In the interests of Not Getting Banned, it would be helpful if the mods - @TSE, OGH, @rcs1000 could give us some guidance as to what we are allowed to say, and what is disallowed, in the ongoing "external input" into the SNP's transparency review
Seriously. Don't want to get the site into trouble. Or get banned. It's too interesting
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
I believe one of my ancestors resided in Uddingston at some stage. Seeing the incredibly banal housing development, I think I’ll give it a miss when I finally organise a genocidal tour of Scotland.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
I believe one of my ancestors resided in Uddingston at some stage. Seeing the incredibly banal housing development, I think I’ll give it a miss when I finally organise a genocidal tour of Scotland.
I believe one of my ancestors resided in Uddingston at some stage. Seeing the incredibly banal housing development, I think I’ll give it a miss when I finally organise a genocidal tour of Scotland.
Anything exciting happen while I’ve been earning a living?
It's been rather in-tents.
People getting pegged, or just roped in?
You're a witty guy.
Right, so if I'm reading all the innuendo correctly we have Judy Murray, Stormy Daniels, Prince William, Nicola Sturgeon and Chris Whitty getting upto various shenanigans together in a tent?
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
Anything exciting happen while I’ve been earning a living?
It's been rather in-tents.
People getting pegged, or just roped in?
You're a witty guy.
Right, so if I'm reading all the innuendo correctly we have Judy Murray, Stormy Daniels, Prince William, Nicola Sturgeon and Chris Whitty getting upto various shenanigans together in a tent?
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
And Jennifer Arcuri has to come back into it at some point. I feel like she was seeded in season 2 ahead of a big plot twist in season 4.
Anything exciting happen while I’ve been earning a living?
It's been rather in-tents.
People getting pegged, or just roped in?
You're a witty guy.
Right, so if I'm reading all the innuendo correctly we have Judy Murray, Stormy Daniels, Prince William, Nicola Sturgeon and Chris Whitty getting upto various shenanigans together in a tent?
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
And Jennifer Arcuri has to come back into it at some point. I feel like she was seeded in season 2 ahead of a big plot twist in season 4.
I’m not a fan of the hagiographic praising of Ardern but I do think she did bring some fresh perspectives on leadership which it’s worth discussing. She is however held to a different standard in the international press, it appears to me, who are quite willing to give her a pass on the basis of the aforementioned leadership qualities than assess her record in government which appears to be mixed at best. Interestingly, very similar to how Sturgeon has been treated historically.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
It's a very sensible suggestion, fully worked up by Foster and Partners and far better than the bodged alternative options.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
Dont know what a temporary traffic deck is but sounds like a lot of cash for one. Could get 4 designs for inspirational garden bridges done instead for that budget.
Anything exciting happen while I’ve been earning a living?
It's been rather in-tents.
People getting pegged, or just roped in?
You're a witty guy.
Right, so if I'm reading all the innuendo correctly we have Judy Murray, Stormy Daniels, Prince William, Nicola Sturgeon and Chris Whitty getting upto various shenanigans together in a tent?
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
And Jennifer Arcuri has to come back into it at some point. I feel like she was seeded in season 2 ahead of a big plot twist in season 4.
I thought she was marrying Murdoch in Succession?
I watched the second episode of the new series last night and had forgotten just how stressed and edgy watching it can make you feel. I felt the urge to start throwing witty but cutting insults at my family, in the same way I wanted to do roundhouse kicks after watching the Karate kid.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
Dont know what a temporary traffic deck is but sounds like a lot of cash for one. Could get 4 designs for inspirational garden bridges done instead for that budget.
The bridge is so badly corroded and worn it's in danger of collapsing. The proposed temporary structure allows for vehicles to keep crossing on a new deck while the repair work goes on (possibly for years) to the original bridge below. The alternative is to either close the bridge completely and do the work, or attempt to work around contraflowed traffic, in the style of the palace of Westminster renovations.
Being a curious soul, I'm wondering why the plod have gone in with the heavies and circus now. I was aware that this was on the cards from posts on here a couple of weeks ago. If I knew that, so did Mr Murrell and co, and if there were to have been wrongdoing, and also documents or data that was relevant to the case, the odds of them still being available for the plod to collect now seem rather poor - so what possible reason is there for the plod to have suddenly swooped on a huge evidence gathering raid now?
