I’m conflicted on wood burning stoves. We are about to install one in our extension, a long held dream of toasty fires on cold winter nights. We live on the very edge of town, right by fields, although the prevailing wind would take smoke across some houses. We also use oil for heating (good old rural location). And yet the evidence about particulates and wood burning is persuasive that they are, on the whole, not great. Still looking forward to mine though.
"Wood burning in homes now produces more small particle pollution than all road traffic in the UK."
You could do a lot more to reduce air pollution by banning wood burning stoves then with ULEZs. So why incur the massive political costs of a ULEZ?
I think @RochdalePioneers may have a wood burning stove which would be interesting to hear his comments
I have one. It is designed to as smoke minimal as possible as I understand it. Clearview 650.
Had it about ten years. We use it in winter and keep the gas heating off when it is being used.
Starting to think I perhaps should use it less often looking at the growing evidence on pariculates.
Monbiot came out the other month and said he had made a mistake installing woodburners several years ago instead of using gas.
It is not the first time I have heard negative comments about wood burners
It's like diesel cars, really. People thought they were good, because carbon (diesels are more frugal than petrol, burning trees is carbon-neutral over a 100 year cycle) and then discovered particulates is bad more than carbon saving is good.
Which all feeds into my Down With The Ents campaign. Trees aren't the unalloyed bonus they are portrayed as.
"Wood burning in homes now produces more small particle pollution than all road traffic in the UK."
You could do a lot more to reduce air pollution by banning wood burning stoves then with ULEZs. So why incur the massive political costs of a ULEZ?
I think @RochdalePioneers may have a wood burning stove which would be interesting to hear his comments
I have one. It is designed to as smoke minimal as possible as I understand it. Clearview 650.
Had it about ten years. We use it in winter and keep the gas heating off when it is being used.
Starting to think I perhaps should use it less often looking at the growing evidence on pariculates.
Monbiot came out the other month and said he had made a mistake installing woodburners several years ago instead of using gas.
It is not the first time I have heard negative comments about wood burners
It's like diesel cars, really. People thought they were good, because carbon (diesels are more frugal than petrol, burning trees is carbon-neutral over a 100 year cycle) and then discovered particulates is bad more than carbon saving is good.
Which all feeds into my Down With The Ents campaign. Trees aren't the unalloyed bonus they are portrayed as.
It would be possible to fit a filter to a log burner to remove particulates - and drive it from the heat of the burner. Hmmmm….
"Wood burning in homes now produces more small particle pollution than all road traffic in the UK."
You could do a lot more to reduce air pollution by banning wood burning stoves then with ULEZs. So why incur the massive political costs of a ULEZ?
I think @RochdalePioneers may have a wood burning stove which would be interesting to hear his comments
I have one. It is designed to as smoke minimal as possible as I understand it. Clearview 650.
Had it about ten years. We use it in winter and keep the gas heating off when it is being used.
Starting to think I perhaps should use it less often looking at the growing evidence on pariculates.
Monbiot came out the other month and said he had made a mistake installing woodburners several years ago instead of using gas.
It is not the first time I have heard negative comments about wood burners
It's like diesel cars, really. People thought they were good, because carbon (diesels are more frugal than petrol, burning trees is carbon-neutral over a 100 year cycle) and then discovered particulates is bad more than carbon saving is good.
Which all feeds into my Down With The Ents campaign. Trees aren't the unalloyed bonus they are portrayed as.
It would be possible to fit a filter to a log burner to remove particulates - and drive it from the heat of the burner. Hmmmm….
They tend to use catalytic converters instead, which have been around for a long time. Or they did the last time my family installed one, which was some time ago.
Back to scorecard - ULEZ is mainly targeting NOx, which iirc is higher relative to their targets than particulates.
Certified flues for passive houses are quite the site to behold. People install a huge homely boiler in their uber-insulated house, then discover that everyone is getting roasted because they should have used a tiny one from a caravan or narrowboat for the amount of heat they actually need.
Just part of what is left of a massive coastal battery (dog for scale); one of 350 Atlantic Wall fortifications built in Norway, this one not that far south of the Arctic Circle.
"Local enthusiasts" are apparently "restoring" the underground bunkers, which seems mainly to compromise fitting them out with nice new pine panelling. Which I doubt the German soldiers had?
I hadn't realised Labour is lagging so much. The LibDems and Conservatives have each selected five from the seven constituencies (the Cons would have done six were it not for Henley going tits-up). But Labour haven't selected any, other than the obvious of Anneliese Dodds re-standing in Oxford East. I know Henley isn't exactly prime Labour territory but they should have a chance in Banbury and possibly Witney.
Yes, I flirted with going for Didcot and Wantage because of personal connections there, but decided the time for 6-hour canvass sessions every weekend day for a year has past - I can probably do more good by helping all-out in a marginal nearer the election. I think most of the Labour selections will happen in the autumn - the party is preoccupied with the messy business of changing CLPs to the new boundaries.
