My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
Witwold Pilecki, a Polish man who allowed himself to be captured by the Germans to get into Auschwitz. Once there he helped found the Auschwitz resistance and got out details of the atrocities performed within. After escaping from the camp, he fought in the Warsaw Uprising, was captured by the Germans, and was finally executed by the Communists in 1948.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
You are talking about someone who wrote Society's Child when she was 15. I would not assume any lack of insight on her part.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
You are talking about someone who wrote Society's Child when she was 15. I would not assume any lack of insight on her part.
I'm not doubting her talent. I am saying she is so talented she possibly does it unconsciously - instinctively - which is the mark of a true artist. Either way: Tinglez
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
In 30 years' time, Leon's daughter will be on here wishing her own son a happy 17th birthday and bemoaning that music isn't as good now as it was back in 2023
Yep. Which is all as it should be. Fwiw my son - 34 - says it's been downhill since 2004. Early Kanye etc.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
"Some in the car industry have described the plant as the most significant investment in UK automotive since Nissan came to Britain in the 1980s."
(This sounds a bit over the top to me, it's just running to stand still it seems, but what do I know?)
Without a battery factory all car manufacturing would be heading abroad.
With 1 there is a chance our car manufacturing will continue and (might) even expand...
But what battery? Picking a type of battery that will win the range/safety/cost race is the big question. So much is happening right now in battery development they will have to be on their toes and make the right decisions - otherwise it could be the next Inmos.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
Well now, I could list half a dozen - but then time flies by so quickly and it turns out that everyone who springs to mind predates 2010. Roughly when a) social music, and b) tge ubiquity of all content ever created really took off. I'm pretty sure there's still a lot of good musicians out there. But our way of consuming it has changed. We can access whatever we want, for free, and we don't invest our time in it, and we move quickly on to the next thing. This is possibly not to the benefit of the music itself.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
No discussion of great singers is allowed to pass without mention of Joan Armatrading.
Try out Veronique Sanson's Amoureuse, particularly the version where she drifts from European language to European language including English, although Kiki Dee makes a decent fist in English.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
No discussion of great singers is allowed to pass without mention of Joan Armatrading.
I think this is the discussion in which we all inadvertently give away our ages...
I'm actually a bit younger than Armatrading's peak, but got into her work in a way that pleases me. Back in the early nineties, I was hobbling along the Grand Union Canal near Southall when a gf phoned me up on my chunky analogue mobile phone. We had a chat, and my Walkman had a friend's mixtape in. Once the call ended, 'Love and Affection' came on.
Whenever I hear 'Love and Affection', I think of that friend, that place, and that walk. (As it happens, I was chatting to her earlier today.)
Occasionally, a song can take you back to *that* moment.
I also saw Armatrading perform about ten years ago in Cambridge. A lovely night.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
Just one local by-election tomorrow - in North Yorkshire. It is normally a safe Labour seat but there is an interesting background. The sitting councillor resigned from the party and then from the council. But he is standing again as a No Description.
Left wing veteran upset by direction of his party, apparently.
A situation to which there can be but one response, which is: "SKS fans, please explain."
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
They're probably checking out lots of other things as well, such as when the boys rode past, or potential witnesses. It's an *important* crime now, and they will want to ensure that all the evidence is gathered and collated. Otherwise, idiots on the Internet will say they didn't do their job.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
One of the best songs on the passage of time by Joni Mitchell:
16 springs and 16 summers gone now Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town And they tell him, "Take your time, it won't be long now 'Til you drag your feet to slow the circles down"
And the seasons, they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return, we can only look Behind, from where we came And go round and round and round, in the circle game
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
No discussion of great singers is allowed to pass without mention of Joan Armatrading.
I am not in loooooove, but I'm open to persuasion
Yes, that's up there with "At 17"
Or, much darker:
"That's when the music started I heard the light switch click I stumbled on a lost shoe The fever's starting This man was getting hot I got no strength to make him stop I guess it's too late But I'll know next time To mix some water with the wine"
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
So it is. I was also going to mention Pink's Family Portrait. From 2001!! I'm getting old.
A friend pointed out to me recently that if you ever watched Friends then today Ben is 28, Phoebe's triplets are 25, Emma is 21, and Monica & Chandler, their kids are 19.
I might as start as well collecting my pension today.
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
Are your facts straight? The Guardian says: While Johnson is confident taxpayers will continue picking up the bill for his new legal team, he admitted in a letter to the Covid inquiry published on Monday that the Cabinet Office had yet to “agree funding and other practical arrangements”.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
They're probably checking out lots of other things as well, such as when the boys rode past, or potential witnesses. It's an *important* crime now, and they will want to ensure that all the evidence is gathered and collated. Otherwise, idiots on the Internet will say they didn't do their job.
"Great-grandmother, 95, dies after being tasered by police in Australian care home
A 95-year-old great-grandmother with dementia who was tasered by police at a care home, has died. Outrage swept across Australia and beyond after 5ft 2in Clare Nowland was tasered by police at her care home in Cooma, New South Wales, last week. NSW Police confirmed Ms Nowland died "peacefully" in hospital just after 7pm on Wednesday, surrounded by family and loved ones. Senior Constable Kristian White, 33, has been charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm (GBH), assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault."
Just one local by-election tomorrow - in North Yorkshire. It is normally a safe Labour seat but there is an interesting background. The sitting councillor resigned from the party and then from the council. But he is standing again as a No Description.
Left wing veteran upset by direction of his party, apparently...
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
AIUI - The principle is that when it comes to inquiries the government will pay the legal fees for the PM and relevant minister if it relates to their tenure in government.
As for GLD to be involved that is something to with what is published and sent to the committee (and released publicly) to avoid the accidental publication of names/confidential information/market sensitive information.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
I've dropped off tracking new releases (being 62) and in any case there's so much product these days on so many platforms you can't get your arms around it as you once could. It used to be that if you were into music and there was a great song released you'd be bound to hear it. The corollary was if you didn't hear something it can't have been that good. This is no longer the case. There's tons of high quality new music now that unless you devote yourself to seeking it out (which you won't at your age) you will not discover. But it's there.
