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Next Thursday looks like being a “mini referendum” on the PM – politicalbetting.com

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  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,232


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    We could open a rather tasteless book on whether more Russian generals will be killed by the Ukrainians or the Russian government by the end of hostilities.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,169

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    darkage said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Relatedly, I just read the interesting lunch-with-the-FT interview with Hillary Clinton

    She says, and I paraphrase: “All that matters is beating Trump, the election is the only issue, he has to lose” - and one can empathise with her urgency

    But she comes close to saying ANYTHING is justified as long as it helps to defeat Trump. Anything? Like, lying about the probable origins of a global catastrophe for a year? Or getting the FBI to smear Trump? Or worse?

    This is the TGV to Civil War. Once you believe your opponent is so evil you can justify doing anything to stop him, then he and his supporters will feel the same about stopping you. That cannot end well

    Trump and his supporters are responsible for Trump, not Clinton, not scientists, the left or anyone else. He crossed the line. He undermined democracy. His supporters attacked the Capitol.

    It is not unreasonable to want to defeat him.
    it is extremely desirable to beat Trump. He is a menace to the world, especially the West

    The trickier question is: how much his horribleness justifies illegal or immoral behaviour in his opponents
    You should be more worried about what he and his supporters will do.
    I am worried about both. As Hillary herself says in that FT interview, both sides have gone mad at the extremes: the Woke Left and the Trumpite right. They are only 10-20% of each side but they are highly vocal, super motivated and they are driving America to civil conflict
    Worth repeating the point that people on here are always more sympathetic to the left. They don't see the dangers of the "woke" left. The best stance is to be critical of both extremes. You may still have to vote for one of the two options, but this is the type of "least worst" decision forced on you by democracy. In the UK, it is possible to detest Boris Johnson but still vote Conservative, because you see a greater danger in the 'progressive' alternatives.
    Some award due for getting so much wrong in one short post, Congratulations. Most importantly, if you detest someone and see dangers in voting for them, Don’t vote for them.
    QED. You don’t see the dangers of the Woke Left because you don’t even recognise there is a problem

    This is multiplied a hundred times over in the American Left, which means they will continue goading and provoking the Right, and which means the Right will return fire, and then some

    Which leads to the polling we saw yesterday, with Trump - Trump! - leading Biden as the preferred president

    Both sides have to lay down their arms; neither will, because both firmly believe their cause is righteous
    Extreme woke as perversion of some sentiment long forgotten that as an ideology is close to McCarthyism....
    A large part of that, though not all, is a confection of right wing media.
    And there are as a result, of course, two sides to that coin.
    https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-dei-crt-schools-parents
    Perhaps @Leon's right after all - there is such a thing as a Cancel Culture, judging by that Propublica article.
    Cancel culture, very definitely, exists. And it is vile



    “Clanchy isn’t sure if she has actually been cancelled. “My books have been depublished, which is very unusual. I have lost my living. Everyone I know has suffered, all of my personal relationships have suffered. So I’ve suffered and I’m shamed and I’m unhappy a lot of the time – I don’t know if that’s cancelled enough? I’m not dead.” She has been called a white supremacist, accused of “Nazi-adjacent thinking”, and says that some “quite respectable people” mocked her bereavement online.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/18/the-book-that-tore-publishing-apart-harm-has-been-done-and-now-everyones-afraid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
    Hatred exists for sure, but not just on the left. Did you read the Propublica article?

    https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-dei-crt-schools-parents
    I feel sorry for that woman, but her suffering is pretty minor compared to many people who have been really cancelled - on left and right (often the Left reserves its nastiest cancellations for its own kith and kin)

    Otherwise I am glad American parents are fighting back. Critical Race Theory is disgusting, a fact that article briskly elides, pretending it does not infest American schools. It really really DOES
  • Options
    kjhkjh Posts: 10,630
    HYUFD said:

    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    Statistically unless you go to a Russell Group university you earn more over a lifetime doing a higher level apprenticeship than going to university

    https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/higher-apprenticeships-lead-greater-earnings-most-degrees

    I do wonder whether you will be fighting tooth and claw for your offspring to attend a Russell Group University, or alternatively will you be signing them up for an apprenticeship with Tata Steel?

    I suspect I know the answer.
    Depends how bright they are. If they are an A* or A grade student I would certainly suggest they aim for a Russell Group university and to become a doctor or lawyer etc.

    If not I would suggest they aim for an apprenticeship
    Really. You would recommend all A/A* student to become lawyers or doctors. No other profession? Never crossed my mind, never crossed my son's mind, never crossed the mind of most A/A* students. Do we have too many mathematicians, physicists, chemists, economists, engineers, etc, etc.
    I said lawyers, doctors etc. Not lawyers and doctors alone.

    So that does not exclude the other professions you named which would be suitable for A*, A students
    I didn't spot the 'etc'. I apologize I was wrong. See that wasn't difficult was it. Have ago. Admit you said London was the biggest city in Europe and you were wrong.

    It is very easy and it makes you look human and not a prat.

    'I was wrong' is just 3 easy words.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
  • Options
    fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,279

    Just read that story about Ian Blackford.

    😳

    Twitter
    John Stevens@johnestevens·17h
    👉Ian Blackford in October 2017: "I am happy to affirm SNP Westminster group will have zero tolerance of unacceptable behaviour"

    👉Ian Blackford on Tuesday: "Patrick’s going to face a number of challenges and so he should have our absolute full support"
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    sarissa said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    What a magnificent piece of twaddle. Children vary. Some are delighted to spend 4 years studying Akkadian philology with a year abroad learning Sumerian, others prefer hairdressing apprenticeships. Fortunately most of them listen politely to their parents and do exactly as they please. Leave them alone.
    We don't need no thought control.

    ydoethur said:

    HYUFD said:

    Lol, Yoons so desperate that they're reduced to bigging up Scotland. I wonder who is the 'we' that Murdo keeps referring to who will be losing all that good shit?

    “We lose … roughly 1/3 of the land mass of Great Britain, probably about half of our territorial waters, we lose the magnificent resource that is Scottish fishing waters, we lose the opportunities from North sea oil and gas (still there despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best efforts), we lose the potential for renewable energy from Scotland’s coasts in the North Sea and the Atlantic, we lose access to barrier-free trade for scotch whisky and scotch salmon, all these fantastic exports, and the opportunity to study at some of the world’s greatest universities … and the joy of having Scots as part of the great British nation … why would you want to throw all that away?”



    https://twitter.com/eRestUK/status/1538045258348519424?s=20&t=kkH5IARydJ_XkEEbTlYl2Q

    And Scots lose the biggest and wealthiest city in Europe, the largest financial centre in Europe, the 2 best universities in Europe and membership of the G7, G20 and permanent membership of the UN Security Council
    Moscow's not in the UK.

