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
If everybody could be so kind as to give the best anagram of their mother's maiden name and a pop star that shares their birthday, then that would also be good...
I really don’t think the year of birth here is putting people not posting in there real name at too much risk
Re latest poll, voters would be well advised before offering unfettered power a la Blair. The Tories need a good kicking but the Country needs an opposition that can hold the Govt to account. A complete trouncing isn't in the public interest.
Meanwhile, in "Conservatives Losing" news, the latest dispatch from London;
The “Good Samaritan” who returned a lost Oyster card to Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall has told how delighted she was to be reunited with her free travel pass...
Shortly after the incident, on Monday afternoon, Ms Hall’s spokesman said she believed she had been pickpocketed on the Tube as she travelled home from Westminster to Pinner, first on the Jubilee line and then the Metropolitan line, which she switched on to at Finchley Road.
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
Genuinely struggling to think of any of the current government or its recent prior iterations one could call Bohemian.
I was talking about the entire Speccie/Tory cohort
Bojo (ex editor, ex PM) is certainly louche
I believe some of the Spec columnists are genuinely raffish to the point of amorality
Can I just thank whoever it was that linked to the Pogues "And the band played waltzing Matilda" on the previous thread. A brilliant and deeply moving rendition.
McGowan was the real deal, not least a fantastic lyricist. Look at the lyrics to A Rainy Night in Soho, below - just beautiful poetry.
I've been loving you a long time Down all the years, down all the days And I've cried for all your troubles Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows You told me all your joys Whatever happened to that old song? To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning The ginger lady by my bed Covered in a cloak of silence I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams The measure of my dreams
McGowan was a proper musical genius. But lyrically that’s not quite Cole Porter
“Fairytale” is much cleverer - probably the best Pogues song, lyrically
Fairytale of New York may be cleverer with the duet structure etc but there's something buried in Rainy Night in Soho that gets me every time I listen to it. The lyrics have that kind of unknowable quality that I think is the mark of real poetry.
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray god it’s our last”
Is one of the greatest couplets in the history of pop music. It expresses true love and deep sentiment - as drunk loving ruined people really speak, with a clever rhyme scheme
I believe it has now been cancelled by the Woke
I have spent years thinking it was "Happy Christmas you arse-wipe, thank god it’s our last"
Meanwhile, in "Conservatives Losing" news, the latest dispatch from London;
The “Good Samaritan” who returned a lost Oyster card to Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall has told how delighted she was to be reunited with her free travel pass...
Shortly after the incident, on Monday afternoon, Ms Hall’s spokesman said she believed she had been pickpocketed on the Tube as she travelled home from Westminster to Pinner, first on the Jubilee line and then the Metropolitan line, which she switched on to at Finchley Road.
Can I just thank whoever it was that linked to the Pogues "And the band played waltzing Matilda" on the previous thread. A brilliant and deeply moving rendition.
McGowan was the real deal, not least a fantastic lyricist. Look at the lyrics to A Rainy Night in Soho, below - just beautiful poetry.
I've been loving you a long time Down all the years, down all the days And I've cried for all your troubles Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows You told me all your joys Whatever happened to that old song? To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning The ginger lady by my bed Covered in a cloak of silence I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams The measure of my dreams
McGowan was a proper musical genius. But lyrically that’s not quite Cole Porter
“Fairytale” is much cleverer - probably the best Pogues song, lyrically
Their real forte was singing folk and roots songs (both their own and other people's) and making you really believe they meant it. Dirty Old Town, Navigator, Streets of Sorrow, Thousands are Sailing; all brilliant versions.
"...you'll never guess what she said next! No, really! She's so mean, she's such a narcissist!. She was awful to Fred about the dad thing. Yes, I like him too. Who d'y'think's gonna win?..."
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
Genuinely struggling to think of any of the current government or its recent prior iterations one could call Bohemian.
Certainly nobody is singing rhapsodies about them,
Can I just thank whoever it was that linked to the Pogues "And the band played waltzing Matilda" on the previous thread. A brilliant and deeply moving rendition.
McGowan was the real deal, not least a fantastic lyricist. Look at the lyrics to A Rainy Night in Soho, below - just beautiful poetry.
I've been loving you a long time Down all the years, down all the days And I've cried for all your troubles Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows You told me all your joys Whatever happened to that old song? To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning The ginger lady by my bed Covered in a cloak of silence I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams The measure of my dreams
McGowan was a proper musical genius. But lyrically that’s not quite Cole Porter
“Fairytale” is much cleverer - probably the best Pogues song, lyrically
Fairytale of New York may be cleverer with the duet structure etc but there's something buried in Rainy Night in Soho that gets me every time I listen to it. The lyrics have that kind of unknowable quality that I think is the mark of real poetry.
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray god it’s our last”
Is one of the greatest couplets in the history of pop music. It expresses true love and deep sentiment - as drunk loving ruined people really speak, with a clever rhyme scheme
I believe it has now been cancelled by the Woke
I have spent years thinking it was "Happy Christmas you arse-wipe, thank god it’s our last"
For around 30 years I believed, and was bemused, that in Quicksand Bowie sang "Knowledge comes from tax relief".
Eventually I googled it, and realised it was "death's release", which made more sense.
Ah, misheard lyrics- one of the many minor joys the internet has stolen from us.
The very catchy "Sue Lawley" of course.
Peter Kay isn't my absolute fav comic but he had a routine on this (misheard lyrics) which I caught recently during some random youtube-ing. He got a good 15 minutes out of it and it was only about 3 too long.
"I can't believe you kiss your cock at night" - me neither, Shania.
Re latest poll, voters would be well advised before offering unfettered power a la Blair. The Tories need a good kicking but the Country needs an opposition that can hold the Govt to account. A complete trouncing isn't in the public interest.
Re latest poll, voters would be well advised before offering unfettered power a la Blair. The Tories need a good kicking but the Country needs an opposition that can hold the Govt to account. A complete trouncing isn't in the public interest.
Can I just thank whoever it was that linked to the Pogues "And the band played waltzing Matilda" on the previous thread. A brilliant and deeply moving rendition.
McGowan was the real deal, not least a fantastic lyricist. Look at the lyrics to A Rainy Night in Soho, below - just beautiful poetry.
I've been loving you a long time Down all the years, down all the days And I've cried for all your troubles Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows You told me all your joys Whatever happened to that old song? To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning The ginger lady by my bed Covered in a cloak of silence I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams The measure of my dreams
McGowan was a proper musical genius. But lyrically that’s not quite Cole Porter
“Fairytale” is much cleverer - probably the best Pogues song, lyrically
Fairytale of New York may be cleverer with the duet structure etc but there's something buried in Rainy Night in Soho that gets me every time I listen to it. The lyrics have that kind of unknowable quality that I think is the mark of real poetry.
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray god it’s our last”
Is one of the greatest couplets in the history of pop music. It expresses true love and deep sentiment - as drunk loving ruined people really speak, with a clever rhyme scheme
I believe it has now been cancelled by the Woke
I have spent years thinking it was "Happy Christmas you arse-wipe, thank god it’s our last"
For around 30 years I believed, and was bemused, that in Quicksand Bowie sang "Knowledge comes from tax relief".
