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The Republicans now a 69% betting chance for Senate control – politicalbetting.com

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  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 3,056
    Martin10 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    FPT:

    Leon said:


    I meant one of the Big Five

    Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple

    Which will fall first? A few years ago I would have guessed Microsoft but they seem to have upped their game. Now I’d guess Meta

    You missed out Netflix, which is the one that looks shakiest to me.
    Yes, it used to FAANG:

    Facebook
    Amazon
    Apple
    Netflix
    Google

    But Netflix has cratered, and now MSFT is worth much more than Google.

    Which shows that impermanence is the only permanent thing.
    I think you may be burying Netflix prematurely. Its Q3 numbers this year were miles better than expected and the markets reacted very favourably to them. That is on top of a 23% increase in revenue in 2021. I don't think they will be going anywhere for a long time.
    The FANGS were a cheap money phenomenom...much employee motivation rests on stock options and when they are massively underwater employee retention becomes a problem
    I have a friend at a FAANG in the US who has been complaining that, when the stock value halved whilst his stock options could not be sold, he must under US law pay tax on the value of them when granted. Effectively doubling the tax rate.

    He has downsized so as to live within the means of the base salary.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    slade said:

    Taz said:

    ydoethur said:

    France/Wales have the best national anthem.

    US, Russia, Germany all good.

    GSTK is absolutely rubbish. Switch it to Jerusalem, which I think is a lovely hymn.

    Some people just have no taste.
    The Italian and the Fijian anthems are magnificent.
    As I have mentioned before on this site I like the Polish National Anthem. Its original version was used by Elgar in a piece called Polonia.
    The genuine Kazakh national anthem isn't bad. It's got a half decent tune even if Nursultan Nazarbayev should have stuck to mass murder not poetry writing.

    Ireland's is good musically even if the lyrics are a bit well - odd.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Just perusing some Georgia polling and I am once again amazed that Trafalgar is the only pollster who consistently finds 18-24 year old samples in swing states that are heavily GOP leaning.

    It is truly impressive.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,094
    edited November 2022
    Taz said:

    ydoethur said:

    France/Wales have the best national anthem.

    US, Russia, Germany all good.

    GSTK is absolutely rubbish. Switch it to Jerusalem, which I think is a lovely hymn.

    Some people just have no taste.
    The Italian and the Fijian anthems are magnificent.
    Only the Italians could try to fit the same (largely meaningless) words to two completely different tunes and create a decent sounding anthem out of it, that even domesticated birds can sing.
  • slade said:

    Taz said:

    ydoethur said:

    France/Wales have the best national anthem.

    US, Russia, Germany all good.

    GSTK is absolutely rubbish. Switch it to Jerusalem, which I think is a lovely hymn.

    Some people just have no taste.
    The Italian and the Fijian anthems are magnificent.
    As I have mentioned before on this site I like the Polish National Anthem. Its original version was used by Elgar in a piece called Polonia.
    Hearing and witnessing a group of Poles belting it out is an experience you never forget.

    "Poland has not yet perished, So long as we still live."
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,155
    malcolmg said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    Neither of you have any taste it seems.
    Some folk would get upset with A Man's a Man or Scots Wha Hae. Both far better in my opinion.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
    Pompous abstraction? You don't even find it just a little bit ironic that 'the land of the free' was the last country in the developed world to abolish slavery?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,587
    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    He's already been given a gong, what more can he want?

    He wants to be feared.

    Instead of laughed at
    Vibes of Steerpike, crossed with Frank Spencer.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,155

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Just about to watch the final part of SAS Rogue Heroes - thoroughly enjoyable. You can tell it is the Peeky Blinders team when The Damned is the soundtrack to a raid on an airfield!

    Bit too much of a modernist take for me - too many fucks and metal music.
    Too many fucks in an Army context is modern?
    I'm under no illusions the squaddies have always been like that.

    I struggle with General Auckinleck and Ritchie competing to see how hard they can tell David Stirling to fuck off, or a trooper on sentry duty telling Stirling (an officer) to fuck off because he tried to play the class card.

    Just wasn't like that back then.
    Ah, thanks. Not class-conscious enough, then. Definitely need Noel Coward and In Which We Serve for that.
    I'm not trying to make a point on preference or my own view - just don't think it's accurate.