Eg what I've noticed is when I do random deep dives into recent music, or catch it on soundtracks for tv dramas, I come across plenty of absolutely terrific songs. Songs just as good as those on my familiar playlists. Songs whereby I know that if I listened to them a lot, and could associate them with my younger life, thus generating a sweet nostalgia hit, could take their place as 'classics' (for me). I don't have the time or inclination to do this now, so they don't, but they could. They are objectively good enough, is my point.
So although I'd like to agree that the stuff I've curated and love from many moons ago constitutes a 'Golden Age' (because it's nice to believe that), I kind of know that it isn't. It's another heart v head thing, this. Heart says you're right that music used to be better. Head says it's nonsense.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
The music was better then but god the video quality was crap.
"Some in the car industry have described the plant as the most significant investment in UK automotive since Nissan came to Britain in the 1980s."
(This sounds a bit over the top to me, it's just running to stand still it seems, but what do I know?)
Without a battery factory all car manufacturing would be heading abroad.
With 1 there is a chance our car manufacturing will continue and (might) even expand...
We need more than 1 but it is a good start. Should help to keep some of Tata Steel open too.
If they’re demanding to suck on the teat of the British Taxpayer, we should just nationalise them.
Or make a strategic decision to exit mass car-making altogether. Let the Chinese/Americans/Europeans/Koreans//Japanese compete to export their EV’s and spend the half a billion on universities etc to bet on creating the next ARM of car manufacturing. Or whatever.
Go up the value chain.
I don’t blame the mates of Rishi’s in-laws for taking the piss, but that’s precisely what we’re letting them do.
It’s in our national interest to tell Tata to go fuck themselves.
Politely.
The success of this also depends on JLR executing their product strategy. The LR part will probably be fine but Jaguar are utterly lost.
The new genre of 'reaction' videos on YouTube could be a symptom of the decline of pop culture. People film themselves watching older performances as if they are encountering an ancient civilisation.
Here's an example of someone reduced to tears by Tori Amos:
There are several things that make me think Haley would be a good president
These things, along with others, show she is a good politician: "In September 1996, Nikki Randhawa married Michael Haley; they celebrated with both Sikh and Methodist ceremonies.[24] The couple have two children, a daughter and a son.[16][217]
Haley converted to Christianity in 1997.[218] She and her husband regularly attend the United Methodist Church. She also attends Sikh services once or twice a year.[218] She visited the Harmandir Sahib with her husband in 2014 during her visit to India. During a Christianity Today interview, when asked whether or not she hopes her parents convert to Christianity, Haley responded, "What I hope is that my parents do what's right for them."[219]
Her husband is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard. During her gubernatorial term, he was sent in January 2013 on a year-long deployment to Afghanistan." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley#Personal_life
But the entrance of Tim Scott will hurt her chances in South Carolina, and possibly elsewhere.
(FWIW, George H. W. Bush chose to be UN ambassador, when he was preparing for his first run for president.)
US Senator Tim Scott and former UN ambassador and governor Nikki Haley give South Carolina two quality contenders for 2024 Republican POTUS nomination.
Both are proven vote-getters at local and statewide level, running as non-White conservative GOP standard-bearers in a VERY tough political league.
Impact of their dueling campaigns on the race in general and the early South Carolina presidential primary is hard to forecast, except (as already noted) it is splitting SC GOP insiders, politicos, pundits and likely primary voters big-time; which in turn will split AND reduce impact of the favorite son-or-daughter vote upon OTHER candidates, most notably Trump and DeSantis.
At this stage most quasi-knowledgeable observers (count me among the quasi) assume that both Scott and Haley are running for Vice President. Each of course would be an excellent running mate for either 45 or RDS.
NOTE that Sen. Scott appears to a semi-stalking horse for Trump, seen as taking away some early backing (esp. financial) and limelight from DeSantis. Which is clearly Job #1 for Trumpworld, with side benefit of also limiting Nikki Haley by making her fight for her own South Carolina base.
So is Tim Scott just the Kanye West of 2024? Hell no, is my short answer. However, like Haley before him, he's clearly willing to play footsie with Trumpsky. And more than just that, if national politics and personal ambitions favor that course.
ON THE OTHER HAND both Nikki Haley and Tim Scott have demonstrated that they are NOT just empty figureheads, but - on occasion - are quite capable of rising to leadership. For their party and beyond that.
The new genre of 'reaction' videos on YouTube could be a symptom of the decline of pop culture. People film themselves watching older performances as if they are encountering an ancient civilisation.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
The music was better then but god the video quality was crap.
It's nothing to do with the original video quality, it's this particular copy. This is another Whistle Test video from the same year in HD.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
I've dropped off tracking new releases (being 62) and in any case there's so much product these days on so many platforms you can't get your arms around it as you once could. It used to be that if you were into music and there was a great song released you'd be bound to hear it. The corollary was if you didn't hear something it can't have been that good. This is no longer the case. There's tons of high quality new music now that unless you devote yourself to seeking it out (which you won't at your age) you will not discover. But it's there.
Eg what I've noticed is when I do random deep dives into recent music, or catch it on soundtracks for tv dramas, I come across plenty of absolutely terrific songs. Songs just as good as those on my familiar playlists. Songs whereby I know that if I listened to them a lot, and could associate them with my younger life, thus generating a sweet nostalgia hit, could take their place as 'classics' (for me). I don't have the time or inclination to do this now, so they don't, but they could. They are objectively good enough, is my point.
So although I'd like to agree that the stuff I've curated and love from many moons ago constitutes a 'Golden Age' (because it's nice to believe that), I kind of know that it isn't. It's another heart v head thing, this. Heart says you're right that music used to be better. Head says it's nonsense.
And yet I have a friend whose job is music reviewing and critiquing. He lives for this. And he LOVES discovering new talent
And he says it simply isn’t there any more. He goes to two gigs a week. Indeed it’s his theory that Winehouse was the last of the greats (I borrowed it)
He has various theories why
There is also factual evidence that music has got more simplistic, crude and lyrically vulgar and coarse
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
I love that song, and haven't listened to it in decades. Thanks for that, and many happy returns to the kid.
