The polls are looking a bit tighter for Starmer – politicalbetting.com
For a long time my only General Election bet has been that Labour would not get an overall majority. Under the terms of the betting markets they could still have the most seats and have what is an effect an overall majority for me to win.
The idea Gen Z are all vegetarian and vegan is bullshit.
I've just seen a sign-up list of 65 of them for an event I'm running that asks about special dietary requirements and only 9 are vegetarian or vegan (only 4 are vegan).
Everyone else? Normal.
Best not to get into the habit calling meat-eaters 'normal', therefore insinuating that veggie/vegan people are, in some way, abnormal.
Something common to 86% of a population is pretty much the definition of normal.
Reasons why Sunak might just deny Labour an overall majority:
- memories of the Truss disaster fade (likely but won't be enough by itself) - he finally adopts popular policies with traction (unlikely but possible) - he stops being wooden and gets the vision thing (unlikely but possible) - the media and the public start to despise Starmer (unlikely but possible) - a left-wing breakaway party reduces Labour's share (VERY unlikely but just about conceivable) - the Lib-Dems start to eat into Labour's share not the Tories' significantly and the Scots Nats stage a recovery (VERY unlikely and unlikely respectively) - events, dear boy (by definition very difficult to predict)
or some combination of the above. Overall, I'd give it a 15-20% chance. But of course it will be much easier to backcast what happened from 2027 and why it had to happen than it is to look ahead now.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
The idea Gen Z are all vegetarian and vegan is bullshit.
I've just seen a sign-up list of 65 of them for an event I'm running that asks about special dietary requirements and only 9 are vegetarian or vegan (only 4 are vegan).
Everyone else? Normal.
FPT
I'm not a vegetarian - but it is quite out of order to call them abnormal, subnormal, whatever.
For one thing, the idea that dietary restrictions are wrong will get you into serious trouble at any sensible workplace.
I do find it ironic that those who accused Johnson of lying, cheating, and not suitable for the office of PM ( which was a fair judgment) are now quoting him against Sunak
Politics hey
It's that notion of a stopped clock being correct twice a day.
It's more the enjoyment of watching this twisted wreck of a party autocannibalise. Quote Johnson saying something politically useful, yes. Endorse Johnson, oh hell no.
For instance, in the last thread I was noting his comments on public transport without endorsing them. I think PBers are too intelligent to assume that if I note that X says Y I necessarily agree with X.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
1. They are invisible 2. Whilst they would make less of a mess of things they don't have the brilliant ideas 3. They don't have the people to communicate the ideas they do have 4. Even if people thought they had policies and people worth voting for, in FPTP starting 3rd or worse in the vast majority of constituencies, voters will be reluctant to "waste" their vote.
I do find it ironic that those who accused Johnson of lying, cheating, and not suitable for the office of PM ( which was a fair judgment) are now quoting him against Sunak
Politics hey
It's that notion of a stopped clock being correct twice a day.
It's more the enjoyment of watching this twisted wreck of a party autocannibalise. Quote Johnson saying something politically useful, yes. Endorse Johnson, oh hell no.
For instance, in the last thread I was noting his comments on public transport without endorsing them. I think PBers are too intelligent to assume that if I note that X says Y I necessarily agree with X.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
The idea Gen Z are all vegetarian and vegan is bullshit.
I've just seen a sign-up list of 65 of them for an event I'm running that asks about special dietary requirements and only 9 are vegetarian or vegan (only 4 are vegan).
Everyone else? Normal.
FPT
I'm not a vegetarian - but it is quite out of order to call them abnormal, subnormal, whatever.
For one thing, the idea that dietary restrictions are wrong will get you into serious trouble at any sensible workplace.
Indeed. I have always found it safer to stick to something neutral like woke, venison munchers.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
If they arrest just one more that would be tree fellers.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
A 16 year-old would not have a driving licence, which means he is unlikely to own a vehicle.
I do find it ironic that those who accused Johnson of lying, cheating, and not suitable for the office of PM ( which was a fair judgment) are now quoting him against Sunak
Politics hey
It's that notion of a stopped clock being correct twice a day.
It's more the enjoyment of watching this twisted wreck of a party autocannibalise. Quote Johnson saying something politically useful, yes. Endorse Johnson, oh hell no.
For instance, in the last thread I was noting his comments on public transport without endorsing them. I think PBers are too intelligent to assume that if I note that X says Y I necessarily agree with X.
