Trump unanimously loses his appeal on presidential immunity in DC.
Next stop the Supreme Court. Hard to see any different outcome there.
Reading the opinion, it's a pretty comprehensive demolition of Trump's case. Trump has until Monday to seek review by the SC, but it's quite possible they turn him down. There is (IMO) almost no prospect of the court reversing the opinion, and for them to delay things by another three or four months by rehearing futile arguments, would further damage their credibility.
I don't see how the SC can run away from ruling on this matter. It is so fundamental to the role of the President under the Constitution that they HAVE to say the President is not a Monarch. They HAVE to say that the President cannot use Seal Team 6 to take out opponents. This is not about Trump; it is about the rule of law.
But it’s not just about the actual answer to the legal point. It’s also about delaying the court case until after the election. It’s about sowing doubt. Any argument that does that works for Trump.
What works best for the judges, though?
I'm sure they have a healthy fear of Trump and the Trumpettes.
But their role is also to fear the verdict of history, which requires a different set of conclusions.
And doing nothing is an action in itself.
I think most of them have long stopped worrying about the verdict of history.
Eh, I think most of them still do. Trump seems to have been pretty mad they didn't ride to his rescue in 2020 as three of them 'owed' him, but there's only so far intelligent jurists are willing to go - it's why virtually all of the legal challenges in lower courts in 2020 failed including those before Trump appointees.
I'm sure 6 of the Supreme Court want Trump to be President again (maybe 5), and might even be willing to fudge things a bit to indirectly aid that outcome if they could (as the three liberal justices would the other way), but the court still seems to have slightly more sense of history than the day to day politicians, and what they can get away with to advance their political goals.
Its a top idea. We built a stadium for Citeh, its only fair the red side of the city gets one as well.
I have a better idea. They can ground share. Liverpool can also share with Everton and that new build repurposed. Far more efficient and a plan with no drawbacks.
Has anyone here got the Dyson or Apple headphones? I refuse to believe they could possibly be worth double the price of my $450 Bose NC700s.
I wasn’t aware that Dyson made them until seeing that tweet. Presumably they have a vacuum function to clean your ear canal.
If I’m paying $900 for them, they’d better be good at sucking something.
They are a rare commercial dud from Dyson.
If you’re going up against Bose, Sony, and Apple, not to mention the off-brand noice-cancellers which are getting a lot better, you sure as hell want to make sure you have clearly the best product if you’re looking for such a massive premium. What were they thinking?
I really don't know.
It seems like they thought "well, we're all going to be wearing masks for ever due to Covid, so let's be the first to integrate one into a pair of headphones."
Also, they forgot that there's a reason why Sony and Bose make their headphones as light as possible: it's because it's uncomfortable wandering around wearing headphones that weight the best part of a kilo.
It sounds like Apple have also forgotten that lesson based on your comments about their goggles.
The AVP is clearly a first generation product. It needs to come down in weight and it needs its weight to be better distributed. It also needs to auto adjust itself somehow: no one wants to spend two minutes adjusting the fit before the image comes into focus.
Also: they need to sort out text input.
On the other hand...
It's a glimpse of a possible future, where we won't need screens on our desks. We will be able to simply pick up something no heavier than a pair of ski goggles, and get the best screens in the world.
I watched some football highlights last night, on the equivalent of an Imax screen. It was insane. Why would I want to use a little phone or tablet when I carry around the world's greatest cinema.
It sounds to me like all the use cases where it's actually useful involve being stationary rather than walking around wearing it. I can definitely see the appeal of having a home cinema or a multi-monitor workstation in a headset.
Has anyone here got the Dyson or Apple headphones? I refuse to believe they could possibly be worth double the price of my $450 Bose NC700s.
I wasn’t aware that Dyson made them until seeing that tweet. Presumably they have a vacuum function to clean your ear canal.
If I’m paying $900 for them, they’d better be good at sucking something.
They are a rare commercial dud from Dyson.
If you’re going up against Bose, Sony, and Apple, not to mention the off-brand noice-cancellers which are getting a lot better, you sure as hell want to make sure you have clearly the best product if you’re looking for such a massive premium. What were they thinking?
I really don't know.
It seems like they thought "well, we're all going to be wearing masks for ever due to Covid, so let's be the first to integrate one into a pair of headphones."
Also, they forgot that there's a reason why Sony and Bose make their headphones as light as possible: it's because it's uncomfortable wandering around wearing headphones that weight the best part of a kilo.
It sounds like Apple have also forgotten that lesson based on your comments about their goggles.
The AVP is clearly a first generation product. It needs to come down in weight and it needs its weight to be better distributed. It also needs to auto adjust itself somehow: no one wants to spend two minutes adjusting the fit before the image comes into focus.
Also: they need to sort out text input.
On the other hand...