    Things were much more stiff, formal and conformist in the 1940s.
    I say, old fruit, don't take it personally, what? I was entirely serious about suggesting IWWS - IIRC an attempt to portray different classes and ranks as all in it together.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,587
    ydoethur said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
    Pompous abstraction? You don't even find it just a little bit ironic that 'the land of the free' was the last country in the developed world to abolish slavery?
    All national anthems are balls.
    But TSSB is, at least, great fun to sing.

  • TazTaz Posts: 10,704
    ydoethur said:

    slade said:

    Taz said:

    ydoethur said:

    France/Wales have the best national anthem.

    US, Russia, Germany all good.

    GSTK is absolutely rubbish. Switch it to Jerusalem, which I think is a lovely hymn.

    Some people just have no taste.
    The Italian and the Fijian anthems are magnificent.
    As I have mentioned before on this site I like the Polish National Anthem. Its original version was used by Elgar in a piece called Polonia.
    The genuine Kazakh national anthem isn't bad. It's got a half decent tune even if Nursultan Nazarbayev should have stuck to mass murder not poetry writing.

    Ireland's is good musically even if the lyrics are a bit well - odd.
    Soldiers song is a cracking tune

    Irelands call is abysmal.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    ydoethur said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
    Pompous abstraction? You don't even find it just a little bit ironic that 'the land of the free' was the last country in the developed world to abolish slavery?
    It doesn't say other people don't also live there. Rule, Britannia! and Heart of Oak also make some pretty questionable claims about freedom relative to the national stance at time of writing.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 3,056
    edited November 2022
    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
    Pompous abstraction? You don't even find it just a little bit ironic that 'the land of the free' was the last country in the developed world to abolish slavery?
    It doesn't say other people don't also live there. Rule, Britannia! and Heart of Oak also make some pretty questionable claims about freedom relative to the national stance at time of writing.
    But neither is our national anthem...

    (I will admit to a smile whenever I hear the words 'to freedom we call you, not press you like slaves,' but I have always assumed Garrick was being ironic there.)
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Tony Blair did. It was awful.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 3,056
    edited November 2022
    ydoethur said:

    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Tony Blair did. It was awful.
    He sang it badly or freaked out? I have no memory of this!
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g

    I believe this performance caused a bit of unrest

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMQJy53lBg&ab_channel=AmpFF
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    carnforth said:

    ydoethur said:

    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Tony Blair did. It was awful.
    He sang it badly or freaked out? I have no memory of this!
    He commissioned a jazzed up version of it as part of his Cool Britannia bullshit.

    And then used it at a state occasion.

    The Queen looked like she was eating a wasp.

    Can't find the video of it, unfortunately.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,626
    IanB2 said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Stirring stuff…

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=east+german+national+anthem
    Best rendition -

    https://youtu.be/LxUdL0CGgOU
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288
    edited November 2022
    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,094
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Just about to watch the final part of SAS Rogue Heroes - thoroughly enjoyable. You can tell it is the Peeky Blinders team when The Damned is the soundtrack to a raid on an airfield!

    Bit too much of a modernist take for me - too many fucks and metal music.
    Too many fucks in an Army context is modern?
    I'm under no illusions the squaddies have always been like that.

    I struggle with General Auckinleck and Ritchie competing to see how hard they can tell David Stirling to fuck off, or a trooper on sentry duty telling Stirling (an officer) to fuck off because he tried to play the class card.

    Just wasn't like that back then.
    Ah, thanks. Not class-conscious enough, then. Definitely need Noel Coward and In Which We Serve for that.
    I'm not trying to make a point on preference or my own view - just don't think it's accurate.

    Things were much more stiff, formal and conformist in the 1940s.
    I say, old fruit, don't take it personally, what? I was entirely serious about suggesting IWWS - IIRC an attempt to portray different classes and ranks as all in it together.
    This is the first TV show that has been anything like the North Africa campaign my grandfather (RAF ground crew) described to me. Including the relative informality between the officers and men (which all changed in Sicily/Italy), and the lethargy then extreme violence.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    edited November 2022
    PoliticsVerse 🇺🇸
    @PoliticsVerse
    List of Companies who have suspended Twitter Ad’s:

    General Mills
    CVS
    United Airlines
    GM
    Audi
    Mazda
    Porsche
    Volkswagen
    American Express
    Coca-Cola
    Johnson & Johnson
    Levi Strauss
    Spotify
    Ford
    Dyson
    Forbes
    DIRECTV
    Nintendo
    Unilever
    PBS

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsVerse/status/1588903623207317504

    Pretty much the Dow 30, right there
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 3,056
    Ishmael_Z said:

    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g

    I believe this performance caused a bit of unrest

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMQJy53lBg&ab_channel=AmpFF
    News to me! Interesting stuff.

