Isn’t Owain Glyndwr buried somewhere around there?
Glyndwr means “valley of water” and dwr (water) was the name of the river which apocryphally became "d'or" in Norman times thus the river Dore, and the Golden Valley.
A beautiful association, which unfortunately is shattered by the reality that 'Glyndwr' is a contraction of 'Glyndyfrdwy' - the lordship Owain held at Sycharth, near modern Corwen.
His full name was Owain ap Gruffudd, Arglwydd Glyndyfrdwy, which translates in English to Owen the son of Griffith, the Lord of the Valley of the Light upon the Waters of the Dee.
… I was sure a correction was to be delivered as I trampled on hallowed myths
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
It’s only Hereford that has surprised on the downside - tho it was quite a nasty surprise . Elsewhere I’ve been cheered. Even in little towns like Tenbury Wells I’ve sensed enduring prosperity and new businesses on the rise
As @viewcode says I should probably go to Stoke, Bangor and Southend to get a real view, but my editors send me where they send me….
Stoke and Southend have been on a spiral for years. Hereford, Great Malvern and Evesham were days out or weekend breaks until not so long ago. As for Bangor, I stayed at Menai Bridge and Beaumaris last year and they were lovely I never went into central Bangor, but as a University town I would imagine it is bangin' on a term time evening.
You would imagine wrongly. Pretty underwhelming place. Caernarfon is far livelier.
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
It’s only Hereford that has surprised on the downside - tho it was quite a nasty surprise . Elsewhere I’ve been cheered. Even in little towns like Tenbury Wells I’ve sensed enduring prosperity and new businesses on the rise
As @viewcode says I should probably go to Stoke, Bangor and Southend to get a real view, but my editors send me where they send me….
Stoke and Southend have been on a spiral for years. Hereford, Great Malvern and Evesham were days out or weekend breaks until not so long ago. As for Bangor, I stayed at Menai Bridge and Beaumaris last year and they were lovely I never went into central Bangor, but as a University town I would imagine it is bangin' on a term time evening.
P S. Tenbury Wells? The Teme Valley is hard to beat.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
Superb little place, Ross.
I like Gloucester too, but not Cheltenham. Evesham is surprisingly good, and also Tewkesbury.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Edit: like with the rest of her CV, it's not actually clear exactly how closely she is connected with Oxford. She conspicuously does not claim to have a full time lecturing post as such.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Dr Cassidy is Substitute Lecturer in International Politics, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, so she may well be part time anyway.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Edit: like with the rest of her CV, it's not actually clear exactly how closely she is connected with Oxford. She conspicuously does not claim to have a full time lecturing post as such.
And this bullshit artist is a lecturer?
Doesn't say much for Oxford, if I'm honest.
But then, they also employed Chris Woodhead as a lecturer in education.
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
Superb little place, Ross.
I like Gloucester too, but not Cheltenham. Evesham is surprisingly good, and also Tewkesbury.
Evesham shocked me about a month ago. A childhood favourite living south of Birmingham, I found it very down at heel. Retiring to the Lygon in Broadway soon cheered me up.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
There's a pub in Tewkesbury called The Ancient Grudge. I thought it referred to the Civil War but in fact it's the Wars of The Roses, the decisive battle having taken place there in 1471 (in the nearby fields, not the pub, though it can get rough in there too.)
Another one of the minor celebrities of EU academic Remainerdom has taken an ‘interesting’ turn towards full-blown Serbian nationalism and is now claiming that “everyone” wants Yugoslavia back and that Croats, Slovenes and Serbs are the same people.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Edit: like with the rest of her CV, it's not actually clear exactly how closely she is connected with Oxford. She conspicuously does not claim to have a full time lecturing post as such.
The photo of her laptop on the BBC article has a strange caption: “The lecturer has taught diplomats from across the world from here in the Bodleian Library”
Isn’t Owain Glyndwr buried somewhere around there?
Glyndwr means “valley of water” and dwr (water) was the name of the river which apocryphally became "d'or" in Norman times thus the river Dore, and the Golden Valley.
A beautiful association, which unfortunately is shattered by the reality that 'Glyndwr' is a contraction of 'Glyndyfrdwy' - the lordship Owain held at Sycharth, near modern Corwen.
His full name was Owain ap Gruffudd, Arglwydd Glyndyfrdwy, which translates in English to Owen the son of Griffith, the Lord of the Valley of the Light upon the Waters of the Dee.
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
Superb little place, Ross.
I like Gloucester too, but not Cheltenham. Evesham is surprisingly good, and also Tewkesbury.
Evesham shocked me about a month ago. A childhood favourite living south of Birmingham, I found it very down at heel. Retiring to the Lygon in Broadway soon cheered me up.
P.S. is the Hobnails still going on your manor?
Indeed, and still has a good reputation, though I haven't been for a while.
Sorry to hear you feel like that about Evesham. It is beautiful down by the Avon, where I walk my dogs most mornings.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Dr Cassidy is Substitute Lecturer in International Politics, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, so she may well be part time anyway.
Arf. Even more dilute than I expected. I don't go around claiming to "have taught at Cambridge for fifteen years" because I did a few supervisions.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
Only 3 days f2f. It isn't clear how much she does online.
The problem with most British University courses is that there is little contact time, allowing the University to keep teaching costs down, while the real work of finishing school for the middle class happens outside those hours.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
He fought in the D-Day landings and Normandy campaign too.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Dr Cassidy is Substitute Lecturer in International Politics, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, so she may well be part time anyway.
Arf. Even more dilute than I expected. I don't go around claiming to "have taught at Cambridge for fifteen years" because I did a few supervisions.
Not quite right. She was a lecturer at St Peter's College till a few years back.
Sort of interesting that a company could trigger a nuclear war. It may be true or it may not be, but it is plausible. Musk once again seems quite wise.
Well, Ukraine have use the USVs against Russian ships and targets, and it has *not* triggered WW3. So he's clearly rather unwise.
All the drone speed boats the Ukrainians have are still using Starlink. The antenna are rather obvious.
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
Superb little place, Ross.
I like Gloucester too, but not Cheltenham. Evesham is surprisingly good, and also Tewkesbury.
Evesham shocked me about a month ago. A childhood favourite living south of Birmingham, I found it very down at heel. Retiring to the Lygon in Broadway soon cheered me up.
P.S. is the Hobnails still going on your manor?
Indeed, and still has a good reputation, though I haven't been for a while.
Well that's nice to know in these depressing times.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Edit: like with the rest of her CV, it's not actually clear exactly how closely she is connected with Oxford. She conspicuously does not claim to have a full time lecturing post as such.
The photo of her laptop on the BBC article has a strange caption: “The lecturer has taught diplomats from across the world from here in the Bodleian Library”
Is she just exploiting the Oxford brand?
No: definite positions there. I think it's just journalese.
Another one of the minor celebrities of EU academic Remainerdom has taken an ‘interesting’ turn towards full-blown Serbian nationalism and is now claiming that “everyone” wants Yugoslavia back and that Croats, Slovenes and Serbs are the same people.
A British Gujerati friend of mine recently went on holiday to Serbia (no, I don't know why they chose to either!). Said it was the most flagrant racism he has ever encountered, and he has travelled 5 continents.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
Since 2020 parking at Uni has been a lot easier. WFH now accepted widely among both academics and support staff. Plus if she is not in a serious subject (STEMM) then lecture content will be minimal. Most meetings are to can be hybrid.
