I don't think it is designed to help the Lib Dems, if only because many of the seats on here are hardly Lib Dem targets either. You could put up a donkey with a blue rosette in Kingswinford and South Staffordshire and it would win - in fact, it has won the last several elections and served in the Cabinet - while there's no mention of North Cotswold which is actually in some ways a more logical target for pro-LD tactical voting than Cheltenham.
There have been similar stories before. This is from 2015;
I do feel sorry for the no doubt hard-working Conservative candidates who’ve had their chances of victory denigrated by their own party’s website, and also for whichever Conservative website designer was responsible for this fairly spectacular cock-up.
I don't think this is designed to help the LDs. Labour just has a list of Tory seats they likely will never win approved Labour parliamentary candidates can apply for to get experience before trying for a more winnable seat at a subsequent general election, just as the Tories equally have a list of Labour seats they will never win Conservative approved parliamentary candidates can use for experience.
Looking at the list I don't think the LDs have much chance in over half of them either. Though Bridgwater, Cheltenham, East Surrey, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Esher and Walton, Farrnham and Borndon, Goldalming and Ash, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Lewes, Maidenhead, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Newbury, North Devon, North Cornwall, North Dorset and North Norfolk from the list are former LD seats or on the LD target list where it will help the LDs if Labour just run a token campaign
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
If Labour are trying to help the Lib Dems, the Lib Dems will look so nasty if they say "You pieces of turd - you're not even trying to beat us!"
Most can understand that Labour won't be spending a lot of effort trying to hold Liverpool Walton.
Anyway...as if the Lib Dems backing a Tory government has been completely ruled out, couldn't happen, not in a hundred years, not in any kind of hung parliament whatsoever, the Tories are so unpopular, and so on.
"You were in government with your friends the Tories for five years. Are you saying this time that people should trust you not to do the same again, and that if there's a hung parliament you'll support a government under Labour leader Keir Starmer?"
"Er - er - er ... but the list, the list! And something to do with Jeremy Corbyn!"
What's the factor that binds the seats on that list together? Is there anything else other than that a swing to Labour of >x% would be needed? (Apologies for being so non-nerdy!)
I don't think it is designed to help the Lib Dems, if only because many of the seats on here are hardly Lib Dem targets either. You could put up a donkey with a blue rosette in Kingswinford and South Staffordshire and it would win - in fact, it has won the last several elections and served in the Cabinet - while there's no mention of North Cotswold which is actually in some ways a more logical target for pro-LD tactical voting than Cheltenham.
Yes, if the LDs don't take Cheltenham they may as well pack in.
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Good. We all love Spa, but its becoming increasingly dangerous as the cars get quicker and quicker. A significant reprofiling of both the Eau Rouge / Radillon complex and probably Blanchimont as well needs to happen.
Also, why do they always hold the event in rainy season? You can't race there, on this layout, in the rain.
I don't think it is designed to help the Lib Dems, if only because many of the seats on here are hardly Lib Dem targets either. You could put up a donkey with a blue rosette in Kingswinford and South Staffordshire and it would win - in fact, it has won the last several elections and served in the Cabinet - while there's no mention of North Cotswold which is actually in some ways a more logical target for pro-LD tactical voting than Cheltenham.
Yes, if the LDs don't take Cheltenham they may as well pack in.
Well, that's the point. Whatever Labour do in Cheltenham is likely to be a sideshow, but I could see a LibDem candidate backed with Labour tactical votes cause an upset in North Cotswold. Equally, I can't see Labour winning it.
I don't think this is designed to help the LDs. Labour just has a list of Tory seats they likely will never win approved Labour parliamentary candidates can apply for to get experience before trying for a more winnable seat at a subsequent general election, just as the Tories equally have a list of Labour seats they will never win Conservative approved parliamentary candidates can use for experience.
Looking at the list I don't think the LDs have much chance in over half of them either. Though Bridgwater, Cheltenham, East Surrey, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Esher and Walton, Farrnham and Borndon, Goldalming and Ash, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Lewes, Maidenhead, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Newbury, North Devon, North Cornwall, North Dorset and North Norfolk from the list are former LD seats or on the LD target list where it will help the LDs if Labour just run a token campaign
Not Maidenhead. Teresa May is very popular locally. It was a Lib Dem Target Seat in 2005 (anyone remember the great Decapitation Strategy?) but Windsor and Wokingham are more attractive.
Being so near two borders means there is money in smuggling and people trafficking (helping draft dodgers? Refugees? Gun running?) - that’s the money being spent here
Theory two: internal tourism and politicians
This is probably about as far from the front line as you can get. I doubt Putin will bomb Chernivtsi (unlike Lviv). Also the border is close if you need to flee. It’s historic, sunny and elegant
The coast is now dangerous, so this is where rich Ukrainians - who generally can’t get out of the country if they are male - come for hols and meetings
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Youd have thought there could be some sort of tech solution for this. Infra red cameras and screens? Obviously the cars are hot and would guess the racing line would still have a differentiated level of heat to the rest of the track perhaps?
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
1) There is an elite and a middle class in almost every country
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Good. We all love Spa, but its becoming increasingly dangerous as the cars get quicker and quicker. A significant reprofiling of both the Eau Rouge / Radillon complex and probably Blanchimont as well needs to happen.