    For a moment I thought you had linked to Rosanne Barr's attempt, which was musically the worst:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1YVhcLD2c
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
  • RattersRatters Posts: 756
    Meta's acute problems are largely a result of governance failures. Most shareholders do not have voting rights and so Zuckerberg can use the cash generated from the core business as his plaything for a fantasy world he is convinced is the future, rather than focussing investment on incremental improvements and the threats posed by TikTok etc for the younger generation.

    Rather than shareholders being able to vote to monetise products (Facebook, Instagram) that are still wildly profitable, albeit with questionable longevity, their profits are being gambled on red by a minority shareholder with outsized voting rights (13% shares, 54% voting rights).

    I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    carnforth said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g

    I believe this performance caused a bit of unrest

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMQJy53lBg&ab_channel=AmpFF
    News to me! Interesting stuff.

    For a moment I thought you had linked to Rosanne Barr's attempt, which was musically the worst:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1YVhcLD2c
    Jesus. But then, it is bloody difficult.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 15,243
    edited November 2022
    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g

    As I recall, some people DID freak out somewhat re: THIS interpretation of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMzIk2pUuNU

    By Roseanne Barr, decades before she emerged briefly as a pro-Trump spokes-whatever, prior to torpedoing her own TV sit-com come-back.

    ADDENDUM - There is ONE truly revolutionary interpretation & performance of the US National Anthem -

    by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock 1969

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezI1uya213I
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g

    Betting on the length of time taken to sing the anthem at the Super Bowl, has to be one of the quirkiest markets of the year - complete with some way-over-the-top analyses of the the singer, when they’ve sung anthems before, whether they usually sing songs fast or slow, who are the accompanying band and what’s their record, who is the TV broadcaster and even if there’s a fly past at the conclusion.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    By the way, can I remind everyone I said England would find anything over 130 tough to chase?

    Admittedly, they shouldn't have done if they'd had batsmen instead of Brook and Livingstone. But they did.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 6,774
    Ishmael_Z said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    FPT:

    Leon said:


    I meant one of the Big Five

    Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple

    Which will fall first? A few years ago I would have guessed Microsoft but they seem to have upped their game. Now I’d guess Meta

    You missed out Netflix, which is the one that looks shakiest to me.
    Yes, it used to FAANG:

    Facebook
    Amazon
    Apple
    Netflix
    Google

    But Netflix has cratered, and now MSFT is worth much more than Google.

    Which shows that impermanence is the only permanent thing.
    Is GE still a member of Dow Jones?
    Seems not to be

    https://www.cnbc.com/dow-30/
    Which was my point. It survived until 2029 - the last of the original 12 members of the Dow Jones Index

    Impermanence is the only permanent thing (apart from taxes)
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769

    Ishmael_Z said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    FPT:

    Leon said:


    I meant one of the Big Five

    Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple

    Which will fall first? A few years ago I would have guessed Microsoft but they seem to have upped their game. Now I’d guess Meta

    You missed out Netflix, which is the one that looks shakiest to me.
    Yes, it used to FAANG:

    Facebook
    Amazon
    Apple
    Netflix
    Google

    But Netflix has cratered, and now MSFT is worth much more than Google.

    Which shows that impermanence is the only permanent thing.
    Is GE still a member of Dow Jones?
    Seems not to be

    https://www.cnbc.com/dow-30/
    Which was my point. It survived until 2029 - the last of the original 12 members of the Dow Jones Index

    Impermanence is the only permanent thing (apart from taxes)
    Do you mean 2019, or do you have prophetic powers?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    Nice! Love the advert, always used to think it was in Yorkshire for some reason. Also the hill itself disappoints except from certain angles, but it’s still great.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    Dvorak's Symphony from the New World, surely?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    Nice! Love the advert, always used to think it was in Yorkshire for some reason. Also the hill itself disappoints except from certain angles, but it’s still great.
    Ridley Scott
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    edited November 2022
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    For a long time I thought the Mendelssohn wedding march was an original part of the soundtrack of the Rocky Horror Show.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
  • When will the BBC, and specifically Melvin Bragg's In Our Time, cease to have anything to do with Twitter?


