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Brexit behaving badly – politicalbetting.com

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  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908

    HYUFD said:

    DougSeal said:

    Sky have named the Royal race row duo.

    I was always more of an Elizabethan than a Monarchist, happy to let the institution pass with the late Queen but I guess we’re stuck with it for a bit. So…what sort of insanity has struck the Sussexes and their outriders, particularly this Scobie bloke? You can’t keep recycling the same anecdotes and accusations for the next 40 years to make a living. People are interested in what goes on IN the Royal Family. How does it help you by permanently ensuring your exile from it?

    And didn’t someone on here say they were divorcing this time last year? What happened with that?

    Remember too Harry is 5th in line to the throne still, even Archie and Lilibet are 5th and 6th in line to the throne, ie higher than Andrew, Edward, Anne and their children. If, God forbid, anything happened to the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family, then Harry would be heir to the throne and Meghan our next Queen.

    They may have given up being working royals, they haven't given up their titles and place in the line of succession.

    Having said that if more media outlets name the 2 in the royal race row the Palace will have to sue Scobie to shut him up, the Dutch translator has also now said she copied only the text Scobie gave her
    It is to late to shut anyone up.

    The two names are very much in the public domain and main stream media

    And as for King Harry and Queen Megan that is a keeper
    Yes but in a libel trial Scobie would have to prove the 2 names in question said what he alleged they did, if he couldn't he would face financial and reputational ruin. Even Harry and Meghan have rowed back from that since Oprah.

    Well if, God forbid, William and Kate and their children were killed in a helicopter or place crash we would in due course have King Harry and Queen Meghan once the King died or abdicated
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,779
    isam said:

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    Yes, although I think she sang backing vocals on it. I bought that 7” with my pocket money when I was about 9. Tracy Ullman
    Reminds me of one of her later tracks :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf-MaLXgl3A

  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908
    Tributes flowing for the late Dr Kissinger in Beijing, less so in Taiwan.

    '"China and the US must inherit and carry forward Dr Kissinger's strategic vision, political courage and diplomatic wisdom," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday after hailing Mr Kissinger as an "old and good friend of the Chinese people".

    The Chinese Communist Party has been unabashed in its compliments to Mr Kissinger - a stark contrast to the reactions America usually draws.

    "History will remember what the centenarian had contributed to China-US relations," Chinese ambassador to the US Xie Feng said.

    State media outlet China News Service described him as someone who had "a sharp vision and could see through the world's affairs".

    The view just across the strait - in Taiwan, where fear of Beijing's threats has grown - is less kind.

    When the US normalised relations with China in 1979, it switched diplomatic recognition from the self-governed island of Taiwan, agreeing that there was only one China, whose government sat in Beijing.

    "From a historical perspective, he is a negative figure," wrote one user on Facebook.

    Another top comment reads: "He made Taiwan suffer too much."
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-67563597
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,030
    edited November 2023
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DougSeal said:

    Sky have named the Royal race row duo.

    I was always more of an Elizabethan than a Monarchist, happy to let the institution pass with the late Queen but I guess we’re stuck with it for a bit. So…what sort of insanity has struck the Sussexes and their outriders, particularly this Scobie bloke? You can’t keep recycling the same anecdotes and accusations for the next 40 years to make a living. People are interested in what goes on IN the Royal Family. How does it help you by permanently ensuring your exile from it?

    And didn’t someone on here say they were divorcing this time last year? What happened with that?

    Remember too Harry is 5th in line to the throne still, even Archie and Lilibet are 5th and 6th in line to the throne, ie higher than Andrew, Edward, Anne and their children. If, God forbid, anything happened to the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family, then Harry would be heir to the throne and Meghan our next Queen.

    They may have given up being working royals, they haven't given up their titles and place in the line of succession.

    Having said that if more media outlets name the 2 in the royal race row the Palace will have to sue Scobie to shut him up, the Dutch translator has also now said she copied only the text Scobie gave her
    It is to late to shut anyone up.

    The two names are very much in the public domain and main stream media

    And as for King Harry and Queen Megan that is a keeper
    Yes but in a libel trial Scobie would have to prove the 2 names in question said what he alleged they did, if he couldn't he would face financial and reputational ruin. Even Harry and Meghan have rowed back from that since Oprah.

    Well if, God forbid, William and Kate and their children were killed in a helicopter or place crash we would in due course have King Harry and Queen Meghan once the King died or abdicated
    Re your last paragraph a republic would come first
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    You forgot "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis"
    She had a bit of a hit with ‘Walking down Madison‘ too I think, and sang w the Happy Mondays ‘Hallelujah’
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DougSeal said:

    Sky have named the Royal race row duo.

    I was always more of an Elizabethan than a Monarchist, happy to let the institution pass with the late Queen but I guess we’re stuck with it for a bit. So…what sort of insanity has struck the Sussexes and their outriders, particularly this Scobie bloke? You can’t keep recycling the same anecdotes and accusations for the next 40 years to make a living. People are interested in what goes on IN the Royal Family. How does it help you by permanently ensuring your exile from it?

    And didn’t someone on here say they were divorcing this time last year? What happened with that?

