My train to Leeds for tonight's Enough is Enough rally has been stopped just outside London for the last 3 hours. I'm sorry not to be there, Leeds! 😭
Just another reminder that we need to bring rail into public ownership and make it fit for the future! 🚄
LNER Replying to @zarahsultana and @eiecampaign I am sorry for the delay, Zarah. This was due to damage to the overhead electric wires meaning services could not move around Stevenage, but services are now on the move. On your other point, LNER is owned by the DfT after the franchise was handed back in 2018. ^Cameron
Personally, I salute Labour for not discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or intelligence.
It amazes me how often politicians make statements or tweet without doing basic fact checking first. Or when corrected either don’t acknowledge it, or worse still double down on the lie.
Bless you, you sweet innocent child, international travel is much different today to 1937.
Five days to cross the Atlantic in 1937 was hardly an eternity.
But I suspect the larger point is being missed. These visits are taken on the advice of the government.
Nowadays it takes seven. Although they could still do it in five.
Yes - they’d rather not use the gas turbines to save money.
After 9/11 I was crossing on the QE2 and on checking the TV showing the journey/speed etc found we were barrelling along at over 30knots - but you wouldn’t know it from the motion of the ship - she was doing what she was designed to do. They’d decided to arrive in Boston a day early (the West Side Piers were being used for debris removal) so Ron Warwick had decided to put his foot down and damn the accountants! We then spent a day anchored in Boston harbour under the flight path to Logan…
Tories won on getting Brexit done, strengthening the NHS and “levelling up”. In so doing, they created a coalition of traditional supporters with former Labour voters. Today, Brexit is not done, NHS is in crisis and levelling up is on the way to oblivion. https://on.ft.com/3ShEPYW
My train to Leeds for tonight's Enough is Enough rally has been stopped just outside London for the last 3 hours. I'm sorry not to be there, Leeds! 😭
Just another reminder that we need to bring rail into public ownership and make it fit for the future! 🚄
LNER Replying to @zarahsultana and @eiecampaign I am sorry for the delay, Zarah. This was due to damage to the overhead electric wires meaning services could not move around Stevenage, but services are now on the move. On your other point, LNER is owned by the DfT after the franchise was handed back in 2018. ^Cameron
gabyhinsliff @gabyhinsliff · 1h Whatever this postponed-at-the-last-minute Putin speech was about, have an ominous feeling that the window Truss govt had to focus on growth/get their First 100 Days plan back on track might be pretty short
The optimist in me wonders: are we on the cusp of another 1989? [...] So we could see, unexpectedly, one of those big leaps forward?
Regarding "unexpectedly", the 1988 Reith Lectures are interesting, because they're a survey of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev and glasnost that doesn't foresee the imminent collapse...
It is the first time we have seen Iranian protesters fighting back in this way. It's another "first of its kind" in the recent protests in Iran. And it's not just this video, there are dozens of them something has fundamentally changed in the protests in Iran. https://mobile.twitter.com/ErshadAlijani/status/1572320104200966144
The optimist in me wonders: are we on the cusp of another 1989?
Autocracies are having a hard time of it at the moment. That feeling a few years ago where we all wondered if democracy was necessarily going to triumph everywhere after all seems to have faded a little.
Russia seems to be heading for a reckoning. Belarus must surely be on the cusp of democratic change. Ukraine is permanently now in the Western sphere of influence. The Middle East becomes progressively less geopolitically important as the world heads towards net zero. Regimes like Iran offer nothing to their growing young populations and must surely be as fragile as ever. China’s regime is clearly safe but the country doesn’t seem quite so economically invincible anymore.
Meanwhile the number of dictatorships in Africa declines year after year and the coup count diminishes. Trump may be heading behind bars, Bolsonaro - not a dictator, but Trumpian in his strongman instincts - is on the slide and Erdogan looks close to being politically finished.
Finally militant Sunni Jihadism seems finally to be on the wane after IS’s caliphate collapsed and Al Qaeda remains a shadow of its former self.
So we could see, unexpectedly, one of those big leaps forward?
I've thought this for a while. There was far too much pessimism over the failure to create liberal democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan which were never the most promising opportunities. Going back to the Orange revolution in 2004 it struck me that Ukraine was the most interesting place to watch.
However traditional democracies like the US, Italy, France and yes, the UK have been showing some pretty alarming tendencies. I'm open minded on what a Meloni government might look like but not without concerns.
Can someone tell me if it worth watching the new TV Lord of the Rings, or indeed House of Dragon Thrones (or whatever it is)
Or are they both boring Woke nonsense, as even the Guardian has hinted?
Ta muchly
Unlike some others who have already posted I really like the Rings of Power. It stays true to the tone and ideals of Tolkien and his characters whilst imaginatively filling in gaps in Tolkien's notes and narrative. It is a slow burn to start with but that is to my taste. It also looks fabulous.
It won't be to everyone's taste and it has annoyed the purists but it strikes me that they would rather see their books never transferred to film or TV if it means any changes at all.