  • EPGEPG Posts: 5,996
    Ishmael_Z said:

    PoliticsVerse 🇺🇸
    @PoliticsVerse
    List of Companies who have suspended Twitter Ad’s:

    General Mills
    CVS
    United Airlines
    GM
    Audi
    Mazda
    Porsche
    Volkswagen
    American Express
    Coca-Cola
    Johnson & Johnson
    Levi Strauss
    Spotify
    Ford
    Dyson
    Forbes
    DIRECTV
    Nintendo
    Unilever
    PBS

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsVerse/status/1588903623207317504

    Pretty much the Dow 30, right there

    Marxist anti-Americans like Coca-Cola and Ford.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 3,871
    malcolmg said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    Neither of you have any taste it seems.
    When we are independent we will need a new anthem. I would choose A Man’s a Man, just to annoy Sturgeon.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 6,774
    ydoethur said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    rcs1000 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    FPT:

    Leon said:


    I meant one of the Big Five

    Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple

    Which will fall first? A few years ago I would have guessed Microsoft but they seem to have upped their game. Now I’d guess Meta

    You missed out Netflix, which is the one that looks shakiest to me.
    Yes, it used to FAANG:

    Facebook
    Amazon
    Apple
    Netflix
    Google

    But Netflix has cratered, and now MSFT is worth much more than Google.

    Which shows that impermanence is the only permanent thing.
    Is GE still a member of Dow Jones?
    Seems not to be

    https://www.cnbc.com/dow-30/
    Which was my point. It survived until 2029 - the last of the original 12 members of the Dow Jones Index

    Impermanence is the only permanent thing (apart from taxes)
    Do you mean 2019, or do you have prophetic powers?
    Are those mutually exclusive? 2019.
  • DJ41DJ41 Posts: 792
    "Ukrainians plan apocalyptic orgy in event of Putin launching nuke."

    "More than 15,000 people have signed up for 'Orgy on Shchekavystsa: Official,' a mass romp set up on a Telegram group in the event of Putin launching a nuclear blast."

    This easily beats the People's Assembly's boring call for a general election in Britain.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    edited November 2022

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    Dvorak's Symphony from the New World, surely?
    Yes, the Largo movement.

    Also set to words as 'Going Home.' I'm not sure whether that's deliberate irony or not, given the whole symphony is redolent of the homesickness Dvorak was feeling coupled with the death of his daughter.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    Dvorak's Symphony from the New World, surely?
    Yes, the Largo movement.

    Also set to words as 'Going Home.'
    Ah, very appropriate for closing a funeral then.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,082
    @dixiedean

    Nice away win for the Foxes. Not shit at defending any more.

    Maddison with two assists but won't get picked by Southgate.

    Good game for Ward too. Should be Wales goalie.
  • DJ41DJ41 Posts: 792
    edited November 2022

    malcolmg said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    Neither of you have any taste it seems.
    When we are independent we will need a new anthem. I would choose A Man’s a Man, just to annoy Sturgeon.
    The English anthem is great, so long as the words are sung right - "these dark Satanic mills."

    The British one is idiotic, like standing up and saluting for Emperor Franz Joseph - for pillocks only.

    The Cornish one is far too threatening.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288
    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    No10 has, to my knowledge, not yet confirmed what Gavin Williamson's actual job is
    https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1588961320380076033
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    Scott_xP said:

    No10 has, to my knowledge, not yet confirmed what Gavin Williamson's actual job is
    https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1588961320380076033

    To piss out of the tent rather than into it?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769

    ydoethur said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
    Pompous abstraction? You don't even find it just a little bit ironic that 'the land of the free' was the last country in the developed world to abolish slavery?
    Land of the free-fifths?
    That pun is pure genius. Applause.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,626
    DJ41 said:

    "Ukrainians plan apocalyptic orgy in event of Putin launching nuke."

    "More than 15,000 people have signed up for 'Orgy on Shchekavystsa: Official,' a mass romp set up on a Telegram group in the event of Putin launching a nuclear blast."

