On the bright side for whoever it is, the Tories have broken the criminal justice system. Getting to trial at all will be a long process. And its only a few weeks that judges were told not to send convicted rapists to jail as they were already overflowing.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Two ways that peace comes about.
One is total victory/total defeat (which isn't going to happen, is it?)
The other is when enough people on both sides conclude they prefer peace to ongoing war, even if the price is making concessions. I wonder how big that slice of opinion is on each side.
Part of the problem with the Israel/Palestine situation is the number of people on both sides who prefer ongoing war to making concessions. The other, nastier problem is those who prefer ongoing war as a good in itself, becuase of the status and security it gives them. To an extent, Hamas needs Netanyahu and Netanyahu needs Hamas.
This has put the issue of getting Palestine back on the map back on the map, but it's surely taken Hamas out of the equation long term (even if not destroyed) because it's hard to see how they could be tolerated as part of any negotiations after their atrocity on 7 Oct.
Surprise! And a nasty one at that. The September 9th issue of The Economist has a cover story titled "The New Middle East". The subtitle is: "More money and less mayhem. For now."
Nothing in the story suggests the Hamas terrorist attack may be about to happen. (Except possibly that last sentence in the subitle.)
So, how did The Economist miss the approaching storm? Perhaps the publication, for understandable reasons, pays too much attention to making money, and too little attention to deep hatreds.
Perhaps also because Iran and Hamas saw they were losing out, with it becoming more likely that the Saudis and Israelis would soon sign a peace agreement -- and both would make their peoples even better off.
You are the second person to mention the rapprochement between KSA and Israel, but I think that's somewhat old news. They both supported (KSA publicly, Israel a lot more more surreptitiously) efforts by Islamic militants to overthrow Assad, and as far as I can see for some years their enmity has been more public than private. The real rivalry in the Middle East is Iran and its allies (including Russia) vs. KSA and its allies (including the West), and it's the rapprochement of Iran and KSA under the auspices of China that is a far bigger news story to me, with far bigger implications for Israel.
There are also advantages to the solo, wandering life
Cheers from Ortigia
If Mrs RP ever decides to get shut of me, I will buy a van and basically spend my time on the road. Why be stuck in a pokey expensive rental when you can travel?
When I quit my job and started tutoring, I had this half-formed idea of doing more travel to warmer places in winter while taking my laptop so I could still work.
Hasn't quite worked out as although I'm earning an absolute mint at the moment I have to be on site for much of it, but maybe next year.
I'm doing better and better with my consulting gig (now into my 4th year) and could be based anywhere. Moving to rural Aberdeenshire is already "anywhere" compared to the usual places someone at my level in this industry would be based.
So why not push that further again. Have seen a few vanlife channels on YouTube and a few seem to have done Tesla. With my channel also rocketing forward in terms of views and revenues there could be some crossover thing I could do. Hoovie seem's to have survived the transition from Hoovie's Garage to getting the boot...
Vanlife does not work. You have to park it and it is not easy getting a place to do it. Damp is almost unavoidable. If you live in a van permanently you have no address and hence no GP. If you live in a van temporarily you have to buy the thing and if it's good enough to sleep in it's too expensive to justify the expense. Plus you are incredibly vulnerable if somebody breaks in. Don't do it.
I do feel sorry for John Major. He only had the auto-erotic-asphyxiation guy, which seems something of a banality these days, but that in itself was enough to sink him.
I appreciate that the perception filter/somebody else's problem field is still in effect around Boris Johnson, but by all the angels above how can we discuss plagiarism without mentioning him. Y'know. Fat scruffy bloke. Used to be PM. That one.
I'll not "stand with Israel" because of the things they have done and will do in Gaza (and indeed the West Bank). Neither do I stand with Gaza and Hamas.
I stand with those on both sides who wish for no more hatred and senseless death. Sadly, from the outside, they seem a minority, but perhaps it is not so.
