Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
There was a whole thing about this, even earlier - a comic got stopped by the police and forced to take his Bollocks To Blair T-shirt off outside Downing street.
EDIT: early in the New Labour thing, the Chinese President visited. The government used some ancient laws that applied to Royal parks to have any kind of protest banned and protestors removed. This included standing quietly, holding a small sign saying "Remember Tibet".
I don't agree with those either. But it's not just outside Downing Street or in a Royal park under some bylaw, is it? It's everywhere now. Any copper can essentially do what they want. Still, thanks for the whataboutery.
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
Edit - oh yeah, ECHR, that's next.
Don't agree with you about the EU citizenship rubbish but agree entirely with you about the authoritarian moves to stop legitimate protest. I think the Just Stop Oil Crowd are deluded but they absolutely should have a right to protest even if that inconveniences others. Note I don't extend that to causing damage or harming people. But being annoying, vocal or disruptive should not be a crime or we would all be in jail.
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
On insects - I'd encourage those with cars to do the Bugs Matter reg plate survey (you count the number of insects you wipe out during a drive).
The latest data shows a drop of 64% between 2004 and 2022. 😮
It is a quiet catastrophe. Again I reference the number of times I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes. It has plunged in the last 10 years, and the decline seems to be speeding up
And it’s not like I’ve stopped going to hot mosquitoey places. They critters aren’t out there any more
Seems a benign form of catastrophe to me
Not when all the birds, that eat mosquitoes, likewise die out. And we know birdlife is also in steep decline
It looks fucking grim, frankly
It is probably worse than measured by the reg plate survey.
We've had a trend of the council not cutting verges (good) but that means that there is a disproportionate number of insects found next to roads.
Out in the wider countryside it is not really improved.
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
There was a whole thing about this, even earlier - a comic got stopped by the police and forced to take his Bollocks To Blair T-shirt off outside Downing street.
EDIT: early in the New Labour thing, the Chinese President visited. The government used some ancient laws that applied to Royal parks to have any kind of protest banned and protestors removed. This included standing quietly, holding a small sign saying "Remember Tibet".
I don't agree with those either. But it's not just outside Downing Street or in a Royal park under some bylaw, is it? It's everywhere now. Any copper can essentially do what they want. Still, thanks for the whataboutery.
In the case referenced, the gentleman in question was attending a sporting event wearing the dress of an organisation that had threatened to disrupt the event.
He was stopped, searched, and let on his way, he wasn’t arrested. It was a prank, played on him by friends, that’s not been banned.
I’ve done a Google search and I can’t find any images of Nandy wearing anything as suggestively kinky as that. So you can all put your Kleenex away. It’s not like Truss where there were hundreds of images of her in increasingly obvious BDSM-adjacent outfits/jewellery
Perhaps she simply doesn’t realise how it looks or she is in the very early days of a new lifestyle
On insects - I'd encourage those with cars to do the Bugs Matter reg plate survey (you count the number of insects you wipe out during a drive).
The latest data shows a drop of 64% between 2004 and 2022. 😮
It is a quiet catastrophe. Again I reference the number of times I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes. It has plunged in the last 10 years, and the decline seems to be speeding up
And it’s not like I’ve stopped going to hot mosquitoey places. They critters aren’t out there any more
Seems a benign form of catastrophe to me
Not when all the birds, that eat mosquitoes, likewise die out. And we know birdlife is also in steep decline
It looks fucking grim, frankly
It is probably worse than measured by the reg plate survey.
We've had a trend of the council not cutting verges (good) but that means that there is a disproportionate number of insects found next to roads.
Out in the wider countryside it is not really improved.
Too many people. Luckily, we’ve all stopped having kids or become asexual genderqueers so that problem will soon be solved
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
There was a whole thing about this, even earlier - a comic got stopped by the police and forced to take his Bollocks To Blair T-shirt off outside Downing street.
EDIT: early in the New Labour thing, the Chinese President visited. The government used some ancient laws that applied to Royal parks to have any kind of protest banned and protestors removed. This included standing quietly, holding a small sign saying "Remember Tibet".
I don't agree with those either. But it's not just outside Downing Street or in a Royal park under some bylaw, is it? It's everywhere now. Any copper can essentially do what they want. Still, thanks for the whataboutery.
Is it Whatabboutery? I don't think Malmesbury thinks you would be fine with the stuff under New Labour.
Perhaps I'm being harsh on those police officers, but I think I'd have thought twice before approaching him. Always ask yourself "how likely is this to be an issue?"
EDIT: Assuming this a real pic, you can't be sure these days.
I wonder how much NIMBYism would be quelled if community infrastructure had to be provided a lot earlier in the process of creating new places like Northstowe? It would need funding, because it wouldn't be commercially viable for the first few years. On the other hand, that might be a useful stick to get faster completion of estates. And the downside of forcing the first few residents to look elsewhere for stuff is that it creates habits that mean that the new community never fully gels.
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
There was a whole thing about this, even earlier - a comic got stopped by the police and forced to take his Bollocks To Blair T-shirt off outside Downing street.
EDIT: early in the New Labour thing, the Chinese President visited. The government used some ancient laws that applied to Royal parks to have any kind of protest banned and protestors removed. This included standing quietly, holding a small sign saying "Remember Tibet".
I don't agree with those either. But it's not just outside Downing Street or in a Royal park under some bylaw, is it? It's everywhere now. Any copper can essentially do what they want. Still, thanks for the whataboutery.
It's not whataboutery - The police were arresting people for selling and wearing T-shirts for being "offensive". 2 decades ago. And this wasn't just about outside Downing Street - Royal Norfolk Show, for example. A stall holder was arrested by the police there.
I actually made representations to my MP on the civil liberties issue. Who told me that since the people involved were wrong'uns, she was in favour.
The ship has sailed, been retired, broken up, the metal remade into razor blades etc.
No mention of Mr Gove on a quick word search? This is very much on topic, as it can't do much for Mr Sunak's hopes. Getting bad news out of the way early?
"Michael Gove’s department is handing back £1.9bn to the Treasury originally meant to tackle England’s housing crisis after struggling to find projects to spend it on.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has surrendered hundreds of millions of pounds budgeted for 2022-23, including £255m meant to fund new affordable housing and £245m meant to improve building safety.