    This easily beats the People's Assembly's boring call for a general election in Britain.

    Can’t help liking the Ukrainians. The Russian response would involve stupid threats and fictional weapons from an old Commando comic.
  • DJ41DJ41 Posts: 792
    edited November 2022

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Minister without portfolio, huh? Has he got any spads by any chance?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    DJ41 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Well, apparently he is, in person.

    Can't see it myself but then I've never spoken to him directly.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 12,745
    Early evening all :)

    Back from afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge with Mrs Stodge. Decent but I think the Corinthia does it better (you'll note it's not just @Leon who dines in 5-star squalor or splendour).

    Some were talking about the "creaking" nature of public services yesterday - can I add Transport for London to the list of those institutions visibly creaking? Huge gaps in service (in excess of 10 minutes) at times on the District, Piccadilly (12 minutes) and Hammersmith & City with the Circle line completely shut not due to engineering work but due to "train cancellations".

    What does this euphemism really mean? Does it mean there aren't enough serviceable trains, there aren't enough drivers available to run a service or has TfL senior management consciously decided to reduce the service to save money?

    The residual impact of the pandemic continues in passenger transport numbers - nearly 1,000 days on and tube passenger numbers are roughly 80% of pre-virus levels on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and 70-75% on Monday and Friday. Weekend numbers, however, are around 90-100% of pre-virus levels suggesting working at home hasn't translated to playing at home (so to speak).

    We know Government finances are stretched and we also know TfL and other transport providers are basically on life support provided by the Government without which they would be basically insolvent as their primary operational model no longer works (or at least travels to work).

    Will we see the Government impose inflation or indeed higher than inflation fare increases for London passengers in January onwards or will TfL be forced once again to look at reducing services (day time off peak is the place to start I'd argue) and even mothballing the Bakerloo Line?

    Sticking 10-15% on people's transport costs isn't exactly going to alleviate cost of living concerns primarily, I'd argue, in the "Blue Wall" areas but elsewhere as well.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 9,169
    If I were choosing an anthem for a newly independent or rebranded country I’d plump for the happy birthday tune.

    No need for anyone to learn it or the lyrics, and I could sit back in satisfaction knowing that at any moment round the world thousands of people are singing our country’s national anthem then blowing out candles.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    UPDATE: No10 not saying if Gavin Williamson retains the confidence of Rishi Sunak tonight. Current position is no comment. https://twitter.com/gabriel_pogrund/status/1588945227511103489
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    DJ41 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Minister without portfolio, huh? Has he got any spads by any chance?
    After seeing these screenshots I think we can discount the "lovely bloke in real life" chatter.

    Also never trust a man who goes out of his way to post pictures of his dog shit production facilities on social media.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 3,871
    Foxy said:

    @dixiedean

    Nice away win for the Foxes. Not shit at defending any more.

    Maddison with two assists but won't get picked by Southgate.

    Good game for Ward too. Should be Wales goalie.

    I wish we still had Ward and Maddison at Aberdeen. Two excellent players.
  • carnforth said:

    I've always liked the fact that the US doesn't freak out when someone interprets their anthem in their own way, unless the performance is bad. Whitney Houston, 1991:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lCmBvYMRs

    Imagine someone doing that to GSTK.

    Bonus video: Horowitz at the White House has fun making the president stand up, and being a good émigré at the same time:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnIntmIm5g

    As I recall, some people DID freak out somewhat re: THIS interpretation of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMzIk2pUuNU

    By Roseanne Barr, decades before she emerged briefly as a pro-Trump spokes-whatever, prior to torpedoing her own TV sit-com come-back.

    ADDENDUM - There is ONE truly revolutionary interpretation & performance of the US National Anthem -

    by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock 1969

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezI1uya213I
    Enrico Pallazzo:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxHnXajIex4
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,840
    Foxy said:

    @dixiedean

    Nice away win for the Foxes. Not shit at defending any more.

    Maddison with two assists but won't get picked by Southgate.

    Good game for Ward too. Should be Wales goalie.

    Yeah.
    We were super poor though today.
    Very frustrating stop start season. Look a decent side 1 in 3 games. Dire in the other two.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 3,871
    ydoethur said:

    DJ41 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Well, apparently he is, in person.

