Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Three Tory by-election defences in the offing? – politicalbetting.com

1235

Comments

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509

    malcolmg said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    You actually think voters are following this ?
    Exactly not seen or heard a word from it and I am sure majority of the population will be the same.
    Anyhoo hows the world Malc. I see your employer still wants to sack eveyone :smiley:
    They have had plenty of practice Alan. I am very well, they are desperate to keep me , get payrises , bonuses etc and WFH. I am left to get on with it so not bad at all.
    I will have to give it up sometime but keeps me out of trouble.
    How are things with you, is your wife a lady of leisure nowadays. What are toiling at just now.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 52,303
    That's the storyline for the next round of Oprah interviews and media deals sorted.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509
    Leon said:

    Really weird breaking story about Harry and Meghan in a near fatal car chase with paparazzi - in New York

    They are fine, it seems, but WTAF

    https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1658846882284687360?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    They are desperate for publicity , why not just drive along like any other person and give them the finger.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509

    Leon said:

    Really weird breaking story about Harry and Meghan in a near fatal car chase with paparazzi - in New York

    They are fine, it seems, but WTAF

    https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1658846882284687360?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    If it had been London they would have been hemmed in by just stop oil
    At 5 mph maximum it would not have been much of a chase, more like a meander.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,730
    edited May 2023

    That's the storyline for the next round of Oprah interviews and media deals sorted.

    I demand nothing short of the two hour dashcam footage on Netflix
  • jamesdoylejamesdoyle Posts: 790
    HYUFD said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    Currently RefUK are polling about 5%-8%, if he can squeeze some of that Sunak's Tories will be clearly back over 30%. Most current Tory voters will agree with the NatCon speeches too anyway
    Therein lies the dilemma for the Cons, though:
    current Con voters and potential RefUK converts might like this, but then they'll look at the *actual* leadership of the party and wonder why the party isn't actively endorsing the NatCon views, and are in fact espousing something very different. So they'll be put off even more.
    And if Sunak does jump in the NatCon pool, he lose even more from the left wing to the 'protest vote for the LibDems' or 'the Greens seem quite cuddly, really'.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,779
    Leon said:

    "This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers."



    ???!!

    Perhaps I'm being naive, but if Harry and Meghan were being chased by the NYPD, shouldn't they have stopped?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,443
    Leon said:

    "This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers."



    ???!!

    Is that Harry's case for the defence in traffic court?
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509
    Leon said:

    "This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers."



    ???!!

    Obviously Meghan is desperate to get a part in a cop show / thriller.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,504
    Andy_JS said:

    "The Holborn problem" wrt driverless cars.

    "Some of the self-driving car’s problems cannot be solved by technological breakthroughs. For instance, since there is no human operator to blame, the liability for a car that causes an accident rests entirely with the decisions encoded into the hardware by the manufacturer. This has led to what the author and transport commentator Christian Wolmar calls the ‘Holborn problem’. When pedestrians spill en masse on to the streets, as they do outside London’s Holborn station at 5pm every Friday evening, this stops AVs in their tracks. Since the computer can’t be programmed to drive towards a crowd of humans, without potentially bankrupting the manufacturer in a subsequent lawsuit, it simply halts. Traffic behind the vehicle also halts and very soon, the city is gridlocked."

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/17/the-grand-folly-of-self-driving-cars/

    Tesla have fixed that issue: just drive towardsthe pedestrians:

    "Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” sees pedestrian, chooses not to slow down"

    https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/teslas-full-self-driving-sees-pedestrian-chooses-not-to-slow-down/
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,657
    edited May 2023
    HYUFD said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    Currently RefUK are polling about 5%-8%, if he can squeeze some of that Sunak's Tories will be clearly back over 30%. Most current Tory voters will agree with the NatCon speeches too anyway
    Good afternoon

    I don't but then we are very different conservatives

    The weird membership might but not most conservative voters
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509
    viewcode said:

    glw said:

    ping said:

    I don’t understand why British Conservatives seem so intent on fighting the American culture wars.

    These Americans don’t have anything to teach us.

    They have naff all useful to say about business productivity, public transport, housing, healthcare, defence, law and order, climate change, education, or any of the other things that might make the country a better place to live, so instead they go off on some weird tangent that only appeals to nutters.
    The right-wing/conservative movement needs dragging into the 21st century.

    As it is its utterly lost in the past, as that is it's client base. Pensioners who want to keep what they have, and big business.

    There is a way back, but it needs need ideas and a reformat.
    I agree with you, but as I've been at pains to point out, Boomer Pensioners form a rich seam of votes that can still be productively mined for one or two decades to come. When you consider that our Conservative ruling classes are either independently wealthy or have high-paying jobs that are not dependent on the economy (eg lawyers or journalists), they don't even have to look after big business any more.

    As long as the Conservatives appeal to the high and low aspirations of the elderly, they can let the UK become a jobless, factoryless desert of indentured serviture and still win. That's why they can afford to indulge the Culture Wars of the US: they don't have any pressing economic problems to distract them.
    I am a boomer pensioner and could not be persuaded to vote Tory if you were removing my eyelids with a broken bottle. I pay shitloads of tax and get F*** all in return, never had a penny from the state in my life.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509
    Chris said:

    Leon said:

    Really weird breaking story about Harry and Meghan in a near fatal car chase with paparazzi - in New York

    They are fine, it seems, but WTAF

    https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1658846882284687360?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Things must be pretty bad in the USA if a "near-catastrophic" car chase involving multiple "near collisions" can go on for two hours without anyone doing anyone to stop it.
    They usually have the SWAT teams out in 5 minutes.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,081

    Cookie said:

    Carnyx said:

    malcolmg said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    This image sums up the existential crisis facing the Conservative Party over the next few decades.

    I don't see a single way in which the National Conservatism conference has helped moved the British centre-right any closer to addressing this. In fact, the reverse is true.




    https://twitter.com/DrDavidJeffery/status/1658775407389208577?s=20

    They are not able to buy houses. Private housing estates are seed beds for Tory voters and there are too many lying fallow.
    As a former Conservative voter who lies on the Boomer / GenX boundary, I will certainly not be voting for them in the foreseeable future. I regard the current crop as a mixture of fools, populists and English nationalists and none of them have any message that would win my vote.