    As for the unis, I reckon Hull would be interested in an offer from Scotland.
    It is. It's just outside Kilmarnock. I have a picture of me aged 7 standing next to the road sign.
    And Houston is in Renfrewshire.
    Denver is in Norfolk.
    And Hollywood is in North Ayrshire - they should sue that upstart Californian suburb!
    And don’t let’s get going on all the Hamiltons.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,169
    We coulda been anything that we wanted to be, Yes that decision was ours
  • Options
    TresTres Posts: 2,226
    Why do you think teaching children about racism is disgusting?
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,169


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,990
    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    Colchester's deffo English. With some Gurkha!
    Mind you sometimes when I say I live near Colchester ex-soldiers have gone very quiet!
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,745
    The cyclical nature of politics

    Every month since at least last Autumn:

    * "Boris will REBOOT struggling premiership with [insert tagline/policies"

    *"Ministers think [insert last month's policies] CUTTING THROUGH with Leave voters"

    *"Johnson critics stay hand BUT [whatever is coming next] MIGHT BE last straw


    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1538107066421747713?cxt=HHwWgoCxicmOutgqAAAA
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    edited June 2022
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    I wonder how many of the numerous (final number tbc) Johnson sprogs will be applying for apprenticeships?
    When one of the Royals opts for an NVQ in Health and Social Care. That will be the measure of an equal opportunity society.
    The Queen was a mechanic in the War, Princess Margaret's son was a carpenter
    Mr Armstrong-Jones would be mortified to read that! He's a furniture designer and joiner.
    Since when have you not needed an apprenticeship to become a joiner?
    You said "carpenter". Which is something very different. And Mr A-J is a 'joiner' in the sense that the Chief of Defence Staff is a 'squaddie'.
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,085


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    Perhaps they can send some instruction videos to Ukraine rather than more hands on training.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    edited June 2022

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
    Also, I see HYUFD, for some unaccountable reason, hasn't answered the point that being FM for England and PM of the UK are conflicting interests as a matter of fundamental principle. You know, like being able to decide what your ethics consultant can and can't do. It is just not on.

    PS: as, to be fair, and as it should be stressed, HYUFD has himself implied in the past, he wanting an English Pmt (albeit contrary to C&U[sic]P policy).
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,897


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    War not going well for Putin then?

    Who’d have thought that dropping hundreds of paratroopers onto an enemy airfield on Day 1 of a war, might result in them all being dead a few hours later?
  • Options
    darkagedarkage Posts: 4,796
    edited June 2022
    Tres said:

    Why do you think teaching children about racism is disgusting?

    The 'progressive' left are very good at equating criticism of "Critical Race Theory" with racism.
    But in reality, it is quite possible to be opposed to racism, and also opposed to Critical Race Theory and its teaching in schools. That would be my own perspective.
  • Options
    stodgestodge Posts: 12,854
    kle4 said:

    The cyclical nature of politics

    Every month since at least last Autumn:

    * "Boris will REBOOT struggling premiership with [insert tagline/policies"

    *"Ministers think [insert last month's policies] CUTTING THROUGH with Leave voters"

    *"Johnson critics stay hand BUT [whatever is coming next] MIGHT BE last straw


    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1538107066421747713?cxt=HHwWgoCxicmOutgqAAAA

    This is the nature of politics. ALL Governments in trouble revert to "we must do something", "here's something", "let's do it" as though by continually trying to justify their existence they will somehow receive the approval of the voters.

    The argument for removing Johnson hasn't changed - he may be an electoral liability (though his staunchest supporters continue to argue otherwise - indeed, they're using the T&H Conservative candidate running a campaign without even mentioning the Prime Minister as confirmation the Prime Minister is an electoral asset (!)) but none of his potential successors would be doing measurably better.

    The Government isn't bereft of ideas - it's bereft of good ideas, useful ideas, credible ideas and practical ideas but not of ideas per se.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    Perhaps they can send some instruction videos to Ukraine rather than more hands on training.
    By the time The Oaf has finished emptying the Treasury, a few tatty VHS tapes will be all he can afford to send.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,667
    edited June 2022
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    darkage said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Relatedly, I just read the interesting lunch-with-the-FT interview with Hillary Clinton

    She says, and I paraphrase: “All that matters is beating Trump, the election is the only issue, he has to lose” - and one can empathise with her urgency

    But she comes close to saying ANYTHING is justified as long as it helps to defeat Trump. Anything? Like, lying about the probable origins of a global catastrophe for a year? Or getting the FBI to smear Trump? Or worse?

    This is the TGV to Civil War. Once you believe your opponent is so evil you can justify doing anything to stop him, then he and his supporters will feel the same about stopping you. That cannot end well

    Trump and his supporters are responsible for Trump, not Clinton, not scientists, the left or anyone else. He crossed the line. He undermined democracy. His supporters attacked the Capitol.

    It is not unreasonable to want to defeat him.
    it is extremely desirable to beat Trump. He is a menace to the world, especially the West

    The trickier question is: how much his horribleness justifies illegal or immoral behaviour in his opponents
    You should be more worried about what he and his supporters will do.
    I am worried about both. As Hillary herself says in that FT interview, both sides have gone mad at the extremes: the Woke Left and the Trumpite right. They are only 10-20% of each side but they are highly vocal, super motivated and they are driving America to civil conflict
    Worth repeating the point that people on here are always more sympathetic to the left. They don't see the dangers of the "woke" left. The best stance is to be critical of both extremes. You may still have to vote for one of the two options, but this is the type of "least worst" decision forced on you by democracy. In the UK, it is possible to detest Boris Johnson but still vote Conservative, because you see a greater danger in the 'progressive' alternatives.
    Some award due for getting so much wrong in one short post, Congratulations. Most importantly, if you detest someone and see dangers in voting for them, Don’t vote for them.
    QED. You don’t see the dangers of the Woke Left because you don’t even recognise there is a problem

    This is multiplied a hundred times over in the American Left, which means they will continue goading and provoking the Right, and which means the Right will return fire, and then some

    Which leads to the polling we saw yesterday, with Trump - Trump! - leading Biden as the preferred president

    Both sides have to lay down their arms; neither will, because both firmly believe their cause is righteous
    Extreme woke as perversion of some sentiment long forgotten that as an ideology is close to McCarthyism....
    A large part of that, though not all, is a confection of right wing media.
    And there are as a result, of course, two sides to that coin.
    https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-dei-crt-schools-parents
    Perhaps @Leon's right after all - there is such a thing as a Cancel Culture, judging by that Propublica article.
    Cancel culture, very definitely, exists. And it is vile



    “Clanchy isn’t sure if she has actually been cancelled. “My books have been depublished, which is very unusual. I have lost my living. Everyone I know has suffered, all of my personal relationships have suffered. So I’ve suffered and I’m shamed and I’m unhappy a lot of the time – I don’t know if that’s cancelled enough? I’m not dead.” She has been called a white supremacist, accused of “Nazi-adjacent thinking”, and says that some “quite respectable people” mocked her bereavement online.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/18/the-book-that-tore-publishing-apart-harm-has-been-done-and-now-everyones-afraid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
    Hatred exists for sure, but not just on the left. Did you read the Propublica article?

    https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-dei-crt-schools-parents
    I feel sorry for that woman, but her suffering is pretty minor compared to many people who have been really cancelled - on left and right (often the Left reserves its nastiest cancellations for its own kith and kin)

    Otherwise I am glad American parents are fighting back. Critical Race Theory is disgusting, a fact that article briskly elides, pretending it does not infest American schools. It really really DOES
    Would you include Kate Clanchy in your list of people who have been 'really cancelled'?
  • Options
    Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,304

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    I think the point is that the Parachute Regiment recruits from the entire British Army, not exclusively England.
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,538
    "One in 10 children in Britain have started self-harming – with many also having suicidal thoughts – as a consequence of the cost of living crisis, a new report has revealed."