Also, why do they always hold the event in rainy season? You can't race there, on this layout, in the rain.
Are cars getting quicker? In my opinion, the Eau Rouge/Radillon complex is more dangerous with the exit from the old pits coming up the side of it. I was there in 2012 when this accident happened:
The driver was airlifted to hospital. I think the tarmac encourages drivers to try to save it, whereas, in the old days, the gravel trap would reduce the impact of the accident.
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
1) There is an elite and a middle class in almost every country
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
Yes. All true. And surely part of the answer
I guess even during World War 2 there were bits of europe where an affluent life went on. Switzerland of course (and this hotel feels like somewhere in Ticino)
Or Cascais and Sintra in Portugal (where Ian Fleming was posted as a spy). There would have been others
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
1) There is an elite and a middle class in almost every country
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
Yes. All true. And surely part of the answer
I guess even during World War 2 there were bits of europe where an affluent life went on. Switzerland of course (and this hotel feels like somewhere in Ticino)
Or Cascais and Sintra in Portugal (where Ian Fleming was posted as a spy). There would have been others
The emergence of a regional middle class in Ukraine, has been quite noticeable since I started visiting there a decade ago. New German cars, iPhones, nice cafes, were only really seen in Kiev back in 2014 or 2015.
How much is a pint these days, 30 grivnas or so?
(I might be heading there in a couple of weeks’ time).
When people aspire to Truss-ism it marks them as too stupid to be idiots. I will classify her as another empty husk, devoid of any ability. Like Truss, Raaaaaaab, etc
If she wants to play to the gallery she should at least have tried acting.
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Good. We all love Spa, but its becoming increasingly dangerous as the cars get quicker and quicker. A significant reprofiling of both the Eau Rouge / Radillon complex and probably Blanchimont as well needs to happen.
Also, why do they always hold the event in rainy season? You can't race there, on this layout, in the rain.
Unfortunately they’ve just spent millions reprofiling those corners, and adding more runoff. The sad fatality a couple fo months ago was more weather-related, and occurred on the straight after Radillon.
It’s also worth noting that George Russell is the drivers’ representative on safety issues, so it’s obviously a wider feeling among the drivers that they need to stop for excessive rain, and the organisers need to be willing to be flexible when it comes to the event timings over the weekend.
It’s wet but drizzle there at the moment, F3 and F2 have been practicing with no issues.
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
1) There is an elite and a middle class in almost every country
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
Yes. All true. And surely part of the answer
I guess even during World War 2 there were bits of europe where an affluent life went on. Switzerland of course (and this hotel feels like somewhere in Ticino)
Or Cascais and Sintra in Portugal (where Ian Fleming was posted as a spy). There would have been others
The emergence of a regional middle class in Ukraine, has been quite noticeable since I started visiting there a decade ago. New German cars, iPhones, nice cafes, were only really seen in Kiev back in 2014 or 2015.
How much is a pint these days, 30 grivnas or so?
(I might be heading there in a couple of weeks’ time).
Sam Johnson captures it:
“There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.”
Capitalism is not an unalloyed good, nor all forms of money making, but the ways in which it can penetrate the darkest and obscurest places to provide the coffee and the cake is remarkable.
A favourite of mine, for no special reason except that it is there, - very simple but obscurely placed at the end of the road to nowhere - is the old post office at Lochbuie.
I've met Bridget Phillipson and found her to be highly plausible... not a moralising nincompoop at all.
On topic: whatever the criteria are for that list, there's clearly a southern bias -- and without looking too closely into the new boundaries, of the two northern constituencies I'm surprised there isn't some hope for Labour in Brigg and Immingham. (Goole and Pocklington must win some sort of award for the unlikeliest bedfellows in a constituency name ever...)
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Good. We all love Spa, but its becoming increasingly dangerous as the cars get quicker and quicker. A significant reprofiling of both the Eau Rouge / Radillon complex and probably Blanchimont as well needs to happen.
Also, why do they always hold the event in rainy season? You can't race there, on this layout, in the rain.
Unfortunately they’ve just spent millions reprofiling those corners, and adding more runoff. The sad fatality a couple fo months ago was more weather-related, and occurred on the straight after Radillon.
It’s also worth noting that George Russell is the drivers’ representative on safety issues, so it’s obviously a wider feeling among the drivers that they need to stop for excessive rain, and the organisers need to be willing to be flexible when it comes to the event timings over the weekend.
It’s wet but drizzle there at the moment, F3 and F2 have been practicing with no issues.
They can't be *too* flexible over timings. Currently the sprint race and main grand prix fit neatly in-between qualifying and the race at the Formula E (I'm at the Excel for both days this weekend). We're planning to watch F1 and FE, so don't postpone the F1!
Besides which, as we saw the other year when its really wet all that happens is that the available light drops below a workable threshold...
Nothing this morning on how five Tory councils have wasted their council taxpayers’ money on a pointless judicial review of a policy which will help make them healthier?
Dunno whether she's still there but Leon has competition for vicarious armchair appreciation of his travel exploits. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/ Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
Good. We all love Spa, but its becoming increasingly dangerous as the cars get quicker and quicker. A significant reprofiling of both the Eau Rouge / Radillon complex and probably Blanchimont as well needs to happen.
Also, why do they always hold the event in rainy season? You can't race there, on this layout, in the rain.