Officials said the department was unable to spend the money, which accounts for about a third of its entire housing budget, thanks to rising interest rates and uncertainty in the housing market after the Covid-19 pandemic."
Thats good news. Assume all the post Grenfell cladding issues are sorted now and EWS1 certification can be done in a couple of weeks.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
You can easily tell that loads of the smaller presenters think both management and the household name unnamed presenter are deeply unpopular with their staff/colleagues. BBC News is determined to hang draw and quarter the BBC on this.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
If you are in search of positive news, let me give you some. The country around Sidmouth is currently buzzing with bees and butterflies. I think the decision to keep the grass long and let wild flowers grow in so many meadows, combined with recent rain, has brought them out to play. Not having a clue about nature I could be totally wrong. But I do know they are there because I can see them! Maybe it's only round here, but I hope not.
THere's been much more emphasis lately in leaving meadows alone for the early months to let the insects have a chance. Parallel movement in gardening, too: not being anal about one's lawn (let alone replace it with plastic etc). Mrs C has been of that philosophy for decades and our lawnless front garden has been a chaotic mass of flowers since the snowdrops and crocuses - full of bumblebees and hoverflies, and butterflies. In contrast to the sometimes sterile plastic grass and hard core parking spaces elswehere on the same street.
Edit: even the RHS is in on it, much to its credit.
We're currently house hunting and it's been a real eye opener to see the number of places that have plastic grass. Way more than I'd have expected, and it really puts us off, as it'd have to be ripped up and proper lawn laid again. I
Was a story in paper last year , some woman had got up in morning to find someone had rolled teh lawn up and nicked it. Anyone with plastic grass should get minimum 3 years with no remission.
Oh, she had the value of her house increased? Difficult to see where the crime is then.
Carnyx, the crime is having plastic grass. What kind of cretin do you need to be to want that in preference to the real thing.
I am not a fan of plastic grass but my late mum had my brother lay some on a very untidy old concrete patio she had - it made it feel a nicer space to sit out in the sun for what turned out to be her last summer.
So there we are, my mum was a cretin in Malc's book. She'd have laughed at that.
Nice one, why not a nice outdoor carpet though.
Which is really plastic grass you can move. Except it never gets moved.
I have to ask: is there such a thing as outdoor carpet? Is this a Scottish thing?
If you do not have outdoor carpets you have never lived Viewcode. I picked it up living in USA, have several here for the patio but given the weather dif
That the planned Rheinmetall plant in Ukraine is already being scoped to produce the KF51
Could you elaborate a bit please? I have a vague and possibly wrong notion that Rheinmetall is a German firm who were pressuring the German gov not to supply Ukraine with weapons...? What is the KF51?
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
Edit - oh yeah, ECHR, that's next.
I don't think it ever wasn't the case that if you turned up wearing a t-shirt which strongly implied "I am about to illegally disrupt this event" the police wouldn't have had a word. I don't think they'd do much if you just walked down the high street with a JSO t-shirt.
To be honest, I think the group of lads here are being nobs. Of course he's going to be challenged.
On insects - I'd encourage those with cars to do the Bugs Matter reg plate survey (you count the number of insects you wipe out during a drive).
The latest data shows a drop of 64% between 2004 and 2022. 😮
It is a quiet catastrophe. Again I reference the number of times I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes. It has plunged in the last 10 years, and the decline seems to be speeding up
And it’s not like I’ve stopped going to hot mosquitoey places. They critters aren’t out there any more
Seems a benign form of catastrophe to me
Not when all the birds, that eat mosquitoes, likewise die out. And we know birdlife is also in steep decline
It looks fucking grim, frankly
It is probably worse than measured by the reg plate survey.
We've had a trend of the council not cutting verges (good) but that means that there is a disproportionate number of insects found next to roads.
Out in the wider countryside it is not really improved.
Too many people. Luckily, we’ve all stopped having kids or become asexual genderqueers so that problem will soon be solved
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet
But this decline has happened rapidly in just the last 20 years? So something else is going on.
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
There was a whole thing about this, even earlier - a comic got stopped by the police and forced to take his Bollocks To Blair T-shirt off outside Downing street.
EDIT: early in the New Labour thing, the Chinese President visited. The government used some ancient laws that applied to Royal parks to have any kind of protest banned and protestors removed. This included standing quietly, holding a small sign saying "Remember Tibet".
I don't agree with those either. But it's not just outside Downing Street or in a Royal park under some bylaw, is it? It's everywhere now. Any copper can essentially do what they want. Still, thanks for the whataboutery.
Is it Whatabboutery? I don't think Malmesbury thinks you would be fine with the stuff under New Labour.
Perhaps I'm being harsh on those police officers, but I think I'd have thought twice before approaching him. Always ask yourself "how likely is this to be an issue?"
EDIT: Assuming this a real pic, you can't be sure these days.
More that this policy - "Offensive" apparel is arrestable - is 2 decades old.
It has been happening for a long, long time. Before most of the current government were in parliament.
I disagree with it, fundamentally, incidentally.
Wearing the apparel of an organisation that has stated its intent to disrupt sporting events at a sporting event is unwise, of course.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
I don’t see many on PB “dancing with glee”
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
If you are in search of positive news, let me give you some. The country around Sidmouth is currently buzzing with bees and butterflies. I think the decision to keep the grass long and let wild flowers grow in so many meadows, combined with recent rain, has brought them out to play. Not having a clue about nature I could be totally wrong. But I do know they are there because I can see them! Maybe it's only round here, but I hope not.
THere's been much more emphasis lately in leaving meadows alone for the early months to let the insects have a chance. Parallel movement in gardening, too: not being anal about one's lawn (let alone replace it with plastic etc). Mrs C has been of that philosophy for decades and our lawnless front garden has been a chaotic mass of flowers since the snowdrops and crocuses - full of bumblebees and hoverflies, and butterflies. In contrast to the sometimes sterile plastic grass and hard core parking spaces elswehere on the same street.
Edit: even the RHS is in on it, much to its credit.