I think that your last sentence is fair, but that's simply because any change is most unlikely to be an improvement. Tolkien wasn't perfect, but he had an astonishing imagination and a remarkable ability to set things in a wider context. The end result therefore is rich and fascinating partly because it is very, very complex and any changes to make it comprehensible on screen will almost inevitably diminish it.
That's not forgetting, to quote Christopher Tolkien, that the whole character of Galadriel changed radically several times while Tolkien was writing.
The catch is none of those characterisations match anything I saw in the episodes I ground through before deciding it wasn't worth watching. And all of them were better.
I recently attended the Discworld convention (Terry Pritchett for the uninitiated). There was an excellent talk about why fans of his books were so angry about the godawful TV series ‘The Watch’, which was originally to be heavily based on the books and became something else entirely. Part of the issues with creating TV or film of beloved texts is that the fans hav3 already created those worlds in their heads. They know what characters look and sound like. They know what the Castle of the Seven Skulls looks like. They have favourite scenes. They get the humour (for TP essential). So almost inevitably the TV show/film fails to live up to what the fans want.
Usually it does far far better for the non fan, because there are no expectations to be met. I believe this happened to some extent with The Watch. Non Pratchet fans thought it ok, whereas the anger in the room at the convention could have powered most of Birmingham through the winter…
I share the hatred of The Watch. At least the Rings of Power retains the underlying feel and sensibilities of the books. The Watch simply used the characters names and Pratchett's popularity to create a series completely unrelated to the books.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
BREAKING NEWS: Emmanuel Macron starts his speech at UNGA with the most pressing issue, no grand intellectual contemplating or literary sentences. He goes straight to the point, denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine in blunt terms, and the fence-sitters.
Can someone tell me if it worth watching the new TV Lord of the Rings, or indeed House of Dragon Thrones (or whatever it is)
Or are they both boring Woke nonsense, as even the Guardian has hinted?
Ta muchly
Unlike some others who have already posted I really like the Rings of Power. It stays true to the tone and ideals of Tolkien and his characters whilst imaginatively filling in gaps in Tolkien's notes and narrative. It is a slow burn to start with but that is to my taste. It also looks fabulous.
It won't be to everyone's taste and it has annoyed the purists but it strikes me that they would rather see their books never transferred to film or TV if it means any changes at all.
I think that your last sentence is fair, but that's simply because any change is most unlikely to be an improvement. Tolkien wasn't perfect, but he had an astonishing imagination and a remarkable ability to set things in a wider context. The end result therefore is rich and fascinating partly because it is very, very complex and any changes to make it comprehensible on screen will almost inevitably diminish it.
That's not forgetting, to quote Christopher Tolkien, that the whole character of Galadriel changed radically several times while Tolkien was writing.
The catch is none of those characterisations match anything I saw in the episodes I ground through before deciding it wasn't worth watching. And all of them were better.
When they announced the Peter Jackson trilogy I was like this is going to be so rubbish, the books are unfilmable, they'll never manage to achieve the epicness of say the charge of the Rohirrim at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields but they managed it and then some.
Two Towers was rubbish. Return of the King was a bit meh for the most part.
Fellowship of the Ring was mostly very good.
I have never watched any of the films, what with having a frankly snobbish contempt for any film-of-the-book garbage. I read a couple of days ago, that the films just don't do the Scouring of the Shire because it would be, like, too much of a downer, man. Like the gospels without the crucifixion or King Lear only he ends his days as a happy centenarian in a retirement home.
This is my big bugbear with the films. Overall, I really like them and I understand almost all the changes made for the sake of making them coherent and entertaining as films. Things that work on the page simply do not work on film.
But the removal of the Scouring was something I really didn't agree with and it did somewhat spoil the films for me.
That said I would still defy anyone to do a better job overall than Jackson did with the films.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Let's hope so. The idea that the thing holding the UK economy back is a lack of house price rises is utterly bonkers, isn't it?
Tories won on getting Brexit done, strengthening the NHS and “levelling up”. In so doing, they created a coalition of traditional supporters with former Labour voters. Today, Brexit is not done, NHS is in crisis and levelling up is on the way to oblivion. https://on.ft.com/3ShEPYW
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
BREAKING NEWS: Emmanuel Macron starts his speech at UNGA with the most pressing issue, no grand intellectual contemplating or literary sentences. He goes straight to the point, denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine in blunt terms, and the fence-sitters.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Let's hope so. The idea that the thing holding the UK economy back is a lack of house price rises is utterly bonkers, isn't it?
The thing I find frightening is that Liz and co seem to be trying old ideas that didn't really work the last time round because this time they really will work.
All I'm seeing in the tax take being destroyed for zero real benefit at a time that Government expenditure is going through the roof.
Can someone tell me if it worth watching the new TV Lord of the Rings, or indeed House of Dragon Thrones (or whatever it is)
Or are they both boring Woke nonsense, as even the Guardian has hinted?
Ta muchly
Unlike some others who have already posted I really like the Rings of Power. It stays true to the tone and ideals of Tolkien and his characters whilst imaginatively filling in gaps in Tolkien's notes and narrative. It is a slow burn to start with but that is to my taste. It also looks fabulous.