Eventually I googled it, and realised it was "death's release", which made more sense.
Ah, misheard lyrics- one of the many minor joys the internet has stolen from us.
The very catchy "Sue Lawley" of course.
Peter Kay isn't my absolute fav comic but he had a routine on this (misheard lyrics) which I caught recently during some random youtube-ing. He got a good 15 minutes out of it and it was only about 3 too long.
"I can't believe you kiss your cock at night" - me neither, Shania.
Can I just thank whoever it was that linked to the Pogues "And the band played waltzing Matilda" on the previous thread. A brilliant and deeply moving rendition.
McGowan was the real deal, not least a fantastic lyricist. Look at the lyrics to A Rainy Night in Soho, below - just beautiful poetry.
I've been loving you a long time Down all the years, down all the days And I've cried for all your troubles Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows You told me all your joys Whatever happened to that old song? To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning The ginger lady by my bed Covered in a cloak of silence I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams The measure of my dreams
McGowan was a proper musical genius. But lyrically that’s not quite Cole Porter
“Fairytale” is much cleverer - probably the best Pogues song, lyrically
Fairytale of New York may be cleverer with the duet structure etc but there's something buried in Rainy Night in Soho that gets me every time I listen to it. The lyrics have that kind of unknowable quality that I think is the mark of real poetry.
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray god it’s our last”
Is one of the greatest couplets in the history of pop music. It expresses true love and deep sentiment - as drunk loving ruined people really speak, with a clever rhyme scheme
I believe it has now been cancelled by the Woke
I have spent years thinking it was "Happy Christmas you arse-wipe, thank god it’s our last"
For around 30 years I believed, and was bemused, that in Quicksand Bowie sang "Knowledge comes from tax relief".
Eventually I googled it, and realised it was "death's release", which made more sense.
Ah, misheard lyrics- one of the many minor joys the internet has stolen from us.
The very catchy "Sue Lawley" of course.
Peter Kay isn't my absolute fav comic but he had a routine on this (misheard lyrics) which I caught recently during some random youtube-ing. He got a good 15 minutes out of it and it was only about 3 too long.
"I can't believe you kiss your cock at night" - me neither, Shania.
That don't impress me much
Here's one you'll know. A line in one of the existing Wheel in Space episodes. Troughton either says, or is supposed, to say "Sectional Air Supply" to which many fans hear it as "Sexual Air Supply" !!!!
I go out each Christmas with some friends for a Christmas meal. This year, we're going to a vegetarian restaurant. It's supposed to be nice. But everything on the menu sounds like a side order. Vegetables aren't a meal, they're things you have with a meal.
Had a very nice mushroom pie with chips in my local last night.
We have vegan friends staying this weekend and we are cooking them a mushroom and butternut squash risotto. I love meat but am happy to eat vegetarian and vegan if it is well cooked.
Meanwhile, in "Conservatives Losing" news, the latest dispatch from London;
The “Good Samaritan” who returned a lost Oyster card to Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall has told how delighted she was to be reunited with her free travel pass...
Shortly after the incident, on Monday afternoon, Ms Hall’s spokesman said she believed she had been pickpocketed on the Tube as she travelled home from Westminster to Pinner, first on the Jubilee line and then the Metropolitan line, which she switched on to at Finchley Road.
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
I worked for a worthy but boring firm firm specialising in shipping, aviation and insurance law . When it ran into some trouble it got sold to this "fun" lawyer in April -
After 3 1/2 months of this new ownership, in August it emerged that he bought my firm with millions of his clients money, I had to quit and find a new job with my team, am suffering the embarrassment of being associated in any way with the fiasco, he's under investigation by the SFO, and is likely to cost every solicitor in England & Wales £300 - £500 to compensate his clients.
"He's lots of fun" we were assured. "His parties are great". Bollocks. He should have been struck off for those dance moves alone. And the catastrophic lack of taste.
Yes a well known story. It would share top billing with the post office if it wasn't a bunch of lawyers who are being shafted.
The lawyers are fine. It’s the clients who can’t get their money that are the story.
Meanwhile, in "Conservatives Losing" news, the latest dispatch from London;
The “Good Samaritan” who returned a lost Oyster card to Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall has told how delighted she was to be reunited with her free travel pass...
Shortly after the incident, on Monday afternoon, Ms Hall’s spokesman said she believed she had been pickpocketed on the Tube as she travelled home from Westminster to Pinner, first on the Jubilee line and then the Metropolitan line, which she switched on to at Finchley Road.
If you have travel passes, weekly, monthly or yearly, they have to be on an Oyster Card.
In a related note, to get the reduced rates for children, they have to have a “Zip” card. Which is not exactly a normal Oyster card. It costs money if they lose it, and topping up is a pain.
Both should be available as linkage to a bank card or to an app on a phone.
Meanwhile, in "Conservatives Losing" news, the latest dispatch from London;
The “Good Samaritan” who returned a lost Oyster card to Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall has told how delighted she was to be reunited with her free travel pass...
Shortly after the incident, on Monday afternoon, Ms Hall’s spokesman said she believed she had been pickpocketed on the Tube as she travelled home from Westminster to Pinner, first on the Jubilee line and then the Metropolitan line, which she switched on to at Finchley Road.
People who would rather TfL gets the money than a bank?
Suspect cost of administering Oyster is more than transaction fees from contactless.
The main reason is that there are certain products that are only available on Oyster, such as weekly travelcards, railcards, zip cards, etc.
Eg the 60+ oyster which I have. It's fantastic. It works for anything in TfL which takes an oyster. Bus, tube, overground, tram, boat, cable car, you name it. I just buzz around London around for free. People on right and left say it's a crazy use of public money, it's bound to be scrapped soon bla bla, but I really hope not. Yes, I could afford the fares, of course I could, I was a bond trader, but it makes me feel valued to have this perk now I'm 63 and I'd say it does get me out and about more than if I didn't have it.
Meanwhile, in "Conservatives Losing" news, the latest dispatch from London;
The “Good Samaritan” who returned a lost Oyster card to Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall has told how delighted she was to be reunited with her free travel pass...
Shortly after the incident, on Monday afternoon, Ms Hall’s spokesman said she believed she had been pickpocketed on the Tube as she travelled home from Westminster to Pinner, first on the Jubilee line and then the Metropolitan line, which she switched on to at Finchley Road.
People who would rather TfL gets the money than a bank?
She is 68 so I suspect the Oyster Card is a free travel one.
The stolen Oyster Card story is perhaps a deliberate fabrication. Or just Susan Hall being Susan Hall.
She used the story to launch another attack on Sadiq Khan, even *after* she had got it back. The cash in the wallet was still there .... it sounds really "stolen".
I waiting for Susan's plans to build a pier in the Serpentine so she can have a show at the end of it.
BTW I used an Oyster Card last time I was in London. I normally don't use phone payments for resilience - so losing a phone doesn't lose everything else with it.