Danger, Will Robinson!
Eh?
If you start a sentence with "I think PBers are too intelligent to..." then you're begging for proof to the contrary. And you'll get it (unlike my reference!). The reference is to Lost in Space.. something from the 60s, don't worry about it
Ah, thank you.
I do try to think the best of my fellow hominines.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5km round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25km is a long walk.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
The recent polls are consistently within the margin of error if you take it that the real figure for the September snapshot is 45-46 Lab, 26-27 Tory. Until we see the next lot (as always) bits of possible drift can't be distinguished from noise.
Prediction/betting involves educated calculation and reflection about what the most likely unknowns in the future are, and how it changes. This may well be and often is guesswork, but as long as the formbook is fallible it's part of the picture.
On the polling only a Labour majority is possible. The betting says NOM is a 23% chance. I think it is significantly higher, and NOM remains value.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
The recent polls are consistently within the margin of error if you take it that the real figure for the September snapshot is 45-46 Lab, 26-27 Tory. Until we see the next lot (as always) bits of possible drift can't be distinguished from noise.
Prediction/betting involves educated calculation and reflection about what the most likely unknowns in the future are, and how it changes. This may well be and often is guesswork, but as long as the formbook is fallible it's part of the picture.
On the polling only a Labour majority is possible. The betting says NOM is a 23% chance. I think it is significantly higher, and NOM remains value.
Eyeballing, it seems to me that there was a real, but temporary effect. Polls were stable through July and part of August. Then in August and early September the Tories lost some ground (mainly to Ref rather than Labour). Then Sunak did his meat tax cancellation and the coverage saw a 3-4% gain in the polls. Then people got bored of the meat tax, 7 bins and cancelling climate change and reverted to close to the status quo ante. And here we are.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
Didn't mean you!
Quite so. It is, actually, interesting how quickly the tourist density thins out either side of Housesteads - though the footpathing has greatly improved in recent decades, partly so the **** in their cars can continue to drive along beside (and for long lengths on top of) the Wall without any regard for pedestrians. It was frightening enough in the 1990s, and is much worse now. Personally, I think they ought to introduce a 20mph limit along the entire sector relating to the Wall.*
*miles per hour, not milia passuum per horas - the problem being that Roman hours depeneded on the length of day and therefore time of year.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Prediction: a proper poll with an under 10 point gap by Christmas. Evidence for this from current trends: Nil. But the election has started and in the current climate meaningless populism shores up the vote, and the Tories in their current guise have plenty more to come. And they have put away the dog whistle and introduced the klaxon.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
The All Blacks have summed up the problems of this WC for me. Usually they are always worth watching but they had their only serious group game on the first night followed by irrelevant matches which aren’t worth watching.
It’s almost like they aren’t really there as you expect to be watching lots of their games but not worth the time until the knockouts which might be their last game. So two All Blacks games of note.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
More like visting London in September gives one the total gestalt of being a pubic louse in a wrestler's jockstrap.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
From what I understand he wants to means test it
To be honest my wife and I will receive £600 shortly for the winter fuel allowance tax free, so means testing it would be fairer and we would receive nil
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
More like visting London in September gives one the total gestalt of being a pubic louse in a wrestler's jockstrap.
When a man is tired of London Louse he is tired of lice.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
Didn't mean you!
Quite so. It is, actually, interesting how quickly the tourist density thins out either side of Housesteads - though the footpathing has greatly improved in recent decades, partly so the **** in their cars can continue to drive along beside (and for long lengths on top of) the Wall without any regard for pedestrians. It was frightening enough in the 1990s, and is much worse now. Personally, I think they ought to introduce a 20mph limit along the entire sector relating to the Wall.*
*miles per hour, not milia passuum per horas - the problem being that Roman hours depeneded on the length of day and therefore time of year.
Back in the 1980s / 1990s I used to use the military road as an alternative to the A69 when travelling to Newcastle. Even now, it’s probably quicker. Looking forward to levelling up, when the M69 will be a much better alternative.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I remember the Poll Tax!
Long memory not required. Think back to the disaster of failing to win the unlosable election of 2017 (only called because winning well was certain) following the Dementia Tax.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I remember the Poll Tax!