    Unless they have a radical cleaning out in the next 5 or 10 years, I might never vote Conservative ever again.
    I am more shocked that you ever voted Conservative than would not vote Conservative again.

    I would say you were left of Keir Starmer based on your posts let alone the Tories!
    Your precious Tory party has swung so far to the right that Starmer has plenty of political room and as for the Boomers who are pulling up the ladder behind them, I have nothing but utter contempt for them, the greedy b******ds and I say that was someone born in the early 60s so I am not a millennial or GenZ.

    In fact, I feel that the Millennials and GenZ are being so used and abused by the Boomers that I will happily vote for anything that wrecks the Boomer complacency and that includes the lickspittle MPs who put the grey vote ahead of the country's needs.

    The younger generation deserve better than to be treated as indentured servants serfs!
    Bev, They are lazy whingers , always on the outrage bus blaming someone else for their woes. We had no options , no free government cash etc, you had to get out and work and earn your money, government did not pay for a house , etc etc. We also did not have thousands of excuses as to why we were being discriminated against and that was reason why we were losers. It was sink or swim.
    But at least we had some ladders available to climb up Malc and I knew plenty of lazy whingers in my teens - my generation was not all upwardly mobile workaholics.

    The crime is that the ladders we had have now been removed.
    Particularly university grants and tuition fees. Which need hard work to make the best of, of course.
    My daughter now has a PhD in Chemistry and a debt of about £50K which, at the interest rates for repayment, will be a significant burden on her for a large portion of her working life.
    Congratulations. What is the one thing your daughter knows that no-one else does (unless they read her thesis, of course)?

    Your daughter's debt would not be a debt if they changed a de facto graduate tax into an actual graduate tax, but George Osborne refused to countenance new taxes so she is where she is. Jeremy Hunt should look again, and take away a reason for graduates to vote for the other lot.
    Well it wouldn't be a debt, but she'd be paying more tax. It's not obvious she'd be any better off (though of course details to be determined).
    In effect, the current arrangements amount to something like a 9% tax on income for graduates once you get to a certain level of income (though obviously this then goes down if income increases). I think. Something like that, anyway.
    The point is, students these days have a much more straitened life to look forward to than their predecessors.
    Yes but forget accountancy and look at the psychology of it. People accept paying taxes, whereas a debt can be seriously demotivating, especially for those who cannot afford to pay it off. There are lots of graduates with debts they will never pay off but who still have it hanging over them as a reminder not to vote Conservative. George Osborne was wrong politically as well as economically.
    Well yes, but a tax is pretty demotivating too.
    Neither are good systems.
    Tuition fees are basically far too steep. I kind of support tuition fees being *something* - not least because you value more what you pay for and it will encourage students to think about what they want to do and why, rather than simply do what they were best at at school because university is next on the conveyor (I'm not saying they do that now, but they certainly did when tuition was free) - but not £9k a year for a few lectures a week and membership of a library. About a third of that, at most.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509

    That's the storyline for the next round of Oprah interviews and media deals sorted.

    I demand nothing short of the two hour dashcam footage on Netflix
    Likely it was filming of The Crown and yanks thought it was real.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,961
    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,657
    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    In New York ?
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,516
    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    You actually think voters are following this ?
    Exactly not seen or heard a word from it and I am sure majority of the population will be the same.
    Anyhoo hows the world Malc. I see your employer still wants to sack eveyone :smiley:
    They have had plenty of practice Alan. I am very well, they are desperate to keep me , get payrises , bonuses etc and WFH. I am left to get on with it so not bad at all.
    I will have to give it up sometime but keeps me out of trouble.
    How are things with you, is your wife a lady of leisure nowadays. What are toiling at just now.
    The other half is enjoying retirement and when she meets up with old colleagues doubly so! She looks after our grand daughter and with another one on the way I think she'll have her hands full. My son has moved off to Paris with girlfriend and is getting married next year so that will keep her busy for the next 12 months,

    I finished an assignment at the end of last year and was working up my next one when the guy I was working with had a stroke, Hes got out of hospital about a fortnight ago and I saw him today so he;s just getting back in the swing of things. So I'll see how things go, I can retire if I want to but I still feel like doing anoher job before I do so Ill enjoy the summer and see what turns up,
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,987
    edited May 2023

    HYUFD said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    Currently RefUK are polling about 5%-8%, if he can squeeze some of that Sunak's Tories will be clearly back over 30%. Most current Tory voters will agree with the NatCon speeches too anyway
    Therein lies the dilemma for the Cons, though:
    current Con voters and potential RefUK converts might like this, but then they'll look at the *actual* leadership of the party and wonder why the party isn't actively endorsing the NatCon views, and are in fact espousing something very different. So they'll be put off even more.
    And if Sunak does jump in the NatCon pool, he lose even more from the left wing to the 'protest vote for the LibDems' or 'the Greens seem quite cuddly, really'.
    He won't, most of the leftwing and anti Brexit wing of the Tories are already voting LD or Starmer Labour anyway, it is his right flank and those who voted Tory in 2019 but are now DK or RefUK he needs to shore up to get back to 30-35% even if he is still unlikely to win the next election
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,388
    What has Meghan actually done to win a "Women Of Vision" award? 🤔
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,177
    Chris said:

    Leon said:

    "This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers."



    ???!!

    Perhaps I'm being naive, but if Harry and Meghan were being chased by the NYPD, shouldn't they have stopped?
    After about 10 minutes, the NYPD would have been using anti-material rifles to destroy the car. Particularly since it would have been a clear case of Being In An Expensive Car While Black.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,779

    That's the storyline for the next round of Oprah interviews and media deals sorted.

    I demand nothing short of the two hour dashcam footage on Netflix
    Good news; Harry recorded it on his "cell phone":
    https://pagesix.com/2023/05/17/prince-harry-meghan-markle-shaken-after-horror-paparazzi-chase/
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,779
    GIN1138 said:

    What has Meghan actually done to win a "Women Of Vision" award? 🤔

    She's not registered blind.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    Personally I’d have got a bit bored after about 90 minutes of this “relentless 2 hour car chase around New York”

    Why not just stop for a pizza? Take a break?
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,504

    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    "There were three of us in that limousine, so it was a bit crowded."
    If their egos were with them, they would have required five A380s...
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424
    Chris said:

    GIN1138 said:

    What has Meghan actually done to win a "Women Of Vision" award? 🤔

    She's not registered blind.
    You sure? Look at who she married... :smiley:
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,987
    Chris said:

    That's the storyline for the next round of Oprah interviews and media deals sorted.