A new party leader, wanting to definititively pin the mess on his immediate predecessors?
First of all, some good news for the PM. His leader satisfaction ratings improve and Starmer's worsen
Sunak Satisfied 32% (+5) Dissatisfied 54% (-5)
Starmer Satisfied 31% (-3) Dissatisfied 51% (+5)
Little to choose between the two leaders. Starmer figures worth watching.
More people satisfied with Sunak than Starmer SKS Fans please explain
Easy. You've chopped off some significant context to suit your agenda - that was the first Tweet ("First of all..") in 9 or 10 Tweet thread. My explanation to you, as an SKS fan, is thus that you've edited Keiran Pedley's thread (indeed the actual Tweet itself) to make it look worse for Starmer and disingenuously haven't posted a link. To remedy that omission please see below -
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
Dont know what a temporary traffic deck is but sounds like a lot of cash for one. Could get 4 designs for inspirational garden bridges done instead for that budget.
The bridge is so badly corroded and worn it's in danger of collapsing. The proposed temporary structure allows for vehicles to keep crossing on a new deck while the repair work goes on (possibly for years) to the original bridge below. The alternative is to either close the bridge completely and do the work, or attempt to work around contraflowed traffic, in the style of the palace of Westminster renovations.
Ah, so a bit like Tower Bridge used to operate in the olden days. May I suggest we rebrand Hammersmith Bridge as the Greatest Royal Bridge in Majestic London and sell it to Trump for £5bn when he wins the presidency?
Many moons ago, I commented on here that it was unhealthy for a political party's leader and its chief executive to be in a relationship. I was howled at by the usual suspects, who said it was fine.
I guess I was right? (*)
(*) for once...
It was always odd given the potential for the appearance of conflict of interest, which as politicians know but pretend to forget, can still be a problem, even if not as serious as an actual conflict.
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
Anything exciting happen while I’ve been earning a living?
It's been rather in-tents.
People getting pegged, or just roped in?
You're a witty guy.
Right, so if I'm reading all the innuendo correctly we have Judy Murray, Stormy Daniels, Prince William, Nicola Sturgeon and Chris Whitty getting upto various shenanigans together in a tent?
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
If this leads to some sort of implosion in the SNP all it will effectively mean is that the 45% or so of Scots who want independence will organise themselves in some other way. The only predictable result from such a happening is a large increase in Labour MPs from Scotland.
Scottish politics since 2014 has been dominated by the fact that the 45% who voted for Independence voted in subsequent elections on the basis that the Constitutional issue was their most important concern.
If a large proportion of that 45% decide that voting on the basis of other criteria is more important, then Scottish politics becomes a lot more fluid and unpredictable. A Labour resurgence is possible, but it is not inevitable.
It was already pretty fluid compared to elsewhere. Both sides currently playing for time.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
Dont know what a temporary traffic deck is but sounds like a lot of cash for one. Could get 4 designs for inspirational garden bridges done instead for that budget.
The bridge is so badly corroded and worn it's in danger of collapsing. The proposed temporary structure allows for vehicles to keep crossing on a new deck while the repair work goes on (possibly for years) to the original bridge below. The alternative is to either close the bridge completely and do the work, or attempt to work around contraflowed traffic, in the style of the palace of Westminster renovations.
Hammersmith is a Victorian cheap job - it wasn't designed as one of their long term things.
The sensible approach would be to take the whole thing down. The deck is a mess of updates anyway. Easy to create a self supporting deck to replace it within the space. Then put the towers and suspension chains back on as decoration.
The other two - rather more serious ones - are. Note the judge who just refused a motion to stay subpoenas likely related to those cases is a Trump appointee.
CNN says that yesterday's refusal to stay a subpoena may cover Meadows, John Ratcliffe, Robert O’Brien, Stephen Miller, and Dan Scavino.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
What different perspective did she bring? I can only judge by reporting but she seems to have been a fairly standard politician in tone - she had some successes, turned a coalition given into a majority, and had some failures as well.
It's a genuine question - many leaders adopt a tougher or more liberal approach, are more or less compassionate etc. Rarger6thdn suggest any criticism is from ageing right wingers, what was her different way of being?
From afar she looks to be a reasonably successful left wing leader (electorally, I cannot judge her domestic record), not that unusual. What is behind the claim shes transformative in some way?