    Remember too Harry is 5th in line to the throne still, even Archie and Lilibet are 5th and 6th in line to the throne, ie higher than Andrew, Edward, Anne and their children. If, God forbid, anything happened to the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family, then Harry would be heir to the throne and Meghan our next Queen.

    They may have given up being working royals, they haven't given up their titles and place in the line of succession.

    Having said that if more media outlets name the 2 in the royal race row the Palace will have to sue Scobie to shut him up, the Dutch translator has also now said she copied only the text Scobie gave her
    It is to late to shut anyone up.

    The two names are very much in the public domain and main stream media

    And as for King Harry and Queen Megan that is a keeper
    Yes but in a libel trial Scobie would have to prove the 2 names in question said what he alleged they did, if he couldn't he would face financial and reputational ruin. Even Harry and Meghan have rowed back from that since Oprah.

    Well if, God forbid, William and Kate and their children were killed in a helicopter or place crash we would in due course have King Harry and Queen Meghan once the King died or abdicated
    Re your last paragraph a rerepublic would come first
    I am not sure, by the time the King died or had abdicated younger voters would be more pre eminent and Harry and Meghan are more popular with them
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,520
    edited November 2023

    Remember Patsy Kensit when she was really OK looking and had her own band Eighth Wonder?

    "I'm Not Scared" was written by PSB, and they released their own version on "Introspective".

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ZjdZDQqpw&t=3s

    Its funny. When I see someone write PSB with reference to music I think they are talking about Public Service Broadcasting. A brilliant band.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 2,998
    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,067
    Latin America remembers Kissinger’s ‘profound moral wretchedness’
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/henry-kissinger-chile-argentina-south-america
  • isam said:

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    You forgot "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis"
    She had a bit of a hit with ‘Walking down Madison‘ too I think, and sang w the Happy Mondays ‘Hallelujah’
    She also sang on the brilliant Talking Heads track 'Flowers' along with Johnny Marr.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2twY8YQYDBE

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,074
    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,074

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    I liked her in Suits!
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,074
    Nigelb said:

    Latin America remembers Kissinger’s ‘profound moral wretchedness’
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/henry-kissinger-chile-argentina-south-america

    Sounds like if he had been just 10 years younger he'd have been a good fit for modern US Politics still.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 2,998
    I'm disappointed none of you has mentioned these classic Christmas songs:
    Grandma got run over by a reindeer, and
    I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus

    (And others like them.)
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,631
    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    A cover of "It's Lonely this Christmas" by Pip Blom doesn't sound like a big hit...
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,399
    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    When a Child is Born by Talking Heads...
    Mind boggling.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,368
    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    HYUFD said:

    Went to a drinks do with Penny Mordaunt this evening, she was excellent and spoke for half an hour without notes.

    Probably the only alternative to Rishi who might be doing a bit better in the polls but her chance probably went last year

    A colleague of mine was in a meeting this week with DoH staff, and got very heavy hints of a Spring election from the waiting list targets etc.

    I am increasingly thinking that myself. One advantage is that it stops a leadership challenge on the hapless Sunak.

    Unless the polls tighten I still think Sunak will wait until autumn
    I suspect it's May because all signs say that its very likely a lot of chickens will be coming home to roost next Summer as the lack of money really starts to become obvious as more councils issue Section 114 requests and the boats reappear...
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,399
    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
  • isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    Merry Christmas Everyone by Barry Biggs.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    edited November 2023

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
  • HYUFD said:

    Tributes flowing for the late Dr Kissinger in Beijing, less so in Taiwan.

    '"China and the US must inherit and carry forward Dr Kissinger's strategic vision, political courage and diplomatic wisdom," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday after hailing Mr Kissinger as an "old and good friend of the Chinese people".

    The Chinese Communist Party has been unabashed in its compliments to Mr Kissinger - a stark contrast to the reactions America usually draws.

    "History will remember what the centenarian had contributed to China-US relations," Chinese ambassador to the US Xie Feng said.

    State media outlet China News Service described him as someone who had "a sharp vision and could see through the world's affairs".

    The view just across the strait - in Taiwan, where fear of Beijing's threats has grown - is less kind.

    When the US normalised relations with China in 1979, it switched diplomatic recognition from the self-governed island of Taiwan, agreeing that there was only one China, whose government sat in Beijing.

    "From a historical perspective, he is a negative figure," wrote one user on Facebook.

    Another top comment reads: "He made Taiwan suffer too much."
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-67563597

    "The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide is a 2013 book by American journalist and academic Gary J. Bass[1] about The Blood telegram, a state department dissent memo on American policy during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide sent by Archer Blood the American Consul General to Dhaka, East Pakistan."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blood_Telegram:_Nixon,_Kissinger,_and_a_Forgotten_Genocide
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger#Bangladesh_Liberation_War
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Blood#The_Blood_telegram
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908
    edited November 2023
    Nigelb said:

    Latin America remembers Kissinger’s ‘profound moral wretchedness’
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/henry-kissinger-chile-argentina-south-america

    Ever the realpolitic Machiavellian I expect Kissinger would gladly have taken the fulsome tributes to him from Beijing, the capital of a superpower, even if Latin Americans despised him and his memory.

    Putin also paid tribute 'The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Kissinger was a “wise and talented statesman”.

