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A Fright at the Museum – politicalbetting.com

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  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,007

    Johnson got Ukraine right. But then so did SKS. In general the UK got Ukraine right.

    But Johnson also lied and partied through lockdown and brought disgrace to the office and ruined this country.

    So I am not going to say he's a good PM just yet. Still the worst in history by my count.

    Worst in my lifetime anyway, CHB, but he did get Ukraine right and he was quite good on Covid for a while.

    Worst in UK History? Hmmmm.....Lord North usually gets the nod, but Boris definitely runs him close.
    Liz Truss is a shoo-in if she counts but perhaps she shouldn't. Eg when you rank batters on their test match average they have to have played a minimum number of innings to be in the conversation.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,669
    edited August 2023

    Dorries has just tweeted that she has today submitted her resignation letter.

    I have submitted my resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today.
    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1695477448861757833

    Full text of Naddine Dorries' resignation
    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/313641/in-full-nadine-dorriess-resignation-letter
  • Dorries has just tweeted that she has today submitted her resignation letter.

    I have submitted my resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today.
    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1695477448861757833

    Full text of Naddine Dorries' resignation
    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/313641/in-full-nadine-dorriess-resignation-letter
    Non paywalled version here.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
  • She's a right embittered queen.
  • Dorries has just tweeted that she has today submitted her resignation letter.

    I have submitted my resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today.
    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1695477448861757833

    Full text of Naddine Dorries' resignation
    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/313641/in-full-nadine-dorriess-resignation-letter
    Non paywalled version here.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
    Nad is mad at Rishi and wants to expose the deep state, or some such. Some of her novels are shorter than this resignation letter.
  • Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,754

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
  • Dorries has just tweeted that she has today submitted her resignation letter.

    I have submitted my resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today.
    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1695477448861757833

    Full text of Naddine Dorries' resignation
    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/313641/in-full-nadine-dorriess-resignation-letter
    Non paywalled version here.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
    Nad is mad at Rishi and wants to expose the deep state, or some such. Some of her novels are shorter than this resignation letter.
    I haven't seen a woman this angry since I slept with an ex's sister.
  • Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
  • kinabalu said:

    Johnson got Ukraine right. But then so did SKS. In general the UK got Ukraine right.

    But Johnson also lied and partied through lockdown and brought disgrace to the office and ruined this country.

    So I am not going to say he's a good PM just yet. Still the worst in history by my count.

    Worst in my lifetime anyway, CHB, but he did get Ukraine right and he was quite good on Covid for a while.

    Worst in UK History? Hmmmm.....Lord North usually gets the nod, but Boris definitely runs him close.
    Liz Truss is a shoo-in if she counts but perhaps she shouldn't. Eg when you rank batters on their test match average they have to have played a minimum number of innings to be in the conversation.
    David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North. Liz Truss was barely in office long enough to justify a Wikipedia entry. Boris was sui generis, so outside the norm as to be incomparable with normal Prime Ministers, but possibly the most unsuitable person to have held that office.
  • Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    TSE = Aldi own-brand Rishi Sunak
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,754

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Ugh
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,269
    NADINE
  • Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Isn't Louis Vuitton a French brand? And even worse, off the peg.
  • Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Ugh
    I have long and wide feet, they are so comfortable and one of the few brands that fit me.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,493
    Carnyx said:

    Sandpit said:

    @Cyclefree another excellent piece.

    I am thinking of applying to become a trustee and director of a charity myself, actually.

    Absolutely nothing wrong with it to my knowledge but, strangely, my first thought was that she'd be the first person I'd call for advice if I heard about any allegation of malpractice or wrongdoing, and my second was about how I'd convince my fellow directors to act (my default assumption being they'd be terrified of the embarrassment and reputational damage it might cause, be inclined to dismiss it, and would probably bracket me as a troublemaker/gullible and not a team player).

    In short, I'm not sure this is a bad apples thing: I think most organisations and institutions are just culturally wired like this with human nature being what it is on top.

    Indeed, it’s mostly human nature that needs to be trained out of people.

    How many of those who go into managerial or trustee roles with large 3rd sector organisations, see their primary tank as being custodians of this famous institution, and therefore when a problem occurs their first reaction is to think of whatever best preserves the reputation of the organisation, rather than what’s actually the right thing to do in the circumstances?
    One point: I'd take very seriously any training for trustees, even if it is the charity equivalent of what is sometimes decried as HR and woke stuff. As I understand it, the law about charity trustees has tightened in recent years and their personal responsibilities and liabilities are greater. How far this is the case in actual practice I don't know, as I have never become a charity trustee, but the very reason for not doing so was that the little I saw of it made me feel I did not want to do so without being very sure of the other trustees.

    PS: puzzled by the expression "trustee and director". Aren't those roles kept separate? [PS Not asking personally or about the specific case - just the general point.]
    Being a Trustee for a regular charity carries potential unlimited financial and other liability., and this is a bar to many, even if somewhat of a remote possibility.

    One way around this is to reconstitute the Charity as a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) with many similarities to a limited company.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,007

    kinabalu said:

    Johnson got Ukraine right. But then so did SKS. In general the UK got Ukraine right.

    But Johnson also lied and partied through lockdown and brought disgrace to the office and ruined this country.

    So I am not going to say he's a good PM just yet. Still the worst in history by my count.

    Worst in my lifetime anyway, CHB, but he did get Ukraine right and he was quite good on Covid for a while.

    Worst in UK History? Hmmmm.....Lord North usually gets the nod, but Boris definitely runs him close.
    Liz Truss is a shoo-in if she counts but perhaps she shouldn't. Eg when you rank batters on their test match average they have to have played a minimum number of innings to be in the conversation.
    David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North. Liz Truss was barely in office long enough to justify a Wikipedia entry. Boris was sui generis, so outside the norm as to be incomparable with normal Prime Ministers, but possibly the most unsuitable person to have held that office.
    She made her mark in that short period though.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,988

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Isn't Louis Vuitton a French brand? And even worse, off the peg.
    Less off the peg, more off the market stall for a fraction of the price.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,988
    boulay said:

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Sounds like a line Carly Simon left out of “You’re so vain”

    “You walked into the party like you were walking onboard a helicopter.”
    I was thinking the exact same thing.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,754

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Ugh
    I have long and wide feet, they are so comfortable and one of the few brands that fit me.