You're welcome, and thankyou on behalf of the kiddo
I have now listened to that Janis Ian live version of At 17 three times over and there is so much that is so well done. Her enunciation is perrrrrfect. She extends the vowels on Vaaaaalentnes and yoooouth in a way which fits the song superbly yet also adds to its plangent sadness in a way I cannot quite understand. That is great art and that is peak singer song-writing. She knows her own song so well, and it is so heartfelt, she can make something sublime out of each delicately voiced word, possibly without even quite knowing she is doing it
If we are comparing female vocalists, may I present the isolated Grace Slick vocals from "White Rabbit"
The UNS vs Proportionate swing debate resolves around who is changing party allegiance and where they are geographically distributed around the country, compared with who is keeping their party allegiance and where they are geographically distributed.
In a Labour stronghold, there is going to be a larger population density of their resolute voters, compared with their fair weather friends. Effectively the potential party switchers are more evenly distributed accross the country than die hard supporters. This analysis falls down when the party vote collapses, eg the Lib Dems in 2015, when there are not enough voters for a UNS approach to work.
When applying a MRP approach the population is subdivided into groups with similar characteristics. Those groups are more likely to change on a proportionate basis within themselves, as opposed to Conservative voters as a whole. The MRP population density function for each group is also geographically more precise.
It thus makes sense for any one particular group to react on a proportionate basis, as the whole purpose of the MRP approach is to find segments of the propulation who act the same.
Of course this requires accurate segmentation of the population and geographic distribution mapping for the current electorate. A particular segment for one election may not be sufficiently cohesive in their voting patterns for the next (eg Brexit voters in 2019 and Brexit voters in 2024).
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
The music was better then but god the video quality was crap.
It's nothing to do with the original video quality, it's this particular copy. This is another Whistle Test video from the same year in HD.
There are several things that make me think Haley would be a good president
These things, along with others, show she is a good politician: "In September 1996, Nikki Randhawa married Michael Haley; they celebrated with both Sikh and Methodist ceremonies.[24] The couple have two children, a daughter and a son.[16][217]
Haley converted to Christianity in 1997.[218] She and her husband regularly attend the United Methodist Church. She also attends Sikh services once or twice a year.[218] She visited the Harmandir Sahib with her husband in 2014 during her visit to India. During a Christianity Today interview, when asked whether or not she hopes her parents convert to Christianity, Haley responded, "What I hope is that my parents do what's right for them."[219]
Her husband is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard. During her gubernatorial term, he was sent in January 2013 on a year-long deployment to Afghanistan." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley#Personal_life
But the entrance of Tim Scott will hurt her chances in South Carolina, and possibly elsewhere.
(FWIW, George H. W. Bush chose to be UN ambassador, when he was preparing for his first run for president.)
She goes to church regularly? Ok, but Michael Adebolajo did as well, and he didn't turn out so great in the end.
Major Update to my Parliamentary Scandals Tracker after some good tips yesterday. Labour really punching above their weight here given they have 60% the number of MPs as the Conservatives and don't have to comply with the Ministerial Code.
Added Corbyn's ignominious ending to this plus some minor Labour MPs nobody has heard of...
As always, happy to refine the information if I'm getting this wrong.
Are we supposed to take this seriously as a measure of current scandals? Jared O'mara - who left parliament 3 and a half years ago Sue Gray as the absolute *worst* when there's no there, there No mention of PPE VIP channel for Tory donors No mention of Richard Sharp I can't even be bothered to go on
I can't remember who it was, but an FS allegedly shook off his minders to attend a bunga, bunga party on an alleged KGB Officer's yacht, and it doesn't even get a mention.
Home Sec can't go to a remedial driving lesson - security risk! Foreign Sec staggering drunk around Aeroporto dell'Umbria after a bender at KGB-linked playboy's mansion castle - nothing to see here!
"Drunk"? I think you mean "tired and emotional".
Er, no Minister. It says "tired and emotional as a newt".
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
Are your facts straight? The Guardian says: While Johnson is confident taxpayers will continue picking up the bill for his new legal team, he admitted in a letter to the Covid inquiry published on Monday that the Cabinet Office had yet to “agree funding and other practical arrangements”.
Thanks. Why have Peters & Peters disappeared? Sacked? Or decided that they did not want to act for him?
I can see no good reason why the taxpayer should be paying for his legal fees. The investigation is not into his actions as PM but his personal actions ie whether he as an individual complied with Covid rules. And whether he misled the Commons. Other MPs facing similar investigations don't get their legal fees paid.
The new genre of 'reaction' videos on YouTube could be a symptom of the decline of pop culture. People film themselves watching older performances as if they are encountering an ancient civilisation.
Here's an example of someone reduced to tears by Tori Amos:
You are reacting to a video of somebody else reacting to a video by somebody else. I, in this post, am reacting to you reacting to a video of somebody else reacting to a video by somebody else.
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
AIUI - The principle is that when it comes to inquiries the government will pay the legal fees for the PM and relevant minister if it relates to their tenure in government.
But only relating to government activity not their private life. There was no government requirement for him to break Covid rules so if he did so it was a private matter and not something for which the taxpayer should be paying his legal fees.
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
Are your facts straight? The Guardian says: While Johnson is confident taxpayers will continue picking up the bill for his new legal team, he admitted in a letter to the Covid inquiry published on Monday that the Cabinet Office had yet to “agree funding and other practical arrangements”.
Thanks. Why have Peters & Peters disappeared? Sacked? Or decided that they did not want to act for him?
I can see no good reason why the taxpayer should be paying for his legal fees. The investigation is not into his actions as PM but his personal actions ie whether he as an individual complied with Covid rules. And whether he misled the Commons. Other MPs facing similar investigations don't get their legal fees paid.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
I've dropped off tracking new releases (being 62) and in any case there's so much product these days on so many platforms you can't get your arms around it as you once could. It used to be that if you were into music and there was a great song released you'd be bound to hear it. The corollary was if you didn't hear something it can't have been that good. This is no longer the case. There's tons of high quality new music now that unless you devote yourself to seeking it out (which you won't at your age) you will not discover. But it's there.