So I think it’s doable, but I think she is an idiot. Just rent in Didcot, or somewhere. Hell, even Swindon’s not that far, and certainly cheaper than Oxford.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
At least at Fen Poly, 24 hours a year is the usual contractual minimum. Of course, it's almost always exceeded.
Dr Cassidy is Substitute Lecturer in International Politics, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, so she may well be part time anyway.
Arf. Even more dilute than I expected. I don't go around claiming to "have taught at Cambridge for fifteen years" because I did a few supervisions.
Not quite right. She was a lecturer at St Peter's College till a few years back.
Stipendiary lecturer. Basically a post-doc with some teaching.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
The odd part about the BBC framing is that Dublin is very expensive too.
Surely the oddest part is she claims to be a full time employee at the university and yet only lectures three days a fortnight?
I mean, seriously?!
Only 3 days f2f. It isn't clear how much she does online.
The problem with most British University courses is that there is little contact time, allowing the University to keep teaching costs down, while the real work of finishing school for the middle class happens outside those hours.
Not true for STEMM courses. Our pharmacy students are heavily timetabled in F2F sessions, with very few online, although the Uni would like more online as there is very limited space in the larger lecture theatres.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false. Of course all those still living are completely exonerated
Isn’t Owain Glyndwr buried somewhere around there?
Glyndwr means “valley of water” and dwr (water) was the name of the river which apocryphally became "d'or" in Norman times thus the river Dore, and the Golden Valley.
A beautiful association, which unfortunately is shattered by the reality that 'Glyndwr' is a contraction of 'Glyndyfrdwy' - the lordship Owain held at Sycharth, near modern Corwen.
His full name was Owain ap Gruffudd, Arglwydd Glyndyfrdwy, which translates in English to Owen the son of Griffith, the Lord of the Valley of the Light upon the Waters of the Dee.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
I imagine 48% of crooked house types are remainers, and 52% are leavers. My experience with nasty neighbours and general misanthropes is that they live their croaky little existences on all parts of the political spectrum.
If you are in the vicinity of the Golden Valley then without doubt you should eat at under the nut tree. http://underthenuttree.co.uk/
One of the most idyllic dinners available in this country, if there’s space. Seriously. It’s BYOB too.
Run by the Australian who used to tour the puppetry of the penis show.
Maybe pay a visit to the offbeat Black Mountain vineyard too.
I wish I had the time! Off to Ross then Glos tomorrow. Last leg
This road trip has been an absolute blast. Britain has some significant problems, but wow what a beautiful country
Unless Ross has declined in the last three months I suspect you will be more cheered after being lowballed by High Town. It's not Porto Fino, but it's better than any other market town within 30 miles.
Superb little place, Ross.
I like Gloucester too, but not Cheltenham. Evesham is surprisingly good, and also Tewkesbury.
Evesham shocked me about a month ago. A childhood favourite living south of Birmingham, I found it very down at heel. Retiring to the Lygon in Broadway soon cheered me up.
P.S. is the Hobnails still going on your manor?
Indeed, and still has a good reputation, though I haven't been for a while.
Sorry to hear you feel like that about Evesham. It is beautiful down by the Avon, where I walk my dogs most mornings.
I went to school in Evesham, haven't been back for 25 years though.
Another one of the minor celebrities of EU academic Remainerdom has taken an ‘interesting’ turn towards full-blown Serbian nationalism and is now claiming that “everyone” wants Yugoslavia back and that Croats, Slovenes and Serbs are the same people.
Well i do speak the language and I would say that while the hatred is certainly much diminished, there is zero desire in Croatis or Slovenia to restore any version of Yugoslavia there. Friendly in the EU, yes, SFRY... um, no thanks. Especially if Serbia still equivocates over democracy and Russia.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
I'm the last person to defend Ted Heath, but not once have I believed the lurid stories that were told about him (and Harvey Proctor of all people). As Proctor himself put it, the two men loathed each other. The idea that they would attend murderous orgies together was absurd.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
I'm the last person to defend Ted Heath, but not once have I believed the lurid stories that were told about him (and Harvey Proctor of all people). As Proctor himself put it, the two men loathed each other. The idea that they would attend murderous orgies together was absurd.
I heard no stories about Proctor. I assume Beech was talking rubbish.
People who spend their lives trying to destroy pubs simply to make money from their destruction should have a special circle of Hell where they live 24/7 in a 24/7 Wetherspoons in West Bromwich in November where they have to eat a full Wetherspoons English breakfast every thirteen minutes with two pints of Carling every half hour for the rest of eternity
Is that even possible without additional insulin?
Seriously. Who the fuck gets up in the morning and thinks What shall I do today, I know, I’ll take over a grand and much-loved local pub, turn it into a shithole which everyone avoids because I am horrible to them, then I can get it closed on the grounds that no one comes and isn’t needed, then I can turn it into a home and sell it for 30% more than I paid HAHAHAHAH
I mean, that is close to the definition of pure, pointless evil
There seems to be a small percentage of humans who really don't give a shit about the impact of their actions on anyone else. What do we reckon it is 5%? 2%? 1%? (I feel their adverse impact is out of all proportion to their actual numbers).
Fortunately, most of us have at least a modicum of morality, altruism, and concern for our fellow beings. Unfortunately, the leading GOP candidate is not one of that majority.
I think it’s worse than that. I reckon 3% take an actual pleasure in extending the horizon of human suffering and impoverishment. They’re not indifferent, they are positively pleased if they make life nastier for others
The problem is that not caring about the harm you cause to others can be a positive advantage in politics and business. So, that small minority of sociopaths form a rather larger minority of people in power.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
So definitely fake, but accurate.
No, you are trying to bamboozle but an ill educated humble serf, Mr.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
That's grim for Trump. He needs a big lead going into 2024 because he'll shed support as the legal noose tightens.
That's a bold assumption.
I think he has a lock on 45% of voters, who depending on outlook, love him, or disapprove, but think he's King David, or disapprove but hate the enemy more and accept he's their son of a bitch.
45% is not a winning number, but it comes perilously close.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places for workers to rent.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places to rent.
But even so there is more than you might imagine at first glance. People are proud of the area. They want more opportunities. Given half a chance and local politicians with a "let's get this done" instead of a "computer says no" mentality it could be really something. When the Ukraine war started a lorry went out there with goods the Ukrainians needed all paid for by locals. A number of Ukrainian families moved here. It has always welcomed refugees. It is in the Red Wall but not the caricature of the Red Wall that is often painted.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
So definitely fake, but accurate.
No, you are trying to bamboozle but an ill educated humble serf, Mr.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
The origin of the “fake but accurate” quote is exactly what you are selling. “This guy is a liar, but his story may be true”
Hmmm - I remember when my job led me to the Houses of Parliament a lot more often than now. I would often hear the sorts of stories cooked up by Beech. Occasionally in bars like the sports and social, other times pubs around the palace. I remember a very chatty PA photography banging on about the various “nonces in parliament” and me trying to find an exit - usually involved seeing off my pint and finding somewhere else to drink.
The tellers of the stories were always quite plausible - and they had a lot of genuine horror stories to level the ground before the less reliable stuff (Cyril Smith etc).
Based on these experiences, I was unsurprised that Tom Watson found Beech believable. And, perhaps ironically, also unsurprised that the lurid stories were just that.
Is there muck from the past that in an ideal world would have been investigated and prosecuted? Possibly. Is it the sort of sub-standard thriller stuff that Beech made out? No.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
Hmmm - I remember when my job led me to the Houses of Parliament a lot more often than now. I would often hear the sorts of stories cooked up by Beech. Occasionally in bars like the sports and social, other times pubs around the palace. I remember a very chatty PA photography banging on about the various “nonces in parliament” and me trying to find an exit - usually involved seeing off my pint and finding somewhere else to drink.