    Can't see it myself but then I've never spoken to him directly.
    I am informed that Williamson has an excellent selection of reliable pens, which he is happy to lend to HMK.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981

    ydoethur said:

    DJ41 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Well, apparently he is, in person.

    Can't see it myself but then I've never spoken to him directly.
    I am informed that Williamson has an excellent selection of reliable pens, which he is happy to lend to HMK.
    "reliable penis" surely? Judging by favourites of previous kings.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,587

    On the merits (and demerits) of "direct democracy". One of the things that has fascinated me over the years is the issues on which initiatives and referendums produce different results than votes in legislatures. In the US, one of the most striking example is that majorities of voters almost always prefer civil rights -- everyone treated equally, regardless of race -- over "affirmative action" -- special help for disadvantaged groups.

    That's been true in California and Washington state, neither especially conservative places.

    (The different results can be explained, in some cases, by the greater influence of "intense minorities" on legislatures.)

    It can also, perhaps, be explained by the strong tendency of US ballot initiatives to be deeply misleading.

    Search for ‘misleading ballot initiatives’, and there are inumerable articles like these.
    https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-rights/ballot-measure-inaccessibility--obscuring-voter-representation/

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/opinion/election-night-2016/why-are-many-ballot-measures-so-confusingly-worded

    https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/11/6/21549654/california-ballot-initiative-proposition-direct-democracy

  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142
    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 3,871
    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    DJ41 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Well, apparently he is, in person.

    Can't see it myself but then I've never spoken to him directly.
    I am informed that Williamson has an excellent selection of reliable pens, which he is happy to lend to HMK.
    "reliable penis" surely? Judging by favourites of previous kings.
    I nearly typed that. It was hard not to.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,769
    Martin10 said:

    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    OK, that's a new one.

    I'm not sure it's an improvement on the BA pilots.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,288
    Ishmael_Z said:

    DJ41 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Same old Tories...
    Williamson may be a favourite of the king.
    Some were surprised when he was given a knighthood earlier this year.
    He sounds like such a lovely guy.
    Minister without portfolio, huh? Has he got any spads by any chance?
    After seeing these screenshots I think we can discount the "lovely bloke in real life" chatter.

    Also never trust a man who goes out of his way to post pictures of his dog shit production facilities on social media.
    He does come across as an attention-seeking turd himself tbf.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Martin10 said:

    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    Bloody citizens of nowhere.

    Surprising to see them active on a Saturday, mind.
  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142
    ydoethur said:

    Martin10 said:

    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    OK, that's a new one.

    I'm not sure it's an improvement on the BA pilots.
    The point is this is now all over twitter and the MAGA crowd will believe it...it is not about what sensible people like you and i believe
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961
    Scott_xP said:

    UPDATE: No10 not saying if Gavin Williamson retains the confidence of Rishi Sunak tonight. Current position is no comment. https://twitter.com/gabriel_pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Gavin Williamson hasn't retained the confidence of anybody for years.

    Cut him adrift from Government.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,587
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    Bit unfortunate if it’s a cremation ?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,884
    ydoethur said:

    Martin10 said:

    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    OK, that's a new one.

    I'm not sure it's an improvement on the BA pilots.
    I lobbed that one up earlier and no shot was offered.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,961
    Nigelb said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    Bit unfortunate if it’s a cremation ?
    "They're brown bread....."
  • A Scottish national anthem should set words by Burns, I am sure they will find something good.

    As for England, well I am happy enough with Jerusalem, but what else?
    "I vow to thee my country" (perhaps jingoistic like "Land of Hope and Glory:) suffers from the fact that second verse is never remembered (or is regarded as too religious).

    Shakespeare? A setting of "This royal throne of kings", perhaps not.

    "The Rain It Raineth Every Day." might be the one.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Nigelb said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Just crunched some numbers.

    Gas usage October - down 75% from last year.

    Electricity usage - down 50%.

    That's despite the fact I'm now working from home.

    That's all about not needing the heating.

    Still haven't turned it on, for the matter of that. It's just on frost protection.

    We've already had a frost here in Dorset. 11 October 2022 @ 05:54 -0.4°C
    Had a couple in Wilts too. Definite car scraping.
    And I haven't had one! Weird! Urban heat plume effect?
    Local conditions, clear sky in the northerly a few weeks back. Also our house sits in a frost hollow (cold air seeps down the shallow fields to the south).
    Ditto here. We're in a pronounced frost hollow, just off the Shaftesbury escarpment (famous for the Hovis advert, 'ee by gum')
    I actually use the music from that (speaking of anthems!) as my go-to closing piece for funerals.