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Ugh
    I have long and wide feet, they are so comfortable and one of the few brands that fit me.
    Have a last made by a good snob.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,891
    So did she finish her investigation into why she wasn’t given a gong?
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,266

    .

    Since this is International Dog Day, I'll mention this thought I had a few months ago: One of the most successful evolutionary strategies, in the last few thousand years, has been to be useful to be humans. For example, dogs, having accepted being junior partners to humans, have done much better than wolves.

    For some species it's been a win/win, for example, apple trees. For others, for example chickens, less so. According to a quick search, there are more than 34 billion chickens in the world, but not all of them live happy lives. (In recent years I have come to believe we should treat chickens better, though I know that will increase the costs of the eggs and chicken meat I consume.)

    Meat is murder!
    Bigmouth strikes again!
    That joke isn’t funny anymore……
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,754
    Taz said:

    .

    Since this is International Dog Day, I'll mention this thought I had a few months ago: One of the most successful evolutionary strategies, in the last few thousand years, has been to be useful to be humans. For example, dogs, having accepted being junior partners to humans, have done much better than wolves.

    For some species it's been a win/win, for example, apple trees. For others, for example chickens, less so. According to a quick search, there are more than 34 billion chickens in the world, but not all of them live happy lives. (In recent years I have come to believe we should treat chickens better, though I know that will increase the costs of the eggs and chicken meat I consume.)

    Meat is murder!
    Bigmouth strikes again!
    That joke isn’t funny anymore……
    Is Venison Bacon murder?
  • Dorries has just tweeted that she has today submitted her resignation letter.

    I have submitted my resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today.
    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1695477448861757833

    Full text of Naddine Dorries' resignation
    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/313641/in-full-nadine-dorriess-resignation-letter
    Non paywalled version here.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
    Nad is mad at Rishi and wants to expose the deep state, or some such. Some of her novels are shorter than this resignation letter.
    I haven't seen a woman this angry since I slept with an ex's sister.
    I do not envy you having to precis Nadine Dorries' resignation letter for the new thread.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,754
    RobD said:

    So did she finish her investigation into why she wasn’t given a gong?

    If she had two gongs, she could play extremely simple tunes on them.
  • viewcode said:
    Who(m) else on here thinks, that it was yours truly's cutting remark - that Mad Nad is a fleabite on the hindquarters of creation - that finally drove here to apply for Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds?
  • Civil servants trawled through “independent” research before it was published seeking dozens of changes to present Scottish government policy on tacking alcohol abuse in a more positive light.

    Officials scoured a report sent to them on the impact of minimum alcohol pricing, submitting at least 88 comments and questions about one draft alone. They suggested that evidence that alcohol consumption had fallen after the minimum unit pricing (MUP) was introduced in 2018 be described as “strong”.

    The final version of the report, published in June by Public Health Scotland, included the word, saying that there was “strong and consistent” quantitative evidence of a reduction in public alcohol consumption.

    The interventions by civil servants has led experts to question the independence of the report.

    The SNP-Green administration has faced criticism in the past over civil service interference in reports from the Audit Commission, among other public bodies. Michael Matheson, now the health secretary, was caught up in a row about attempts to interfere with independent police authorities during his time on the justice brief.

    In 2021 officials repeatedly tried to alter a report to suggest that the SNP administration had prepared better for the Covid pandemic.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independent-alcohol-pricing-report-was-amended-by-civil-servants-ck2ll2wvn
  • GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,860

    kinabalu said:

    Johnson got Ukraine right. But then so did SKS. In general the UK got Ukraine right.

    But Johnson also lied and partied through lockdown and brought disgrace to the office and ruined this country.

    So I am not going to say he's a good PM just yet. Still the worst in history by my count.

    Worst in my lifetime anyway, CHB, but he did get Ukraine right and he was quite good on Covid for a while.

    Worst in UK History? Hmmmm.....Lord North usually gets the nod, but Boris definitely runs him close.
    Liz Truss is a shoo-in if she counts but perhaps she shouldn't. Eg when you rank batters on their test match average they have to have played a minimum number of innings to be in the conversation.
    David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North. Liz Truss was barely in office long enough to justify a Wikipedia entry. Boris was sui generis, so outside the norm as to be incomparable with normal Prime Ministers, but possibly the most unsuitable person to have held that office.
    Yes indeed. Liz Truss is basically the world’s most expensive asterisk; Cameron and his ‘quad’ damaged this country for a generation or more.
  • Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Isn't Louis Vuitton a French brand? And even worse, off the peg.
    Less off the peg, more off the market stall for a fraction of the price.
    One is reminded of Guy Burgess's letter from Moscow to his old chum the Chancellor of the Exchequer about getting restrictions removed from his account.

    For the Treasury’s information I shall be sending cheques to:
    My grocers – Fortnum and Mason
    My shirt-makers – New and Lingwood
    My tailors – Tom Brown
    My Booksellers – Messrs Collett or Nancy Rodd’s.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,988
    Rishi Rich is being squeezed by the Nads.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,493
    Ghedebrav said:

    kinabalu said:

    Johnson got Ukraine right. But then so did SKS. In general the UK got Ukraine right.

    But Johnson also lied and partied through lockdown and brought disgrace to the office and ruined this country.

    So I am not going to say he's a good PM just yet. Still the worst in history by my count.

    Worst in my lifetime anyway, CHB, but he did get Ukraine right and he was quite good on Covid for a while.