The tellers of the stories were always quite plausible - and they had a lot of genuine horror stories to level the ground before the less reliable stuff (Cyril Smith etc).
Based on these experiences, I was unsurprised that Tom Watson found Beech believable. And, perhaps ironically, also unsurprised that the lurid stories were just that.
Is there muck from the past that in an ideal world would have been investigated and prosecuted? Possibly. Is it the sort of sub-standard thriller stuff that Beech made out? No.
There is a whole raft of this kind of stuff that has been there for many years. Passed to journalists as carbon copies - and straight from there to there to the bin.
In the internet age, fools found the river of sludge and desperate for a story, were credulous.
People who spend their lives trying to destroy pubs simply to make money from their destruction should have a special circle of Hell where they live 24/7 in a 24/7 Wetherspoons in West Bromwich in November where they have to eat a full Wetherspoons English breakfast every thirteen minutes with two pints of Carling every half hour for the rest of eternity
Is that even possible without additional insulin?
Seriously. Who the fuck gets up in the morning and thinks What shall I do today, I know, I’ll take over a grand and much-loved local pub, turn it into a shithole which everyone avoids because I am horrible to them, then I can get it closed on the grounds that no one comes and isn’t needed, then I can turn it into a home and sell it for 30% more than I paid HAHAHAHAH
I mean, that is close to the definition of pure, pointless evil
There seems to be a small percentage of humans who really don't give a shit about the impact of their actions on anyone else. What do we reckon it is 5%? 2%? 1%? (I feel their adverse impact is out of all proportion to their actual numbers).
Fortunately, most of us have at least a modicum of morality, altruism, and concern for our fellow beings. Unfortunately, the leading GOP candidate is not one of that majority.
The pub is a wonderful British institution and should be protected. Obviously some are s***holes, and some of the megapubs built in the 70s are probably not deserving of keeping.
On the subject of Spoons, whatever people's might feel about the clientele, or the politics of the owner, I think credit is due to Spoons for the way they have preserved some of our more magnificent buildings, most notably banks, but also other notable buildings, that might otherwise have been ruined or not become public buildings, so no one ever gets to see the interiors.
Agreed.
I have had many a pleasant evening in a Wetherspoons.
That's grim for Trump. He needs a big lead going into 2024 because he'll shed support as the legal noose tightens.
That's a bold assumption.
I think he has a lock on 45% of voters, who depending on outlook, love him, or disapprove, but think he's King David, or disapprove but hate the enemy more and accept he's their son of a bitch.
45% is not a winning number, but it comes perilously close.
Suppressed Democrat turnout vs 2020 could be Biden's biggest problem.
Hmmm - I remember when my job led me to the Houses of Parliament a lot more often than now. I would often hear the sorts of stories cooked up by Beech. Occasionally in bars like the sports and social, other times pubs around the palace. I remember a very chatty PA photography banging on about the various “nonces in parliament” and me trying to find an exit - usually involved seeing off my pint and finding somewhere else to drink.
The tellers of the stories were always quite plausible - and they had a lot of genuine horror stories to level the ground before the less reliable stuff (Cyril Smith etc).
Based on these experiences, I was unsurprised that Tom Watson found Beech believable. And, perhaps ironically, also unsurprised that the lurid stories were just that.
Is there muck from the past that in an ideal world would have been investigated and prosecuted? Possibly. Is it the sort of sub-standard thriller stuff that Beech made out? No.
There is a whole raft of this kind of stuff that has been there for many years. Passed to journalists as carbon copies - and straight from there to there to the bin.
In the internet age, fools found the river of sludge and desperate for a story, were credulous.
Yet people like Peter Wilby were indulged and allowed to write articles claiming that concerns about child abuse were a moral panic or to spike the investigations of other journalists into genuine abuse cases.
He was hiding in plain sight. How many around him knew or suspected but said nothing I wonder.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
So definitely fake, but accurate.
No, you are trying to bamboozle but an ill educated humble serf, Mr.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
The origin of the “fake but accurate” quote is exactly what you are selling. “This guy is a liar, but his story may be true”
Not entirely.
If Beech based some of his narrative entirely on fiction, that is entirely fake.
If Beech based any of his narratives on rumour, that neither makes the original rumour true nor false. I just happen to believe one of the rumours Beech based his lies upon to have credibility in my warped mind, based on the same rumour I heard 40 years ago by different people in different locations and at different times. It may be a bullshine rumour, but I have heard no evidence confirming it was.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places for workers to rent.
You list a few good examples there of shops/services that do not transfer so well to online: chemist, bakers, butchers picture framers, carpet shop, dry cleaners, optician, garden centre, second hand/charity, and obviously hairdressing. (There's a reason why there's no bookshop!) . There are certain types of goods that people definitely like to peruse, handle or see in person. I guess if these migrate to town centres then it might just keep the town centres alive, along with some good (ideally independent) cafes and Restaurants, a pub or two, one or two local producers of unique products, goods or crafts and ideally some entertainment venues eg cinema and/or theatre or live music venues. But again only if access to the town centres is cheap and easy eg no ULEZ, cheap accessible parking, cheap accessible public transport and no crazy one way systems/traffic management
That's grim for Trump. He needs a big lead going into 2024 because he'll shed support as the legal noose tightens.
That's a bold assumption.
I think he has a lock on 45% of voters, who depending on outlook, love him, or disapprove, but think he's King David, or disapprove but hate the enemy more and accept he's their son of a bitch.
45% is not a winning number, but it comes perilously close.
It's an electoral college. Few thousand votes in various key counties will decide it on these numbers I reckon.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places for workers to rent.
It's a tricky one.
All the places I know we'll have used "build some more shops on spare land in the town centre" as a low cost form of regeneration. Even if our shopping habits hadn't changed, that had a risk of tumbling down. And then they did. So we end up with shopping centres that are spread out with massive gaps between places that are open- let alone the sort of place that anyone would actually want to shop.
Grimly, part of the answer is consolidation and conversion of the abandoned bits to something else. But it's also, somehow, recognising that, if we want towns to have a centre (and I'm pretty sure most of us do, pure dormitory towns are boring to live in), we have to contribute to keeping them going with our shopping habits. Because the doom loop is horrible to see.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
Winchester cheese? Not sure I have heard of that before.
Pasta with courgettes.
- Cut up your courgettes finely - like matchsticks. - Quickly stir fry in some olive oil - Mix immediately with freshly cooked and drained pasta - A touch more good quality olive oil to taste - LOTS of chopped up tasty mint and grated good quality Parmesan & the usual seasoning - EAT
Perfect for a summer's evening or light lunch.
(Winchester cheese, indeed....)
Thinly sliced courgettes cooked down in red wine and olive oil or butter make an excellent sauce base.
Now, now, don't make me re-post the photo of our total courgette dinner, complete with courgette bread and marrow chutney.
Thankfully, Mrs. P. has pulled up our courgette plants ('enough already') - we're now deep into the borlotti bean season. Yum.
You might be able to find some videos online if you are in need of inspiration for what to do with the surplus corgettes.
TSE will be able to provide a link, I'm sure.
I should possibly mention that the aubergine plants are still going strong. (We're back round to moussaka on the aubergine recipe circuit this weekend, I believe.)
I am pleased to report, Mum managed to grow an 800 gram aubergine this year!
Grams?!?! Bugger off to Brussels if you want to use Jonny Foreigner units.