    I demand nothing short of the two hour dashcam footage on Netflix
    Good news; Harry recorded it on his "cell phone":
    https://pagesix.com/2023/05/17/prince-harry-meghan-markle-shaken-after-horror-paparazzi-chase/
    Tom Holland tipped to play him in the movie, Meghan will play herself
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,424
    Here is an excerpt of the historical document depicting the chase

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

    The track is "Money Run" by Harry Gregson-Williams, who also did the score for Dredd[1]. It is very good for keeping your hindbrain happy whilst your forebrain is working... :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKLW-9Amqn8

    [1] the good one with Karl Urban. Not the differently-good one with Stallone
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 5,037

    ping said:

    I don’t understand why British Conservatives seem so intent on fighting the American culture wars.

    These Americans don’t have anything to teach us.

    It's an analogue party in a digital age.

    The members are quite frankly pining for a world that never existed and will never exist and the Tory Party is pandering to them.

    Take WFH, they view it as skiving, not realising it boosts productivity when you're not spending 3 hours a day commuting.

    It's great for mental health, for example, you can work with your kids sat on your lap, or you can take a 20 min break just to spend time with your family.

    Take me this morning, I woke up at 6 this morning, started my breakfast at 6.30 in front of my work laptop, so it gives you so much latitude.

    The work gets done quicker.
    The newspaper owners truly hate it.
    There was a report that this, above all other recent changes, caused the greatest lobbying of Tory MPs and the Government. If people don't read the paper on their way to work, or pick up a paper en route to work, the danger to the newspapers is too great to accept.
    Thus the Mail's crusade against WFH and desperation to blame everything on it.
    They do have a demographic in their readership who, as mentioned earlier, assume anything that wasn't the way it was when they were working is wrong or skiving or woke or just plain dangerous.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,558
    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    Surprising that 20 hours or so after the event there isn’t wall to wall coverage from cell phones of some of the near catastrophic collisions over the two hours in one the of busiest cities in the world.

    Perhaps calling paps to catch you randomly going for sushi with Hollywood stars and accepting a non-award in NY isn’t the best thing when you want your privacy.

    In other coincidental news Princess Catherine of Wales has been getting really positive coverage around the world recently.
  • UnpopularUnpopular Posts: 888
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    Currently RefUK are polling about 5%-8%, if he can squeeze some of that Sunak's Tories will be clearly back over 30%. Most current Tory voters will agree with the NatCon speeches too anyway
    Therein lies the dilemma for the Cons, though:
    current Con voters and potential RefUK converts might like this, but then they'll look at the *actual* leadership of the party and wonder why the party isn't actively endorsing the NatCon views, and are in fact espousing something very different. So they'll be put off even more.
    And if Sunak does jump in the NatCon pool, he lose even more from the left wing to the 'protest vote for the LibDems' or 'the Greens seem quite cuddly, really'.
    He won't, most of the leftwing and anti Brexit wing of the Tories are already voting LD or Starmer Labour anyway, it is his right flank and those who voted Tory in 2019 but are now DK or RefUK he needs to shore up to get back to 30-35% even if he is still unlikely to win the next election
    Anecdotally there seem to be a good number of anti-Boris Tories who seem to be flirting with the 'Rishi isn't so bad, why take the risk with Labour?'

    Going NazCon would alienate them all over again. Plus, I don't think Green-Card, Singapore-on-Thames Rishi is a good enough actor to pull it off.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,779
    boulay said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    Surprising that 20 hours or so after the event there isn’t wall to wall coverage from cell phones of some of the near catastrophic collisions over the two hours in one the of busiest cities in the world.
    Obviously because there's a conspiracy orchestrated from Buckingham Palace. What more evidence could anyone want?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,914
    HYUFD said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    Currently RefUK are polling about 5%-8%, if he can squeeze some of that Sunak's Tories will be clearly back over 30%. Most current Tory voters will agree with the NatCon speeches too anyway
    Do you? My one nation Tory friend.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,914
    Chris said:

    Leon said:

    Really weird breaking story about Harry and Meghan in a near fatal car chase with paparazzi - in New York

    They are fine, it seems, but WTAF

    https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1658846882284687360?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Things must be pretty bad in the USA if a "near-catastrophic" car chase involving multiple "near collisions" can go on for two hours without anyone doing anyone to stop it.
    I think OJ Simpson might have been lead driver on Harry's security detail.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,690

    TimS said:

    TimS said:

    TimS said:

    Want to fix the housing crisis?

    Build new council homes, introduce rent caps and end the scourge of empty homes.

    We need housing for public good, not private profit.

    = Jeremy Corbyn this morning

    Rental caps have very mixed results - they tend to create cliff edges in the market

    We have a much lower rate of empty homes in the UK than just about anywhere else, not surprisingly given the shortage of housing and the price of property.

    What we need much more supply. Doesn't matter if it's multi-million pound penthouses or social housing, because the price of property is driven by supply vs demand, pure and simple. And we need most new supply in locations where it's currently lowest or demand is highest.
    In London, for example, there are 34K empty properties. Out of 3.7 million properties.

    So literally 99% occupancy.
    What do we mean by empty? Aren't there homes all across the plushest areas of London bought for investment with no-one there.
    Very few by international standards. There will always be some redundancy in any sort of capital stock. But redundancy in housing isn't the silver bullet here - the scale of the issue is too small to justify swingeing intervention (and bureaucracy) needed to fill up the few empty homes.

    Just need to build more units. And more infrastructure to support them.
    Apparently there are not 'very few'

    https://www.cityam.com/15bn-worth-of-london-homes-sit-empty-as-londoners-squabble-over-supply/
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-11973211/Londons-homes-65-properties-plush-city-centre-unoccupied.html
    Very few but very valuable. Foreign buyers owning multi-million pound houses that are left empty is a known factor. Unless you plan to convert them all into small flats, it is largely irrelevant.
    I don't think that is true. Just look at the table in the Mail article. Unoccupied properties vary between 8 and 30% for the inner London boroughs listed. That is based on numbers of properties, not their value.
    Still very few by international standards - see article attached (which argues we need MORE empty homes):

    https://www.centreforcities.org/blog/why-we-need-more-empty-homes-to-end-the-housing-crisis/

    Second lowest rate in Europe after Poland apparently.