    Worst in UK History? Hmmmm.....Lord North usually gets the nod, but Boris definitely runs him close.
    Liz Truss is a shoo-in if she counts but perhaps she shouldn't. Eg when you rank batters on their test match average they have to have played a minimum number of innings to be in the conversation.
    David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North. Liz Truss was barely in office long enough to justify a Wikipedia entry. Boris was sui generis, so outside the norm as to be incomparable with normal Prime Ministers, but possibly the most unsuitable person to have held that office.
    Yes indeed. Liz Truss is basically the world’s most expensive asterisk; Cameron and his ‘quad’ damaged this country for a generation or more.
    Not the quad, it was the post 2015 Cameron government that was a shambles.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,503
    edited August 2023

    Eabhal said:

    Eabhal said:

    @Eabhal

    The first thing to read is this twitter thread/report which suggests that transport infrastructure in the UK is incredibly expensive compared to peer economies.

    https://www.samdumitriu.com/p/britains-infrastructure-is-too-expensive?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    The next thing is these two charts, the first of which I posted last night. The usual suspects couldn’t wait to criticise, it was variously dismissed as Remainer propaganda, erroneous (by those who didn’t bother to check the underlying data), while others managed to find themselves arguing that commuter systems should not extend to actual commuting catchment areas (Tyndall).

    https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1695034745871032609?s=46&t=L9g_woCIqbo1MTuBFCK0xg


    https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1695083709831999553?s=46&t=L9g_woCIqbo1MTuBFCK0xg



    I think the criticism that the first chart does not contain rail and bus is fair. But including them won't make the UK look much better compared with European countries, given only 2% of us use the train and 4% the bus to commute to work.

    The ONS think 17.5 million people in England and Wales, or 35%, live in "major built up areas" - population over 200,000.
    That only a small percentage choose to use inferior public transport is fine, its a valid choice to choose not to do so, just ensure people have a choice.

    What we need is to invest in our infrastructure. For our population density we lack sufficient roads, we have far lower roads than comparably dense nations like the Netherlands or Japan (both of whom have a higher public transport share and cycling share than we do) which means we lack sufficient cycle paths as a result.

    Do what the Dutch have done and build more roads, cycling improves and public transport (buses) improves too. Everybody wins.
    I think your grasp of causality is rather weak.
    I think its better than yours of starting what you object to (cars and roads) and then working backwards from there. You say you're in favour of Dutch cycling, you say you're in favour of cycling paths, but any proposals of doing what they've done and building roads with cycling paths and rather than embracing that you oppose it. Why do you oppose the opportunity for new bike paths etc to go with new roads?

    The other day you asked me when if we followed my policy of construction we could expect new cycling paths, would it be after a decade, and I said immediately - you never responded so not sure if you saw that. You also agreed that if the UK caught up with the Netherlands for road density it would represent 90,000 extra miles of roads and asked if we did that how much cycling infrastructure I would expect with that - to which I said about 180,000 miles of segregated cycling paths.

    Besides motorways, all new roads as standard should come with safe, segregated, cycling paths. And building new roads to relieve traffic on old ones allows them to be converted to LTNs or have cycling added to them once the road's throughput is relieved so it can be narrowed to cars and give land space over to bikes once relieved.

    How many miles of cycle paths do we have in the UK today? Do you think if we followed my plan and added ~180k miles of dedicated cycle paths thanks to new road construction, then do you feel that would be better for cycling or not in this country?

    Its not reinventing the bicycle wheel - its what the Dutch have done for decades.
    I said very little of that. I'd appreciate it if you didn't put words into my mouth.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,424
    Ooh, finally the resignation we’ve all been waiting for!
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,257
    Good riddance to the Bozo arse licker and BBC hater .

  • DavidL said:

    This is a completely unnecessary row for Rishi. He could easily have facilitated her peerage, respecting the wishes of his predecessor. Instead he was vindictive and more than a little petty.

    And now it’s bitten him in the arse. Quelle surprise. People don’t take Mad Nad too seriously but some of this will sting. He deserves no better.

    Yes, this was wholly avoidable. One wonders if Rishi Sunak understands anything of the murkier political arts.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,436
    DavidL said:

    This is a completely unnecessary row for Rishi. He could easily have facilitated her peerage, respecting the wishes of his predecessor. Instead he was vindictive and more than a little petty.

    And now it’s bitten him in the arse. Quelle surprise. People don’t take Mad Nad too seriously but some of this will sting. He deserves no better.

    Why on earth should someone completely undeserving get a peerage just to stop that person throwing their toys out of the pram? Her reaction shows exactly why she is unsuitable to be in any role that influences decisions that affect the country.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,257
    Doesn’t Dorries have to write to the Chancellor to make her resignation effective ?
  • DavidL said:

    This is a completely unnecessary row for Rishi. He could easily have facilitated her peerage, respecting the wishes of his predecessor. Instead he was vindictive and more than a little petty.

    And now it’s bitten him in the arse. Quelle surprise. People don’t take Mad Nad too seriously but some of this will sting. He deserves no better.

    She doesn't deserve a peerage.
    No she doesn't but that is hardly the criterion. In any case, the point is Rishi could easily have avoided this mess by giving her the peerage while blaming Boris both for the award and for stuffing up the arrangements.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,741

    DavidL said:

    This is a completely unnecessary row for Rishi. He could easily have facilitated her peerage, respecting the wishes of his predecessor. Instead he was vindictive and more than a little petty.

    And now it’s bitten him in the arse. Quelle surprise. People don’t take Mad Nad too seriously but some of this will sting. He deserves no better.

    She doesn't deserve a peerage.
    She served at cabinet level. It seems a better qualification than writing large cheques to the party. The HoL is a joke of an institution anyway, what difference if there is yet another joker there?
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,199

    Not sure if Nadine is talking about me or Rishi Sunak.

    Nadine Dorries: "You flashed your gleaming smile in your Prada shoes and Savile Row suit from behind a camera, but you just weren’t listening".