There's a basic problem here though - every one wants an end to senseless deaths - but the problem that Hamas and, previously, Israeli hardliners have become adept at exploiting is the terrorist's veto. By that I mean the fact that as long as there is a significant minority who do want genocidal violence, then it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to do the kind of things that would start the ball rolling on peace and live side by side. As long as there are 50,000+ armed young men in Gaza belonging to an organisation whose charter is only indistinguishable from Nazism in its religious allusions, and who share those beliefs, there's going to be some kind of security arrangements that Palestinians justifiably find abhorrent. That's previously been exploited by both sides' hardliners to create misery for Palestinians. But now sadly puts the Israelis in an impossible position - the only way some kind of peace and security can be achieved is in operationally destroying Hamas - as a ceasefire just leaves them intact to plan the next outrage when Hezbollah might also have a crack, but Hamas will ensure the human cost of efforts to get rid of them is huge. There are really no good options here - and I fear those who go a bit John Lennon about it all are deluding themselves. Which is why everything ends up full of horror. There maybe no good outcome that doesn't involve either the human cost of militarily removing Hamas, or the future human cost of appeasement that strengthens both Hamas and its allies in dictatorial regimes who will have absolutely no hesitation to wipe out Israel and who have already caused huge bloodshed across the region, far more than the Israelis have ever managed.
You write articulately and persuasively
But please learn to paragraph! It’s not hard
Just do a paragraph every three or four sentences. That’s all it takes
Disagree. It's his USP. I like the different styles on here. His one is like Kerouac meets Times editorial.
I'll not "stand with Israel" because of the things they have done and will do in Gaza (and indeed the West Bank). Neither do I stand with Gaza and Hamas.
I stand with those on both sides who wish for no more hatred and senseless death. Sadly, from the outside, they seem a minority, but perhaps it is not so.
There's a basic problem here though - every one wants an end to senseless deaths - but the problem that Hamas and, previously, Israeli hardliners have become adept at exploiting is the terrorist's veto. By that I mean the fact that as long as there is a significant minority who do want genocidal violence, then it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to do the kind of things that would start the ball rolling on peace and live side by side. As long as there are 50,000+ armed young men in Gaza belonging to an organisation whose charter is only indistinguishable from Nazism in its religious allusions, and who share those beliefs, there's going to be some kind of security arrangements that Palestinians justifiably find abhorrent. That's previously been exploited by both sides' hardliners to create misery for Palestinians. But now sadly puts the Israelis in an impossible position - the only way some kind of peace and security can be achieved is in operationally destroying Hamas - as a ceasefire just leaves them intact to plan the next outrage when Hezbollah might also have a crack, but Hamas will ensure the human cost of efforts to get rid of them is huge. There are really no good options here - and I fear those who go a bit John Lennon about it all are deluding themselves. Which is why everything ends up full of horror. There maybe no good outcome that doesn't involve either the human cost of militarily removing Hamas, or the future human cost of appeasement that strengthens both Hamas and its allies in dictatorial regimes who will have absolutely no hesitation to wipe out Israel and who have already caused huge bloodshed across the region, far more than the Israelis have ever managed.
You write articulately and persuasively
But please learn to paragraph! It’s not hard
Just do a paragraph every three or four sentences. That’s all it takes
Disagree. It's his USP. I like the different styles on here. His one is like Kerouac meets Times editorial.
With you there, Kin.
It's his natural style, and by no means inelegant. It may not be quite what's required for The Flintknappers Gazette, but it suits me fine.
I do feel sorry for John Major. He only had the auto-erotic-asphyxiation guy, which seems something of a banality these days, but that in itself was enough to sink him.
Milligan was first rate comedy (pearl clutchers fuck off, it was funny and you know it was) but Major had way more scandals than just that. Dinky Duncan, Aitken, Hamilton, etc.
They do seem to be coming in a steady procession now. Not Rishi's fault at all, but every few months, there are a couple of by-elections...
From the Guardian report,
Another sitting Conservative MP, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested in May 2022 on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault and rape. He has not been charged.
“I'm sure many people in a long term relationship would struggle to sustain a two hour conversation with their partner - I think I would. What is there to talk about for that long that one doesn't already know your partner's views on, and they yours? I've been thinking about my relationship with my wife today as it's our 21st wedding anniversary - and tomorrow we will have been "going out" for 29 years. I can't say what our secret is - I wouldn't hold us up as some kind of ideal couple, anyway. I think we both love and like and respect each other, we are both monogamous by nature, we have similar senses of humour and we find each other attractive - me with better reason!