    Drive around rural France and Italy and you're assailed by whole villages of empty and abandoned houses, some still maintained and others crumbling slowly into ruins. Even whole small towns in parts of the mezzogiorno. Empty homes are a result of too much supply and not enough demand. We have the opposite problem.
    Your stats dont include second homes. So a Russian oligarch owning a dacha outside Moscow and five empty London flats he registers as second homes adds zero to the numbers.
    The statistical significance of this Russian oligarch is zero.

    It may be annoying, and it may be worth doing something about, for it has turned some pockets of London into dead-zones, but as a serious factor in the broader housing market it is not relevant.
    There are 8 million more properties in France for a similar population, by the way.
    Well France is more than twice the size of the UK so the land pressures are no where near as severe.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,870
    Leon said:

    He’s Prince Harry. Why didn’t he stop after 5 minutes. Call the police. Tell them “remember what happened to my mom, could you escort us to our hotel”

    I imagine the NYPD wouid have preferred to do that than have their officers “nearly killed” in a 2 hour car chase

    The whole story is so surreal it’s like someone hacked their account to make them look ludicrous

    It's all a bit Jussie Smollett.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 43,401

    Andy_JS said:

    "The Holborn problem" wrt driverless cars.

    "Some of the self-driving car’s problems cannot be solved by technological breakthroughs. For instance, since there is no human operator to blame, the liability for a car that causes an accident rests entirely with the decisions encoded into the hardware by the manufacturer. This has led to what the author and transport commentator Christian Wolmar calls the ‘Holborn problem’. When pedestrians spill en masse on to the streets, as they do outside London’s Holborn station at 5pm every Friday evening, this stops AVs in their tracks. Since the computer can’t be programmed to drive towards a crowd of humans, without potentially bankrupting the manufacturer in a subsequent lawsuit, it simply halts. Traffic behind the vehicle also halts and very soon, the city is gridlocked."

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/17/the-grand-folly-of-self-driving-cars/

    Not just Holborn. Any schoolchildren looking for a laugh or protestor looking for a cause will soon be standing in front of driverless cars.
    Just ask R. Daneel Olivaw.
  • SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,780

    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    In New York ?
    I was about to say. How can you get up to any speed in Manhattan??
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    carnforth said:

    Leon said:

    He’s Prince Harry. Why didn’t he stop after 5 minutes. Call the police. Tell them “remember what happened to my mom, could you escort us to our hotel”

    I imagine the NYPD wouid have preferred to do that than have their officers “nearly killed” in a 2 hour car chase

    The whole story is so surreal it’s like someone hacked their account to make them look ludicrous

    It's all a bit Jussie Smollett.
    If it is true then of course I feel genuinely sorry for them. But I simply don’t see how it can be true. There are a zillion things that don’t make sense
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,690

    That's the storyline for the next round of Oprah interviews and media deals sorted.

    Conveniently occuring when Harry is back in court trying to get the UK tax payer to give him police protection.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 5,037
    Carnyx said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "The Holborn problem" wrt driverless cars.

    "Some of the self-driving car’s problems cannot be solved by technological breakthroughs. For instance, since there is no human operator to blame, the liability for a car that causes an accident rests entirely with the decisions encoded into the hardware by the manufacturer. This has led to what the author and transport commentator Christian Wolmar calls the ‘Holborn problem’. When pedestrians spill en masse on to the streets, as they do outside London’s Holborn station at 5pm every Friday evening, this stops AVs in their tracks. Since the computer can’t be programmed to drive towards a crowd of humans, without potentially bankrupting the manufacturer in a subsequent lawsuit, it simply halts. Traffic behind the vehicle also halts and very soon, the city is gridlocked."

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/17/the-grand-folly-of-self-driving-cars/

    Not just Holborn. Any schoolchildren looking for a laugh or protestor looking for a cause will soon be standing in front of driverless cars.
    Just ask R. Daneel Olivaw.
    Sadly, you can't ask R. Jander Panell
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,657

    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    In New York ?
    I was about to say. How can you get up to any speed in Manhattan??
    Whenever I have been in New York it is gridlocked
  • TimSTimS Posts: 13,217
    The Harry and Meghan car chase would have been a bit stop start if they were all in self driving cars.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,081
    Surprisingly there is a local by-election today - Con defence in Stroud. Should be a Green gain.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,657
    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
  • SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,780
    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    Sounds very dodgy and dangerous, and not on one one side....so instead of going straight to their destination, they drove around the streets for hours??
  • jamesdoylejamesdoyle Posts: 790

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    Leon does. Oh wait, you said REAL world.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,956
    edited May 2023
    viewcode said:

    Here is an excerpt of the historical document depicting the chase

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

    The track is "Money Run" by Harry Gregson-Williams, who also did the score for Dredd[1]. It is very good for keeping your hindbrain happy whilst your forebrain is working... :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKLW-9Amqn8

    [1] the good one with Karl Urban. Not the differently-good one with Stallone

    Even this famous run across Paris only lasts 8 minutes.

    C’était un rendez-vous (1976)
    https://vimeo.com/305211187
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    viewcode said:

    glw said:

    ping said:

    I don’t understand why British Conservatives seem so intent on fighting the American culture wars.

    These Americans don’t have anything to teach us.

    They have naff all useful to say about business productivity, public transport, housing, healthcare, defence, law and order, climate change, education, or any of the other things that might make the country a better place to live, so instead they go off on some weird tangent that only appeals to nutters.
    The right-wing/conservative movement needs dragging into the 21st century.

    As it is its utterly lost in the past, as that is it's client base. Pensioners who want to keep what they have, and big business.

    There is a way back, but it needs need ideas and a reformat.
    I agree with you, but as I've been at pains to point out, Boomer Pensioners form a rich seam of votes that can still be productively mined for one or two decades to come. When you consider that our Conservative ruling classes are either independently wealthy or have high-paying jobs that are not dependent on the economy (eg lawyers or journalists), they don't even have to look after big business any more.