It won't be to everyone's taste and it has annoyed the purists but it strikes me that they would rather see their books never transferred to film or TV if it means any changes at all.
I think that your last sentence is fair, but that's simply because any change is most unlikely to be an improvement. Tolkien wasn't perfect, but he had an astonishing imagination and a remarkable ability to set things in a wider context. The end result therefore is rich and fascinating partly because it is very, very complex and any changes to make it comprehensible on screen will almost inevitably diminish it.
That's not forgetting, to quote Christopher Tolkien, that the whole character of Galadriel changed radically several times while Tolkien was writing.
The catch is none of those characterisations match anything I saw in the episodes I ground through before deciding it wasn't worth watching. And all of them were better.
When they announced the Peter Jackson trilogy I was like this is going to be so rubbish, the books are unfilmable, they'll never manage to achieve the epicness of say the charge of the Rohirrim at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields but they managed it and then some.
Two Towers was rubbish. Return of the King was a bit meh for the most part.
Fellowship of the Ring was mostly very good.
Fellowship of the Ring didn't feel like a 3 hour movie, it whizzed past
Two Towers 100% did feel like a 3 hour movie.
Return of the King had an incredible, jaw droppingly bold ending, a perfect meditation on heroism and a meta commentary on the difficulty of adapting a well known and loved literary work. And Jackson just couldn't fucking leave it alone and ruins it and it does kind of spoil my feelings towards the film.
One thing that chopping the ending missed was that Galadriel, one of the most powerful beings ever to have existed in Middle Earth, spent some time with the *gardener* of a minor personage who had accidentally come across The Weapon Of Mass Destruction.
She talked to the gardener as if he were an equal being. Gave him gifts and good advice. One gift was the exactly perfect thing for a gardener going home from the wars to a ruined land.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Stop dicking about with stamp duty and build more bloody houses.
Essentially in film in the classical Hollywood tradition we identify more with the protagonist than in a book; we get all kinds of visual cues to encourage this. So you don't need the epic intellectual winddown at the end of book six of Lord of the Rings because Elijah Wood has been working to generate the same culmination using emotions for hours.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
My train to Leeds for tonight's Enough is Enough rally has been stopped just outside London for the last 3 hours. I'm sorry not to be there, Leeds! 😭
Just another reminder that we need to bring rail into public ownership and make it fit for the future! 🚄
LNER Replying to @zarahsultana and @eiecampaign I am sorry for the delay, Zarah. This was due to damage to the overhead electric wires meaning services could not move around Stevenage, but services are now on the move. On your other point, LNER is owned by the DfT after the franchise was handed back in 2018. ^Cameron
Can someone tell me if it worth watching the new TV Lord of the Rings, or indeed House of Dragon Thrones (or whatever it is)
Or are they both boring Woke nonsense, as even the Guardian has hinted?
Ta muchly
Unlike some others who have already posted I really like the Rings of Power. It stays true to the tone and ideals of Tolkien and his characters whilst imaginatively filling in gaps in Tolkien's notes and narrative. It is a slow burn to start with but that is to my taste. It also looks fabulous.
It won't be to everyone's taste and it has annoyed the purists but it strikes me that they would rather see their books never transferred to film or TV if it means any changes at all.
I think that your last sentence is fair, but that's simply because any change is most unlikely to be an improvement. Tolkien wasn't perfect, but he had an astonishing imagination and a remarkable ability to set things in a wider context. The end result therefore is rich and fascinating partly because it is very, very complex and any changes to make it comprehensible on screen will almost inevitably diminish it.
That's not forgetting, to quote Christopher Tolkien, that the whole character of Galadriel changed radically several times while Tolkien was writing.
The catch is none of those characterisations match anything I saw in the episodes I ground through before deciding it wasn't worth watching. And all of them were better.
I recently attended the Discworld convention (Terry Pritchett for the uninitiated). There was an excellent talk about why fans of his books were so angry about the godawful TV series ‘The Watch’, which was originally to be heavily based on the books and became something else entirely. Part of the issues with creating TV or film of beloved texts is that the fans hav3 already created those worlds in their heads. They know what characters look and sound like. They know what the Castle of the Seven Skulls looks like. They have favourite scenes. They get the humour (for TP essential). So almost inevitably the TV show/film fails to live up to what the fans want.
Usually it does far far better for the non fan, because there are no expectations to be met. I believe this happened to some extent with The Watch. Non Pratchet fans thought it ok, whereas the anger in the room at the convention could have powered most of Birmingham through the winter…
It works the other round too. If you see a televised/screen version of a book before you read the book, you will often find the book disappointing, because you've got the idea of the characters visually imprinted on your mind, and the author doesn't describe them quite like that. For example, I was enchanted by the original 26-part Forsyte Saga series (Susan Hampshire, Eric Porter, Kenneth More) so I rushed to read the books, and they seemed a bit meh by comparison.
Yes, and it applies often to remakes and sequels too.