Re latest poll, voters would be well advised before offering unfettered power a la Blair. The Tories need a good kicking but the Country needs an opposition that can hold the Govt to account. A complete trouncing isn't in the public interest.
Counterpoint- it serves as a warning to any future government not to do as badly.
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
Genuinely struggling to think of any of the current government or its recent prior iterations one could call Bohemian.
I was talking about the entire Speccie/Tory cohort
Bojo (ex editor, ex PM) is certainly louche
I believe some of the Spec columnists are genuinely raffish to the point of amorality
Etc
I think there's more to being a bohemian than failing to tuck your shirt in.
Re latest poll, voters would be well advised before offering unfettered power a la Blair. The Tories need a good kicking but the Country needs an opposition that can hold the Govt to account. A complete trouncing isn't in the public interest.
I go out each Christmas with some friends for a Christmas meal. This year, we're going to a vegetarian restaurant. It's supposed to be nice. But everything on the menu sounds like a side order. Vegetables aren't a meal, they're things you have with a meal.
Had a very nice mushroom pie with chips in my local last night.
We have vegan friends staying this weekend and we are cooking them a mushroom and butternut squash risotto. I love meat but am happy to eat vegetarian and vegan if it is well cooked.
Butternut squash - hmm, not my favourite!
True story, when I worked at the MRC Labs at Mill Hill (London) about 15 years back, the staff canteen, for a time, had veggie options that always contained butternut squash: butternut squash curry, butternut squash pasta, butternut squash quiche... you get the picture!
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
Genuinely struggling to think of any of the current government or its recent prior iterations one could call Bohemian.
I was talking about the entire Speccie/Tory cohort
Bojo (ex editor, ex PM) is certainly louche
I believe some of the Spec columnists are genuinely raffish to the point of amorality
Etc
I think there's more to being a bohemian than failing to tuck your shirt in.
Indeed. The Dandy Warhols published a guide, I believe.
I go out each Christmas with some friends for a Christmas meal. This year, we're going to a vegetarian restaurant. It's supposed to be nice. But everything on the menu sounds like a side order. Vegetables aren't a meal, they're things you have with a meal.
Had a very nice mushroom pie with chips in my local last night.
We have vegan friends staying this weekend and we are cooking them a mushroom and butternut squash risotto. I love meat but am happy to eat vegetarian and vegan if it is well cooked.
Butternut squash - hmm, not my favourite!
True story, when I worked at the MRC Labs at Mill Hill (London) about 15 years back, the staff canteen, for a time, had veggie options that always contained butternut squash: butternut squash curry, butternut squash pasta, butternut squash quiche... you get the picture!
Surely you should serve venison?
Did we ever answer the question of whether venison bacon is vegan?
The inquiry seems from this vantage point to be led by sage and alternative sage types - people who could only ever believe lockdowns should have been longer and harder. There doesn't seem to be any great exploration of the costs of lockdowns.
I’m quite sure the enquiry will find that lockdowns should have been more stringent, and should have lasted longer.
And they won’t even address the origin of the disease - and the part the British medical establishment played in covering up a potential lab origin, for over a year. Whatever your opinion of Covid’s origins, there WAS unquestionably a conspiracy to stop any debate about lab leak
Absolutely outrageous. Gove mentioned it once and was instantly silenced
The whole lot of them should be sacked and sent home. It's a disgrace, and Baroness Hallet is trashing her reputation.
Yesterday, you were arguing that having mixed race children was medically unwise. You don't exactly seem like someone anyone should listen to on medical matters.
Re latest poll, voters would be well advised before offering unfettered power a la Blair. The Tories need a good kicking but the Country needs an opposition that can hold the Govt to account. A complete trouncing isn't in the public interest.
Counterpoint- it serves as a warning to any future government not to do as badly.
For me the reason they deserve a damn good thrashing is not so much the incompetence as the clear impression these last few years that they have been taking the piss. You can't allow that. Any boss worth their salt will tell you that an employee taking the piss has to be fired. This is your area of expertise in fact, Doug, isn't it. So you know. And it really does apply here. As Tony Blair aped Bill Clinton in saying, when it comes to politics "the British people are the Boss".
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
I worked for a worthy but boring firm firm specialising in shipping, aviation and insurance law . When it ran into some trouble it got sold to this "fun" lawyer in April -
After 3 1/2 months of this new ownership, in August it emerged that he bought my firm with millions of his clients money, I had to quit and find a new job with my team, am suffering the embarrassment of being associated in any way with the fiasco, he's under investigation by the SFO, and is likely to cost every solicitor in England & Wales £300 - £500 to compensate his clients.
"He's lots of fun" we were assured. "His parties are great". Bollocks. He should have been struck off for those dance moves alone. And the catastrophic lack of taste.
Yes a well known story. It would share top billing with the post office if it wasn't a bunch of lawyers who are being shafted.
The lawyers are fine. It’s the clients who can’t get their money that are the story.
Aren't the clients getting their money back?
I bet the Dom Pérignon wasn't actually Dom Pérignon
Some years back, ABN Amro was celebrating the go live of a new system. They hired out Mahiki, with the full trimmings. I wondered about, wondering if the ice sculpture/vodka drinking thing was going to result in lawsuits... Anyway, it was Dom Pérignon all the way. Supposedly.
At about midnight the glass I was given tasted different. So I went to the bar and asked the bar tender why the Dom Pérignon poured from the bottle tasted like Veuve Clicquot. He looked at me, then gave me an unopened bottle of Dom.
The Inquiry does not seem to have even the most basic grasp of what government is for. It seems to be taking as its starting point 'how could the number of Covid deaths have been minimised', without recognising that governments have many other duties, from protecting the economy, education and civil liberties (and much else)
"x) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the population, including but not limited to those who were harmed significantly by the pandemic; xi) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the bereaved, including post-bereavement support; xii) the impact on health and care sector workers and other key workers; xiii) the impact on children and young people, including health, wellbeing and social care; xiv) education and early years provision; xv) the closure and reopening of the hospitality, retail, sport and leisure, and travel and tourism sectors, places of worship, and cultural institutions; xvi) housing and homelessness; xvii) safeguarding and support for victims of domestic abuse; xviii) prisons and other places of detention; xix) the justice system; xx) immigration and asylum; xxi) travel and borders; and xxii) the safeguarding of public funds and management of financial risk."
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
Mistletoe and Wine by Miley Cyrus.
If anyone wants to have a go at me for listening to Miley Cyrus I will just say 'Flowers' is one of the best break up songs ever.
I am also slightly obsessed by her cover of Heart of Glass.
A few years ago I had a random station playing on Apple Music and it started playing a cover of Heart of Glass and I thought this is good/different, I was shocked into silence when I looked to see it was actually Miley Cyrus.