    As long as the Conservatives appeal to the high and low aspirations of the elderly, they can let the UK become a jobless, factoryless desert of indentured serviture and still win. That's why they can afford to indulge the Culture Wars of the US: they don't have any pressing economic problems to distract them.
    I think there is a looming disaster in the private rented sector. Landlords are quitting the market due to more and more regulation. This plus net migration at 1 million and little housebuilding - is going to lead to a big homelessness problem, I think it will become a massive story over the next year.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,888
    As always the best way of keeping something from your children is to headline it for an audience of millions on the BBC website with a story like this:

    "Busted's Matt Willis: I’m nervous about my kids seeing my drug and alcohol past"


  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I think people will quickly come to their own conclusions about this situation.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,504
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I'm very cynical about this story. But logic doesn't necessarily come into it. When it comes to getting *that* photo, it's a competition between the pap. And for some idiots, the more risk they take, the better the bragging rights - and potential income if you get *that* shot.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,779
    Leon said:


    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The extent of the anti-Harry conspiracy is really shocking.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,504
    glw said:

    viewcode said:

    Here is an excerpt of the historical document depicting the chase

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

    The track is "Money Run" by Harry Gregson-Williams, who also did the score for Dredd[1]. It is very good for keeping your hindbrain happy whilst your forebrain is working... :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKLW-9Amqn8

    [1] the good one with Karl Urban. Not the differently-good one with Stallone

    Even this famous run across Paris only lasts 8 minutes.

    C’était un rendez-vous (1976)
    https://vimeo.com/305211187
    Or this one from the superlative 'Taxi' - also good because it includes civil engineering...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_to9svakV8
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,981
    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    Chris said:

    Leon said:


    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The extent of the anti-Harry conspiracy is really shocking.
    You’d think the NYPD might have something to say given that two of their cars were supposedly
    involved and all this happened on the streets of NYC for two hours AND a police officer was “nearly killed”
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,081
    The top 3 in the Giro were all involved in the same crash today. G and Primoz carried on to finish in the peloton but Tao was taken off to hospital.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,961

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    Who?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 52,303
    I half expect the tragedy of Prince Harry to end up with Meghan goading him into murdering a paparazzo to save her from the same fate as his mother.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I'm very cynical about this story. But logic doesn't necessarily come into it. When it comes to getting *that* photo, it's a competition between the pap. And for some idiots, the more risk they take, the better the bragging rights - and potential income if you get *that* shot.
    But what is “the shot” here? It’s Harry and Meghan
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,136

    Jeremy Corbyn
    If you believe in women's suffrage, you believe in the right to protest.

    If you oppose apartheid, you believe in the right to protest.

    If you think our children deserve a liveable future, you believe in the right to protest.

    Defend our freedoms. Repeal the Public Order Bill!

    Is it me or does Corbyn just believe in the right to protest for people he agrees with?

    The test for defending freedom is surely that you believe in the right to protest for people you don't agree with.

    I wonder if he believes in the right to protest for white supremacists, gun nuts and terfs?
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    What were the odds on that?
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,779
    Leon said:

    Chris said:

    Leon said:


    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The extent of the anti-Harry conspiracy is really shocking.
    You’d think the NYPD might have something to say given that two of their cars were supposedly
    involved and all this happened on the streets of NYC for two hours AND a police officer was “nearly killed”
    Exactly.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,981
    DougSeal said:

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    What were the odds on that?
    1/232
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    Chris said:

    Leon said:

    Chris said:

    Leon said:


    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The extent of the anti-Harry conspiracy is really shocking.
    You’d think the NYPD might have something to say given that two of their cars were supposedly
    involved and all this happened on the streets of NYC for two hours AND a police officer was “nearly killed”
    Exactly.
    CNN and NBC are claiming there is some verification from “law enforcement officials” but nothing concrete

    The whole thing is quite bizarre. Maybe it is a mix of genuine pap misbehaviour with the couple juicing up the story to make it more Diana-like
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    DougSeal said:

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    What were the odds on that?
    1/232
    I bet he didn't see it coming
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,081

    ping said:

    I don’t understand why British Conservatives seem so intent on fighting the American culture wars.

    These Americans don’t have anything to teach us.

    It's an analogue party in a digital age.

    The members are quite frankly pining for a world that never existed and will never exist and the Tory Party is pandering to them.

    Take WFH, they view it as skiving, not realising it boosts productivity when you're not spending 3 hours a day commuting.

    It's great for mental health, for example, you can work with your kids sat on your lap, or you can take a 20 min break just to spend time with your family.

    Take me this morning, I woke up at 6 this morning, started my breakfast at 6.30 in front of my work laptop, so it gives you so much latitude.

    The work gets done quicker.
    The newspaper owners truly hate it.
    There was a report that this, above all other recent changes, caused the greatest lobbying of Tory MPs and the Government. If people don't read the paper on their way to work, or pick up a paper en route to work, the danger to the newspapers is too great to accept.
    Thus the Mail's crusade against WFH and desperation to blame everything on it.
    They do have a demographic in their readership who, as mentioned earlier, assume anything that wasn't the way it was when they were working is wrong or skiving or woke or just plain dangerous.
    And yet it's not entirely an illusion. In my experience, white collar bosses, while embracing a certain amount of WFH, also wish their employees were largely where they could see them. This isn't because they don't think their employees are productive from elsewhere - it's that without the interactivity which comes with being in an office, there is a greater tendency to miss details, go off on tangents, stall through being unable to get hold of people, etc. Anecdotally, more organisations than not seems to be trying to find ways of encouraging greater attendance from their staff.
    I don't necessarily think this needs fixing by government, mind.
    (The great challenge with WFH is for cities: are they still relevant? My view is that this challenge might be the making of cities: if people can choose whether or not to go to them, cities have to be significantly more attractive places. I think this is a challenge that can be met.)

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 51,177
    Chris said:

    Leon said:

    Chris said:

    Leon said:


    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The extent of the anti-Harry conspiracy is really shocking.
    You’d think the NYPD might have something to say given that two of their cars were supposedly
    involved and all this happened on the streets of NYC for two hours AND a police officer was “nearly killed”
    Exactly.
    Given the NYPD was involved - nobody was shot?
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,843

    Lord Finkelstein

    A friend of mine was working as an employment lawyer a few years back when he was approached by a very plausible man who wanted his help in taking action against Boots, the chemist, for wrongful dismissal.