We're currently house hunting and it's been a real eye opener to see the number of places that have plastic grass. Way more than I'd have expected, and it really puts us off, as it'd have to be ripped up and proper lawn laid again. I
Was a story in paper last year , some woman had got up in morning to find someone had rolled teh lawn up and nicked it. Anyone with plastic grass should get minimum 3 years with no remission.
Oh, she had the value of her house increased? Difficult to see where the crime is then.
Carnyx, the crime is having plastic grass. What kind of cretin do you need to be to want that in preference to the real thing.
I am not a fan of plastic grass but my late mum had my brother lay some on a very untidy old concrete patio she had - it made it feel a nicer space to sit out in the sun for what turned out to be her last summer.
So there we are, my mum was a cretin in Malc's book. She'd have laughed at that.
Nice one, why not a nice outdoor carpet though.
Which is really plastic grass you can move. Except it never gets moved.
I have to ask: is there such a thing as outdoor carpet? Is this a Scottish thing?
If you do not have outdoor carpets you have never lived Viewcode. I picked it up living in USA, have several here for the patio but given the weather dif
That the planned Rheinmetall plant in Ukraine is already being scoped to produce the KF51
Could you elaborate a bit please? I have a vague and possibly wrong notion that Rheinmetall is a German firm who were pressuring the German gov not to supply Ukraine with weapons...? What is the KF51?
New Leopard
German arms industry would sell fire to Satan. During the 80s, the German chemical industry sold precursors to chemical weapons to Saddam. Who was gassing people at the time. When the UN sanctions shifted to the precursors, they sold other precursors to Saddam.
The German government has been... moderating arms sales to Ukraine
Rheinmetall see an opportunity to get their newest toy on the battlefield. Without the German government stopping them. They also see the opportunity to push all the Leopard users (including the German government) to buy the latest tank. Don't want to have a less shiny toy than Ukraine....
By building it abroad, it is very hard for the German government to stop.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
I don’t see many on PB “dancing with glee”
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
The “dancing with glee” thing is projection.
Like the fantasies of machine gunning migrants in the Channel. Where the reality is Dominos pizza and mid range country hotels with the treadmill next to the indoor pool.
On insects - I'd encourage those with cars to do the Bugs Matter reg plate survey (you count the number of insects you wipe out during a drive).
The latest data shows a drop of 64% between 2004 and 2022. 😮
It is a quiet catastrophe. Again I reference the number of times I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes. It has plunged in the last 10 years, and the decline seems to be speeding up
And it’s not like I’ve stopped going to hot mosquitoey places. They critters aren’t out there any more
Seems a benign form of catastrophe to me
Not when all the birds, that eat mosquitoes, likewise die out. And we know birdlife is also in steep decline
It looks fucking grim, frankly
It is probably worse than measured by the reg plate survey.
We've had a trend of the council not cutting verges (good) but that means that there is a disproportionate number of insects found next to roads.
Out in the wider countryside it is not really improved.
Too many people. Luckily, we’ve all stopped having kids or become asexual genderqueers so that problem will soon be solved
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet
But this decline has happened rapidly in just the last 20 years? So something else is going on.
My guess is we’ve reached a tipping point where so much habitat has either been built on, turned into monocultural farmland, or otherwise rendered unusable for wildlife - plus rampant pesticide usage - insect populations are crashing and taking down everything with them. In short, it’s too late
On topic - Sunak is certainly politically inept enough to think that impinging on peoples' Christmas break with a general election (combined with the terrible clinging-on-to-the-last-possible-moment optics) is a good idea.
I would hope there might yet be one or two grownups with enough clout left in the Conservatives to persuade him otherwise. October or November 2024 seems likeliest to me.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
I don’t see many on PB “dancing with glee”
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
Sorry if I was unclear; I wasn't talking specifically about PBers, I meant in general - the tabloids, twitter people, etc.
I wonder how much NIMBYism would be quelled if community infrastructure had to be provided a lot earlier in the process of creating new places like Northstowe? It would need funding, because it wouldn't be commercially viable for the first few years. On the other hand, that might be a useful stick to get faster completion of estates. And the downside of forcing the first few residents to look elsewhere for stuff is that it creates habits that mean that the new community never fully gels.
I tend to think new towns are on a different track to the typical development you hear brought up in the Nimby discussion, infill developments or extensions of the town or apartments in districts with mainly houses.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
I don’t see many on PB “dancing with glee”
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
Sorry if I was unclear; I wasn't talking specifically about PBers, I meant in general - the tabloids, twitter people, etc.
Twatter, Reddit etc love a good witch hunt. The actual target is fairly immaterial - get the pitchforks out.
Most actual humans seem bemused by the "secrecy" - or maybe I don't know enough of the salivating witch-smeller types.
Could have been worse, people might have mistaken him for a Max Verstappen fan…
Haha yeah it’s funny on one level. Lads, lads, lads, lager, lager, lager, and all that.
On the other just pause and reflect for a second - this government has made it legal for people to be challenged and if necessary detained for a slogan on a t-shirt.
If it’d been a Labour government doing this, getting people stopped for slogans on t-shirts - maybe something like ‘Bring back foxhunting’ - the right would be going batshit crazy.
The right are sanguine because this is directed at an issue they disagree with, and they are happy to flirt with authoritarianism. If not some kind form of fascism. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, or premature, to drop the f-bomb now.
This government is intent on stripping us of rights. EU citizenship, the right to protest. What’s next?
Edit - oh yeah, ECHR, that's next.
I don't think it ever wasn't the case that if you turned up wearing a t-shirt which strongly implied "I am about to illegally disrupt this event" the police wouldn't have had a word. I don't think they'd do much if you just walked down the high street with a JSO t-shirt.
To be honest, I think the group of lads here are being nobs. Of course he's going to be challenged.
He's at a major sporting event wearing the logo of an organisation known for disrupting major sporting events. How are they not going to go and talk to him?
It's not quite walking though customs at Tel Aviv with an 'I heart bombing Israel'* t-shirt, but it's on the same spectrum.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
Do we have firm evidence of illegal activity? No.
Do we have an allegation of illegal activity? Yes.
So it should like any allegation be investigated seriously, bearing in mind both that criminal activity may have occurred and that innocent until proven guilty applies.
Does the fact that the alleged victim denies criminal activity happened mean it didn't? No.
People involved in wrongdoing, including victims, deny wrongdoing all the time.