SNIP
I suspect we both also don't like the idea of being alone. By contrast, you seem to be quite happy with your own company and not that monogamous by nature, so perhaps a long relationship isn't something you really want? I would certainly recommend it, I can't imagine life without my wife but I would guess it's not for everyone.”
++++
Good for you. Seriously. I often envy my happily married friends but then I often feel the opposite of envy too (why isn’t there a precise word for that?)
I am definitely not the monogamous domestic type. I generally feel trapped. My short but very happy marriage was a startling anomaly - she’s quite an unusual person - and so am I
I hope I die on the road. In some tiny town in a remote part of Baluchistan, or lost in a ravine in Svalberg, or of an overdose in a backstreet in Valparaiso, or by driving over a cliff in Assynt. Dying alone and unnoticed will be totally fine with me. We all die alone in the end
I’ll probably expire in a nursing home in Hastings but a man can dream
Wouldn't 'supercilious' fit the bill?
Cheers from Heraklion And I honestly don't know how I didn't kill any motorcyclists on my minor tour of Knossos and Phaistos. They are all fucking mental.
What did you think of Knossos?
Tbh it disappointed me. Over restored and over painted. Weirdly like legoland
Crete has many wonders but Knossos is not one of them for me
We visited Knossos earlier in the year and I was a bit torn on it. I know the right answer is that the restoration and reconstruction work by the British dude is a travesty, but I thought that it probably did help to bring the palace alive a bit - without it, it would have just been a load of foundations. The sheer size of the site is impressive anyway. I was surprised at how interesting our kids found it, too.
Visited it many decades ago, Along with the scale I remeber being most impressed by the extensive terracotta plumbing system.
I think that the (pretty minor) restoration is fine.
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
we really shouldn't. you expose yourself to being sued (even here) for defamation if you are wrong. unless you know something the rest of us don't you will be wrong.
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
Interestingly, the Graun is also blacking out the name of ***** Plod. (Though what's the point of the Speaker not announcing which Honourable Member has been felt, when it only leads to - as indeed suggested ironically on PB earlier - a guessing game, and every other MP getting at least some of the splashes of brown stuff?)
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Upon reflection I find the fact that the FT, who will doubtless recommend voting Labour this time, published it more interesting than the story. She should be their Golden Girl.
I do feel sorry for John Major. He only had the auto-erotic-asphyxiation guy, which seems something of a banality these days, but that in itself was enough to sink him.
Milligan was first rate comedy (pearl clutchers fuck off, it was funny and you know it was) but Major had way more scandals than just that. Dinky Duncan, Aitken, Hamilton, etc.
I'll never forget the few hours one day in September 2014 when Mark Reckless defected to UKIP and rumours swirled that a Tory MP had been sending dick pics to a journo.
There were some very crossed wires on Team Cameron WhatsApp chats that day until the latter story was confirmed.
'Wait Mark Reckless has defected to UKIP because he was sending dick pics?'
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
Met is no good. No standing in most of E, W, S and NI (and no competent knowledge of the law in much of the UK archipelago). Unless you think that MP's sex lives are as important a state secret as those protected by Special Branch, or a threat to the state comparable to those countered by the anti-terrorist forces? Hmm. I can see that some MPs in particular might feel that way,
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Upon reflection I find the fact that the FT, who will doubtless recommend voting Labour this time, published it more interesting than the story. She should be their Golden Girl.
I'm reminded of the time SLAB thought it had discovered a SNP minister making misleading changes to quotations from some outside source or other. They got very excited when they found that several words up to a para or two had been deleted and replaced by three full stops inside two square brackets. Spent a fair bit of Holyrood chamber time on it, as I seem to recall.
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
“I'm sure many people in a long term relationship would struggle to sustain a two hour conversation with their partner - I think I would. What is there to talk about for that long that one doesn't already know your partner's views on, and they yours? I've been thinking about my relationship with my wife today as it's our 21st wedding anniversary - and tomorrow we will have been "going out" for 29 years. I can't say what our secret is - I wouldn't hold us up as some kind of ideal couple, anyway. I think we both love and like and respect each other, we are both monogamous by nature, we have similar senses of humour and we find each other attractive - me with better reason!
SNIP
I suspect we both also don't like the idea of being alone. By contrast, you seem to be quite happy with your own company and not that monogamous by nature, so perhaps a long relationship isn't something you really want? I would certainly recommend it, I can't imagine life without my wife but I would guess it's not for everyone.”