Believe it or not, there are people who refer the Star Wars Prequels to the cheaper looking originals (the first of which at least is pretty poorly acted to boot*) as that is what they saw first.
*Calm down, I'm not saying I dislike them, I don't, but let's just say Hayden Christensen was not the first wooden performance in the series.
The prequels aren't great (though they do get the lightsaber fights spot on) but I have sort of revised my opinion of them upwards after the crap new trilogy from Force Awakens onwards.
Quite enjoyed and still like Force awakens, but after that meh. It helps that TFA is just Star Wars again, but it’s got a certain verve to it, plus enough new backstory has happened to keep you interested. Who is Snoke? How did Kylo Ren become Kylo Ren? Plus a cool battle in the forest and a new cocky pilot.
My problem with TFA was just the massive sigh I let out in the cinema when I realised it was just literally the original film again done slightly differently. It looked the part, but I had to mentally rescore the prequels for at least attempting original stories.
But at least TFA is semi-watchable, whereas after that was just a mess.
Rise of Skywalker wasn't a mess and it joined the dots well I thought.
Can I have some of what you're smoking please?
Bringing back Palpatine undid the story arc of both the original trilogy and the prequels.
The sequels started well - Kylo Ren seemed interesting. Right until he took the helmet off.
Snokje was an interesting idea - an Evul Overlord who went "Hmmmm, this Death Star actually did some big shit before it got blown up. I'll take the win, and get my main guys out of there. Rather than ranting about failure until everybody dies."
Then the directors and writers seemed to be competing to see who could make the biggest pile of who-cares.....
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
A story where a well-known celeb is brought down by a queue reported in a tabloid is so far past peak Britain it's just not funny.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Let's hope so. The idea that the thing holding the UK economy back is a lack of house price rises is utterly bonkers, isn't it?
There's a good chance a lot of MPs think that is exactly the problem.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
The deficit spending will surely push up interests so not have the desired effect.
It is going to be a Barber Boom, only with precious little boom.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Stop dicking about with stamp duty and build more bloody houses.
Jeez. How difficult is this?
To be fair, as I always am, there is a very respectable argument for cutting stamp duty, since it is a tax on moving house and therefore on labour mobility, and therefore, indirectly, on growth.
Pretty small beer, though, and as politicians, Truss and Kwarteng should have weighed it against other uses of the limited political capital they have.
Gives TSE plenty of time to get bunting and cucumber sandwiches and cake ready, as I know he is counting down the days until he can celebrate King Charles' coronation day!
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
There would need to be taper relief, particularly in inflationary times.
Or just exempt primary residences owned for more than 5 years.
Charles to be crowned next spring is an "exclusive"????
It kind of is. We don't know an exact date, and they could want a decent gap from the awful economic hit in winter.
I saw speculation the coronation would be 2 June, to match up with the Queen's coronation date, which personally I'd include in Summer, though it may technically count as Spring, or near enough.
BREAKING NEWS: Emmanuel Macron starts his speech at UNGA with the most pressing issue, no grand intellectual contemplating or literary sentences. He goes straight to the point, denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine in blunt terms, and the fence-sitters.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
There would need to be taper relief, particularly in inflationary times.
Or just exempt primary residences owned for more than 5 years.
Ouch1 Very bad idea = you want to actively impede labour mobility and penalise people whose circumstances suddenly change?
First, I get being bold but you're really setting yourself up for a fall when you mostly keep things the same (which, after all, is what you claim to have wanted had you been able to keep following Boris as you state) but for a few dramatic seeming policies.
Second, not sure the UN General Assembly wants to hear your pitch to UK voters about how you will change it.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
BREAKING NEWS: Emmanuel Macron starts his speech at UNGA with the most pressing issue, no grand intellectual contemplating or literary sentences. He goes straight to the point, denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine in blunt terms, and the fence-sitters.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
Tax equalisation between main home and other assets would be the #1 thing to reduce the "housing obsession" that people are obsessed by. People aren't silly, if you give them a choice between a taxed and an untaxed investment plan they choose plan B.
Meanwhile, in "sports that Britain is less hopeless at than you might expect" news, GB has today qualified for the first time for the World Baseball Classic (probably the premier international tournament now as baseball is no longer a guaranteed Olympic sport) - beating France, hosts Germany and Spain in a European qualifier.
Gives TSE plenty of time to get bunting and cucumber sandwiches and cake ready, as I know he is counting down the days until he can celebrate King Charles' coronation day!
Assume that would be a bank holiday, as is the Monday of that week. Take three days leave, get nine consecutive days off.
Charles to be crowned next spring is an "exclusive"????
It kind of is. We don't know an exact date, and they could want a decent gap from the awful economic hit in winter.
I saw speculation the coronation would be 2 June, to match up with the Queen's coronation date, which personally I'd include in Summer, though it may technically count as Spring, or near enough.
May 29th is a Bank Holiday, so could be moved. Or maybe an extra day off?
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Queue jumping is a terrible crime.