Long memory not required. Think back to the disaster of failing to win the unlosable election of 2017 (only called because winning well was certain) following the Dementia Tax.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
More like visting London in September gives one the total gestalt of being a pubic louse in a wrestler's jockstrap.
You speak for yourself! Personally, I have never encountered either a pubic louse or a wrestler’s jockstrap!
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I remember the Poll Tax!
So do I; I don’t think we’re quite there yet,
But the signs are there!
Steve Bell had a very nice line in tartan-clad and very grumpy guinea-pigs in his cartoon strip in the Graun. One of his best efforts.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I remember the Poll Tax!
If it wasn’t for unionists, we would have a much fairer local income tax in Scotland.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
I remember the Poll Tax!
So do I; I don’t think we’re quite there yet,
But the signs are there!
The Tories won the next GE after the Poll Tax debacle.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Ayrshire won’t have a climate the same as the IoW in your lifetime. It’ll get wetter, and much milder, but will never have the summer rainfall minimum that the island has because it’s in a different location. Its climate is moving towards that of the SW of Vancouver Island and coastal Oregon.
In 40-50 years the IoW will have a cool sub-Mediterranean climate with summer drought, similar to Vigo or Porto today, as will Sussex and Southern Kent below the downs. Essex, Suffolk and Estuary Kent will have a climate similar to the modern day Valais in Switzerland. Southern Europe will be a scarcely liveable furnace during summer (not a desert, because humidity will rise too. More like the hot semi desert of coastal Gujarat). In the Middle East and South Asia people will be routinely dying from excess heat and humidity.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
From what I understand he wants to means test it
To be honest my wife and I will receive £600 shortly for the winter fuel allowance tax free, so means testing it would be fairer and we would receive nil
Fairer Schmairer, he'll get ripped apart by the pensioner vote. It's political suicide whether or not you think it's a good idea. The man has taken leave of his senses.
It is something a Labour Chancellor would consider
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
More like visting London in September gives one the total gestalt of being a pubic louse in a wrestler's jockstrap.
When a man is tired of London Louse he is tired of lice.
Ye ugly, creepan, blastet wonner, Detested, shunn’d, by saunt an sinner, How daur ye set your fit upon her, Sae fine a Lady! Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner, On some poor body.
Swith, in some beggar’s haffet squattle; There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle, Wi ither kindred, jumping cattle, In shoals and nations; Whare horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle, Your thick plantations.
[...]
O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us An foolish notion: What airs in dress an gait wad lea’e us, And ev’n Devotion!
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Sounds fun. Any politics?
The main politics was the revolt of the Barty tendency against the NIMBYs. Leaving the Lib Dems with accidentally the most pro housebuilding policy of all the parties.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
Didn't mean you!
Quite so. It is, actually, interesting how quickly the tourist density thins out either side of Housesteads - though the footpathing has greatly improved in recent decades, partly so the **** in their cars can continue to drive along beside (and for long lengths on top of) the Wall without any regard for pedestrians. It was frightening enough in the 1990s, and is much worse now. Personally, I think they ought to introduce a 20mph limit along the entire sector relating to the Wall.*
*miles per hour, not milia passuum per horas - the problem being that Roman hours depeneded on the length of day and therefore time of year.
Back in the 1980s / 1990s I used to use the military road as an alternative to the A69 when travelling to Newcastle. Even now, it’s probably quicker. Looking forward to levelling up, when the M69 will be a much better alternative.
Have used it loads over the years, both as a better route and for fun. Plus you get a free rollercoaster ride.
The extension of the Roman road (B6318) from Gilsland to Langholm is one of the wonderful unknown journeys no-one ever does and veers all over the place so much you can get lost on this ostensibly fairly major road which isn't.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
From what I understand he wants to means test it
To be honest my wife and I will receive £600 shortly for the winter fuel allowance tax free, so means testing it would be fairer and we would receive nil
Fairer Schmairer, he'll get ripped apart by the pensioner vote. It's political suicide whether or not you think it's a good idea. The man has taken leave of his senses.
It is something a Labour Chancellor would consider
Means testing has various disadvantages- messy edge effects, discouraging saving, a tendency for some needy people not to claim.
Making various goodies taxable, on the other hand...
In my second home town of Macon, Saône et Loire, September is finishing with an average daytime max temperature of 28.3C. The first 3 days of October will be in the 30s.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Plenty of countries are going to end up with a significantly worse climate. Not colder but worse.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Fortunately for you this is one area where I think the risks have been exaggerated. Mainstream climate science puts a shutdown at no more than 20-30% likelihood.
