That sycamore probably screamed across the Northumbrian wilds, as it fell to its death. We just couldn't hear it
Think about that
Not a nice thought but I think we can reject it. If trees felt pain they would have evolved to be able to defend themselves against it, eg by fleeing an attacker. This would happened by now, given how long they've been around, but it hasn't. Ergo they don't suffer, in that sense, so this one wouldn't have. It's perhaps the only silver lining in this sad dark cloud of a story.
That logic is peculiarly bad.
Oh. Let me check my Darwin. I thought it was in there.
Trees don't run. Instead they indulge in a bit of biochemical warfare.
They haven't really had time to adapt to chainsaws yet. Perhaps they'll evolve to grow silicate spikes.
You're saying their bark is worse than their bite?
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
One of my cousins emigrated to Aotearoa, and bought a house about half an hour’s drive outside Christchurch. His co-workers couldn’t understand how he coped with ‘a commute like that!’ He’d been brought up in S Essex where people habitually spent a hour getting to work.
In the US the saying goes that people think nothing of driving five hours to go and pick up a taco.
Really pissed off now. Still at Luton. 18:30 flight now showing as 21:00. They took our on time plane off for another route and subbed us for an inbound from Belfast not arriving til 19:30. Its on time. yet out flight just slipped back another hour. FFS.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Partly the difference between having a promise withdrawn and never having the promise made in the first place. Even if they objectively end in the same place, the first feels much much worse.
Sunak, bless him, is probably too objective to get that.
The felling of the tree is mind-bendingly despicable. Whoever did it needs to be thrown in the cold North Sea, on a stormy night. From a high cliff. Tied in barbed wire
But why? What is the possible motive? Drive a long long way at midnight to carefully fell a tree with a heavy chainsaw. Why??
Can't believe I've never heard of this tree before.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Kurt and I rarely agree on this forum (even if he does live on the same road *waves amicably*), but I am 100% with him on this. This cuts through to the real world and gets discussed. The government look like a bunch of out of touch southern twats.
And HYUFD, you're dreaming if you think the North will see any of the money saved.
Really pissed off now. Still at Luton. 18:30 flight now showing as 21:00. They took our on time plane off for another route and subbed us for an inbound from Belfast not arriving til 19:30. Its on time. yet out flight just slipped back another hour. FFS.
If you travel regularly, by any means, regular delays of one sort or another are inevitable. Even on my 11km run down to the local town, I will sometimes find myself stuck behind a tractor, or someone who drives so rarely they daren't leave third gear, or a lost tourist.
It is inevitable and unavoidable.
Given that you can't do anything about it, why get so annoyed by it? It will make as much difference as raging against the rain.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Kurt and I rarely agree on this forum (even if he does live on the same road *waves amicably*), but I am 100% with him on this. This cuts through to the real world and gets discussed. The government look like a bunch of out of touch southern twats.
And HYUFD, you're dreaming if you think the North will see any of the money saved.
Besides. The whole dismal point of Sunak's plan is to give cover for tax cuts. If IHT is really the priority, most of the country can go whistle.
And then, a few years down the line,when it turns out that something like HS2 is still needed, it will cost even more to resurrect.
Is there a way to avoid paying Microsoft £79.99 for Office365?
I used to just pay £200 for Office and I was done for years, until the OS upgraded.
Don't like being milked.
Switch to Apple.
Seriously, it annoys the hell out of me the way Microsoft have forced people to move to a rental licence. I'm surprised the competition authorities haven't looked at it.
My local IT repair shop guy told me that if I had a valid licence for old Office (can't remember which version) I could go online and download the latest versions for Mac and use that licence key. Remarkably it worked but I am probably on some old frozen version now. (Checks: Excel for Mac v.16.16.27 using a 2016 retail licence - does what I need it to do.)
I also use Numbers which comes free with macOS of course, which itself comes free with the Mac hardware.
Really pissed off now. Still at Luton. 18:30 flight now showing as 21:00. They took our on time plane off for another route and subbed us for an inbound from Belfast not arriving til 19:30. Its on time. yet out flight just slipped back another hour. FFS.
If you travel regularly, by any means, regular delays of one sort or another are inevitable. Even on my 11km run down to the local town, I will sometimes find myself stuck behind a tractor, or someone who drives so rarely they daren't leave third gear, or a lost tourist.
It is inevitable and unavoidable.
Given that you can't do anything about it, why get so annoyed by it? It will make as much difference as raging against the rain.
Sure - control the controllables. Wouldn't be as bad if tinterweb was more reliable and I could keep track of what is happening.
Comedy gold - sent a "what's happening" Twix to easyJet. No response by them. But 3 accounts passing themselves off as easyJet asked for my phone number ... lol how dumb do they think I am.