The Inquiry does not seem to have even the most basic grasp of what government is for. It seems to be taking as its starting point 'how could the number of Covid deaths have been minimised', without recognising that governments have many other duties, from protecting the economy, education and civil liberties (and much else), or the nature of how politics is done; that it's not a technocratic process and that opinion - not least on those competing (but at times complimentary) priorities but also on how events shape process. Things which might have been beneficial in hindsight could not have been done with foresight (even were that foresight available), because people, from MPs to public, demand proof or compelling argument before sacrifice.
You can't lock down a country every time there's a new virus, just like it would only have been justifiable to remove Hitler in 1933 with the benefit of hindsight from an alternative reality, no matter how useful that would have actually been. There are lots of other nutcase dictators and most don't turn out to be genocidal warmongers (which isn't to say more couldn't have been done to prepare or that defining a threat away by policy definition was absurd).
There's also the rather more important point that how we should have responded three years ago is a very different thing from how we ought to plan to do so in the future.
The technologies for immune surveillance, and the manufacturing of rapid diagnostic tests and vaccines are now massively more effective than they were back then.
Future pandemic planning should look at how countries like Taiwan and S Korea were able to keep infection at bay for far longer than we were. And ensure that there is domestic manufacturing capacity for vaccines and test kits. The latter would be relatively cheap, and extremely cost effective as a prevention measure.
There's been plenty of reference to countries like Taiwan and S Korea in the evidence given. I wouldn't be surprised to see conclusions along the lines of "do what Taiwan and S Korea did".
The Inquiry does not seem to have even the most basic grasp of what government is for. It seems to be taking as its starting point 'how could the number of Covid deaths have been minimised', without recognising that governments have many other duties, from protecting the economy, education and civil liberties (and much else)
"x) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the population, including but not limited to those who were harmed significantly by the pandemic; xi) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the bereaved, including post-bereavement support; xii) the impact on health and care sector workers and other key workers; xiii) the impact on children and young people, including health, wellbeing and social care; xiv) education and early years provision; xv) the closure and reopening of the hospitality, retail, sport and leisure, and travel and tourism sectors, places of worship, and cultural institutions; xvi) housing and homelessness; xvii) safeguarding and support for victims of domestic abuse; xviii) prisons and other places of detention; xix) the justice system; xx) immigration and asylum; xxi) travel and borders; and xxii) the safeguarding of public funds and management of financial risk."
Arguably what is missing is consideration of best practice from other countries. But it's a long process. Frankly the media reporting is driving a negative impression of the inquiry, just as they failed during the epidemic itself.
The inquiry seems from this vantage point to be led by sage and alternative sage types - people who could only ever believe lockdowns should have been longer and harder. There doesn't seem to be any great exploration of the costs of lockdowns.
There has been a lot of questions around whether the government had mitigation plans around the costs of lockdowns (no), and whether they considered these costs during decision making (not much). There was, for example, a set of questions around domestic violence, was there any consideration it might go up, which department was responsible?
There was also at least two times that the Inquiry was asking questions around how Independent SAGE operated and whether they should have used that name.
All of which assumes you have to lock down and starts from a 'state should do more' perspective.
No, it doesn't. We did lockdown, so it makes sense to ask questions about planned mitigations, which is exactly what you were asking for from the Inquiry!
The question of whether lockdown was necessary or avoidable has also been examined, with witnesses noting the experience of some east Asian countries that avoided ever having to do a national lockdown.
Can I just thank whoever it was that linked to the Pogues "And the band played waltzing Matilda" on the previous thread. A brilliant and deeply moving rendition.
McGowan was the real deal, not least a fantastic lyricist. Look at the lyrics to A Rainy Night in Soho, below - just beautiful poetry.
I've been loving you a long time Down all the years, down all the days And I've cried for all your troubles Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows You told me all your joys Whatever happened to that old song? To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning The ginger lady by my bed Covered in a cloak of silence I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams The measure of my dreams
Superb. I especially like the penultimate verse.
The last line of the song gets me every time. It is so beautifully opaque but also somehow freighted with meaning. It's probably my favourite line in any pop song.
Talking of fabulous lyrics Roger Waters "Hanging on in Quiet desperation is the English way" is just magnificent.
Dark Side of the Moon is often superb, lyrically - which is quite odd as Pink Floyd generally didn’t write superb lyrics. Frequently nice or decent but never outstanding
That whole album is touched with an inexplicable, alchemical and cruelly fleeting genius. But at least we got that album
I find a lot of Waters lyrics from 73-84, Dark Side to the Final Cut, to be really moving and thought provoking
Interesting debate to be had about something I found out the other day; the lady who ‘sang’ The Great Gig in the Sky was awarded a songwriting credit for it thirty years after its release. She was told by the band to listen to the song, go into the studio and let herself go with whatever feelings it evoked. The results were legendary, but did she ‘write the song’? Apparently so. Maybe she did
She absolutely wrote half the song and deserves half the money
Rick Wright’s tune is simple and lovely but it’s her extemporised vocals which make it a masterpiece. I hope she got a million. The Floyd can certainly afford it
“ In 2004, Torry sued Pink Floyd and EMI for songwriting royalties on the basis that her contribution to "The Great Gig in the Sky" constituted co-authorship with keyboardist Richard Wright. In 1973, as a session singer, she was paid only the standard flat fee of £30 for Sunday studio work (the equivalent of £400 in 2022).[9] She said in 1998, "If I'd known then what I know now, I would have done something about organising copyright or publishing."[3] In 2005, an out-of-court settlement was reached in Torry's favour, although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.[14] All releases after 2005 carry an additional credit for "Vocal composition by Clare Torry"[15] in the "Great Gig in the Sky" segment of the booklet or liner notes.”
I wonder how much she got. Funny that no one ever thought to offer her a credit at the time, although I can see why it’s a grey area. Apparently when she’d finished singing she thought she’d made a fool of herself and was embarrassed to see the band
The sax player in Gerry Raffertey's Baker Street was just paid a flat fee for the session too afaicr.
The main thing I wanted the Covid inquiry to do was question whether lockdowns were a good idea, and whether it might have been better if young, healthy people hadn't been subjected to it. Looks like that isn't going to happen.
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
I worked for a worthy but boring firm firm specialising in shipping, aviation and insurance law . When it ran into some trouble it got sold to this "fun" lawyer in April -
After 3 1/2 months of this new ownership, in August it emerged that he bought my firm with millions of his clients money, I had to quit and find a new job with my team, am suffering the embarrassment of being associated in any way with the fiasco, he's under investigation by the SFO, and is likely to cost every solicitor in England & Wales £300 - £500 to compensate his clients.
"He's lots of fun" we were assured. "His parties are great". Bollocks. He should have been struck off for those dance moves alone. And the catastrophic lack of taste.
Yes a well known story. It would share top billing with the post office if it wasn't a bunch of lawyers who are being shafted.
The lawyers are fine. It’s the clients who can’t get their money that are the story.
Aren't the clients getting their money back?
I bet the Dom Pérignon wasn't actually Dom Pérignon
Some years back, ABN Amro was celebrating the go live of a new system. They hired out Mahiki, with the full trimmings. I wondered about, wondering if the ice sculpture/vodka drinking thing was going to result in lawsuits... Anyway, it was Dom Pérignon all the way. Supposedly.