In my second home town of Macon, Saône et Loire, September is finishing with an average daytime max temperature of 28.3C. The first 3 days of October will be in the 30s.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Fortunately for you this is one area where I think the risks have been exaggerated. Mainstream climate science puts a shutdown at no more than 20-30% likelihood.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
From what I understand he wants to means test it
To be honest my wife and I will receive £600 shortly for the winter fuel allowance tax free, so means testing it would be fairer and we would receive nil
I think a better solution is to tax it, and free bus passes. If you are poor it will cost you nothing. If you're well off, you pay 40% tax or more.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Fortunately for you this is one area where I think the risks have been exaggerated. Mainstream climate science puts a shutdown at no more than 20-30% likelihood.
So that's a 20-30% likelihood of Britain becoming uninhabitable - that's ok then.
I have no idea how the polls develop but Sunak seems to be making a clear dividing line between the conservatives and labour
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
He's also making a clear dividing line between Conservatives and sense. Scrapping the winter fuel allowance? I can't remember anything as crazy as that and I'm old enough to remember Brexit.
From what I understand he wants to means test it
To be honest my wife and I will receive £600 shortly for the winter fuel allowance tax free, so means testing it would be fairer and we would receive nil
I think a better solution is to tax it, and free bus passes. If you are poor it will cost you nothing. If you're well off, you pay 40% tax or more.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Sounds fun. Any politics?
The main politics was the revolt of the Barty tendency against the NIMBYs. Leaving the Lib Dems with accidentally the most pro housebuilding policy of all the parties.
That was an unfortunate vote . The Tories will go full on the Lib Dems are going to turn your town into a housing estate on steroids.
The Lib Dem target seats are full of NIMBYISTS and you have to play the hand your dealt . It was shortsighted and self-defeating to vote for that .
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Ayrshire won’t have a climate the same as the IoW in your lifetime. It’ll get wetter, and much milder, but will never have the summer rainfall minimum that the island has because it’s in a different location. Its climate is moving towards that of the SW of Vancouver Island and coastal Oregon.
In 40-50 years the IoW will have a cool sub-Mediterranean climate with summer drought, similar to Vigo or Porto today, as will Sussex and Southern Kent below the downs. Essex, Suffolk and Estuary Kent will have a climate similar to the modern day Valais in Switzerland. Southern Europe will be a scarcely liveable furnace during summer (not a desert, because humidity will rise too. More like the hot semi desert of coastal Gujarat). In the Middle East and South Asia people will be routinely dying from excess heat and humidity.
Two trains collide at Aviemore Station with 2 passengers taken to Raigmore Hospital
Flying Scotsman involved apparently.
Ah, the steam loco rather than the named train, apparently. It sounds as if it the loco ran into a stationary carriage on the platform with the preserved Strathmore Railway rather than the Scotrail main line, but the latter has (unsurprisingly) been closed as it'd have been on the adjacent platform.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
I think the people of the Tuvalu and the Maldives might have a good claim too
My biggest fear for Labour is that if the polls remain like this next year they might do something risky in terms of policy.
I may be wrong but I think only two approaches to policy, apart from retail trivia like VAT on other people's schools and Fair Isle jampot cover collections to be exempt from IHT, are possible. Before the election you are going to have to guess and after the election you are going to have to wait and see.
And when you consider how any sort of honesty and integrity in electioneering is treated both by the media and voter it is not possible to blame them.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
More like visting London in September gives one the total gestalt of being a pubic louse in a wrestler's jockstrap.
When a man is tired of London Louse he is tired of lice.
Ye ugly, creepan, blastet wonner, Detested, shunn’d, by saunt an sinner, How daur ye set your fit upon her, Sae fine a Lady! Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner, On some poor body.
Swith, in some beggar’s haffet squattle; There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle, Wi ither kindred, jumping cattle, In shoals and nations; Whare horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle, Your thick plantations.
[...]
O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us An foolish notion: What airs in dress an gait wad lea’e us, And ev’n Devotion!
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Fortunately for you this is one area where I think the risks have been exaggerated. Mainstream climate science puts a shutdown at no more than 20-30% likelihood.
So that's a 20-30% likelihood of Britain becoming uninhabitable - that's ok then.