    The man’s tale did, indeed, seem actionable. My friend organised a second meeting and noted down all he was told. Then, as he was bringing matters to a conclusion, his new client said he had one more thing to add.

    “They are following me,” he said. My friend was startled. “What do you mean, ‘They are following you’? Who is? Boots?”

    Yes, Boots, replied the client. “I see them everywhere. With their plastic bags.”

    I am reminded of my lawyer friend every time I hear Conservatives talk about “the Blob” and how it is frustrating their political intent. For there was a time when such talk was plausible and actionable — only for it to become a deeply eccentric conspiracy theory.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blaming-the-blob-is-an-electoral-dead-end-wvlh0hlth

    Magnificent!
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,981
    I'm glad she doesn't work for me.

    An IT worker sued for sexual harassment after her “rich and powerful” male boss marked parts of an email where he wanted more information with “xx”, which she thought were kisses.

    Karina Gasparova, a project manager, also claimed Aleksander Goulandris’s use of question marks in the same message were code for asking her when she would be “ready to engage in sexual acts”.

    ‌In a number of other innocent work-related incidents where she would find a “sinister motive”, Ms Gasparova thought his renaming a file with his initials AJG was an acronym for A Jumbo Genital.

    ‌Ms Gasparova took her employer, the paperless documents firm essDOCS, to the tribunal claiming sexual harassment.

    ‌But now a judge has thrown out her case, ruling that she has a “skewed perception of everyday events” and regularly misinterpreted “innocuous” interactions.

    The tribunal, held in central London, heard she started working at essDOCS, which is based in the capital, as an IT project manager in November 2019 under Mr Goulandris, the co-head and former chief executive.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/17/tech-worker-sued-boss-kisses-sexual-harassment/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    Cookie said:

    ping said:

    I don’t understand why British Conservatives seem so intent on fighting the American culture wars.

    These Americans don’t have anything to teach us.

    It's an analogue party in a digital age.

    The members are quite frankly pining for a world that never existed and will never exist and the Tory Party is pandering to them.

    Take WFH, they view it as skiving, not realising it boosts productivity when you're not spending 3 hours a day commuting.

    It's great for mental health, for example, you can work with your kids sat on your lap, or you can take a 20 min break just to spend time with your family.

    Take me this morning, I woke up at 6 this morning, started my breakfast at 6.30 in front of my work laptop, so it gives you so much latitude.

    The work gets done quicker.
    The newspaper owners truly hate it.
    There was a report that this, above all other recent changes, caused the greatest lobbying of Tory MPs and the Government. If people don't read the paper on their way to work, or pick up a paper en route to work, the danger to the newspapers is too great to accept.
    Thus the Mail's crusade against WFH and desperation to blame everything on it.
    They do have a demographic in their readership who, as mentioned earlier, assume anything that wasn't the way it was when they were working is wrong or skiving or woke or just plain dangerous.
    And yet it's not entirely an illusion. In my experience, white collar bosses, while embracing a certain amount of WFH, also wish their employees were largely where they could see them. This isn't because they don't think their employees are productive from elsewhere - it's that without the interactivity which comes with being in an office, there is a greater tendency to miss details, go off on tangents, stall through being unable to get hold of people, etc. Anecdotally, more organisations than not seems to be trying to find ways of encouraging greater attendance from their staff.
    I don't necessarily think this needs fixing by government, mind.
    (The great challenge with WFH is for cities: are they still relevant? My view is that this challenge might be the making of cities: if people can choose whether or not to go to them, cities have to be significantly more attractive places. I think this is a challenge that can be met.)

    The young guys on my recent Hurghada assignment say they’ve already noticed that the people who go to the office more often are the ones getting promotion quicker

    They look keener and they develop better networks and they have sharper ideas from actual interaction. Plus it’s human nature to promote people you’ve actually like and met rather than faces you only ever see on a screen

    That’s what will kill much WFH. The office goers will get ahead faster
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,223

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    Well I'm glad the title is over. I had a feeling he would be banned just before they played Man City rather than after the season had finished.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,843

    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    The car chase ended when finally, Harry and Meghan caught up with the Paparazzi and forced them to take their pictures.
    They'd do anything to continue the hate theme v the paparazzi.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,443

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    Banned for betting offences, which is ironic given he plays for Brentford.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 23,156

    Lord Finkelstein

    A friend of mine was working as an employment lawyer a few years back when he was approached by a very plausible man who wanted his help in taking action against Boots, the chemist, for wrongful dismissal.

    The man’s tale did, indeed, seem actionable. My friend organised a second meeting and noted down all he was told. Then, as he was bringing matters to a conclusion, his new client said he had one more thing to add.

    “They are following me,” he said. My friend was startled. “What do you mean, ‘They are following you’? Who is? Boots?”

    Yes, Boots, replied the client. “I see them everywhere. With their plastic bags.”

    I am reminded of my lawyer friend every time I hear Conservatives talk about “the Blob” and how it is frustrating their political intent. For there was a time when such talk was plausible and actionable — only for it to become a deeply eccentric conspiracy theory.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blaming-the-blob-is-an-electoral-dead-end-wvlh0hlth

    These people have been in power 13 years, in a governing party that wins the clear majority of the general elections it contests. They appoint people to key roles in important institutions. Many of them have been part of the political establishment since their teens.

    And they expect us to believe they are not the establishment. And that there is a completely separate establishment holding them back and making them ineffectual. And that we should vote for them despite them telling us how ineffectual they are.......
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,136
    Leon said:

    Chris said:

    Leon said:

    Chris said:

    Leon said:


    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The extent of the anti-Harry conspiracy is really shocking.
    You’d think the NYPD might have something to say given that two of their cars were supposedly
    involved and all this happened on the streets of NYC for two hours AND a police officer was “nearly killed”
    Exactly.
    CNN and NBC are claiming there is some verification from “law enforcement officials” but nothing concrete

    The whole thing is quite bizarre. Maybe it is a mix of genuine pap misbehaviour with the couple juicing up the story to make it more Diana-like
    It's all part of their We Want Privacy world tour, book launch and Instagram blitz.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,491
    Not very surprising, but Americans who watched right-wing media less likely to get vaccinated against COVID-19: https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e45417
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,694
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I'm very cynical about this story. But logic doesn't necessarily come into it. When it comes to getting *that* photo, it's a competition between the pap. And for some idiots, the more risk they take, the better the bragging rights - and potential income if you get *that* shot.
    But what is “the shot” here? It’s Harry and Meghan
    Surely just AI it.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,277
    edited May 2023
    Sunak gave examples of why Brexit is working . He cited cheaper beer and sanitary products ! Yippeee!

