomises at all, that would be a worry.
I still have feeling Tories are going to finish 260 seats at next election though. I think voters are making up their minds about now.
If we'd voted 53/47 to Remain, as most polls indicated in the last few days before the referendum, then we'd have continued to have had net EU immigration at 300k+ per year, and we'd have been fighting the advancement of President Juncker's agenda for greater political, social and fiscal union at European Council meetings every 6 months. We'd have almost certainly signed up to the EU vaccine scheme, and been frustrated by it, during the pandemic, and been obliged to pursue a common position on Ukraine through the CFSP, where our strong line would have been watered down. We'd have found Ursula von der Leyen equally frustrating in her political ineptitude, and we'd have lost plenty of QMV votes through eurozone caucusing; our digital/financial services would have moved very slowly if at all, frustrating the City.
We'd be getting just as high polling for wrong/right as we do now, just in the other direction, with a similar movement for a re-vote.
Many claimants on benefits like Universal Credit have not been paid enough in benefits due to errors, with some having the exact opposite problem and facing clawbacks by the DWP
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/thousands-benefit-claimants-owed-26billion-27176673
I don't suppose the relevant ministers will face DWP sanctions.
I think it’s always effective when politicians explain things to us. Lady Thatcher very good at this.
I best get back to it.
Rather unusual types of UAV:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeYs1hnJJkS/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CekaoIfNbzu/
Also probably rather impractical...
Sanctions must not be removed until Russia withdraws from Ukraine. In other words, when it is defeated and knows it is defeated.
The astonishing thing to me is that Russia has been so clear in what their strategic objectives are - and they are not good for Europe or the world.
The Tories have now been in power for 12 years, why have they done so little in that time?
This is all great vote winning stuff from Boris. Absolutely fizzing with ideas and policy here.
Con vote : 73% of Con 2019 / 1% of Lab 2019 / 6% of Lib Dem 2019
Lab vote : 10% of Con 2019 / 83% of Lab 2019 / 35% of Lib Dem 2019
LD : 6% of Con 2019 / 7% of Lab 2019 / 54% of Lib Dem 2019.
Reform UK : 8% of Con 2019 (0 LD & Lab)
Green : 2% of Con 2019 / 7% of Lab 2019 / 5% of Lib Dem 2019
Other 2% of Con 2019 / 1% of Lab 2019.
Broad right/left blocks are as follows.
Con + Reform = 81% of Con 2019 / 1% of Lab 2019 / 6% of Lib Dem 2019
Lab + Green + LD = 18% of Con 2019 / 97% of Lab 2019 / 94% of Lib Dem 2019.
Boris Johnson boasts about closing all the ticket offices on the Tube when he was Mayor of London, against opposition from unions.
Here’s a reminder of what he promised when running for mayor.
The man is a compulsive liar.
Okay, so what does this do to get people on the housing ladder?
Big difference to Starmer though - tories 260 to 275 he will be relatively comfortable as minority PM
Towards 300 it all collapses mid term to a new election
It’s classic late Soviet rolling stock right down to the brusque surly woman manning the samovar and checking the tickets
Evoking memories of my trip on the trans Siberian in 1992
LuckyMan had been posting back to the wall Boris is going to be good, and is right to be fair.
That’s the way to look at this. I am right. The sneering PB lefties calling me Nadine are brainless. Listen to me. I’m calling it right here. This speech is an opposition speech to the last two years and 12 years in office. It’s exactly what people want to hear, and the delivery was spot on.
PB is lucky to have me, the rest of you slow and cumbersome at realising what’s really happening.
“A staggering 10 mass shootings since Friday deepens national trauma from recent massacres at a Buffalo supermarket, a Texas elementary school, and a mass shooting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma medical center.~~😪”
https://twitter.com/marthajadams/status/1533788318374191105?s=21&t=Gz8g09NkyMWGHJYL-ECvTQ
Much as a despise smoking, I despise more the nanny state telling us what we can and can not do.
(Yes, I looked it up. And no, it won't work as a chat-up line...)
For all his alleged luck in elections his time of office has been so far dominated by Covid, driving everything else off the table. I fear the next year is going to be dominated by a recession caused by both Covid and sanctions related to Ukraine. But we will see.
Kate Bush is No. 1 on the US iTunes single chart with "Running up that hill." Her album "Hounds of Love" is No. 1 o the Billboard Chart.
Apparently the song was used on a TV show...
So, if I want to arrive at my work car park by 9am tomorrow, it gives a 1h15m journey time and a typically 55m-1h50m range, which I'd say is fair.
And can also use for finding more typical timings if the live traffic is out of whack.
Making it illegal risks creating all the problems we have with illegal drugs for tobacco. Bad plan.
So it fails on a practical level even before considering the issue of personal liberty.
Next you'll be extolling the safety benefits of a privatised railway ... by using a nationalised railway as your exemplar.
Funny old world.
Do not mention early GE please
The junction will save Mrs J a good few minutes every day.
It doesn't appear to be on Google Maps or Bing Maps yet - then again, it doesn't need to be until it is open.
http://www.leonardrossiter.com/reginaldperrin/Train.html
Okay?
And just to make it interesting we'll have a shilling on the side.
Anyway, what happens next? Starmer gets his FPN and resigns, thus absolving Johnson of any Partygate guilt. Priti will bully Durham Constabulary into issuing the FPNs a day or two before the by elections. Another problem solved. Next, the economy. If Sunak can't find free magic money Johnson needs to find someone who can.
If Johnson remains unpopular after all that there must be some Trumpian means he can look at to bolster his position.
You are underestimating Mr Johnson's resolve BigG.
He's back in his comfort zone. Big promises, precious little detail.
Simplest explanation is the campaigning rather than governing is BoJo's Happy Place.
Always reminds me of
Half o'er, half o'er to Aberdour
It's fifty fathoms deep,
And there lies guid Sir Patrick Spens
Wi'the Scots lords at his feet.
Maybe autumn 23 after the boundaries? Or Final report June 23, ram it through, July election?
Quhen Alysandyr oure kyng wes dede
That Scotland led in luive and le.
Away wes sonce of ale and brede,
Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle;
Oure gold wes changed into lede.
Cryst! Borne into Virgynyte,
Succour Scotland and remede,
That stad is in perplexyte.