Unfortunately they’ve just spent millions reprofiling those corners, and adding more runoff. The sad fatality a couple fo months ago was more weather-related, and occurred on the straight after Radillon.
It’s also worth noting that George Russell is the drivers’ representative on safety issues, so it’s obviously a wider feeling among the drivers that they need to stop for excessive rain, and the organisers need to be willing to be flexible when it comes to the event timings over the weekend.
It’s wet but drizzle there at the moment, F3 and F2 have been practicing with no issues.
They can't be *too* flexible over timings. Currently the sprint race and main grand prix fit neatly in-between qualifying and the race at the Formula E (I'm at the Excel for both days this weekend). We're planning to watch F1 and FE, so don't postpone the F1!
Besides which, as we saw the other year when its really wet all that happens is that the available light drops below a workable threshold...
I think that the ‘flexibility’ they’re looking for, is the willingness to actually move the race forward if there’s a window, even if that means binning the 90-minute buildup or support races, for a morning slot if that’s when the weather is good.
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
1) There is an elite and a middle class in almost every country
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
Nothing this morning on how five Tory councils have wasted their council taxpayers’ money on a pointless judicial review of a policy which will help make them healthier?
Well, they fervently believe in choking off the life chances of poorer people, so why not literally also?
"The poorest people emit least air pollution, but the multiplicative effect of worst concentrations and greater vulnerability means the least well-off bear an unfair proportion of health burden from air pollution."
Which ties in very nicely with the discussion recently on PB showing the distribution of car ownership in London - almost half of all *households* having no car at all.
Dunno whether she's still there but Leon has competition for vicarious armchair appreciation of his travel exploits. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/ Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
Looks like a genuinely lovely place. Quite fancy visiting, actually, v much my cup of tea!
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
You're getting some, er, questionable answers.
The Moldova-Ukraine border is on routes for both heroin and cannabis.
Big crims make a lot of money from war in any country.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
She might not be trusted after those pics. Definitely on manoeuvres!
I think it's very helpful for Labour to raise the profile of their front bench. There are a number who are not that well known yet quite impressive. Bridget is one of them, Johnny Reynolds (another North Easterner) is another. Everyone knows Wes Streeting now and he's a net asset to Starmer. Lisa Nandy is a good media performer, is a good foil for Gove and usually comes across as reasonable and thoughtful. Reeves is fairly well known but a bit more neutral as a media performer. And it's helpful having someone like Yvette Cooper in home office as well, as a reminder that the front bench has some government experience.
Fpt because I’m genuinely interested in hearing theories
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
1) There is an elite and a middle class in almost every country
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
Nothing this morning on how five Tory councils have wasted their council taxpayers’ money on a pointless judicial review of a policy which will help make them healthier?
Well, they fervently believe in choking off the life chances of poorer people, so why not literally also?
"The poorest people emit least air pollution, but the multiplicative effect of worst concentrations and greater vulnerability means the least well-off bear an unfair proportion of health burden from air pollution."
Which ties in very nicely with the discussion recently on PB showing the distribution of car ownership in London - almost half of all *households* having no car at all.
Dig the quoted sentence! Make the rich consume their fair share of pollutants!
Nothing this morning on how five Tory councils have wasted their council taxpayers’ money on a pointless judicial review of a policy which will help make them healthier?
Well, they fervently believe in choking off the life chances of poorer people, so why not literally also?
"The poorest people emit least air pollution, but the multiplicative effect of worst concentrations and greater vulnerability means the least well-off bear an unfair proportion of health burden from air pollution."
Which ties in very nicely with the discussion recently on PB showing the distribution of car ownership in London - almost half of all *households* having no car at all.
Yes, but how many of them are dying(!) to own a filthy 20 year old oil burner? ULEZ is just killing aspiration. In a different sense so are the 20 year old diesels, mind.
Dunno whether she's still there but Leon has competition for vicarious armchair appreciation of his travel exploits. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/ Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
Looks like a genuinely lovely place. Quite fancy visiting, actually, v much my cup of tea!
Come now while it’s crazy cheap! And there’s a war for added fun!
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
Dunno whether she's still there but Leon has competition for vicarious armchair appreciation of his travel exploits. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/ Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
Looks like a genuinely lovely place. Quite fancy visiting, actually, v much my cup of tea!
Come now while it’s crazy cheap! And there’s a war for added fun!
Presumably your e3mployer provides the insurance ...
What's that nature reserve thingy with historical monuments? Is it a sort of St Fagans or Weald and Downland Museum with buildings moved to some nice park? Or what?
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I don't think this is designed to help the LDs. Labour just has a list of Tory seats they likely will never win approved Labour parliamentary candidates can apply for to get experience before trying for a more winnable seat at a subsequent general election, just as the Tories equally have a list of Labour seats they will never win Conservative approved parliamentary candidates can use for experience.
Looking at the list I don't think the LDs have much chance in over half of them either. Though Bridgwater, Cheltenham, East Surrey, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Esher and Walton, Farrnham and Borndon, Goldalming and Ash, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Lewes, Maidenhead, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Newbury, North Devon, North Cornwall, North Dorset and North Norfolk from the list are former LD seats or on the LD target list where it will help the LDs if Labour just run a token campaign
Not Maidenhead. Teresa May is very popular locally. It was a Lib Dem Target Seat in 2005 (anyone remember the great Decapitation Strategy?) but Windsor and Wokingham are more attractive.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
She might not be trusted after those pics. Definitely on manoeuvres!