At about midnight the glass I was given tasted different. So I went to the bar and asked the bar tender why the Dom Pérignon poured from the bottle tasted like Veuve Clicquot. He looked at me, then gave me an unopened bottle of Dom.
Let's see if we overlapped - when were you at ABN?
Guy kneeling: Ok, listen up students. This is a very rare specimen, probably the last example we'll ever see - at least in our lifetimes - of the Conservative PM. See how it tries to bluster sincerity by reaching for where it hopes we'll believe a heart might be? Get a quick sketch of the main features before it's too late.
If the economy is poor under a Labour government the swingback to the Conservative Opposition would be swift
I'm naturally assuming that our lifetimes will be short due to one or more of:
The horrors of a Labour government
AI-apocalypse
Nuclear winter
The commonplace pneumonia doing the rounds in China and now DENMARK
Remember in the May 2010 general election Brown Labour got just 29% of the vote, not much different to where the Sunak Tories are polling now. 2010 was also 13 years into a Labour government as we are now 13 years into a Tory government.
However within a year, by May 2011 Ed Miliband's Labour was on 41% with Yougov and 38% with Opinium.
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
I worked for a worthy but boring firm firm specialising in shipping, aviation and insurance law . When it ran into some trouble it got sold to this "fun" lawyer in April -
After 3 1/2 months of this new ownership, in August it emerged that he bought my firm with millions of his clients money, I had to quit and find a new job with my team, am suffering the embarrassment of being associated in any way with the fiasco, he's under investigation by the SFO, and is likely to cost every solicitor in England & Wales £300 - £500 to compensate his clients.
"He's lots of fun" we were assured. "His parties are great". Bollocks. He should have been struck off for those dance moves alone. And the catastrophic lack of taste.
Yes a well known story. It would share top billing with the post office if it wasn't a bunch of lawyers who are being shafted.
The lawyers are fine. It’s the clients who can’t get their money that are the story.
Aren't the clients getting their money back?
I bet the Dom Pérignon wasn't actually Dom Pérignon
Some years back, ABN Amro was celebrating the go live of a new system. They hired out Mahiki, with the full trimmings. I wondered about, wondering if the ice sculpture/vodka drinking thing was going to result in lawsuits... Anyway, it was Dom Pérignon all the way. Supposedly.
At about midnight the glass I was given tasted different. So I went to the bar and asked the bar tender why the Dom Pérignon poured from the bottle tasted like Veuve Clicquot. He looked at me, then gave me an unopened bottle of Dom.
Let's see if we overlapped - when were you at ABN?
It does look as though quite a few people are seeing what they expect about the covid inquiry.
Personally, I feel it certainly has devolved a lot into attempted cover-your-arse from many, who've necessarily looked to blame others, and the media have leapt on those particular blame stories (exacerbated by some of the lawyers, who've defaulted to an "uncover the blame" mentality at times) - but to be fair to the media, that seems to be exactly what most of the public appear to want to see.
But quite a few of the accusations over what the inquiry has been targeted to have come across as being what the accuser expects to see rather than what is or is not happening. It's probably another one of those mental whatchamacallits that was highlighted the other day, to which we're all prone.
Guy kneeling: Ok, listen up students. This is a very rare specimen, probably the last example we'll ever see - at least in our lifetimes - of the Conservative PM. See how it tries to bluster sincerity by reaching for where it hopes we'll believe a heart might be? Get a quick sketch of the main features before it's too late.
If the economy is poor under a Labour government the swingback to the Conservative Opposition would be swift
I'm naturally assuming that our lifetimes will be short due to one or more of:
The horrors of a Labour government
AI-apocalypse
Nuclear winter
The commonplace pneumonia doing the rounds in China and now DENMARK
Remember in the May 2010 general election Brown Labour got just 29% of the vote, not much different to where the Sunak Tories are polling now. 2010 was also 13 years into a Labour government as we are now 13 years into a Tory government.
However within a year, by May 2011 Ed Miliband's Labour was on 41% with Yougov and 38% with Opinium.
The Tories are going to be utterly destroyed if these polls verify
What are they going to do?? They are on the edge of total oblivion
Signs of the times: with the exception of thoughtful and considered articles on dog eating the Speccie is more or less unreadable; the New Statesman presents the centrist reader with a reasonably balanced consideration of how to run the country in a centrist way without actually blowing it up.
Game over?
The Spectator is fun, tho. The New Statesman is intolerably worthy and boring. Hence their very differing sales and profit
But then; twas ever thus, at least for the last few decades
Any connections to declare?
We've now been burned very badly by politics as "fun". I don't want my politics to be entertaining. I want my politics to ensure that when I go to the hospital I get treated in a decent amount of time, there is no shit coming out of my taps when I turn them on, I can rely on getting from get from point A to point B (whether by public or private modes of transport) safely and reliably, and I can get justice from a court I choose or am required to attend.
I don't give a flying proverbial whether that's delivered by a religious data entry clerk from Stevenage with no friends whose only hobby is painting Warhammer figurines, or the the resurrected Elvis backed by a choir of angels duetting with Freddie Mercury, but I'm not getting it from the people The Spectator routinely pump.
I don’t disagree. The amusing toffs, drunks and bohemians have had their time
Now let the boring lefty managers have a go
However, I predict they will fail quite badly and end up just as hated, but without the consolation of being occasionally diverting
I worked for a worthy but boring firm firm specialising in shipping, aviation and insurance law . When it ran into some trouble it got sold to this "fun" lawyer in April -
After 3 1/2 months of this new ownership, in August it emerged that he bought my firm with millions of his clients money, I had to quit and find a new job with my team, am suffering the embarrassment of being associated in any way with the fiasco, he's under investigation by the SFO, and is likely to cost every solicitor in England & Wales £300 - £500 to compensate his clients.
"He's lots of fun" we were assured. "His parties are great". Bollocks. He should have been struck off for those dance moves alone. And the catastrophic lack of taste.
Yes a well known story. It would share top billing with the post office if it wasn't a bunch of lawyers who are being shafted.
The lawyers are fine. It’s the clients who can’t get their money that are the story.
Aren't the clients getting their money back?
I bet the Dom Pérignon wasn't actually Dom Pérignon
Some years back, ABN Amro was celebrating the go live of a new system. They hired out Mahiki, with the full trimmings. I wondered about, wondering if the ice sculpture/vodka drinking thing was going to result in lawsuits... Anyway, it was Dom Pérignon all the way. Supposedly.
At about midnight the glass I was given tasted different. So I went to the bar and asked the bar tender why the Dom Pérignon poured from the bottle tasted like Veuve Clicquot. He looked at me, then gave me an unopened bottle of Dom.
Let's see if we overlapped - when were you at ABN?
Early 2000s
Ah ok. I was more 'mid'. A rather 'up itself' culture in the front office, I found. Didn't stay long.
Guy kneeling: Ok, listen up students. This is a very rare specimen, probably the last example we'll ever see - at least in our lifetimes - of the Conservative PM. See how it tries to bluster sincerity by reaching for where it hopes we'll believe a heart might be? Get a quick sketch of the main features before it's too late.