++++
Good for you. Seriously. I often envy my happily married friends but then I often feel the opposite of envy too (why isn’t there a precise word for that?)
I am definitely not the monogamous domestic type. I generally feel trapped. My short but very happy marriage was a startling anomaly - she’s quite an unusual person - and so am I
I hope I die on the road. In some tiny town in a remote part of Baluchistan, or lost in a ravine in Svalberg, or of an overdose in a backstreet in Valparaiso, or by driving over a cliff in Assynt. Dying alone and unnoticed will be totally fine with me. We all die alone in the end
I’ll probably expire in a nursing home in Hastings but a man can dream
Wouldn't 'supercilious' fit the bill?
Cheers from Heraklion And I honestly don't know how I didn't kill any motorcyclists on my minor tour of Knossos and Phaistos. They are all fucking mental.
What did you think of Knossos?
Tbh it disappointed me. Over restored and over painted. Weirdly like legoland
Crete has many wonders but Knossos is not one of them for me
We visited Knossos earlier in the year and I was a bit torn on it. I know the right answer is that the restoration and reconstruction work by the British dude is a travesty, but I thought that it probably did help to bring the palace alive a bit - without it, it would have just been a load of foundations. The sheer size of the site is impressive anyway. I was surprised at how interesting our kids found it, too.
Visited it many decades ago, Along with the scale I remeber being most impressed by the extensive terracotta plumbing system.
I think that the (pretty minor) restoration is fine.
Going back to OLB's point - I cherish every moment with my wife, but yes, we do rather know everything about each other now. But we have kids - so we are never short of things to talk about. It's actual opportunities to talk just to each other which are hard to come by...
Three comments, which may help some of you understand why I think he may be a disappointment to the Loser. First, Johnson is, above all, an evangelical Christian. Mike Pence's faith made him do the right thing when it was most important, and I would expect the same to be true of of Johnson.
Second, there is no mention of Trump, or the 2020 election, in the entire speech.
Third, he does give some indications of his legislative priorities, including this on our budget deficits: "We have to get the country back on track. We know this won't be an easy task, and tough decisions will have to be made. The consequences, if we don't act now, are unbearable.
We have a duty to the American people to explain this to them so they understand it well. And we are going to establish a bipartisan debt commission to begin working on this crisis immediately. Immediately."
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
I appreciate that the perception filter/somebody else's problem field is still in effect around Boris Johnson, but by all the angels above how can we discuss plagiarism without mentioning him. Y'know. Fat scruffy bloke. Used to be PM. That one.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
No it is in thinking that in saying a book is by her - having her name in the title; going to all the glitzy launch bashes - she could pass the work on to RAs, who were proably poorly-paid for the endeavour. And probably did not go to the glitzy launch.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
No it is in thinking that in saying a book is by her - having her name in the title; going to all the glitzy launch bashes - she could pass the work on to RAs, who were proably poorly-paid for the endeavour. And probably did not go to the glitzy launch.
That's business as usual,.though. If we don't think that's what all these books are like, that's on us too.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
No it is in thinking that in saying a book is by her - having her name in the title; going to all the glitzy launch bashes - she could pass the work on to RAs, who were proably poorly-paid for the endeavour. And probably did not go to the glitzy launch.
That's business as usual,.though. If we don't think that's what all these books are like, that's on us too.
I always think the job of a professional ghost writer must be a very strange endeavour.
I am reminded of the movie the prestige where Hugh Jackman character has to spend evey night under the stage as his drunk talentless dopplerganger takes all the applause for the magic trick.
It doesn't surprise me that he might have got himself in a "situation". That doesn't mean he did was is being alleged, but he has had rather a midlife transition and pretty open about being pro-drugs legalisation / anti banning things like poppers.
We all assume that waiting as long as possible for something to turn up is in the Tories’ best interests. But what if this is as good as it gets? Every month there’s either a new example of an MP with his hands where they should be (the till or elsewhere) or a new policy failure. And the good or at least reasonable stuff just gets ignored.