The whole point of the age of consent is that the victim can't consent and can't say that a crime didn't happen if it did. The fact they're now an adult doesn't change that if a crime did occur when they were a child.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
What's the unity score on the Commonwealth re. supporting Ukraine?
Do these political books actually sell any real amount of copies? How many people bought Hancock's book?
In many cases, the advances on such books are similar to the vast sums spent on speeches given by ex-politicans. Essentially a disguised donation.
I was thinking perhaps they get the advance back on serialising in a newspaper & after that its all profit, so its immaterial how many copies they shift. But given newspapers aren't what they were, perhaps serialisation fees aren't much these days?
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
What's the unity score on the Commonwealth re. supporting Ukraine?
Yes, good point. Imagine how hamstrung we'd be if we sought unity?
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
Do we have firm evidence of illegal activity? No.
Do we have an allegation of illegal activity? Yes.
So it should like any allegation be investigated seriously, bearing in mind both that criminal activity may have occurred and that innocent until proven guilty applies.
Does the fact that the alleged victim denies criminal activity happened mean it didn't? No.
People involved in wrongdoing, including victims, deny wrongdoing all the time.
The whole point of the age of consent is that the victim can't consent and can't say that a crime didn't happen if it did. The fact they're now an adult doesn't change that if a crime did occur when they were a child.
The homophobia thing is as interesting take on it.
What would happen, do you think, for allegations that a celebrity sent 5 figures to an opposite sex teenager for... services?
Do these political books actually sell any real amount of copies? How many people bought Hancock's book?
Usually not; it's a longstanding source of bafflement how much ex-politicians get paid for their books. Outside of the best diaries - which are usually from bit-part players who know how to write well, and don't get the big advances - only a few actually sell reasonably well. Blair's, for example.
On insects - I'd encourage those with cars to do the Bugs Matter reg plate survey (you count the number of insects you wipe out during a drive).
The latest data shows a drop of 64% between 2004 and 2022. 😮
It is a quiet catastrophe. Again I reference the number of times I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes. It has plunged in the last 10 years, and the decline seems to be speeding up
And it’s not like I’ve stopped going to hot mosquitoey places. They critters aren’t out there any more
Seems a benign form of catastrophe to me
Not when all the birds, that eat mosquitoes, likewise die out. And we know birdlife is also in steep decline
It looks fucking grim, frankly
It is probably worse than measured by the reg plate survey.
We've had a trend of the council not cutting verges (good) but that means that there is a disproportionate number of insects found next to roads.
Out in the wider countryside it is not really improved.
Too many people. Luckily, we’ve all stopped having kids or become asexual genderqueers so that problem will soon be solved
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet
But this decline has happened rapidly in just the last 20 years? So something else is going on.
My guess is we’ve reached a tipping point where so much habitat has either been built on, turned into monocultural farmland, or otherwise rendered unusable for wildlife - plus rampant pesticide usage - insect populations are crashing and taking down everything with them. In short, it’s too late
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
I don’t see many on PB “dancing with glee”
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
The “dancing with glee” thing is projection.
Like the fantasies of machine gunning migrants in the Channel. Where the reality is Dominos pizza and mid range country hotels with the treadmill next to the indoor pool.
C'mon. It's hardly all projection. There's a feeding frenzy. I don't think I've ever seen so much hot air from so many over so little.
I've had a busy morning and have just found time to sit with a coffee and read The Telegraph. I nearly spilt my coffee when I turned to page 3. Could they make it more obvious who the BBC presenter is? I won't say any more so not to get this site into trouble.
I've had a busy morning and have just found time to sit with a coffee and read The Telegraph. I nearly spilt my coffee when I turned to page 3. Could they make it more obvious who the BBC presenter is? I won't say any more so not to get this site into trouble.
I wonder how much NIMBYism would be quelled if community infrastructure had to be provided a lot earlier in the process of creating new places like Northstowe? It would need funding, because it wouldn't be commercially viable for the first few years. On the other hand, that might be a useful stick to get faster completion of estates. And the downside of forcing the first few residents to look elsewhere for stuff is that it creates habits that mean that the new community never fully gels.
I do think this is one of the biggest problems with any project suggested by the government / that has big impacts on people.
The way the UK state is falling apart and failing to meet its social obligations means that people very often feel the negative impacts of state action or imposition (taxes, regulation, inflation, etc.) but with austerity have felt fewer benefits (NHS is failing, fewer schools, pot holes etc.) So front loading the carrot, I feel, would go a long way to sell people on what they don't like about these things, because even if you promise the positives most people don't believe they will actually happen. I need only point to a relatively recent estate down my end - a new GP was promised, a few new shops were supposed to exist and there was a promise of investigating the feasibility of reopening a train station that went out during the Thatcher period. None of these things materialised, but traffic increased, schools had to take increasing number of kids, etc etc. If you build the school and GP first, or designate the area for greening / increasing biodiversity or replacing lost green space.
I also think certain things that aren't allowed to be considered when planning (like water provision) need to become part of the conversation. At the moment there is an assumption and duty that water providers will be able to provide new houses with water. But places like Herts are already in permanent drought conditions, with annual hose pipe bans and such. Adding a couple of hundred thousand more houses to the mix will make that much worse.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
What's the unity score on the Commonwealth re. supporting Ukraine?
Yes, good point. Imagine how hamstrung we'd be if we sought unity?
I guess reaching an agreed position with much haggling & compromise is what happens with big international organisations whose decisons & actions people give a fck about. The Commonwealth otoh..
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
Do we have firm evidence of illegal activity? No.
Do we have an allegation of illegal activity? Yes.
So it should like any allegation be investigated seriously, bearing in mind both that criminal activity may have occurred and that innocent until proven guilty applies.
Does the fact that the alleged victim denies criminal activity happened mean it didn't? No.
People involved in wrongdoing, including victims, deny wrongdoing all the time.
The whole point of the age of consent is that the victim can't consent and can't say that a crime didn't happen if it did. The fact they're now an adult doesn't change that if a crime did occur when they were a child.