    Is it possible this is false? Is it possible this is true?

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/18/children-stressed-and-self-harming-uk-cost-of-living-crisis-childhood-trust

  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,897
    edited June 2022
    algarkirk said:

    "One in 10 children in Britain have started self-harming – with many also having suicidal thoughts – as a consequence of the cost of living crisis, a new report has revealed."


    Is it possible this is false? Is it possible this is true?

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/18/children-stressed-and-self-harming-uk-cost-of-living-crisis-childhood-trust

    As a consequence of spending all day on TikTok and Instagram, more likely.

    Mental health issues in teenagers have gone through the roof since about 2012, just the time when we started exposing them to social media on their phones.
  • Options
    Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,781

    HYUFD said:

    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    Statistically unless you go to a Russell Group university you earn more over a lifetime doing a higher level apprenticeship than going to university

    https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/higher-apprenticeships-lead-greater-earnings-most-degrees

    I do wonder whether you will be fighting tooth and claw for your offspring to attend a Russell Group University, or alternatively will you be signing them up for an apprenticeship with Tata Steel?

    I suspect I know the answer.
    Depends how bright they are. If they are an A* or A grade student I would certainly suggest they aim for a Russell Group university and to become a doctor or lawyer etc.

    If not I would suggest they aim for an apprenticeship
    Really. You would recommend all A/A* student to become lawyers or doctors. No other profession? Never crossed my mind, never crossed my son's mind, never crossed the mind of most A/A* students. Do we have too many mathematicians, physicists, chemists, economists, engineers, etc, etc.
    I said lawyers, doctors etc. Not lawyers and doctors alone.

    So that does not exclude the other professions you named which would be suitable for A*, A students
    Elder son, by no means a high flyer, did an 'old fashioned' apprenticeship, then decided he really needed a degree, so went on and got one (not at a Russell university) and went on to have a well-paid (and apparently highly thought of) 'backstage' career in Formula One.

    There's more than one route to success!

    What is really needed is good quality careers advice in schools. I'm not sure that always applies; certainly didn't to me!
    The slight problem is that "careers advisors" in schools probably have low expectations. Their careers advice probably is limited to their own very limited experience. Kids need to be inspired. If it doesn't exist already there probably ought to be a YouTube channel with real world examples of how people have made it, particularly for those that were told by their teachers they should aim low, and still achieved highly in spite of this
  • Options
    ApplicantApplicant Posts: 3,379
    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    I think the point is that the Parachute Regiment recruits from the entire British Army, not exclusively England.
    Ok, Imperial barracks. In England.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,667
    algarkirk said:

    "One in 10 children in Britain have started self-harming – with many also having suicidal thoughts – as a consequence of the cost of living crisis, a new report has revealed."


    Is it possible this is false? Is it possible this is true?

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/18/children-stressed-and-self-harming-uk-cost-of-living-crisis-childhood-trust

    Almost certainly false imo but hard to disprove, I guess.

    Common sense tells me that poverty is causing some kids to self-harm even before the CoL started. I doubt it has got worse to that extent since the beginning of the year though.
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,216

    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    ·
    28m
    Real Jimmy Carter vibe enveloping the Biden presidency...

    https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1538174496900800512
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    I think the point is that the Parachute Regiment recruits from the entire British Army, not exclusively England.
    Ok, Imperial barracks. In England.
    Eh? I thought you said 'barracks', anyway? not 'regiment'? So perfectly correct in the first place.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,990

    HYUFD said:

    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    Statistically unless you go to a Russell Group university you earn more over a lifetime doing a higher level apprenticeship than going to university

    https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/higher-apprenticeships-lead-greater-earnings-most-degrees

    I do wonder whether you will be fighting tooth and claw for your offspring to attend a Russell Group University, or alternatively will you be signing them up for an apprenticeship with Tata Steel?

    I suspect I know the answer.
    Depends how bright they are. If they are an A* or A grade student I would certainly suggest they aim for a Russell Group university and to become a doctor or lawyer etc.

    If not I would suggest they aim for an apprenticeship
    Really. You would recommend all A/A* student to become lawyers or doctors. No other profession? Never crossed my mind, never crossed my son's mind, never crossed the mind of most A/A* students. Do we have too many mathematicians, physicists, chemists, economists, engineers, etc, etc.
    I said lawyers, doctors etc. Not lawyers and doctors alone.

    So that does not exclude the other professions you named which would be suitable for A*, A students
    Elder son, by no means a high flyer, did an 'old fashioned' apprenticeship, then decided he really needed a degree, so went on and got one (not at a Russell university) and went on to have a well-paid (and apparently highly thought of) 'backstage' career in Formula One.

    There's more than one route to success!

    What is really needed is good quality careers advice in schools. I'm not sure that always applies; certainly didn't to me!
    The slight problem is that "careers advisors" in schools probably have low expectations. Their careers advice probably is limited to their own very limited experience. Kids need to be inspired. If it doesn't exist already there probably ought to be a YouTube channel with real world examples of how people have made it, particularly for those that were told by their teachers they should aim low, and still achieved highly in spite of this
    Yes; at one time Careers Advice was becoming a career in itself. It seems to be cut back on nowadays, but the idea of a YouTube channel or something like that is excellent!
  • Options
    Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,386
    stodge said:

    kle4 said:

    The cyclical nature of politics

    Every month since at least last Autumn:

    * "Boris will REBOOT struggling premiership with [insert tagline/policies"

    *"Ministers think [insert last month's policies] CUTTING THROUGH with Leave voters"

    *"Johnson critics stay hand BUT [whatever is coming next] MIGHT BE last straw


    https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1538107066421747713?cxt=HHwWgoCxicmOutgqAAAA

    This is the nature of politics. ALL Governments in trouble revert to "we must do something", "here's something", "let's do it" as though by continually trying to justify their existence they will somehow receive the approval of the voters.