    So if you’re a beer swilling woman with heavy periods rejoice .

  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,679
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I'm very cynical about this story. But logic doesn't necessarily come into it. When it comes to getting *that* photo, it's a competition between the pap. And for some idiots, the more risk they take, the better the bragging rights - and potential income if you get *that* shot.
    But what is “the shot” here? It’s Harry and Meghan
    But use your noggin. It'd be an action shot - them being chased. Car chases are thrilling spectacles. Hence why they are so often crowbarred into films. The Italian Job? Bullitt? No end of Bond movies? So, imagine that sort of footage but for real and with H & M starring in it. Of course the paps will fall over themselves to secure something like that. It'd be worth a shedload. The question is, did they actually manage to get any footage of the actual chase? If none emerges it'll indicate that they failed. Which makes the whole thing even more of a scandal when you think about it.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,987
    edited May 2023
    New Yougov after Starmer's plans to allow more development on the greenbelt.

    'Would you support or oppose allowing more housing to be built on Green Belt land?

    Support: 23%
    Oppose: 59%'

    65% of Conservative voters opposed, 67% of Leavers opposed, 65% of LD voters opposed, even 60% of Labour voters and 60% of Remainers opposed

    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1658839136315273216?s=20
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,662
    Leon said:

    "This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers."



    ???!!

    And yet not a single bit of mobile phone video...

  • mickydroymickydroy Posts: 316

    Lord Finkelstein

    A friend of mine was working as an employment lawyer a few years back when he was approached by a very plausible man who wanted his help in taking action against Boots, the chemist, for wrongful dismissal.

    The man’s tale did, indeed, seem actionable. My friend organised a second meeting and noted down all he was told. Then, as he was bringing matters to a conclusion, his new client said he had one more thing to add.

    “They are following me,” he said. My friend was startled. “What do you mean, ‘They are following you’? Who is? Boots?”

    Yes, Boots, replied the client. “I see them everywhere. With their plastic bags.”

    I am reminded of my lawyer friend every time I hear Conservatives talk about “the Blob” and how it is frustrating their political intent. For there was a time when such talk was plausible and actionable — only for it to become a deeply eccentric conspiracy theory.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blaming-the-blob-is-an-electoral-dead-end-wvlh0hlth

    These people have been in power 13 years, in a governing party that wins the clear majority of the general elections it contests. They appoint people to key roles in important institutions. Many of them have been part of the political establishment since their teens.

    And they expect us to believe they are not the establishment. And that there is a completely separate establishment holding them back and making them ineffectual. And that we should vote for them despite them telling us how ineffectual they are.......
    You cannot get more establishment than the Tory party, they run everything, 80% of the written press in their pocket, two TV channels regurgitating their garbage, they even got their longed for brexit, you would assume everything would be going swimmingly.But no they are rotten to the core, and couldnt run a bath, slowly but surely they are also running out of people to blame, apart from themselves obviously
  • LeonLeon Posts: 56,606
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I'm very cynical about this story. But logic doesn't necessarily come into it. When it comes to getting *that* photo, it's a competition between the pap. And for some idiots, the more risk they take, the better the bragging rights - and potential income if you get *that* shot.
    But what is “the shot” here? It’s Harry and Meghan
    But use your noggin. It'd be an action shot - them being chased. Car chases are thrilling spectacles. Hence why they are so often crowbarred into films. The Italian Job? Bullitt? No end of Bond movies? So, imagine that sort of footage but for real and with H & M starring in it. Of course the paps will fall over themselves to secure something like that. It'd be worth a shedload. The question is, did they actually manage to get any footage of the actual chase? If none emerges it'll indicate that they failed. Which makes the whole thing even more of a scandal when you think about it.
    Hmmm. I’m decidedly dubious but who knows

    We will have proof shortly - if it happened there will be hundreds of images and videos from New Yorkers with their phone cameras. After all, this dramatic near fatal chase went on around Manhattan for TWO HOURS

    If these images don’t emerge then the whole thing - or most of it - is bullshit
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,558
    edited May 2023
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I mean, WHAT?


    “Traffic violations were said to have included driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, reversing down a one-way street, driving while on the phone, driving while photographing and illegally blocking a moving vehicle.

    It was claimed that individuals involved were confronted by uniformed police multiple times and sped off to continue the pursuit.

    The family was staying at a private residence and did not want to compromise the security of their friend’s home, a source said. There is said to be footage taken from security along with other evidence to support the timeline and circumstances.

    A spokesperson for the NYPD said: “We have no information.””

    The media are utterly obsessed by the story

    Does anyone in the real world care one bit about it
    I simply don’t believe the “paparazzi” would risk their own and multiple other lives to drive crazily around nyc all to get images of the most photographed couple in the world….in a limo

    What’s the value? Why take the risk? Who is going to buy these photos for $3m? It’s Harry and Meghan in a car

    So why the chase??

    Diana was involved in a scandalous relationship leaving a Parisian hotel late at night with her new lover and her driver was drunk and the images WERE valuable

    This is entirely different

    I'm very cynical about this story. But logic doesn't necessarily come into it. When it comes to getting *that* photo, it's a competition between the pap. And for some idiots, the more risk they take, the better the bragging rights - and potential income if you get *that* shot.
    But what is “the shot” here? It’s Harry and Meghan
    But use your noggin. It'd be an action shot - them being chased. Car chases are thrilling spectacles. Hence why they are so often crowbarred into films. The Italian Job? Bullitt? No end of Bond movies? So, imagine that sort of footage but for real and with H & M starring in it. Of course the paps will fall over themselves to secure something like that. It'd be worth a shedload. The question is, did they actually manage to get any footage of the actual chase? If none emerges it'll indicate that they failed. Which makes the whole thing even more of a scandal when you think about it.
    The paps tried to get photos of me, Liz Hurley and Salma Hayek having a Nick Palmer but they didn’t get any which by your logic means they failed whereas the more cynical PB’ers might say my tryst never actually happened. Which is a true scandal.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,987
    'I believe the Conservatives need to liberate the powers of the free market. Free markets produce better wealth than all-powerful, centralized states.