The felling of the tree is mind-bendingly despicable. Whoever did it needs to be thrown in the cold North Sea, on a stormy night. From a high cliff. Tied in barbed wire
But why? What is the possible motive? Drive a long long way at midnight to carefully fell a tree with a heavy chainsaw. Why??
Can't believe I've never heard of this tree before.
The felling of the tree is mind-bendingly despicable. Whoever did it needs to be thrown in the cold North Sea, on a stormy night. From a high cliff. Tied in barbed wire
But why? What is the possible motive? Drive a long long way at midnight to carefully fell a tree with a heavy chainsaw. Why??
Can't believe I've never heard of this tree before.
joking right?
I'd never heard of it before today. And while not a great world traveller, I reckon myself in the top ten percentile for how well travelled I am in this country. I know this country better than most. But I didn't know this tree. And now it's gone, and I never will.
That sycamore probably screamed across the Northumbrian wilds, as it fell to its death. We just couldn't hear it
Think about that
Not a nice thought but I think we can reject it. If trees felt pain they would have evolved to be able to defend themselves against it, eg by fleeing an attacker. This would happened by now, given how long they've been around, but it hasn't. Ergo they don't suffer, in that sense, so this one wouldn't have. It's perhaps the only silver lining in this sad dark cloud of a story.
That’s poor logic, if the right conclusion. Trees do have ways of defending themselves: not against being chopped down, but that’s a very recent threat in evolutionary terms, but against herbivores eating them. One of the things they do in response is send out signals to other trees nearby (who are probably related). As such, trees will need to have a way of sensing damage, which one might describe as “pain”. Of course it’s nothing like the pain we experience, but that’s because we have big brains and trees don’t!
I could have been joking, I suppose. Let's hope for my sake I was.
I've found that a good way of "signalling" to the reader that you are joking, is by including something amusing. Works quite well
I didn't think you'd take me seriously. Apols. You probably feel a bit silly. Not my intention to do that. Let's forget it ever happened. 🙂
The felling of the tree is mind-bendingly despicable. Whoever did it needs to be thrown in the cold North Sea, on a stormy night. From a high cliff. Tied in barbed wire
But why? What is the possible motive? Drive a long long way at midnight to carefully fell a tree with a heavy chainsaw. Why??
Can't believe I've never heard of this tree before.
If it was in the south east of England it would have a High Speed Line running to it, a designated station. a third runway and a dual carriageway underpass. Fortunately it is/was in the far north of England, its nearest road was built by the Romans, who still have the contract to maintain it, and its nearest railway borrows its carriages from a museum of antiquities.
The Bewcastle Cross still stands however, and even remoter. Go and see it before some bright spark pushes it over and uses the stone for their patio. And Hexham still has St Wilfrid's crypt, until someone turns it into a wine bar.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Kurt and I rarely agree on this forum (even if he does live on the same road *waves amicably*), but I am 100% with him on this. This cuts through to the real world and gets discussed. The government look like a bunch of out of touch southern twats.
And HYUFD, you're dreaming if you think the North will see any of the money saved.
Besides. The whole dismal point of Sunak's plan is to give cover for tax cuts. If IHT is really the priority, most of the country can go whistle.
And then, a few years down the line,when it turns out that something like HS2 is still needed, it will cost even more to resurrect.
Surprised @BartholomewRoberts hasn't suggested building a road where The Tree was
Well there was one close to there in Roman times.
Still is. Two in fact. One right next to it, the service and emergency road for the Wall, within the Controlled Zone, now the foot path in large part, and the chariotway a bit further south. Still in use by the BR chariot hogs of today.
The felling of the tree is mind-bendingly despicable. Whoever did it needs to be thrown in the cold North Sea, on a stormy night. From a high cliff. Tied in barbed wire
But why? What is the possible motive? Drive a long long way at midnight to carefully fell a tree with a heavy chainsaw. Why??
Can't believe I've never heard of this tree before.
joking right?
I'd never heard of it before today. And while not a great world traveller, I reckon myself in the top ten percentile for how well travelled I am in this country. I know this country better than most. But I didn't know this tree. And now it's gone, and I never will.
Just looked up the story on Northumberland Live. In a moment of bathos(?) it sub-heads the story 'Robson Green devastated'.
Surprised @BartholomewRoberts hasn't suggested building a road where The Tree was
What would be the point?
I want to see roads linking towns and cities and to support the construction of new towns and cities, and unlocking new housing.
Not sure Hadrians Wall is a good location for a new town.
How do you think Newcastle began? Its Roman name was Hadrian's Bridge.
There is a plan of sorts for 10,000 new houses in south Carlisle, just a couple of miles south of the line of the wall.
And of course Gallowhgate in Newcastle runs along the line of the wall, whiuch continues IIRC across the railway station forecourt. But I think the latter sort of came later, after they'd stopped using the nearest pub or cocina or mansio or baths to sell tickets.