I'm currently on the scene collecting aerial footage as the Uddingston home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon is being searched by Police Scotland. Officers are currently searching the house, photographing items and moving some to a tent in the garden. #petermurrell [VIDEO]
Anything exciting happen while I’ve been earning a living?
It's been rather in-tents.
People getting pegged, or just roped in?
You're a witty guy.
Right, so if I'm reading all the innuendo correctly we have Judy Murray, Stormy Daniels, Prince William, Nicola Sturgeon and Chris Whitty getting upto various shenanigans together in a tent?
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
What different perspective did she bring? I can only judge by reporting but she seems to have been a fairly standard politician in tone - she had some successes, turned a coalition given into a majority, and had some failures as well.
It's a genuine question - many leaders adopt a tougher or more liberal approach, are more or less compassionate etc. Rarger6thdn suggest any criticism is from ageing right wingers, what was her different way of being?
From afar she looks to be a reasonably successful left wing leader (electorally, I cannot judge her domestic record), not that unusual. What is behind the claim shes transformative in some way?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
Oddly enough, there's another bridge over the Thames causing problems atm. The Oxford to Didcot railway has had to be shut because a bridge over the river has developed a rather significant list. It's likely to be out of action for quite a while, given it appear that one of the main girders has shifted.
The Hammersmith Bridge fiasco reflects poorly on the UK, London and local governments. It should have been sorted yonks ago, and is a classic example of why we can't effing well do stuff in this country.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
Partisan post: looks like this could turn out to be a very good day for the Labour Party, both in Scotland and by extension the UK as a whole.
Not if it means the Tories make gains in Scotland. Makes our job in England and Wales that much harder.
Good morning
Not entirely unexpected news and very much as predicted by our Ayrshire colleague
As far as the political consequences it would seem a considerable win for the union, and labour gaining seats, indeed even possible conservative gains, but swopping SNP seats for labour does not reduce the need for labour to do very well in England and Wales to gain a majority
As I have often said, as have many others, a week is a long time in politics and of course events influence the future in politics as well
It’s weird, but entirely plausible, that the Tories might actually gain a couple of Scottish seats.
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
What different perspective did she bring? I can only judge by reporting but she seems to have been a fairly standard politician in tone - she had some successes, turned a coalition given into a majority, and had some failures as well.
It's a genuine question - many leaders adopt a tougher or more liberal approach, are more or less compassionate etc. Rarger6thdn suggest any criticism is from ageing right wingers, what was her different way of being?
From afar she looks to be a reasonably successful left wing leader (electorally, I cannot judge her domestic record), not that unusual. What is behind the claim shes transformative in some way?
I think it's because the left wing parties of the UK and US have produced zero female heads of government between them, so the contrast is stark.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
Dont know what a temporary traffic deck is but sounds like a lot of cash for one. Could get 4 designs for inspirational garden bridges done instead for that budget.
Self-supporting road inserted inside the arches, aiui. This is the best impression I can find easily:
I used to live quite close - backing onto Chiswick House, and I'm inclined, whatever else happens, to leave private vehicles off it permanently. London needs more foot / wheeling bridges. It's been closed for several years now, and to me that seems far better.
The entrepreneurial bit is that the LDs running Richmond are trying to get money from the Mayor.
Interesting... NATO want UvdL to move from rue de la Loi to Boulevard Leopold III to become SecGen and may extend Stoltenberg's term to fit with the end of her Commission Presidency. Mark Rutte and Pedro Sanchez are also in the frame but NATO want a woman and Kaja Kallas is too mental about Russia. If NATO are leaking UvdL she must be Biden's pick.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
There will be a number of complications to any of this: Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal. Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving. Ecological issues Archaeological issues etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
(1) I'm a millenial not a Boomer (2) I will criticise anyone for self-indulgent narcissism, male or female (3) The way she wears the Maori clothes and starts weeping at her own munificence I found absolute cringe, laced with self-pity
Just like as with Gary Lineker- who's a bloke, by the way - this is what happens to people when they live in self-adulating bubbles. It's been a problem all the way back to the Romans, which is why one of the emperors used to hire someone to follow them around whispering in their ear, "you're only human".
You empathise because you see something of yourself in this and it's exactly the sort of shallow level at which you engage with politics.
One should be venerated for doing something, not being someone, and if you are you shouldn't wallow in your own fawning self-regard, as that is just vanity.