I think it's very helpful for Labour to raise the profile of their front bench. There are a number who are not that well known yet quite impressive. Bridget is one of them, Johnny Reynolds (another North Easterner) is another. Everyone knows Wes Streeting now and he's a net asset to Starmer. Lisa Nandy is a good media performer, is a good foil for Gove and usually comes across as reasonable and thoughtful. Reeves is fairly well known but a bit more neutral as a media performer. And it's helpful having someone like Yvette Cooper in home office as well, as a reminder that the front bench has some government experience.
All arseholes who'll make a terrible and appalling left-wing government that will be insufferable from day one and every day thereafter.
BREAKING: UK and Ireland's bid to host Euro 2028 set to be unopposed
Excellent - while I'm not a huge fan of multi-national hosting, a 32 team Euros would likely see at least three of the five here qualify anyway.
Still think 2-4 more stadiums could have been accommodated - I'd have wanted a Yorkshire ground (probably Hillsborough), St. Marys, Murrayfield and either somewhere East of England, or another Irish stadium (most likely Croke Park).
Still, lolz at no Old Trafford, Anfield or Emirates.
I don't think this is designed to help the LDs. Labour just has a list of Tory seats they likely will never win approved Labour parliamentary candidates can apply for to get experience before trying for a more winnable seat at a subsequent general election, just as the Tories equally have a list of Labour seats they will never win Conservative approved parliamentary candidates can use for experience.
Looking at the list I don't think the LDs have much chance in over half of them either. Though Bridgwater, Cheltenham, East Surrey, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Esher and Walton, Farrnham and Borndon, Goldalming and Ash, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Lewes, Maidenhead, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Newbury, North Devon, North Cornwall, North Dorset and North Norfolk from the list are former LD seats or on the LD target list where it will help the LDs if Labour just run a token campaign
Not Maidenhead. Teresa May is very popular locally. It was a Lib Dem Target Seat in 2005 (anyone remember the great Decapitation Strategy?) but Windsor and Wokingham are more attractive.
When people aspire to Truss-ism it marks them as too stupid to be idiots. I will classify her as another empty husk, devoid of any ability. Like Truss, Raaaaaaab, etc
If she wants to play to the gallery she should at least have tried acting.
We normally get these pieces in the last 12-18 months before a prospective change in administration.
We had it with the Tory Tatler stuff in The Times in 2009, if memory serves me correctly.
It's always a bit jarring the way they combine political profiles with fashion shoots. Seems to be a long standing tradition, do an interview with a politician (or other public figure) and then have little footnotes saying where the jacket or shoes came from.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
On topic, whilst this list is pretty helpful for the Lib Dems in terms of Focus leaflets, the actual background story isn't as helpful.
There have been grumbles from Labour associations in no-hope areas like these that they didn't get to select candidates in 2017 and 2019 because both were snap elections and they were at the back of the queue. If that was the case again this time, you'd have associations that won't have selected their own candidate in over a decade, and you can see that further demoralises members in an area that isn't great anyway.
So, in May, Labour's National Executive Committee agreed a fast track process for a tranche of low priority seats (these ones). But the quid pro quo, to avoid potentially embarrassing candidates by pretty moribund associations vulnerable to BJO-types seizing control, would be that Regional Executive Committees would dominate the shortlisting process. So these seats would have a choice of a boringly loyal elderly councillor, reliable and earnest primary school teacher, or an ambitious youngster getting a first run out.
So these seats will potentially get a Labour candidate a bit earlier than might otherwise have been the case. That isn't as good for the Lib Dems (although I'm personally quite sceptical of the value of getting a minor candidate in place before the campaign - nobody really focuses on who these people are until the campaign proper, and many don't even then).
We normally get these pieces in the last 12-18 months before a prospective change in administration.
We had it with the Tory Tatler stuff in The Times in 2009, if memory serves me correctly.
It's always a bit jarring the way they combine political profiles with fashion shoots. Seems to be a long standing tradition, do an interview with a politician (or other public figure) and then have little footnotes saying where the jacket or shoes came from.
Dunno whether she's still there but Leon has competition for vicarious armchair appreciation of his travel exploits. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/ Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
Looks like a genuinely lovely place. Quite fancy visiting, actually, v much my cup of tea!
Come now while it’s crazy cheap! And there’s a war for added fun!
Presumably your e3mployer provides the insurance ...
What's that nature reserve thingy with historical monuments? Is it a sort of St Fagans or Weald and Downland Museum with buildings moved to some nice park? Or what?
I have no insurance. I’m surfing my luck. Irresponsible I know
The photo above is of an actual castle. Kamianets Podilskiy
Dunno whether she's still there but Leon has competition for vicarious armchair appreciation of his travel exploits. https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/ Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
Looks like a genuinely lovely place. Quite fancy visiting, actually, v much my cup of tea!
Come now while it’s crazy cheap! And there’s a war for added fun!
Presumably your e3mployer provides the insurance ...
What's that nature reserve thingy with historical monuments? Is it a sort of St Fagans or Weald and Downland Museum with buildings moved to some nice park? Or what?
I have no insurance. I’m surfing my luck. Irresponsible I know
The photo above is of an actual castle. Kamianets Podilskiy
Looked further. Translation hiccup leading to confusion on my part I think - but then 'monument' can be natural in Mitteleuropaeische practice. Sounds more like a National Park in England, in which K-P is located?