Shut down of the gulf stream doesn't make us uninhabitable. We'll still be maritime.
Broadly, quite dry, very grey, bits of east coast drizzle, and temperature averages dropping by more from current the further north you get - a steeper temperature gradient with Scotland getting a lot colder and London staying close to current.
And I guess we'll still get the odd bit from the south, West and east to mix it up a bit, just a lot less than now.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Plenty of countries are going to end up with a significantly worse climate. Not colder but worse.
I had a bit of an epiphany last August, in Corsica, when I stepped into the sea the first evening after arriving and felt like I was wading into a bathtub. The sea temperature was 30C. Sea should not be 30C.
For the rest of the week it was hot when we got up in the morning, ridiculously hot during the day, and uncomfortably hot in the evening. It never cooled down.
I grew up in a British context where warm equals good. Suddenly I understood why Madrilenos head for the North coast in summer and why heatwaves - not floods or hurricanes but basic heat - are the weather phenomenon most inimical to human life. Because they can last an entire season, with no respite except air conditioning.
So to me, “good” weather used to mean hot and sunny. Now it means temperatures in a range between 25 and 32, and no higher.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Sounds fun. Any politics?
The main politics was the revolt of the Barty tendency against the NIMBYs. Leaving the Lib Dems with accidentally the most pro housebuilding policy of all the parties.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Sounds fun. Any politics?
The main politics was the revolt of the Barty tendency against the NIMBYs. Leaving the Lib Dems with accidentally the most pro housebuilding policy of all the parties.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
But they'll get guaranteed coverage in an election campaign, which may be part of why the party often over-performs its midterm polling.
Temperature are higher than during the little ice age? Shock, horror!
It's up a degree in my lifetime!
Another few degrees and Scotland would have a pleasant climate. Every time I went down south it seemed 10 degrees warmer. I would like Ayrshire to have have the same climate that the Isle Of Wight currently has. Selfish? Moi?
Global heating might just have the opposite effect on Scotland. Things are warmer in Scotland than they "should" be. If fluid circulation changes due to melting sea ice, we might find our climate turning more Faroe than Fareham
Knowing Scotland’s luck, global warming will halt the gulf stream, and we will be the only country on earth with a worse climate.
Fortunately for you this is one area where I think the risks have been exaggerated. Mainstream climate science puts a shutdown at no more than 20-30% likelihood.
So that's a 20-30% likelihood of Britain becoming uninhabitable - that's ok then.
Shut down of the gulf stream doesn't make us uninhabitable. We'll still be maritime.
Broadly, quite dry, very grey, bits of east coast drizzle, and temperature averages dropping by more from current the further north you get - a steeper temperature gradient with Scotland getting a lot colder and London staying close to current.
And I guess we'll still get the odd bit from the south, West and east to mix it up a bit, just a lot less than now.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
Didn't mean you!
Quite so. It is, actually, interesting how quickly the tourist density thins out either side of Housesteads - though the footpathing has greatly improved in recent decades, partly so the **** in their cars can continue to drive along beside (and for long lengths on top of) the Wall without any regard for pedestrians. It was frightening enough in the 1990s, and is much worse now. Personally, I think they ought to introduce a 20mph limit along the entire sector relating to the Wall.*
*miles per hour, not milia passuum per horas - the problem being that Roman hours depeneded on the length of day and therefore time of year.
We cycled it and didn't have any problems (though the Sustrans route is great for keeping you off the main road).
Incidentally, I think the latest road collision data shows that, for the first time, walking is more dangerous than driving per mile.
Mr Roberts talks about how safe the roads are - safe for drivers.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Sounds fun. Any politics?
The main politics was the revolt of the Barty tendency against the NIMBYs. Leaving the Lib Dems with accidentally the most pro housebuilding policy of all the parties.
Incidentally, has the Lib Dem conference ended yet? It's barely been mentioned on here (at least as far as I've seen...), and there's been no threader about it (again, unless I've missed one).
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
Yes it has ended. I was at it.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high. Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Sounds fun. Any politics?
The main politics was the revolt of the Barty tendency against the NIMBYs. Leaving the Lib Dems with accidentally the most pro housebuilding policy of all the parties.
But not in their own constituency.