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
It's not just an oars depth. At low tide, the inshore span on the Barnes side is impassable to even a small boat. You can walk through in wellies. and not tall ones at that.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Interesting... NATO want UvdL to move from rue de la Loi to Boulevard Leopold III to become SecGen and may extend Stoltenberg's term to fit with the end of her Commission Presidency. Mark Rutte and Pedro Sanchez are also in the frame but NATO want a woman and Kaja Kallas is too mental about Russia. If NATO are leaking UvdL she must be Biden's pick.
Answer 1: Bloody hell, can’t they find someone with a positive record in government?
Answer 2: If UvdL is Biden’s pick, that says f..kloads about where US foreign policy is heading. China is the new adversary, and Europe had better get used to defending itself against Russia and what’s left of its army.
Partisan post: looks like this could turn out to be a very good day for the Labour Party, both in Scotland and by extension the UK as a whole.
Not if it means the Tories make gains in Scotland. Makes our job in England and Wales that much harder.
Good morning
Not entirely unexpected news and very much as predicted by our Ayrshire colleague
As far as the political consequences it would seem a considerable win for the union, and labour gaining seats, indeed even possible conservative gains, but swopping SNP seats for labour does not reduce the need for labour to do very well in England and Wales to gain a majority
As I have often said, as have many others, a week is a long time in politics and of course events influence the future in politics as well
It’s weird, but entirely plausible, that the Tories might actually gain a couple of Scottish seats.
Lets not get carried away. The visceral hatred - or at best pained disdain - for the government extends north of the wall. Whilst I accept that an SNP / Tory battle is the Shit Sandwich vs Giant Douche battle mocked by South Park, there are other parties.
My new seat post boundary change will be the bulk of the old Gordon seat. So lets get that LibDem revival going - voting yellow as the alternative to the other two works up here as well as in southern England...
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
xx
Accusing others of sexism (whilst actually being very sexist yourself) is clearly far easier for you than engaging with the challenging points that have been raised because they tax your simple and limited mind.
Interesting... NATO want UvdL to move from rue de la Loi to Boulevard Leopold III to become SecGen and may extend Stoltenberg's term to fit with the end of her Commission Presidency. Mark Rutte and Pedro Sanchez are also in the frame but NATO want a woman and Kaja Kallas is too mental about Russia. If NATO are leaking UvdL she must be Biden's pick.
Answer 1: Bloody hell, can’t they find someone with a positive record in government?
Answer 2: If UvdL is Biden’s pick, that says f..kloads about where US foreign policy is heading. China is the new adversary, and Europe had better get used to defending itself against Russia and what’s left of its army.
Buried in the article is another Brexit dividend.
“Then there’s the fact that some capitals would oppose a non-EU candidate, complicating a Wallace candidacy.”
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
Oddly enough, there's another bridge over the Thames causing problems atm. The Oxford to Didcot railway has had to be shut because a bridge over the river has developed a rather significant list. It's likely to be out of action for quite a while, given it appear that one of the main girders has shifted.
The Hammersmith Bridge fiasco reflects poorly on the UK, London and local governments. It should have been sorted yonks ago, and is a classic example of why we can't effing well do stuff in this country.
The country is so creaking and mismatched that the ideal solution would be a grand rebuild and renovation, starting from scratch.
1. Temporarily vacate the country, moving UK residents to a new similarly sized temporary location with well appointed portacabins while building work takes place 2. Demolish the existing UK built environment and reverse significant rural landuse changes. Re-zone farmland, wilderness and semi-wild landscapes 3. Establish new infrastructure to cater for current and 100 year projected population demands, including road and rail, ports and airports, sewage, electricity grid, broadband and pubs 4. Rebuild historical British towns and cities without the ugly bits. Re-install the pre-great fire city of London 5. Move British residents back in and ship off the temporary country to somewhere that needs it
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
How are they EVER going to know how many members they 've got?
BBC: Silvio Berlusconi in intensive care with lung problems.
Covid?
Heart issues, I think the line is. He was discharged from hospital last Thursday after a previous hospital stay, has been re-admitted and is currently in IC
Interesting... NATO want UvdL to move from rue de la Loi to Boulevard Leopold III to become SecGen and may extend Stoltenberg's term to fit with the end of her Commission Presidency. Mark Rutte and Pedro Sanchez are also in the frame but NATO want a woman and Kaja Kallas is too mental about Russia. If NATO are leaking UvdL she must be Biden's pick.