    Prada? How vulgar.
    I'm a Louis Vuitton man.
    Ugh
    I have long and wide feet, they are so comfortable and one of the few brands that fit me.
    Bought a pair of Bugattis this summer. Always wanted one. Now I have two.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    Go Nads!
  • glwglw Posts: 9,887
    Britain's MTG finally flips her lid and rage quits.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,854
    edited August 2023
    Good evening

    It has been a frantic last day or so as my daughter and her family were stranded by EasyJet in Marrakesh as they cancelled their flight home yesterday giving no reason

    After a lot of frantic phone calls, and a visit by myself to the travel agents, hours later EasyJet said they had no flight home for them but were working on it

    Later in the day we were told they had been booked on the next available flight home which leaves this evening but to Gatwick from where they are to supply a coach to return them to Manchester Airport sometime in the early hours of tomorrow morning

    Needless to say I have only been popping in and out of PB but hearing Dorries has finally resigned with an acid letter of betrayal directed at Sunak, she, Johnson and others demonstrate just how much of a cult they have become and in the process betrayed the wider conservative party as it heads for a comprehensive defeat

    She may pen poisonous books but she has no awareness whatsoever that she is the one who is poisoning the brand

    I am pleased she is going, and as far as Sunak is concerned, I noted the pile on from some posters to him recently but frankly the conservative party are in such disarray that he is the best they have at present and too be fair Sunak and Hunt are steering the country in the right direction in respect of the economy and should hand over a recovering economy to Starmer in 2024

    Anyway early bed and an early rise to go to Knutsford Services to collect my family before dawn and bring them home again to Wales
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,424
    Okay, last photo from this trip, safely ensconced in the lounge at Warsaw airport, finally heading back to my own bed in the sandpit after an epic five-city trip in three weeks.

    Highlights were Lviv and Krakow, definitely places to which we’ll return, and the unbelievable sprit shown by the Ukranian people in the face of terrible adversity.



    Sayonara!
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    Rishi should have suspended the whip from her a while ago for total insubordination and taking the piss.

    It’s that which was mistake, rather than rejecting her flimsy claim to a peerage.
  • nico679 said:

    Doesn’t Dorries have to write to the Chancellor to make her resignation effective ?

    Yes. Her letter to the Prime Minister ends:-

    I shall today inform the Chancellor of my intention to take the Chiltern Hundreds, enabling the writ to be moved on September the 4th for the by-election you are so desperately seeking to take place.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html

    Although it is not for her to choose the date of the by-election.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    The by-election is genuinely interesting due to seeming disagreement over who is best placed to beat the Tories, and the possible presence of a spoiler independent.
  • . . . (im)possibly relevant to today's discussion of Great British Institutions . . .

    Fish License
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5MnyRZLd8A
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 21,895
    edited August 2023

    viewcode said:
    Who(m) else on here thinks, that it was yours truly's cutting remark - that Mad Nad is a fleabite on the hindquarters of creation - that finally drove here to apply for Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds?
    It was the first thing I thought of. Honest.

    [ducks] :)

  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,741
    4x400m. Not sure I fancy our chances.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,266

    Civil servants trawled through “independent” research before it was published seeking dozens of changes to present Scottish government policy on tacking alcohol abuse in a more positive light.

    Officials scoured a report sent to them on the impact of minimum alcohol pricing, submitting at least 88 comments and questions about one draft alone. They suggested that evidence that alcohol consumption had fallen after the minimum unit pricing (MUP) was introduced in 2018 be described as “strong”.

    The final version of the report, published in June by Public Health Scotland, included the word, saying that there was “strong and consistent” quantitative evidence of a reduction in public alcohol consumption.

    The interventions by civil servants has led experts to question the independence of the report.

    The SNP-Green administration has faced criticism in the past over civil service interference in reports from the Audit Commission, among other public bodies. Michael Matheson, now the health secretary, was caught up in a row about attempts to interfere with independent police authorities during his time on the justice brief.

    In 2021 officials repeatedly tried to alter a report to suggest that the SNP administration had prepared better for the Covid pandemic.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independent-alcohol-pricing-report-was-amended-by-civil-servants-ck2ll2wvn

    Shocked !!!!
  • You were working as an MP in the Tory Party
    When I met you
    I picked you out, I shook you up and turned you around
    Turned you into someone new
    Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet
    Success has been so easy for you
    But don't forget, it's me who put you where you are now
    And I can put you back down too

    Don't, don't you want me?
    You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me
    Don't, don't you want me?
    You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me
    It's much too late to find
    You think you've changed your mind
    You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry

    Don't you want me, baby?
    Don't you want me, ohh?
    Don't you want me, baby?
    Don't you want me, ohh?

    I was working as an MP in the Tory Party
    That much is true
    But even then I knew I'd find a much better place
    Either with or without you
    The five years we have had have been such good times
    I still love you
    But now I think it's time I live my life on my own
    I guess it's just what I must do

  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,424

    The by-election is genuinely interesting due to seeming disagreement over who is best placed to beat the Tories, and the possible presence of a spoiler independent.

    Yes, there’s no way that Labour stand back for the LDs, after the poll that showed them ahead.

    In the circumstances, it could be a genuine three-way marginal right in the middle of conference season. What more could a political betting forum want!
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    Can someone use ChatGPT to rewrite You’re So Vain where the lyrics refer to embittered MP, Nadine Dorries, referring to jumped up management consulting intern of a PM, Rishi Sunak?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,946
    I still think Dorries played it all wrong. Sunak isn't popular, he's open to attack, but her announcement and then recanting her resignation due to the very personal reason of being upset at not getting a reward colours everything else she says. His people can and will deflect on the basis she's disgruntled, and that her other points are due to that.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,402

    nico679 said:

    Doesn’t Dorries have to write to the Chancellor to make her resignation effective ?

    Yes. Her letter to the Prime Minister ends:-

    I shall today inform the Chancellor of my intention to take the Chiltern Hundreds, enabling the writ to be moved on September the 4th for the by-election you are so desperately seeking to take place.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html

    Although it is not for her to choose the date of the by-election.
    The resignation letter is a gem. You would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,314
    Will Nads slow-motion resignation help or hinder Sunak in the medium term? (*)

    Apparently, according to the BBC, her letter says: ""history will not judge you kindly"".