    “I had the opportunity to personally communicate with this deep, extraordinary man many times, and I will undoubtedly retain the fondest memory of him,” Putin wrote in a telegram to Kissinger’s widow. The text was posted to the Kremlin’s website.

    “The name of Henry Kissinger is inextricably linked with a pragmatic foreign policy line, which at one time made it possible to achieve detente in international tensions and reach the most important Soviet-American agreements that contributed to the strengthening of global security,” Putin said.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/a-towering-figure-world-leaders-pay-tribute-to-henry-kissinger
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Obama was President and mixed race
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,786

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    Merry Christmas Everyone by Barry Biggs.
    Also Merry Christmas Everyone, but by Carter USM.
  • Cookie said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    Merry Christmas Everyone by Barry Biggs.
    Also Merry Christmas Everyone, but by Carter USM.
    As Only Living Boy (in New Cross) I feel obliged to like this.
  • dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Zoe Ball interviewed them on Radio 2 this morning, funnily enough.
  • isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    Mistletoe and Wine by Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,074
    edited November 2023
    Ok, twitter does still make me laugh sometimes.

    Captures the endless minor rule tweaks, overcentralised control, and local moaning.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    ...
    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Didn't Jim come over all Neil Oliver?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,631
    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Latin America remembers Kissinger’s ‘profound moral wretchedness’
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/henry-kissinger-chile-argentina-south-america

    Ever the realpolitic Machiavellian I expect Kissinger would gladly have taken the fulsome tributes to him from Beijing, the capital of a superpower, even if Latin Americans despised him and his memory.

    Putin also paid tribute 'The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Kissinger was a “wise and talented statesman”.

    “I had the opportunity to personally communicate with this deep, extraordinary man many times, and I will undoubtedly retain the fondest memory of him,” Putin wrote in a telegram to Kissinger’s widow. The text was posted to the Kremlin’s website.

    “The name of Henry Kissinger is inextricably linked with a pragmatic foreign policy line, which at one time made it possible to achieve detente in international tensions and reach the most important Soviet-American agreements that contributed to the strengthening of global security,” Putin said.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/a-towering-figure-world-leaders-pay-tribute-to-henry-kissinger
    On the whole I wouldn't want to be remembered fondly by Putin or the CCP.

    Kissinger only lived so long to dodge Old Nick a bit longer.
  • ...

    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Didn't Jim come over all Neil Oliver?
    Kinky.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,399

    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Zoe Ball interviewed them on Radio 2 this morning, funnily enough.
    Whatever happened to Zoe Ball? Moved to Radio 2 I guess.
    A hell realm I have no wish to visit in this life.
  • dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Zoe Ball interviewed them on Radio 2 this morning, funnily enough.
    Whatever happened to Zoe Ball? Moved to Radio 2 I guess.
    A hell realm I have no wish to visit in this life.
    Yeah, 2, she’s a bit grating, bless her. I try and stick to 6 but then they’ll play some drill or hardcore techno or something at 8.30am and it does my nut in and have to quickly swerve back to some nice unchallenging AOR.
  • HYUFD said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Obama was President and mixed race
    Kamala Harris is also mixed race.
  • isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    "Lonely This Christmas" by REM.

    Actually.

    That might work.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,786

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,618
    Does anyone believe the story that the names mysteriously appeared out of nowhere in the Dutch edition?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908
    edited November 2023
    Foxy said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Latin America remembers Kissinger’s ‘profound moral wretchedness’
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/henry-kissinger-chile-argentina-south-america

    Ever the realpolitic Machiavellian I expect Kissinger would gladly have taken the fulsome tributes to him from Beijing, the capital of a superpower, even if Latin Americans despised him and his memory.

    Putin also paid tribute 'The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Kissinger was a “wise and talented statesman”.

    “I had the opportunity to personally communicate with this deep, extraordinary man many times, and I will undoubtedly retain the fondest memory of him,” Putin wrote in a telegram to Kissinger’s widow. The text was posted to the Kremlin’s website.

    “The name of Henry Kissinger is inextricably linked with a pragmatic foreign policy line, which at one time made it possible to achieve detente in international tensions and reach the most important Soviet-American agreements that contributed to the strengthening of global security,” Putin said.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/a-towering-figure-world-leaders-pay-tribute-to-henry-kissinger
    On the whole I wouldn't want to be remembered fondly by Putin or the CCP.

    Kissinger only lived so long to dodge Old Nick a bit longer.
    He also had tributes from Blair and Cameron and Sunak and Biden.

    'The former British prime minister Tony Blair said he was “in awe” of Kissinger. Cameron posted a photo of him with Kissinger and Sunak posted a tribute too.

    https://twitter.com/David_Cameron/status/1730143571292852579

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-ministers-words-on-the-death-of-henry-kissinger

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/11/30/statement-from-president-biden-on-the-passing-of-henry-kissinger/

    The French president, Emmanuel Macron, posted: “Henry Kissinger was a giant of history. His century of ideas and of diplomacy had a lasting influence on his time and on our world.”

    The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that with the death of the German-born Kissinger, who retained his Bavarian accent, the world had lost “a great diplomat”.