    I love how mournful and slow it is. Sets up a suitably sombre atmosphere as the coffin leaves.

    Does sometimes cause some comment that it's that Hovis theme.
    Bit unfortunate if it’s a cremation ?
    Makes no odds. Dead is dead, however you slice it.
  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142
    Love the way gary nevilles hypocrisy over qatar is being called out here

    https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1588678764657283072?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,587
    Martin10 said:

    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    Idiot stuff.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 4,537
    Scott_xP said:

    As per Sunday Times, former Tory Party Chair Jake Berry confirms he informed Rishi Sunak & his incoming Chief-of-Staff about the complaint against Gavin Williamson... but he was appointed to a cabinet post anyway. https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    #DifferentLeaderSameCesspit
  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142
    Nigelb said:

    Martin10 said:

    I was talking about the figures behind the twitter advertiser boycott earlier. More details are now emerging

    Twitter advertiser boycott organized by dark money Soros, Clinton, and foreign networks

    https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1588644704652255232?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    Idiot stuff.
    Yes and will be believed by MAGA idiots....im sure the loony in arizona will be all over this
  • stodgestodge Posts: 12,745
    Curious to read the Prime Minister's comments on the Times front page this morning - in some ways welcome but the truth is since the pandemic we have all become that bit more "reliant" on the State whether it was furlough, or other schemes to help business during the virus or to the bailing out of effectively insolvent transport operators.

    I understand as a Conservative Sunak doesn't want to be a socialist or perhaps more accurately a State interventionist though many Conservative leaders and Prime Ministers have been quite happy to be interventionist in the not too distant past.

    As an example, the amount people will pay in Council Tax is, for many local authorities, entirely dependent on what they receive from the Government as much as what they can raise locally.

    Both Labour Newham and Conservative Surrey spend about two thirds of their income on services for Adults and Children. Surrey raises 70% of its income through Council Tax whereas Newham is dependent on Government grants for about two thirds of their income.

    Currently, I believe, Councils are prevented from seeking high tax rises by capping but this didn't anticipate inflation of 10% and with Councils getting less and being able to raise less we are going to see a number of Councils in real trouble and falling back on Section 114 notices with all the political flak that follows.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    agingjb2 said:

    A Scottish national anthem should set words by Burns, I am sure they will find something good.

    As for England, well I am happy enough with Jerusalem, but what else?
    "I vow to thee my country" (perhaps jingoistic like "Land of Hope and Glory:) suffers from the fact that second verse is never remembered (or is regarded as too religious).

    Shakespeare? A setting of "This royal throne of kings", perhaps not.

    "The Rain It Raineth Every Day." might be the one.

    Burns possibilities

    Twa wives:

    "There was twa wives, and twa witty wives,
    As e'er play'd houghmagandie,
    And they coost oot, upon a time,
    Out o'er a drink o brandy;
    Up Maggie rose, and forth she goes,
    An she leaves auld Mary flytin,
    And she farted by the byre-en'
    For she was gaun a shiten.

    She farted by the byre-en',
    She farted by the stable;
    And thick and nimble were her steps
    As fast as she was able:
    Till at yon dyke-back the hurly brak,
    But raxin for some dockins,
    The beans and pease cam down her thighs,
    And she cackit a' her stockins."

    Johnie Lad, cock up your beaver:

    "When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,
    He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;
    But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,
    Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!
    Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush,
    We'll over the border, and gie them a brush;
    There's somebody there we'll teach better behaviour,
    Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!"

    Take your choice.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Martin10 said:

    Love the way gary nevilles hypocrisy over qatar is being called out here

    https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1588678764657283072?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    Love the way you are trying to resile from your antisemitic memes as if you had posted them ironically.

    You meant it.
  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142
    Ishmael_Z said:

    Martin10 said:

    Love the way gary nevilles hypocrisy over qatar is being called out here

    https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1588678764657283072?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    Love the way you are trying to resile from your antisemitic memes as if you had posted them ironically.