Surprised @BartholomewRoberts hasn't suggested building a road where The Tree was
What would be the point?
I want to see roads linking towns and cities and to support the construction of new towns and cities, and unlocking new housing.
Not sure Hadrians Wall is a good location for a new town.
How do you think Newcastle began? Its Roman name was Hadrian's Bridge.
There is a plan of sorts for 10,000 new houses in south Carlisle, just a couple of miles south of the line of the wall.
Very Roman, build a new town and **** what the NIMBII thought.
As always Shakespeare gets there first:
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle. I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on. 'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent, That day he overcame the Nimbii.
If that sycamore tree is that important to you, get a horticulturist up there to take some cuttings, so you can start the tree all over again (and perhaps some others just like it.)
If you aren't on your way in a half hour or less, I'll conclude that you don't really care about that tree.
(Full disclosure: I grew up on a farm where we raised apples, pears, and cherries -- in between two small towns with sawmills. So this whole discussion seems -- let me put this mildly -- a little odd.)
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Kurt and I rarely agree on this forum (even if he does live on the same road *waves amicably*), but I am 100% with him on this. This cuts through to the real world and gets discussed. The government look like a bunch of out of touch southern twats.
And HYUFD, you're dreaming if you think the North will see any of the money saved.
Sure they will, when they make their annual pilgrimage down south.
The felling of the tree is mind-bendingly despicable. Whoever did it needs to be thrown in the cold North Sea, on a stormy night. From a high cliff. Tied in barbed wire
But why? What is the possible motive? Drive a long long way at midnight to carefully fell a tree with a heavy chainsaw. Why??
Can't believe I've never heard of this tree before.
There was a metal version at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a while.
John Noakes did a sandblasted glass tree once. Let's have one of those.
We have this one at the end of a harbour wall called the Freedom Tree which was unveiled by the late Queen to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Liberation.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
There is a thread on a United forum (united We Stand) I read, behind a paywall.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Kurt and I rarely agree on this forum (even if he does live on the same road *waves amicably*), but I am 100% with him on this. This cuts through to the real world and gets discussed. The government look like a bunch of out of touch southern twats.
And HYUFD, you're dreaming if you think the North will see any of the money saved.
Sure they will, when they make their annual pilgrimage down south.
Why, is Rishi planning on running guided tours to see his Scrooge McDuck style swimming pool full of money?
Coventry student guilty of making IS chemical weapon drone
A PhD student has been convicted of designing and building a drone for terror group Islamic State (IS) that was capable of delivering a bomb. ... Officers seized several devices and also found an IS application form which Al-Bared, 27, denied filling in. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-66947311
The real news is that IS has application forms.
"...With reference to the job specification in the downloaded job pack, please list how you meet each essential and desirable characteristic. Each point is numbered. Statements like "please see CV" or "Please see War Crimes Tribunal" will not be accepted. Please also give the contact details of two terrorists that can vouch for you...."
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
This is why I live in London - we get good train services and bus routes and we get our potholes fixed (eventually). Northerners have to pick which one they want - the Tories don't think they deserve to have all of them.
Jeez. The Gambon coverage seems to be 99% bloody Harry Potter.
He did play a couple of other roles.
When Sir John Gielgud died after a distinguished career spaning nearly 8 decades, I remember the headline in The Sun was on the lines of "Actor who played the butler in "Arthur" dies".
Surprised @BartholomewRoberts hasn't suggested building a road where The Tree was
What would be the point?
I want to see roads linking towns and cities and to support the construction of new towns and cities, and unlocking new housing.
Not sure Hadrians Wall is a good location for a new town.
How do you think Newcastle began? Its Roman name was Hadrian's Bridge.
There is a plan of sorts for 10,000 new houses in south Carlisle, just a couple of miles south of the line of the wall.
Very Roman, build a new town and **** what the NIMBII thought.
As always Shakespeare gets there first:
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle. I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on. 'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent, That day he overcame the Nimbii.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Either he accidentally left behind his passport or someone informed. Any other options?
So, was he a pasty Southern Extinction Warrior?
He knew which way up to hold a chainsaw. My money's on 'no.'
Given the nature of a chainsaw, it's not difficult to work out. I was using a chainsaw in my year off earning money for my uni time. Pull thje cord, get the spikes engaged in the bark, and brrrrm down into the wood.
I would have thought most Northern redwall voters would rather get their potholes mended and better bus routes than HS2 extended to Manchester
This is why I live in London - we get good train services and bus routes and we get our potholes fixed (eventually). Northerners have to pick which one they want - the Tories don't think they deserve to have all of them.
Ecept the potholes. They can have all of them as far as London is concerned.
Surprised @BartholomewRoberts hasn't suggested building a road where The Tree was
What would be the point?
I want to see roads linking towns and cities and to support the construction of new towns and cities, and unlocking new housing.
Not sure Hadrians Wall is a good location for a new town.