Answer 1: Bloody hell, can’t they find someone with a positive record in government?
Answer 2: If UvdL is Biden’s pick, that says f..kloads about where US foreign policy is heading. China is the new adversary, and Europe had better get used to defending itself against Russia and what’s left of its army.
Buried in the article is another Brexit dividend.
“Then there’s the fact that some capitals would oppose a non-EU candidate, complicating a Wallace candidacy.”
I'm sure there are a fair few eastern EU members who might not be keen on UvdL...
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
This is where they find out the hard way how good their business continuity plan is. Assuming they actually have one.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
It's not just an oars depth. At low tide, the inshore span on the Barnes side is impassable to even a small boat. You can walk through in wellies. and not tall ones at that.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Get some of that "Bailey Bridge Crap" (TM).
Malmesbury, what is the best club to go to if I wanted to start rowing on the Thames?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
There will be a number of complications to any of this: Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal. Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving. Ecological issues Archaeological issues etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
Spending £200m for a temporary bridge in the capital does not look good from the Red Wall.
What percentage of these costs are the actual Engineering?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
It's not just an oars depth. At low tide, the inshore span on the Barnes side is impassable to even a small boat. You can walk through in wellies. and not tall ones at that.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Get some of that "Bailey Bridge Crap" (TM).
You have the Engineers do something on one side of the dead bridge, within a few weeks.
Then you set about fixing the old bridge, which was never designed to last as long as it has, and as you say can be a normal supported bridge with added towers and ‘cables’ for decoration.
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
xx
Golda Meir? "There is no such thing as Palestinians"?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
There will be a number of complications to any of this: Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal. Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving. Ecological issues Archaeological issues etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
Spending £200m for a temporary bridge in the capital does not look good from the Red Wall.
What percentage of these costs are the actual Engineering?
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
This is where they find out the hard way how good their business continuity plan is. Assuming they actually have one.
To quote Yello, oooohhhhh yyyeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhh.
To be more serious, a well set up organisation should have seen the potential for today’s events for some time now. If they can’t have everything back up and running by Monday, that’s a failure.
Are there local elections in Scotland a month from now?
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
This is where they find out the hard way how good their business continuity plan is. Assuming they actually have one.
To quote Yello, oooohhhhh yyyeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhh.
To be more serious, a well set up organisation should have seen the potential for today’s events for some time now. If they can’t have everything back up and running by Monday, that’s a failure.
Are there local elections in Scotland a month from now?
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
This is where they find out the hard way how good their business continuity plan is. Assuming they actually have one.
To quote Yello, oooohhhhh yyyeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhh.
To be more serious, a well set up organisation should have seen the potential for today’s events for some time now. If they can’t have everything back up and running by Monday, that’s a failure.
Are there local elections in Scotland a month from now?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
There will be a number of complications to any of this: Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal. Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving. Ecological issues Archaeological issues etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed dry much cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
Spending £200m for a temporary bridge in the capital does not look good from the Red Wall.
What percentage of these costs are the actual Engineering?
It's none of the Red Wall's business really.
The £200m is coming out of Hammersmith Council and the Mayor’s budgets, rather than from the UK Treasury?
If it’s from the Treasury, then it’s very much every UK resident’s business.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
It's not just an oars depth. At low tide, the inshore span on the Barnes side is impassable to even a small boat. You can walk through in wellies. and not tall ones at that.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Get some of that "Bailey Bridge Crap" (TM).
Malmesbury, what is the best club to go to if I wanted to start rowing on the Thames?
Sent you a direct message. What's your skill level?
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
It's not just an oars depth. At low tide, the inshore span on the Barnes side is impassable to even a small boat. You can walk through in wellies. and not tall ones at that.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Get some of that "Bailey Bridge Crap" (TM).
You have the Engineers do something on one side of the dead bridge, within a few weeks.
Then you set about fixing the old bridge, which was never designed to last as long as it has, and as you say can be a normal supported bridge with added towers and ‘cables’ for decoration.
Given the shallow depth, location etc, a temporary bridge on piers would probably work the best. You could put the piers in the tidal/flow "shadow" of the existing piers.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
There will be a number of complications to any of this: Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal. Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving. Ecological issues Archaeological issues etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
Spending £200m for a temporary bridge in the capital does not look good from the Red Wall.