    You meant it.
    Love it when you humour me Ishmael
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,851
    edited November 2022
    Opinium is out, labour increase lead to 18 (46 28), taking 2 from the LDs otherwise unchanged but Starmer back in the lead by 3 30 27 as best PM...........
  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142
    Has anyone ever been to the Pike Hotel in Ibiza by the way
  • Opinium is out, labour increase lead to 18 (46 28), taking 2 from the LDs otherwise unchanged but Starmer back in the lead by 3 30 27 as best PM...........

    Paging @MoonRabbit :lol:
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Martin10 said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Martin10 said:

    Love the way gary nevilles hypocrisy over qatar is being called out here

    https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1588678764657283072?s=20&t=ZzmxzOu883KGIR_0eUMwaA

    Love the way you are trying to resile from your antisemitic memes as if you had posted them ironically.

    You meant it.
    Love it when you humour me Ishmael
    Ishmael

    Saturdays by appointment only, catch my drift?
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981

    Opinium is out, labour increase lead to 18 (46 28), taking 2 from the LDs otherwise unchanged but Starmer back in the lead by 3 30 27 as best PM...........

    Paging @MoonRabbit :lol:
    30 looking like tory ceiling.
  • ydoethur said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    ydoethur said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:


    kle4 said:

    Leon said:

    The Welsh anthem remains the best in the world

    I have a secret admiration for the French.
    The French anthem is bouncy and cheering - it’s a top ten - but it’s really hard to sing which is a key failing. The Welsh anthem is considerably more stirring

    I’d put the Welsh first, then Russia, then France third

    Scotland bottom
    Scotland doesn't really have a national anthem. They just play a Corrie's song, and pretend it's the national anthem.

    I'd put the US bottom. The Star Spangled Banner is weak musically, and utter nonsense lyrically.
    I agree in your assessment of the American national anthem, but I have to say I think you're being generous to the Argentinian national anthem by keeping it off the bottom.

    The very very worst ever though surely has to be the old East German national anthem - Auferstanden Aus Ruinen.
    Absolute balls as to lyrics, the first couplet and indeed first 2 stanzas of SSB are magnificently visually arresting. Whereas GSTK is mythical being, semi-mythical being, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction, pompous abstraction.
    Pompous abstraction? You don't even find it just a little bit ironic that 'the land of the free' was the last country in the developed world to abolish slavery?
    Arguably that title belongs to Brazil.
  • Martin10Martin10 Posts: 142

    Opinium is out, labour increase lead to 18 (46 28), taking 2 from the LDs otherwise unchanged but Starmer back in the lead by 3 30 27 as best PM...........

    Migrants are shoring up the tory core vote
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,082
    dixiedean said:

    Foxy said:

    @dixiedean

    Nice away win for the Foxes. Not shit at defending any more.

    Maddison with two assists but won't get picked by Southgate.

    Good game for Ward too. Should be Wales goalie.

    Yeah.
    We were super poor though today.
    Very frustrating stop start season. Look a decent side 1 in 3 games. Dire in the other two.
    I think Leicester now make other teams look poor. I am increasingly optimistic now for the rest of the season. West Ham away next week looks like we can get something, and while our Belgians may be away for a while, most of our team will get a good break. Ward and Amartey will be away for a bit.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,851
    Ishmael_Z said:

    Opinium is out, labour increase lead to 18 (46 28), taking 2 from the LDs otherwise unchanged but Starmer back in the lead by 3 30 27 as best PM...........

    Paging @MoonRabbit :lol:
    30 looking like tory ceiling.
    Its a first sign the 'bounce' may be peaking certainly
  • stodgestodge Posts: 12,745

    Opinium is out, labour increase lead to 18 (46 28), taking 2 from the LDs otherwise unchanged but Starmer back in the lead by 3 30 27 as best PM...........

    That's a solid 15% swing from Conservative to Labour.

    Add in the tactical voting swing and you get a Labour majority of over 200 with the Conservatives losing more than two thirds of their seats so not an extinction event but worse than 1997.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,461

    Scott_xP said:

    UPDATE: No10 not saying if Gavin Williamson retains the confidence of Rishi Sunak tonight. Current position is no comment. https://twitter.com/gabriel_pogrund/status/1588945227511103489

    Gavin Williamson hasn't retained the confidence of anybody for years.

    Cut him adrift from Government.
    Your last two words are, I would suggest, superfluous.
This discussion has been closed.