WRT the by elections, it's evident that Reform/Reclaim are of no interest to the voters, and that the Conservatives will pick up most of them.
The Conservatives were 5% up in Selby, on the constituency poll, and 12% up in Uxbridge.
Reclaim got a higher vote in Uxbridge than their national polling… given they do not feature at all in national polling…
Reform UK, in the 2 by-elections they stood in, got a bit over 3%, which is roughly half what they poll nationally. That doesn’t suggest to me that the Conservatives will pick up “most” of those currently saying they’ll vote Reform… maybe half.
Whilst I think you are right that Reform are overstated in the polls, by-elections aren't perhaps a great measure as typically being big, set-piece, head-to-head battles. They are ideal situations for also-rans to be squeezed.
General Election contests have some of that too, but the intensity of campaigns in individual seats is simply less because there are so many individual contests going on at once.
Indeed, which weakens Sean F’s claim further.
JL Partners polled both constituencies. They had Reform on 8% in Selby, and Reclaim/UKIP on 6% in Uxbridge. They had the Conservatives on 29% in the former, 33% in the latter.
Just part of what is left of a massive coastal battery (dog for scale); one of 350 Atlantic Wall fortifications built in Norway, this one not that far south of the Arctic Circle.
"Local enthusiasts" are apparently "restoring" the underground bunkers, which seems mainly to compromise fitting them out with nice new pine panelling. Which I doubt the German soldiers had?
The Norwegian WW2 experience is astonishing. They should have a country that's impossible to wage war upon, and yet they folded almost immediately.
If Nato isn't prepared, in spite of its enormous naval supremacy in the region, to stand up to Russia in and around the Black sea, what message does that send to China over Taiwan?
On the other hand, (most of) Taiwan is across a significant stretch of the Pacific Ocean, defended by a well armed adversory. Said adversory has a modern air force with latest gen F16s and Dassault fighters. As well as a growing fleet of submarines.
So why is the US so obsessive about not being outmanned in terms of ships etc vs China. I just cannot understand the contrast between the US willingness to confront China in the pacific with its feeble approach to confronting Russia in Ukraine.
Good point about the F-16s. So the US is happy to give them to a non-UN recognised state but not happy to give them to Ukraine thus far.
The US aim is to weaken Russia and ensure Europe's strategic dependence as a side quest. Ukraine is just a convenient anvil on which to hammer the Russians. So the optimum amount of aid to Ukraine is that which stops them getting completely fucked this weekend. A long war suits that purpose and they don't want to destabilise the Russian Federation too much as that would be to China's benefit.
I hope Zelensky remembers the traditional fate of US assets like Diem, Noriega, Saddam, bin Laden and Ghani.
Depending on its shape, instability in the Russian Federation or its breakup could be costly for China to exploit, especially if they had to forget about Taiwan for a while. They might even prefer to allow the US to overstretch itself as in Afghanistan.
NYT ($) - Why Is Switzerland — of All Places — Importing So Much Cheese?
The cheese-proud country has recently imported more of the stuff than it exports, a worry for farmers and traditionalists.
The Swiss are proud of their cheese, and most of the cheese they eat are local varieties like Gruyère, Emmental and other hard cheeses from milk from happy cows that are famous all over the world. The Swiss also eat a lot of cheese: more than 50 pounds per person per year, versus about 40 pounds per person in the United States.
“Cheese is part of our identity,” said Daniel Koller, a director at Swissmilk, Switzerland’s dairy association. That’s why one of Mr. Koller’s colleagues, the president of the association, created a storm this month when he told a Swiss newspaper that Switzerland was on track to import more cheese than it exports this year, which he called “absurd economically, socially and ecologically.”
In fact, the Swiss cheese trade balance has been shrinking for decades, and especially since the market was liberalized in 2007, which allowed the country to trade with the European Union without tariffs or quotas in either direction. Switzerland now exports about 40 percent of the cheese it produces, per industry estimates.
The number of dairy farmers in Switzerland has fallen in recent decades, with a drop of more than half over the past 25 years, Mr. Koller said. On top of that, farming operations in Switzerland are small: The average size of a herd is about 27 cows, Mr. Koller said, and dairy farms with more than 100 cows are rare. . . .
But in each of the first five months of this year, Switzerland imported more cheese by weight than it sold abroad, according to customs data. In part, that’s because the Swiss have developed a taste for foreign cheeses, with local varieties accounting for 64 percent of consumption last year, down from 77 percent in 2007, according to Swissmilk. . . .
ETA: And I'm not talking about the Jiggery Pokery ball feature currently running on TMS.
It's funny because you could tell right from the start which way he was going to go, so it was fun waiting for the pivot.
Yes there's a 'tone' that gives it away very quickly. I'd adjust the training to try and remove this if I were in charge. Come in with some centrist dad type, ultra orthodox, slightly left of centre takes on govt spending priorities. And be patient. Do this for a few weeks before entering the phone box and donning the cape. Play the long game. Putin is meant to be the master of that after all.