What percentage of these costs are the actual Engineering?
Writing from the Red Wall, for a London pissitaway story it's not a patch on spending £18bn on renovating the Palace of Westminster.
Partisan post: looks like this could turn out to be a very good day for the Labour Party, both in Scotland and by extension the UK as a whole.
Not if it means the Tories make gains in Scotland. Makes our job in England and Wales that much harder.
Good morning
Not entirely unexpected news and very much as predicted by our Ayrshire colleague
As far as the political consequences it would seem a considerable win for the union, and labour gaining seats, indeed even possible conservative gains, but swopping SNP seats for labour does not reduce the need for labour to do very well in England and Wales to gain a majority
As I have often said, as have many others, a week is a long time in politics and of course events influence the future in politics as well
It’s weird, but entirely plausible, that the Tories might actually gain a couple of Scottish seats.
Lets not get carried away. The visceral hatred - or at best pained disdain - for the government extends north of the wall. Whilst I accept that an SNP / Tory battle is the Shit Sandwich vs Giant Douche battle mocked by South Park, there are other parties.
My new seat post boundary change will be the bulk of the old Gordon seat. So lets get that LibDem revival going - voting yellow as the alternative to the other two works up here as well as in southern England...
Are the Greens going to get painted with the shitty stick by the voters for being the SNP's lackeys?
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
xx
The Power was not an instruction manual, but a work of fiction.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
It's not just an oars depth. At low tide, the inshore span on the Barnes side is impassable to even a small boat. You can walk through in wellies. and not tall ones at that.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Get some of that "Bailey Bridge Crap" (TM).
You have the Engineers do something on one side of the dead bridge, within a few weeks.
Then you set about fixing the old bridge, which was never designed to last as long as it has, and as you say can be a normal supported bridge with added towers and ‘cables’ for decoration.
You do wonder whether listed status is appropriate for some infrastructure.
The two concrete bridges (Rivers Don and Went) on the yet to be upgraded section of the A1 near Doncaster are listed, but nobody sane would want to keep them if the road is eventually turned into a motorway.
They may well be early examples of the type, but really? Like Hammersmith, they weren't built to last hundreds of years.
With my work hat on, and looking at the number of polis outside SNP HQ, I hope their IT manager has really good offsite data backups - because if their servers are going to end up in the back of a Paddy Wagon, their whole office could be shut for weeks.
This is where they find out the hard way how good their business continuity plan is. Assuming they actually have one.
I recall a lot of amusement around covid as various continuity plans did have pandemic planning, but when one hit it was totally ignored and redone anyway.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
I suspect it will go a notch down again after this week, but there is surely now a fairly secure SNP base of those who voted based on national identity in 2015 and who would forgive their side things they would be outraged at if done by the other side. So where is the SNP floor? Possibly as high as 35%?
In that way it mirrors the Conservatives in RUK. Monopolising one side of a cultural and identity divide (Brexit in their case) while multiple parties fight it out for the other side. We've seen how the Tory floor is still probably around 30% despite over a decade of at best underwhelming government.
I assume the Tories also have a floor in Scotland too.
The Lib Dems seem to be nowhere. I think this reflects their uncompromising unionism. If you're going to vote for an uncompromising unionist you might as well vote Tory or Labour. A devo-max Lib Dem might peel off a few of those on the right of the SNP.
Lib Dems are fighting a battle to have a temporary motor traffic deck installed on Grade II* listed Hammersmith Bridge at a cost of £200m,the last I heard.
They could probably save £190m by giving the Royal Engineers a call, have them build a temporary bridge alongside until they can fix the main one.
That was suggested. The Thames at this point is shallow and not especially wide. I row under the bridge, on a weekly basis. I can quite often hit the bottom with the blades, if I get even slightly out of the channel.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
That comment says so much, about why it’s so difficult to get anything done.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The other alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
There will be a number of complications to any of this: Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal. Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving. Ecological issues Archaeological issues etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed dry much cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
Spending £200m for a temporary bridge in the capital does not look good from the Red Wall.
What percentage of these costs are the actual Engineering?
It's none of the Red Wall's business really.
The £200m is coming out of Hammersmith Council and the Mayor’s budgets, rather than from the UK Treasury?
If it’s from the Treasury, then it’s very much every UK resident’s business.