    “His commitment to the transatlantic friendship between the USA and Germany was significant, and he always remained close to his German homeland.”

    The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure to end military activity that has killed tens of thousands in Gaza, launched after Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October, said he had met Kissinger on many occasions, describing them as lessons in diplomacy and statesmanship. “His understanding of the complexities of international relations and his unique insights into the challenges facing our world were unparalleled,” he said.

    Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, described Henry Kissinger as a stalwart of strategic politics and world diplomacy, saying: “It has been a privilege to have recently engaged with him on various issues on the international agenda. His passing saddens us, and I express my personal condolences, as well as those of the Italian government, to his family and loved ones.”
  • "The announcement on Wednesday that the (Nottingham) City Council was declaring itself effectively bankrupt came as no surprise. We had predicted it was on the cards earlier this month, but it was clearly the next step in the miserable chain of events that has led us to this point.

    Trying to work out where things went wrong isn't difficult, although everyone seems to have a different opinion. The disastrous Robin Hood Energy scheme - which lost the council £38m and irreversibly eroded public trust - and the unlawful spending of £51 million of housing cash are good places to start.

    This is a council with no real political opposition (50 Labour, 3 Nottingham Independent and 2 Independent) and, as a result, thinks it's untouchable. Pop a red rosette on in Nottingham and chances are you'll be elected to the city council."


    Nottm evening post editorial


    The dangers of one party fiefdoms.
  • At the close of the day I would also add that Shane MacGowan sang one of the best versions of one of the greatest anti-war songs ever written.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TThjY_qlEfg
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    Cookie said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
    Why do loyal Conservatives detest Markle?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    dixiedean said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    When a Child is Born by Talking Heads...
    Mind boggling.
    Reet Petit by Carole King

    Similarly so.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,074

    "The announcement on Wednesday that the (Nottingham) City Council was declaring itself effectively bankrupt came as no surprise. We had predicted it was on the cards earlier this month, but it was clearly the next step in the miserable chain of events that has led us to this point.

    Trying to work out where things went wrong isn't difficult, although everyone seems to have a different opinion. The disastrous Robin Hood Energy scheme - which lost the council £38m and irreversibly eroded public trust - and the unlawful spending of £51 million of housing cash are good places to start.

    This is a council with no real political opposition (50 Labour, 3 Nottingham Independent and 2 Independent) and, as a result, thinks it's untouchable. Pop a red rosette on in Nottingham and chances are you'll be elected to the city council."


    Nottm evening post editorial


    The dangers of one party fiefdoms.

    Eh, I don't think so unfortunately.

    There are a lot of one party fiefdom councils, and whilst many many councils are close to s.114, that isn't restricted to those with monolithic politics.

    At a glance Birmingham, Croydon, Slough, Northhamptonshire for example, some may have been controlled by one party, but they weren't in the same league as Nottingham's domination by a single party.

    I still dislike such local domination as eventually leading to laziness and factional infighting, with negative consequences, but I think it's been shown it's not the critical factor on maintaining finances at least. Depends on the culture and if they still allow some internal challenge and employ competent officers and allow those to do their job.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,826
    Is Posner's Case Closed really seen as the definitive verdict on the Kennedy assassination? Looking at the reviews on Amazon it just looks like an attempt to debunk anything other than Oswald acted alone, end of story. No real rebuttal of the forensic arguments that Kennedy was shot from the front.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,826

    I learned something genuinely surprising today: the late Terry Venables was a founding signatory of the Anti Nazi League. Good on him.

    Everyone loved him it seems apart from Alan Sugar and most of the FA.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485

    I learned something genuinely surprising today: the late Terry Venables was a founding signatory of the Anti Nazi League. Good on him.

    Didn’t know that.

    Turns out he also co-wrote a TV detective drama and devised a board game. Quite a life.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,549
    How many councils have gone bankrupt recently? I can recall Nottingham, Birmingham, Croydon, Northamptonshire.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485

    Cookie said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
    Why do loyal Conservatives detest Markle?
    It’s a PB Tory qualifying criteria, like hating the term wild swimming and loathing the tube scene in Darkest Hour.
  • MightyAlexMightyAlex Posts: 1,660
    edited December 2023
    Andy_JS said:

    How many councils have gone bankrupt recently? I can recall Nottingham, Birmingham, Croydon, Northamptonshire.

    Woking, Slough, and Thurrock.

    Edit: Somerset is a maybe.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,549

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    Tracey Ullman of course. Always loved this song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9un119lq4c
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,074
    Andy_JS said:

    How many councils have gone bankrupt recently? I can recall Nottingham, Birmingham, Croydon, Northamptonshire.

    A few months ago there was this update showing 10 in the last few years.
    https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/local-authority-section-114-notices#footnoterefundefined_6u2gfms
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,786

    Cookie said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
    Why do loyal Conservatives detest Markle?
    I wouldn't describe myself as a 'loyal Conservative'.

    But she's just awful. She's got a very casual relationship with the truth but she doesn't really think that matters because feelings are more important. She marries a prince and then complains about hierarchies. She's obsessed with status and money. She claims to want privacy but misses opportunity after opportunity to keep quiet. She's constantly trashing her husband's family.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,786

    Cookie said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
    Why do loyal Conservatives detest Markle?
    It’s a PB Tory qualifying criteria, like hating the term wild swimming and loathing the tube scene in Darkest Hour.
    I have no view on the term wild swimming, nor what Darkest Hour is.