Surely the first thing they need to address is: don’t use obviously compromised IP thingies which @rcs1000 can spot within 5 minutes?
Everything else is pretty secondary
The paradox is - and I hope I don’t get banned as a bot - quite a lot of the stuff the bot says is true. The Ukrainian offensive is not going well. Russia has mined every weed and pebble. And is entrenched. Attacking that is almost impossible - and can only be done at vast human cost. Somme-type quagmire
The war is headed for a muddy stalemate, with neither side able to deliver a winning blow
So then it becomes a question of how long Putin can stay in power and how long the west will support kyiv without question, and whether some of Putin’s madder gambles (closing the Black Sea) swing world opinion for or against
And all the while, China waits to pounce on Taiwan
I think we're heading for a partitioned Ukraine. The disadvantage of this is that the invasion will at least in part be seen as 'successful'. The advantage is that Putin will need to rebuild at least half the mess, which will otherwise all? fall on us.
"Wood burning in homes now produces more small particle pollution than all road traffic in the UK."
You could do a lot more to reduce air pollution by banning wood burning stoves then with ULEZs. So why incur the massive political costs of a ULEZ?
Why does it need to be an either/or? Oxford is doing both - extending Smoke Control Zones to the whole city and (eventually) expanding their existing Zero Emission Zone.
At some point the majority will realise that taking away peoples' freedom is the object of the exercise rather than an unfortunate side effect.
Just part of what is left of a massive coastal battery (dog for scale); one of 350 Atlantic Wall fortifications built in Norway, this one not that far south of the Arctic Circle.
"Local enthusiasts" are apparently "restoring" the underground bunkers, which seems mainly to compromise fitting them out with nice new pine panelling. Which I doubt the German soldiers had?
The Norwegian WW2 experience is astonishing. They should have a country that's impossible to wage war upon, and yet they folded almost immediately.
They claim to have held out longer than any European country
1 - Polls show that the silent majority are in *favour*of LTNs, and there is a small screechy minority opposing them. It's hardly a surprise, since every new housing development built since about 1965 is set up exclude rat-runners, and it is a core element of planning policy. Why should people who live in older housing areas be disadvantaged? Example from this week:
In London, a new poll has found that 58% of respondents support the introduction of LTNs, while only 17% oppose blocking residential streets to rat-running motorists.
Support for LTNs has been consistently high in most polling on LTNs since their introduction by the Tory government in 2020.
The newest poll was conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, a 23-year-old London-based global polling and strategic consulting company.
In June this year, the firm asked a representative sample of 1,100 Londoners for their views on transport issues, including LTNs.
2 - Funding for cycling and mobility networks is best described as tiny, even before the current Govt cut it off at the ankles. In Central and Inner London - where very small but noticeable amounts of money have been spent, the modal share is now 10%. Perhaps that's where 10% of funding needs to go, since we all pay for public investment in our roads and streets from general taxation?
Realistically, it needs about £30-40 per year per pop of investment, compared to the current £1-2 per head spent in England.
Lots of restrictions in urban areas already, looks like the underlying laws are in the hands of central government.
It seems to me that the difficulties arise when a couple of factors are in place:
A setup (eg ULEZ) hits people who are mainstream normal and in particular has no effect on the wealthy
and
It can very obviously be viewed as disproportionate WRT the totality of the situation.
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
As far as I can tell they’re having a re-enactment here of the Nazi Occupation. Complete with dudes in Nazi uniforms
I’m in Przemysl - a few miles from the Ukrainian border. For context, 20,000 Jews died here, under the Nazis. A third of the town’s population
Is Poland more interesting than you were expecting?
Przemysl certainly is. It is the last town before the Ukrainian frontier, the last town “before” the war. And THE main route into Ukraine (eg the only functioning railway into Ukraine stops here, just before the border: so all the famous people who have been to Kyiv in recent months will have come through here, I suspect)
That means all kinds of weird, shady characters are coming and going - and getting very drunk in the piwo bars. And yet they are mixed with the local very provincial Poles who just want to have a nice time in the pleasant summer sun
Przemysl also has a dark history of its own. Big Jewish ghetto here in the war, it was entirely liquidated. 20,000 died. And in the Great War it was one of the biggest fortresses in the world. The “eastern Verdun”, where thousands of soldiers fell. It also dates back to the mystical origins of Polish nationalism….
You could set an entire Graham Greene novel here, and then some
As far as I can tell they’re having a re-enactment here of the Nazi Occupation. Complete with dudes in Nazi uniforms
I’m in Przemysl - a few miles from the Ukrainian border. For context, 20,000 Jews died here, under the Nazis. A third of the town’s population
Is Poland more interesting than you were expecting?