People who spend their lives trying to destroy pubs simply to make money from their destruction should have a special circle of Hell where they live 24/7 in a 24/7 Wetherspoons in West Bromwich in November where they have to eat a full Wetherspoons English breakfast every thirteen minutes with two pints of Carling every half hour for the rest of eternity
Is that even possible without additional insulin?
Seriously. Who the fuck gets up in the morning and thinks What shall I do today, I know, I’ll take over a grand and much-loved local pub, turn it into a shithole which everyone avoids because I am horrible to them, then I can get it closed on the grounds that no one comes and isn’t needed, then I can turn it into a home and sell it for 30% more than I paid HAHAHAHAH
I mean, that is close to the definition of pure, pointless evil
There seems to be a small percentage of humans who really don't give a shit about the impact of their actions on anyone else. What do we reckon it is 5%? 2%? 1%? (I feel their adverse impact is out of all proportion to their actual numbers).
Fortunately, most of us have at least a modicum of morality, altruism, and concern for our fellow beings. Unfortunately, the leading GOP candidate is not one of that majority.
The pub is a wonderful British institution and should be protected. Obviously some are s***holes, and some of the megapubs built in the 70s are probably not deserving of keeping.
On the subject of Spoons, whatever people's might feel about the clientele, or the politics of the owner, I think credit is due to Spoons for the way they have preserved some of our more magnificent buildings, most notably banks, but also other notable buildings, that might otherwise have been ruined or not become public buildings, so no one ever gets to see the interiors.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
So definitely fake, but accurate.
No, you are trying to bamboozle but an ill educated humble serf, Mr.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
The origin of the “fake but accurate” quote is exactly what you are selling. “This guy is a liar, but his story may be true”
Not entirely.
If Beech based some of his narrative entirely on fiction, that is entirely fake.
If Beech based any of his narratives on rumour, that neither makes the original rumour true nor false. I just happen to believe one of the rumours Beech based his lies upon to have credibility in my warped mind, based on the same rumour I heard 40 years ago by different people in different locations and at different times. It may be a bullshine rumour, but I have heard no evidence confirming it was.
That’s how rumours work - multiple people spreading the same story.
If I had a pound for every time I’ve seen “Stephen Lawrence wasn’t just an innocent kid. A mate in the police…”
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places for workers to rent.
You list a few good examples there of shops/services that do not transfer so well to online: chemist, bakers, butchers picture framers, carpet shop, dry cleaners, optician, garden centre, second hand/charity, and obviously hairdressing. (There's a reason why there's no bookshop!) . There are certain types of goods that people definitely like to peruse, handle or see in person. I guess if these migrate to town centres then it might just keep the town centres alive, along with some good (ideally independent) cafes and Restaurants, a pub or two, one or two local producers of unique products, goods or crafts and ideally some entertainment venues eg cinema and/or theatre or live music venues. But again only if access to the town centres is cheap and easy eg no ULEZ, cheap accessible parking, cheap accessible public transport and no crazy one way systems/traffic management
I don't think anyone is suggesting ULEZ for rural market towns. Air pollution is a big city problem.
The traffic management problems stem from too many cars, which stems from too little public transport and/or walking/cycling provision.
Ultimately town centres will only thrive if they are nice places to hang out, and that means peace, calm and trees.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
So definitely fake, but accurate.
No, you are trying to bamboozle but an ill educated humble serf, Mr.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
The origin of the “fake but accurate” quote is exactly what you are selling. “This guy is a liar, but his story may be true”
Not entirely.
If Beech based some of his narrative entirely on fiction, that is entirely fake.
If Beech based any of his narratives on rumour, that neither makes the original rumour true nor false. I just happen to believe one of the rumours Beech based his lies upon to have credibility in my warped mind, based on the same rumour I heard 40 years ago by different people in different locations and at different times. It may be a bullshine rumour, but I have heard no evidence confirming it was.
That’s how rumours work - multiple people spreading the same story.
If I had a pound for every time I’ve seen “Stephen Lawrence wasn’t just an innocent kid. A mate in the police…”
Not all rumours are false
If you bet against rumours, you generally win.
This is why real journalism, with sources and evidence is a thing.
Hmmm - I remember when my job led me to the Houses of Parliament a lot more often than now. I would often hear the sorts of stories cooked up by Beech. Occasionally in bars like the sports and social, other times pubs around the palace. I remember a very chatty PA photography banging on about the various “nonces in parliament” and me trying to find an exit - usually involved seeing off my pint and finding somewhere else to drink.
The tellers of the stories were always quite plausible - and they had a lot of genuine horror stories to level the ground before the less reliable stuff (Cyril Smith etc).
Based on these experiences, I was unsurprised that Tom Watson found Beech believable. And, perhaps ironically, also unsurprised that the lurid stories were just that.
Is there muck from the past that in an ideal world would have been investigated and prosecuted? Possibly. Is it the sort of sub-standard thriller stuff that Beech made out? No.
There is a whole raft of this kind of stuff that has been there for many years. Passed to journalists as carbon copies - and straight from there to there to the bin.
In the internet age, fools found the river of sludge and desperate for a story, were credulous.
Yet people like Peter Wilby were indulged and allowed to write articles claiming that concerns about child abuse were a moral panic or to spike the investigations of other journalists into genuine abuse cases.
He was hiding in plain sight. How many around him knew or suspected but said nothing I wonder.
If he wasn't a creep around the office, it's entirely possible no one knew or suspected. Easy for subordinates to believe other reasons for him not wanting those stories in the paper.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places to rent.
But even so there is more than you might imagine at first glance. People are proud of the area. They want more opportunities. Given half a chance and local politicians with a "let's get this done" instead of a "computer says no" mentality it could be really something. When the Ukraine war started a lorry went out there with goods the Ukrainians needed all paid for by locals. A number of Ukrainian families moved here. It has always welcomed refugees. It is in the Red Wall but not the caricature of the Red Wall that is often painted.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
Is this Millom? I'd say what you describe is exactly what I expect of the Red Wall. This is Somewhere. This is a place which cares about itself.
Hereford is in an absolutely shocking state. Like a rural town in Pennsylvania
At least a third of the town centre properties are empty. Streets are deserted in areas. Sense of real deprivation. And this is in bright warm sun
I was here in feb 2022 and it felt bustling - in the cold. What has happened in the intervening year and a half? Covid belatedly impacting? Inflation?
It feels almost random. Ludlow is doing OK. Shrewsbury is thriving and crowded. Hereford is fucked
🤷♂️
Maybe everyone's at work?
No. This is weird, and sad
This is High Town, the premier retail street. Empty empty empty
The guy at Tanners wine merchant (based in thriving Shrewsbury, but which branches all down the Marches) warned me that Hereford is looking bad. He was right
@BartholomewRoberts will be pleased to hear that James Tanner has a theory for the apparent random declines. He says they’re not random - he reckons towns which heavily pedestrianised (Hereford) are now suffering badly cause covid made people lazy and they can’t be bothered to walk into town centres. If they can drive they come
I don’t believe it: I’m sure there is something else at work. There is plenty of parking in Hereford. But that’s the opinion of a retailer/merchant
Lots of factors but I'm beginning to suspect it's a matter of getting the sweet spot between local spending power and low city centre rents.
Hereford and Gloucester: locals don't have much spending power; low city centre rents but it doesn't matter. City centres doing badly.
Worcester and Shrewsbury: locals have more spending power; low city centre rents. City centres doing well.
Oxford: locals have insane amounts of spending power; city centre rents are insanely high. City centre holding on but with a lot of empty units.