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
England fortunate to still be leading over the Danes.
Well, England won without looking like a World Cup winning side, and many players were completely knackered towards the end.
The standard of football at this tournament has been very poor especially compared to the Euro finals
My go-to explanation is heat and humidity. Tournaments like to follow the sun, and in general our players are not conditioned for it. Whether that is actually true in this case, I'm not sure but it does explain, for instance, why for decades European teams tended to win the (men's) World Cup in Europe, and South American teams in South America.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
I've not read the paywalled Times interview but from your extract, it does sound a bit "poor little rich boy" just as when Prince Harry pulls the same one parent family schtick. It might impress the affluent, private school types who run politics in all parties but for many in society, this is just normal life.
On topic, whilst this list is pretty helpful for the Lib Dems in terms of Focus leaflets, the actual background story isn't as helpful.
There have been grumbles from Labour associations in no-hope areas like these that they didn't get to select candidates in 2017 and 2019 because both were snap elections and they were at the back of the queue. If that was the case again this time, you'd have associations that won't have selected their own candidate in over a decade, and you can see that further demoralises members in an area that isn't great anyway.
So, in May, Labour's National Executive Committee agreed a fast track process for a tranche of low priority seats (these ones). But the quid pro quo, to avoid potentially embarrassing candidates by pretty moribund associations vulnerable to BJO-types seizing control, would be that Regional Executive Committees would dominate the shortlisting process. So these seats would have a choice of a boringly loyal elderly councillor, reliable and earnest primary school teacher, or an ambitious youngster getting a first run out.
So these seats will potentially get a Labour candidate a bit earlier than might otherwise have been the case. That isn't as good for the Lib Dems (although I'm personally quite sceptical of the value of getting a minor candidate in place before the campaign - nobody really focuses on who these people are until the campaign proper, and many don't even then).
Yes, I think that's a fair summary. How hard an individual campaign is pushed is (for all parties) partly a function of the local party and the candidate. The ambitious youngsters certainly won't sit back and just put out one leaflet. The elderly councillors might. Some parties have very keen local activists with seats on the council who love elections and will be out pushing the party in every way; others will quietly focus on target seats elsewhere. The difficult areas will be places like mid-Beds where Labour has evidence that it can actually win but the LibDems also fancy their chances - we could easily end up with splitting the opposition vote in such seats down the middle.
Anecdotally, I thought about going for Wantage, where I have some good local connections and the Labour vote is non-trivial (2nd place with 27% in 2017, but 3rd in 2019). But I don't do things by halves and would be a full-on candidate pounding the streets every weekend for a year, and I don't think that's really what the party wants in most of these seats (and I've decided at age 73 not to be quite that zealous).
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
I've not read the paywalled Times interview but from your extract, it does sound a bit "poor little rich boy" just as when Prince Harry pulls the same one parent family schtick. It might impress the affluent, private school types who run politics in all parties but for many in society, this is just normal life.
You should read the whole article. There is no doubt that she was both very poor and grew up in one of the most socially deprived towns in the country.
Incidentally, I’m pretty sure that the picture with SKS features Reeves, not Phillipson.
I’m also impressed that she chose not to trade back stories with Gillian Keegan - she’d have won.
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
I've not read the paywalled Times interview but from your extract, it does sound a bit "poor little rich boy" just as when Prince Harry pulls the same one parent family schtick. It might impress the affluent, private school types who run politics in all parties but for many in society, this is just normal life.
Haven't read it either - but single-parent is a strong correlative of poverty, and of illegitimacy (and so easily unfairly seen by observers as evidence for the latter: e.g. in the playground).
England fortunate to still be leading over the Danes.
Well, England won without looking like a World Cup winning side, and many players were completely knackered towards the end.
The standard of football at this tournament has been very poor especially compared to the Euro finals
My go-to explanation is heat and humidity. Tournaments like to follow the sun, and in general our players are not conditioned for it. Whether that is actually true in this case, I'm not sure but it does explain, for instance, why for decades European teams tended to win the (men's) World Cup in Europe, and South American teams in South America.
The euros were a brilliant advert for Womens football, this tournament certainly isn't. Its been like watching kids football.
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
I've not read the paywalled Times interview but from your extract, it does sound a bit "poor little rich boy" just as when Prince Harry pulls the same one parent family schtick. It might impress the affluent, private school types who run politics in all parties but for many in society, this is just normal life.
It seems her family was genuinely poor, in a very down at heel part of Washington and dependent on benefits for much of her childhood. So not really Prince Harry-esque.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
Have you ever been to Washington, Co Durham?
I have, I have worked there and also lived there. There are some really shit parts and some really really nice parts. Like many other parts of the country.
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
Have you ever been to Washington, Co Durham?
I have, I have worked there and also lived there. There are some really shit parts and some really really nice parts. Like many other parts of the country.
Granted it’s probably (one would definitely hope) improved since the 1980s and early 1990s, which is when I knew it, and which was also when Phillipson was growing up there.
I don't think this is designed to help the LDs. Labour just has a list of Tory seats they likely will never win approved Labour parliamentary candidates can apply for to get experience before trying for a more winnable seat at a subsequent general election, just as the Tories equally have a list of Labour seats they will never win Conservative approved parliamentary candidates can use for experience.