It's a glimpse of a possible future, where we won't need screens on our desks. We will be able to simply pick up something no heavier than a pair of ski goggles, and get the best screens in the world.
I watched some football highlights last night, on the equivalent of an Imax screen. It was insane. Why would I want to use a little phone or tablet when I carry around the world's greatest cinema.
It sounds to me like all the use cases where it's actually useful involve being stationary rather than walking around wearing it. I can definitely see the appeal of having a home cinema or a multi-monitor workstation in a headset.
I’ve been trying to explain this to you for 36 hours, now
Has anyone here got the Dyson or Apple headphones? I refuse to believe they could possibly be worth double the price of my $450 Bose NC700s.
I wasn’t aware that Dyson made them until seeing that tweet. Presumably they have a vacuum function to clean your ear canal.
If I’m paying $900 for them, they’d better be good at sucking something.
They are a rare commercial dud from Dyson.
If you’re going up against Bose, Sony, and Apple, not to mention the off-brand noice-cancellers which are getting a lot better, you sure as hell want to make sure you have clearly the best product if you’re looking for such a massive premium. What were they thinking?
I really don't know.
It seems like they thought "well, we're all going to be wearing masks for ever due to Covid, so let's be the first to integrate one into a pair of headphones."
Also, they forgot that there's a reason why Sony and Bose make their headphones as light as possible: it's because it's uncomfortable wandering around wearing headphones that weight the best part of a kilo.
It sounds like Apple have also forgotten that lesson based on your comments about their goggles.
The AVP is clearly a first generation product. It needs to come down in weight and it needs its weight to be better distributed. It also needs to auto adjust itself somehow: no one wants to spend two minutes adjusting the fit before the image comes into focus.
Also: they need to sort out text input.
On the other hand...
It's a glimpse of a possible future, where we won't need screens on our desks. We will be able to simply pick up something no heavier than a pair of ski goggles, and get the best screens in the world.
I watched some football highlights last night, on the equivalent of an Imax screen. It was insane. Why would I want to use a little phone or tablet when I carry around the world's greatest cinema.
Exactly. As I’ve been saying - they will obviously replace all screens - once they sort out the weight and awkwardness issues
They remind me of the very first mobiles. Remember them? Size of an actual brick and about as heavy? Within a few short years they were vastly smaller - the same will happen here, but probably even quicker, as the potential is so clear and any company left behind will end up like BlackBerry or Kodak, so competition will be intense. Apple have just fired the starting gun
I wear glasses (sadly, varifocals these days) and there’s a lot of us about with a decent income. I already pay £400 a pop. Where are my smart glasses? Why can’t I just leave my phone in my pocket and have a heads up display? I think that’s the next thing, instead of something quite so immersive.
Trump however needs to get credit for banning abortion from pro life evangelicals and Roman Catholics as he needs them to turn out heavily for him in swing states
I have to say the "Popular Conservatism" event looks and sounds a bit like a meeting of Jacobites in Paris in the 1770s.
Thinking they are important, thinking they still have something to say in which people will be interested and about as important to British politics as a Liberal Democrat Conference.
Time for them to all shuffle quietly into the night or right if you prefer.
Mark Littlewood used to be in the Liberal Democrats, as did Liz Truss.
Not the Lib Dems finest hour. Both roughly who turned into fanatics, although Littlewood was always an economic ultra-liberal, and I understand Truss was a bit of a student-leftist.
I have a lot of sympathy with the Truss people: yes, we absolutely should be thinking about getting things moving, rather than managing decline.
What you can't do, though, is to ignore the very real structural issues that all developed economies face: in particular, the impact of demographic drag.
And that's where I depart company from Popular Conservatism. If you can't admit what the problems are, you are unlikely to find solutions.
I don't think, though, that things will get moving, with such weak investment.
Hence so many businesspeople are supporting Labour's 28billion plan, not Truss's tax cuts plan.
Has anyone here got the Dyson or Apple headphones? I refuse to believe they could possibly be worth double the price of my $450 Bose NC700s.
I wasn’t aware that Dyson made them until seeing that tweet. Presumably they have a vacuum function to clean your ear canal.
If I’m paying $900 for them, they’d better be good at sucking something.
They are a rare commercial dud from Dyson.
If you’re going up against Bose, Sony, and Apple, not to mention the off-brand noice-cancellers which are getting a lot better, you sure as hell want to make sure you have clearly the best product if you’re looking for such a massive premium. What were they thinking?
I really don't know.
It seems like they thought "well, we're all going to be wearing masks for ever due to Covid, so let's be the first to integrate one into a pair of headphones."
Also, they forgot that there's a reason why Sony and Bose make their headphones as light as possible: it's because it's uncomfortable wandering around wearing headphones that weight the best part of a kilo.
It sounds like Apple have also forgotten that lesson based on your comments about their goggles.