The great thing with NIMBYism is precisely what the acronym says. You can be massively in favour of housebuilding- concrete over the entire country - just not in your own backyard. Because reasons. I’ve no doubt my more unprincipled Lib Dem allies in marginal seats will deploy this. That’s why NIMBYism is such a compelling ideology.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
A 16 year-old would not have a driving licence, which means he is unlikely to own a vehicle.
It doesn't quite work like that off road in rural/farming communities, and where the nearest policemen are in Newcastle and Carlisle.
0°C is arbitrary, however, so there's not much reason why that's a better starting point... or do you want it to start at 0K?
It’s not arbitrary, it’s the freezing point of water. Less arbitrary than the scale Rees Mogg is planning for us after they win the next motorist’s rights election.
The idea Gen Z are all vegetarian and vegan is bullshit.
I've just seen a sign-up list of 65 of them for an event I'm running that asks about special dietary requirements and only 9 are vegetarian or vegan (only 4 are vegan).
Everyone else? Normal.
FPT
I'm not a vegetarian - but it is quite out of order to call them abnormal, subnormal, whatever.
For one thing, the idea that dietary restrictions are wrong will get you into serious trouble at any sensible workplace.
Saying that meat-eaters are normal is not identical to calling vegetarians abnormal or subnormal. One of the delights of the English language is that there are a wide variety of words, and so you can choose the precise word for the precise nuance you want to use. Unusual, for example, would work a lot better, and not carry any of the negative connotations that go along with abnormal.
(FPT) Perhaps we were right to wonder how a 16 year-old was an experienced tree feller, and also managed to drive himself to the middle of nowhere, and wasn't it convenient that at his age he'd get a slapped wrist.
Not quite the middle of nowhere - but with either a non-trivial hike of some hectometres and/or the need for a quad bike.
It's concerning how many people consider it "a long hike" - it's a 2.5k round trip. Approx 30 mins.
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25k is a long walk.
Sure, it's a doddle normally, and I did say hectometres (tenths of a km), but I was thinking in terms of carrying a substantial chainsaw in stormy conditions.
Didn't mean you!
Quite so. It is, actually, interesting how quickly the tourist density thins out either side of Housesteads - though the footpathing has greatly improved in recent decades, partly so the **** in their cars can continue to drive along beside (and for long lengths on top of) the Wall without any regard for pedestrians. It was frightening enough in the 1990s, and is much worse now. Personally, I think they ought to introduce a 20mph limit along the entire sector relating to the Wall.*
*miles per hour, not milia passuum per horas - the problem being that Roman hours depeneded on the length of day and therefore time of year.
Back in the 1980s / 1990s I used to use the military road as an alternative to the A69 when travelling to Newcastle. Even now, it’s probably quicker. Looking forward to levelling up, when the M69 will be a much better alternative.
Have used it loads over the years, both as a better route and for fun. Plus you get a free rollercoaster ride.
The extension of the Roman road (B6318) from Gilsland to Langholm is one of the wonderful unknown journeys no-one ever does and veers all over the place so much you can get lost on this ostensibly fairly major road which isn't.
Sounds like a great road. Even better than the B6342 from Hexham to Rothbury.
Comments
https://twitter.com/search?q=lizard eats goat&src=typed_query
- memories of the Truss disaster fade (likely but won't be enough by itself)
- he finally adopts popular policies with traction (unlikely but possible)
- he stops being wooden and gets the vision thing (unlikely but possible)
- the media and the public start to despise Starmer (unlikely but possible)
- a left-wing breakaway party reduces Labour's share (VERY unlikely but just about conceivable)
- the Lib-Dems start to eat into Labour's share not the Tories' significantly and the Scots Nats stage a recovery (VERY unlikely and unlikely respectively)
- events, dear boy (by definition very difficult to predict)
or some combination of the above. Overall, I'd give it a 15-20% chance. But of course it will be much easier to backcast what happened from 2027 and why it had to happen than it is to look ahead now.
This seems to sum up the current Lib Dem's main problem: they may have brilliant ideas to sort the country out, but they're so invisible no-one knows about them...
I'm not a vegetarian - but it is quite out of order to call them abnormal, subnormal, whatever.
For one thing, the idea that dietary restrictions are wrong will get you into serious trouble at any sensible workplace.
Sycamore Gap story develops.
2. Whilst they would make less of a mess of things they don't have the brilliant ideas
3. They don't have the people to communicate the ideas they do have
4. Even if people thought they had policies and people worth voting for, in FPTP starting 3rd or worse in the vast majority of constituencies, voters will be reluctant to "waste" their vote.