    But Megan Markle is awful.
  • Andy_JS said:

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    Tracey Ullman of course. Always loved this song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9un119lq4c
    So long ago - I had forgotten that Paul McCartney appears!!

    But - wow - what a brilliant actress she is.

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,549

    Andy_JS said:

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    Tracey Ullman of course. Always loved this song.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9un119lq4c
    So long ago - I had forgotten that Paul McCartney appears!!

    But - wow - what a brilliant actress she is.

    Yeah, just 23 in this video. And she was doing comedy shows with Lenny Henry a couple of years before this too.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,040
    Green hold in Camden, Lib Dem gain in North Yorkshire.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,070

    rcs1000 said:

    A recent survey found that one in four hills are steep.

    I'll get my coat.

    Do you know how to play the xylophone?

    I can't marimba!
    Did you hear about the zombie mermaids?

    They were dead in the water!
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,070

    ...

    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Didn't Jim come over all Neil Oliver?
    Ew.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,549
    edited December 2023
    Useless fact: today's Post Office witness, Jarnail Singh, was a Conservative councillor in Crawley in 2007, as member for the Southgate ward.

    https://www.andrewteale.me.uk/leap/results/2007/357/#ward5367
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,070
    ...
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,413

    I learned something genuinely surprising today: the late Terry Venables was a founding signatory of the Anti Nazi League. Good on him.

    Didn’t know that.

    Turns out he also co-wrote a TV detective drama and devised a board game. Quite a life.
    And if you swap the beginning sounds of his name, he becomes Verry Tenables.
  • dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    2 become 1 by The Corrs
    Whatever happened to the Corrs?
    Zoe Ball interviewed them on Radio 2 this morning, funnily enough.
    Whatever happened to Zoe Ball? Moved to Radio 2 I guess.
    A hell realm I have no wish to visit in this life.
    Yeah, 2, she’s a bit grating, bless her. I try and stick to 6 but then they’ll play some drill or hardcore techno or something at 8.30am and it does my nut in and have to quickly swerve back to some nice unchallenging AOR.
    You like a decent pop music show with a good presenter? Try this:

    https://www.mixcloud.com/radiowinchcombe/night-train-with-martha-richler-aka-marf-23-november-2023-ghost-train/
  • Andy_JS said:

    Useless fact: today's Post Office witness, Jarnail Singh, was a Conservative councillor in Crawley in 2007, as member for the Southgate ward.

    https://www.andrewteale.me.uk/leap/results/2007/357/#ward5367

    Of all the odious little vermin to crawl in front of the Inquiry he must be amongst the worst.

    He was one of the most rabid attack dogs the PO used in pursuit of its Subpostmasters.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,372

    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    "Lonely This Christmas" by REM.

    Actually.

    That might work.

    Bohemian Rhapsody by The Eagles. Can’t see that one working.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,372
    Cookie said:

    Cookie said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
    Why do loyal Conservatives detest Markle?
    I wouldn't describe myself as a 'loyal Conservative'.

    But she's just awful. She's got a very casual relationship with the truth but she doesn't really think that matters because feelings are more important. She marries a prince and then complains about hierarchies. She's obsessed with status and money. She claims to want privacy but misses opportunity after opportunity to keep quiet. She's constantly trashing her husband's family.
    The South Park Privacy tour sketch was savage but very good.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    HYUFD said:

    Went to a drinks do with Penny Mordaunt this evening, she was excellent and spoke for half an hour without notes.

    Probably the only alternative to Rishi who might be doing a bit better in the polls but her chance probably went last year

    Check your notes; we told you that before…
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,987
    edited December 2023
    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    edited December 2023
    slade said:

    Green hold in Camden, Lib Dem gain in North Yorkshire.

    Sian Berry was a popular local councillor and has gone off to focus on becoming the next Caroline Lucas.

    Interesting that the Tory candidate stood under the label “Local Conservatives”. Didn’t seem to prevent people associating them with those unpleasant incompetent National Conservatives, tho.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    edited December 2023

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,241
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DougSeal said:

    Sky have named the Royal race row duo.

    I was always more of an Elizabethan than a Monarchist, happy to let the institution pass with the late Queen but I guess we’re stuck with it for a bit. So…what sort of insanity has struck the Sussexes and their outriders, particularly this Scobie bloke? You can’t keep recycling the same anecdotes and accusations for the next 40 years to make a living. People are interested in what goes on IN the Royal Family. How does it help you by permanently ensuring your exile from it?

    And didn’t someone on here say they were divorcing this time last year? What happened with that?

    Remember too Harry is 5th in line to the throne still, even Archie and Lilibet are 5th and 6th in line to the throne, ie higher than Andrew, Edward, Anne and their children. If, God forbid, anything happened to the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family, then Harry would be heir to the throne and Meghan our next Queen.

    They may have given up being working royals, they haven't given up their titles and place in the line of succession.

    Having said that if more media outlets name the 2 in the royal race row the Palace will have to sue Scobie to shut him up, the Dutch translator has also now said she copied only the text Scobie gave her
    It is to late to shut anyone up.