Looking at the list I don't think the LDs have much chance in over half of them either. Though Bridgwater, Cheltenham, East Surrey, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Esher and Walton, Farrnham and Borndon, Goldalming and Ash, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Lewes, Maidenhead, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Newbury, North Devon, North Cornwall, North Dorset and North Norfolk from the list are former LD seats or on the LD target list where it will help the LDs if Labour just run a token campaign
You're missing the point.
It doesn't matter that there are (also) hopeless prospects for the LDs on there.
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
.Khan says taxpayers' money 'wasted' in court case
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has just been speaking to the BBC.
He told us: "I welcome the judgement today. I've been told more than £1m of council taxpayers' money has been wasted on this case".
He adds: "I'm quite clear though, I made this decision to expand Ulez because it is really important we address the public health crisis."
Asked about increased costs to Londoners, Khan says nine out of 10 cars in London are already compliant with Ulez and the scrappage scheme would offer support.'
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
Good luck with wanting a different politics. It's reminiscent of Blair's contribution to climate change (discussed not long ago on a recent thread.).
Blair had, IIRC, a 4 step solution to climate change. There were two key concepts. One was 'Global Solutions'. The other was 'Many Trillions of Other Peoples Money'.
The idea that 'Global Solutions' describes the solution and not the impossible problem is risible.
The 'International Community', 'International Institutions', the 'United Nations' and so on can't even sort out a dispute between warlords in Sudan, protect the Rohingya or stop Russian invasions.
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
Have you ever been to Washington, Co Durham?
Pedant alert. Technically Washington is in the abomination that is Tyne and Wear, not County Durham.
I would have topped myself if my local shopping centre growing up was the Galleries tbf.
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
Is Bridget Phillipson Labour’s rising star? She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
I got as far as this: "Phillipson sensed she was living 'on the margins' of society. She became painfully shy, refusing to even open her mouth in front of strangers. People would ask her mother whether she had a speech impediment. 'I always felt a bit of an outsider because my mum was a single parent.'"
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
Have you ever been to Washington, Co Durham?
Pedant alert. Technically Washington is in the abomination that is Tyne and Wear, not County Durham.
I would have topped myself if my local shopping centre growing up was the Galleries tbf.
Fair enough. My memory of it was of it being in Durham, and it allows us to talk of Washington CD as opposed to Washington DC!
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
We certainly need those who bleat from the sidelines about a different politics and what voters really want to get off their arses and see if they can persuade people to vote for them.
.Khan says taxpayers' money 'wasted' in court case
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has just been speaking to the BBC.
He told us: "I welcome the judgement today. I've been told more than £1m of council taxpayers' money has been wasted on this case".
He adds: "I'm quite clear though, I made this decision to expand Ulez because it is really important we address the public health crisis."
Asked about increased costs to Londoners, Khan says nine out of 10 cars in London are already compliant with Ulez and the scrappage scheme would offer support.'
Good luck to the Tories if the best they can come up with is a "let climate change rip" stance, for short-term political advantage.
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
England fortunate to still be leading over the Danes.
Well, England won without looking like a World Cup winning side, and many players were completely knackered towards the end.
The standard of football at this tournament has been very poor especially compared to the Euro finals
My go-to explanation is heat and humidity. Tournaments like to follow the sun, and in general our players are not conditioned for it. Whether that is actually true in this case, I'm not sure but it does explain, for instance, why for decades European teams tended to win the (men's) World Cup in Europe, and South American teams in South America.
The euros were a brilliant advert for Womens football, this tournament certainly isn't. Its been like watching kids football.
The reason for watching elite sport is to see those moments when, just occasionally, God smiles at a pitch (or court or track or racecourse). That has not happened yet, nor looked like it will be any time soon. There's still the partisan element; we want our team to win; but there's been nothing to make your jaw drop; nothing to make you ask your companion, did you see that?
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
Good luck with wanting a different politics. It's reminiscent of Blair's contribution to climate change (discussed not long ago on a recent thread.).
Blair had, IIRC, a 4 step solution to climate change. There were two key concepts. One was 'Global Solutions'. The other was 'Many Trillions of Other Peoples Money'.
The idea that 'Global Solutions' describes the solution and not the impossible problem is risible.
The 'International Community', 'International Institutions', the 'United Nations' and so on can't even sort out a dispute between warlords in Sudan, protect the Rohingya or stop Russian invasions.
Both are excellent examples of "begging the question".
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
‘Different economy’! In other words both left and right decided that lower GDP was not what they’d be pursuing.
Based on US work in Afghanistan there is a case for saying GDP is the wrong index (it should be household income)
GDP can be horribly skewed and per capita does not help. Household surplus income after housing costs might be better but would reveal how futile our high house prices are. Really, all economic statistics are rubbish because they only approximate what we really want to know.
Comments
I do feel sorry for the no doubt hard-working Conservative candidates who’ve had their chances of victory denigrated by their own party’s website, and also for whichever Conservative website designer was responsible for this fairly spectacular cock-up.
https://wp.me/p1eVEL-by
Looking at the list I don't think the LDs have much chance in over half of them either. Though Bridgwater, Cheltenham, East Surrey, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Esher and Walton, Farrnham and Borndon, Goldalming and Ash, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Lewes, Maidenhead, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Newbury, North Devon, North Cornwall, North Dorset and North Norfolk from the list are former LD seats or on the LD target list where it will help the LDs if Labour just run a token campaign
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jul/27/george-russell-belgian-grand-prix-formula-one
...Russell acknowledged the circuit was hazardous but emphasised that it was the issue of visibility that was crucial.