Eg what I've noticed is when I do random deep dives into recent music, or catch it on soundtracks for tv dramas, I come across plenty of absolutely terrific songs. Songs just as good as those on my familiar playlists. Songs whereby I know that if I listened to them a lot, and could associate them with my younger life, thus generating a sweet nostalgia hit, could take their place as 'classics' (for me). I don't have the time or inclination to do this now, so they don't, but they could. They are objectively good enough, is my point.
So although I'd like to agree that the stuff I've curated and love from many moons ago constitutes a 'Golden Age' (because it's nice to believe that), I kind of know that it isn't. It's another heart v head thing, this. Heart says you're right that music used to be better. Head says it's nonsense.
Absolutely right.
There is some cracking music around right now, just keep Shazam to hand and you can assemble a great playlist by watching mini-series or just being in shops for that matter (perhaps not Fortnums).
As to great pop songs post-2010 try Tash Sultana Jungle (2016) and if I bothered to look I could find zillions more from the past year or three.
The new genre of 'reaction' videos on YouTube could be a symptom of the decline of pop culture. People film themselves watching older performances as if they are encountering an ancient civilisation.
Here's an example of someone reduced to tears by Tori Amos:
You are reacting to a video of somebody else reacting to a video by somebody else. I, in this post, am reacting to you reacting to a video of somebody else reacting to a video by somebody else.
Reactception!
We need to get Tori Amos's reaction to this thread to close the loop.
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
The lefty LSE still fighting 2016 all over again, like Jap fighters staggering from undergrowth to stand amongst sunbathers 20 years after the Second World War.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
I've dropped off tracking new releases (being 62) and in any case there's so much product these days on so many platforms you can't get your arms around it as you once could. It used to be that if you were into music and there was a great song released you'd be bound to hear it. The corollary was if you didn't hear something it can't have been that good. This is no longer the case. There's tons of high quality new music now that unless you devote yourself to seeking it out (which you won't at your age) you will not discover. But it's there.
Eg what I've noticed is when I do random deep dives into recent music, or catch it on soundtracks for tv dramas, I come across plenty of absolutely terrific songs. Songs just as good as those on my familiar playlists. Songs whereby I know that if I listened to them a lot, and could associate them with my younger life, thus generating a sweet nostalgia hit, could take their place as 'classics' (for me). I don't have the time or inclination to do this now, so they don't, but they could. They are objectively good enough, is my point.
So although I'd like to agree that the stuff I've curated and love from many moons ago constitutes a 'Golden Age' (because it's nice to believe that), I kind of know that it isn't. It's another heart v head thing, this. Heart says you're right that music used to be better. Head says it's nonsense.
And yet I have a friend whose job is music reviewing and critiquing. He lives for this. And he LOVES discovering new talent
And he says it simply isn’t there any more. He goes to two gigs a week. Indeed it’s his theory that Winehouse was the last of the greats (I borrowed it)
He has various theories why
There is also factual evidence that music has got more simplistic, crude and lyrically vulgar and coarse
Maybe because gone are the days when you could go to see Lemon Kittens being supported by U2 (yes, I was there). Or Sore Throat at the Hope and Anchor.
Much is as you are well aware performed well away from gigs although undoubtedly there should be and probably is a thriving live music scene also.
Talking of live things, I try to go to the theatre every week or two and last night I saw F**king Men at the Waterloo East Theatre. Absolutely fantastic and I recommend everyone to go.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
I am wondering whether what happened was not that the police van was chasing them but the boys who were killed thought it was? That would cover all eventualities.
I happen to know police vehicles in Staffordshire are forbidden to chase illegal motorbikes including electric ones unless they are specially trained and/or have helicopter support, precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
How do I know this? Because we have an absolute plague of the bastards here and I've been coordinating community complaints about them that did eventually lead to a crackdown (although one nearly cannoned into me today when he was riding at speed on the wrong side of the road I was driving on).
Also, it doesn't surprise me at all that they were killed. Two underage boys riding an illegal bike at high speed on unsuitable roads is just asking for trouble. Indeed, the real surprise is that they didn't kill somebody else as well.
Met a reasonably big Borisphobe for lunch today and even he agreed with me that can they please leave it alone wrt covid breaches. Yes he made the rules and then yes he broke them but I seriously cannot be bothered to drag anyone including BoJo over the coals for a breach which is a breach on the slightest of nuances of the law a la being ambushed by a lime soda.
Something is not right with this issue of Boris and the lawyers he has apparently sacked.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him. - The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained. - Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee. - Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why? - What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs. - If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
Are your facts straight? The Guardian says: While Johnson is confident taxpayers will continue picking up the bill for his new legal team, he admitted in a letter to the Covid inquiry published on Monday that the Cabinet Office had yet to “agree funding and other practical arrangements”.
Thanks. Why have Peters & Peters disappeared? Sacked? Or decided that they did not want to act for him?
I can see no good reason why the taxpayer should be paying for his legal fees. The investigation is not into his actions as PM but his personal actions ie whether he as an individual complied with Covid rules. And whether he misled the Commons. Other MPs facing similar investigations don't get their legal fees paid.
Is it not thought, about materials made available to the Covid enquiry, and what parts of it should or should not be made public ? The evidence about potential breach of rules comes from that, so it’s not a clearcut matter.
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
73% of Britons, including 58% of Tory voters, think it is likely that Boris Johnson committed further COVID breaches than those he has already been investigated and fined for
wrt the chase it will be interesting to see what happens.
Yesterday passing Parliament Square on a Boris Bike at around 10pm there was a gang of bicycle riding what used to be called hoodlums or thugs (all hoodies and balaclava-ed up) riding all over the pavement, running red lights and generally whooping it up.
In what must be one of the most policed square 500 yards in the country. And on and over they went towards Victoria.
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
It's rare you see a quote go directly from someone's mouth into the history books, but "Fuck knows how, but we’ve militarized Ukraine!" is gonna be in every writeup of this conflict. https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1661382488097267727
wrt the chase it will be interesting to see what happens.
Yesterday passing Parliament Square on a Boris Bike at around 10pm there was a gang of bicycle riding what used to be called hoodlums or thugs (all hoodies and balaclava-ed up) riding all over the pavement, running red lights and generally whooping it up.