High rents but are all of the locals rich? Did you see this rather odd story from the BBC today?
Presumably she can afford to fly from Dublin where she lives rent-free at mum's because she spends the rest of her time living rent-free in London with her friend. First world problems!
Forgive me for stating the absolute bleeding obvious, but most people who can't afford to live in Oxford commute in from Bicester or Witney instead. Though I'll grant you that Dublin is more exciting than Bicester.
People who spend their lives trying to destroy pubs simply to make money from their destruction should have a special circle of Hell where they live 24/7 in a 24/7 Wetherspoons in West Bromwich in November where they have to eat a full Wetherspoons English breakfast every thirteen minutes with two pints of Carling every half hour for the rest of eternity
Is that even possible without additional insulin?
Seriously. Who the fuck gets up in the morning and thinks What shall I do today, I know, I’ll take over a grand and much-loved local pub, turn it into a shithole which everyone avoids because I am horrible to them, then I can get it closed on the grounds that no one comes and isn’t needed, then I can turn it into a home and sell it for 30% more than I paid HAHAHAHAH
I mean, that is close to the definition of pure, pointless evil
There seems to be a small percentage of humans who really don't give a shit about the impact of their actions on anyone else. What do we reckon it is 5%? 2%? 1%? (I feel their adverse impact is out of all proportion to their actual numbers).
Fortunately, most of us have at least a modicum of morality, altruism, and concern for our fellow beings. Unfortunately, the leading GOP candidate is not one of that majority.
The pub is a wonderful British institution and should be protected. Obviously some are s***holes, and some of the megapubs built in the 70s are probably not deserving of keeping.
On the subject of Spoons, whatever people's might feel about the clientele, or the politics of the owner, I think credit is due to Spoons for the way they have preserved some of our more magnificent buildings, most notably banks, but also other notable buildings, that might otherwise have been ruined or not become public buildings, so no one ever gets to see the interiors.
Agreed.
I have had many a pleasant evening in a Wetherspoons.
Yes, Wetherspoons do the thing they di extremely well. If you go back to Terry Pratchett's first Discworld book, he mocks the sort of pub which tries to attract custom by pretending to be, well, not a pub (this was the 80s), and wonders why so few attempt to attract custom by serving cheap, good quality beer in quiet, reasonably pleasant surroundings. Almosy no time latet, along came Wetherspoons and did exactly that.
Eric Holthaus @EricHolthaus · 49m Hurricane #Lee is now a Category 4. Skipped Category 3 entirely. Will likely become the first Atlantic Category 5 of the year tomorrow.
People who spend their lives trying to destroy pubs simply to make money from their destruction should have a special circle of Hell where they live 24/7 in a 24/7 Wetherspoons in West Bromwich in November where they have to eat a full Wetherspoons English breakfast every thirteen minutes with two pints of Carling every half hour for the rest of eternity
Is that even possible without additional insulin?
Seriously. Who the fuck gets up in the morning and thinks What shall I do today, I know, I’ll take over a grand and much-loved local pub, turn it into a shithole which everyone avoids because I am horrible to them, then I can get it closed on the grounds that no one comes and isn’t needed, then I can turn it into a home and sell it for 30% more than I paid HAHAHAHAH
I mean, that is close to the definition of pure, pointless evil
There seems to be a small percentage of humans who really don't give a shit about the impact of their actions on anyone else. What do we reckon it is 5%? 2%? 1%? (I feel their adverse impact is out of all proportion to their actual numbers).
Fortunately, most of us have at least a modicum of morality, altruism, and concern for our fellow beings. Unfortunately, the leading GOP candidate is not one of that majority.
The pub is a wonderful British institution and should be protected. Obviously some are s***holes, and some of the megapubs built in the 70s are probably not deserving of keeping.
On the subject of Spoons, whatever people's might feel about the clientele, or the politics of the owner, I think credit is due to Spoons for the way they have preserved some of our more magnificent buildings, most notably banks, but also other notable buildings, that might otherwise have been ruined or not become public buildings, so no one ever gets to see the interiors.
Agreed.
I have had many a pleasant evening in a Wetherspoons.
Yes, Wetherspoons do the thing they di extremely well. If you go back to Terry Pratchett's first Discworld book, he mocks the sort of pub which tries to attract custom by pretending to be, well, not a pub (this was the 80s), and wonders why so few attempt to attract custom by serving cheap, good quality beer in quiet, reasonably pleasant surroundings. Almosy no time latet, along came Wetherspoons and did exactly that.
They generally teach the staff to clean the lines. And stuff like that. Which makes a massive difference.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Was in the Golden Valley last week, Stroud, Nailsworth and the surrounding villages are lovely and the scenery and history wonderful. A favourite part of the world.
Different Golden Valley I think. I presume @Leon is by the River Dore in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border?
Yes I’m in the magnificent Golden Valley of west Herefordshire where England finally yields to Wales in a blaze of rolling opulent greenery and lyrical little churches and endless ruined castles. It’s glorious
I’m specifically at the new/refurbed Bull’s Head in Craswall
I think this may be the best gastropub menu I have ever seen. I would choose literally every dish here
It may taste crap but that is a perfect menu. Simple, uncomplicated, short - but yummmm
So if you don't eat meat you can't even have some chips? What a load of bollocks.
It’s Herefordshire, mate. Home of Hereford cows and The Beefy Boys
Vegetarians are even less popular than the Welsh
Worcesterians are the Herefordians biggest foe. I knew a guy from Bartestree, a service engineer. He was offered one of either two breakdowns at 4.45. One in Plymouth, the other in Worcester. He chose Plymouth, explaining to the call handler "you can't ask a Herefordian to go to Worcester- it's a Civil War thing". I daresay the overtime bonus might also have helped.
Some truth in that. The resentment when the Heathite Tories combined Hereford and Worcester into one county of “Hereford and Worcestershire” was absolutely intense. Gratuitously stupid and loathed by everyone - or so I learned as I grew up. It also meant Worcestershire got the best jobs and the investment, the after effects of which you can see even now
Edward Heath. What a c*nt
I have given you a like, but erred as Ted was a European Super Hero. If only modern Conservatives would take a leaf out of Ted's book. But, not the dodgy private life, not that book.
Dodgy private life? Wasn't that just a rumour put about by the ex-MP for West Bromwich whose name temporarily escapes me? Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Just because Carl Beech took rumours and falsely applied them as abuse conducted against himself, doesn't mean " no smoke, no fire"
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours were false.
Those rumours that no one has ever found a shred of evidence for? Like boys being abducted and murdered? Come on. Face it, the whole thing was confected rubbish by others way before Beech, and he either swallowed it as true or just wanted it to be true as his “own truth’.
Neither of you read my post properly. I have disregarded EVERYTHING that Carl Beech claimed happened to him and believe his testimony to be false. That is not to say that Carl Beech didn't hear rumours that I heard. For argument's sake the rumours swirling around Greville Janner were rampant. Had Beech suggested he had been abused by Greville Janner his claim is plausible because after his death it became clear Janner was an abuser. Now Beech being charged as a liar under such circumstances wouldn't mean Janner was innocent.
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
So definitely fake, but accurate.
No, you are trying to bamboozle but an ill educated humble serf, Mr.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
The origin of the “fake but accurate” quote is exactly what you are selling. “This guy is a liar, but his story may be true”
Not entirely.
If Beech based some of his narrative entirely on fiction, that is entirely fake.