If the economy is poor under a Labour government the swingback to the Conservative Opposition would be swift
I'm naturally assuming that our lifetimes will be short due to one or more of:
The horrors of a Labour government
AI-apocalypse
Nuclear winter
The commonplace pneumonia doing the rounds in China and now DENMARK
Remember in the May 2010 general election Brown Labour got just 29% of the vote, not much different to where the Sunak Tories are polling now. 2010 was also 13 years into a Labour government as we are now 13 years into a Tory government.
However within a year, by May 2011 Ed Miliband's Labour was on 41% with Yougov and 38% with Opinium.
If voters don't feel a new government is doing much for them and the economy isn't great they can swiftly turn against it
Who won the 2015 election?
Yes the Tories did in the end with a voteshare little different from 2010 but had a general election been held in 2011, 2012 or 2013 then Ed Miliband would probably have won it and become PM on the polling.
Even if Starmer does win next time he is unlikely to have as long a honeymoon as Blair did and as extensive poll leads
The inquiry seems from this vantage point to be led by sage and alternative sage types - people who could only ever believe lockdowns should have been longer and harder. There doesn't seem to be any great exploration of the costs of lockdowns.
There has been a lot of questions around whether the government had mitigation plans around the costs of lockdowns (no), and whether they considered these costs during decision making (not much). There was, for example, a set of questions around domestic violence, was there any consideration it might go up, which department was responsible?
There was also at least two times that the Inquiry was asking questions around how Independent SAGE operated and whether they should have used that name.
All of which assumes you have to lock down and starts from a 'state should do more' perspective.
No, it doesn't. We did lockdown, so it makes sense to ask questions about planned mitigations, which is exactly what you were asking for from the Inquiry!
The question of whether lockdown was necessary or avoidable has also been examined, with witnesses noting the experience of some east Asian countries that avoided ever having to do a national lockdown.
Yup, the way to not lockdown is not to get to the point where the options are mass lockdown or mass deaths. Stitch in time and all that. Many East Asian countries managed this stonkingly well. Europe generally didn't, and the UK was rather worse than most of the countries we like to compare ourselves to.
The Inquiry does not seem to have even the most basic grasp of what government is for. It seems to be taking as its starting point 'how could the number of Covid deaths have been minimised', without recognising that governments have many other duties, from protecting the economy, education and civil liberties (and much else)
"x) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the population, including but not limited to those who were harmed significantly by the pandemic; xi) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the bereaved, including post-bereavement support; xii) the impact on health and care sector workers and other key workers; xiii) the impact on children and young people, including health, wellbeing and social care; xiv) education and early years provision; xv) the closure and reopening of the hospitality, retail, sport and leisure, and travel and tourism sectors, places of worship, and cultural institutions; xvi) housing and homelessness; xvii) safeguarding and support for victims of domestic abuse; xviii) prisons and other places of detention; xix) the justice system; xx) immigration and asylum; xxi) travel and borders; and xxii) the safeguarding of public funds and management of financial risk."
Fair enough, if so. I've not been following it in detail. All I can say is that what I have seen, the questions appear strongly slanted in the direction I described, whatever the formal terms of reference.
The main thing I wanted the Covid inquiry to do was question whether lockdowns were a good idea, and whether it might have been better if young, healthy people hadn't been subjected to it. Looks like that isn't going to happen.
As Sir Humphrey said “No Minister, I beg you. A basic rule of government is never look into anything you don’t have to, and never set up an inquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be" https://twitter.com/YesSirHumphrey/status/1294489316891254784
New article by one of the best commentators out there imo. (He's British but this is an American magazine hence the spelling).
"Theodore Dalrymple A Specter Haunting Europe The political class’s impotence in the face of so much public anxiety makes fertile soil for extremism.
A specter is haunting Europe, and it is fascism. I don’t mean by this the insulting term that radical students have long hurled at anyone who disagreed with them in the slightest. I mean a brutal, violent mass movement that will not hesitate to intimidate, oppress, and kill in the name of a nation.
Geert Wilders is not a fascist, but if his electoral triumph in the Netherlands (relative, not absolute) does not result in genuinely assuaging the discontents of which his triumph is a symptom, it is not unlikely that at least some of his voters will become so disillusioned with, and frustrated by, normal politics that they will look elsewhere for a solution."
This list just how out of touch this site is with real people. Big fat leavers with a blood type of Bisto.
Sticky Vicky died this week. That means more than everyone on that stupid fucking list.
When I think of ping pong balls, Sticky Vicky and that patron saint of right-of-centre dads, columnist Matthew Syed come to mind. Now I’ll never see them in action together.
The inquiry seems from this vantage point to be led by sage and alternative sage types - people who could only ever believe lockdowns should have been longer and harder. There doesn't seem to be any great exploration of the costs of lockdowns.
I’m quite sure the enquiry will find that lockdowns should have been more stringent, and should have lasted longer.
And they won’t even address the origin of the disease - and the part the British medical establishment played in covering up a potential lab origin, for over a year. Whatever your opinion of Covid’s origins, there WAS unquestionably a conspiracy to stop any debate about lab leak
Absolutely outrageous. Gove mentioned it once and was instantly silenced
The whole lot of them should be sacked and sent home. It's a disgrace, and Baroness Hallet is trashing her reputation.
Yesterday, you were arguing that having mixed race children was medically unwise. You don't exactly seem like someone anyone should listen to on medical matters.
You do quite a good line in cretinous yet rather malevolent distortions of other peoples' posts don't you poppet?
New article by one of the best commentators out there imo.
"Theodore Dalrymple A Specter Haunting Europe The political class’s impotence in the face of so much public anxiety makes fertile soil for extremism.
A specter is haunting Europe, and it is fascism. I don’t mean by this the insulting term that radical students have long hurled at anyone who disagreed with them in the slightest. I mean a brutal, violent mass movement that will not hesitate to intimidate, oppress, and kill in the name of a nation.
Geert Wilders is not a fascist, but if his electoral triumph in the Netherlands (relative, not absolute) does not result in genuinely assuaging the discontents of which his triumph is a symptom, it is not unlikely that at least some of his voters will become so disillusioned with, and frustrated by, normal politics that they will look elsewhere for a solution."
It's interesting that the first successful anti-system party has been so widely ignored in this process - Syriza in Greece - perhaps because it came from the radical/populist-left rather than the -right, and commentators are mischaracterising their wins in the early 2010s as a different phenomenon.
New article by one of the best commentators out there imo. (He's British but this is an American magazine hence the spelling).
"Theodore Dalrymple A Specter Haunting Europe The political class’s impotence in the face of so much public anxiety makes fertile soil for extremism.
A specter is haunting Europe, and it is fascism. I don’t mean by this the insulting term that radical students have long hurled at anyone who disagreed with them in the slightest. I mean a brutal, violent mass movement that will not hesitate to intimidate, oppress, and kill in the name of a nation.