The AVP is clearly a first generation product. It needs to come down in weight and it needs its weight to be better distributed. It also needs to auto adjust itself somehow: no one wants to spend two minutes adjusting the fit before the image comes into focus.
Also: they need to sort out text input.
On the other hand...
It's a glimpse of a possible future, where we won't need screens on our desks. We will be able to simply pick up something no heavier than a pair of ski goggles, and get the best screens in the world.
I watched some football highlights last night, on the equivalent of an Imax screen. It was insane. Why would I want to use a little phone or tablet when I carry around the world's greatest cinema.
I'm not ready for it for sure, the world people like Apple and Facebook would like to build sounds nightmarish to me. A clear sign I've become an old grump, I even get mad at developments in entertainment peripherals.
I was reading a sci-fi novel the other week and the bad guys were these anti-AI, anti-genetic manipulation types, and it was a good thing the book made sure to have them be called literal nazis and perform some brutal atrocities for no reason, as otherwise I had difficulty rooting against them.
Its a top idea. We built a stadium for Citeh, its only fair the red side of the city gets one as well.
I have a better idea. They can ground share. Liverpool can also share with Everton and that new build repurposed. Far more efficient and a plan with no drawbacks.
Our council funded a stadium for Doncaster Rovers (shared with rugby, admittedly).
It is destined to be the best stadium in non-league football the way things are going.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
That's wonderful news, and a tribute to the power of financial incentives.
There's quite a history of innovation arising from prizes. I take it you know the story of Longitude?
Yeah, Harrison and his clocks/watches.
Prizes are interesting: the DARPA Grand Challenge arguably set off the rush for autonomous cars; the X-Prize suborbital commercial spaceflight. But the Google Lunar X_Prize was a big failure, with no team making it to the Moon, even after it was extended. I don't think any team has still made it, five years after it ended.
I doubt anyone contributed to the Herculaneum prize for the money; it was because it was cool. I doubt Harrison did it solely for the money - though he was rightly aggrieved when he did not get it. For the prizes that individuals can contribute valuable insight to - as Casey Hander did with the scrolls - it is more about the challenge, and the money helps a) publicise and b) concentrate minds.
I am still in awe of this. I daresay some on here wonder why I'm often so upbeat, given everything that's going on in the UK and the world. It's partly because there are still people who do this sort of thing.
Couldn't agree more with the sentiment, JJ.
Do you listen to the science epiodes on 'In Our Time'. They are awe-inspiring, although I suspect your personal awe doesn't need much inspiration.
An entire side of the house with three windows so small even Rishi Sunak couldn’t burgle you
You’d honestly have trouble getting planning permission for this as a prison, due to deprivation of natural light. It looks like the wall of an abattoir. And we sell this as housing. Shameful. Shameful
Again, I'd certainly not say it's an attractive building. But having few or no windows on the side elevation of a house is hardly a new phenomenon in towns (even ignoring terraced housing which clearly can't have side windows except an end terrace which normally won't). This is partly structural, partly related to privacy.
The windows on the side of that one will almost definitely be a non-dining kitchen or a bathroom with obscured glass. Will the natural light be any good... well, we don't know - they could have french doors onto the garden, in which case it'd be pretty good.
Work is under way on a warehouse “monstrosity” at least 40ft high after a blundering Tory council consulted homeowners on the wrong street.
Residents in Corby, Northamptonshire, awoke to find the large metal frame of the industrial units being erected just yards from their back doors.
Many were blindsided and when they asked officials what had happened, it emerged that the council had got the road mixed up with another half a mile away.
North Northamptonshire council’s building planning officers had mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the 160,800 sq ft development.
The plans for the Earlstree 160 project, on the site of a former Weetabix factory, were approved by the council in November with construction works expected to be completed towards the end of this year.
The height of the industrial unit will be a minimum 40ft when built, with a pitched roof which extends higher, which will be more than double the height of many two-storey surrounding houses.
The industrial unit can’t be any uglier than those hideous little rabbit hutch new-builds next door. Look at them. I think I can see @BartholomewRoberts in the bathroom of the house on the left
When did we decide as a nation that we want to feel trapped in tiny rooms with no windows? Windows are good. Britain is a shit-hole and we’ve done it to ourselves
Tiny windows is another bonus from the bonkers energy efficiency regs for new builds. Going for tiny windows is almost certainly one of the easier ways to get the thermal loss values down to the required threshold.
But I don’t see new builds in other countries which are as hideous, cramped and windowless as in Britain. Even the worst American new housing - which can be really really bad - understands that humans like and require natural light
Why is it always just us? Why are we like this?
What an odd complaint.
My new build has a big bay window that runs almost the entire width of the living room. The kitchen/diner wall to the garden is more glass than anything else, with glass double doors and large windows. And upstairs there's loads of windows.
I get much more natural light in my new build house, than I ever got in my rented old, damp accommodation.
