Checking clips from Sky News from my noisy gin bar in sultry Seville….
London looks absolutely fucking AMAZING in the dark and the rain, with the crowds outside Buck House, and the royal hearse bringing the dead Queen back to her palace, draped in the Royal Standard. Even the advent of smartphones has helped, you see all these myriad shining lights as people hold up their phones to get a picture, creating yet more atmosphere and sparkle
We joke about it, but these profound images project UK soft power around the world. Priceless
I queued up to see the Queen Mum lying in state when she karked it. I confess I did it mainly to annoy my lefty friends - and see a bit of history
Queue took 2 hours in the middle of the night. When you get in Westminster Hall the atmos is spellbinding. The huge crown on her coffin glittered in the semi darkness. The guardsmen with their heads bowed. The last empress of India
Magnificent
I would definitely do it for the Q but I suspect the lines will be 15 hours long
We are hoping to go Friday evening and queue for as long as it takes to pay our respects to the late Queen
I genuinely recommend it. if the Queen Mum’s lying in state is anything to go by. The queue I was in was all chatty and jolly and swapping sandwiches and jokes, and then when you finally got in: Wow
Instant, thunderstruck sadness. A beautiful, noble moment. I’m not quite sure why. The mise en scene is peerless, of course. Westminster Hall! Rufus’ Roaring Hall. One of the greatest medieval buildings in the entire world. And where they found the King’s High Table. What incredible history. Few countries can boast this. Maybe not one. Maybe it is only Britain that has this
The Queen will lie in state in the near 1000 year old hall built by the son of William the Conqueror, her direct ancestor, and where Charles the First, her direct ancestor, was condemned to the axe, on the marshy site first made sacred by the early Anglo Saxon kings, her direct ancestors
I hope you get in
I did the QM's lying in state too which as you say was also quite an occasion.
Hope all goes well watching the funeral cortege, we will likely watch the funeral on TV but go up to London again for the coronation next year
Flight tracking statistics regarding the final flight of Queen Elizabeth II
In the minute after the transponder of C-17 ZZ177 activated, an unprecedented 6 million people attempted to follow the flight….
70 years after her first flight as Queen aboard the BOAC Argonaut “Atalanta,” Queen Elizabeth II’s final flight is the most tracked flight in Flightradar24 history.
I queued up to see the Queen Mum lying in state when she karked it. I confess I did it mainly to annoy my lefty friends - and see a bit of history
Queue took 2 hours in the middle of the night. When you get in Westminster Hall the atmos is spellbinding. The huge crown on her coffin glittered in the semi darkness. The guardsmen with their heads bowed. The last empress of India
Magnificent
I would definitely do it for the Q but I suspect the lines will be 15 hours long
Trying to talk your way out of it but I'm not convinced and I doubt Casino is either.
Not convinced of what?!
Your constant projection of your fucking boring tiny Woke fucking mindset is fucking tedious
I queued for the Queen Mum and when she died I didn’t nearly cry. I very nearly DID cry for Her Majesty the Q - she meant a lot to me - and I would totally queue for her, but yes there’s a limit. 15 hours? Two days? Probably not
I will be there in the crowds for the funeral cortège
Well let's see how you feel if you really do join the throng next Monday. Perhaps you will manage to cry but you shouldn't force the tears if they're not there.
Christ, I pity your wife. AND she knows that you’re gay. Jeez
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Zelensky's forces have certainly pushed the Russians back but I expect fighting in the Donbass and Crimea to continue for years
I don't. If those caught in the blindingly obvious trap of Kherson surrender and give up their equipment Russia is going to lose this war in the next month. But what happens then? We really need to think through the end game here, this is the closest the world has been to nuclear war since Cuba.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Good. Best thing that can possibly happen, and will be good for most Russians too.
The problem with Russia is that its a Muscovite Empire that keeps the worst traditions of Empire going. The Provinces are absolutely impoverished and bled dry third world style to keep a standard of living going in Moscow. So long as things are smooth in Moscow, the rest of the country can go to hell in a handcart.
A breakup of the Russian Federation and provinces going independent and being able to sink or swim on their own rather than being drained for Moscow would be a very good thing.
Consider the brave folk of Nenets Autonomous District (which, as everyone knows without checking wikipedia, is a "federal subject of Russia, and an autonomous okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast"), the only area in the country to vote against Putin's 2020 constitutional reforms.
The confused region/district arrangements make me think we have more in common with Russia than I thought.
Sense zero interest in Bake Off on here. Was going to liveblog it - like Ian memorably does with Crufts - but I don't think I'll bother.
Most pointless show on television. This week anyway.
At almost every funeral - memorial service I've ever attended, plenty of scope for baked goods afterwards at the reception (or before hand at the wake).
In France it is *illegal* for traders to refuse cash payments in lawful currency. Article 642-3 of the French penal code states that traders cannot “refuse cash payments for the settling of accounts,” and they can be fined up to €150 for doing so. We should copy this . 5:08 PM · Sep 12, 2022"
If traders don't want the security risk of carrying or accepting cash then that should be their prerogative. Take your business elsewhere if you're not happy with that.
Why do people like Hitchens want a big state to micromanage their lives for them? Let people choose what they want to do or accept.
Agree 100%.
Problem with that is that you hit the Sweden problem where those without banking now have serious problems accessing many shops and services because everyone uses cards..
That's not a problem if you have cards, it's a major problem if you don't.
And then you turn up in Linz and the taxi drivers don’t take cards…
Sorry to bang on about Kherson, but it is the key to the rapid collapse of the war:
"Ukraine’s negotiating position should be simple: Russian forces can happily withdraw into a POW camp after handing their equipment over. Seriously, “We’re out of ammo, please let us out with all our gear” is not a particularly well-leveraged negotiating position. There’s no plausible “or else…” that is even remotely compelling to Ukraine."
In France it is *illegal* for traders to refuse cash payments in lawful currency. Article 642-3 of the French penal code states that traders cannot “refuse cash payments for the settling of accounts,” and they can be fined up to €150 for doing so. We should copy this . 5:08 PM · Sep 12, 2022"
If traders don't want the security risk of carrying or accepting cash then that should be their prerogative. Take your business elsewhere if you're not happy with that.