Przemysl certainly is. It is the last town before the Ukrainian frontier, the last town “before” the war. And THE main route into Ukraine (eg the only functioning railway into Ukraine stops here, just before the border: so all the famous people who have been to Kyiv in recent months will have come through here, I suspect)
That means all kinds of weird, shady characters are coming and going - and getting very drunk in the piwo bars. And yet they are mixed with the local very provincial Poles who just want to have a nice time in the pleasant summer sun
Przemysl also has a dark history of its own. Big Jewish ghetto here in the war, it was entirely liquidated. 20,000 died. And in the Great War it was one of the biggest fortresses in the world. The “eastern Verdun”, where thousands of soldiers fell. It also dates back to the mystical origins of Polish nationalism….
You could set an entire Graham Greene novel here, and then some
I’m having an Aperol Spritzer
You’re getting on a train and heading East at some point?
As far as I can tell they’re having a re-enactment here of the Nazi Occupation. Complete with dudes in Nazi uniforms
I’m in Przemysl - a few miles from the Ukrainian border. For context, 20,000 Jews died here, under the Nazis. A third of the town’s population
Is Poland more interesting than you were expecting?
Przemysl certainly is. It is the last town before the Ukrainian frontier, the last town “before” the war. And THE main route into Ukraine (eg the only functioning railway into Ukraine stops here, just before the border: so all the famous people who have been to Kyiv in recent months will have come through here, I suspect)
That means all kinds of weird, shady characters are coming and going - and getting very drunk in the piwo bars. And yet they are mixed with the local very provincial Poles who just want to have a nice time in the pleasant summer sun
Przemysl also has a dark history of its own. Big Jewish ghetto here in the war, it was entirely liquidated. 20,000 died. And in the Great War it was one of the biggest fortresses in the world. The “eastern Verdun”, where thousands of soldiers fell. It also dates back to the mystical origins of Polish nationalism….
You could set an entire Graham Greene novel here, and then some
I’m having an Aperol Spritzer
You’re getting on a train and heading East at some point?
I AM NOT AT LIBERTY TO DISCUSS MY FUTURE MOVEMENTS
As far as I can tell they’re having a re-enactment here of the Nazi Occupation. Complete with dudes in Nazi uniforms
I’m in Przemysl - a few miles from the Ukrainian border. For context, 20,000 Jews died here, under the Nazis. A third of the town’s population
Is Poland more interesting than you were expecting?
Przemysl certainly is. It is the last town before the Ukrainian frontier, the last town “before” the war. And THE main route into Ukraine (eg the only functioning railway into Ukraine stops here, just before the border: so all the famous people who have been to Kyiv in recent months will have come through here, I suspect)
That means all kinds of weird, shady characters are coming and going - and getting very drunk in the piwo bars. And yet they are mixed with the local very provincial Poles who just want to have a nice time in the pleasant summer sun
Przemysl also has a dark history of its own. Big Jewish ghetto here in the war, it was entirely liquidated. 20,000 died. And in the Great War it was one of the biggest fortresses in the world. The “eastern Verdun”, where thousands of soldiers fell. It also dates back to the mystical origins of Polish nationalism….
You could set an entire Graham Greene novel here, and then some
I’m having an Aperol Spritzer
You’re getting on a train and heading East at some point?
I AM NOT AT LIBERTY TO DISCUSS MY FUTURE MOVEMENTS
That’ll be a yes then. Or a massive disappointment.
As far as I can tell they’re having a re-enactment here of the Nazi Occupation. Complete with dudes in Nazi uniforms
I’m in Przemysl - a few miles from the Ukrainian border. For context, 20,000 Jews died here, under the Nazis. A third of the town’s population
Is Poland more interesting than you were expecting?
Przemysl certainly is. It is the last town before the Ukrainian frontier, the last town “before” the war. And THE main route into Ukraine (eg the only functioning railway into Ukraine stops here, just before the border: so all the famous people who have been to Kyiv in recent months will have come through here, I suspect)
That means all kinds of weird, shady characters are coming and going - and getting very drunk in the piwo bars. And yet they are mixed with the local very provincial Poles who just want to have a nice time in the pleasant summer sun
Przemysl also has a dark history of its own. Big Jewish ghetto here in the war, it was entirely liquidated. 20,000 died. And in the Great War it was one of the biggest fortresses in the world. The “eastern Verdun”, where thousands of soldiers fell. It also dates back to the mystical origins of Polish nationalism….
You could set an entire Graham Greene novel here, and then some
I’m having an Aperol Spritzer
You’re getting on a train and heading East at some point?
I AM NOT AT LIBERTY TO DISCUSS MY FUTURE MOVEMENTS
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
...of course most people in flights in and out of Heathrow are in cattle class, not business class (or even in premium economy), and at this time of year a lot are going to be ordinary people off on holiday...
1 - Polls show that the silent majority are in *favour*of LTNs, and there is a small screechy minority opposing them. It's hardly a surprise, since every new housing development built since about 1965 is set up exclude rat-runners, and it is a core element of planning policy. Why should people who live in older housing areas be disadvantaged? Example from this week:
In London, a new poll has found that 58% of respondents support the introduction of LTNs, while only 17% oppose blocking residential streets to rat-running motorists.