I think it comes from the Mayor's budget. Now the rest of the country could complain the mayor gets too much money in the first place but bear in mind London is hardly a net recipient of government funding. It also has 9 million residents, several times larger than the entire population of the red wall.
What a characteristically bitter male boomer post.
She's speaking from an alien perspective to you because she's a woman in leadership who decided to show another way of being.
Thank god for Jacinda.
What a characteristically bitter sexist trolling post.
Not really.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
xx
A post on sexism that is, well, very sexist.
I am all in favour of greater diversity in general, and particularly more female political leaders, but the idea there should be a sisterhood hegemony and this would be utopian is just ludicrous.
The main reason there have been less evil women leaders in history is because there have been less women leaders. Women are not without vice and therefore by extension less evil than men.
It might be worth you looking up Winnie Mandela as an example and contrast her with her obviously male ex-spouse.
Comments
Ah, yes, it might be helpful.
A lot of ageing blokes on here parrot out tired old tropes, mainly because they are bewildered by alternative perspectives which may broaden their horizons aka. they are threatened by them.
Jacinda showed a different way of being. It's alien to right wing old men.
I'm not in fact saying she was perfect, far from it. But she brought a different perspective and that's a very good thing.
As are women in leadership generally.
The world would be a far better, and far safer, place if all men were banned from leadership for a very long time.
Preferably eternity.
Men are responsible for virtually all the violence, war, and hatred in this world.
xx
https://twitter.com/GarrettHaake/status/1643576629661138944
Arent they just filming the latest version of Celebrity Big Brother?
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1643536915373719553?s=20
First of all, some good news for the PM. His leader satisfaction ratings improve and Starmer's worsen
Sunak
Satisfied 32% (+5)
Dissatisfied 54% (-5)
Starmer
Satisfied 31% (-3)
Dissatisfied 51% (+5)
Little to choose between the two leaders. Starmer figures worth watching.
Now for the no doubt sloooooow progression until we get more action.
https://twitter.com/keiranpedley/status/1643199953735495680
https://thetimes.co.uk/article/starmer-is-taking-99-9-of-women-for-fools-flh5zf237
https://twitter.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1643551638760693761?s=20
The sensible approach would be to take the whole thing down. The deck is a mess of updates anyway. Easy to create a self supporting deck to replace it within the space. Then put the towers and suspension chains back on as decoration.
Note the judge who just refused a motion to stay subpoenas likely related to those cases is a Trump appointee.
CNN says that yesterday's refusal to stay a subpoena may cover Meadows, John Ratcliffe, Robert O’Brien, Stephen Miller, and Dan Scavino.
Those are some incredibly important witnesses--they kind you call at end of investigation (just like Smith is doing in stolen docs case).
https://mobile.twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1643586471750770693
Still think it’ll be a victory, could be a convincing one or a HP, but I’m not sold on apocalyptic level Tory wipeout.
Apparently, legal action from a small number of residents on both sides stopped any such ideas.
The simplest way to deal with that was to compulsorily purchase the houses in question - say at twice the market value. That would deal with any legal challenge or other issue.
It's a genuine question - many leaders adopt a tougher or more liberal approach, are more or less compassionate etc. Rarger6thdn suggest any criticism is from ageing right wingers, what was her different way of being?
From afar she looks to be a reasonably successful left wing leader (electorally, I cannot judge her domestic record), not that unusual. What is behind the claim shes transformative in some way?
I'm currently on the scene collecting aerial footage as the Uddingston home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon is being searched by Police Scotland. Officers are currently searching the house, photographing items and moving some to a tent in the garden. #petermurrell [VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/geoallison/status/1643577168788684801?s=20
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65173281
The Hammersmith Bridge fiasco reflects poorly on the UK, London and local governments. It should have been sorted yonks ago, and is a classic example of why we can't effing well do stuff in this country.
The Mayor and the DoT should have emergency powers in such a situation, and Parliament should be able to give them if they don’t already.
If the river is really an oar’s depth to the side of the bridge, it should only take a few days to have something useable - where useable means a 1.5t axle weight limit, closed between 02:00 and 05:00 and on Sundays, for inspections. They could possibly even plan a raising section to let boats through, a la Tower Bridge.
The alternative is to dredge the river and run a ferry across, a dozen cars at a time.