How do you think Newcastle began? Its Roman name was Hadrian's Bridge.
There is a plan of sorts for 10,000 new houses in south Carlisle, just a couple of miles south of the line of the wall.
Very Roman, build a new town and **** what the NIMBII thought.
As always Shakespeare gets there first:
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle. I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on. 'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent, That day he overcame the Nimbii.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Sure, but a lot of it is swings and roundabouts. Not sure who has the better deal overall, if I was to live in another city in the UK other than London it would be Manchester.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Don't be miserable, that's what they contribute to the world.
We have relatively affordable homes, more space per home, gardens, usable roads and a better quality of life. And we don't have Essex around the corner.
Either he accidentally left behind his passport or someone informed. Any other options?
So, was he a pasty Southern Extinction Warrior?
He knew which way up to hold a chainsaw. My money's on 'no.'
Given the nature of a chainsaw, it's not difficult to work out. I was using a chainsaw in my year off earning money for my uni time. Pull thje cord, get the spikes engaged in the bark, and brrrrm down into the wood.
I realise it is not difficult to work out.
However, OGH Jr was talking about 'southern extinction warriors.'
It's a bit like saying 'it's not difficult to work out you should not make known paedophiles school inspectors' and then expecting OFSTED to join the dots.
"Sweden is considering using its military to help police in the battle against gang crime, following a sharp increase in deadly shootings and bomb attacks in the Scandinavian country.
Ulf Kristersson, the centre-right prime minister, told the nation in a televised address that he had called a meeting on Friday with the head of Sweden’s defence forces and the country’s police to discuss how the army could help out.
“I cannot emphasise enough how serious the situation is. Sweden has never seen anything like it before. No other country in Europe sees anything like it currently,” Kristersson said on Thursday night.
Police chiefs have said that Sweden is facing its most serious domestic security situation since the second world war as immigrant drug gangs engage in a bloody conflict. Police believe the gangs are increasingly using children to commit the crimes, as those under 18 often go unpunished or receive low sentences from the courts."
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Don't be miserable, that's what they contribute to the world.
We have relatively affordable homes, more space per home, gardens, usable roads and a better quality of life. And we don't have Essex around the corner.
Unless the 1st Essex Yeomanry go up the M6 on their way to reconquer a rebellious Scotland.
Coventry student guilty of making IS chemical weapon drone
A PhD student has been convicted of designing and building a drone for terror group Islamic State (IS) that was capable of delivering a bomb. ... Officers seized several devices and also found an IS application form which Al-Bared, 27, denied filling in. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-66947311
The real news is that IS has application forms.
"...With reference to the job specification in the downloaded job pack, please list how you meet each essential and desirable characteristic. Each point is numbered. Statements like "please see CV" or "Please see War Crimes Tribunal" will not be accepted. Please also give the contact details of two terrorists that can vouch for you...."
Come on guys, this is comment of the week and deserves about 30 likes.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Don't be miserable, that's what they contribute to the world.
We have relatively affordable homes, more space per home, gardens, usable roads and a better quality of life. And we don't have Essex around the corner.
Unless the 1st Essex Yeomanry go up the M6 on their way to reconquer a rebellious Scotland.
They'll get stuck trying to get past the M25 first.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
I wonder if Sunak will go for full unitarisation to mitigate the crisis.
It would be political suicide given how parochial his electorate is,* but it would be entirely in keeping with his obsession about cost over political instincts.
*I'm a Welshman from the Forest of Dean. That's practically a professional opinion.
Indeed. Rishi pledges to fill potholes. Why do we have potholes? Because councils have had to axe their road repairs budget. Why? Because a government of which a certain Mr Sunak was chancellor and now PM has cut council funding almost to nothing.
So that pothole he is pointing at like a crap councillor? He helped make it.
Coventry student guilty of making IS chemical weapon drone
A PhD student has been convicted of designing and building a drone for terror group Islamic State (IS) that was capable of delivering a bomb. ... Officers seized several devices and also found an IS application form which Al-Bared, 27, denied filling in. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-66947311
The real news is that IS has application forms.
"...With reference to the job specification in the downloaded job pack, please list how you meet each essential and desirable characteristic. Each point is numbered. Statements like "please see CV" or "Please see War Crimes Tribunal" will not be accepted. Please also give the contact details of two terrorists that can vouch for you...."
Come on guys, this is comment of the week and deserves about 30 likes.
I dunno, I think you're blowing it up out of all proportion.
Either he accidentally left behind his passport or someone informed. Any other options?
So, was he a pasty Southern Extinction Warrior?
He knew which way up to hold a chainsaw. My money's on 'no.'
Given the nature of a chainsaw, it's not difficult to work out. I was using a chainsaw in my year off earning money for my uni time. Pull thje cord, get the spikes engaged in the bark, and brrrrm down into the wood.