Geert Wilders is not a fascist, but if his electoral triumph in the Netherlands (relative, not absolute) does not result in genuinely assuaging the discontents of which his triumph is a symptom, it is not unlikely that at least some of his voters will become so disillusioned with, and frustrated by, normal politics that they will look elsewhere for a solution."
It was originally a dispute with Britain over the border with British Guiana.
Sunak could send a taskforce and get his Falklands moment.
Why? Guyana is now an independent state not a British overseas territory
Depends on whether Guyana requests assistance. Preventing another war breaking out might be a good thing. Perhaps the US could be persuaded to chip in a few troops and deter any Venzuealan nonsense. Proactive deployment would have a helpful deterrence effect.
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
apart from the fact this quiz reveals how old everyone is (not important but a lot of quizzes are designed to trick you into revealing details of yourself. I half suspect mine actually exists
DON'T YOU WANT ME - by the Sundays..
Haha, mine would be Bohemian Rhapsody performed by The Pogues.
Do They Know its Christmas performed by Chris Cornell
Guy kneeling: Ok, listen up students. This is a very rare specimen, probably the last example we'll ever see - at least in our lifetimes - of the Conservative PM. See how it tries to bluster sincerity by reaching for where it hopes we'll believe a heart might be? Get a quick sketch of the main features before it's too late.
If the economy is poor under a Labour government the swingback to the Conservative Opposition would be swift
I'm naturally assuming that our lifetimes will be short due to one or more of:
The horrors of a Labour government
AI-apocalypse
Nuclear winter
The commonplace pneumonia doing the rounds in China and now DENMARK
Remember in the May 2010 general election Brown Labour got just 29% of the vote, not much different to where the Sunak Tories are polling now. 2010 was also 13 years into a Labour government as we are now 13 years into a Tory government.
However within a year, by May 2011 Ed Miliband's Labour was on 41% with Yougov and 38% with Opinium.
I go out each Christmas with some friends for a Christmas meal. This year, we're going to a vegetarian restaurant. It's supposed to be nice. But everything on the menu sounds like a side order. Vegetables aren't a meal, they're things you have with a meal.
No venison on the menu I hope? We know what trouble that can cause.
Guy kneeling: Ok, listen up students. This is a very rare specimen, probably the last example we'll ever see - at least in our lifetimes - of the Conservative PM. See how it tries to bluster sincerity by reaching for where it hopes we'll believe a heart might be? Get a quick sketch of the main features before it's too late.
If the economy is poor under a Labour government the swingback to the Conservative Opposition would be swift
I'm naturally assuming that our lifetimes will be short due to one or more of:
The horrors of a Labour government
AI-apocalypse
Nuclear winter
The commonplace pneumonia doing the rounds in China and now DENMARK
Remember in the May 2010 general election Brown Labour got just 29% of the vote, not much different to where the Sunak Tories are polling now. 2010 was also 13 years into a Labour government as we are now 13 years into a Tory government.
However within a year, by May 2011 Ed Miliband's Labour was on 41% with Yougov and 38% with Opinium.
If voters don't feel a new government is doing much for them and the economy isn't great they can swiftly turn against it
Relax. I'm not (and was never) seriously suggesting that Sunak will be the last Conservative PM of our lifetimes.
Afterall, there's a non-zero* chance of another Conservative PM within the next year or so
(And yes, electoral cycles etc - unless the Cons go full tonto and either split or the LDs find a great leader/new party is set up and actually works this time,** the Cons will be back in power well within a timescale that I very much hope will be within my lifetime. The only way it might not happen would be under PR where the inevitable splits of parties would produce a new leading centre-right party that was not the Conservative Party.
*although very small, I think **these are even more vanishingly small, particularly the last
The inquiry seems from this vantage point to be led by sage and alternative sage types - people who could only ever believe lockdowns should have been longer and harder. There doesn't seem to be any great exploration of the costs of lockdowns.
I’m quite sure the enquiry will find that lockdowns should have been more stringent, and should have lasted longer.
And they won’t even address the origin of the disease - and the part the British medical establishment played in covering up a potential lab origin, for over a year. Whatever your opinion of Covid’s origins, there WAS unquestionably a conspiracy to stop any debate about lab leak
Absolutely outrageous. Gove mentioned it once and was instantly silenced
The whole lot of them should be sacked and sent home. It's a disgrace, and Baroness Hallet is trashing her reputation.
Yesterday, you were arguing that having mixed race children was medically unwise. You don't exactly seem like someone anyone should listen to on medical matters.
You do quite a good line in cretinous yet rather malevolent distortions of other peoples' posts don't you poppet?
Hardly needed when the PBer in question once said they wouldn't hesitate to 'like' a post by Hitler if it was a good one.
New article by one of the best commentators out there imo. (He's British but this is an American magazine hence the spelling).
"Theodore Dalrymple A Specter Haunting Europe The political class’s impotence in the face of so much public anxiety makes fertile soil for extremism.
A specter is haunting Europe, and it is fascism. I don’t mean by this the insulting term that radical students have long hurled at anyone who disagreed with them in the slightest. I mean a brutal, violent mass movement that will not hesitate to intimidate, oppress, and kill in the name of a nation.
Geert Wilders is not a fascist, but if his electoral triumph in the Netherlands (relative, not absolute) does not result in genuinely assuaging the discontents of which his triumph is a symptom, it is not unlikely that at least some of his voters will become so disillusioned with, and frustrated by, normal politics that they will look elsewhere for a solution."
The inquiry seems from this vantage point to be led by sage and alternative sage types - people who could only ever believe lockdowns should have been longer and harder. There doesn't seem to be any great exploration of the costs of lockdowns.
I’m quite sure the enquiry will find that lockdowns should have been more stringent, and should have lasted longer.
And they won’t even address the origin of the disease - and the part the British medical establishment played in covering up a potential lab origin, for over a year. Whatever your opinion of Covid’s origins, there WAS unquestionably a conspiracy to stop any debate about lab leak
Absolutely outrageous. Gove mentioned it once and was instantly silenced
The whole lot of them should be sacked and sent home. It's a disgrace, and Baroness Hallet is trashing her reputation.
Yesterday, you were arguing that having mixed race children was medically unwise. You don't exactly seem like someone anyone should listen to on medical matters.
You do quite a good line in cretinous yet rather malevolent distortions of other peoples' posts don't you poppet?
Feel free to re-post your nonsense of yesterday for everyone to see.
On topic, it's reassuring to read that most PBers can draw conclusions about both the future narrative and the outcomes of an Inquiry that is still in its early days and has years to run. Bravo.
It's a really odd one - he seemed very unlikely to win and now he's just got costs, presumably, and a judge saying that what was printed is substantially true.
New article by one of the best commentators out there imo. (He's British but this is an American magazine hence the spelling).
"Theodore Dalrymple A Specter Haunting Europe The political class’s impotence in the face of so much public anxiety makes fertile soil for extremism.