Landslide remains underpriced I think. Every month that passes without Tories getting into the low to mid 30s gets us closer. As do new by-elections, and indeed the 2024 locals. And the prospect of Trump acting like even more of a c**t next Autumn than last time while appearing to make common cause with the conservatives.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
No it is in thinking that in saying a book is by her - having her name in the title; going to all the glitzy launch bashes - she could pass the work on to RAs, who were proably poorly-paid for the endeavour. And probably did not go to the glitzy launch.
That's business as usual,.though. If we don't think that's what all these books are like, that's on us too.
Indeed. But if your name's on the cover, you get the responsibility - if it fails as well as if it succeeds.
She's also throwing her RAs under the bus as well: ""In the acknowledgements I acknowledged the research assistants that I had, particularly on the facts and the detail that went into the pen portraits of the women that I speak about."
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
Tory MPs going into overdrive over Reeves . Stupid not to have referenced properly but hardly a crime given the latest accusations against a Tory MP.
#Draintheswamp!
Also: if Wiki is pretty much by definition Creative Commons v-whatever-.0, and there is a blanket credit to CC in the book (I assume), then what's the beef?
The foolishness on Reeves' part was not realising that lazy RAs cull directly from Wikipedia these days. Unfortunately, Universities don't seem to be able to drum this out of them.
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
No it is in thinking that in saying a book is by her - having her name in the title; going to all the glitzy launch bashes - she could pass the work on to RAs, who were proably poorly-paid for the endeavour. And probably did not go to the glitzy launch.
That's business as usual,.though. If we don't think that's what all these books are like, that's on us too.
I always think the job of a professional ghost writer must be a very strange endeavour.
I am reminded of the movie the prestige where Hugh Jackman character has to spend evey night under the stage as his drunk talentless dopplerganger takes all the applause for the magic trick.
There is a film I like called “the ghost” with Piers Brosnan as a Blair type ex PM and Ewan McGregor as his ghostwriter out in some v nice pad on the northeast coast of the US.
I do feel sorry for John Major. He only had the auto-erotic-asphyxiation guy, which seems something of a banality these days, but that in itself was enough to sink him.
One difference, so far, is that Major suffered a number of defections in his last phase, which continued even after the 97 election when the Tories went into opposition. Even as late as 2007 Quentin Davies defected to Labour shortly after Gordon Brown became PM.
So far no floor-crossings during Rishi's tenure as PM. (Apart from the SNP lady, of course). However the by-elections are far more damaging. And, by my count, we seem to now have possibly three in the offing. Makes a recovery so much more difficult when the timeline is punctuated by these electoral pratfalls. He must wonder why he bothers sometimes.
Surprise! And a nasty one at that. The September 9th issue of The Economist has a cover story titled "The New Middle East". The subtitle is: "More money and less mayhem. For now."
Nothing in the story suggests the Hamas terrorist attack may be about to happen. (Except possibly that last sentence in the subitle.)
So, how did The Economist miss the approaching storm? Perhaps the publication, for understandable reasons, pays too much attention to making money, and too little attention to deep hatreds.
Perhaps also because Iran and Hamas saw they were losing out, with it becoming more likely that the Saudis and Israelis would soon sign a peace agreement -- and both would make their peoples even better off.
I may be wrong but your post appears to suggest The Economist was responsible for this catastrophic intelligence failure? I like The Economist but even I am not sure its news gathering operation is more capable than the Israeli intelligence services.
Alastair Meeks on Twitter reckons we might be committing libel by mentioning Surrey Police. There's a bit of me that thinks anything like this should be done by the Met for this very reason.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
If I remember my McNae, you can - but only a very small group that you are very obviously casting suspicion on. So, 29-year-old footballer or 'Top TV presenter' - fine. Striker for Melchester Rovers - probably not.
So you aren't by naming the force - as an alleged offence being committed under their jurisdiction doesn't necessarily mean it's an MP for that area - and you can't be blamed for others deciding it is someone on very limited facts. The Guardian may have chosen not to print the name of the force though, knowing this is exactly what would happen these days, and any hint that would set people off might be ethically questionable.
“I'm sure many people in a long term relationship would struggle to sustain a two hour conversation with their partner - I think I would. What is there to talk about for that long that one doesn't already know your partner's views on, and they yours? I've been thinking about my relationship with my wife today as it's our 21st wedding anniversary - and tomorrow we will have been "going out" for 29 years. I can't say what our secret is - I wouldn't hold us up as some kind of ideal couple, anyway. I think we both love and like and respect each other, we are both monogamous by nature, we have similar senses of humour and we find each other attractive - me with better reason!