Why do people like Hitchens want a big state to micromanage their lives for them? Let people choose what they want to do or accept.
Because this law while big state keeps the big state out of worse things such as being to track every electronic payment. Sorry you are wrong here this is a little big state rule to prevent worse big state interference. Big state would love every transaction to be electronic and therefore trackable. You are so on the wrong fucking side of it
You don't need to use electronic payments if you don't want to. I have a friend who is a bit nuts in a good way, he sold up his stake in a firm he'd set up in London and moved completely off grid buying a houseboat up North. He lives on his boat with no bank account, no mobile phone, nothing electronic just completely off grid. Cash for everything.
You can still live that lifestyle if you want to, there's no law against it. But if firms decide they don't want his business because of his own choices, no discrimination, and will take custom from those who do want to pay in a safer and more secure manner, then that's their free choice too.
Phil Stewart @phildstewart · 2h (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
==
Anyone else pissed off that one of our absolute key Commonwealth countries is dealing with Vlad?
Yes. I understand India always face several ways at once and try and have their cake and eat it. Same way he gives sympathises over HMQ and then tries to whip up a bit of anger for his own benefit over other British monarchs.
Modi is a nationalist and so we shouldn't be surprised he acts like one.
I don't like Congress or the BJP so I don't know who I'd vote for if I were Indian.
India has been largely aligned if not formally allied with Soviet Union > Russia for a LONG time now. Mainly on account of conflict and war (hot and cold) with Pakistan AND China.
Independent actors, but believing Delhi - Moscow connection is vital for their security.
"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." - Lord Palmerston
SSI - Not sure I agree entirely with his late lordship, but can see what Pam was driving at. So could Nehru and his successor up to Modi (with individual & political nuances) regardless of domestic differences.
China is a greater threat to India, and Russia can't really do much for them.
You'd think they'd recognise that.
But they do. That is why they side with Russia. There have been border clashes between China and India for many years now.
India are - of course - playing a dangerous game. If (when) Russia were to become a client state of China, they might soon find their flow of weapons drying up.
I see that ALL the brave Royals will be wearing their full military dress uniforms except the very, very bad one... Harry
Includingthe Duke of Rape.
This more than anything persuades me that Our Dear King is a psychotic pig, humiliating his own son on grounds of wounded self importance. And presumably permitting Prince Child molester to wear the kit just to point up the fact.
Republic NOW.
I'm really not interested in all the Hello Magazine/Daily Heil gossip about them but the shoddy way he's treating his own son, even while turning a blind eye to his abusive brothers shenanigans, rather gives credence to the idea that what Harry and Meghan had to say was true all along.
'Shoddy way he is treating his own son'? It is Harry who abandoned his royal duties to cash in in California, Harry who has been trashing a family who gave him everything, Harry who has been behaving like a self pitying brat, Harry who brought personal pain to his grandmother by the self centred actions of he and his wife in her final years and Harry who has still been begging Charles for continued financial support.
It was also of course Charles and William who told the Queen to strip Andrew of his royal duties and titles
... of him and his wife
You don't have children of your own. OTOH the love of a father for a son is kind of central to the batshit religious cult to which you subscribe. Even when the Son disappoints the Father by being lacking in the sexual disposition required to carry on the dynasty.
You do realise that the NT is quite strongly AGAINST condemning others on self-important pharisaical grounds?
Checking clips from Sky News from my noisy gin bar in sultry Seville….
London looks absolutely fucking AMAZING in the dark and the rain, with the crowds outside Buck House, and the royal hearse bringing the dead Queen back to her palace, draped in the Royal Standard. Even the advent of smartphones has helped, you see all these myriad shining lights as people hold up their phones to get a picture, creating yet more atmosphere and sparkle
We joke about it, but these profound images project UK soft power around the world. Priceless
I don't get as sentimental about it, and am naturally wary of overextrapolation, but I think it is generally a good thing for the UK that things here get more focus elsewhere than they perhaps should.
It's like how our media obsess over american political and cultural minutiae, which signifies their cultural dominance over us. We punch above our weight in attention, for better and for worse.
If Ukraine are ultimately successful, then its support for Ukraine over the past 8 years will be Britain's greatest foreign policy achievement since the second world war. It will outshadow the blunder in Iraq, and undo much of the vast and unnecessary harm caused by Brexit. It will also do a vast amount to restore Britains self confidence in the face of the endless attacks from within.
Any hint as to who are those enemies within?
It is a general problem. Negativity and self hate. The continued war on British history and attempts to destroy all 'heroes' is particularly annoying. Churchill being 'called out' as a villain. It is basically the far left and the useful idiots and fellow travellers that go along with it, in the universities and the 'progressive' middle class; who somehow manage to convince themselves that Britain is a terrible, evil place by just obsessively focussing on negative things about the country and its history, completely losing all sense of perspective. It is the same people who were opposed to NATO, defence spending, nuclear bombs. And, if the war in Ukraine gets bought to a positive conclusion, they will have been proven wrong for once.
Tell you who had a bit of a temper. George VI. Didn’t stop him being a national hero. Charles III getting annoyed over ink pots and leaking fountain pens in this week of all weeks is not a big deal. Cut the geezer some slack, none of us would swap places with him.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Good. Best thing that can possibly happen, and will be good for most Russians too.
The problem with Russia is that its a Muscovite Empire that keeps the worst traditions of Empire going. The Provinces are absolutely impoverished and bled dry third world style to keep a standard of living going in Moscow. So long as things are smooth in Moscow, the rest of the country can go to hell in a handcart.
A breakup of the Russian Federation and provinces going independent and being able to sink or swim on their own rather than being drained for Moscow would be a very good thing.
I honestly don't think you have thought this through. The collapse of Russia will be terrifying for all of us.
Tell you who had a bit of a temper. George VI. Didn’t stop him being a national hero. Charles III getting annoyed over ink pots and leaking fountain pens in this week of all weeks is not a big deal. Cut the geezer some slack, none of us would swap places with him.
Phil Stewart @phildstewart · 2h (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
==
Anyone else pissed off that one of our absolute key Commonwealth countries is dealing with Vlad?
Yes. I understand India always face several ways at once and try and have their cake and eat it. Same way he gives sympathises over HMQ and then tries to whip up a bit of anger for his own benefit over other British monarchs.