A specter is haunting Europe, and it is fascism. I don’t mean by this the insulting term that radical students have long hurled at anyone who disagreed with them in the slightest. I mean a brutal, violent mass movement that will not hesitate to intimidate, oppress, and kill in the name of a nation.
Geert Wilders is not a fascist, but if his electoral triumph in the Netherlands (relative, not absolute) does not result in genuinely assuaging the discontents of which his triumph is a symptom, it is not unlikely that at least some of his voters will become so disillusioned with, and frustrated by, normal politics that they will look elsewhere for a solution."
The article appears to be arguing that we have to be a bit fascist to stop more fascist fascists coming along. I am not persuaded.
Alternatively,
2) Stick our fingers in our ears and scream LA-LA-LA 3) Try some rational policies to alleviate actual problems. Like stop denying that a population growing at x% a decade needs x% growth in housing and other facilities. And actually fucking build them.
Comments
Bojo (ex editor, ex PM) is certainly louche
I believe some of the Spec columnists are genuinely raffish to the point of amorality
Etc
The main reason is that there are certain products that are only available on Oyster, such as weekly travelcards, railcards, zip cards, etc.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_fourfm
In a related note, to get the reduced rates for children, they have to have a “Zip” card. Which is not exactly a normal Oyster card. It costs money if they lose it, and topping up is a pain.
Both should be available as linkage to a bank card or to an app on a phone.
Got to be an idea the Tories can nab, surely? The return of the Blessed Margaret?
Techne +22 (-2)
YouGov +23 (nc)
More in Common +16 (+4)
Deltapoll +14 (-3)
R&W +20 (+1)
Savanta +18 (+1)
We Think +18 (-2)
Opinium +16 (+3)
Aggregate movement from 8 companies +2 i.e. average +0.25%.
She used the story to launch another attack on Sadiq Khan, even *after* she had got it back. The cash in the wallet was still there .... it sounds really "stolen".
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/susan-hall-pickpocketed-on-tube/who does not even know that as Mayopr she can't build stuff as of right in Royal Parks.
I waiting for Susan's plans to build a pier in the Serpentine so she can have a show at the end of it.
BTW I used an Oyster Card last time I was in London. I normally don't use phone payments for resilience - so losing a phone doesn't lose everything else with it.
(Presumably this is one of the projecting onto glass thingies - bugs me a bit when news outlets use 'hologram')
True story, when I worked at the MRC Labs at Mill Hill (London) about 15 years back, the staff canteen, for a time, had veggie options that always contained butternut squash: butternut squash curry, butternut squash pasta, butternut squash quiche... you get the picture!
I wouldn't regard 2013 as a long time ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lADqvNGR5ao
Did we ever answer the question of whether venison bacon is vegan?
Some years back, ABN Amro was celebrating the go live of a new system. They hired out Mahiki, with the full trimmings. I wondered about, wondering if the ice sculpture/vodka drinking thing was going to result in lawsuits... Anyway, it was Dom Pérignon all the way. Supposedly.
At about midnight the glass I was given tasted different. So I went to the bar and asked the bar tender why the Dom Pérignon poured from the bottle tasted like Veuve Clicquot. He looked at me, then gave me an unopened bottle of Dom.
"x) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the population, including but not limited to those who were harmed significantly by the pandemic;
xi) the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the bereaved, including post-bereavement support;
xii) the impact on health and care sector workers and other key workers;
xiii) the impact on children and young people, including health, wellbeing and social care;
xiv) education and early years provision;
xv) the closure and reopening of the hospitality, retail, sport and leisure, and travel and tourism sectors, places of worship, and cultural institutions;
xvi) housing and homelessness;
xvii) safeguarding and support for victims of domestic abuse;
xviii) prisons and other places of detention;
xix) the justice system;
xx) immigration and asylum;
xxi) travel and borders; and
xxii) the safeguarding of public funds and management of financial risk."
"Venezuela to hold referendum on seizing part of Guyana — and its oil"
https://www.ft.com/content/a0ec9710-aa52-416b-ac79-8ada5cdab229
The question of whether lockdown was necessary or avoidable has also been examined, with witnesses noting the experience of some east Asian countries that avoided ever having to do a national lockdown.
However within a year, by May 2011 Ed Miliband's Labour was on 41% with Yougov and 38% with Opinium.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2015_United_Kingdom_general_election
If voters don't feel a new government is doing much for them and the economy isn't great they can swiftly turn against it
Sticky Vicky died this week. That means more than everyone on that stupid fucking list.
I can't agree with you as to the merit of her act, sorry.
Personally, I feel it certainly has devolved a lot into attempted cover-your-arse from many, who've necessarily looked to blame others, and the media have leapt on those particular blame stories (exacerbated by some of the lawyers, who've defaulted to an "uncover the blame" mentality at times) - but to be fair to the media, that seems to be exactly what most of the public appear to want to see.
But quite a few of the accusations over what the inquiry has been targeted to have come across as being what the accuser expects to see rather than what is or is not happening. It's probably another one of those mental whatchamacallits that was highlighted the other day, to which we're all prone.
Sunak could send a taskforce and get his Falklands moment.
Even if Starmer does win next time he is unlikely to have as long a honeymoon as Blair did and as extensive poll leads
https://twitter.com/YesSirHumphrey/status/1294489316891254784
"Theodore Dalrymple
A Specter Haunting Europe
The political class’s impotence in the face of so much public anxiety makes fertile soil for extremism.
A specter is haunting Europe, and it is fascism. I don’t mean by this the insulting term that radical students have long hurled at anyone who disagreed with them in the slightest. I mean a brutal, violent mass movement that will not hesitate to intimidate, oppress, and kill in the name of a nation.
Geert Wilders is not a fascist, but if his electoral triumph in the Netherlands (relative, not absolute) does not result in genuinely assuaging the discontents of which his triumph is a symptom, it is not unlikely that at least some of his voters will become so disillusioned with, and frustrated by, normal politics that they will look elsewhere for a solution."
https://www.city-journal.org/article/fascism-haunts-europe
I wonder what other specific things would bring together that rather niche coalition?
Rishi would love a nice South American military adventure to turn the polls.
British taxpayers don't need to do it!
🎵Rule Britannia🎵
So tough, they are on their own unless the UN intervene
Afterall, there's a non-zero* chance of another Conservative PM within the next year or so
(And yes, electoral cycles etc - unless the Cons go full tonto and either split or the LDs find a great leader/new party is set up and actually works this time,** the Cons will be back in power well within a timescale that I very much hope will be within my lifetime. The only way it might not happen would be under PR where the inevitable splits of parties would produce a new leading centre-right party that was not the Conservative Party.
*although very small, I think
**these are even more vanishingly small, particularly the last
Inventor alleged article criticising his championing of Brexit and move to Singapore was ‘vicious and vitriolic’
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/01/james-dyson-loses-libel-claim-daily-mirror-publisher
What on earth do the Venezuelans have on you?!
2) Stick our fingers in our ears and scream LA-LA-LA
3) Try some rational policies to alleviate actual problems. Like stop denying that a population growing at x% a decade needs x% growth in housing and other facilities. And actually fucking build them.