    The two names are very much in the public domain and main stream media

    And as for King Harry and Queen Megan that is a keeper
    Yes but in a libel trial Scobie would have to prove the 2 names in question said what he alleged they did, if he couldn't he would face financial and reputational ruin. Even Harry and Meghan have rowed back from that since Oprah.

    Well if, God forbid, William and Kate and their children were killed in a helicopter or
    place crash we would in due course have King Harry and Queen Meghan once the King died or abdicated
    They don’t travel together for that reason
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    edited December 2023

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    Not directly relevant to this - but what bothers me intensely is the interest in the 'plight of the Palestinians' whilst there is very little or no interest at all in the situation facing the Uigur Muslims in Xinjiang. Where are the 200,000 taking to the streets to protest against the concentration camps? Xinjiang is a total niche issue being supported by a few policy wonks and obscure intellectuals. The situation in Palestine is a mess with no easy answer but the Israelis have been pretty lenient and humane in contrast to the Chinese solution.

    The interest in the Palestinian cause seems to be motivated by what is basically western ignorance and self hate, which is commendably and expertly whipped up and manipulated by our adversaries in Beijing and Moscow. It is another way in which it feels like we are living through a slow motion civilizational suicide.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,241
    IanB2 said:

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
    They’ve just told the BBC that they are x-rays and medical reports. Not independent.

    It’s more about presumption of guilt by the BBC.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859

    IanB2 said:

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
    They’ve just told the BBC that they are x-rays and medical reports. Not independent.

    It’s more about presumption of guilt by the BBC.
    The x-rays were shown on last nights news at ten
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,241
    edited December 2023
    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
    They’ve just told the BBC that they are x-rays and medical reports. Not independent.

    It’s more about presumption of guilt by the BBC.
    The x-rays were shown on last nights news at ten
    Do you know they are him?

    Do you know he was beaten in prison not afterwards?
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,572
    Off-topic:

    Having seen some of the Cybertruck reveal, can someone tell me why having 'unbreakable' windows in a normal car is in any way a good thing?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,371

    Off-topic:

    Having seen some of the Cybertruck reveal, can someone tell me why having 'unbreakable' windows in a normal car is in any way a good thing?

    It reduces the amount of flying glass in the event of an accident?

    Although I would have thought ordinary laminate would do that.

    Perhaps it just reduces the number of ways of breaking in.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    kle4 said:

    "The announcement on Wednesday that the (Nottingham) City Council was declaring itself effectively bankrupt came as no surprise. We had predicted it was on the cards earlier this month, but it was clearly the next step in the miserable chain of events that has led us to this point.

    Trying to work out where things went wrong isn't difficult, although everyone seems to have a different opinion. The disastrous Robin Hood Energy scheme - which lost the council £38m and irreversibly eroded public trust - and the unlawful spending of £51 million of housing cash are good places to start.

    This is a council with no real political opposition (50 Labour, 3 Nottingham Independent and 2 Independent) and, as a result, thinks it's untouchable. Pop a red rosette on in Nottingham and chances are you'll be elected to the city council."


    Nottm evening post editorial


    The dangers of one party fiefdoms.

    Eh, I don't think so unfortunately.

    There are a lot of one party fiefdom councils, and whilst many many councils are close to s.114, that isn't restricted to those with monolithic politics.

    At a glance Birmingham, Croydon, Slough, Northhamptonshire for example, some may have been controlled by one party, but they weren't in the same league as Nottingham's domination by a single party.

    I still dislike such local domination as eventually leading to laziness and factional infighting, with negative consequences, but I think it's been shown it's not the critical factor on maintaining finances at least. Depends on the culture and if they still allow some internal challenge and employ competent officers and allow those to do their job.
    I think a lot of this comes down to the effectiveness of the monitoring officer in individual councils. They need to be competent and independent. But there are also just structural problems with Local Government Finance that mean increasing numbers of Councils will have to make these declarations. In Hastings for instance the situation is totally hopeless and due to the rapidly increasing expenditure on emergency housing - a consequence of statutory obligations imposed on Councils and government housing policy that limits supply disproportionately in specific areas. Even though the Council are well run and doing most things right, getting in an LGA review etc, warning Councillors about the situation, having large reserves to put off the situation, and it is relatively politically stable despite the labour group not having control, it seems that it will end up in this type of trouble due to circumstances that it cannot control.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
    They’ve just told the BBC that they are x-rays and medical reports. Not independent.

    It’s more about presumption of guilt by the BBC.
    The x-rays were shown on last nights news at ten
    Do you know they are him?

    Do you know he was beaten in prison not afterwards?
    Don't be silly
  • I remember on here a few months ago much excited commentary about how Elon Musk had brilliantly fired most of Twitter’s woke leftie staff and was turning it into a viable, profit making business on the back of growing ad revenues. How’s that going?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    darkage said:

    kle4 said:

    "The announcement on Wednesday that the (Nottingham) City Council was declaring itself effectively bankrupt came as no surprise. We had predicted it was on the cards earlier this month, but it was clearly the next step in the miserable chain of events that has led us to this point.