Modi is a nationalist and so we shouldn't be surprised he acts like one.
I don't like Congress or the BJP so I don't know who I'd vote for if I were Indian.
India has been largely aligned if not formally allied with Soviet Union > Russia for a LONG time now. Mainly on account of conflict and war (hot and cold) with Pakistan AND China.
Independent actors, but believing Delhi - Moscow connection is vital for their security.
"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." - Lord Palmerston
SSI - Not sure I agree entirely with his late lordship, but can see what Pam was driving at. So could Nehru and his successor up to Modi (with individual & political nuances) regardless of domestic differences.
China is a greater threat to India, and Russia can't really do much for them.
You'd think they'd recognise that.
But they do. That is why they side with Russia. There have been border clashes between China and India for many years now.
India are - of course - playing a dangerous game. If (when) Russia were to become a client state of China, they might soon find their flow of weapons drying up.
So? Ukraine has shown they have been buying shitty second-rate crap from Russia for decades.
American/NATO country hardware is what you need to be buying. Even their cast-offs are way better than what Russia is selling. If indeed Russia can deliver. They will be rebuilding their own armies - delivery dates are going to be years, not months. And even that depends on sourcing western chips.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Good. Best thing that can possibly happen, and will be good for most Russians too.
The problem with Russia is that its a Muscovite Empire that keeps the worst traditions of Empire going. The Provinces are absolutely impoverished and bled dry third world style to keep a standard of living going in Moscow. So long as things are smooth in Moscow, the rest of the country can go to hell in a handcart.
A breakup of the Russian Federation and provinces going independent and being able to sink or swim on their own rather than being drained for Moscow would be a very good thing.
I honestly don't think you have thought this through. The collapse of Russia will be terrifying for all of us.
The continuance of Russia isn't any better.
Between Russia continuing under Putin invading its neighbours, or Russia collapsing into various provinces, I'd take a collapse all day any day.
Tell you who had a bit of a temper. George VI. Didn’t stop him being a national hero. Charles III getting annoyed over ink pots and leaking fountain pens in this week of all weeks is not a big deal. Cut the geezer some slack, none of us would swap places with him.
If I could stay my age I would swap. Never work again, flunkiest everywhere, life of luxury, free healthcare, lots of travel.
NYT - What to Watch in Tuesday’s (Final!) Primary Night
Outside money has poured into New Hampshire heading into Tuesday’s primary as Republicans eye three opportunities to pick up Democratic-held seats, above all that of Senator Maggie Hassan, one of her party’s most vulnerable incumbents.
But the leading G.O.P. candidate for Senate, Don Bolduc, is an election denier with a history of outlandish statements. His closest rival, Chuck Morse, the State Senate president, is playing on fears that nominating Mr. Bolduc could mean squandering a major opening.
Ms. Hassan, a Democrat, narrowly won the seat in 2016. In a 50-50 U.S. Senate, every competitive race has the potential to tip the balance of power.
New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware are all holding primaries on Tuesday. It’s not a big night, but it’s the last round of voting before the November midterm elections.
A competitive [NH] Senate primary President Biden carried New Hampshire by seven percentage points in 2020, and successful statewide Republican politicians have tended to hew to the center, appealing to independents and conservative Democrats. But Mr. Bolduc, a retired Army general, has not only embraced Mr. Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 presidential election, he has also called Gov. Chris Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer” and questioned whether the United States still needs the F.B.I. (Mr. Sununu has called Mr. Bolduc a conspiracy theorist.) . . .
A scramble for House seats Republicans in New Hampshire are wrangling over the chance to square off against U.S. Representatives Chris Pappas and Ann McLane Kuster, two Democrats whom Republicans see as vulnerable.
Matt Mowers, who worked in the State Department during the Trump administration, and Karoline Leavitt, who worked in the White House communications office, are the leading candidates in a 10-person field in Mr. Pappas’s First District, which zigzags across much of eastern and southern New Hampshire.
Mr. Mowers, who lost to Mr. Pappas in 2020, earned the endorsements of the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, and the minority whip, Steve Scalise. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranking House Republican, is supporting Ms. Leavitt, who once worked for her.
Ms. Leavitt and other Republican contenders have portrayed Mr. Mowers as an establishment tool and criticized him for voting in 2016 in both the New Jersey and New Hampshire primaries. (He voted in New Jersey before moving to New Hampshire to work on Chris Christie’s presidential campaign.) Mr. Mowers has defended himself by channeling Mr. Trump, saying he was being attacked because he had planned to “shake up the status quo.”
In New Hampshire’s Second District, encompassing the rest of the state, seven Republicans are competing to face Ms. Kuster, a longtime adoption lawyer who is seeking her sixth term. . . .
I see that ALL the brave Royals will be wearing their full military dress uniforms except the very, very bad one... Harry
Includingthe Duke of Rape.
This more than anything persuades me that Our Dear King is a psychotic pig, humiliating his own son on grounds of wounded self importance. And presumably permitting Prince Child molester to wear the kit just to point up the fact.
Republic NOW.
I'm really not interested in all the Hello Magazine/Daily Heil gossip about them but the shoddy way he's treating his own son, even while turning a blind eye to his abusive brothers shenanigans, rather gives credence to the idea that what Harry and Meghan had to say was true all along.
'Shoddy way he is treating his own son'? It is Harry who abandoned his royal duties to cash in in California, Harry who has been trashing a family who gave him everything, Harry who has been behaving like a self pitying brat, Harry who brought personal pain to his grandmother by the self centred actions of he and his wife in her final years and Harry who has still been begging Charles for continued financial support.
It was also of course Charles and William who told the Queen to strip Andrew of his royal duties and titles
... of him and his wife
You don't have children of your own. OTOH the love of a father for a son is kind of central to the batshit religious cult to which you subscribe. Even when the Son disappoints the Father by being lacking in the sexual disposition required to carry on the dynasty.
You do realise that the NT is quite strongly AGAINST condemning others on self-important pharisaical grounds?
Phil Stewart @phildstewart · 2h (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
==
Anyone else pissed off that one of our absolute key Commonwealth countries is dealing with Vlad?
Yes. I understand India always face several ways at once and try and have their cake and eat it. Same way he gives sympathises over HMQ and then tries to whip up a bit of anger for his own benefit over other British monarchs.