Should this story continue to lead the news bulletins ? NO.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
There was a well known poker player whose abilities were really overblown (her brother was really the one ahead of thr curve who passed on tactics), who got lets just say got more than a reputation as a grifter and not trustworthy at all....they now are a "go to" person for tv, media, podcasts and corporates talking about strategic thinking. They have made many times more out of this new grift than they ever did at poker.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
You can easily tell that loads of the smaller presenters think both management and the household name unnamed presenter are deeply unpopular with their staff/colleagues. BBC News is determined to hang draw and quarter the BBC on this.
BBC News has no reason to love the BBC after the recent cuts and releasing of many long serving members of staff.
There was a well known poker player whose abilities were really overblown (her brother was really the one ahead of thr curve who passed on tactics), who got lets just say got more than a reputation as a grifter and not trustworthy at all....they now are a "go to" person for podcasts and corporates talking at strategic thinking.
Will 'how not to fuck up a really strong position in less than 3 years' be BJ's schtick?
I used to train constantly until 2002 and then stopped for 20 years. However, before the invasion, I called Pavlo Haidai who, I knew, had been preparing for the war. He works in the cultural initiative Mizh vukhamy [Between the ears] that funds translations of philosophical works. Aristotle’s Metaphysics [takes a thick book from the table] which together with Ibn Sina [Persian polymath during Islamic Golden Age] served as a support for my rifle. He helped me to buy several rifles.”..
There was a well known poker player whose abilities were really overblown (her brother was really the one ahead of thr curve who passed on tactics), who got lets just say got more than a reputation as a grifter and not trustworthy at all....they now are a "go to" person for tv, media, podcasts and corporates talking about strategic thinking. They have made many times more out of this new grift than they ever did at poker.
I'd say you're talking about Vicky Cohen Mitchell but I can't recall when she had an "untrustworthy" reputation.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
Do we have firm evidence of illegal activity? No.
Do we have an allegation of illegal activity? Yes.
So it should like any allegation be investigated seriously, bearing in mind both that criminal activity may have occurred and that innocent until proven guilty applies.
Does the fact that the alleged victim denies criminal activity happened mean it didn't? No.
People involved in wrongdoing, including victims, deny wrongdoing all the time.
The whole point of the age of consent is that the victim can't consent and can't say that a crime didn't happen if it did. The fact they're now an adult doesn't change that if a crime did occur when they were a child.
The homophobia thing is as interesting take on it.
What would happen, do you think, for allegations that a celebrity sent 5 figures to an opposite sex teenager for... services?
I think the whole story would be treated exactly the same, personally. The reporting has been conspicuously gender neutral.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
There was a well known poker player whose abilities were really overblown (her brother was really the one ahead of thr curve who passed on tactics), who got lets just say got more than a reputation as a grifter and not trustworthy at all....they now are a "go to" person for tv, media, podcasts and corporates talking about strategic thinking. They have made many times more out of this new grift than they ever did at poker.
I'd say you're talking about Vicky Cohen Mitchell but I can't recall when she had an "untrustworthy" reputation.
No absolutely not Vicky Cohen. Or Liv boeree. Both highly intelligent woman who have excellent reputation in the poker community and have career involving "strategic thinking".
Vicky Cohen actually gave up a very lucrative sponsorship with PokerStars at protest at how they treated some of the players. Which got her lots of good will and excellent standing.
I used to train constantly until 2002 and then stopped for 20 years. However, before the invasion, I called Pavlo Haidai who, I knew, had been preparing for the war. He works in the cultural initiative Mizh vukhamy [Between the ears] that funds translations of philosophical works. Aristotle’s Metaphysics [takes a thick book from the table] which together with Ibn Sina [Persian polymath during Islamic Golden Age] served as a support for my rifle. He helped me to buy several rifles.”..
'Mizh vukhamy' isn't a bad title for a sniper manual.
I've had a busy morning and have just found time to sit with a coffee and read The Telegraph. I nearly spilt my coffee when I turned to page 3. Could they make it more obvious who the BBC presenter is? I won't say any more so not to get this site into trouble.
Is there anyone left that cares enough to want to know who it is that hasn't already found out?
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
I don’t see many on PB “dancing with glee”
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
The “dancing with glee” thing is projection.
Like the fantasies of machine gunning migrants in the Channel. Where the reality is Dominos pizza and mid range country hotels with the treadmill next to the indoor pool.
C'mon. It's hardly all projection. There's a feeding frenzy. I don't think I've ever seen so much hot air from so many over so little.
Unfortunately the circumstances of this story have all the ingredients for a perfect media storm. You have the steady drip-drip of info, the daily twists and turns and perhaps the most compelling element - the fact that no-one is being named, which continues to fuel the fire.
It appeals to the basic part of human nature that enjoys speculation and gossip. The media also loves to talk about itself.
I also think it opens a wider debate about the distinction between private and professional life. It is a distinction that has become increasingly blurred over the years both by the media’s appetite to start a feeding frenzy and the advent of social media.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
Yes. To action! Will you start the land war with Russia first or shall I?
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
NATO is the epitome of flexible response - ranging from Hungary (nearly pro Russia) to the UK (upsetting the US by pushing forward with new areas of arms supply).
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
Yes. To action! Will you start the land war with Russia first or shall I?
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
NATO is the epitome of flexible response - ranging from Hungary (nearly pro Russia) to the UK (upsetting the US by pushing forward with new areas of arms supply).
There is scope to expand that range of responses further and to upset the US more by going even further.
3. If AI is so bloody clever, why can't it automatically remove traffic noise like headphones can? 4. And if it can't, why doesn't someone invent directional microphones? 5. And if they have, is GBNews just inept or deliberately undermining Labour spox?
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
NATO is the epitome of flexible response - ranging from Hungary (nearly pro Russia) to the UK (upsetting the US by pushing forward with new areas of arms supply).
Sometimes all in the same individual - see Erdogan.
Mortgage payments to rise for 4 million households over next three years
The Bank of England has warned of the growing pressures facing household finances, highly leveraged businesses and buy-to-let landlords as interest rates continue to rise — and says that almost every mortgage in the country will be affected by the end of 2026.
The Bank said in its latest financial stability report that although the UK economy “has so far been resilient to interest rate risk” it will “take time for the full impact of higher interest rates to come through”.
It shows one of the problems with valuing unity (of the EU and NATO) for its own sake. Countries that would be willing to do more to oppose Russia are held back by those who are afraid or protecting their own interests.