Hang on, I'll just trim this bit off by cutting upwards with the top of the saw.
This branch above my head is a bit annoying, I'll just cut it off so it isn't in the way.
I'll just push the tree over to make sure it falls the right way.
Its a bit annoying I can't use the saw one handed, I'll just tape down the handle so I can.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
and the north will always struggle economically if no where, not everywhere, has the ability to grow population densities required to have sufficient skilled staff who can work in those top end roles making local knowledge based companies a success.
The investment will just continue to flow to Milan, Munich and Marseille over Manchester for ever more.
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
Naaaah
I've just been to Hatchard's St Pancras to pick up some books for a trip tomorrow
St Pancras is fucking great. It is the only station in the world I would go to JUST for the station. Everything about it is brilliant, uplifting, vaulting, sleek, glamorous - it is one of the great peaks of global urbanity. It tells you why cities are marvellous.
One of the revelations, for me, of the last few remarkable years is that there is no way I want to "retire to the country", nor do I want some fucking stupid chalet in Provence, at least not as a permanent home
I'm gonna do my level best to live me and die me in London (escaping to the country, Bangkok, as and when). THAT is the life
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
and the north will always struggle economically if no where, not everywhere, has the ability to grow population densities required to have sufficient skilled staff who can work in those top end roles making local knowledge based companies a success.
The investment will just continue to flow to Milan, Munich and Marseille over Manchester for ever more.
Yes, and the madness is that the North has a combined urban population to match London (and anywhere in Europe). Liverpool, Salford, Manc, Leeds, Sheffield. Combine them all into a megacity with densely interlinked transport - and then watch it boom
All the ingredients are there. Great universities, great heritage, great sport, great culture, great concentrations of people. DO IT
But this requires each individual city to get over itself
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
Naaaah
I've just been to Hatchard's St Pancras to pick up some books for a trip tomorrow
St Pancras is fucking great. It is the only station in the world I would go to JUST for the station. Everything about it is brilliant, uplifting, vaulting, sleek, glamorous - it is one of the great peaks of global urbanity. It tells you why cities are marvellous.
One of the revelations, for me, of the last few remarkable years is that there is no way I want to "retire to the country", nor do I want some fucking stupid chalet in Provence, at least not as a permanent home
I'm gonna do my level best to live me and die me in London (escaping to the country, Bangkok, as and when). THAT is the life
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
Naaaah
I've just been to Hatchard's St Pancras to pick up some books for a trip tomorrow
St Pancras is fucking great. It is the only station in the world I would go to JUST for the station. Everything about it is brilliant, uplifting, vaulting, sleek, glamorous - it is one of the great peaks of global urbanity. It tells you why cities are marvellous.
One of the revelations, for me, of the last few remarkable years is that there is no way I want to "retire to the country", nor do I want some fucking stupid chalet in Provence, at least not as a permanent home
I'm gonna do my level best to live me and die me in London (escaping to the country, Bangkok, as and when). THAT is the life
“It is political naivete and cluelessness that has brought us here,” said the Swedish prime minister. “It is an irresponsible immigration policy and failed integration effort that has brought us here. Social exclusion and parallel societies feed the criminal gangs, there they can ruthlessly recruit children and train them as future killers.”
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
and the north will always struggle economically if no where, not everywhere, has the ability to grow population densities required to have sufficient skilled staff who can work in those top end roles making local knowledge based companies a success.
The investment will just continue to flow to Milan, Munich and Marseille over Manchester for ever more.
Yes, and the madness is that the North has a combined urban population to match London (and anywhere in Europe). Liverpool, Salford, Manc, Leeds, Sheffield. Combine them all into a megacity with densely interlinked transport - and then watch it boom
All the ingredients are there. Great universities, great heritage, great sport, great culture, great concentrations of people. DO IT
But this requires each individual city to get over itself
Not just the cities, but all the scattered towns. Pride beating having the financial means to project that pride into the future.
It's Audrey Forbes-Hamilton vs. Richard DeVere again.
I wonder if Sunak will go for full unitarisation to mitigate the crisis.
It would be political suicide given how parochial his electorate is,* but it would be entirely in keeping with his obsession about cost over political instincts.
*I'm a Welshman from the Forest of Dean. That's practically a professional opinion.
What happens to the places that already are unitaries? Havering isn't at S114 yet, but has just concluded that it's looming.
If a council's income (government grant and capped council tax) and expenditure (statutory services like social care) are both largely out of their hands, what exactly are local councillors meant to do?
I guess it never occurred to Sunak that one of the reasons so many people in the North use their cars to get around is because public transport in most places is so shite. Still, Get Potholes Done.