Support for LTNs has been consistently high in most polling on LTNs since their introduction by the Tory government in 2020.
The newest poll was conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, a 23-year-old London-based global polling and strategic consulting company.
In June this year, the firm asked a representative sample of 1,100 Londoners for their views on transport issues, including LTNs.
2 - Funding for cycling and mobility networks is best described as tiny, even before the current Govt cut it off at the ankles. In Central and Inner London - where very small but noticeable amounts of money have been spent, the modal share is now 10%. Perhaps that's where 10% of funding needs to go, since we all pay for public investment in our roads and streets from general taxation?
Realistically, it needs about £30-40 per year per pop of investment, compared to the current £1-2 per head spent in England.
That little? The Scottish figure, to pick somewhere else for comparison, is seemingly at least 45m - cycle route network is 10m alone, which would correspond to the total you give. However the 45m includes walking too (which is logical given much of the work is done for both bikes and feet). OTOH that is direct funding to LAs, alone.
Edit - particularly if they miss chances like that.
Nearly two hours of play gone. I don't want to be gloomy but we did really need to have got a wicket during that time. Really, one or two would have been good.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Edit - particularly if they miss chances like that.
Nearly two hours of play gone. I don't want to be gloomy but we did really need to have got a wicket during that time. Really, one or two would have been good.
The whole light issue stopping fast bowlers is ridiculous - the weather and light affects the whole game so if it’s a bit dark then that’s tough - you could end up in a situation where this Australia team, without a spinner, could benefit even more if they were in the field trying to save the game as they don’t have a spinner and so everyone would have to go off.
Edit - particularly if they miss chances like that.
Nearly two hours of play gone. I don't want to be gloomy but we did really need to have got a wicket during that time. Really, one or two would have been good.
Labuschagne doing a Ponting, and there is no Gary Pratt* in this series.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
The Dark Knight trilogy is absolutely fantastic, and about as much for kids as Shawshank Redemption is for kids. I've watched it many times but wouldn't let my kids watch it.
"Batman-for-kids" was what led to the farce that was Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Since the reboot they've been quite deliberately targeted more at adults not Happy Meal marketing.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
His “report into standards in public life” was an epic though.
Lots of restrictions in urban areas already, looks like the underlying laws are in the hands of central government.
It seems to me that the difficulties arise when a couple of factors are in place:
A setup (eg ULEZ) hits people who are mainstream normal and in particular has no effect on the wealthy
and
It can very obviously be viewed as disproportionate WRT the totality of the situation.
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
"The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite. But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right. When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set eyes on your own, And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.”
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
The Dark Knight trilogy is absolutely fantastic, and about as much for kids as Shawshank Redemption is for kids. I've watched it many times but wouldn't let my kids watch it.
"Batman-for-kids" was what led to the farce that was Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Since the reboot they've been quite deliberately targeted more at adults not Happy Meal marketing.
As I said, it is for kids. Or kidults. That’s why you like it
It’s about a man who dresses as a fucking bat to fight crime, you pathetic, witless, low-watt provincial gimp
Lots of restrictions in urban areas already, looks like the underlying laws are in the hands of central government.
It seems to me that the difficulties arise when a couple of factors are in place:
A setup (eg ULEZ) hits people who are mainstream normal and in particular has no effect on the wealthy
and
It can very obviously be viewed as disproportionate WRT the totality of the situation.
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
"The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite. But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right. When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set eyes on your own, And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.”
Indeed. The men of Uxbridge belong to the same lost tribe as me: The Middle Saxons.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
The Dark Knight trilogy is absolutely fantastic, and about as much for kids as Shawshank Redemption is for kids. I've watched it many times but wouldn't let my kids watch it.
"Batman-for-kids" was what led to the farce that was Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Since the reboot they've been quite deliberately targeted more at adults not Happy Meal marketing.
As I said, it is for kids. Or kidults. That’s why you like it
It’s about a man who dresses as a fucking bat to fight crime, you pathetic, witless, low-watt provincial gimp
You would be amazed what a killing machine a bat can be.
Poland is an optimistic place. It seems to entirely lack the pervasive pessimism of the West, despite many problems
The kind of growth they have experienced - it’s a bit like the “never had it so good” period in the U.K. after WWII. Only more so.
Poland is going from second world to first world in a generation or so.
Yes, it’s proof that all happiness is relative
Despite claims otherwise, the Poles really are quite poor, still, compared to Western Europe. A lot of them live in the most awful Stalinist housing, and in a pretty filthy climate (literally: there’s lots of pollution)
Yet GDP per capita has ten-tupled in 30 years. Everything must feel so much better, with each year that passes
And, they have virtually no crime. That’s gotta help. No wonder they like their illiberal government
Poland is an optimistic place. It seems to entirely lack the pervasive pessimism of the West, despite many problems
The kind of growth they have experienced - it’s a bit like the “never had it so good” period in the U.K. after WWII. Only more so.
Poland is going from second world to first world in a generation or so.