“If you put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, Spa is one of the riskiest,” he said. “Then when you have the combination of the weather it is very challenging. It is the visibility, we have no visibility whatsoever. For perspective it’s like driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off, that’s how it feels.”
Russell’s concerns were echoed by other drivers including Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas and he was unequivocal the sport could not risk a repeat of Van ’t Hoff’s tragic accident...
This hotel is intensely odd. It’s seriously chic. Wouldn’t be out of place in a very prosperous town in the Dolomites. It’s all designer sofas and fresh burrata and monsoon showers and granite and iron fire pits
The people look rich. They drink Aperol spritzers at noon on Friday. The sun shines on the bruschetta
Yet this is a pretty obscure Bukovinan Ukrainian city, in the middle of the terrible Ukrainian war, in an already poor country (GDP per capita: $5000)
Someone here is making a lot of money. The hotel owner and his clients. This elegant little city is about 30 minutes from the Romanian and Moldovan borders. The coffee is excellent
Hmmm
What’s going on?
Most can understand that Labour won't be spending a lot of effort trying to hold Liverpool Walton.
Anyway...as if the Lib Dems backing a Tory government has been completely ruled out, couldn't happen, not in a hundred years, not in any kind of hung parliament whatsoever, the Tories are so unpopular, and so on.
"You were in government with your friends the Tories for five years. Are you saying this time that people should trust you not to do the same again, and that if there's a hung parliament you'll support a government under Labour leader Keir Starmer?"
"Er - er - er ... but the list, the list! And something to do with Jeremy Corbyn!"
What's the factor that binds the seats on that list together? Is there anything else other than that a swing to Labour of >x% would be needed? (Apologies for being so non-nerdy!)
https://twitter.com/bphillipsonMP/status/1684845472735784961
Also, why do they always hold the event in rainy season? You can't race there, on this layout, in the rain.
Being so near two borders means there is money in smuggling and people trafficking (helping draft dodgers? Refugees? Gun running?) - that’s the money being spent here
Theory two: internal tourism and politicians
This is probably about as far from the front line as you can get. I doubt Putin will bomb Chernivtsi (unlike Lviv). Also the border is close if you need to flee. It’s historic, sunny and elegant
The coast is now dangerous, so this is where rich Ukrainians - who generally can’t get out of the country if they are male - come for hols and meetings
2) Russia's principal interest is in Eastern Ukraine
3) If you look at a historical map/atlas of Europe, what is now Ukraine has been in culturally different bits though most of history. This is feature and a bug of most of Europe's landmass.
4) In wars people take bits of peace if they can
5) In many rural parts of the UK WWII is not huge in folk memory because life went on in farms much as ever
6) Ukraine is so large that there are lots of places where war is elsewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqQiMp03n2c
The driver was airlifted to hospital. I think the tarmac encourages drivers to try to save it, whereas, in the old days, the gravel trap would reduce the impact of the accident.
I guess even during World War 2 there were bits of europe where an affluent life went on. Switzerland of course (and this hotel feels like somewhere in Ticino)
Or Cascais and Sintra in Portugal (where Ian Fleming was posted as a spy). There would have been others
How much is a pint these days, 30 grivnas or so?
(I might be heading there in a couple of weeks’ time).
If she wants to play to the gallery she should at least have tried acting.
It’s also worth noting that George Russell is the drivers’ representative on safety issues, so it’s obviously a wider feeling among the drivers that they need to stop for excessive rain, and the organisers need to be willing to be flexible when it comes to the event timings over the weekend.
It’s wet but drizzle there at the moment, F3 and F2 have been practicing with no issues.
“There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.”
Capitalism is not an unalloyed good, nor all forms of money making, but the ways in which it can penetrate the darkest and obscurest places to provide the coffee and the cake is remarkable.
A favourite of mine, for no special reason except that it is there, - very simple but obscurely placed at the end of the road to nowhere - is the old post office at Lochbuie.
https://www.oldpostofficelochbuie.co.uk/
On topic: whatever the criteria are for that list, there's clearly a southern bias -- and without looking too closely into the new boundaries, of the two northern constituencies I'm surprised there isn't some hope for Labour in Brigg and Immingham. (Goole and Pocklington must win some sort of award for the unlikeliest bedfellows in a constituency name ever...)
Besides which, as we saw the other year when its really wet all that happens is that the available light drops below a workable threshold...
https://www.mywanderlust.pl/chernivtsi-ukraine/
Have Kami and Leon been seen in the same Bukovinan hotel room?
Have fun at the FE in London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernivtsi
It was a waypoint for Jewish emigration to Israel after WWII.
Pre-war, around a third of the population was Jewish - not uncommon in urban centres in the region. More unusually, a third of them were saved from the Nazis by the then Romanian mayor:
https://archive.ph/20081116122634/http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/press_room/press_releases/07.08.07.html
She refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and is now one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted allies. The shadow education secretary talks about the challenges she faced growing up
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bridget-phillipson-labour-mp-interview-keir-starmer-txwlwn78d
On which, see also:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/28/air-breathe-uk-depends-race-income
"The poorest people emit least air pollution, but the multiplicative effect of worst concentrations and greater vulnerability means the least well-off bear an unfair proportion of health burden from air pollution."