In what must be one of the most policed square 500 yards in the country. And on and over they went towards Victoria.
It's the same everywhere. It's why "cyclists" as an encompassing term doesn't work any more.
Mamils Dura_ace types Europeans (attractive, no helmet, step through bike) Commuters (panniers) Balaclava gangs (steal mopeds) Deliveroo (roughly white van man) Cargo bikers (highly fertile, bucket full of kids)
"Some in the car industry have described the plant as the most significant investment in UK automotive since Nissan came to Britain in the 1980s."
(This sounds a bit over the top to me, it's just running to stand still it seems, but what do I know?)
Without a battery factory all car manufacturing would be heading abroad.
With 1 there is a chance our car manufacturing will continue and (might) even expand...
We need more than 1 but it is a good start. Should help to keep some of Tata Steel open too.
If they’re demanding to suck on the teat of the British Taxpayer, we should just nationalise them.
Or make a strategic decision to exit mass car-making altogether. Let the Chinese/Americans/Europeans/Koreans//Japanese compete to export their EV’s and spend the half a billion on universities etc to bet on creating the next ARM of car manufacturing. Or whatever.
Go up the value chain.
I don’t blame the mates of Rishi’s in-laws for taking the piss, but that’s precisely what we’re letting them do.
It’s in our national interest to tell Tata to go fuck themselves.
Politely.
It’s not just direct taxpayer money. It’s being subsidised via our energy bills, too.
The poorest people in Britain - every time they top up their meter, money is now going to get siphoned off to subsidise these very wealthy foreigners.
wrt the chase it will be interesting to see what happens.
Yesterday passing Parliament Square on a Boris Bike at around 10pm there was a gang of bicycle riding what used to be called hoodlums or thugs (all hoodies and balaclava-ed up) riding all over the pavement, running red lights and generally whooping it up.
In what must be one of the most policed square 500 yards in the country. And on and over they went towards Victoria.
It's the same everywhere. It's why "cyclists" as an encompassing term doesn't work any more.
Mamils Dura_ace types Europeans (attractive, no helmet, step through bike) Commuters (panniers) Balaclava gangs (steal mopeds) Deliveroo (roughly white van man) Cargo bikers (highly fertile, bucket full of kids)
Old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists...
wrt the chase it will be interesting to see what happens.
Yesterday passing Parliament Square on a Boris Bike at around 10pm there was a gang of bicycle riding what used to be called hoodlums or thugs (all hoodies and balaclava-ed up) riding all over the pavement, running red lights and generally whooping it up.
In what must be one of the most policed square 500 yards in the country. And on and over they went towards Victoria.
It's the same everywhere. It's why "cyclists" as an encompassing term doesn't work any more.
Mamils Dura_ace types Europeans (attractive, no helmet, step through bike) Commuters (panniers) Balaclava gangs (steal mopeds) Deliveroo (roughly white van man) Cargo bikers (highly fertile, bucket full of kids)
Old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists...
Vicious gangs of old maids in lycra, running red lights, chucking communion wine in the faces of Deliveroo riders to try to score a hit of sweet, sweet wafers.
wrt the chase it will be interesting to see what happens.
Yesterday passing Parliament Square on a Boris Bike at around 10pm there was a gang of bicycle riding what used to be called hoodlums or thugs (all hoodies and balaclava-ed up) riding all over the pavement, running red lights and generally whooping it up.
In what must be one of the most policed square 500 yards in the country. And on and over they went towards Victoria.
It's the same everywhere. It's why "cyclists" as an encompassing term doesn't work any more.
Mamils Dura_ace types Europeans (attractive, no helmet, step through bike) Commuters (panniers) Balaclava gangs (steal mopeds) Deliveroo (roughly white van man) Cargo bikers (highly fertile, bucket full of kids)
Old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists...
Vicious gangs of old maids in lycra, running red lights, chucking communion wine in the faces of Deliveroo riders to try to score a hit of sweet, sweet wafers.
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
It's rare you see a quote go directly from someone's mouth into the history books, but "Fuck knows how, but we’ve militarized Ukraine!" is gonna be in every writeup of this conflict. https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1661382488097267727
I mean, you can see why he wants to flatten all the high buildings in Bakhmut.
The new genre of 'reaction' videos on YouTube could be a symptom of the decline of pop culture. People film themselves watching older performances as if they are encountering an ancient civilisation.
Here's an example of someone reduced to tears by Tori Amos:
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
I’m warming to you. At Seventeen is an incredibly beautiful song.
'Out of 104 polls since Mar 2021, IPSOS has higher results for YES than any other respected polling company. IPSOS and FIndOutNow (which no longer conducts politics polls) are the only polling companies to have EVER shown support for YES at over 50% #Dodgy @benatipsos'
Presumably they mean in that period as several pollsters have shown YES at over 50%. Wait till they find out about the only polling company to show NO at above 50% since Mar 2021.
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
It's rare you see a quote go directly from someone's mouth into the history books, but "Fuck knows how, but we’ve militarized Ukraine!" is gonna be in every writeup of this conflict. https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1661382488097267727
I know how he's militarised Ukraine. Does that make me fuck?
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
They're probably checking out lots of other things as well, such as when the boys rode past, or potential witnesses. It's an *important* crime now, and they will want to ensure that all the evidence is gathered and collated. Otherwise, idiots on the Internet will say they didn't do their job.
Certainly some people will say anything.
Like you?
What would you have wanted the police to do that night?
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
It's rare you see a quote go directly from someone's mouth into the history books, but "Fuck knows how, but we’ve militarized Ukraine!" is gonna be in every writeup of this conflict. https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1661382488097267727
This quote feels pretty unintentionally off message (even next to saying the main missions have failed), in comparing Ukrainian resistance as being akin to Russsian resistance to the Nazis in WW2. [The Ukrainians] they feel very philosophically about the losses they are taking. For them, everything goes to reach the supreme goal, like us in the Great Patriotic War.