SNIP
I suspect we both also don't like the idea of being alone. By contrast, you seem to be quite happy with your own company and not that monogamous by nature, so perhaps a long relationship isn't something you really want? I would certainly recommend it, I can't imagine life without my wife but I would guess it's not for everyone.”
++++
Good for you. Seriously. I often envy my happily married friends but then I often feel the opposite of envy too (why isn’t there a precise word for that?)
I am definitely not the monogamous domestic type. I generally feel trapped. My short but very happy marriage was a startling anomaly - she’s quite an unusual person - and so am I
I hope I die on the road. In some tiny town in a remote part of Baluchistan, or lost in a ravine in Svalberg, or of an overdose in a backstreet in Valparaiso, or by driving over a cliff in Assynt. Dying alone and unnoticed will be totally fine with me. We all die alone in the end
I’ll probably expire in a nursing home in Hastings but a man can dream
Wouldn't 'supercilious' fit the bill?
Cheers from Heraklion And I honestly don't know how I didn't kill any motorcyclists on my minor tour of Knossos and Phaistos. They are all fucking mental.
What did you think of Knossos?
Tbh it disappointed me. Over restored and over painted. Weirdly like legoland
Crete has many wonders but Knossos is not one of them for me
We visited Knossos earlier in the year and I was a bit torn on it. I know the right answer is that the restoration and reconstruction work by the British dude is a travesty, but I thought that it probably did help to bring the palace alive a bit - without it, it would have just been a load of foundations. The sheer size of the site is impressive anyway. I was surprised at how interesting our kids found it, too.
Visited it many decades ago, Along with the scale I remeber being most impressed by the extensive terracotta plumbing system.
I think that the (pretty minor) restoration is fine.
Going back to OLB's point - I cherish every moment with my wife, but yes, we do rather know everything about each other now. But we have kids - so we are never short of things to talk about. It's actual opportunities to talk just to each other which are hard to come by...
You never know everything. Hence the resonance of the pina colada song.
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Surprise! And a nasty one at that. The September 9th issue of The Economist has a cover story titled "The New Middle East". The subtitle is: "More money and less mayhem. For now."
Nothing in the story suggests the Hamas terrorist attack may be about to happen. (Except possibly that last sentence in the subitle.)
So, how did The Economist miss the approaching storm? Perhaps the publication, for understandable reasons, pays too much attention to making money, and too little attention to deep hatreds.
Perhaps also because Iran and Hamas saw they were losing out, with it becoming more likely that the Saudis and Israelis would soon sign a peace agreement -- and both would make their peoples even better off.
I may be wrong but your post appears to suggest The Economist was responsible for this catastrophic intelligence failure? I like The Economist but even I am not sure its news gathering operation is more capable than the Israeli intelligence services.
Or, perhaps, the reason Hamas launched the attack was that there were indications that the ME was becoming more stable, with less mayhem? After all, peace is not exactly lucrative for them.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Were there to be an election, I would think the LDs would nab it, and some poor non-entity would get to be an MP for a solid four or five months.
“I'm sure many people in a long term relationship would struggle to sustain a two hour conversation with their partner - I think I would. What is there to talk about for that long that one doesn't already know your partner's views on, and they yours? I've been thinking about my relationship with my wife today as it's our 21st wedding anniversary - and tomorrow we will have been "going out" for 29 years. I can't say what our secret is - I wouldn't hold us up as some kind of ideal couple, anyway. I think we both love and like and respect each other, we are both monogamous by nature, we have similar senses of humour and we find each other attractive - me with better reason!
SNIP
I suspect we both also don't like the idea of being alone. By contrast, you seem to be quite happy with your own company and not that monogamous by nature, so perhaps a long relationship isn't something you really want? I would certainly recommend it, I can't imagine life without my wife but I would guess it's not for everyone.”
++++
Good for you. Seriously. I often envy my happily married friends but then I often feel the opposite of envy too (why isn’t there a precise word for that?)