    Which shows a rather spectacular case of self-unawareness. If history will not judge Sunak kindly, how will history judge her? Will the short footnote of her career show her as being honourable, hard-working and sane, or traitorous, lazy and slightly mad?

    (*) I don't say 'long-term', as he will not be PM in the long-term.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,946

    Excellent, Cyclefree.

    My personal in-house Art expert tells me that a big part of the problem at the British Meseum and similar institutions is the crap pay for the staff. Poor morale and low levels of honesty are therefore not surprising.

    That’s a deeply offensive comment

    Dishonesty has nothing to do with poor pay. Good people are good, honourable people regardless of their career choice. Bad people are bad people.

    Don’t imply that all people in relatively low wage roles are more inclined to steal than others.
    People can also still have good morale on crap wages (whether they should us another matter sometimes).

    I don't agree the point was offensive, just overemphasising the role bad pay must have had.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 2,978
    edited August 2023
    Completely off topic, but useful if you are planning a visit to Florida:
    "It was just before 4 a.m. on Day 5 of the 2023 Python Challenge, a trademarked, only-in-Florida hunting bonanza held in August, and across the Glades, hunters were pulling long hours in search of snakes that can stretch to 20 feet. The 10-day competition is among several unusual strategies the state has devised to try to wrangle a monster problem: Burmese pythons are swallowing the Everglades whole."
    source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/08/25/invasive-python-snakes-hunt-florida/
    source: https://flpythonchallenge.org/participate/required-online-training/

    I have unusual tastes, but to me that sounds like more fun than visiting Disney. And good for the environment, too.

    There's a $10,000 prize for the hunter that "removes" the most pythons.
  • Bob Barker RIP

    For many years a household name across America, but mostly unknown to younger generations in the US . . . and to virtually everybody else elsewhere.
  • DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    This is a completely unnecessary row for Rishi. He could easily have facilitated her peerage, respecting the wishes of his predecessor. Instead he was vindictive and more than a little petty.

    And now it’s bitten him in the arse. Quelle surprise. People don’t take Mad Nad too seriously but some of this will sting. He deserves no better.

    She doesn't deserve a peerage.
    She served at cabinet level. It seems a better qualification than writing large cheques to the party. The HoL is a joke of an institution anyway, what difference if there is yet another joker there?
    Starmer has an excellent opportunity now to abolish the HoL if he wants to.

    It will be interesting to see how he plays that one.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,946
    Taz said:

    Civil servants trawled through “independent” research before it was published seeking dozens of changes to present Scottish government policy on tacking alcohol abuse in a more positive light.

    Officials scoured a report sent to them on the impact of minimum alcohol pricing, submitting at least 88 comments and questions about one draft alone. They suggested that evidence that alcohol consumption had fallen after the minimum unit pricing (MUP) was introduced in 2018 be described as “strong”.

    The final version of the report, published in June by Public Health Scotland, included the word, saying that there was “strong and consistent” quantitative evidence of a reduction in public alcohol consumption.

    The interventions by civil servants has led experts to question the independence of the report.

    The SNP-Green administration has faced criticism in the past over civil service interference in reports from the Audit Commission, among other public bodies. Michael Matheson, now the health secretary, was caught up in a row about attempts to interfere with independent police authorities during his time on the justice brief.

    In 2021 officials repeatedly tried to alter a report to suggest that the SNP administration had prepared better for the Covid pandemic.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independent-alcohol-pricing-report-was-amended-by-civil-servants-ck2ll2wvn

    Shocked !!!!
    I doubt that behaviour us unique to civil servants in Scotland. Its when they are too blunt about massaging things that it gets noticed.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    Nadine is a complete non-entity who, sadly, was not actually smart enough to even understand the challenges of the role during her brief ministership.

    Absolute clown. Good riddance.
  • ajbajb Posts: 146

    Can someone use ChatGPT to rewrite You’re So Vain where the lyrics refer to embittered MP, Nadine Dorries, referring to jumped up management consulting intern of a PM, Rishi Sunak?

    (Verse 1)
    You walked into the Commons like you were walking onto a yacht,
    Your tie strategically dipped below one eye,
    Your coffee from that upscale spot.

    You had one eye on the camera as you watched yourself gavotte,
    And all the MPs dreamed that they'd be your partner,
    They'd be your partner, and...

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think this debate's about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think this debate's about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    (Verse 2)
    You said you were a fiscal genius, a mind sharper than the rest,
    But with every budget you unveiled, it was clear you were just trying to impress.
    Oh Rishi, why'd you think austerity was the best?

    I hear you went to the IMF, and naturally, you claimed success,
    Oh, but you're still in Downing Street,
    Where you always said you'd be the best,
    You said you'd be the best, and...

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think this nation's about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think this nation's about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    (Verse 3)
    Well, I hear you went to Silicon Valley to see a tech billionaire,
    Then you flew your private jet to Davos,
    'Cause the elites always gather there, and...

    You gave a lecture on the economy, but it was clear you just loved the flair,
    You talked and talked, but all I heard,
    Was how you love to hear yourself, love to hear yourself...

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think the world's about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think the world's about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    (Bridge)
    Nadine, she tried to warn us, said you're not what you pretend,
    But with every media appearance,
    Your ego just seems to extend.

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think the Tories are about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think the Tories are about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    Remember, it's important to use parodies or rewritten songs in appropriate contexts and with an understanding of potential consequences, particularly when it involves public figures. The above is meant for entertainment and illustrative purposes only.


    No idea if this works, as I don't know the original
  • Completely off topic, but useful if you are planning a visit to Florida:
    "It was just before 4 a.m. on Day 5 of the 2023 Python Challenge, a trademarked, only-in-Florida hunting bonanza held in August, and across the Glades, hunters were pulling long hours in search of snakes that can stretch to 20 feet. The 10-day competition is among several unusual strategies the state has devised to try to wrangle a monster problem: Burmese pythons are swallowing the Everglades whole."
    source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/08/25/invasive-python-snakes-hunt-florida/
    source: https://flpythonchallenge.org/participate/required-online-training/

    I have unusual tastes, but to me that sounds like more fun than visiting Disney. And good for the environment, too.