Prigozhin has said 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in the battle for Bakhmut. That’s more than the USSR lost in 10 years in Afghanistan. Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
It's rare you see a quote go directly from someone's mouth into the history books, but "Fuck knows how, but we’ve militarized Ukraine!" is gonna be in every writeup of this conflict. https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1661382488097267727
This quote feels pretty unintentionally off message (even next to saying the main missions have failed), in comparing Ukrainian resistance as being akin to Russsian resisting Nazis in WW2. [The Ukrainians] they feel very philosophically about the losses they are taking. For them, everything goes to reach the supreme goal, like us in the Great Patriotic War.
What a wonderful, gloriously sunny, warm evening it is in north London. The Tories’ pathetic culture wars and fuck-shit-wank job on the economy suddenly seems a world away. Let the sun shine. Let the Chablis flow.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
I am wondering whether what happened was not that the police van was chasing them but the boys who were killed thought it was? That would cover all eventualities.
I happen to know police vehicles in Staffordshire are forbidden to chase illegal motorbikes including electric ones unless they are specially trained and/or have helicopter support, precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
How do I know this? Because we have an absolute plague of the bastards here and I've been coordinating community complaints about them that did eventually lead to a crackdown (although one nearly cannoned into me today when he was riding at speed on the wrong side of the road I was driving on).
Also, it doesn't surprise me at all that they were killed. Two underage boys riding an illegal bike at high speed on unsuitable roads is just asking for trouble. Indeed, the real surprise is that they didn't kill somebody else as well.
I quickly checked the original video to estimate speed, for my n own info, the police van traversed a garden of about 3 car widths in 0.4 seconds, suggesting both vehicles were doing somewhere around or just under 30 mph at that point. That may or may not be quite fast for that road on that c estate
What a wonderful, gloriously sunny, warm evening it is in north London. The Tories’ pathetic culture wars and fuck-shit-wank job on the economy suddenly seems a world away. Let the sun shine. Let the Chablis flow.
I'm unsure if that's a reply doused in a healthy supply of cynicism ...
But to be serious: every drugs policy has issues. When someone complains about the current mess, it makes sense to ask if they have a coherent alternative. Because messy as it is, it could be *much* worse.
Alun Michael talking about the Cardiff incident this morning on Radio Wales Breakfast, according to the BBC: "I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident ... There was no police vehicle in the road where the crash happened. There was a police van in another street and the police were called quickly to the accident and conducted CPR"
So entirely consistent with the police van seen in the CCTV footage having just followed the boys west along Stanway Road, but having been prevented by a traffic barrier from following them into Snowden Road, where the crash occurred a little further to the west.
And judging from the information just released by the police, as reported by the BBC, that is precisely what happened.
But almost immediately the police have been asked about more CCTV footage that has just emerged, which appears to contradict their timeline.
The police timeline begins: 17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around 18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge. She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
I am wondering whether what happened was not that the police van was chasing them but the boys who were killed thought it was? That would cover all eventualities.
I happen to know police vehicles in Staffordshire are forbidden to chase illegal motorbikes including electric ones unless they are specially trained and/or have helicopter support, precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
How do I know this? Because we have an absolute plague of the bastards here and I've been coordinating community complaints about them that did eventually lead to a crackdown (although one nearly cannoned into me today when he was riding at speed on the wrong side of the road I was driving on).
Also, it doesn't surprise me at all that they were killed. Two underage boys riding an illegal bike at high speed on unsuitable roads is just asking for trouble. Indeed, the real surprise is that they didn't kill somebody else as well.
II posted this yesterday and it’s exactly what I think happened. I don’t believe police routinely pursue in vans, and I think the boys just assumed they were being chased.
My older daughter turns 17 today. A complex age for any human. And I immediately thought of the Janis Ian song, and found this exquisite live rendition on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Just absolutely spine-tingling. Can you imagine being in that audience and hearing this LIVE for the first time. A cold clear copper bottomed masterpiece of a song. The voice, the guitar work, the immortal tune, the poignant lyrics, everything. Ah, fuck. What 'appened to music?
Great song. Do we always have to include that hangdog 'better in my day' bit at the end though? We're the same age (ish) but my son is double 17. That's 34 (for the non accountants). It's interestingly poised now, our relationship. 62 plays 34. He has a clear edge in almost everything.
Yes, unfortunately, we do have to include the "better in my day" bit because it is interesting. Because, for the first time in many decades, this tired old meme is provably true and says something important about politics
Thus elevating the comment from "Oooh I have a family moment and here's a nice song" to something a shade more interesting that might make a Gazette piece so I'm trying it out from different angles
Hmm, ok. I don't agree with you though. I don't think this 'better in my day' (about music) is any different to the standard one about anything else.
And there's nothing wrong with just sharing the family moment!
Where is the equivalent - post, say, 2010 - of a pop song as exquisite, delicate and moving as "At 17"? It does not exist
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
I've dropped off tracking new releases (being 62) and in any case there's so much product these days on so many platforms you can't get your arms around it as you once could. It used to be that if you were into music and there was a great song released you'd be bound to hear it. The corollary was if you didn't hear something it can't have been that good. This is no longer the case. There's tons of high quality new music now that unless you devote yourself to seeking it out (which you won't at your age) you will not discover. But it's there.
Eg what I've noticed is when I do random deep dives into recent music, or catch it on soundtracks for tv dramas, I come across plenty of absolutely terrific songs. Songs just as good as those on my familiar playlists. Songs whereby I know that if I listened to them a lot, and could associate them with my younger life, thus generating a sweet nostalgia hit, could take their place as 'classics' (for me). I don't have the time or inclination to do this now, so they don't, but they could. They are objectively good enough, is my point.
So although I'd like to agree that the stuff I've curated and love from many moons ago constitutes a 'Golden Age' (because it's nice to believe that), I kind of know that it isn't. It's another heart v head thing, this. Heart says you're right that music used to be better. Head says it's nonsense.