If Beech based any of his narratives on rumour, that neither makes the original rumour true nor false. I just happen to believe one of the rumours Beech based his lies upon to have credibility in my warped mind, based on the same rumour I heard 40 years ago by different people in different locations and at different times. It may be a bullshine rumour, but I have heard no evidence confirming it was.
That’s how rumours work - multiple people spreading the same story.
If I had a pound for every time I’ve seen “Stephen Lawrence wasn’t just an innocent kid. A mate in the police…”
You are not comparing apples with apples.
I cannot claim the rumours I have heard about a particular character to be true, I have no proof, but neither can it be claimed that because Beech was a liar all rumours surrounding this character must be false. That is your inference.
Let's take another case. If Levi Bellfield is convicted of the Russell murders it is true Michael Stone is not the killer. That doesn't make Stone innocent of anything else he might have done. Your extrapolation with Beech's case suggests that to be so.
People who spend their lives trying to destroy pubs simply to make money from their destruction should have a special circle of Hell where they live 24/7 in a 24/7 Wetherspoons in West Bromwich in November where they have to eat a full Wetherspoons English breakfast every thirteen minutes with two pints of Carling every half hour for the rest of eternity
Is that even possible without additional insulin?
Seriously. Who the fuck gets up in the morning and thinks What shall I do today, I know, I’ll take over a grand and much-loved local pub, turn it into a shithole which everyone avoids because I am horrible to them, then I can get it closed on the grounds that no one comes and isn’t needed, then I can turn it into a home and sell it for 30% more than I paid HAHAHAHAH
I mean, that is close to the definition of pure, pointless evil
There seems to be a small percentage of humans who really don't give a shit about the impact of their actions on anyone else. What do we reckon it is 5%? 2%? 1%? (I feel their adverse impact is out of all proportion to their actual numbers).
Fortunately, most of us have at least a modicum of morality, altruism, and concern for our fellow beings. Unfortunately, the leading GOP candidate is not one of that majority.
The pub is a wonderful British institution and should be protected. Obviously some are s***holes, and some of the megapubs built in the 70s are probably not deserving of keeping.
On the subject of Spoons, whatever people's might feel about the clientele, or the politics of the owner, I think credit is due to Spoons for the way they have preserved some of our more magnificent buildings, most notably banks, but also other notable buildings, that might otherwise have been ruined or not become public buildings, so no one ever gets to see the interiors.
Agreed.
I have had many a pleasant evening in a Wetherspoons.
Yes, Wetherspoons do the thing they di extremely well. If you go back to Terry Pratchett's first Discworld book, he mocks the sort of pub which tries to attract custom by pretending to be, well, not a pub (this was the 80s), and wonders why so few attempt to attract custom by serving cheap, good quality beer in quiet, reasonably pleasant surroundings. Almosy no time latet, along came Wetherspoons and did exactly that.
They generally teach the staff to clean the lines. And stuff like that. Which makes a massive difference.
They could do with a crack-down on sticky tables, though.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places to rent.
But even so there is more than you might imagine at first glance. People are proud of the area. They want more opportunities. Given half a chance and local politicians with a "let's get this done" instead of a "computer says no" mentality it could be really something. When the Ukraine war started a lorry went out there with goods the Ukrainians needed all paid for by locals. A number of Ukrainian families moved here. It has always welcomed refugees. It is in the Red Wall but not the caricature of the Red Wall that is often painted.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
Is this Millom? I'd say what you describe is exactly what I expect of the Red Wall. This is Somewhere. This is a place which cares about itself.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places to rent.
But even so there is more than you might imagine at first glance. People are proud of the area. They want more opportunities. Given half a chance and local politicians with a "let's get this done" instead of a "computer says no" mentality it could be really something. When the Ukraine war started a lorry went out there with goods the Ukrainians needed all paid for by locals. A number of Ukrainian families moved here. It has always welcomed refugees. It is in the Red Wall but not the caricature of the Red Wall that is often painted.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
Is this Millom? I'd say what you describe is exactly what I expect of the Red Wall. This is Somewhere. This is a place which cares about itself.
I think you're onto something, but one of the bits of Somewhereness is hard to bring back.
A fair bit of the Red Wall Lament is about towns that used to do something identifiable, and that identity has gone. Specific industries that aren't coming back and (if we're honest) it may be better that way. But the loss still hurts. And one of the struggles for 21st century Conservatives is that a lot of their support comes from a pining for a land that isn't returning ,however fondly remembered it is.
But there's also the towns that are being hollowed out, until there's nothing left. And even if that's efficient on a spreadsheet, I'd question if it is in real life. (And one of the troubles of autoutopia is how it lets the fortunate avoid this and contribute to the decline.) So, what are the things it's reasonable that a town should somehow have, even if it's not strictly economic? We may not be able to solve the first set of problems, but the second are fixable with a will.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places to rent.
But even so there is more than you might imagine at first glance. People are proud of the area. They want more opportunities. Given half a chance and local politicians with a "let's get this done" instead of a "computer says no" mentality it could be really something. When the Ukraine war started a lorry went out there with goods the Ukrainians needed all paid for by locals. A number of Ukrainian families moved here. It has always welcomed refugees. It is in the Red Wall but not the caricature of the Red Wall that is often painted.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
Is this Millom? I'd say what you describe is exactly what I expect of the Red Wall. This is Somewhere. This is a place which cares about itself.
Yes
I went to Millom in 2008. My first impressions were, gosh, this isn't pretty. This isn't Windermere; this isn't even Ulverston. The strange red colour. The feeling of being a long, long way away from anywhere - it's, what, 50 minutes from the nearest motorway? And yet, could I live here? Well, yes, I think I could. It's not ugly. It's not bleak. It's not Barrow. And it backs on to some of the most wonderful landscape in the world. I can't imagine the circumstances in which I would ever end up living in Millom. What would I do for a living? But I think you could have an agreeable life there.
I was thinking about my local town and what its retail offering is. To be blunt, the shopping streets would not win any prizes for beauty or "buzz" and people from Primrose Hill would probably faint in horror at the ordinariness of the place.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area - The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic - Local museum in the railway station - A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner - 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic - 2 chemists - 2 bakeries - 1 very good butcher - 1 general food store - 2 florists - 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods - 1 white goods shop - 1 optician - 3 clothes / shoe shops - Various hairdressers / barbers - 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe - A few charity shops - A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area - A library - A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre - A fuel store - A picture framer - Pet accessories shop - A couple of stationers - A post office with accompanying shop - A carpet shop - an estate agent and a building society - A dry cleaner - An IT centre - Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc. - And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need. - And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places to rent.
But even so there is more than you might imagine at first glance. People are proud of the area. They want more opportunities. Given half a chance and local politicians with a "let's get this done" instead of a "computer says no" mentality it could be really something. When the Ukraine war started a lorry went out there with goods the Ukrainians needed all paid for by locals. A number of Ukrainian families moved here. It has always welcomed refugees. It is in the Red Wall but not the caricature of the Red Wall that is often painted.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
Is this Millom? I'd say what you describe is exactly what I expect of the Red Wall. This is Somewhere. This is a place which cares about itself.
Yes
I went to Millom in 2008. My first impressions were, gosh, this isn't pretty. This isn't Windermere; this isn't even Ulverston. The strange red colour. The feeling of being a long, long way away from anywhere - it's, what, 50 minutes from the nearest motorway? And yet, could I live here? Well, yes, I think I could. It's not ugly. It's not bleak. It's not Barrow. And it backs on to some of the most wonderful landscape in the world. I can't imagine the circumstances in which I would ever end up living in Millom. What would I do for a living? But I think you could have an agreeable life there.