    There's a $10,000 prize for the hunter that "removes" the most pythons.

    Is the popularity of snake hunts among Floridians, the chief reason that Gov. DeSantis is spending so little time in the Sunshine State these days/

    Allegedly he was out campaigning for President . . . but that appears to be fake news . . .
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,852

    Dorries has just tweeted that she has today submitted her resignation letter.

    I have submitted my resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today.
    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1695477448861757833

    Full text of Naddine Dorries' resignation
    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/313641/in-full-nadine-dorriess-resignation-letter
    Non paywalled version here.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12448557/Nadine-Dorries-quits-Commons-seat-resignation-letter-full.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
    Nad is mad at Rishi and wants to expose the deep state, or some such. Some of her novels are shorter than this resignation letter.
    I haven't seen a woman this angry since I slept with an ex's sister.
    Or even a current’s sis..
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,660

    Carnyx said:

    IanB2 said:

    It’s international dog day!! Here’s a British-owned Hungarian dog, who has a Belgian passport, in Norway - is that international enough?


    But as any sailor knows there are two dogs every day. In fact it'll soon be the first dog ...
    I'll keep watch for them, twice...
    Now well into the second dog, the sun has been over the yardarm for a while, hence some pleasant NZ white before and with ham, potatoes and pickled beetroot.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,107

    I do wonder why museums and art galleries don't sell many of their possessions (most of which are never on display).

    If they can't or don't want to show something why not earn some money by letting someone who does want it buy it.

    A collection of flies is not something that is saleable or displayable.

    But it might be scientifically valuable, and interested parties might need to come and look at them.

    Why must everything be displayed?
    Not everything needs to be displayed but not everything needs to be kept either.

    How often are the vast un-displayed hoards museums have ever looked at and how does any outsider know what exists in any case ?
    Surely that is what the catalogue is for!

    Here's the kind of thing that can happen when someone rummages through a museum's collection:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31521719
    The BBC series Britain's Lost Masterpieces performed a similar service for municipal art collections. Worth a look but not currently on iplayer.
    Fred Hohler and the Public Catalogue Foundation was a labour of love but created an incredible resource.

    https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE|A288536262&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=c632f4a7
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,660
    Foxy said:

    Carnyx said:

    Sandpit said:

    @Cyclefree another excellent piece.

    I am thinking of applying to become a trustee and director of a charity myself, actually.

    Absolutely nothing wrong with it to my knowledge but, strangely, my first thought was that she'd be the first person I'd call for advice if I heard about any allegation of malpractice or wrongdoing, and my second was about how I'd convince my fellow directors to act (my default assumption being they'd be terrified of the embarrassment and reputational damage it might cause, be inclined to dismiss it, and would probably bracket me as a troublemaker/gullible and not a team player).

    In short, I'm not sure this is a bad apples thing: I think most organisations and institutions are just culturally wired like this with human nature being what it is on top.

    Indeed, it’s mostly human nature that needs to be trained out of people.

    How many of those who go into managerial or trustee roles with large 3rd sector organisations, see their primary tank as being custodians of this famous institution, and therefore when a problem occurs their first reaction is to think of whatever best preserves the reputation of the organisation, rather than what’s actually the right thing to do in the circumstances?
    One point: I'd take very seriously any training for trustees, even if it is the charity equivalent of what is sometimes decried as HR and woke stuff. As I understand it, the law about charity trustees has tightened in recent years and their personal responsibilities and liabilities are greater. How far this is the case in actual practice I don't know, as I have never become a charity trustee, but the very reason for not doing so was that the little I saw of it made me feel I did not want to do so without being very sure of the other trustees.

    PS: puzzled by the expression "trustee and director". Aren't those roles kept separate? [PS Not asking personally or about the specific case - just the general point.]
    Being a Trustee for a regular charity carries potential unlimited financial and other liability., and this is a bar to many, even if somewhat of a remote possibility.

    One way around this is to reconstitute the Charity as a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) with many similarities to a limited company.
    Thanks, that's interesting.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,946
    A Cabinet Member, albeit brief, is a perfectly reasonable peer. Hence the issue with Dorries officially being procedural.

    Always follow the letter of rules, or people will screw you over it if they want.
  • DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    This is a completely unnecessary row for Rishi. He could easily have facilitated her peerage, respecting the wishes of his predecessor. Instead he was vindictive and more than a little petty.

    And now it’s bitten him in the arse. Quelle surprise. People don’t take Mad Nad too seriously but some of this will sting. He deserves no better.

    She doesn't deserve a peerage.
    She served at cabinet level. It seems a better qualification than writing large cheques to the party. The HoL is a joke of an institution anyway, what difference if there is yet another joker there?
    Starmer has an excellent opportunity now to abolish the HoL if he wants to.

    It will be interesting to see how he plays that one.
    HoL = House of Unelected Has-Beens!
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    ajb said:

    Can someone use ChatGPT to rewrite You’re So Vain where the lyrics refer to embittered MP, Nadine Dorries, referring to jumped up management consulting intern of a PM, Rishi Sunak?

    (Verse 1)
    You walked into the Commons like you were walking onto a yacht,
    Your tie strategically dipped below one eye,
    Your coffee from that upscale spot.

    You had one eye on the camera as you watched yourself gavotte,
    And all the MPs dreamed that they'd be your partner,
    They'd be your partner, and...

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think this debate's about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think this debate's about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    (Verse 2)
    You said you were a fiscal genius, a mind sharper than the rest,
    But with every budget you unveiled, it was clear you were just trying to impress.
    Oh Rishi, why'd you think austerity was the best?

    I hear you went to the IMF, and naturally, you claimed success,
    Oh, but you're still in Downing Street,
    Where you always said you'd be the best,
    You said you'd be the best, and...