Otherwise all going well.
At this rate of progress can't take long Shirley?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/66957427
I do try to think the best of my fellow hominines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWwOJlOI1nU
The normalisation of inactivity. Anything over 25km is a long walk.
Disco the first night 'til 1am. Karaoke the second night, Glee club the third night. Quite exhausting but morale very high.
Packed. And Bournemouth at its sunny best. And 78 policies agreed. We know how to have fun. Wait for the Tory Conference
Prediction/betting involves educated calculation and reflection about what the most likely unknowns in the future are, and how it changes. This may well be and often is guesswork, but as long as the formbook is fallible it's part of the picture.
On the polling only a Labour majority is possible. The betting says NOM is a 23% chance. I think it is significantly higher, and NOM remains value.
Also
Kiwis 49 Italy 3 at half time
Europe needs just 8 wins in the remaining 20 to win the Ryder Cuo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq3xY4Q5_nc
*miles per hour, not milia passuum per horas - the problem being that Roman hours depeneded on the length of day and therefore time of year.
It’s almost like they aren’t really there as you expect to be watching lots of their games but not worth the time until the knockouts which might be their last game. So two All Blacks games of note.
To be honest my wife and I will receive £600 shortly for the winter fuel allowance tax free, so means testing it would be fairer and we would receive nil
That was an amazing result winning by just 56 votes , one of which was mine !.
"The party with a massive lead... Let's make ourselves different to them!"
Labour lead averaging a tadge over 20.
Labour lead averaging a tadge under 20, as now.
It might be the start of a more significant polling change. Or it might be another of the oscillations that have been going on for months.
Conference next. Let's see what has happened once everyone is back from the "seaside".
You might bump into Suella Braverman.
But the signs are there!
Now, it could just be someone going undercover in a care home, or that ilk, but maybe this time it isn't.
In 40-50 years the IoW will have a cool sub-Mediterranean climate with summer drought, similar to Vigo or Porto today, as will Sussex and Southern Kent below the downs. Essex, Suffolk and Estuary Kent will have a climate similar to the modern day Valais in Switzerland. Southern Europe will be a scarcely liveable furnace during summer (not a desert, because humidity will rise too. More like the hot semi desert of coastal Gujarat). In the Middle East and South Asia people will be routinely dying from excess heat and humidity.
Detested, shunn’d, by saunt an sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her,
Sae fine a Lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner,
On some poor body.
Swith, in some beggar’s haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle,
Wi ither kindred, jumping cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle,
Your thick plantations.
[...]
O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An foolish notion:
What airs in dress an gait wad lea’e us,
And ev’n Devotion!
(Too niche?)
The extension of the Roman road (B6318) from Gilsland to Langholm is one of the wonderful unknown journeys no-one ever does and veers all over the place so much you can get lost on this ostensibly fairly major road which isn't.
Making various goodies taxable, on the other hand...
This is not normal.
Phew!
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/transport/6204595/two-trains-collided-near-aviemore/
The Lib Dem target seats are full of NIMBYISTS and you have to play the hand your dealt . It was shortsighted and self-defeating to vote for that .
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23824696.multiple-injuries-two-trains-collide-aviemore/
And when you consider how any sort of honesty and integrity in electioneering is treated both by the media and voter it is not possible to blame them.
Broadly, quite dry, very grey, bits of east coast drizzle, and temperature averages dropping by more from current the further north you get - a steeper temperature gradient with Scotland getting a lot colder and London staying close to current.
And I guess we'll still get the odd bit from the south, West and east to mix it up a bit, just a lot less than now.
For the rest of the week it was hot when we got up in the morning, ridiculously hot during the day, and uncomfortably hot in the evening. It never cooled down.
I grew up in a British context where warm equals good. Suddenly I understood why Madrilenos head for the North coast in summer and why heatwaves - not floods or hurricanes but basic heat - are the weather phenomenon most inimical to human life. Because they can last an entire season, with no respite except air conditioning.
So to me, “good” weather used to mean hot and sunny. Now it means temperatures in a range between 25 and 32, and no higher.
Incidentally, I think the latest road collision data shows that, for the first time, walking is more dangerous than driving per mile.
Mr Roberts talks about how safe the roads are - safe for drivers.