You've cause and effect the entirely the wrong way round here. Up north the road system mostly works, so almost everybody just drives, because it's the most convenient option. They could build a high speed rail line from next doors garden to outside the gate of work with trains every ten minutes and give me the tickets for free, and I'd probably still mostly drive to work - the train won't be much faster, the car is better for carrying luggage (I've a lot of tools in the boot that come in handy now and again), and crucially I'm not at the mercy of the rail network if something goes wrong and there's no train home for whatever reason. Because there's little demand, such public transport service as there is tends to be grim. There's no easy cure for this - we could spray subsidies everywhere (bearing in mind it's most quite heavily subsidised anyway), but then we'd have lots of shinny new public transport that nobody uses either.
Down in the SE the road network doesn't really work because there are too many people and not enough roads for them, so they are forced onto public transport. This isn't a sign that the public transport network of the south is a success story to be imposed on the north. It's more another sign that the south is a stinking dump.
I commuted in from Selby to Halifax by car for seven years in the 2000s and I can tell you the the road system mostly just did not work then. I am not sure what has been done to improve it since.
You make my point for me. That's a 40 mile commute each way across one of the busiest bits of the north and you did it regularly for 7 years, so it clearly did work.
Doing a 40 mile commute by road in the south east is almost impossible.
Southerners look at me like I've two heads when I explain I drive 23 miles each way work every day. Then I tell them it's a been a slow run if it took 30 minutes and their heads explode.
If I drive daytime my first mile is normally 10-15 minutes.....
No doubt because you have excellent public transport which enables the area to be heavily populated, trains & tube carry far greater volumes of people than roads ever could.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
Low population density is the best thing about the north - the problem with the south is it's wildly overpopulated. Across the planet, we've about 4 acres per human of land area - packing them together in cities like battery hens is foul madness.
and the north will always struggle economically if no where, not everywhere, has the ability to grow population densities required to have sufficient skilled staff who can work in those top end roles making local knowledge based companies a success.
The investment will just continue to flow to Milan, Munich and Marseille over Manchester for ever more.
Yes, and the madness is that the North has a combined urban population to match London (and anywhere in Europe). Liverpool, Salford, Manc, Leeds, Sheffield. Combine them all into a megacity with densely interlinked transport - and then watch it boom
All the ingredients are there. Great universities, great heritage, great sport, great culture, great concentrations of people. DO IT
But this requires each individual city to get over itself
Not just the cities, but all the scattered towns. Pride beating having the financial means to project that pride into the future.
It's Audrey Forbes-Hamilton vs. Richard DeVere again.
The Ruhr transport network, connecting cities in Germany, imagine a fraction of this in northern England
I think the Tories don't get why Johnson won the Red wall - they put it down to Brexit and culture war stuff, but I think more importantly is that Johnson was the first Tory PM who promised to turn on the money tap and spend money on needed infrastructure. The mini budget of Truss and the Treasury straight jacket on Sunak are not popular with these voters. If a Tory promised tax and spend (as much as many Tories here hate that) alongside pro business and culture war stuff, I think they'd do a lot better specifically amongst those voters. When Tories don't promise to spend money, they drift back to "naturally" voting Labour.
I don't agree.
Johnson made people who often don't think very deeply about politics (and I meant this utterly non-pejoratively, I think we overthink it most of the time here on pb) that he was 'on their side'.
It wasn't about money, it was about not appearing to be an identikit PPE clone.
I think you're both right. Johnson is a good entertainer, as long as you haven't seen enough to get tired of it. And he promised to spend money on the north and not ignore it - a new message from a Tory that won him an audience. I think a lot of Red Wall voters grew tired of his shtick though, and can also see that 'levelling up' was just an empty phrase. A message that is amplified every time Sunak opens his mouth.
Johnson is seriously better-rated by the environmental/animal welfare people (I'm not just saying that now he's not PM - I said it when he was). Sunak appears to have no interest in any of that.
Fully expect the 2024 Tory manifesto to include:
• Ritual burning of a Wicker Cyclist in every town once a month. • Forced tube-feeding vegetarians foie gras, like a sort of meta-goose • deport all vegans to the USSR • Tax breaks for leaving your car running overnight • Injecting all asylum seekers and (10% of all foreign visitors regardless of status) with legionella • Leaving the UN to set up a special British UN where we decide what to do without foreign meddling • Declaration of trains, taxation in general, trade unions, public sector workers, radio 3, selected buildings, Strictly Come Dancing, foreign literature, women in sport and ‘socialists’ (anyone to the left of Sir Edward Leigh) to be “WOKE” and subject to a daily hate broadcast on the BBC and chanted in primary school assemblies. • Speaking of which, GB News to be merged with the BBC (now the GBBC) to provide a single TV channel presented entirely by Conservative MPs. • mandatory maximum distances for travelling in anything other than a car or helicopter • extend use of the the ICE to power not just vehicles, but also PCs, kettles and tumble dryers
A Guardian article about the Swedish crime crisis which manages, heroically, to go without ever mentioning "migrants", "migration", "immigrants", "race", "ethnicity". Not one of those words features
"Child soldiers, executions, bombs: Deadly gang violence turns Sweden into a ‘war zone’
Sweden is in the grip of a gun crime crisis. In 2022, there were 391 shootings in the county, and escalating gang violence has seen 11 people killed in September alone. ‘It’s like a war zone’, one witness tells Jakob Illeborg, who finds fear and loathing of foreigners rife in the new gun murder capital of Europe"
"Three dead in Sweden after shootings and explosion linked to feud between criminal gangs Two shootings have brought the number killed in gun violence in the country to 11 so far this month - making it the deadliest since records began in 2016. The explosion is the third to happen this week."