AIUI it currently takes an hour to cross the river at peak times, following any reasonable diversion route.
I used to live quite close - backing onto Chiswick House, and I'm inclined, whatever else happens, to leave private vehicles off it permanently. London needs more foot / wheeling bridges. It's been closed for several years now, and to me that seems far better.
The entrepreneurial bit is that the LDs running Richmond are trying to get money from the Mayor.
https://www.politico.eu/article/war-nato-struggle-replace-jensstoltenberg-ursula-von-der-leyen/
Piers in river will adjust water flow, potentially causing erosion/deposition issues with structures further up and downstream, as it's tidal.
Services in and around anywhere you need to dig, that will need moving.
Ecological issues
Archaeological issues
etc
But all of these are easily fixable given will, or even ignorable given necessity. And the proposed cost is staggering. We're really pricing ourselves out of doing anything in this country - and I fear the people wanting more legislation are fine with this.
(2) I will criticise anyone for self-indulgent narcissism, male or female
(3) The way she wears the Maori clothes and starts weeping at her own munificence I found absolute cringe, laced with self-pity
Just like as with Gary Lineker- who's a bloke, by the way - this is what happens to people when they live in self-adulating bubbles. It's been a problem all the way back to the Romans, which is why one of the emperors used to hire someone to follow them around whispering in their ear, "you're only human".
You empathise because you see something of yourself in this and it's exactly the sort of shallow level at which you engage with politics.
One should be venerated for doing something, not being someone, and if you are you shouldn't wallow in your own fawning self-regard, as that is just vanity.
The main channel is quite narrow.
The problem is the tidal range.
A ferry is impossible because at low tide, it would get stuck miles from shore. If you dredge a "slot" for the ferry, it would get filled in/torn up by the flow/tide very rapidly.
Get some of that "Bailey Bridge Crap" (TM).
Answer 2: If UvdL is Biden’s pick, that says f..kloads about where US foreign policy is heading. China is the new adversary, and Europe had better get used to defending itself against Russia and what’s left of its army.
Murrell should have hidden in the closet
https://twitter.com/bindelj/status/1643593767356706820?s=20
My new seat post boundary change will be the bulk of the old Gordon seat. So lets get that LibDem revival going - voting yellow as the alternative to the other two works up here as well as in southern England...
“Then there’s the fact that some capitals would oppose a non-EU candidate, complicating a Wallace candidacy.”
1. Temporarily vacate the country, moving UK residents to a new similarly sized temporary location with well appointed portacabins while building work takes place
2. Demolish the existing UK built environment and reverse significant rural landuse changes. Re-zone farmland, wilderness and semi-wild landscapes
3. Establish new infrastructure to cater for current and 100 year projected population demands, including road and rail, ports and airports, sewage, electricity grid, broadband and pubs
4. Rebuild historical British towns and cities without the ugly bits. Re-install the pre-great fire city of London
5. Move British residents back in and ship off the temporary country to somewhere that needs it
(Answer: ask Plod....)
What percentage of these costs are the actual Engineering?
Then you do something like this on the other side, that takes a few months.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070821075528/http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/07/21/10140714.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_Bridge,_Dubai
Then you set about fixing the old bridge, which was never designed to last as long as it has, and as you say can be a normal supported bridge with added towers and ‘cables’ for decoration.
Not unlike the jester of medieval times, ridiculing the high and mighty.
Mr. Walker, are those same capitals opposed to non-EU weapons being sent to Ukraine?
To be more serious, a well set up organisation should have seen the potential for today’s events for some time now. If they can’t have everything back up and running by Monday, that’s a failure.
Are there local elections in Scotland a month from now?
If it’s from the Treasury, then it’s very much every UK resident’s business.
The two concrete bridges (Rivers Don and Went) on the yet to be upgraded section of the A1 near Doncaster are listed, but nobody sane would want to keep them if the road is eventually turned into a motorway.
They may well be early examples of the type, but really? Like Hammersmith, they weren't built to last hundreds of years.
I am all in favour of greater diversity in general, and particularly more female political leaders, but the idea there should be a sisterhood hegemony and this would be utopian is just ludicrous.
The main reason there have been less evil women leaders in history is because there have been less women leaders. Women are not without vice and therefore by extension less evil than men.
It might be worth you looking up Winnie Mandela as an example and contrast her with her obviously male ex-spouse.