Modi is a nationalist and so we shouldn't be surprised he acts like one.
I don't like Congress or the BJP so I don't know who I'd vote for if I were Indian.
India has been largely aligned if not formally allied with Soviet Union > Russia for a LONG time now. Mainly on account of conflict and war (hot and cold) with Pakistan AND China.
Independent actors, but believing Delhi - Moscow connection is vital for their security.
"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." - Lord Palmerston
SSI - Not sure I agree entirely with his late lordship, but can see what Pam was driving at. So could Nehru and his successor up to Modi (with individual & political nuances) regardless of domestic differences.
China is a greater threat to India, and Russia can't really do much for them.
You'd think they'd recognise that.
But they do. That is why they side with Russia. There have been border clashes between China and India for many years now.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Good. Best thing that can possibly happen, and will be good for most Russians too.
The problem with Russia is that its a Muscovite Empire that keeps the worst traditions of Empire going. The Provinces are absolutely impoverished and bled dry third world style to keep a standard of living going in Moscow. So long as things are smooth in Moscow, the rest of the country can go to hell in a handcart.
A breakup of the Russian Federation and provinces going independent and being able to sink or swim on their own rather than being drained for Moscow would be a very good thing.
I honestly don't think you have thought this through. The collapse of Russia will be terrifying for all of us.
The continuance of Russia isn't any better.
Between Russia continuing under Putin invading its neighbours, or Russia collapsing into various provinces, I'd take a collapse all day any day.
As ever with Russia its the damn nukes that are the problem. Even a chaotic collapse, whilst rife with potential for a lot of terrible things, would be easy to be flippant about without the nuclear issue.
But of course, they've threatened their use simply for the words of others, so they are perhaps finding out that the West felt it had little option but to push back even a bit - they've been to eager to fall back on that threat.
Tell you who had a bit of a temper. George VI. Didn’t stop him being a national hero. Charles III getting annoyed over ink pots and leaking fountain pens in this week of all weeks is not a big deal. Cut the geezer some slack, none of us would swap places with him.
But it's not just this week is it? It's part of a pattern of behviour from him that we've heard about for years, maybe even decades?
The only difference is that this week there's so much attention on him that people are starting to actually see it rather than it just being rumour in newspapers...
If Ukraine are ultimately successful, then its support for Ukraine over the past 8 years will be Britain's greatest foreign policy achievement since the second world war. It will outshadow the blunder in Iraq, and undo much of the vast and unnecessary harm caused by Brexit. It will also do a vast amount to restore Britains self confidence in the face of the endless attacks from within.
Any hint as to who are those enemies within?
It is a general problem. Negativity and self hate. The continued war on British history and attempts to destroy all 'heroes' is particularly annoying. Churchill being 'called out' as a villain. It is basically the far left and the useful idiots and fellow travellers that go along with it, in the universities and the 'progressive' middle class; who somehow manage to convince themselves that Britain is a terrible, evil place by just obsessively focussing on negative things about the country and its history, completely losing all sense of perspective. It is the same people who were opposed to NATO, defence spending, nuclear bombs. And, if the war in Ukraine gets bought to a positive conclusion, they will have been proven wrong for once.
Tell you who had a bit of a temper. George VI. Didn’t stop him being a national hero. Charles III getting annoyed over ink pots and leaking fountain pens in this week of all weeks is not a big deal. Cut the geezer some slack, none of us would swap places with him.
If I could stay my age I would swap. Never work again, flunkiest everywhere, life of luxury, free healthcare, lots of travel.
You have work laid out for you every day, official visits at home and abroad, legislation to sign, parties and receptions and dinners to host, Parliament to open etc
Sense zero interest in Bake Off on here. Was going to liveblog it - like Ian memorably does with Crufts - but I don't think I'll bother.
Most pointless show on television. This week anyway.
Well it's not meant to have a point. Apart from bringing the nation together in a way that nothing else can. Surprised PB is immune.
I still like it, though I find a little of the charm has been chipped off slightly over the years as the presenting/judging cast have rotated through. And I find the C4 era is a bit too "construct a 3d thing out of cake". I think they've just run out of different cakes to bake, so the challenge is just...build a bigger cake.
Yes the actual bakery isn't improving but the prog hasn't debauched itself as almost invariably happens with successful TV of this type after a few years. Eg Strictly, X Factor, Phil & Kirstie etc. Paul Hollywood has an ego, you can sense that, but he keeps it in check on the show.
Tell you who had a bit of a temper. George VI. Didn’t stop him being a national hero. Charles III getting annoyed over ink pots and leaking fountain pens in this week of all weeks is not a big deal. Cut the geezer some slack, none of us would swap places with him.
If I could stay my age I would swap. Never work again, flunkiest everywhere, life of luxury, free healthcare, lots of travel.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Good. Best thing that can possibly happen, and will be good for most Russians too.
The problem with Russia is that its a Muscovite Empire that keeps the worst traditions of Empire going. The Provinces are absolutely impoverished and bled dry third world style to keep a standard of living going in Moscow. So long as things are smooth in Moscow, the rest of the country can go to hell in a handcart.
A breakup of the Russian Federation and provinces going independent and being able to sink or swim on their own rather than being drained for Moscow would be a very good thing.
I honestly don't think you have thought this through. The collapse of Russia will be terrifying for all of us.
Unfortunately there is a deep human instinct to try and find simple answers to very complex and intractable problems.
In the New Hampshire governor’s race, Mr. Sununu, who declined to run for the Senate, is considered virtually untouchable in his drive for a fourth term. He faces negligible opposition in his primary and is heavily favored in November against Tom Sherman, a state senator who is uncontested in the Democratic primary for governor.
In Rhode Island, Gov. Daniel McKee, the state’s former lieutenant governor, is seeking his first full term after replacing former Gov. Gina Raimondo, who left to serve in the Biden administration as commerce secretary. He faces four challengers in the Democratic primary, including Nellie Gorbea, the Rhode Island secretary of state.
Republican hopes of recapturing the governor’s office rest on Ashley Kalus, a first-time candidate who moved to Rhode Island in 2021, and Jonathan Riccitelli, the owner of a hotel and building maintenance company, whose criminal record — much of it under another name — was reported by The Boston Globe. A college freshman, Zachary Hurwitz, also collected enough signatures to run as an independent.