Comments
I used to just pay £200 for Office and I was done for years, until the OS upgraded.
Don't like being milked.
Right.
He did play a couple of other roles.
And OpenOffice is free.
Rarely does politics get mentioned, public transport only when discussing how to get to away matches.
The clear 'fuck off you northern twats' has come through loud and clear here, there is a thread on HS2 being cancelled and total agreement on how clear it is how much the Tories are not remotely on the side of any of the north.
This is cutting through much more than you'd expect, cutting through not because people are keen on the railway, but as it's the clearest sign you'd ever have to show how little a government gives a shit about the north.
Sunak, bless him, is probably too objective to get that.
And HYUFD, you're dreaming if you think the North will see any of the money saved.
It is inevitable and unavoidable.
Given that you can't do anything about it, why get so annoyed by it? It will make as much difference as raging against the rain.
And then, a few years down the line,when it turns out that something like HS2 is still needed, it will cost even more to resurrect.
Seriously, it annoys the hell out of me the way Microsoft have forced people to move to a rental licence. I'm surprised the competition authorities haven't looked at it.
My local IT repair shop guy told me that if I had a valid licence for old Office (can't remember which version) I could go online and download the latest versions for Mac and use that licence key. Remarkably it worked but I am probably on some old frozen version now. (Checks: Excel for Mac v.16.16.27 using a 2016 retail licence - does what I need it to do.)
I also use Numbers which comes free with macOS of course, which itself comes free with the Mac hardware.
Comedy gold - sent a "what's happening" Twix to easyJet. No response by them. But 3 accounts passing themselves off as easyJet asked for my phone number ... lol how dumb do they think I am.
That made me chuckle. Which is ok
And while not a great world traveller, I reckon myself in the top ten percentile for how well travelled I am in this country. I know this country better than most. But I didn't know this tree.
And now it's gone, and I never will.
The Bewcastle Cross still stands however, and even remoter. Go and see it before some bright spark pushes it over and uses the stone for their patio. And Hexham still has St Wilfrid's crypt, until someone turns it into a wine bar.
Trump says electric motors in boats won’t work because if it sinks everyone will get electrocuted.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1707198014677291383
https://www.openoffice.org/download/
Duncan Bannatyne backs Labour leader after Sunak’s ‘terrible’ handling of the economy
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/09/28/keir-starmer-lesser-two-evils-brexit-voting-dragon/ (£££)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/sep/28/no-rule-to-stop-tory-mp-interviewing-minister-on-gb-news-says-ofcom-boss
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle. I remember
The first time ever Caesar put it on.
'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nimbii.
https://www.libreoffice.org/
Same original code base (which has a complicated history).
Same with our low rate of vehicle accidents.
If you aren't on your way in a half hour or less, I'll conclude that you don't really care about that tree.
(Full disclosure: I grew up on a farm where we raised apples, pears, and cherries -- in between two small towns with sawmills. So this whole discussion seems -- let me put this mildly -- a little odd.)
It doesn't match up to Excel for many corporate use cases, but for personal use I've never had an issue and it all automatically saves to the cloud.
Either he accidentally left behind his passport or someone informed. Any other options?
Though sadly it might just be the port rather than the bridge.
https://nitter.net/Gerashchenko_en/status/1707470397040410964
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCYhqYfs8Po
I suppose he could have confessed but that seems unlikely. My guess is he was snitched
Microsoft moved pretty heavily into software-as-a-service over a decade ago. However you can still do one-off purchases.
This is for 6 users @ £72 total so negligible cost if you can share it, and includes Norton.
That heavily populated area enables high levels of economic activity which would otherwise be impossible as the agglomeration effect would not be remotely as strong.
We're stuck with low growth, low population density, poor transport and no hope of greatly improving any of it in the north.
We have relatively affordable homes, more space per home, gardens, usable roads and a better quality of life. And we don't have Essex around the corner.
However, OGH Jr was talking about 'southern extinction warriors.'
It's a bit like saying 'it's not difficult to work out you should not make known paedophiles school inspectors' and then expecting OFSTED to join the dots.
https://www.ft.com/content/6b470a3a-178b-4f9a-95af-2d4a59b4c982
"Sweden is considering using its military to help police in the battle against gang crime, following a sharp increase in deadly shootings and bomb attacks in the Scandinavian country.