I am definitely not the monogamous domestic type. I generally feel trapped. My short but very happy marriage was a startling anomaly - she’s quite an unusual person - and so am I
I hope I die on the road. In some tiny town in a remote part of Baluchistan, or lost in a ravine in Svalberg, or of an overdose in a backstreet in Valparaiso, or by driving over a cliff in Assynt. Dying alone and unnoticed will be totally fine with me. We all die alone in the end
I’ll probably expire in a nursing home in Hastings but a man can dream
Wouldn't 'supercilious' fit the bill?
Cheers from Heraklion And I honestly don't know how I didn't kill any motorcyclists on my minor tour of Knossos and Phaistos. They are all fucking mental.
What did you think of Knossos?
Tbh it disappointed me. Over restored and over painted. Weirdly like legoland
Crete has many wonders but Knossos is not one of them for me
We visited Knossos earlier in the year and I was a bit torn on it. I know the right answer is that the restoration and reconstruction work by the British dude is a travesty, but I thought that it probably did help to bring the palace alive a bit - without it, it would have just been a load of foundations. The sheer size of the site is impressive anyway. I was surprised at how interesting our kids found it, too.
Visited it many decades ago, Along with the scale I remeber being most impressed by the extensive terracotta plumbing system.
I think that the (pretty minor) restoration is fine.
Going back to OLB's point - I cherish every moment with my wife, but yes, we do rather know everything about each other now. But we have kids - so we are never short of things to talk about. It's actual opportunities to talk just to each other which are hard to come by...
You never know everything. Hence the resonance of the pina colada song.
Mrs Foxy and I have been together since our Twenties, but have always maintained seperate friendships, so while there are few surprises we never run out of things to talk about. I wouldn't want to be married to anyone else.
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Were there to be an election, I would think the LDs would nab it, and some poor non-entity would get to be an MP for a solid four or five months.
So you don't think that the Tories are heading into an extinction event?
The longer this parliament runs the worse it gets for the Blue Meanies.
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Were there to be an election, I would think the LDs would nab it, and some poor non-entity would get to be an MP for a solid four or five months.
LLG was 44.9% in 2019, so with decent tactical voting and the now clear trend away from conservatives in Surrey constituencies like this triggered by first Brexit then Covid migration, I speculate it could actually transform into a fairly safe Lib Dem seat by 2024.
We all assume that waiting as long as possible for something to turn up is in the Tories’ best interests. But what if this is as good as it gets? Every month there’s either a new example of an MP with his hands where they should be (the till or elsewhere) or a new policy failure. And the good or at least reasonable stuff just gets ignored.
Landslide remains underpriced I think. Every month that passes without Tories getting into the low to mid 30s gets us closer. As do new by-elections, and indeed the 2024 locals. And the prospect of Trump acting like even more of a c**t next Autumn than last time while appearing to make common cause with the conservatives.
Unfortunately landslide has become the betting favourite. It's clear odds on that the Cons go below 175 seats. I'm annoyed because I got to that view well before the consensus and couldn't find a way to back it.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We all assume that waiting as long as possible for something to turn up is in the Tories’ best interests. But what if this is as good as it gets? Every month there’s either a new example of an MP with his hands where they should be (the till or elsewhere) or a new policy failure. And the good or at least reasonable stuff just gets ignored.
Landslide remains underpriced I think. Every month that passes without Tories getting into the low to mid 30s gets us closer. As do new by-elections, and indeed the 2024 locals. And the prospect of Trump acting like even more of a c**t next Autumn than last time while appearing to make common cause with the conservatives.
Unfortunately landslide has become the betting favourite. It's clear odds on that the Cons go below 175 seats. I'm annoyed because I got to that view well before the consensus and couldn't find a way to back it.
Why not go for Tory landslide, you;ll get cracking odds.
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Were there to be an election, I would think the LDs would nab it, and some poor non-entity would get to be an MP for a solid four or five months.
So you don't think that the Tories are heading into an extinction event?
The longer this parliament runs the worse it gets for the Blue Meanies.
Though if I were Hunt, I'd be a bit happier if the Yellow Peril had another seat to potentially defend at the other end of the county.
But yeah, from a distance, it looks a bit more convincingly Lib Dem than Mid Beds did.
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Were there to be an election, I would think the LDs would nab it, and some poor non-entity would get to be an MP for a solid four or five months.
By-elections won in the runup to a general election have a better survival rate than that
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
Were there to be an election, I would think the LDs would nab it, and some poor non-entity would get to be an MP for a solid four or five months.