    The argument for removing Johnson hasn't changed - he may be an electoral liability (though his staunchest supporters continue to argue otherwise - indeed, they're using the T&H Conservative candidate running a campaign without even mentioning the Prime Minister as confirmation the Prime Minister is an electoral asset (!)) but none of his potential successors would be doing measurably better.

    The Government isn't bereft of ideas - it's bereft of good ideas, useful ideas, credible ideas and practical ideas but not of ideas per se.
    He may be sh*t but he's the best sh*t we've got?
  • Options
    Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,781
    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    All countries are to a greater or lesser extent artificial constructs, or historical accidents. People talk of "national identity", which does exist, but the reality is that a farmer in rural Aberdeenshire has a lot more in common with a farmer in rural Devon than he does non-domiciled Scottish Anglophobes like @StuartDickson
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Politics (from Greek: Πολιτικά, politiká, 'affairs of the cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status.

    England is a country.

    The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture.

    Yes, England exists.

    (Source: Wikipedia, so feel free to vandalise edit.)
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,419
    edited June 2022
    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
  • Options
    pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,132
    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,288

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    Colchester's deffo English. With some Gurkha!
    Mind you sometimes when I say I live near Colchester ex-soldiers have gone very quiet!
    I actually lived in Colchester back in the 1970s for a couple of years, when I was still a tot.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    Oh? So when our fellow PBers discuss and celebrate/commisserate the latest English team's efforts at cricket, they are committing a massive social faux pas of a kind distinct from that enunciated by Douglas Adams? I've certainly never thought so. It's a fine sport, combining the more interesting characteristics of morris dancing, sumo wrestling and that Mayan ball game Leon is always telling us about.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,232
    edited June 2022
    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    What a magnificent piece of twaddle. Children vary. Some are delighted to spend 4 years studying Akkadian philology with a year abroad learning Sumerian, others prefer hairdressing apprenticeships. Fortunately most of them listen politely to their parents and do exactly as they please. Leave them alone.
    We don't need no thought control.

    ydoethur said:

    HYUFD said:

    Lol, Yoons so desperate that they're reduced to bigging up Scotland. I wonder who is the 'we' that Murdo keeps referring to who will be losing all that good shit?

    “We lose … roughly 1/3 of the land mass of Great Britain, probably about half of our territorial waters, we lose the magnificent resource that is Scottish fishing waters, we lose the opportunities from North sea oil and gas (still there despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best efforts), we lose the potential for renewable energy from Scotland’s coasts in the North Sea and the Atlantic, we lose access to barrier-free trade for scotch whisky and scotch salmon, all these fantastic exports, and the opportunity to study at some of the world’s greatest universities … and the joy of having Scots as part of the great British nation … why would you want to throw all that away?”



    https://twitter.com/eRestUK/status/1538045258348519424?s=20&t=kkH5IARydJ_XkEEbTlYl2Q

    And Scots lose the biggest and wealthiest city in Europe, the largest financial centre in Europe, the 2 best universities in Europe and membership of the G7, G20 and permanent membership of the UN Security Council
    Moscow's not in the UK.

    As for the unis, I reckon Hull would be interested in an offer from Scotland.
    It is. It's just outside Kilmarnock. I have a picture of me aged 7 standing next to the road sign.
    And Houston is in Renfrewshire.
    Denver is in Norfolk.
    Washington is in somewhere south, I fotget exactly where but in Gallowgate country.
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,085

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    Surely Brexit was a celebration of the Englishness (sorry Wales, the English give as little a fuck about how you voted as they do the Scots and the Norns)?

    That reminds me, what’s happening with the Festival of Brexit?
  • Options
    Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,781

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    I think that if a particular identity has confidence in itself, it has no need to flaunt it. It just is. That is the way Englishness, and for that matter Britishness used to be. People who want to wrap themselves in flags and boast of their exceptionalism should be frowned on IMO. It is normally a mentality born of a sense of inferiority.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,667
    Tough Wordle today - took me 5.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    Attending football, cricket or rugby matches and cheering on England is “not socially acceptable”. Wow! Civic society has really deteriorated south of the border.

    As for “official”, I’m sure that’ll come as news to Homes England. You’ll have to rename them Homes in the Blank Space East of Wales, South of Scotland, West of the Netherlands and North of France.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,990
    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I read some burbling about an EU design but if so, how do the Dutch manage?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    Attending football, cricket or rugby matches and cheering on England is “not socially acceptable”. Wow! Civic society has really deteriorated south of the border.

    As for “official”, I’m sure that’ll come as news to Homes England. You’ll have to rename them Homes in the Blank Space East of Wales, South of Scotland, West of the Netherlands and North of France.
    This is the Georgian flag with a mistake at the factory?

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/15548931/boris-no10-england-flags-euro-final/
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,667
    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I'm rather surprised that Fiat van cabs don't accept a driver larger than 5' 9".

    Fake news?
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,667

    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I read some burbling about an EU design but if so, how do the Dutch manage?
    Got to be the EU's fault though hasn't it?
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    I think that if a particular identity has confidence in itself, it has no need to flaunt it. It just is. That is the way Englishness, and for that matter Britishness used to be. People who want to wrap themselves in flags and boast of their exceptionalism should be frowned on IMO. It is normally a mentality born of a sense of inferiority.
    “Exceptionalism”

    Magna Carta

    Titter
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    Carnyx said:

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    Attending football, cricket or rugby matches and cheering on England is “not socially acceptable”. Wow! Civic society has really deteriorated south of the border.

    As for “official”, I’m sure that’ll come as news to Homes England. You’ll have to rename them Homes in the Blank Space East of Wales, South of Scotland, West of the Netherlands and North of France.
    This is the Georgian flag with a mistake at the factory?

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/15548931/boris-no10-england-flags-euro-final/
    There is definitely a stain on the nation in that photo.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,990

    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I read some burbling about an EU design but if so, how do the Dutch manage?
    Got to be the EU's fault though hasn't it?
    Government organisation complaining; bound to be the EU's fault!
  • Options
    pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,132
    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    Lord alone knows. What I don't understand is that it is claimed that the vehicles were subject to extensive testing and then rolled out three years ago, subsequent to which the trust in question appears to have been hobbling along by keeping some of its old ambulances on the road whilst it looks for a fix (although what that's meant to be I don't know - panel beating the inside of the cab with a sledgehammer to make it bigger, perhaps?) The number of staff unable to drive the new ambulances apparently stands at 94, which suggests that they're not only a problem for a handful of 6'8" beanpoles.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I'm rather surprised that Fiat van cabs don't accept a driver larger than 5' 9".

    Fake news?
    From the report, it seems as if the trust rushed ahead with its own design of ambulance (perhaps out of necessity). Yet how this happened I have no idea, especially as plenty of other van drivers are tall/fat/wear protective boots/etc. Very odd.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,232

    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I'm rather surprised that Fiat van cabs don't accept a driver larger than 5' 9".