Lots of people who live in the area - I don't actually live in the town but in one of the nearby villages - work in BaE or Sellafield or for the local wind farms. A lot of building companies are based here and there is the school's publishing company, CGP, which is a big employer. And there are increasingly many, like me, who work from home for employers/clients based hundreds of miles away.
As for the red colour that comes from the iron mine and you can still see it and remains of the mine in the Hodbarrow Bird Reserve.
Will Hutton @williamnhutton · 4h The triple lock is a disgrace. Schools crumble. Apprenticeships underfunded. Nurseries penally dear. But Tory voting pensioners to get 8 % this year after 10% last. Priorities? UK Treasury braced for 8% rise in pensions because of triple lock via @FT
Will Hutton @williamnhutton · 4h The triple lock is a disgrace. Schools crumble. Apprenticeships underfunded. Nurseries penally dear. But Tory voting pensioners to get 8 % this year after 10% last. Priorities? UK Treasury braced for 8% rise in pensions because of triple lock via @FT
It may be a convenient short-term remedy to restrict the pensions of Tory voters but in the long term it will erode all hope of a comfortable retirement for most of the population. This is the cause that united pensioners and students in France earlier in the year. Pensions aren't just an issue for pensioners: they affect everyone, sooner or later.
Will Hutton @williamnhutton · 4h The triple lock is a disgrace. Schools crumble. Apprenticeships underfunded. Nurseries penally dear. But Tory voting pensioners to get 8 % this year after 10% last. Priorities? UK Treasury braced for 8% rise in pensions because of triple lock via @FT
It may be a convenient short-term remedy to restrict the pensions of Tory voters but in the long term it will erode all hope of a comfortable retirement for most of the population. This is the cause that united pensioners and students in France earlier in the year. Pensions aren't just an issue for pensioners: they affect everyone, sooner or later.
Will Hutton @williamnhutton · 4h The triple lock is a disgrace. Schools crumble. Apprenticeships underfunded. Nurseries penally dear. But Tory voting pensioners to get 8 % this year after 10% last. Priorities? UK Treasury braced for 8% rise in pensions because of triple lock via @FT
It may be a convenient short-term remedy to restrict the pensions of Tory voters but in the long term it will erode all hope of a comfortable retirement for most of the population. This is the cause that united pensioners and students in France earlier in the year. Pensions aren't just an issue for pensioners: they affect everyone, sooner or later.
At least smooth the uprate based on moving five year average of inflation/wages as I mate outlined to me this week.
Black Chicago residents object to influx of migrants: "Take them someplace else or send them back to Venezuela. I don't care where they go. This is wrong. You got 73% of the people homeless in this city are black people. What have you done for them?”
Black Chicago residents object to influx of migrants: "Take them someplace else or send them back to Venezuela. I don't care where they go. This is wrong. You got 73% of the people homeless in this city are black people. What have you done for them?”
Another one of the minor celebrities of EU academic Remainerdom has taken an ‘interesting’ turn towards full-blown Serbian nationalism and is now claiming that “everyone” wants Yugoslavia back and that Croats, Slovenes and Serbs are the same people.
Black Chicago residents object to influx of migrants: "Take them someplace else or send them back to Venezuela. I don't care where they go. This is wrong. You got 73% of the people homeless in this city are black people. What have you done for them?”
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
Sadly that hasn't been the American way since the early part of the Twentieth Century. Ellis Island was pretty much set up to stop the poor huddled masses setting foot on US soil. As soon as the immigrants stopped being Northern European and started being Southern European, or worse still Chinese, the US pulled down the shutters.
Comments
I mean, seriously?!
I like Gloucester too, but not Cheltenham. Evesham is surprisingly good, and also Tewkesbury.
Edit: like with the rest of her CV, it's not actually clear exactly how closely she is connected with Oxford. She conspicuously does not claim to have a full time lecturing post as such.
Anyway, those bits of his private life I know about - winning the Syndey-Hobart yacht race, a little light conducting(?) - seem largely admirable.
I know there was a lot of animosity to his local government reforms. People generally fall into two camps on this, rationalists ('local government ought to be appropriately sized and reflect economic geography' - our own Anabobazina is one of these) and traditionalists ('local government ought to reflect people's loyalties'). I can see both positions. But I suspect Ted Heath could not. He was very much a product of his time, and his time was one in which fondness for the past was a little passe.
Doesn't say much for Oxford, if I'm honest.
But then, they also employed Chris Woodhead as a lecturer in education.
P.S. is the Hobnails still going on your manor?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo-nostalgia
Is she just exploiting the Oxford brand?
Sorry to hear you feel like that about Evesham. It is beautiful down by the Avon, where I walk my dogs most mornings.
The problem with most British University courses is that there is little contact time, allowing the University to keep teaching costs down, while the real work of finishing school for the middle class happens outside those hours.
And, inevitably the "TED" talk of her bio was actually TEDx. A serial CV-padder it seems.
So I think it’s doable, but I think she is an idiot. Just rent in Didcot, or somewhere. Hell, even Swindon’s not that far, and certainly cheaper than Oxford.
Watson may have been foolishly taken in by Beech, but Beech's guilt doesn't necessarily mean all the original rumours
were false. Of course all those still living are completely exonerated
An ironic and hostile review of a visit to Buckingham Palace by historian Mark Felton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORQd_Tg7Bgw
I am not for one moment saying Beech's lurid stories aren't on the whole BS. I am saying Beech being a certified liar, in some cases, doesn't mean as I stated, in some cases, no smoke no fire.
I am fairly confident ( through several, what I consider to be reliable sources) at least one of Beech's "victims" (now deceased) was not the innocent Beech has turned him into.
Back to Janner. Because I don't want to offend resolute Tories anymore than I already have. Had Carl Beech.accused Janner of abusing him, the fact Beech is a liar, would that make Janner innocent?
I know nothing of Harney Proctor rumours, so I assume Beech to have made that story up entirely.
I think he has a lock on 45% of voters, who depending on outlook, love him, or disapprove, but think he's King David, or disapprove but hate the enemy more and accept he's their son of a bitch.
45% is not a winning number, but it comes perilously close.
And yet we have (off the top of my head):
- a centre which is a conservation area
- The home of Norman Nicholson, local famous poet - to be turned into a shrine devoted to all matters poetic
- Local museum in the railway station
- A Norman church based on Roman ruins, drawn by JMW Turner
- 2 theatres, one of which is on the comedy circuit and gets some really good acts, both musical and comedic
- 2 chemists
- 2 bakeries
- 1 very good butcher
- 1 general food store
- 2 florists
- 4 hardware / electrical / household / gardening goods
- 1 white goods shop
- 1 optician
- 3 clothes / shoe shops
- Various hairdressers / barbers
- 2 vape shops - 1 with a very good cafe
- A few charity shops
- A new clothes / art / baubles shop opened by a Romanian lady who has just moved to the area
- A library
- A fantastic cafe in our version of The Great British Sewing Bee-cum-Community centre
- A fuel store
- A picture framer
- Pet accessories shop
- A couple of stationers
- A post office with accompanying shop
- A carpet shop
- an estate agent and a building society
- A dry cleaner
- An IT centre
- Plus a Tesco, Nisa, Italian restaurant and various other Indian, fish'n'chips, takeaways / beach cafes, petrol station etc.
- And lots of places for builders / fishermen to buy the stuff they need.
- And a small hospital
I'm sure there are others I've missed out. There are some empty units on the main shopping street and some of the listed buildings need care and attention. This is what the Levelling Up Funds are needed for.