    Trying to work out where things went wrong isn't difficult, although everyone seems to have a different opinion. The disastrous Robin Hood Energy scheme - which lost the council £38m and irreversibly eroded public trust - and the unlawful spending of £51 million of housing cash are good places to start.

    This is a council with no real political opposition (50 Labour, 3 Nottingham Independent and 2 Independent) and, as a result, thinks it's untouchable. Pop a red rosette on in Nottingham and chances are you'll be elected to the city council."


    Nottm evening post editorial


    The dangers of one party fiefdoms.

    Eh, I don't think so unfortunately.

    There are a lot of one party fiefdom councils, and whilst many many councils are close to s.114, that isn't restricted to those with monolithic politics.

    At a glance Birmingham, Croydon, Slough, Northhamptonshire for example, some may have been controlled by one party, but they weren't in the same league as Nottingham's domination by a single party.

    I still dislike such local domination as eventually leading to laziness and factional infighting, with negative consequences, but I think it's been shown it's not the critical factor on maintaining finances at least. Depends on the culture and if they still allow some internal challenge and employ competent officers and allow those to do their job.
    I think a lot of this comes down to the effectiveness of the monitoring officer in individual councils. They need to be competent and independent. But there are also just structural problems with Local Government Finance that mean increasing numbers of Councils will have to make these declarations. In Hastings for instance the situation is totally hopeless and due to the rapidly increasing expenditure on emergency housing - a consequence of statutory obligations imposed on Councils and government housing policy that limits supply disproportionately in specific areas. Even though the Council are well run and doing most things right, getting in an LGA review etc, warning Councillors about the situation, having large reserves to put off the situation, and it is relatively politically stable despite the labour group not having control, it seems that it will end up in this type of trouble due to circumstances that it cannot control.
    The island here is the same. Some of the bankruptcies arise from mismanagement, but many of the councils facing crisis are those with disproportionately elderly populations facing spiralling social care costs.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398

    Off-topic:

    Having seen some of the Cybertruck reveal, can someone tell me why having 'unbreakable' windows in a normal car is in any way a good thing?

    I am generally positive towards Elon Musk but the cyber truck just seems to me to perpetrate the longstanding problem of car bloat.
  • NEW THREAD

  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398

    I remember on here a few months ago much excited commentary about how Elon Musk had brilliantly fired most of Twitter’s woke leftie staff and was turning it into a viable, profit making business on the back of growing ad revenues. How’s that going?

    It is too early to say. But I would say that the disruption to the increasingly politicised censorship being applied by the previous management was a good thing.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,987
    edited December 2023
    IanB2 said:

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
    I am not saying it is definitely untrue, but we need to be very careful.

    There are two videos of him being released being fine, one using his hands, there are some suggestions of irregularities over details on the medical reports, he has given a number of different interviews, the story changes each time, and the "I didn't even know what I was in there for"...now that screams utter BS, yes Israel detains people, often for long periods without getting to trial, but it won't be without a reason being provided, that the BBC can check out...the other day BBC gave a similar story the white wash treatment, of I wasn't in there for much, scissors or something, and didn't the girl go well, doing exams in prison...it was a mass stabbing incident of the elderly and a soldier.
  • We may never return to the comparatively low levels of immigration we had before Brexit.

    https://x.com/spajw/status/1730485820518195265?s=46&t=rw5lNVUgmRPVyKpxfV_pPQ
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,987
    edited December 2023

    I remember on here a few months ago much excited commentary about how Elon Musk had brilliantly fired most of Twitter’s woke leftie staff and was turning it into a viable, profit making business on the back of growing ad revenues. How’s that going?

    I also seemed to remember all the excited commentary that twitter would fall over completely with reduction in staff. That it wasn't technically possible to run twitter with a much reduced headcount.

    Some of pointed out that WhatsApp ran fine with 50 people serving 100s of millions before they were bought, and that much of the traffic management etc is provided by other tech companies.

    Now the business side, I think most thought it was crazy business to be getting into in the first place. It never makes money (the two years it did, on closer inspection were largely down to accounting tricks which meant some of the other others didn't lose quite as much). And it had doubled head count during the pandemic, with seemingly no new features or improvements.

    Musk clearly tried to play chicken and lost, and now saddled with this thing and doing himself no favours being all Trumpy.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,311
    Pagan2 said:

    fpt

    malcolmg said:

    Sad news about Darling.

    Someone I know knew him a little bit. He was a thoroughly nice fellah by all accounts.

    Depends on your viewpoint , some consider him a real traitor
    Darling was one of the scummiest politicians around only surpassed by tom watson
    I was trying to be polite given he had just popped his clogs.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,311
    isam said:

    Apparently your Christmas song is

    No 1 at Christmas when you were 10 sang by the last artist you listened to in your phone

    Do They Know it’s Christmas by The Smiths was mine

    DAY TRIPPER/WE CAN WORK IT OUT by Luciano pavarotti for me
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,078
    isam said:

    Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Fairytale of New York missed out on number one thanks to the Pet Shop Boy's cover of Always On My Mind in the Christmas 1987 charts.

    PSB much better IMHO.
    Both Kirsty McColl and the Pogues did better songs than FoNY.
    New England was a great song.
    Billy Bragg.