    Fake news?
    It's the BBC reporting. Outwith the paranoid delusions of Nadine Dorries it's unlikely they would make such a story up. It's not the only problem reported either. Engines that cut out when going over potholes, well...

    It looks more as though they were converted to ambulances by a contractor who was utterly clueless.
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,085

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    I think that if a particular identity has confidence in itself, it has no need to flaunt it. It just is. That is the way Englishness, and for that matter Britishness used to be. People who want to wrap themselves in flags and boast of their exceptionalism should be frowned on IMO. It is normally a mentality born of a sense of inferiority.
    Poor inadequate UK!



  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    ydoethur said:

    pigeon said:

    Britain is falling apart, episode 1,672: hot on the heels of the Ajax programme, which has created faulty and useless armoured vehicles that injure the soldiers they are meant to transport, here comes the NHS England ambulance programme, which has rolled out vehicles that paramedics over 5'9" can't drive...

    Dozens of staff at an ambulance trust claim they cannot drive its £54m fleet of new vehicles due to their height or body shape.

    Documents reveal a string of problems with converted Fiats, which replaced the ageing Mercedes vans at the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST).

    The vehicles are part of an NHS drive to standardise its fleet and are being adopted by trusts across the country.

    .....

    One emergency medical technician told the BBC: "I was told that anyone over 5ft 9in (1.75m) would be unable to drive it as they would not be able to achieve a comfortable and safe driving position.

    "I did try to get into the driver's seat but I couldn't adjust the seat to allow me to operate the pedals properly and the steering wheel was pressed against my legs, making it difficult to steer safely."


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61847310

    These issues are not odd exceptions and nor are they confined to England. The Scottish Government, for example, has struggled to deliver new hospitals that aren't littered with construction faults.

    Is it really the case that this country is exceptionally bad at delivering major public procurement projects on time, to budget, and without being plagued with faults? Or are everyone else's bureaucracies equally flawed, only we don't hear so much about mistakes we're not paying for?

    Five foot nine? That's surely barely average height for a man. I'm taller than that and I don't think of myself as tall.

    What retard designed that?
    I read some burbling about an EU design but if so, how do the Dutch manage?
    Got to be the EU's fault though hasn't it?
    The report seems ambiguous - it could be read as meaning that the local mods were not to EU standard (and so potentially, and in this case actually, u/s).
  • Options
    carnforthcarnforth Posts: 3,207

    Tough Wordle today - took me 5.

    One up on me, then.

    Wordle 364 6/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟨🟩⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
  • Options
    Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 13,781

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    I think that if a particular identity has confidence in itself, it has no need to flaunt it. It just is. That is the way Englishness, and for that matter Britishness used to be. People who want to wrap themselves in flags and boast of their exceptionalism should be frowned on IMO. It is normally a mentality born of a sense of inferiority.
    “Exceptionalism”

    Magna Carta

    Titter
    That post was written with you in mind. I wondered if you would rise to it. How is your sense of inferiority? I sense it has little to do with your nationality but is deeper in your psyche.

    And on that bombshell, I shall bid you a lovely day. I am off to wrap myself in a flag of convenience.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,232
    carnforth said:

    Tough Wordle today - took me 5.

    One up on me, then.

    Wordle 364 6/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟨🟩⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    You're still one up on me, I didn't get it at all!
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Wordle 364 1/6

    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Only kidding, got it in 5 on my tablet which is in my suitcase so just verifying on phone we were talking about the same day
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Would be an unusual starter word
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,965
    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    What a magnificent piece of twaddle. Children vary. Some are delighted to spend 4 years studying Akkadian philology with a year abroad learning Sumerian, others prefer hairdressing apprenticeships. Fortunately most of them listen politely to their parents and do exactly as they please. Leave them alone.
    We don't need no thought control.

    ydoethur said:

    HYUFD said:

    Lol, Yoons so desperate that they're reduced to bigging up Scotland. I wonder who is the 'we' that Murdo keeps referring to who will be losing all that good shit?

    “We lose … roughly 1/3 of the land mass of Great Britain, probably about half of our territorial waters, we lose the magnificent resource that is Scottish fishing waters, we lose the opportunities from North sea oil and gas (still there despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best efforts), we lose the potential for renewable energy from Scotland’s coasts in the North Sea and the Atlantic, we lose access to barrier-free trade for scotch whisky and scotch salmon, all these fantastic exports, and the opportunity to study at some of the world’s greatest universities … and the joy of having Scots as part of the great British nation … why would you want to throw all that away?”



    https://twitter.com/eRestUK/status/1538045258348519424?s=20&t=kkH5IARydJ_XkEEbTlYl2Q

    And Scots lose the biggest and wealthiest city in Europe, the largest financial centre in Europe, the 2 best universities in Europe and membership of the G7, G20 and permanent membership of the UN Security Council
    Moscow's not in the UK.

    As for the unis, I reckon Hull would be interested in an offer from Scotland.
    It is. It's just outside Kilmarnock. I have a picture of me aged 7 standing next to the road sign.
    And Houston is in Renfrewshire.
    Denver is in Norfolk.
    Washington is in somewhere south, I fotget exactly where but in Gallowgate country.
    New York is near Whitley Bay.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Tyne_and_Wear
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,193
    darkage said:

    Tres said:

    Why do you think teaching children about racism is disgusting?

    The 'progressive' left are very good at equating criticism of "Critical Race Theory" with racism.
    But in reality, it is quite possible to be opposed to racism, and also opposed to Critical Race Theory and its teaching in schools. That would be my own perspective.
    Course you can be opposed to both. Loads are.

    What's interesting is the relative strength of opposition. In particular where someone is far more animated about Critical Race Theory than about the thing it seeks to study - Racism.

    I don't assume such people are racists - not at all - but there is imo something brittle and illogical going on there. White Fragility is one term coined to describe it and although I wouldn't bandy it about on here - since it irritates people - I think it's quite a perceptive one.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    Applicant said:

    .

    Leon said:


    ISW
    @TheStudyofWar
    ·
    1h
    - Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources report that the Kremlin fired the Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, due to mass casualties among Russian paratroopers.

    https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1538150378197372935

    The incompetence of Russia’s supposedly elite forces is one of the mysteries of this war. Yes, everyone expected their lazy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill-disciplined regular chumps to get chewed up and spat out, but I’m pretty sure we thought that they did actually have some excellent elite units. Was it all just marketing guff?

    Talking of elite units suffering from Cognitive Dissonance, I see that the porn star English barracks won’t be allowed to send any “elite” performers to the Balkans.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61851456
    “English”

    Lol
    I realise a doofus upthread tried to assert that England does not exist, but a barracks in Essex can accurately be referred to as an English barracks.

    Churchill was right:

    “There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England".