And yet I have a friend whose job is music reviewing and critiquing. He lives for this. And he LOVES discovering new talent
And he says it simply isn’t there any more. He goes to two gigs a week. Indeed it’s his theory that Winehouse was the last of the greats (I borrowed it)
He has various theories why
There is also factual evidence that music has got more simplistic, crude and lyrically vulgar and coarse
Comments
Amy Winehouse is much missed. She was the very last of the Golden Age. The Tintoretto of the Pop Music Renaissance
Witwold Pilecki, a Polish man who allowed himself to be captured by the Germans to get into Auschwitz. Once there he helped found the Auschwitz resistance and got out details of the atrocities performed within. After escaping from the camp, he fought in the Warsaw Uprising, was captured by the Germans, and was finally executed by the Communists in 1948.
https://twitter.com/AuschwitzMuseum/status/1661335852121718784
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki
""When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory."
"If it weren't for the bollards, the police could've rammed them themselves"
There are modifications available, interesting to see whether any are employed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khZ7e9ytm-g (original, 1969, isolated vocals)
Only other person who came close to that was P!nk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSNgR2bA_Io (cover, 2017, non-isolated vocals)
So much is happening right now in battery development they will have to be on their toes and make the right decisions - otherwise it could be the next Inmos.
Roughly when a) social music, and b) tge ubiquity of all content ever created really took off.
I'm pretty sure there's still a lot of good musicians out there. But our way of consuming it has changed. We can access whatever we want, for free, and we don't invest our time in it, and we move quickly on to the next thing. This is possibly not to the benefit of the music itself.
The police timeline begins:
17:59:40 A bike travelled towards the police vehicle in Frank Road, the bike turns around
18:00:52: The bike is followed by a police vehicle
The new footage referred to is probably this, which is time-stamped 17:56 and shows the police van already in pursuit:
https://news.sky.com/video/cardiff-new-cctv-shows-police-following-two-people-on-an-electric-scooter-before-fatal-crash-in-ely-12888337
"Bacon responds by saying she has given the timeline to the best of her knowledge.
She repeats that the police force has looked through hundreds of hours of footage, with more yet to review."
Query: why should the police need to check hundreds of hours of footage to puzzle out the movements of a police van?
Yes, that's up there with "At 17"
Whenever I hear 'Love and Affection', I think of that friend, that place, and that walk. (As it happens, I was chatting to her earlier today.)
Occasionally, a song can take you back to *that* moment.
I also saw Armatrading perform about ten years ago in Cambridge. A lovely night.
A situation to which there can be but one response, which is: "SKS fans, please explain."
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=sunshine+on+leith+&mid=8FC1BD5F3D5D1425F1898FC1BD5F3D5D1425F189
16 springs and 16 summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
And they tell him, "Take your time, it won't be long now
'Til you drag your feet to slow the circles down"
And the seasons, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look
Behind, from where we came
And go round and round and round, in the circle game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x4ESsDq6wc
"That's when the music started
I heard the light switch click
I stumbled on a lost shoe
The fever's starting
This man was getting hot
I got no strength to make him stop
I guess it's too late
But I'll know next time
To mix some water with the wine"
I'm getting old.
The facts as I understand them:-
- Last year it was revealed that Boris had instructed Peters & Peters, a firm specialising in fraud and David Pannick KC to advise him in relation to the Standards Committee investigation into him.
- The government agreed to pay their fees. Why has never been explained.
- Peters & Peters and Pannick were present when Johnson gave evidence to the Committee.
- Now we are told that Cabinet office lawyers have been advising him. Why?
- What happened to Peters & Peters? Government lawyers advise the government not backbench MPs.
- If they are advising Boris in his capacity as PM in respect of actions done as PM and the government is paying, it is not for him to sack them. He can refuse to be advised by them but then he should be paying for his own lawyers. But no, apparently we are paying. Again, why?
We are not being told the full story I think.
I might as start as well collecting my pension today.
While Johnson is confident taxpayers will continue picking up the bill for his new legal team, he admitted in a letter to the Covid inquiry published on Monday that the Cabinet Office had yet to “agree funding and other practical arrangements”.
Just an appalling story.
As for GLD to be involved that is something to with what is published and sent to the committee (and released publicly) to avoid the accidental publication of names/confidential information/market sensitive information.
Eg what I've noticed is when I do random deep dives into recent music, or catch it on soundtracks for tv dramas, I come across plenty of absolutely terrific songs. Songs just as good as those on my familiar playlists. Songs whereby I know that if I listened to them a lot, and could associate them with my younger life, thus generating a sweet nostalgia hit, could take their place as 'classics' (for me). I don't have the time or inclination to do this now, so they don't, but they could. They are objectively good enough, is my point.
So although I'd like to agree that the stuff I've curated and love from many moons ago constitutes a 'Golden Age' (because it's nice to believe that), I kind of know that it isn't. It's another heart v head thing, this. Heart says you're right that music used to be better. Head says it's nonsense.
Here's an example of someone reduced to tears by Tori Amos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDo_JliyCoE
These things, along with others, show she is a good politician: "In September 1996, Nikki Randhawa married Michael Haley; they celebrated with both Sikh and Methodist ceremonies.[24] The couple have two children, a daughter and a son.[16][217]
Haley converted to Christianity in 1997.[218] She and her husband regularly attend the United Methodist Church. She also attends Sikh services once or twice a year.[218] She visited the Harmandir Sahib with her husband in 2014 during her visit to India. During a Christianity Today interview, when asked whether or not she hopes her parents convert to Christianity, Haley responded, "What I hope is that my parents do what's right for them."[219]
Her husband is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard. During her gubernatorial term, he was sent in January 2013 on a year-long deployment to Afghanistan."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley#Personal_life
But the entrance of Tim Scott will hurt her chances in South Carolina, and possibly elsewhere.
(FWIW, George H. W. Bush chose to be UN ambassador, when he was preparing for his first run for president.)
US Senator Tim Scott and former UN ambassador and governor Nikki Haley give South Carolina two quality contenders for 2024 Republican POTUS nomination.
Both are proven vote-getters at local and statewide level, running as non-White conservative GOP standard-bearers in a VERY tough political league.
Impact of their dueling campaigns on the race in general and the early South Carolina presidential primary is hard to forecast, except (as already noted) it is splitting SC GOP insiders, politicos, pundits and likely primary voters big-time; which in turn will split AND reduce impact of the favorite son-or-daughter vote upon OTHER candidates, most notably Trump and DeSantis.