    It is ironic that Kirsty McColl was perhaps best known for songs written by other peopel (Days, FTONY, New England) but one of her best known songs (They Don't Know ABout Us) was sung by someone else.
    You forgot "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis"
    She had a bit of a hit with ‘Walking down Madison‘ too I think, and sang w the Happy Mondays ‘Hallelujah’
    Kirsty McColl was a brilliant song writer in her own right. Witty lyrics and killer hooks. "In these shoes?" Is particularly brilliant.

    Taken far too soon, just as she was getting a second wind in her career. A great, great loss.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,241
    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    BBC at it again...

    BBC News - Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

    The case they use as an example, the kid is on video leaving prison seemingly without any issues with his hands, now he claims they are all terribly mashed up.

    BBC starting from position that terrorists tell the truth, Israelis are doing evil things.

    Strangely less interested in reporting stories of the hostages being tortured.

    I don’t think that’s fair. The injuries are backed up by x-Ray and medical reports, and just because he didn’t leave prison bandaged doesn’t mean he didn’t have the fractures.

    Besides, that some Palestinians in prison were mistreated in the immediate aftermath to the horrific attacks south of Gaza isn’t an incredible proposition.
    They’ve just told the BBC that they are x-rays and medical reports. Not independent.

    It’s more about presumption of guilt by the BBC.
    The x-rays were shown on last nights news at ten
    Do you know they are him?

    Do you know he was beaten in prison not afterwards?

    Don't be silly
    Why is it silly?

    You are dealing with a terrorist organisation that lied about who targeted and hospital and how many died.

    Propaganda shouldn’t be taken at face value.

    But it’s all fairly normal for the BBC. I think it’s an extension of their desire to be “balanced” and their instinctive mindset that is sympathetic to Palestinians. But it’s a problem.
  • I remember on here a few months ago much excited commentary about how Elon Musk had brilliantly fired most of Twitter’s woke leftie staff and was turning it into a viable, profit making business on the back of growing ad revenues. How’s that going?

    I also seemed to remember all the excited commentary that twitter would fall over completely with reduction in staff. That it wasn't technically possible to run twitter with a much reduced headcount.

    Some of pointed out that WhatsApp ran fine with 50 people serving 100s of millions before they were bought, and that much of the traffic management etc is provided by other tech companies.

    Now the business side, I think most thought it was crazy business to be getting into in the first place. It never makes money (the two years it did, on closer inspection were largely down to accounting tricks which meant some of the other others didn't lose quite as much). And it had doubled head count during the pandemic, with seemingly no new features or improvements.

    Musk clearly tried to play chicken and lost, and now saddled with this thing and doing himself no favours being all Trumpy.
    He does still get Rishi all excited at least.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485
    Cookie said:

    Cookie said:

    As an American, I want to apologize, again, for Meghan. (Usually our misbehaving starlets cause few problems outside the US.)

    I do have some sympathy for her, given her original career choice. Being mixed race means that few big parts were likely to be available to her, despite the rapidly growing number of mixed race people in the US.

    Meghan is my favourite royal. I know, I know, it's a little like selecting one's favourite terminal disease or STI.
    Megan does well amongst people who don't like royalty on the basis of my enemy's enemy.

    But judged on her qualitities as a person - well, she seems an unmitigated fucking nightmare.
    Why do loyal Conservatives detest Markle?
    It’s a PB Tory qualifying criteria, like hating the term wild swimming and loathing the tube scene in Darkest Hour.
    I have no view on the term wild swimming, nor what Darkest Hour is.

    But Megan Markle is awful.
    Meghan
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,908

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DougSeal said:

    Sky have named the Royal race row duo.

    I was always more of an Elizabethan than a Monarchist, happy to let the institution pass with the late Queen but I guess we’re stuck with it for a bit. So…what sort of insanity has struck the Sussexes and their outriders, particularly this Scobie bloke? You can’t keep recycling the same anecdotes and accusations for the next 40 years to make a living. People are interested in what goes on IN the Royal Family. How does it help you by permanently ensuring your exile from it?

    And didn’t someone on here say they were divorcing this time last year? What happened with that?

    Remember too Harry is 5th in line to the throne still, even Archie and Lilibet are 5th and 6th in line to the throne, ie higher than Andrew, Edward, Anne and their children. If, God forbid, anything happened to the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family, then Harry would be heir to the throne and Meghan our next Queen.

    They may have given up being working royals, they haven't given up their titles and place in the line of succession.

    Having said that if more media outlets name the 2 in the royal race row the Palace will have to sue Scobie to shut him up, the Dutch translator has also now said she copied only the text Scobie gave her
    It is to late to shut anyone up.

    The two names are very much in the public domain and main stream media

    And as for King Harry and Queen Megan that is a keeper
    Yes but in a libel trial Scobie would have to prove the 2 names in question said what he alleged they did, if he couldn't he would face financial and reputational ruin. Even Harry and Meghan have rowed back from that since Oprah.

    Well if, God forbid, William and Kate and their children were killed in a helicopter or
    place crash we would in due course have King Harry and Queen Meghan once the King died or abdicated
    They don’t travel together for that reason
    In theory they don't, in practice they often do and the late Queen raised concerns about them traveling together
This discussion has been closed.