Despite appearances Roman Catholicism - central to Polish identity - is a fundamentally optimistic religion in it intelligent modern forms (full disclosure: I am not one).
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Thank goodness for reviews, that was so clearly out I can't believe he didn't lift the finger, there was a very audible noise and everyone knew it was out but the umpire.
111 and out - should have been standing on one leg.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
I am sympathetic to arguments that Villeneuve is better, but I suspect he'll never appeal to me in the same way Nolan does.
I remember rather liking Inception at the time. Ditto Interstellar. Didn’t adore them, but enjoyed them
And yet now I can’t recall a single scene, nothing, not even the plots. That has to be a bad sign. Great movies stick in the brain, lines and scenes, characters and stories
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Just part of what is left of a massive coastal battery (dog for scale); one of 350 Atlantic Wall fortifications built in Norway, this one not that far south of the Arctic Circle.
"Local enthusiasts" are apparently "restoring" the underground bunkers, which seems mainly to compromise fitting them out with nice new pine panelling. Which I doubt the German soldiers had?
The Norwegian WW2 experience is astonishing. They should have a country that's impossible to wage war upon, and yet they folded almost immediately.
Poland is an optimistic place. It seems to entirely lack the pervasive pessimism of the West, despite many problems
The kind of growth they have experienced - it’s a bit like the “never had it so good” period in the U.K. after WWII. Only more so.
Poland is going from second world to first world in a generation or so.
Yes, it’s proof that all happiness is relative
Despite claims otherwise, the Poles really are quite poor, still, compared to Western Europe. A lot of them live in the most awful Stalinist housing, and in a pretty filthy climate (literally: there’s lots of pollution)
Yet GDP per capita has ten-tupled in 30 years. Everything must feel so much better, with each year that passes
And, they have virtually no crime. That’s gotta help. No wonder they like their illiberal government
I used to work a lot with Bulgarian IT devs.
It’s easy to be optimistic, when, every year you demand and get a 20% pay rise (above inflation) or walk into another job that pays the money you want.
Poland is an optimistic place. It seems to entirely lack the pervasive pessimism of the West, despite many problems
The kind of growth they have experienced - it’s a bit like the “never had it so good” period in the U.K. after WWII. Only more so.
Poland is going from second world to first world in a generation or so.
Yes, it’s proof that all happiness is relative
Despite claims otherwise, the Poles really are quite poor, still, compared to Western Europe. A lot of them live in the most awful Stalinist housing, and in a pretty filthy climate (literally: there’s lots of pollution)
Yet GDP per capita has ten-tupled in 30 years. Everything must feel so much better, with each year that passes
And, they have virtually no crime. That’s gotta help. No wonder they like their illiberal government
I used to work a lot with Bulgarian IT devs.
It’s easy to be optimistic, when, every year you demand and get a 20% pay rise (above inflation) or walk into another job that pays the money you want.
Indeed. The French are often a miserable bunch, despite enjoying some of the highest life-quality on earth, in multiple ways
Lots of restrictions in urban areas already, looks like the underlying laws are in the hands of central government.
It seems to me that the difficulties arise when a couple of factors are in place:
A setup (eg ULEZ) hits people who are mainstream normal and in particular has no effect on the wealthy
and
It can very obviously be viewed as disproportionate WRT the totality of the situation.
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
Since 90% or so of vehicles are already compliant, it will *NOT* be hitting many people who are mainstream normal. A large majority of mainstream normal people won't even notice, apart from the shrieking noise emerging from some strange politicians.
And on the pollution "ban wood burners and cancel the ULEZ" thing, they address different things - ULEZ is targeted at NOx, wood burners are about PM2.5s and maybe PM10s.
Just part of what is left of a massive coastal battery (dog for scale); one of 350 Atlantic Wall fortifications built in Norway, this one not that far south of the Arctic Circle.
"Local enthusiasts" are apparently "restoring" the underground bunkers, which seems mainly to compromise fitting them out with nice new pine panelling. Which I doubt the German soldiers had?
Wood lining? I'd think you needed it to prevent condensation and stop it dripping on everything, especially the ammunition rounds.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
Tenet was crap.
He has done time messy abouty far better in other movies.
One issue is that if Aus pass England's score then when England are in they can effectively end the game just by bringing on quicks if the light gets to the same point it did today when the Root Ali partnership was enforced
Lots of restrictions in urban areas already, looks like the underlying laws are in the hands of central government.
It seems to me that the difficulties arise when a couple of factors are in place:
A setup (eg ULEZ) hits people who are mainstream normal and in particular has no effect on the wealthy
and
It can very obviously be viewed as disproportionate WRT the totality of the situation.
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
Since 90% or so of vehicles are already compliant, it will *NOT* be hitting many people who are mainstream normal. A large majority of mainstream normal people won't even notice, apart from the shrieking noise emerging from some strange politicians.
And on the pollution "ban wood burners and cancel the ULEZ" thing, they address different things - ULEZ is targeted at NOx, wood burners are about PM2.5s and maybe PM10s.