At this stage most quasi-knowledgeable observers (count me among the quasi) assume that both Scott and Haley are running for Vice President. Each of course would be an excellent running mate for either 45 or RDS.
NOTE that Sen. Scott appears to a semi-stalking horse for Trump, seen as taking away some early backing (esp. financial) and limelight from DeSantis. Which is clearly Job #1 for Trumpworld, with side benefit of also limiting Nikki Haley by making her fight for her own South Carolina base.
So is Tim Scott just the Kanye West of 2024? Hell no, is my short answer. However, like Haley before him, he's clearly willing to play footsie with Trumpsky. And more than just that, if national politics and personal ambitions favor that course.
ON THE OTHER HAND both Nikki Haley and Tim Scott have demonstrated that they are NOT just empty figureheads, but - on occasion - are quite capable of rising to leadership. For their party and beyond that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGwYi7kY8hs
And he says it simply isn’t there any more. He goes to two gigs a week. Indeed it’s his theory that Winehouse was the last of the greats (I borrowed it)
He has various theories why
There is also factual evidence that music has got more simplistic, crude and lyrically vulgar and coarse
The UNS vs Proportionate swing debate resolves around who is changing party allegiance and where they are geographically distributed around the country, compared with who is keeping their party allegiance and where they are geographically distributed.
In a Labour stronghold, there is going to be a larger population density of their resolute voters, compared with their fair weather friends. Effectively the potential party switchers are more evenly distributed accross the country than die hard supporters. This analysis falls down when the party vote collapses, eg the Lib Dems in 2015, when there are not enough voters for a UNS approach to work.
When applying a MRP approach the population is subdivided into groups with similar characteristics. Those groups are more likely to change on a proportionate basis within themselves, as opposed to Conservative voters as a whole. The MRP population density function for each group is also geographically more precise.
It thus makes sense for any one particular group to react on a proportionate basis, as the whole purpose of the MRP approach is to find segments of the propulation who act the same.
Of course this requires accurate segmentation of the population and geographic distribution mapping for the current electorate. A particular segment for one election may not be sufficiently cohesive in their voting patterns for the next (eg Brexit voters in 2019 and Brexit voters in 2024).
But is there anyone anywhere who did believe the MRP and didn’t think it way over the top?
In MRP defence though, it does move, so gives us further indicator of movement in the electorate. MRP 13-15 May 2021 gave Tories a 122 seat majority.
I can see no good reason why the taxpayer should be paying for his legal fees. The investigation is not into his actions as PM but his personal actions ie whether he as an individual complied with Covid rules. And whether he misled the Commons. Other MPs facing similar investigations don't get their legal fees paid.
Reactception!
There is some cracking music around right now, just keep Shazam to hand and you can assemble a great playlist by watching mini-series or just being in shops for that matter (perhaps not Fortnums).
As to great pop songs post-2010 try Tash Sultana Jungle (2016) and if I bothered to look I could find zillions more from the past year or three.
Which brings us to the other thing he said—that this war could end in a revolution in Russia
https://twitter.com/AlecLuhn/status/1661329479787073536
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/24/brexit-food-trade-barriers-have-cost-uk-households-7bn-report-finds
So I personally see a small Labour Majority...
Much is as you are well aware performed well away from gigs although undoubtedly there should be and probably is a thriving live music scene also.
Talking of live things, I try to go to the theatre every week or two and last night I saw F**king Men at the Waterloo East Theatre. Absolutely fantastic and I recommend everyone to go.
I happen to know police vehicles in Staffordshire are forbidden to chase illegal motorbikes including electric ones unless they are specially trained and/or have helicopter support, precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
How do I know this? Because we have an absolute plague of the bastards here and I've been coordinating community complaints about them that did eventually lead to a crackdown (although one nearly cannoned into me today when he was riding at speed on the wrong side of the road I was driving on).
Also, it doesn't surprise me at all that they were killed. Two underage boys riding an illegal bike at high speed on unsuitable roads is just asking for trouble. Indeed, the real surprise is that they didn't kill somebody else as well.
The evidence about potential breach of rules comes from that, so it’s not a clearcut matter.
Although as the Russians found out in 1917 and indeed in 1991 revolutions don't always lead to an improvement.
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1661367216665681922/photo/1
Yesterday passing Parliament Square on a Boris Bike at around 10pm there was a gang of bicycle riding what used to be called hoodlums or thugs (all hoodies and balaclava-ed up) riding all over the pavement, running red lights and generally whooping it up.
In what must be one of the most policed square 500 yards in the country. And on and over they went towards Victoria.
"F*ck knows how, but we’ve militarised Ukraine!"
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1661301463442702336
It's rare you see a quote go directly from someone's mouth into the history books, but "Fuck knows how, but we’ve militarized Ukraine!" is gonna be in every writeup of this conflict.
https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1661382488097267727
https://twitter.com/themajorityscot/status/1661392073788891146?s=46&t=eiaG-Nju8t7zgfE3oCmAHA
Mamils
Dura_ace types
Europeans (attractive, no helmet, step through bike)
Commuters (panniers)
Balaclava gangs (steal mopeds)
Deliveroo (roughly white van man)
Cargo bikers (highly fertile, bucket full of kids)
Then Graham Chapman will announce it's got silly.
'Out of 104 polls since Mar 2021, IPSOS has higher results for YES than any other respected polling company. IPSOS and FIndOutNow (which no longer conducts politics polls) are the only polling companies to have EVER shown support for YES at over 50% #Dodgy @benatipsos'
Presumably they mean in that period as several pollsters have shown YES at over 50%.
Wait till they find out about the only polling company to show NO at above 50% since Mar 2021.
What would you have wanted the police to do that night?
[The Ukrainians] they feel very philosophically about the losses they are taking. For them, everything goes to reach the supreme goal, like us in the Great Patriotic War.
We need a coherent drugs policy, urgently.
WE ARE EUROPEAN
But to be serious: every drugs policy has issues. When someone complains about the current mess, it makes sense to ask if they have a coherent alternative. Because messy as it is, it could be *much* worse.
We either need international agreement to go full on war on drugs, or go all in on regulated supply and treatment rooms etc.