    "A nation which has forgotten its past can have no future."
    Politically, England doesn't exist. There is no England government or parliament.
    Currently there are also no socially acceptable/official celebrations of Englishness or of an English cultural identity. Politically, there is just a continual attempt to balkanise England for this reason or that - like Kle4 said of identity cards the other day, a constant solution in search of a problem.

    Personally I am and have always felt far more British than English, so it doesn't upset me too much.
    I think that if a particular identity has confidence in itself, it has no need to flaunt it. It just is. That is the way Englishness, and for that matter Britishness used to be. People who want to wrap themselves in flags and boast of their exceptionalism should be frowned on IMO. It is normally a mentality born of a sense of inferiority.
    Poor inadequate UK!



    Adolf would’ve been delighted.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,928


    (((Dan Hodges)))
    @DPJHodges
    ·
    28m
    Real Jimmy Carter vibe enveloping the Biden presidency...

    https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1538174496900800512

    Carter had higher approval at this stage. Biden is ahead of where Ford was at this stage, 39.8% to 39.3%...
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    dixiedean said:

    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    What a magnificent piece of twaddle. Children vary. Some are delighted to spend 4 years studying Akkadian philology with a year abroad learning Sumerian, others prefer hairdressing apprenticeships. Fortunately most of them listen politely to their parents and do exactly as they please. Leave them alone.
    We don't need no thought control.

    ydoethur said:

    HYUFD said:

    Lol, Yoons so desperate that they're reduced to bigging up Scotland. I wonder who is the 'we' that Murdo keeps referring to who will be losing all that good shit?

    “We lose … roughly 1/3 of the land mass of Great Britain, probably about half of our territorial waters, we lose the magnificent resource that is Scottish fishing waters, we lose the opportunities from North sea oil and gas (still there despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best efforts), we lose the potential for renewable energy from Scotland’s coasts in the North Sea and the Atlantic, we lose access to barrier-free trade for scotch whisky and scotch salmon, all these fantastic exports, and the opportunity to study at some of the world’s greatest universities … and the joy of having Scots as part of the great British nation … why would you want to throw all that away?”



    https://twitter.com/eRestUK/status/1538045258348519424?s=20&t=kkH5IARydJ_XkEEbTlYl2Q

    And Scots lose the biggest and wealthiest city in Europe, the largest financial centre in Europe, the 2 best universities in Europe and membership of the G7, G20 and permanent membership of the UN Security Council
    Moscow's not in the UK.

    As for the unis, I reckon Hull would be interested in an offer from Scotland.
    It is. It's just outside Kilmarnock. I have a picture of me aged 7 standing next to the road sign.
    And Houston is in Renfrewshire.
    Denver is in Norfolk.
    Washington is in somewhere south, I fotget exactly where but in Gallowgate country.
    New York is near Whitley Bay.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Tyne_and_Wear
    Boston is in Lincs, and Calgary on the Isle of Mull (but not English, so not relevant to the OP).
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,085
    dixiedean said:

    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    What a magnificent piece of twaddle. Children vary. Some are delighted to spend 4 years studying Akkadian philology with a year abroad learning Sumerian, others prefer hairdressing apprenticeships. Fortunately most of them listen politely to their parents and do exactly as they please. Leave them alone.
    We don't need no thought control.

    ydoethur said:

    HYUFD said:

    Lol, Yoons so desperate that they're reduced to bigging up Scotland. I wonder who is the 'we' that Murdo keeps referring to who will be losing all that good shit?

    “We lose … roughly 1/3 of the land mass of Great Britain, probably about half of our territorial waters, we lose the magnificent resource that is Scottish fishing waters, we lose the opportunities from North sea oil and gas (still there despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best efforts), we lose the potential for renewable energy from Scotland’s coasts in the North Sea and the Atlantic, we lose access to barrier-free trade for scotch whisky and scotch salmon, all these fantastic exports, and the opportunity to study at some of the world’s greatest universities … and the joy of having Scots as part of the great British nation … why would you want to throw all that away?”



    https://twitter.com/eRestUK/status/1538045258348519424?s=20&t=kkH5IARydJ_XkEEbTlYl2Q

    And Scots lose the biggest and wealthiest city in Europe, the largest financial centre in Europe, the 2 best universities in Europe and membership of the G7, G20 and permanent membership of the UN Security Council
    Moscow's not in the UK.

    As for the unis, I reckon Hull would be interested in an offer from Scotland.
    It is. It's just outside Kilmarnock. I have a picture of me aged 7 standing next to the road sign.
    And Houston is in Renfrewshire.
    Denver is in Norfolk.
    Washington is in somewhere south, I fotget exactly where but in Gallowgate country.
    New York is near Whitley Bay.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Tyne_and_Wear
    Calgary on Mull looks out towards the Atlantic. The only stampede is people looking for second homes.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,928

    HYUFD said:

    kjh said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    Statistically unless you go to a Russell Group university you earn more over a lifetime doing a higher level apprenticeship than going to university

    https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/higher-apprenticeships-lead-greater-earnings-most-degrees

    I do wonder whether you will be fighting tooth and claw for your offspring to attend a Russell Group University, or alternatively will you be signing them up for an apprenticeship with Tata Steel?

    I suspect I know the answer.
    Depends how bright they are. If they are an A* or A grade student I would certainly suggest they aim for a Russell Group university and to become a doctor or lawyer etc.

    If not I would suggest they aim for an apprenticeship
    Really. You would recommend all A/A* student to become lawyers or doctors. No other profession? Never crossed my mind, never crossed my son's mind, never crossed the mind of most A/A* students. Do we have too many mathematicians, physicists, chemists, economists, engineers, etc, etc.
    I said lawyers, doctors etc. Not lawyers and doctors alone.

    So that does not exclude the other professions you named which would be suitable for A*, A students
    Elder son, by no means a high flyer, did an 'old fashioned' apprenticeship, then decided he really needed a degree, so went on and got one (not at a Russell university) and went on to have a well-paid (and apparently highly thought of) 'backstage' career in Formula One.

    There's more than one route to success!

    What is really needed is good quality careers advice in schools. I'm not sure that always applies; certainly didn't to me!
    The slight problem is that "careers advisors" in schools probably have low expectations. Their careers advice probably is limited to their own very limited experience. Kids need to be inspired. If it doesn't exist already there probably ought to be a YouTube channel with real world examples of how people have made it, particularly for those that were told by their teachers they should aim low, and still achieved highly in spite of this
    Yes; at one time Careers Advice was becoming a career in itself. It seems to be cut back on nowadays, but the idea of a YouTube channel or something like that is excellent!
    My friend ended up being a career advisor temporarily for a university. Hes since found a proper research position, but when he had the career advice gig his career was really going nowhere !

    Here's a plug for book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supernatural-Encounters-Restless-Medieval-c-1050-1450-ebook/dp/B082889M94 ;)
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    kinabalu said:

    darkage said:

    Tres said:

    Why do you think teaching children about racism is disgusting?