Bar the Tesco, Boots and Nisa all of these are local independent shops. None would grace the "lifestyle" pages of any paper, though some are very good indeed at what they do. And yet you can get a great deal of what you need here. Not everything by any means. It is functional rather than a destination for tourists. There are some obvious missing places - no bookshops, for instance. The local garden centre needs to pull its socks up. More cafes / eateries are needed as well as food shops with more choice. And the Sports Centre definitely needs upgrading.
It could be very much better. It has been held back because of useless local councillors and indifference from Cumbria County Council. Hospitality is an obvious local industry but has been hurt by Covid, lack of staff and lack of affordable places for workers to rent.
Governments should be about making places like this - and there are lots of them in the country - as good as they can be, about helping those who live here help themselves. That is what Levelling Up could and should have done. But whatever it is called, I really hope they do not get forgotten. These are Chesterton's "people of England, that have not spoken yet".
The tellers of the stories were always quite plausible - and they had a lot of genuine horror stories to level the ground before the less reliable stuff (Cyril Smith etc).
Based on these experiences, I was unsurprised that Tom Watson found Beech believable. And, perhaps ironically, also unsurprised that the lurid stories were just that.
Is there muck from the past that in an ideal world would have been investigated and prosecuted? Possibly. Is it the sort of sub-standard thriller stuff that Beech made out? No.
He may be unpleasant and entitled, but in a court, here or in America, he is guilty of nothing. Sad though that may seem.
In the internet age, fools found the river of sludge and desperate for a story, were credulous.
I have had many a pleasant evening in a Wetherspoons.
He was hiding in plain sight. How many around him knew or suspected but said nothing I wonder.
If Beech based some of his narrative entirely on fiction, that is entirely fake.
If Beech based any of his narratives on rumour, that neither makes the original rumour true nor false. I just happen to believe one of the rumours Beech based his lies upon to have credibility in my warped mind, based on the same rumour I heard 40 years ago by different people in different locations and at different times. It may be a bullshine rumour, but I have heard no evidence confirming it was.
All the places I know we'll have used "build some more shops on spare land in the town centre" as a low cost form of regeneration. Even if our shopping habits hadn't changed, that had a risk of tumbling down. And then they did. So we end up with shopping centres that are spread out with massive gaps between places that are open- let alone the sort of place that anyone would actually want to shop.
Grimly, part of the answer is consolidation and conversion of the abandoned bits to something else. But it's also, somehow, recognising that, if we want towns to have a centre (and I'm pretty sure most of us do, pure dormitory towns are boring to live in), we have to contribute to keeping them going with our shopping habits. Because the doom loop is horrible to see.
If I had a pound for every time I’ve seen “Stephen Lawrence wasn’t just an innocent kid. A mate in the police…”
The traffic management problems stem from too many cars, which stems from too little public transport and/or walking/cycling provision.
Ultimately town centres will only thrive if they are nice places to hang out, and that means peace, calm and trees.
This is why real journalism, with sources and evidence is a thing.
I'd say what you describe is exactly what I expect of the Red Wall. This is Somewhere. This is a place which cares about itself.
@RBReich
·
6m
Yesterday,
@CREWcrew
filed suit in Colorado to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024 citing the 14th Amendment.
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1699905386537472044
If you go back to Terry Pratchett's first Discworld book, he mocks the sort of pub which tries to attract custom by pretending to be, well, not a pub (this was the 80s), and wonders why so few attempt to attract custom by serving cheap, good quality beer in quiet, reasonably pleasant surroundings. Almosy no time latet, along came Wetherspoons and did exactly that.
Eric Holthaus
@EricHolthaus
·
49m
Hurricane #Lee is now a Category 4. Skipped Category 3 entirely. Will likely become the first Atlantic Category 5 of the year tomorrow.
I cannot claim the rumours I have heard about a particular character to be true, I have no proof, but neither can it be claimed that because Beech was a liar all rumours surrounding this character must be false. That is your inference.
Let's take another case. If Levi Bellfield is convicted of the Russell murders it is true Michael Stone is not the killer. That doesn't make Stone innocent of anything else he might have done. Your extrapolation with Beech's case suggests that to be so.
A fair bit of the Red Wall Lament is about towns that used to do something identifiable, and that identity has gone. Specific industries that aren't coming back and (if we're honest) it may be better that way. But the loss still hurts. And one of the struggles for 21st century Conservatives is that a lot of their support comes from a pining for a land that isn't returning ,however fondly remembered it is.
But there's also the towns that are being hollowed out, until there's nothing left. And even if that's efficient on a spreadsheet, I'd question if it is in real life. (And one of the troubles of autoutopia is how it lets the fortunate avoid this and contribute to the decline.) So, what are the things it's reasonable that a town should somehow have, even if it's not strictly economic? We may not be able to solve the first set of problems, but the second are fixable with a will.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-66737052
My first impressions were, gosh, this isn't pretty. This isn't Windermere; this isn't even Ulverston. The strange red colour. The feeling of being a long, long way away from anywhere - it's, what, 50 minutes from the nearest motorway? And yet, could I live here? Well, yes, I think I could. It's not ugly. It's not bleak. It's not Barrow. And it backs on to some of the most wonderful landscape in the world.
I can't imagine the circumstances in which I would ever end up living in Millom. What would I do for a living? But I think you could have an agreeable life there.
Not just 1700 families affected by a trust whose maternity services were not fit for purpose.
But claims of a cover up and lies orchestrated at senior levels. Now being investigated by the police.
It is notable that many of the worst NHS scandals in recent years have occurred in maternity wards.
Women and children first - to be thrown under the bus, it seems.
https://twitter.com/iainoverton/status/1699896986315465062
Brexit is and was a Tory project and the average voter has concluded that it has failed.
"The ideologues behind the RAAC crisis
Reckless post-war architects built death-trap institutions
By Nicholas Boys Smith"
https://unherd.com/2023/09/the-ideologues-behind-the-raac-crisis/
James Johnson
@jamesjohnson252
🚨 'Gordon Brown sold the gold' klaxon in our most recent
@JLPartnersPolls
@timesradio
swing voters focus group, when asked what their biggest hesitations were about voting Labour
https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1699731304038740327
As for the red colour that comes from the iron mine and you can still see it and remains of the mine in the Hodbarrow Bird Reserve.
@jlpartnerspolls
Focus Group Podcast 🚨
Dire verdict on ‘useless’ Tories and ‘weasel’ Rishi Sunak. Hesitations too about ‘weak’ Starmer and Labour record on economy/immigration.
But most would vote Labour as things stand.
Listen 👇
https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1699854953211158931
Bye Rishi.
Will Hutton
@williamnhutton
·
4h
The triple lock is a disgrace. Schools crumble. Apprenticeships underfunded. Nurseries penally dear. But Tory voting pensioners to get 8 % this year after 10% last. Priorities? UK Treasury braced for 8% rise in pensions because of triple lock via
@FT
"Biden administration considers forcing migrant families who enter the country without authorization to remain in Texas"
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-09-07/biden-migrant-families-border
New York Mayor Adams: "This issue will destroy New York City. We're getting 10,000 migrants a month."
https://x.com/nycphotog/status/1699607841483465122
Black Chicago residents object to influx of migrants: "Take them someplace else or send them back to Venezuela. I don't care where they go. This is wrong. You got 73% of the people homeless in this city are black people. What have you done for them?”
https://x.com/collinrugg/status/1697306406851063948
One of the best spoof accounts of all time on PB.
Bravo,
I'm happy to introduce her to some Slovenians who would respectfully disagree.