In Delaware, which has neither a Senate nor a governor’s race this year, the biggest contest is for state auditor, after the incumbent Democrat, Kathleen K. McGuiness, was convicted of official misconduct, conflict of interest and structuring a contract to avoid a procurement policy, all misdemeanors. In response, the state Democratic Party threw its support behind a challenger, Lydia York, a lawyer and accountant.
SSI - Poll closing time in NH, RI and DE = 8pm EDT = 1am Wed UK
Checking clips from Sky News from my noisy gin bar in sultry Seville….
London looks absolutely fucking AMAZING in the dark and the rain, with the crowds outside Buck House, and the royal hearse bringing the dead Queen back to her palace, draped in the Royal Standard. Even the advent of smartphones has helped, you see all these myriad shining lights as people hold up their phones to get a picture, creating yet more atmosphere and sparkle
We joke about it, but these profound images project UK soft power around the world. Priceless
I don't get as sentimental about it, and am naturally wary of overextrapolation, but I think it is generally a good thing for the UK that things here get more focus elsewhere than they perhaps should.
It's like how our media obsess over american political and cultural minutiae, which signifies their cultural dominance over us. We punch above our weight in attention, for better and for worse.
We are very good at selling ourselves. Without even realising
The New York Times’ obsessive critiques of Brexit Britain are of course a kind of fanfic. The truest snub would be if they didn’t care and didn’t publish anything. But oh, My god they care. They are now - and this is happening in other countries as well - publishing op-ed articles as to why We should abolish the monarchy. Lol. Fuck off. But it’s nice they are so concerned
Flight tracking statistics regarding the final flight of Queen Elizabeth II
In the minute after the transponder of C-17 ZZ177 activated, an unprecedented 6 million people attempted to follow the flight….
70 years after her first flight as Queen aboard the BOAC Argonaut “Atalanta,” Queen Elizabeth II’s final flight is the most tracked flight in Flightradar24 history.
I have flown BOAC which makes me a member of an elderly and diminishing club
And BEA and PanAm
Viscount; BAC 1-11; 727…
I've flown in a 707 and a BAC1-11.
A Vickers Viscount is the oldest, but back in the 80s I flew Sierra Leone Airways into Robertsville. It was a leased Jordanian 707 still in Jordanian livery. Not my best flight.
I liked the Lockheed TriStar. Three engines seemed like a belt and braces answer to air safety.
If Ukraine are ultimately successful, then its support for Ukraine over the past 8 years will be Britain's greatest foreign policy achievement since the second world war. It will outshadow the blunder in Iraq, and undo much of the vast and unnecessary harm caused by Brexit. It will also do a vast amount to restore Britains self confidence in the face of the endless attacks from within.
Very good point, actually.
We will have helped inflict a major strategic defeat on our principal adversary for very little cost.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Good. Best thing that can possibly happen, and will be good for most Russians too.
The problem with Russia is that its a Muscovite Empire that keeps the worst traditions of Empire going. The Provinces are absolutely impoverished and bled dry third world style to keep a standard of living going in Moscow. So long as things are smooth in Moscow, the rest of the country can go to hell in a handcart.
A breakup of the Russian Federation and provinces going independent and being able to sink or swim on their own rather than being drained for Moscow would be a very good thing.
I honestly don't think you have thought this through. The collapse of Russia will be terrifying for all of us.
Unfortunately there is a deep human instinct to try and find simple answers to very complex and intractable problems.
Indeed, which is why too many people are looking for "stability" in Russia as a simplistic answer.
Fucking love me a bit of Seville. Especially at night
Must be the most unWoke city in the west
First we’re gonna turn your beautiful Islamic minaret into a CHURCH TOWER. Then we’re gonna build an ARCHIVE OF PLUNDER next door
Later on we shall be killing bulls. In a dedicated arena. For fun. Try the octopus and chili skewers. De nada
I find it interesting that you haven't mentioned or commented on the death of HMQ once.
Why?
What on earth are you talking about?!
I’ve mentioned it a lot. Expressed my serious sadness. I predicted several times how it would impact people more than they expected. I’ve noted international reaction
I also noted how the news was first confirmed to me as I walked some mad cliffs in alentejo. After my walk I checked into a sweet little hotel in Vila Nova de Milfontes. The owner, a kindly old portugee lady, came up to me and said, in sad, pale-faced shock “your queen is dead!”
I haven't seen it. Just your meals.
I’ve been reading your reaction with interest. Quite intense
Mine comes and goes, I think I would be feeling it more if I was at home. That’s partly why I am away, I suspect. Tho I also LOVE Seville. It must be one of the most seductive cities in the world in the dark
Chin chin. The queen would approve of the frankly enormous gin and tonics here. Her mum even more so
If Ukraine are ultimately successful, then its support for Ukraine over the past 8 years will be Britain's greatest foreign policy achievement since the second world war. It will outshadow the blunder in Iraq, and undo much of the vast and unnecessary harm caused by Brexit. It will also do a vast amount to restore Britains self confidence in the face of the endless attacks from within.
Any hint as to who are those enemies within?
It is a general problem. Negativity and self hate. The continued war on British history and attempts to destroy all 'heroes' is particularly annoying. Churchill being 'called out' as a villain. It is basically the far left and the useful idiots and fellow travellers that go along with it, in the universities and the 'progressive' middle class; who somehow manage to convince themselves that Britain is a terrible, evil place by just obsessively focussing on negative things about the country and its history, completely losing all sense of perspective. It is the same people who were opposed to NATO, defence spending, nuclear bombs. And, if the war in Ukraine gets bought to a positive conclusion, they will have been proven wrong for once.
In the league table of hatred from the global left we are generally 3rd:
1 USA 2 Israel 3 UK and the alleged evil legacy of the British Empire.
Even Putin and Xi get excused as they are an enemy of the US led west, as the IRA were championed and Scottish nationalism is now championed as an enemy of 3 and as Islamic extremism is excused as an enemy of 2
If Ukraine are ultimately successful, then its support for Ukraine over the past 8 years will be Britain's greatest foreign policy achievement since the second world war. It will outshadow the blunder in Iraq, and undo much of the vast and unnecessary harm caused by Brexit. It will also do a vast amount to restore Britains self confidence in the face of the endless attacks from within.