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think this nation's about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think this nation's about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    (Verse 3)
    Well, I hear you went to Silicon Valley to see a tech billionaire,
    Then you flew your private jet to Davos,
    'Cause the elites always gather there, and...

    You gave a lecture on the economy, but it was clear you just loved the flair,
    You talked and talked, but all I heard,
    Was how you love to hear yourself, love to hear yourself...

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think the world's about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think the world's about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    (Bridge)
    Nadine, she tried to warn us, said you're not what you pretend,
    But with every media appearance,
    Your ego just seems to extend.

    (Chorus)
    You're so vain, you probably think the Tories are about you,
    You're so vain, I bet you think the Tories are about you,
    Don't you? Don't you?

    Remember, it's important to use parodies or rewritten songs in appropriate contexts and with an understanding of potential consequences, particularly when it involves public figures. The above is meant for entertainment and illustrative purposes only.


    No idea if this works, as I don't know the original
    Not too bad.
    Could definitely use as a starter template.

    I’d like to get the following line in;
    “Your trow strategically hemmed at ankle length”
  • Poland investigates cyber-attack on rail network
    ...
    Hackers broke into railway frequencies to disrupt traffic in the north-west of the country overnight, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Saturday.

    The signals were interspersed with recording of Russia's national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

    Poland is a major transit hub for Western weapons being sent to Ukraine.

    Saturday's incident occurred when hackers transmitted a signal that triggered an emergency stoppage of trains near the city of Szczecin, PAP reported.

    About 20 trains were brought to a standstill, but services were restored within hours.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66630260

    The Russian national anthem makes this hack sound more like a prank by a patriotic Russian script kiddie than a state-sponsored cyberattack.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,402

    Can one of the PB weather experts let me know what the odds of rain are on Monday in London?

    Bank Holiday, odds on, surely :lol:
    BBC Weather seems to assess it at 0%, so take an umbrella.
  • kle4 said:

    I still think Dorries played it all wrong. Sunak isn't popular, he's open to attack, but her announcement and then recanting her resignation due to the very personal reason of being upset at not getting a reward colours everything else she says. His people can and will deflect on the basis she's disgruntled, and that her other points are due to that.

    Nadine Dorries has achieved the feat, of making herself even more pathetic than she already was/is.

    It's a gift. Now all she needs, is a cheesy mug shot.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,054
    The Hundred has gone woke, there's a big Pride Flag in the sky.
  • El_CapitanoEl_Capitano Posts: 4,238
    Finally time to GTDO. (Get The Dorries Out.)
  • kinabalu said:

    Johnson got Ukraine right. But then so did SKS. In general the UK got Ukraine right.

    But Johnson also lied and partied through lockdown and brought disgrace to the office and ruined this country.

    So I am not going to say he's a good PM just yet. Still the worst in history by my count.

    Worst in my lifetime anyway, CHB, but he did get Ukraine right and he was quite good on Covid for a while.

    Worst in UK History? Hmmmm.....Lord North usually gets the nod, but Boris definitely runs him close.
    Liz Truss is a shoo-in if she counts but perhaps she shouldn't. Eg when you rank batters on their test match average they have to have played a minimum number of innings to be in the conversation.
    Quite. That's why I ignored her. Has to be in long enough to do serious long term damage.

    Boris qualifies, just; Truss doesn't, although per days-in-office the amount of damage was impressively high.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    I see Nadine is promising a book about how politics has been corrupted.

  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,294
    I don’t know what wing, if any, of the Tory Party Tim Montgomerie represents, but he has said he agrees entirely with Nadine’s condemnation of Rishi.
  • Poland investigates cyber-attack on rail network
    ...
    Hackers broke into railway frequencies to disrupt traffic in the north-west of the country overnight, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Saturday.

    The signals were interspersed with recording of Russia's national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

    Poland is a major transit hub for Western weapons being sent to Ukraine.

    Saturday's incident occurred when hackers transmitted a signal that triggered an emergency stoppage of trains near the city of Szczecin, PAP reported.

    About 20 trains were brought to a standstill, but services were restored within hours.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66630260

    The Russian national anthem makes this hack sound more like a prank by a patriotic Russian script kiddie than a state-sponsored cyberattack.

    Perhaps THIS is why we PBers have not (yet) been hosting (in manner of speaking) our regular Saturday Putin-bot?

    Or is it that the alleged demise of their convict commander, has disrupted activities at the Wagner Troll Farm?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,226

    Poland investigates cyber-attack on rail network
    ...
    Hackers broke into railway frequencies to disrupt traffic in the north-west of the country overnight, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Saturday.

    The signals were interspersed with recording of Russia's national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

    Poland is a major transit hub for Western weapons being sent to Ukraine.

    Saturday's incident occurred when hackers transmitted a signal that triggered an emergency stoppage of trains near the city of Szczecin, PAP reported.

    About 20 trains were brought to a standstill, but services were restored within hours.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66630260

    The Russian national anthem makes this hack sound more like a prank by a patriotic Russian script kiddie than a state-sponsored cyberattack.

    Perhaps THIS is why we PBers have not (yet) been hosting (in manner of speaking) our regular Saturday Putin-bot?

    Or is it that the alleged demise of their convict commander, has disrupted activities at the Wagner Troll Farm?
    It's a systems problem. Wagner has crashed.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,402

    kle4 said:

    I still think Dorries played it all wrong. Sunak isn't popular, he's open to attack, but her announcement and then recanting her resignation due to the very personal reason of being upset at not getting a reward colours everything else she says. His people can and will deflect on the basis she's disgruntled, and that her other points are due to that.

    Nadine Dorries has achieved the feat, of making herself even more pathetic than she already was/is.

    It's a gift. Now all she needs, is a cheesy mug shot.
    Indeed. The letter deserves a place on management courses and the like. It's exemplary of the letter which, a few times in a lifetime, you write and then don't send.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,754

    Can someone use ChatGPT to rewrite You’re So Vain where the lyrics refer to embittered MP, Nadine Dorries, referring to jumped up management consulting intern of a PM, Rishi Sunak?