Queue jumpers should face the most terrible of punishments - dirty looks from those in the queue and muttered asides. That is punishment enough.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Especially since a key job role of journalists is to get the clip/story by bending rules if necessary.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Queue jumping is a terrible crime.
Queue jumpers should face the most terrible of punishments - dirty looks from those in the queue and muttered asides. That is punishment enough.
But the key is crucially, she can do it without cutting services, and incredibly, by also increasing defence spending.
This is some alchemy. Impressive!
And increasing other spending too no doubt.
This is how I play Galactic Civilizations when I have a democracy setting, by punishing the people with heavy taxes to pay for my rampant building (paid for with borrowing) and warmongering, then slashing them in the turn prior to an election before putting them back up.
(I am also very bad at any more complex Grand Strategy type of game)
Charles to be crowned next spring is an "exclusive"????
It kind of is. We don't know an exact date, and they could want a decent gap from the awful economic hit in winter.
I saw speculation the coronation would be 2 June, to match up with the Queen's coronation date, which personally I'd include in Summer, though it may technically count as Spring, or near enough.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
It's also a really stupid idea.
Certainly kills dead any pensioner downsizing if I am not mistaken.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Especially since a key job role of journalists is to get the clip/story by bending rules if necessary.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Queue jumping is a terrible crime.
Queue jumpers should face the most terrible of punishments - dirty looks from those in the queue and muttered asides. That is punishment enough.
Public disapproval is the problem she faces
Well she had press accreditation, how on Earth are they supposed to report it if they they have to queue for 12 hours? What a nonsense. If the public really are fuming about this (which I very much doubt) the country has gone stark raving crackers
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Queue jumping is a terrible crime.
Queue jumpers should face the most terrible of punishments - dirty looks from those in the queue and muttered asides. That is punishment enough.
Public disapproval is the problem she faces
Well she had press accreditation, how on Earth are they supposed to report it if they they have to queue for 12 hours? What a nonsense. If the public really are fuming about this (which I very much doubt) the country has gone stark raving crackers
The media, both tabloid and social, have gone stark raving crackers.
GF got knocked off her bike on the way to work. Lit up like a Christmas tree and got rammed from behind.
That's an A&E without a Doctor for a night shift and me dealing with various bruises. Whopping dent in helmet so keeping a close eye on her, ready to whisk to hospital if things develop.
GF got knocked off her bike on the way to work. Lit up like a Christmas tree and got rammed from behind.
That's an A&E without a Doctor for a night shift and me dealing with various bruises. Whopping dent in helmet so keeping a close eye on her, ready to whisk to hospital if things develop.
Police decent, like usual.
Crushable foam is an awesome, awesome thing. Thank the deity etc…..
Being unpopular in politics is not all it’s cracked up to be.
She's not even prepared for it. She believes, naturally, that even if people do not like something now it will prove popular later. She's prepared to be a popular PM, and believes with enough time she'll get there is all.
In theory that should have a bump effect on house prices but given energy prices and rising interest rates I suspect the impact will be marginal at best...
Is stamp duty the obvious thing to cut? I know some people don't like transaction taxes but I'm unconvinced it will make much difference. I'd like to see capital gains tax on primary residence sales. Maybe only 10% but the important thing is people would see that rising prices are not all good. What does Truss mean by a thriving property market? If it's more building and transactions I'm all for it. If it's increasing prices and mortgage lending NO!
CGT on main residence is like deadly nightshade to any politician who goes for it.
In Stamp Duty the obvious thing is the Proportional Property Tax proposals, which wraps abolition of Stamp Duty in with a reform of Council Tax to 0.48% of house value, which introduces a modest and easily collectible progressive wealth tax.
It gives a benefit for the majority of the population, and does some modest levelling up.
Possibly too sensible and fair for Truss to adapt, however, if she is in neo-Thatcherite mode. If she just does Stamp Duty, then it is rather unbalanced pandering to wealthier people.
It's very high level defense against weapons including ballistic missiles.
I was wondering if they were going to do that, having seen a couple of oblique hints in stories, and I can't understand why - unless a) they that in the future they have concerns that it will be used against them (unlikely?), or b) perhaps they want the business entirely for a US supplier.
The USA provided most of the funding (billions) over more than a decade for this to be developed in Israel - was that smuggling more military aid in via a JV to avoid politics?
Alternatively Germany were aiming for an integrated European network, so perhaps the US are chary of other European countries getting to see the tech.
But what may happen is that Europe will roll it's own solution, sans the Americans.
IIRC similar happened before with us when the US blocked an order to the Middle East of a Brit system incorporating US tech under their ITAR regulations, then sold a system themselves.
So now some of our systems have a foundational contract term with the supplier to exclude ITAR-subject components that would give the US that right.
It will certainly help Europe develop independent capabilities, which is what everyone says they want .
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Queue jumping is a terrible crime.
Queue jumpers should face the most terrible of punishments - dirty looks from those in the queue and muttered asides. That is punishment enough.