Any hint as to who are those enemies within?
It is a general problem. Negativity and self hate. The continued war on British history and attempts to destroy all 'heroes' is particularly annoying. Churchill being 'called out' as a villain. It is basically the far left and the useful idiots and fellow travellers that go along with it, in the universities and the 'progressive' middle class; who somehow manage to convince themselves that Britain is a terrible, evil place by just obsessively focussing on negative things about the country and its history, completely losing all sense of perspective. It is the same people who were opposed to NATO, defence spending, nuclear bombs. And, if the war in Ukraine gets bought to a positive conclusion, they will have been proven wrong for once.
Are you saying they were proved right the rest of the time?
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Zelensky's forces have certainly pushed the Russians back but I expect fighting in the Donbass and Crimea to continue for years
I don't. If those caught in the blindingly obvious trap of Kherson surrender and give up their equipment Russia is going to lose this war in the next month. But what happens then? We really need to think through the end game here, this is the closest the world has been to nuclear war since Cuba.
Unless Putin invades a NATO state stay out beyond the supplies we have already been providing to Ukraine
Checking clips from Sky News from my noisy gin bar in sultry Seville….
London looks absolutely fucking AMAZING in the dark and the rain, with the crowds outside Buck House, and the royal hearse bringing the dead Queen back to her palace, draped in the Royal Standard. Even the advent of smartphones has helped, you see all these myriad shining lights as people hold up their phones to get a picture, creating yet more atmosphere and sparkle
We joke about it, but these profound images project UK soft power around the world. Priceless
I don't get as sentimental about it, and am naturally wary of overextrapolation, but I think it is generally a good thing for the UK that things here get more focus elsewhere than they perhaps should.
It's like how our media obsess over american political and cultural minutiae, which signifies their cultural dominance over us. We punch above our weight in attention, for better and for worse.
We are very good at selling ourselves. Without even realising
The New York Times’ obsessive critiques of Brexit Britain are of course a kind of fanfic. The truest snub would be if they didn’t care and didn’t publish anything. But oh, My god they care. They are now - and this is happening in other countries as well - publishing op-ed articles as to why We should abolish the monarchy. Lol. Fuck off. But it’s nice they are so concerned
They just want us to love them and pat them on the head but they're SUCH a disappointment.
I see that ALL the brave Royals will be wearing their full military dress uniforms except the very, very bad one... Harry
Includingthe Duke of Rape.
This more than anything persuades me that Our Dear King is a psychotic pig, humiliating his own son on grounds of wounded self importance. And presumably permitting Prince Child molester to wear the kit just to point up the fact.
Republic NOW.
I'm really not interested in all the Hello Magazine/Daily Heil gossip about them but the shoddy way he's treating his own son, even while turning a blind eye to his abusive brothers shenanigans, rather gives credence to the idea that what Harry and Meghan had to say was true all along.
'Shoddy way he is treating his own son'? It is Harry who abandoned his royal duties to cash in in California, Harry who has been trashing a family who gave him everything, Harry who has been behaving like a self pitying brat, Harry who brought personal pain to his grandmother by the self centred actions of he and his wife in her final years and Harry who has still been begging Charles for continued financial support.
It was also of course Charles and William who told the Queen to strip Andrew of his royal duties and titles
... of him and his wife
You don't have children of your own. OTOH the love of a father for a son is kind of central to the batshit religious cult to which you subscribe. Even when the Son disappoints the Father by being lacking in the sexual disposition required to carry on the dynasty.
You do realise that the NT is quite strongly AGAINST condemning others on self-important pharisaical grounds?
It is Harry behaving like the brat and condemning Charles in public, it was Harry who abandoned the royal family for California.
Charles neither asked Harry to go into foreign exile nor has said anything negative about Harry in public
Phil Stewart @phildstewart · 2h (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
==
Anyone else pissed off that one of our absolute key Commonwealth countries is dealing with Vlad?
Yes. I understand India always face several ways at once and try and have their cake and eat it. Same way he gives sympathises over HMQ and then tries to whip up a bit of anger for his own benefit over other British monarchs.
Modi is a nationalist and so we shouldn't be surprised he acts like one.
I don't like Congress or the BJP so I don't know who I'd vote for if I were Indian.
India has been largely aligned if not formally allied with Soviet Union > Russia for a LONG time now. Mainly on account of conflict and war (hot and cold) with Pakistan AND China.
Independent actors, but believing Delhi - Moscow connection is vital for their security.
"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." - Lord Palmerston
SSI - Not sure I agree entirely with his late lordship, but can see what Pam was driving at. So could Nehru and his successor up to Modi (with individual & political nuances) regardless of domestic differences.
China is a greater threat to India, and Russia can't really do much for them.
You'd think they'd recognise that.
But they do. That is why they side with Russia. There have been border clashes between China and India for many years now.
But, the West is now their best bet.
It is, but Modi's main schtick is anti-colonialism so he can't see it. Looking through a glass darkly.
Sense zero interest in Bake Off on here. Was going to liveblog it - like Ian memorably does with Crufts - but I don't think I'll bother.
Most pointless show on television. This week anyway.
Well it's not meant to have a point. Apart from bringing the nation together in a way that nothing else can. Surprised PB is immune.
Its marginally less ridiculous than Gogglebox is the most complimentary i can be
Ah now Gogglebox I can't stand. That's the pits. It's everything that's wrong with the modern world. Gogglebox = shallow populism. Bake Off = quiet evidence-led rationality.
"How is the Cass review relevant to a court case on the validity of the charitable status of the LGB alliance?"
On the assumption that this was a genuine question, I will attempt to answer.
The court case has to determine two matters:-
1. Does the charity Mermaids have the legal standing to bring a claim at all? This is the most important question because if it does not - and the bar is very high indeed - none of the rest of its claims matter.
2. Can it establish that LGB Alliance are in breach of their charitable objects and charity law?
Both issues are being reviewed at the same time.
As part of this LGB Alliance are stating that they are concerned about young lesbians and whether they are being wrongly categorised as trans and made subject to treatment. Mermaids are disputing this. The Cass Interim Report is relevant to this issue because it deals with the question of how children with gender issues are being treated, whether some of those concerns may in fact relate to their sexuality rather than any gender issues and the effect of Mermaids' advocacy on how clinics like the Tavistock have operated. And by implication on young lesbians.