Which ties in very nicely with the discussion recently on PB showing the distribution of car ownership in London - almost half of all *households* having no car at all.
The Moldova-Ukraine border is on routes for both heroin and cannabis.
Big crims make a lot of money from war in any country.
https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/media/publications/documents/14948/TD0322107ENN.pdf
Kamianets-Podilskiy. It’s nearby
Full of insane history. The Old town is said to be spooky as hell. The castle looks phenomenal
The Final Solution arguably began there. It was the first place the Nazis killed tens of thousands of Jews in one “Aktion”. Babi Yar came soon after
Perhaps fittingly, the castle is lit up blood red at night
In a different sense so are the 20 year old diesels, mind.
What's that nature reserve thingy with historical monuments? Is it a sort of St Fagans or Weald and Downland Museum with buildings moved to some nice park? Or what?
BREAKING: UK and Ireland's bid to host Euro 2028 set to be unopposed
She's popular wherever she goes, I think.
https://archive.is/1GK1C
(if you go to www.archive.org or www.archive.is and search for the link it'll give you the archived content, which may be non-paywalled)
Her twitter is here: https://twitter.com/bphillipsonMP/status/1684845472735784961
We had it with the Tory Tatler stuff in The Times in 2009, if memory serves me correctly.
Still think 2-4 more stadiums could have been accommodated - I'd have wanted a Yorkshire ground (probably Hillsborough), St. Marys, Murrayfield and either somewhere East of England, or another Irish stadium (most likely Croke Park).
Still, lolz at no Old Trafford, Anfield or Emirates.
Yet 1966 might as well have been 1866 to me, because I wasn’t around at the time.
She's popular wherever she goes, I th At least you can see it.
Good luck to her, and you gotta build some kinda narrative, and it's gotta be based on your feelings, so I don't want to diss her, but if you're on the margins of society you're not going to be an outsider just because your mum's a single parent. No way, Jose. (Incidentally this info doesn't come from reading the Guardian or talking to social workers.)
There have been grumbles from Labour associations in no-hope areas like these that they didn't get to select candidates in 2017 and 2019 because both were snap elections and they were at the back of the queue. If that was the case again this time, you'd have associations that won't have selected their own candidate in over a decade, and you can see that further demoralises members in an area that isn't great anyway.
So, in May, Labour's National Executive Committee agreed a fast track process for a tranche of low priority seats (these ones). But the quid pro quo, to avoid potentially embarrassing candidates by pretty moribund associations vulnerable to BJO-types seizing control, would be that Regional Executive Committees would dominate the shortlisting process. So these seats would have a choice of a boringly loyal elderly councillor, reliable and earnest primary school teacher, or an ambitious youngster getting a first run out.
So these seats will potentially get a Labour candidate a bit earlier than might otherwise have been the case. That isn't as good for the Lib Dems (although I'm personally quite sceptical of the value of getting a minor candidate in place before the campaign - nobody really focuses on who these people are until the campaign proper, and many don't even then).
The photo above is of an actual castle. Kamianets Podilskiy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamianets-Podilskyi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podilski_Tovtry_National_Nature_Park
Anecdotally, I thought about going for Wantage, where I have some good local connections and the Labour vote is non-trivial (2nd place with 27% in 2017, but 3rd in 2019). But I don't do things by halves and would be a full-on candidate pounding the streets every weekend for a year, and I don't think that's really what the party wants in most of these seats (and I've decided at age 73 not to be quite that zealous).
Incidentally, I’m pretty sure that the picture with SKS features Reeves, not Phillipson.
I’m also impressed that she chose not to trade back stories with Gillian Keegan - she’d have won.
@GoodwinMJ
In case you've not noticed the entire point of Brexit --to build a different economy-- is being dumped. Both Left & Right are now fully committed to mass cheap migration to keep big business happy, wages low, downward pressure on lower paid British workers, weaken their bargaining power & distort the market
We need a different politics"
https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1684859053875269632
It doesn't matter that there are (also) hopeless prospects for the LDs on there.
What matters is that their good prospects ARE.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-london-66328175
Adding another million to the population, many of whom are on minimum wage, only exacerbates the housing shortage.
.Khan says taxpayers' money 'wasted' in court case
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has just been speaking to the BBC.
He told us: "I welcome the judgement today. I've been told more than £1m of council taxpayers' money has been wasted on this case".
He adds: "I'm quite clear though, I made this decision to expand Ulez because it is really important we address the public health crisis."
Asked about increased costs to Londoners, Khan says nine out of 10 cars in London are already compliant with Ulez and the scrappage scheme would offer support.'
Blair had, IIRC, a 4 step solution to climate change. There were two key concepts. One was 'Global Solutions'. The other was 'Many Trillions of Other Peoples Money'.
The idea that 'Global Solutions' describes the solution and not the impossible problem is risible.
The 'International Community', 'International Institutions', the 'United Nations' and so on can't even sort out a dispute between warlords in Sudan, protect the Rohingya or stop Russian invasions.
I would have topped myself if my local shopping centre growing up was the Galleries tbf.