Nato exit the new red bus campaign? Russia Dom would come out of retirement for that one.
No need for NATO-exit. We just need to invoke the spirit of Victoria Nuland and stop valuing consensus over action.
NATO is the epitome of flexible response - ranging from Hungary (nearly pro Russia) to the UK (upsetting the US by pushing forward with new areas of arms supply).
There is scope to expand that range of responses further and to upset the US more by going even further.
Oh, absolutely.
Which is why I want to give ICBMs and nuclear warheads to Ukraine.
Getting very messy in BBC presenter story. Now have current BBC presenters saying they must reveal themselves and they are never coming back in the building (and bbc news making a huge deal of this) and ex-bbc presenters going into bat for unnamed presenter saying they spoke to them and they are angry, its all a sun stitch up.
I am reminded of the spiderman meme, where all the spidermen are pointing at one another.
I mean, as it stands atm, do we have any actual accusation of illegal action? From my understanding the young person in question in the first accusation may have been 17 when first contacted, but the lawyer for that young person seems to have come out actively saying the account from the parents is wrong - so it looks like maybe a young person who does sex work (OF, camming, private / online escort work, whatever) who was getting money from a famous person and the parents not liking that and the fact the young person spent that money on drugs. The second account has essentially been "I talked to this person and they came across as desperate and needy" which may be unattractive to a potential partner and a bad way to have a relationship, but is not illegal. And the only other allegation I have seen is a person saying they may have approached another 17 year old at some point about something - again, it isn't known about what or if anything illegal happened.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
Do we have firm evidence of illegal activity? No.
Do we have an allegation of illegal activity? Yes.
So it should like any allegation be investigated seriously, bearing in mind both that criminal activity may have occurred and that innocent until proven guilty applies.
Does the fact that the alleged victim denies criminal activity happened mean it didn't? No.
People involved in wrongdoing, including victims, deny wrongdoing all the time.
The whole point of the age of consent is that the victim can't consent and can't say that a crime didn't happen if it did. The fact they're now an adult doesn't change that if a crime did occur when they were a child.
The homophobia thing is as interesting take on it.
What would happen, do you think, for allegations that a celebrity sent 5 figures to an opposite sex teenager for... services?
I think the whole story would be treated exactly the same, personally. The reporting has been conspicuously gender neutral.
One of the curiosities of the whole dismal saga, and perhaps a sign that the nation has moved on from the 80s glory days of the red tops.
Tabloid journalism- especially stories like this one- has always sold the sizzle more than the sausage. My suspicion is that there's not much of a sausage here- in practice it will be sad, dismal and career-ending, but I'm still not totally convinced it should be. Based on what's known so far, we're not in Saville/Harris territory.
The story works for the Sun as long as X remains anonymous, becuase then X can't give their side of things. If that changes, the whole thing has the potential to get messy again.
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds
As to the skirt and shoes, I am much less convinced. No other photos show Nandy in anything like this. Probably just unwitting/coincidence
However if she was heading out to a naughty party in those clothes they’d unquestionably signal: lolicom cosplay and kitten/sub
I accept this is not THE political question of the moment, but it’s actually more fun to talk about than this sad BBC nonsense, which is, at best, quite bleak
Mortgage payments to rise for 4 million households over next three years
The Bank of England has warned of the growing pressures facing household finances, highly leveraged businesses and buy-to-let landlords as interest rates continue to rise — and says that almost every mortgage in the country will be affected by the end of 2026.
The Bank said in its latest financial stability report that although the UK economy “has so far been resilient to interest rate risk” it will “take time for the full impact of higher interest rates to come through”.
Ignorant science teacher in the middle of marking question:
How much does this feed into published inflation figures? Government optimists are talking about how inflation is set to fall over the rest of the year, in which case pay rises will exceed inflation and all will be well again.
In practice, mortgage interest rises will blow that out of the water for people coming off fxed rates, especially if they have a chunky sum outstanding. Is that going to manifest in published inflation falling more slowly, or in a huge data-reality gap?
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting on political betting websites fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting on political betting websites fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting online fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
If Italy is the model for all future Western politics then it can't be long before we start getting porn star MPs.
Two points
* I imagine (and there is no way I'm going to look) that there are many AI-generated images of UK politicians of all stripes in various states of undress and poses. * The question of what to do with politicians discovered to have unusual sex with consenting adults has arisen before (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contender_(2000_film) for a fictional example). I can't think of a specific UK example other than sex-with-prostitutes and the Profumo affair. I assume others will provide further examples if they exist
Mortgage payments to rise for 4 million households over next three years
The Bank of England has warned of the growing pressures facing household finances, highly leveraged businesses and buy-to-let landlords as interest rates continue to rise — and says that almost every mortgage in the country will be affected by the end of 2026.
The Bank said in its latest financial stability report that although the UK economy “has so far been resilient to interest rate risk” it will “take time for the full impact of higher interest rates to come through”.
Ignorant science teacher in the middle of marking question:
How much does this feed into published inflation figures? Government optimists are talking about how inflation is set to fall over the rest of the year, in which case pay rises will exceed inflation and all will be well again.
In practice, mortgage interest rises will blow that out of the water for people coming off fxed rates, especially if they have a chunky sum outstanding. Is that going to manifest in published inflation falling more slowly, or in a huge data-reality gap?
Housing costs (including utility bills) are weighted at 14% of CPI.
The reason for the low weighting is that half of home owners have no mortgages, and many of the rest have small mortgages.
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting online fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
If Italy is the model for all future Western politics then it can't be long before we start getting porn star MPs.
Two points
* I imagine (and there is no way I'm going to look) that there are many AI-generated images of UK politicians of all stripes in various states of undress and poses. * The question of what to do with politicians discovered to have unusual sex with consenting adults has arisen before (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contender_(2000_film) for a fictional example). I can't think of a specific UK example other than sex-with-prostitutes and the Profumo affair. I assume others will provide further examples if they exist
I suppose the most obvious one that springs to mind is the sad case of Stephen Milligan although of course that didn't involve anyone else.
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting online fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
If Italy is the model for all future Western politics then it can't be long before we start getting porn star MPs.