Hence the questioning about this topic. If the judge thought this irrelevant, he would have stopped the questioning. What is interesting is that in their answers Mermaids say that they have not really reviewed the Cass Report because they are not experts on health. This is a bit odd because it appears to conflict with other public statements they have made about the health treatment to be given to children. It is, however, early stages in the case.
The case is interesting for a large number of reasons, not all of them related to the trans issue.
This is just the start. Putin has just screwed this up so badly. Russia is going to lose against Ukraine. Let me say that again. Russia is going to lose to Ukraine. And Russia will start to fall apart. Provinces will break off. Violence and rebellions everywhere. With a frisson of Nukes. Shit.
Zelensky's forces have certainly pushed the Russians back but I expect fighting in the Donbass and Crimea to continue for years
Amid a truly massive list of truly wrong previous comments you have made, I actually think that this is the wrongest you have ever been.
I queued up to see the Queen Mum lying in state when she karked it. I confess I did it mainly to annoy my lefty friends - and see a bit of history
Queue took 2 hours in the middle of the night. When you get in Westminster Hall the atmos is spellbinding. The huge crown on her coffin glittered in the semi darkness. The guardsmen with their heads bowed. The last empress of India
Magnificent
I would definitely do it for the Q but I suspect the lines will be 15 hours long
Trying to talk your way out of it but I'm not convinced and I doubt Casino is either.
Not convinced of what?!
Your constant projection of your fucking boring tiny Woke fucking mindset is fucking tedious
I queued for the Queen Mum and when she died I didn’t nearly cry. I very nearly DID cry for Her Majesty the Q - she meant a lot to me - and I would totally queue for her, but yes there’s a limit. 15 hours? Two days? Probably not
I will be there in the crowds for the funeral cortège
Well let's see how you feel if you really do join the throng next Monday. Perhaps you will manage to cry but you shouldn't force the tears if they're not there.
Christ, I pity your wife. AND she knows that you’re gay. Jeez
Mask is slipping - again. Don't know why you bother putting it on. It always comes off before the thread is over.
Phil Stewart @phildstewart · 2h (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
==
Anyone else pissed off that one of our absolute key Commonwealth countries is dealing with Vlad?
Yes. I understand India always face several ways at once and try and have their cake and eat it. Same way he gives sympathises over HMQ and then tries to whip up a bit of anger for his own benefit over other British monarchs.
Modi is a nationalist and so we shouldn't be surprised he acts like one.
I don't like Congress or the BJP so I don't know who I'd vote for if I were Indian.
India has been largely aligned if not formally allied with Soviet Union > Russia for a LONG time now. Mainly on account of conflict and war (hot and cold) with Pakistan AND China.
Independent actors, but believing Delhi - Moscow connection is vital for their security.
"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." - Lord Palmerston
SSI - Not sure I agree entirely with his late lordship, but can see what Pam was driving at. So could Nehru and his successor up to Modi (with individual & political nuances) regardless of domestic differences.
China is a greater threat to India, and Russia can't really do much for them.
You'd think they'd recognise that.
But they do. That is why they side with Russia. There have been border clashes between China and India for many years now.
But, the West is now their best bet.
It is, but Modi's main schtick is anti-colonialism so he can't see it. Looking through a glass darkly.
I see that ALL the brave Royals will be wearing their full military dress uniforms except the very, very bad one... Harry
Includingthe Duke of Rape.
This more than anything persuades me that Our Dear King is a psychotic pig, humiliating his own son on grounds of wounded self importance. And presumably permitting Prince Child molester to wear the kit just to point up the fact.
Republic NOW.
I'm really not interested in all the Hello Magazine/Daily Heil gossip about them but the shoddy way he's treating his own son, even while turning a blind eye to his abusive brothers shenanigans, rather gives credence to the idea that what Harry and Meghan had to say was true all along.
What you find with Meg is there's always a grain of truth in everything so says but it's "her" truth so she takes a certain scenario or event and puts her own "truth" on it.
The marriage with the Archbishop in the garden which was actually just a private blessing is a prime example.
She’s Hollywood - making stories better is her job.
What was the line - Molly explaining to Case about the stories the Rastas on Zion Station told.... “To you it’s bullshit. With them it’s more like poetry…”
Also look at the stories told by Niven and Christopher Lee (for two famous examples) - both were proven to have improved their stories.
Comments
London looks absolutely fucking AMAZING in the dark and the rain, with the crowds outside Buck House, and the royal hearse bringing the dead Queen back to her palace, draped in the Royal Standard. Even the advent of smartphones has helped, you see all these myriad shining lights as people hold up their phones to get a picture, creating yet more atmosphere and sparkle
We joke about it, but these profound images project UK soft power around the world. Priceless
Hope all goes well watching the funeral cortege, we will likely watch the funeral on TV but go up to London again for the coronation next year
The confused region/district arrangements make me think we have more in common with Russia than I thought.
You can still live that lifestyle if you want to, there's no law against it. But if firms decide they don't want his business because of his own choices, no discrimination, and will take custom from those who do want to pay in a safer and more secure manner, then that's their free choice too.
On Bake Off of course.
You don't have children of your own. OTOH the love of a father for a son is kind of central to the batshit religious cult to which you subscribe. Even when the Son disappoints the Father by being lacking in the sexual disposition required to carry on the dynasty.
You do realise that the NT is quite strongly AGAINST condemning others on self-important pharisaical grounds?
It's like how our media obsess over american political and cultural minutiae, which signifies their cultural dominance over us. We punch above our weight in attention, for better and for worse.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is on Film4!
I honestly don't think you have thought this through. The collapse of Russia will be terrifying for all of us.
American/NATO country hardware is what you need to be buying. Even their cast-offs are way better than what Russia is selling. If indeed Russia can deliver. They will be rebuilding their own armies - delivery dates are going to be years, not months. And even that depends on sourcing western chips.
Between Russia continuing under Putin invading its neighbours, or Russia collapsing into various provinces, I'd take a collapse all day any day.
Outside money has poured into New Hampshire heading into Tuesday’s primary as Republicans eye three opportunities to pick up Democratic-held seats, above all that of Senator Maggie Hassan, one of her party’s most vulnerable incumbents.