    (Verse 1)
    You strolled into power, with a grin so bold,
    Former consultant, now a PM we're told,
    An embittered MP, fighting tooth and nail,
    In the corridors of power, a bitter tale.

    (Pre-Chorus)
    You're both in a war, pride on display,
    MP's bitterness, PM's ambitious sway,
    An embittered MP, and a consultant's pride,
    In this battleground of egos, you collide.

    (Chorus)
    Oh, you're so vain, trapped in your own charade,
    Locked in combat, accolades to trade,
    You're so vain, your paths now remade,
    Yet time will reveal the debts to be paid.

    (Verse 2)
    MP fueled by resentment and disdain,
    PM turned leader, arrogance like rain,
    A battle of wills, of ideals and might,
    Both believing they're destined for the height.

    (Pre-Chorus)
    But remember, MP, and PM so grand,
    Leadership requires more than a stand,
    An embittered MP, and a consultant's flair,
    In this journey of power, be aware.

    (Chorus)
    Oh, you're so vain, entangled in your charade,
    Seeking dominance, your rules to be obeyed,
    You're so vain, both roles overplayed,
    And truth will unfold like a serenade.

    (Bridge)
    An embittered MP, a consultant's past,
    Caught in a struggle, a battle so vast,
    But humility and vision will guide,
    As you navigate the currents of pride.

    (Pre-Chorus)
    MP, release that bitterness inside,
    PM, let wisdom be your guide,
    For leadership is more than a game,
    It's about leaving behind a worthy name.

    (Chorus)
    Oh, you're so vain, trapped in your own crusade,
    Chasing glory, in power's accolade,
    You're so vain, both on parade,
    Yet time will expose the decisions you've made.

    (Outro)
    So continue, MP and PM, forge ahead,
    But remember, it's not just power you'll spread,
    An embittered MP, a consultant's stance,
    In the symphony of leadership, find your dance.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,322
    The Dorries resignation letter is a pretty coruscating personal attack on Sunak.
    Regardless of the source, I don't think it's good news for him.
    Bring it on.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,424
    edited August 2023

    Poland investigates cyber-attack on rail network
    ...
    Hackers broke into railway frequencies to disrupt traffic in the north-west of the country overnight, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Saturday.

    The signals were interspersed with recording of Russia's national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

    Poland is a major transit hub for Western weapons being sent to Ukraine.

    Saturday's incident occurred when hackers transmitted a signal that triggered an emergency stoppage of trains near the city of Szczecin, PAP reported.

    About 20 trains were brought to a standstill, but services were restored within hours.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66630260

    The Russian national anthem makes this hack sound more like a prank by a patriotic Russian script kiddie than a state-sponsored cyberattack.

    That’s very interesting. I wasn’t near Szczecin, but I was on a Polish train today - and it did do one hell of a stop at one point, enough to send the crockery and cutlery flying off the first class tables. It was stationary for about a minute, then started rolling again, I mentioned to wifey at the time that it felt like an emergency stop, not something I’ve experienced before on a fast train, as if someone had unexpectedly turned a signal red in front of us.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,314
    On art:

    Many years ago, I proposed a system of travelling exhibitions for art and artifacts. Out country has millions of things of interest, often split between different museums and galleries.

    Take Joseph Wright of Derby, a great artist I love. (The Orrery, An Experiment, Vesuvius). Many of his best paintings are in Derby, but there are others around the country. So organise a travelling exhibition that goes around the country, in which the best of his paintings, not just rom derby, but the country and the world, are shown.

    This has the advantage of allowing many more people around the country to see the great works, but also promoting his works. It may also make people look up his works in their more local museums.

    You can do it for other things as well, such as religious artefacts. Themed exhibitions already happen (see Charles ex-of this parish), but they should be more common and easier.

    I don't frequent art galleries very often - they're generally not my thing. But one minor piece that really caught my interest was the central panel of the triptych below:
    https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/saint-catherine-and-the-philosophers-18226
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,621
    ydoethur said:

    Poland investigates cyber-attack on rail network
    ...
    Hackers broke into railway frequencies to disrupt traffic in the north-west of the country overnight, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Saturday.

    The signals were interspersed with recording of Russia's national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

    Poland is a major transit hub for Western weapons being sent to Ukraine.

    Saturday's incident occurred when hackers transmitted a signal that triggered an emergency stoppage of trains near the city of Szczecin, PAP reported.

    About 20 trains were brought to a standstill, but services were restored within hours.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66630260

    The Russian national anthem makes this hack sound more like a prank by a patriotic Russian script kiddie than a state-sponsored cyberattack.

    Perhaps THIS is why we PBers have not (yet) been hosting (in manner of speaking) our regular Saturday Putin-bot?

    Or is it that the alleged demise of their convict commander, has disrupted activities at the Wagner Troll Farm?
    It's a systems problem. Wagner has crashed.
    In totally unrelated news:

  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 21,895

    ydoethur said:

    Poland investigates cyber-attack on rail network
    ...
    Hackers broke into railway frequencies to disrupt traffic in the north-west of the country overnight, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Saturday.

    The signals were interspersed with recording of Russia's national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

    Poland is a major transit hub for Western weapons being sent to Ukraine.

    Saturday's incident occurred when hackers transmitted a signal that triggered an emergency stoppage of trains near the city of Szczecin, PAP reported.

    About 20 trains were brought to a standstill, but services were restored within hours.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66630260

    The Russian national anthem makes this hack sound more like a prank by a patriotic Russian script kiddie than a state-sponsored cyberattack.

    Perhaps THIS is why we PBers have not (yet) been hosting (in manner of speaking) our regular Saturday Putin-bot?

    Or is it that the alleged demise of their convict commander, has disrupted activities at the Wagner Troll Farm?
    It's a systems problem. Wagner has crashed.
    In totally unrelated news:

    that's...not reassuring. :(
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