Two points
* I imagine (and there is no way I'm going to look) that there are many AI-generated images of UK politicians of all stripes in various states of undress and poses. * The question of what to do with politicians discovered to have unusual sex with consenting adults has arisen before (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contender_(2000_film) for a fictional example). I can't think of a specific UK example other than sex-with-prostitutes and the Profumo affair. I assume others will provide further examples if they exist
I suppose the most obvious one that springs to mind is the sad case of Stephen Milligan although of course that didn't involve anyone else.
Oh damn. Yes I had forgot about that. Mentioned in John Major's autobiography too.
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting online fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
If Italy is the model for all future Western politics then it can't be long before we start getting porn star MPs.
Two points
* I imagine (and there is no way I'm going to look) that there are many AI-generated images of UK politicians of all stripes in various states of undress and poses. * The question of what to do with politicians discovered to have unusual sex with consenting adults has arisen before (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contender_(2000_film) for a fictional example). I can't think of a specific UK example other than sex-with-prostitutes and the Profumo affair. I assume others will provide further examples if they exist
I suppose the most obvious one that springs to mind is the sad case of Stephen Milligan although of course that didn't involve anyone else.
It prompted a remarkable obituary from Auberon Waugh, in The Spectator.
Woman wears skirt and heels is in a similar PB vein as bloke eats bacon sarnie or man cries at funeral.
Mate, you’re talking to the guy who correctly identified the sexual significance of THE NECKLACE after fifteen seconds.
We are talking to the guy with a fetlife account who insists on posting online fetish-based analyses of female politicians based on evidence that may be exceedingly sparse. How would you characterise this behavior?
If Italy is the model for all future Western politics then it can't be long before we start getting porn star MPs.
Two points
* I imagine (and there is no way I'm going to look) that there are many AI-generated images of UK politicians of all stripes in various states of undress and poses. * The question of what to do with politicians discovered to have unusual sex with consenting adults has arisen before (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contender_(2000_film) for a fictional example). I can't think of a specific UK example other than sex-with-prostitutes and the Profumo affair. I assume others will provide further examples if they exist
You actually raise an important point. In a year or two AI will be so good we will be flooded with completely convincing images of politicians doing this perverse thing with this pit pony/daffodil/scout troop
We will have no idea if they are real. Paradoxically it may allow guilty people to get away with bad stuff by saying “that’s just AI”. How will we prove them wrong?
Comments
One being a remarkable work of fantasy and the other an exercise in philology by an Oxford professor.
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/hunting/girl-arrested-over-bollocks-to-blair-shirt-68779
We've had a trend of the council not cutting verges (good) but that means that there is a disproportionate number of insects found next to roads.
Out in the wider countryside it is not really improved.
Middlesex cricket team are playing at Merchant Taylors' School today rather than Lords.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cricket/64958939
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt7MDi7YZT4
He was stopped, searched, and let on his way, he wasn’t arrested. It was a prank, played on him by friends, that’s not been banned.
I just bet you have.
Too many people. Luckily, we’ve all stopped having kids or become asexual genderqueers so that problem will soon be solved
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet
Perhaps I'm being harsh on those police officers, but I think I'd have thought twice before approaching him. Always ask yourself "how likely is this to be an issue?"
EDIT: Assuming this a real pic, you can't be sure these days.
I actually made representations to my MP on the civil liberties issue. Who told me that since the people involved were wrong'uns, she was in favour.
The ship has sailed, been retired, broken up, the metal remade into razor blades etc.
Is it a bit cringe for a middle aged BBC presenter to be talking to / sexting / whatever with younger men? Sure. Is it illegal. No. Should it be front page news on the Sun? Also no. Should the other papers then put it on all of their front pages? Definitely no.
This story seems to be an attempt to do to some BBC news presenter what happened with Schofield, and continuing the increasing conflation between any same sex relationships with paedophilia. Obviously if the BBC employee in question did anything illegal, they should be investigated and punished. But all those people who argued that the court of public opinion was so unfair for the likes of Johnson or any other right winger, and hate it when people get "cancelled", seem to be dancing with glee at this story.
To be honest, I think the group of lads here are being nobs. Of course he's going to be challenged.
If we are going to have massive housebuilding programmes, there is an opportunity to actually improve biodiversity over current land use. Lots if bird species like House Sparrows are declining because they don't have anywhere to nest - easily fixed by stuff like this: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news-original/news/stories/building-new-homes-for-swifts/
It has been happening for a long, long time. Before most of the current government were in parliament.
I disagree with it, fundamentally, incidentally.
Wearing the apparel of an organisation that has stated its intent to disrupt sporting events at a sporting event is unwise, of course.
The general PB opinion, which I share, is that it is all rather sad and tawdry, mixed with puzzlement at the way the media/BBC themselves are handling the issue
It’s also getting quite boring and ridiculous. Either name the alleged culprit or move on
The German government has been... moderating arms sales to Ukraine
Rheinmetall see an opportunity to get their newest toy on the battlefield. Without the German government stopping them. They also see the opportunity to push all the Leopard users (including the German government) to buy the latest tank. Don't want to have a less shiny toy than Ukraine....
By building it abroad, it is very hard for the German government to stop.
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panther_KF51 is pretty much the Leopard 3
Like the fantasies of machine gunning migrants in the Channel. Where the reality is Dominos pizza and mid range country hotels with the treadmill next to the indoor pool.
'A compelling account of the destruction of a thrilling man by a bunch of pygmies who aren't fit to lick his boots' ... The Spectator
'Quite remarkable. Dorries renders Boris Johnson with such vivid intimacy you can almost smell his armpits' ... Richard Madeley
'Enough to make the blood boil. Oh what we have lost' ... The Telegraph
'Carries the authority of a woman who was there' ... Matthew Goodwin
'A rollocking read. Makes you chuckle, just like old Boris did' ... The Hartlepool Echo
'There are few better ways to spend £9.95 these days' ... Lord Botham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZejxqRMv9U0
One senses a real anger about the Vilnius summit.
I would hope there might yet be one or two grownups with enough clout left in the Conservatives to persuade him otherwise. October or November 2024 seems likeliest to me.
A number of chancers / youtubers have done that trick in order to be able to say author whose books have been #1 bestseller on Amazon.