Public disapproval is the problem she faces
Well she had press accreditation, how on Earth are they supposed to report it if they they have to queue for 12 hours? What a nonsense. If the public really are fuming about this (which I very much doubt) the country has gone stark raving crackers
I agree it seems nonsense. But the public may well be fuming. Because we have a press that feeds the public's propensity to find and blame a scapegoat. A nation in grief is ripe for venting its anger. The "popular" press do the pointing.
GF got knocked off her bike on the way to work. Lit up like a Christmas tree and got rammed from behind.
That's an A&E without a Doctor for a night shift and me dealing with various bruises. Whopping dent in helmet so keeping a close eye on her, ready to whisk to hospital if things develop.
Police decent, like usual.
I'm sorry to hear that, and hope she does well.
If you are willing to say, do you know the circs - eg Mobile Phone using dozy driver.
May not be of interest but I'll mention it anyway. If the driver is at fault (remember the new 'duty of care' in the latest Highway Code), an often effective route of redress is via the legal cover in your insurance policy - either household, or the usually included legal cover in a policy that comes included as a member of eg British Cycling or Cycling UK.
GF got knocked off her bike on the way to work. Lit up like a Christmas tree and got rammed from behind.
That's an A&E without a Doctor for a night shift and me dealing with various bruises. Whopping dent in helmet so keeping a close eye on her, ready to whisk to hospital if things develop.
Police decent, like usual.
Ugh. Both very unlucky and lucky at the same time assuming she is mostly OK.
Not someone playing with a mobile was it? Its amazing how some drivers fail to see obvious things.
Can someone tell me if it worth watching the new TV Lord of the Rings, or indeed House of Dragon Thrones (or whatever it is)
Or are they both boring Woke nonsense, as even the Guardian has hinted?
Ta muchly
Unlike some others who have already posted I really like the Rings of Power. It stays true to the tone and ideals of Tolkien and his characters whilst imaginatively filling in gaps in Tolkien's notes and narrative. It is a slow burn to start with but that is to my taste. It also looks fabulous.
It won't be to everyone's taste and it has annoyed the purists but it strikes me that they would rather see their books never transferred to film or TV if it means any changes at all.
I think that your last sentence is fair, but that's simply because any change is most unlikely to be an improvement. Tolkien wasn't perfect, but he had an astonishing imagination and a remarkable ability to set things in a wider context. The end result therefore is rich and fascinating partly because it is very, very complex and any changes to make it comprehensible on screen will almost inevitably diminish it.
That's not forgetting, to quote Christopher Tolkien, that the whole character of Galadriel changed radically several times while Tolkien was writing.
The catch is none of those characterisations match anything I saw in the episodes I ground through before deciding it wasn't worth watching. And all of them were better.
I recently attended the Discworld convention (Terry Pritchett for the uninitiated). There was an excellent talk about why fans of his books were so angry about the godawful TV series ‘The Watch’, which was originally to be heavily based on the books and became something else entirely. Part of the issues with creating TV or film of beloved texts is that the fans hav3 already created those worlds in their heads. They know what characters look and sound like. They know what the Castle of the Seven Skulls looks like. They have favourite scenes. They get the humour (for TP essential). So almost inevitably the TV show/film fails to live up to what the fans want.
Usually it does far far better for the non fan, because there are no expectations to be met. I believe this happened to some extent with The Watch. Non Pratchet fans thought it ok, whereas the anger in the room at the convention could have powered most of Birmingham through the winter…
It works the other round too. If you see a televised/screen version of a book before you read the book, you will often find the book disappointing, because you've got the idea of the characters visually imprinted on your mind, and the author doesn't describe them quite like that. For example, I was enchanted by the original 26-part Forsyte Saga series (Susan Hampshire, Eric Porter, Kenneth More) so I rushed to read the books, and they seemed a bit meh by comparison.
Yes, and it applies often to remakes and sequels too.
Believe it or not, there are people who refer the Star Wars Prequels to the cheaper looking originals (the first of which at least is pretty poorly acted to boot*) as that is what they saw first.
*Calm down, I'm not saying I dislike them, I don't, but let's just say Hayden Christensen was not the first wooden performance in the series.
The prequels aren't great (though they do get the lightsaber fights spot on) but I have sort of revised my opinion of them upwards after the crap new trilogy from Force Awakens onwards.
Quite enjoyed and still like Force awakens, but after that meh. It helps that TFA is just Star Wars again, but it’s got a certain verve to it, plus enough new backstory has happened to keep you interested. Who is Snoke? How did Kylo Ren become Kylo Ren? Plus a cool battle in the forest and a new cocky pilot.
My problem with TFA was just the massive sigh I let out in the cinema when I realised it was just literally the original film again done slightly differently. It looked the part, but I had to mentally rescore the prequels for at least attempting original stories.
But at least TFA is semi-watchable, whereas after that was just a mess.
Rise of Skywalker wasn't a mess and it joined the dots well I thought.
Can I have some of what you're smoking please?
Bringing back Palpatine undid the story arc of both the original trilogy and the prequels.
I completely disagree.