    The right way to rebuild the national cohesion of this country is not to encourage slow growth.'

    @DavidGHFrost
    https://twitter.com/NatConTalk/status/1658785211654590464?s=20
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,662

    Andy_JS said:

    "Prince Harry, Meghan and her mother were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi, a spokesperson for the prince has said.

    The incident happened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday.

    In a statement, the prince's spokesperson said the "relentless pursuit" lasted for over two hours.

    They added it resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and police officers."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65625886

    In New York ?
    I was about to say. How can you get up to any speed in Manhattan??
    Whenever I have been in New York it is gridlocked
    The chase was between 14th Street and 32nd Street on Park Avenue; that's why it took two hours.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,662
    HYUFD said:

    'I believe the Conservatives need to liberate the powers of the free market. Free markets produce better wealth than all-powerful, centralized states.

    The right way to rebuild the national cohesion of this country is not to encourage slow growth.'

    @DavidGHFrost
    https://twitter.com/NatConTalk/status/1658785211654590464?s=20

    Is anyone proposing that we "encourage slow growth"?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,443
    algarkirk said:

    As always the best way of keeping something from your children is to headline it for an audience of millions on the BBC website with a story like this:

    "Busted's Matt Willis: I’m nervous about my kids seeing my drug and alcohol past"


    At least he's not made an hour-long documentary on BBC1 tonight. Or has he?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001m0jq/matt-willis-fighting-addiction
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,509

    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    Why oh why oh why did Rishi allow his MPs to attend this NatCon thing? The ammo it will provide to his enemies will be vast and for no benefit whatsoever that I can see. Foolish.

    You actually think voters are following this ?
    Exactly not seen or heard a word from it and I am sure majority of the population will be the same.
    Anyhoo hows the world Malc. I see your employer still wants to sack eveyone :smiley:
    They have had plenty of practice Alan. I am very well, they are desperate to keep me , get payrises , bonuses etc and WFH. I am left to get on with it so not bad at all.
    I will have to give it up sometime but keeps me out of trouble.
    How are things with you, is your wife a lady of leisure nowadays. What are toiling at just now.
    The other half is enjoying retirement and when she meets up with old colleagues doubly so! She looks after our grand daughter and with another one on the way I think she'll have her hands full. My son has moved off to Paris with girlfriend and is getting married next year so that will keep her busy for the next 12 months,

    I finished an assignment at the end of last year and was working up my next one when the guy I was working with had a stroke, Hes got out of hospital about a fortnight ago and I saw him today so he;s just getting back in the swing of things. So I'll see how things go, I can retire if I want to but I still feel like doing anoher job before I do so Ill enjoy the summer and see what turns up,
    Sounds Good Alan, I am much the same I still enjoy what I do and keeps the old brain active.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,870
    "The Windsor Framework is a new beginning for old friends.

    Today, we've adopted a draft Memorandum of Understanding in the area of financial services with the United Kingdom."

    https://twitter.com/eu_commission/status/1658820291651424256

    Ok, it's only a MoU, but at least they're on speaking terms.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 23,156

    Lord Finkelstein

    A friend of mine was working as an employment lawyer a few years back when he was approached by a very plausible man who wanted his help in taking action against Boots, the chemist, for wrongful dismissal.

    The man’s tale did, indeed, seem actionable. My friend organised a second meeting and noted down all he was told. Then, as he was bringing matters to a conclusion, his new client said he had one more thing to add.

    “They are following me,” he said. My friend was startled. “What do you mean, ‘They are following you’? Who is? Boots?”

    Yes, Boots, replied the client. “I see them everywhere. With their plastic bags.”

    I am reminded of my lawyer friend every time I hear Conservatives talk about “the Blob” and how it is frustrating their political intent. For there was a time when such talk was plausible and actionable — only for it to become a deeply eccentric conspiracy theory.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blaming-the-blob-is-an-electoral-dead-end-wvlh0hlth

    These people have been in power 13 years, in a governing party that wins the clear majority of the general elections it contests. They appoint people to key roles in important institutions. Many of them have been part of the political establishment since their teens.

    And they expect us to believe they are not the establishment. And that there is a completely separate establishment holding them back and making them ineffectual. And that we should vote for them despite them telling us how ineffectual they are.......
    Ludicrous if not match/spot fixing. Too lenient if match/spot fixing.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,081

    Lord Finkelstein

    A friend of mine was working as an employment lawyer a few years back when he was approached by a very plausible man who wanted his help in taking action against Boots, the chemist, for wrongful dismissal.

    The man’s tale did, indeed, seem actionable. My friend organised a second meeting and noted down all he was told. Then, as he was bringing matters to a conclusion, his new client said he had one more thing to add.

    “They are following me,” he said. My friend was startled. “What do you mean, ‘They are following you’? Who is? Boots?”

    Yes, Boots, replied the client. “I see them everywhere. With their plastic bags.”

    I am reminded of my lawyer friend every time I hear Conservatives talk about “the Blob” and how it is frustrating their political intent. For there was a time when such talk was plausible and actionable — only for it to become a deeply eccentric conspiracy theory.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blaming-the-blob-is-an-electoral-dead-end-wvlh0hlth

    Good story.
    I sometimes refer to the Blob. And yes, it's a lazy shorthand for all those people with some political heft who have a worldview somewhere from Centrist Dad to crazy left winger. The BBC, The ABoC, Gary Lineker, the NEU, universities, HR departments, SAGE, Independent SAGE, the King (as I must get used to calling him), are all part of the Blob.
    But as I said, it's lazy. Clearly these people are not part of some coherent group. They may all have views which oppose mine, but they also all have views which oppose each other.
    Seeing them all as one malign entity is going down the road which the chap being persecuted by Boots was clearly on.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,662

    Ivan Toney suspended for 8 months.

    Byelection in Brentford incoming?
This discussion has been closed.