Would be an interesting byelection - lots feels more like a Lib Dem pick up like lots of Surrey where the previously loyal have come to despise the Tories, but just aren't very Laboury. But also contains London suburbs where more people are moving out to. Also of course, Keir Starmer's backyard!
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/26/conservative-mp-arrested-on-suspicion-of-rape-and-drugs-possession
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1717542934365540377
It's his natural style, and by no means inelegant. It may not be quite what's required for The Flintknappers Gazette, but it suits me fine.
From the Guardian report,
Another sitting Conservative MP, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested in May 2022 on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault and rape. He has not been charged.
So it's not him.
Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure you can libel a group of people? Legal people on here may no more. If you can, I'd say the Met libelled all 29 year old Premier League footballers in London last year.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/26/conservative-mp-arrested-on-suspicion-of-rape-and-drugs-possession
#Draintheswamp!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67233090
But Guardian isn't.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/26/conservative-mp-arrested-on-suspicion-of-rape-and-drugs-possession
There were some very crossed wires on Team Cameron WhatsApp chats that day until the latter story was confirmed.
'Wait Mark Reckless has defected to UKIP because he was sending dick pics?'
Three comments, which may help some of you understand why I think he may be a disappointment to the Loser. First, Johnson is, above all, an evangelical Christian. Mike Pence's faith made him do the right thing when it was most important, and I would expect the same to be true of of Johnson.
Second, there is no mention of Trump, or the 2020 election, in the entire speech.
Third, he does give some indications of his legislative priorities, including this on our budget deficits:
"We have to get the country back on track. We know this won't be an easy task, and tough decisions will have to be made. The consequences, if we don't act now, are unbearable.
We have a duty to the American people to explain this to them so they understand it well. And we are going to establish a bipartisan debt commission to begin working on this crisis immediately. Immediately."
I'd pass everything through Turn It In or similar, if I was getting RAs to write under my name.
I imagine it will become blooming obvious soon enough.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/09/german-education-minister-quits-phd-plagiarism
Or Karl-Theodor zu Guttenber:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism
Or Ursula von der Leyen:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34376563
This really isn't a good guessing game.
The prize for getting it wrong is a libel case and the prize for getting it right is a contempt case (I assume).
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/millennials-gen-z-swap-gravy-ketchup-christmas-dinner/
I am reminded of the movie the prestige where Hugh Jackman character has to spend evey night under the stage as his drunk talentless dopplerganger takes all the applause for the magic trick.
He confirms it's him
Landslide remains underpriced I think. Every month that passes without Tories getting into the low to mid 30s gets us closer. As do new by-elections, and indeed the 2024 locals. And the prospect of Trump acting like even more of a c**t next Autumn than last time while appearing to make common cause with the conservatives.
She's also throwing her RAs under the bus as well:
""In the acknowledgements I acknowledged the research assistants that I had, particularly on the facts and the detail that went into the pen portraits of the women that I speak about."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67225980
It's hilarious, but unimportant.
So far no floor-crossings during Rishi's tenure as PM. (Apart from the SNP lady, of course). However the by-elections are far more damaging. And, by my count, we seem to now have possibly three in the offing. Makes a recovery so much more difficult when the timeline is punctuated by these electoral pratfalls. He must wonder why he bothers sometimes.
So you aren't by naming the force - as an alleged offence being committed under their jurisdiction doesn't necessarily mean it's an MP for that area - and you can't be blamed for others deciding it is someone on very limited facts. The Guardian may have chosen not to print the name of the force though, knowing this is exactly what would happen these days, and any hint that would set people off might be ethically questionable.
https://twitter.com/CrispinBlunt/status/1717585117932142922/photo/1
Blue wall. Should be a Lib Dem target as Lab and LD neck and neck in 2019 and LDs did very well in locals as well as being comfortably in second place during 2000s. Decent green vote to squeeze too.
A useful perspective on a question that's been raised here. Seems plausible, ie accords entirely with my priors.
The longer this parliament runs the worse it gets for the Blue Meanies.
I know his habits -- what time he came down,
His preference for sauce to gravy, why
He kept on plugging at the four aways --
BTW that gravy is better is a fact, not a value.
But yeah, from a distance, it looks a bit more convincingly Lib Dem than Mid Beds did.