Most actual humans seem bemused by the "secrecy" - or maybe I don't know enough of the salivating witch-smeller types.
It's not quite walking though customs at Tel Aviv with an 'I heart bombing Israel'* t-shirt, but it's on the same spectrum.
*gag nicked from TTOI.
Do we have an allegation of illegal activity? Yes.
So it should like any allegation be investigated seriously, bearing in mind both that criminal activity may have occurred and that innocent until proven guilty applies.
Does the fact that the alleged victim denies criminal activity happened mean it didn't? No.
People involved in wrongdoing, including victims, deny wrongdoing all the time.
The whole point of the age of consent is that the victim can't consent and can't say that a crime didn't happen if it did. The fact they're now an adult doesn't change that if a crime did occur when they were a child.
What would happen, do you think, for allegations that a celebrity sent 5 figures to an opposite sex teenager for... services?
https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/beethechange/blog/how-ive-set-up-bumblebee-nest-boxes-in-my-garden/
And is he perched atop a purple pyramid of piffle ?
The way the UK state is falling apart and failing to meet its social obligations means that people very often feel the negative impacts of state action or imposition (taxes, regulation, inflation, etc.) but with austerity have felt fewer benefits (NHS is failing, fewer schools, pot holes etc.) So front loading the carrot, I feel, would go a long way to sell people on what they don't like about these things, because even if you promise the positives most people don't believe they will actually happen. I need only point to a relatively recent estate down my end - a new GP was promised, a few new shops were supposed to exist and there was a promise of investigating the feasibility of reopening a train station that went out during the Thatcher period. None of these things materialised, but traffic increased, schools had to take increasing number of kids, etc etc. If you build the school and GP first, or designate the area for greening / increasing biodiversity or replacing lost green space.
I also think certain things that aren't allowed to be considered when planning (like water provision) need to become part of the conversation. At the moment there is an assumption and duty that water providers will be able to provide new houses with water. But places like Herts are already in permanent drought conditions, with annual hose pipe bans and such. Adding a couple of hundred thousand more houses to the mix will make that much worse.
The Commonwealth otoh..
https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/07/01/theology-professor-who-hunted-for-russian-invaders-near-kyiv-and-in-chornobyl-zone/
...“And then I remembered how we were shooting all the time with my grandfather who made a 100-meter shooting range at school. He said then that ‘You should do nothing but be prepared to do everything.’
I used to train constantly until 2002 and then stopped for 20 years. However, before the invasion, I called Pavlo Haidai who, I knew, had been preparing for the war. He works in the cultural initiative Mizh vukhamy [Between the ears] that funds translations of philosophical works. Aristotle’s Metaphysics [takes a thick book from the table] which together with Ibn Sina [Persian polymath during Islamic Golden Age] served as a support for my rifle. He helped me to buy several rifles.”..
Vicky Cohen actually gave up a very lucrative sponsorship with PokerStars at protest at how they treated some of the players. Which got her lots of good will and excellent standing.
Am talking about Annie Duke.
It appeals to the basic part of human nature that enjoys speculation and gossip. The media also loves to talk about itself.
I also think it opens a wider debate about the distinction between private and professional life. It is a distinction that has become increasingly blurred over the years both by the media’s appetite to start a feeding frenzy and the advent of social media.
Rybakina 3.55
Sabalenka 4.7
Svitolina 6.6
Jabeur 7.2
Vondrousova 7.4
Keys 16.5
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/tennis/market/1.200957123
Much more civilised than briefcases full of cash.
4. And if it can't, why doesn't someone invent directional microphones?
5. And if they have, is GBNews just inept or deliberately undermining Labour spox?
Mortgage payments to rise for 4 million households over next three years
The Bank of England has warned of the growing pressures facing household finances, highly leveraged businesses and buy-to-let landlords as interest rates continue to rise — and says that almost every mortgage in the country will be affected by the end of 2026.
The Bank said in its latest financial stability report that although the UK economy “has so far been resilient to interest rate risk” it will “take time for the full impact of higher interest rates to come through”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mortgage-payments-rates-households-bank-of-england-xcj9mrtxx
Which is why I want to give ICBMs and nuclear warheads to Ukraine.
Tabloid journalism- especially stories like this one- has always sold the sizzle more than the sausage. My suspicion is that there's not much of a sausage here- in practice it will be sad, dismal and career-ending, but I'm still not totally convinced it should be. Based on what's known so far, we're not in Saville/Harris territory.
The story works for the Sun as long as X remains anonymous, becuase then X can't give their side of things. If that changes, the whole thing has the potential to get messy again.
As to the skirt and shoes, I am much less convinced. No other photos show Nandy in anything like this. Probably just unwitting/coincidence
However if she was heading out to a naughty party in those clothes they’d unquestionably signal: lolicom cosplay and kitten/sub
I accept this is not THE political question of the moment, but it’s actually more fun to talk about than this sad BBC nonsense, which is, at best, quite bleak
How much does this feed into published inflation figures? Government optimists are talking about how inflation is set to fall over the rest of the year, in which case pay rises will exceed inflation and all will be well again.
In practice, mortgage interest rises will blow that out of the water for people coming off fxed rates, especially if they have a chunky sum outstanding. Is that going to manifest in published inflation falling more slowly, or in a huge data-reality gap?
I think at least one PBer may enjoy these observations on bathos.
https://forum.stockingshq.com/index.php?/topic/50432-lisa-nandy-pmqs/
The bathos is near-unbearable
But fairly blatant cash for influence and favours, nonetheless.
By way of meandering coincidence he was also a notorious womaniser
* I imagine (and there is no way I'm going to look) that there are many AI-generated images of UK politicians of all stripes in various states of undress and poses.
* The question of what to do with politicians discovered to have unusual sex with consenting adults has arisen before (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contender_(2000_film) for a fictional example). I can't think of a specific UK example other than sex-with-prostitutes and the Profumo affair. I assume others will provide further examples if they exist
The reason for the low weighting is that half of home owners have no mortgages, and many of the rest have small mortgages.
We will have no idea if they are real. Paradoxically it may allow guilty people to get away with bad stuff by saying “that’s just AI”. How will we prove them wrong?
This is how good Midjourney is now