Having sequels in the first place undid the story arc of the original trilogy, since Return of the Jedi had ended on a happy ever after note and suddenly the universe is in peril again in the very next episode, were the actions of Luke, Leia and Han Solo all in vain?
And bringing back Palpatine played on that and undid the story arc too until this scene that brought it all back together and made the movie for me:
Finn : Leia never gave up. And neither will we. We're gonna show them we're not afraid.
Poe Dameron : What our mothers and fathers fought for, we will not let die. Not today. Today, we make our last stand. For the galaxy. For Leia. For everyone we've lost.
Finn : They've taken enough of us. Now we take the war to them.
Star Wars has always been a battle between good and 'space Nazis' and take away the magic of the Force and Palpatine returning from the dead etc and the third trilogy is a good and also realistic storyline that's actually very fitting for today - that we like to think that the war was won in the past, when the [Space] Nazis were defeated, in Berlin or on Endor, but to keep freedom future generations need to be prepared to take up the fight against future [Space] Nazis whether it be in Ukraine against Russians or against the First Order on Exegol.
GF got knocked off her bike on the way to work. Lit up like a Christmas tree and got rammed from behind.
That's an A&E without a Doctor for a night shift and me dealing with various bruises. Whopping dent in helmet so keeping a close eye on her, ready to whisk to hospital if things develop.
Police decent, like usual.
Hope your GF is OK.
Sounds like the helmet has done its job though. I don't understand anyone who rides a bike without one. Better a whopping dent in the helmet, than in her skull.
Surely this can be resolved very simply: did they film a report there? If so, they were there as journalists. All fine. If not, they can't claim to be there as journalists and may have some explaining to do. Should be simple enough to resolve.
Except other journalists were allowed into the press gallery, not the queue (as reported)
Who cares? Presumably it was a piece to camera about the queue (which, scarcely believably, was headline news for six days running). I don’t know the details and care less but why should she lose her job over this? It seems completely mad
Under no rational response should a job be under threat over this.
Queue jumping is a terrible crime.
Queue jumpers should face the most terrible of punishments - dirty looks from those in the queue and muttered asides. That is punishment enough.
Public disapproval is the problem she faces
Well she had press accreditation, how on Earth are they supposed to report it if they they have to queue for 12 hours? What a nonsense. If the public really are fuming about this (which I very much doubt) the country has gone stark raving crackers
I agree it seems nonsense. But the public may well be fuming. Because we have a press that feeds the public's propensity to find and blame a scapegoat. A nation in grief is ripe for venting its anger. The "popular" press do the pointing.
HW's problem, besides the scapegoat fact, is fact that most of the public likely do NOT consider her a member of the press, that is a journalist, but instead an entertainer and celebrity.
Would love to know how much is from each price band.
Property taxes need to be reformed, such that local councils have a financial incentive to build more properties.
SDLT, as currently constituted, can also act as a brake on mobility of labour, especially in more expensive areas, as it makes the transaction cost much higher.
Comments
After 9/11 I was crossing on the QE2 and on checking the TV showing the journey/speed etc found we were barrelling along at over 30knots - but you wouldn’t know it from the motion of the ship - she was doing what she was designed to do. They’d decided to arrive in Boston a day early (the West Side Piers were being used for debris removal) so Ron Warwick had decided to put his foot down and damn the accountants! We then spent a day anchored in Boston harbour under the flight path to Logan…
@gabyhinsliff
·
1h
Whatever this postponed-at-the-last-minute Putin speech was about, have an ominous feeling that the window Truss govt had to focus on growth/get their First 100 Days plan back on track might be pretty short
https://twitter.com/donnermaps/status/1572248793135075330?t=FWR99u9mOGsRv2y7K2ScaQ&s=19
However traditional democracies like the US, Italy, France and yes, the UK have been showing some pretty alarming tendencies. I'm open minded on what a Meloni government might look like but not without concerns.
A hugely welcome change
https://twitter.com/RymMomtaz/status/1572287534419574785
@EJeanCarroll to federal judge: We're going to sue Trump somewhere else, too.
Doc https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790.89.0.pdf
But the removal of the Scouring was something I really didn't agree with and it did somewhat spoil the films for me.
That said I would still defy anyone to do a better job overall than Jackson did with the films.
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1572339792100331521?s=20&t=t9XhFfheIr1U6ONTFaiwmw
All I'm seeing in the tax take being destroyed for zero real benefit at a time that Government expenditure is going through the roof.
She talked to the gardener as if he were an equal being. Gave him gifts and good advice. One gift was the exactly perfect thing for a gardener going home from the wars to a ruined land.
That's how you act if you're an anti-Sauron.
Jeez. How difficult is this?
Snokje was an interesting idea - an Evul Overlord who went "Hmmmm, this Death Star actually did some big shit before it got blown up. I'll take the win, and get my main guys out of there. Rather than ranting about failure until everybody dies."
Then the directors and writers seemed to be competing to see who could make the biggest pile of who-cares.....
Check out this statement from Leicster's Hindu and Muslim leaders:
https://twitter.com/darshnasoni/status/1572173720801935360?t=nuoYpibkvKN2RGoyr6IDVg&s=19
Not just mobility but it impedes downsizing too.