So unfairly targeting 10% of people because they're only 10% of the population is OK? So if we levied a tax on homosexuals then that'd be OK since they're only 10% of the population and that doesn't affect most people?
The 10% affected are mainstream normal people, those who are working for a living with a vehicle they legally purchased and maybe can't afford to replace it. Its a deeply, deeply regressive tax. Those unaffected directly could very easily have friends or family who are affected, in which case they too will feel affected even if they're not directly. And there's the legitimate concern of the slippery slope argument that while this is going to affect others today, it might affect them when the rules get changed next.
Two more (illegal polls) both suggesting PP/VOX on the cusp of absolute majority in Spain. Either way looks as if PP for largest party by some distance. Not at all clear there is an alternative coalition that could reach 176 and function.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
I'm with you. He makes clever but not very memorable films. Too much head, not enough heart. But I am very middlebrow in my tastes.
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
I'm with you. He makes clever but not very memorable films. Too much head, not enough heart. But I am very middlebrow in my tastes.
I promised polling on LTNs. This is a compilation by Cllr Emily Kerr. Since she is a Green and threfore has a view, but says it is all the ones she can find, I invite alternative lists if anyone has any data.
AFAICS the claim that "the silent majority oppose LTNs" is a fiction.
"Thanks to everyone who contributed: updated chart with new reports here.
First 6 on the list are from areas where an LTN has been implemented, others are all more broad / national."
Comments
And yet the evidence about particulates and wood burning is persuasive that they are, on the whole, not great.
Still looking forward to mine though.
Which all feeds into my Down With The Ents campaign. Trees aren't the unalloyed bonus they are portrayed as.
Edit : https://exodraft.co.uk/product/particlefilter/esp-particle-filter/
We are still in it if we get one or two today.
This is sort of fun.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ai-bots-recommend-cpus-and-gpus-that-dont-exist
Seems a good watch, juxtapose with PB's cosseted travel writers.
Back to scorecard - ULEZ is mainly targeting NOx, which iirc is higher relative to their targets than particulates.
Certified flues for passive houses are quite the site to behold. People install a huge homely boiler in their uber-insulated house, then discover that everyone is getting roasted because they should have used a tiny one from a caravan or narrowboat for the amount of heat they actually need.
Have the boiler manual - back to work now.
"Local enthusiasts" are apparently "restoring" the underground bunkers, which seems mainly to compromise fitting them out with nice new pine panelling. Which I doubt the German soldiers had?
Starmer's supporters: This is necessary to win power! You can't change anything without power! TORY ENABLER!!!!
Owen Jone has SKS fans sussed
Seems positive play is underway even if no wickets yet, but will more breaks be expected?
The cheese-proud country has recently imported more of the stuff than it exports, a worry for farmers and traditionalists.
The Swiss are proud of their cheese, and most of the cheese they eat are local varieties like Gruyère, Emmental and other hard cheeses from milk from happy cows that are famous all over the world. The Swiss also eat a lot of cheese: more than 50 pounds per person per year, versus about 40 pounds per person in the United States.
“Cheese is part of our identity,” said Daniel Koller, a director at Swissmilk, Switzerland’s dairy association. That’s why one of Mr. Koller’s colleagues, the president of the association, created a storm this month when he told a Swiss newspaper that Switzerland was on track to import more cheese than it exports this year, which he called “absurd economically, socially and ecologically.”
In fact, the Swiss cheese trade balance has been shrinking for decades, and especially since the market was liberalized in 2007, which allowed the country to trade with the European Union without tariffs or quotas in either direction. Switzerland now exports about 40 percent of the cheese it produces, per industry estimates.
The number of dairy farmers in Switzerland has fallen in recent decades, with a drop of more than half over the past 25 years, Mr. Koller said. On top of that, farming operations in Switzerland are small: The average size of a herd is about 27 cows, Mr. Koller said, and dairy farms with more than 100 cows are rare. . . .
But in each of the first five months of this year, Switzerland imported more cheese by weight than it sold abroad, according to customs data. In part, that’s because the Swiss have developed a taste for foreign cheeses, with local varieties accounting for 64 percent of consumption last year, down from 77 percent in 2007, according to Swissmilk. . . .
Let me pick up a couple of points.
1 - Polls show that the silent majority are in *favour*of LTNs, and there is a small screechy minority opposing them. It's hardly a surprise, since every new housing development built since about 1965 is set up exclude rat-runners, and it is a core element of planning policy. Why should people who live in older housing areas be disadvantaged? Example from this week:
In London, a new poll has found that 58% of respondents support the introduction of LTNs, while only 17% oppose blocking residential streets to rat-running motorists.
Support for LTNs has been consistently high in most polling on LTNs since their introduction by the Tory government in 2020.
The newest poll was conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, a 23-year-old London-based global polling and strategic consulting company.
In June this year, the firm asked a representative sample of 1,100 Londoners for their views on transport issues, including LTNs.