    The 'progressive' left are very good at equating criticism of "Critical Race Theory" with racism.
    But in reality, it is quite possible to be opposed to racism, and also opposed to Critical Race Theory and its teaching in schools. That would be my own perspective.
    Course you can be opposed to both. Loads are.

    What's interesting is the relative strength of opposition. In particular where someone is far more animated about Critical Race Theory than about the thing it seeks to study - Racism.

    I don't assume such people are racists - not at all - but there is imo something brittle and illogical going on there. White Fragility is one term coined to describe it and although I wouldn't bandy it about on here - since it irritates people - I think it's quite a perceptive one.
    Just imagine a world in which that great Force For Good the British Empire had left all those fucking Africans in fucking Africa. I can't begin to enumerate the problems that would have caused.
  • Options
    MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 25,178
    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    4 years
    I read for just three years at what is now a Russell Group University. Does that make me Mr Johnson's inferior?
    Well he is obv one third again more educated than you
    To be honest it could have all been done in one academic year if truth be told. So I guess Johnson in reality is at least four times better educated than me.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    A Tory plan to have a general election in October is not as mad as it sounds

    https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tory-plan-next-general-election-october-2022-not-mad-1692914

    I note that GE2022 has shortened to 15 from 17.5 yesterday.

    2024 1.2
    2023 6
    2022 15
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730

    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    4 years
    I read for just three years at what is now a Russell Group University. Does that make me Mr Johnson's inferior?
    Well he is obv one third again more educated than you
    To be honest it could have all been done in one academic year if truth be told. So I guess Johnson in reality is at least four times better educated than me.
    On the wider comparison with Oxford undergraduate educational performance in general, and forgetting Mr Johnson, how did you score on the pub/restaurant-smashing-up quantitative metric? Disd you have to do it 4 times as fast, or what?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    Er, what happens if they signed on the dotted line and got baptised?
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,004
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
    Also, I see HYUFD, for some unaccountable reason, hasn't answered the point that being FM for England and PM of the UK are conflicting interests as a matter of fundamental principle. You know, like being able to decide what your ethics consultant can and can't do. It is just not on.

    PS: as, to be fair, and as it should be stressed, HYUFD has himself implied in the past, he wanting an English Pmt (albeit contrary to C&U[sic]P policy).
    No they aren't at all. The UK PM is effectively the Federal leader of the UK and also since devolution FM for England on English domestic policy. That is inevitable since Scotland, Wales and NI got their own parliaments and FMs.

    However as you say I would also support an English Parliament in say York with Westminster the UK Federal Parliament

  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    HYUFD said:

    Yougov. Would you prefer your children to study for a degree or do an apprenticeship?

    Degree 35%
    Apprenticeship 44%

    Remainers Degree 50%

    Leavers Apprenticeship 56%


    https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1538115066200981505?s=20&t=VGA1FQQWBV_3HS6SnWXgbg

    An expensive higher education should be the exclusive right of the upper classes (whoever they may be). Isn't that right HYUFD?

    My view is, if three years reading for a non- vocational university degree is good enough for Boris Johnson, it is not too good for my children.
    4 years
    I read for just three years at what is now a Russell Group University. Does that make me Mr Johnson's inferior?
    Well he is obv one third again more educated than you
    To be honest it could have all been done in one academic year if truth be told. So I guess Johnson in reality is at least four times better educated than me.
    Naah, Johnson did what I did: if you have had a trad grounding in Latin and Greek from the age of 8 you could get a bad second in classics finals on your first day at Oxford. A gift to lazy time wasters.
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,983
    Good afternoon, everyone.

    Mr. Z, you're aware that the Saracens didn't get their land because they asked nicely for it, right?

    This may shock you, but there has been quite a lot of war in human history.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,990
    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    The Pope said nothing about the pagans being non-white! Could, a few years before, have been referring to Lithuanians or Finns!
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
    Also, I see HYUFD, for some unaccountable reason, hasn't answered the point that being FM for England and PM of the UK are conflicting interests as a matter of fundamental principle. You know, like being able to decide what your ethics consultant can and can't do. It is just not on.

    PS: as, to be fair, and as it should be stressed, HYUFD has himself implied in the past, he wanting an English Pmt (albeit contrary to C&U[sic]P policy).
    No they aren't at all. The UK PM is effectively the Federal leader of the UK and also since devolution FM for England on English domestic policy. That is inevitable since Scotland, Wales and NI got their own parliaments and FMs.

    However as you say I would also support an English Parliament in say York with Westminster the UK Federal Parliament

    Yes, they conflict, because the UK PM is deciding things from an English FM perspective, or the other way round, or a bit of both - none of which is acceptable, because the requirements of the UK as a whole and those of England in particular will always be more or less different.

    It's a matter of basic principle, rather than actual fault, to begin with anyway. It's unavoidable.
  • Options
    IcarusIcarus Posts: 898
    The key test at the by-elections is the actual number of votes Labour gets. At last years elections their vote fell -they need to enthuse people to turn out for them.
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Carnyx said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    Er, what happens if they signed on the dotted line and got baptised?
    I don't think it helped much. The c of e was happy to baptize slaves but it didn't get them anything (except eternal life obv)
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
    Also, I see HYUFD, for some unaccountable reason, hasn't answered the point that being FM for England and PM of the UK are conflicting interests as a matter of fundamental principle. You know, like being able to decide what your ethics consultant can and can't do. It is just not on.

    PS: as, to be fair, and as it should be stressed, HYUFD has himself implied in the past, he wanting an English Pmt (albeit contrary to C&U[sic]P policy).
    No they aren't at all. The UK PM is effectively the Federal leader of the UK and also since devolution FM for England on English domestic policy. That is inevitable since Scotland, Wales and NI got their own parliaments and FMs.

    However as you say I would also support an English Parliament in say York with Westminster the UK Federal Parliament

    Alert: True Believer deviates from the True Path.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    England has gone to the dogs horses.

    Royal Ascot relaxes dress code

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-61846022
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    IshmaelZ said:

    Carnyx said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    Er, what happens if they signed on the dotted line and got baptised?
    I don't think it helped much. The c of e was happy to baptize slaves but it didn't get them anything (except eternal life obv)
    Bit shit for the ones that were volunteered for the British Empire, but Henry the N. was RC wasn't he?
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,983
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    Mr. Z, you're aware that the Saracens didn't get their land because they asked nicely for it, right?

    This may shock you, but there has been quite a lot of war in human history.

    Don't be silly, H the N was sailing down west Africa not repossessing the holy land.