But the leading G.O.P. candidate for Senate, Don Bolduc, is an election denier with a history of outlandish statements. His closest rival, Chuck Morse, the State Senate president, is playing on fears that nominating Mr. Bolduc could mean squandering a major opening.
Ms. Hassan, a Democrat, narrowly won the seat in 2016. In a 50-50 U.S. Senate, every competitive race has the potential to tip the balance of power.
New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware are all holding primaries on Tuesday. It’s not a big night, but it’s the last round of voting before the November midterm elections.
A competitive [NH] Senate primary
President Biden carried New Hampshire by seven percentage points in 2020, and successful statewide Republican politicians have tended to hew to the center, appealing to independents and conservative Democrats. But Mr. Bolduc, a retired Army general, has not only embraced Mr. Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 presidential election, he has also called Gov. Chris Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer” and questioned whether the United States still needs the F.B.I. (Mr. Sununu has called Mr. Bolduc a conspiracy theorist.) . . .
A scramble for House seats
Republicans in New Hampshire are wrangling over the chance to square off against U.S. Representatives Chris Pappas and Ann McLane Kuster, two Democrats whom Republicans see as vulnerable.
Matt Mowers, who worked in the State Department during the Trump administration, and Karoline Leavitt, who worked in the White House communications office, are the leading candidates in a 10-person field in Mr. Pappas’s First District, which zigzags across much of eastern and southern New Hampshire.
Mr. Mowers, who lost to Mr. Pappas in 2020, earned the endorsements of the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, and the minority whip, Steve Scalise. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranking House Republican, is supporting Ms. Leavitt, who once worked for her.
Ms. Leavitt and other Republican contenders have portrayed Mr. Mowers as an establishment tool and criticized him for voting in 2016 in both the New Jersey and New Hampshire primaries. (He voted in New Jersey before moving to New Hampshire to work on Chris Christie’s presidential campaign.) Mr. Mowers has defended himself by channeling Mr. Trump, saying he was being attacked because he had planned to “shake up the status quo.”
In New Hampshire’s Second District, encompassing the rest of the state, seven Republicans are competing to face Ms. Kuster, a longtime adoption lawyer who is seeking her sixth term. . . .
But of course, they've threatened their use simply for the words of others, so they are perhaps finding out that the West felt it had little option but to push back even a bit - they've been to eager to fall back on that threat.
The only difference is that this week there's so much attention on him that people are starting to actually see it rather than it just being rumour in newspapers...
*Not the kind at the High Kirk of St Giles.
In the New Hampshire governor’s race, Mr. Sununu, who declined to run for the Senate, is considered virtually untouchable in his drive for a fourth term. He faces negligible opposition in his primary and is heavily favored in November against Tom Sherman, a state senator who is uncontested in the Democratic primary for governor.
In Rhode Island, Gov. Daniel McKee, the state’s former lieutenant governor, is seeking his first full term after replacing former Gov. Gina Raimondo, who left to serve in the Biden administration as commerce secretary. He faces four challengers in the Democratic primary, including Nellie Gorbea, the Rhode Island secretary of state.
Republican hopes of recapturing the governor’s office rest on Ashley Kalus, a first-time candidate who moved to Rhode Island in 2021, and Jonathan Riccitelli, the owner of a hotel and building maintenance company, whose criminal record — much of it under another name — was reported by The Boston Globe. A college freshman, Zachary Hurwitz, also collected enough signatures to run as an independent.
In Delaware, which has neither a Senate nor a governor’s race this year, the biggest contest is for state auditor, after the incumbent Democrat, Kathleen K. McGuiness, was convicted of official misconduct, conflict of interest and structuring a contract to avoid a procurement policy, all misdemeanors. In response, the state Democratic Party threw its support behind a challenger, Lydia York, a lawyer and accountant.
SSI - Poll closing time in NH, RI and DE = 8pm EDT = 1am Wed UK
The New York Times’ obsessive critiques of Brexit Britain are of course a kind of fanfic. The truest snub would be if they didn’t care and didn’t publish anything. But oh, My god they care. They are now - and this is happening in other countries as well - publishing op-ed articles as to why We should abolish the monarchy. Lol. Fuck off. But it’s nice they are so concerned
I liked the Lockheed TriStar. Three engines seemed like a belt and braces answer to air safety.
This thread has become Prince Charles's fountain pen
1 USA
2 Israel
3 UK and the alleged evil legacy of the British Empire.
Even Putin and Xi get excused as they are an enemy of the US led west, as the IRA were championed and Scottish nationalism is now championed as an enemy of 3 and as Islamic extremism is excused as an enemy of 2
Charles neither asked Harry to go into foreign exile nor has said anything negative about Harry in public
"How is the Cass review relevant to a court case on the validity of the charitable status of the LGB alliance?"
On the assumption that this was a genuine question, I will attempt to answer.
The court case has to determine two matters:-
1. Does the charity Mermaids have the legal standing to bring a claim at all? This is the most important question because if it does not - and the bar is very high indeed - none of the rest of its claims matter.
2. Can it establish that LGB Alliance are in breach of their charitable objects and charity law?
Both issues are being reviewed at the same time.
As part of this LGB Alliance are stating that they are concerned about young lesbians and whether they are being wrongly categorised as trans and made subject to treatment. Mermaids are disputing this. The Cass Interim Report is relevant to this issue because it deals with the question of how children with gender issues are being treated, whether some of those concerns may in fact relate to their sexuality rather than any gender issues and the effect of Mermaids' advocacy on how clinics like the Tavistock have operated. And by implication on young lesbians.
Hence the questioning about this topic. If the judge thought this irrelevant, he would have stopped the questioning. What is interesting is that in their answers Mermaids say that they have not really reviewed the Cass Report because they are not experts on health. This is a bit odd because it appears to conflict with other public statements they have made about the health treatment to be given to children. It is, however, early stages in the case.
The case is interesting for a large number of reasons, not all of them related to the trans issue.
Hope that helps.
What was the line - Molly explaining to Case about the stories the Rastas on Zion Station told.... “To you it’s bullshit. With them it’s more like poetry…”
Also look at the stories told by Niven and Christopher Lee (for two famous examples) - both were proven to have improved their stories.