“Overall, we find that Londoners generally support policies favoring pedestrians and public transport,” said a note from Redfield & Wilton Strategies.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2023/07/13/latest-polling-shows-overwhelming-public-support-for-ltns/
2 - Funding for cycling and mobility networks is best described as tiny, even before the current Govt cut it off at the ankles. In Central and Inner London - where very small but noticeable amounts of money have been spent, the modal share is now 10%. Perhaps that's where 10% of funding needs to go, since we all pay for public investment in our roads and streets from general taxation?
Realistically, it needs about £30-40 per year per pop of investment, compared to the current £1-2 per head spent in England.
A setup (eg ULEZ) hits people who are mainstream normal and in particular has no effect on the wealthy
and
It can very obviously be viewed as disproportionate WRT the totality of the situation.
So white van ULEZ-tax attracting man working all hours living in Hillingdon/Uxbridge sees thousands of fuel using flights going over his head every week to and from Heathrow, mostly carrying his business class betters and the rich, including people who look down scornfully on his battered diesel van.
That means all kinds of weird, shady characters are coming and going - and getting very drunk in the piwo bars. And yet they are mixed with the local very provincial Poles who just want to have a nice time in the pleasant summer sun
Przemysl also has a dark history of its own. Big Jewish ghetto here in the war, it was entirely liquidated. 20,000 died. And in the Great War it was one of the biggest fortresses in the world. The “eastern Verdun”, where thousands of soldiers fell. It also dates back to the mystical origins of Polish nationalism….
You could set an entire Graham Greene novel here, and then some
I’m having an Aperol Spritzer
Lets get a Root classic wicket to break up a set partnership.
It's going to feel a loooong wait at this rate.
Edit - particularly if they miss chances like that.
https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/new-transit/news/71014/big-funding-boost-for-cycle-network-and-active-travel-in-scotland/
I knew he was British, I didn’t know he went to UCL: good man. A fellow Benthamite
Wikipedia says he is classed as one of the “top ten movie directors of all time”, I just can’t see that
Memento is clever. Inception is clever but weirdly forgettable. I’ve already forgotten Interstellar. Dunkirk IS great, but 1917 is superior. I can’t stand Batman movies: they are for kids
Hmm
(*Yes I know that was at Trent Bridge)
"Batman-for-kids" was what led to the farce that was Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Since the reboot they've been quite deliberately targeted more at adults not Happy Meal marketing.
"The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.”
Others have different opinions.
I am sympathetic to arguments that Villeneuve is better, but I suspect he'll never appeal to me in the same way Nolan does.
Poland is going from second world to first world in a generation or so.
It’s about a man who dresses as a fucking bat to fight crime, you pathetic, witless, low-watt provincial gimp
I was starting to think my touch had deserted me.
Still a lot of work to do though and the weather is clearly closing in again.
Despite claims otherwise, the Poles really are quite poor, still, compared to Western Europe. A lot of them live in the most awful Stalinist housing, and in a pretty filthy climate (literally: there’s lots of pollution)
Yet GDP per capita has ten-tupled in 30 years. Everything must feel so much better, with each year that passes
And, they have virtually no crime. That’s gotta help. No wonder they like their illiberal government
Thank goodness for reviews, that was so clearly out I can't believe he didn't lift the finger, there was a very audible noise and everyone knew it was out but the umpire.
111 and out - should have been standing on one leg.
And yet now I can’t recall a single scene, nothing, not even the plots. That has to be a bad sign. Great movies stick in the brain, lines and scenes, characters and stories
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_campaign
It’s easy to be optimistic, when, every year you demand and get a 20% pay rise (above inflation) or walk into another job that pays the money you want.
Carey at 8, Starc 9, Cummins 10.
That really is a deep batting lineup.
Carey would be a number 6 in any other side. Cummins could bat 7 if he wasn't busy doing other things.
The only rabbit is Hazlewood.
The Poles are vastly more cheerful
They go off for tea.
Only in cricket.
Strong claim that.
And on the pollution "ban wood burners and cancel the ULEZ" thing, they address different things - ULEZ is targeted at NOx, wood burners are about PM2.5s and maybe PM10s.
He has done time messy abouty far better in other movies.
The 10% affected are mainstream normal people, those who are working for a living with a vehicle they legally purchased and maybe can't afford to replace it. Its a deeply, deeply regressive tax. Those unaffected directly could very easily have friends or family who are affected, in which case they too will feel affected even if they're not directly. And there's the legitimate concern of the slippery slope argument that while this is going to affect others today, it might affect them when the rules get changed next.
I think I’d rather be under drone attack in Odesa
AFAICS the claim that "the silent majority oppose LTNs" is a fiction.
"Thanks to everyone who contributed: updated chart with new reports here.
First 6 on the list are from areas where an LTN has been implemented, others are all more broad / national."
Sources here, probably easier to google them tbh as easy to find.
https://twitter.com/EmilyKerr36/status/1681967826565840898