Ulf Kristersson, the centre-right prime minister, told the nation in a televised address that he had called a meeting on Friday with the head of Sweden’s defence forces and the country’s police to discuss how the army could help out.
“I cannot emphasise enough how serious the situation is. Sweden has never seen anything like it before. No other country in Europe sees anything like it currently,” Kristersson said on Thursday night.
Police chiefs have said that Sweden is facing its most serious domestic security situation since the second world war as immigrant drug gangs engage in a bloody conflict. Police believe the gangs are increasingly using children to commit the crimes, as those under 18 often go unpunished or receive low sentences from the courts."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/28/councils-in-england-scotland-and-wales-facing-record-cash-shortfalls
It would be political suicide given how parochial his electorate is,* but it would be entirely in keeping with his obsession about cost over political instincts.
*I'm a Welshman from the Forest of Dean. That's practically a professional opinion.
So that pothole he is pointing at like a crap councillor? He helped make it.
This branch above my head is a bit annoying, I'll just cut it off so it isn't in the way.
I'll just push the tree over to make sure it falls the right way.
Its a bit annoying I can't use the saw one handed, I'll just tape down the handle so I can.
Who needs furry trousers? PPE is for wimps.
The investment will just continue to flow to Milan, Munich and Marseille over Manchester for ever more.
I've just been to Hatchard's St Pancras to pick up some books for a trip tomorrow
St Pancras is fucking great. It is the only station in the world I would go to JUST for the station. Everything about it is brilliant, uplifting, vaulting, sleek, glamorous - it is one of the great peaks of global urbanity. It tells you why cities are marvellous.
One of the revelations, for me, of the last few remarkable years is that there is no way I want to "retire to the country", nor do I want some fucking stupid chalet in Provence, at least not as a permanent home
I'm gonna do my level best to live me and die me in London (escaping to the country, Bangkok, as and when). THAT is the life
All the ingredients are there. Great universities, great heritage, great sport, great culture, great concentrations of people. DO IT
But this requires each individual city to get over itself
https://www.ft.com/content/6b470a3a-178b-4f9a-95af-2d4a59b4c982
“It is political naivete and cluelessness that has brought us here,” said the Swedish prime minister. “It is an irresponsible immigration policy and failed integration effort that has brought us here. Social exclusion and parallel societies feed the criminal gangs, there they can ruthlessly recruit children and train them as future killers.”
It's Audrey Forbes-Hamilton vs. Richard DeVere again.
If a council's income (government grant and capped council tax) and expenditure (statutory services like social care) are both largely out of their hands, what exactly are local councillors meant to do?
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://external-preview.redd.it/wS_AqZduKafDEa0ErEuM_zqA48TT8FtWSwqyENBwB3A.jpg?s=6b52b14daf69b5f24bf437052abfff83cc170cbf
• Ritual burning of a Wicker Cyclist in every town once a month.
• Forced tube-feeding vegetarians foie gras, like a sort of meta-goose
• deport all vegans to the USSR
• Tax breaks for leaving your car running overnight
• Injecting all asylum seekers and (10% of all foreign visitors regardless of status) with legionella
• Leaving the UN to set up a special British UN where we decide what to do without foreign meddling
• Declaration of trains, taxation in general, trade unions, public sector workers, radio 3, selected buildings, Strictly Come Dancing, foreign literature, women in sport and ‘socialists’ (anyone to the left of Sir Edward Leigh) to be “WOKE” and subject to a daily hate broadcast on the BBC and chanted in primary school assemblies.
• Speaking of which, GB News to be merged with the BBC (now the GBBC) to provide a single TV channel presented entirely by Conservative MPs.
• mandatory maximum distances for travelling in anything other than a car or helicopter
• extend use of the the ICE to power not just vehicles, but also PCs, kettles and tumble dryers
Tbh there are more but you get the gist.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/sweden-records-record-high-number-of-shooting-deaths-in-september
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-gang-violence-child-soldiers-bombs-b2420265.html
"Child soldiers, executions, bombs: Deadly gang violence turns Sweden into a ‘war zone’
Sweden is in the grip of a gun crime crisis. In 2022, there were 391 shootings in the county, and escalating gang violence has seen 11 people killed in September alone. ‘It’s like a war zone’, one witness tells Jakob Illeborg, who finds fear and loathing of foreigners rife in the new gun murder capital of Europe"
"Three dead in Sweden after shootings and explosion linked to feud between criminal gangs
Two shootings have brought the number killed in gun violence in the country to 11 so far this month - making it the deadliest since records began in 2016. The explosion is the third to happen this week."
https://news.sky.com/story/three-dead-in-sweden-after-shootings-and-explosion-linked-to-feud-between-criminal-gangs-12971598