An annual wealth tax would hit me in the wallet, but I’m confident that Truss-Kwarteng won’t do that.
It is going to be a Barber Boom, only with precious little boom.
Pretty small beer, though, and as politicians, Truss and Kwarteng should have weighed it against other uses of the limited political capital they have.
US blocks Israeli air defense system sale to Germany
https://thecradle.co/Article/News/15813?s=08
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19869120/king-charles-iii-coronation-70-years-queen-ceremony/
Gives TSE plenty of time to get bunting and cucumber sandwiches and cake ready, as I know he is counting down the days until he can celebrate King Charles' coronation day!
https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1572342991305510914
Or just exempt primary residences owned for more than 5 years.
I saw speculation the coronation would be 2 June, to match up with the Queen's coronation date, which personally I'd include in Summer, though it may technically count as Spring, or near enough.
First, I get being bold but you're really setting yourself up for a fall when you mostly keep things the same (which, after all, is what you claim to have wanted had you been able to keep following Boris as you state) but for a few dramatic seeming policies.
Second, not sure the UN General Assembly wants to hear your pitch to UK voters about how you will change it.
This is some alchemy. Impressive!
This is how I play Galactic Civilizations when I have a democracy setting, by punishing the people with heavy taxes to pay for my rampant building (paid for with borrowing) and warmongering, then slashing them in the turn prior to an election before putting them back up.
(I am also very bad at any more complex Grand Strategy type of game)
So no change there, as Angus Deayton used to say.
Liz Truss says she's prepared to be an unpopular PM
Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie
Take it from one who’s been there:
Being unpopular in politics is not all it’s cracked up to be.
That's an A&E without a Doctor for a night shift and me dealing with various bruises. Whopping dent in helmet so keeping a close eye on her, ready to whisk to hospital if things develop.
Police decent, like usual.
It gives a benefit for the majority of the population, and does some modest levelling up.
Possibly too sensible and fair for Truss to adapt, however, if she is in neo-Thatcherite mode. If she just does Stamp Duty, then it is rather unbalanced pandering to wealthier people.
I was wondering if they were going to do that, having seen a couple of oblique hints in stories, and I can't understand why - unless a) they that in the future they have concerns that it will be used against them (unlikely?), or b) perhaps they want the business entirely for a US supplier.
The USA provided most of the funding (billions) over more than a decade for this to be developed in Israel - was that smuggling more military aid in via a JV to avoid politics?
Alternatively Germany were aiming for an integrated European network, so perhaps the US are chary of other European countries getting to see the tech.
But what may happen is that Europe will roll it's own solution, sans the Americans.
IIRC similar happened before with us when the US blocked an order to the Middle East of a Brit system incorporating US tech under their ITAR regulations, then sold a system themselves.
So now some of our systems have a foundational contract term with the supplier to exclude ITAR-subject components that would give the US that right.
It will certainly help Europe develop independent capabilities, which is what everyone says they want
If you are willing to say, do you know the circs - eg Mobile Phone using dozy driver.
May not be of interest but I'll mention it anyway. If the driver is at fault (remember the new 'duty of care' in the latest Highway Code), an often effective route of redress is via the legal cover in your insurance policy - either household, or the usually included legal cover in a policy that comes included as a member of eg British Cycling or Cycling UK.
Not someone playing with a mobile was it? Its amazing how some drivers fail to see obvious things.
Having sequels in the first place undid the story arc of the original trilogy, since Return of the Jedi had ended on a happy ever after note and suddenly the universe is in peril again in the very next episode, were the actions of Luke, Leia and Han Solo all in vain?
And bringing back Palpatine played on that and undid the story arc too until this scene that brought it all back together and made the movie for me:
Finn : Leia never gave up. And neither will we. We're gonna show them we're not afraid.
Poe Dameron : What our mothers and fathers fought for, we will not let die. Not today. Today, we make our last stand. For the galaxy. For Leia. For everyone we've lost.
Finn : They've taken enough of us. Now we take the war to them.
Star Wars has always been a battle between good and 'space Nazis' and take away the magic of the Force and Palpatine returning from the dead etc and the third trilogy is a good and also realistic storyline that's actually very fitting for today - that we like to think that the war was won in the past, when the [Space] Nazis were defeated, in Berlin or on Endor, but to keep freedom future generations need to be prepared to take up the fight against future [Space] Nazis whether it be in Ukraine against Russians or against the First Order on Exegol.
Sounds like the helmet has done its job though. I don't understand anyone who rides a bike without one. Better a whopping dent in the helmet, than in her skull.
Best wishes.
A "Queue" jumping entertainer and celebrity.
"Truss admits her tax cuts will disproportionately benefit the rich"
https://news.sky.com/story/liz-truss-prepared-to-be-unpopular-with-tax-policy-to-boost-economic-growth-12702039
SDLT, as currently constituted, can also act as a brake on mobility of labour, especially in more expensive areas, as it makes the transaction cost much higher.
Quite mad.