    ALL non Christians to be enslaved for ever for being non Christians.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    IshmaelZ said:

    Carnyx said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    Er, what happens if they signed on the dotted line and got baptised?
    I don't think it helped much. The c of e was happy to baptize slaves but it didn't get them anything (except eternal life obv)
    Long-haired preachers come out every night
    To tell you what's wrong and what's right
    But when asked how about something to eat
    They will answer in voices so sweet:

    You will eat, bye and bye
    In that glorious land above the sky
    Work and pray, live on hay
    You'll get pie in the sky when you die.
    That's a lie

    And the starvation army they play
    They sing and they clap and they pray
    'Till they get all your coin on the drum
    Then they'll tell you when you're on the bum:

    You're gonna eat, bye and bye, poor boy
    In that glorious land above the sky, way up high
    Work and pray, live on hay
    You'll get pie in the sky when you die
    Dirty lie
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Carnyx said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Carnyx said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    Er, what happens if they signed on the dotted line and got baptised?
    I don't think it helped much. The c of e was happy to baptize slaves but it didn't get them anything (except eternal life obv)
    Bit shit for the ones that were volunteered for the British Empire, but Henry the N. was RC wasn't he?
    1470s, only game in town.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,004
    edited June 2022
    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    And the Muslim Ottoman Empire at one stage conquered Europe as far as the gates of Vienna and took large numbers of white Christians as slaves, it was the nature of the time
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,004
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
    Also, I see HYUFD, for some unaccountable reason, hasn't answered the point that being FM for England and PM of the UK are conflicting interests as a matter of fundamental principle. You know, like being able to decide what your ethics consultant can and can't do. It is just not on.

    PS: as, to be fair, and as it should be stressed, HYUFD has himself implied in the past, he wanting an English Pmt (albeit contrary to C&U[sic]P policy).
    No they aren't at all. The UK PM is effectively the Federal leader of the UK and also since devolution FM for England on English domestic policy. That is inevitable since Scotland, Wales and NI got their own parliaments and FMs.

    However as you say I would also support an English Parliament in say York with Westminster the UK Federal Parliament

    Yes, they conflict, because the UK PM is deciding things from an English FM perspective, or the other way round, or a bit of both - none of which is acceptable, because the requirements of the UK as a whole and those of England in particular will always be more or less different.

    It's a matter of basic principle, rather than actual fault, to begin with anyway. It's unavoidable.
    No he isn't at all, as he only acts as UK PM on defence, foreign policy and some tax for the whole UK. Domestic policy is devolved to each home nation outside of England.

    Though if you really want to complain we can always scrap Holyrood, Stormont and Cardiff and go back to the situation pre devolution where the UK PM is responsible for all domestic policy for the whole UK too
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    Icarus said:

    The key test at the by-elections is the actual number of votes Labour gets. At last years elections their vote fell -they need to enthuse people to turn out for them.

    Vote For Us Coz We’re Not As Big Scumbags As The Tories

    Hardly inspiring.
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,060
    @SamRamani2
    BREAKING: Lithuania announces that its goods transit ban to Kaliningrad will take effect today


    https://twitter.com/SamRamani2/status/1538174325886418944
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,965
    America is nothing if not a land of equal opportunity for nutters with guns.
    70 year old this time.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/18/gunman-70-kills-three-people-at-alabama-church-dinner
  • Options
    IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    HYUFD said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    And the Muslim Ottoman Empire at one stage conquered Europe as far as the gates of Vienna and took large numbers of white Christians as slaves, it was the nature of the time
    Sermon on the Mount refers
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,730
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Wow! This is horrific. How the British Empire treated the men who died in support of the regime:

    The long-held explanation is grisly: according to reports made soon after the conflict, the bones were collected, pulverised and turned into fertiliser for agricultural use.

    “It is certainly a singular fact that Great Britain should have sent out multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import the bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil!” the London Observer reported in November 1822.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/18/mystery-of-waterloos-dead-soldiers-to-be-re-examined-by-academics

    What a ludicrous take, there were more Belgians and Dutch in Wellington's forces at Waterloo v Napoleon than non Europeans from the emerging British Empire.

    Not to mention the Prussians joined the British too later in the battle
    Huh? Who said anything about “non-Europeans”? You have a very odd interpretation of the term British Empire excluding the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx or English.
    None of them were colonies of the Empire no, they were all people of the United Kingdom in 1815
    People of the territories according to Thatcher mini me.




    As opposed to just being what they're called.

    https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/14/the-role-of-a-territorial-office/
    Where's the English territorial office based?
    England doesn't have its own Parliament unlike the other 3, so the UK PM is also effectively English FM
    Aside from the word effective being attached to BJ, he's effectively English FM and actually the minister for the Union? No conflict of interest there d'ye think?

    I love tone deaf Tory dimwits unwittingly revealing the actualité of the Union, long may it continue.
    No as his UK PM role ie ultimate responsibility for income tax, defence, foreign policy etc is separate to his role as English FM and responsibility for English domestic policy and health and education and the police etc in England
    Who’d’ve thunk that Tory loyalists would start campaigning for a Yes vote this far out from polling day?
    Also, I see HYUFD, for some unaccountable reason, hasn't answered the point that being FM for England and PM of the UK are conflicting interests as a matter of fundamental principle. You know, like being able to decide what your ethics consultant can and can't do. It is just not on.

    PS: as, to be fair, and as it should be stressed, HYUFD has himself implied in the past, he wanting an English Pmt (albeit contrary to C&U[sic]P policy).
    No they aren't at all. The UK PM is effectively the Federal leader of the UK and also since devolution FM for England on English domestic policy. That is inevitable since Scotland, Wales and NI got their own parliaments and FMs.

    However as you say I would also support an English Parliament in say York with Westminster the UK Federal Parliament

    Yes, they conflict, because the UK PM is deciding things from an English FM perspective, or the other way round, or a bit of both - none of which is acceptable, because the requirements of the UK as a whole and those of England in particular will always be more or less different.

    It's a matter of basic principle, rather than actual fault, to begin with anyway. It's unavoidable.
    No he isn't at all, as he only acts as UK PM on defence, foreign policy and some tax for the whole UK. Domestic policy is devolved to each home nation outside of England.

    Though if you really want to complain we can always scrap Holyrood, Stormont and Cardiff and go back to the situation pre devolution where the UK PM is responsible for all domestic policy for the whole UK too
    You're completely failing to recognise that the UK roles have differential impact over the UK as a whole: for instance, policy on defence also takes ijnto account the economic impact of bases. Or, indeed, HS2, where the demands of Conservative nimbies have tended to override wider considerations of connectivity. Just look at the cancellation the other week.
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,085
    HYUFD said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Henry the Navigator of Portugal got an express green light from the Pope to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ … and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery’."

    If that doesn't underline the fundamental decency of the Christian white man, I would like to know what does

    And the Muslim Ottoman Empire at one stage conquered Europe as far as the gates of Vienna and took large numbers of white Christians as slaves, it was the nature of the time
    But their capital was at one time capital of the Roman Empire and considered a European city!
This discussion has been closed.