So presumably you approve of that new build design then? Or are you just a miserable old man who doesn't want people to have a home of their own?
Anyway, the solution is the same as always: liberate planning and let people decide. If people want bigger windows, then in a free market then people can choose bigger windows and firms that build homes with small windows will struggle to sell them. Competition works.
I have to say the "Popular Conservatism" event looks and sounds a bit like a meeting of Jacobites in Paris in the 1770s.
Thinking they are important, thinking they still have something to say in which people will be interested and about as important to British politics as a Liberal Democrat Conference.
Time for them to all shuffle quietly into the night or right if you prefer.
Both Mark Littlewood, and Liz Truss, used to actually be in the Liberal Democrats.
Not the Lib Dem's finest hour. Both ex-moderates who turned into fanatics, although Littlewood was always an economic ultra-liberal, and as I understand it Truss was a bit of a student-leftwinger.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
Drinks? Hold on. Surely “the civil service should be chained to their desks” Mogg didn’t endorse this during the working day? That would be hypocritical.
Its a top idea. We built a stadium for Citeh, its only fair the red side of the city gets one as well.
I have a better idea. They can ground share. Liverpool can also share with Everton and that new build repurposed. Far more efficient and a plan with no drawbacks.
An even better idea. United can have the City of Manchester Stadium. Citeh can have the Joie Stadium.
An entire side of the house with three windows so small even Rishi Sunak couldn’t burgle you
You’d honestly have trouble getting planning permission for this as a prison, due to deprivation of natural light. It looks like the wall of an abattoir. And we sell this as housing. Shameful. Shameful
Again, I'd certainly not say it's an attractive building. But having few or no windows on the side elevation of a house is hardly a new phenomenon in towns (even ignoring terraced housing which clearly can't have side windows except an end terrace which normally won't). This is partly structural, partly related to privacy.
The windows on the side of that one will almost definitely be a non-dining kitchen or a bathroom with obscured glass. Will the natural light be any good... well, we don't know - they could have french doors onto the garden, in which case it'd be pretty good.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
Free drinks? Well in that case Jacob...
Many of the bottles from the 18th century no doubt.
Work is under way on a warehouse “monstrosity” at least 40ft high after a blundering Tory council consulted homeowners on the wrong street.
Residents in Corby, Northamptonshire, awoke to find the large metal frame of the industrial units being erected just yards from their back doors.
Many were blindsided and when they asked officials what had happened, it emerged that the council had got the road mixed up with another half a mile away.
North Northamptonshire council’s building planning officers had mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the 160,800 sq ft development.
The plans for the Earlstree 160 project, on the site of a former Weetabix factory, were approved by the council in November with construction works expected to be completed towards the end of this year.
The height of the industrial unit will be a minimum 40ft when built, with a pitched roof which extends higher, which will be more than double the height of many two-storey surrounding houses.
The industrial unit can’t be any uglier than those hideous little rabbit hutch new-builds next door. Look at them. I think I can see @BartholomewRoberts in the bathroom of the house on the left
When did we decide as a nation that we want to feel trapped in tiny rooms with no windows? Windows are good. Britain is a shit-hole and we’ve done it to ourselves
Tiny windows is another bonus from the bonkers energy efficiency regs for new builds. Going for tiny windows is almost certainly one of the easier ways to get the thermal loss values down to the required threshold.
But I don’t see new builds in other countries which are as hideous, cramped and windowless as in Britain. Even the worst American new housing - which can be really really bad - understands that humans like and require natural light
Why is it always just us? Why are we like this?
What an odd complaint.
My new build has a big bay window that runs almost the entire width of the living room. The kitchen/diner wall to the garden is more glass than anything else, with glass double doors and large windows. And upstairs there's loads of windows.
I get much more natural light in my new build house, than I ever got in my rented old, damp accommodation.
So presumably you approve of that new build design then? Or are you just a miserable old man who doesn't want people to have a home of their own?
Anyway, the solution is the same as always: liberate planning and let people decide. If people want bigger windows, then in a free market then people can choose bigger windows and firms that build homes with small windows will struggle to sell them. Competition works.
Amazingly, I agree with you. On the whole
And it’s good that you’ve got nice big windows. I don’t actually like to think of anyone having to suffer these tiny little rat-houses with no natural light. Ugh
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
Free drinks? Well in that case Jacob...
... Who cares if your plans will leave us up a Creek?
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
Drinks? Hold on. Surely “the civil service should be chained to their desks” Mogg didn’t endorse this during the working day? That would be hypocritical.
That's wonderful news, and a tribute to the power of financial incentives.
There's quite a history of innovation arising from prizes. I take it you know the story of Longitude?
Yeah, Harrison and his clocks/watches.
Prizes are interesting: the DARPA Grand Challenge arguably set off the rush for autonomous cars; the X-Prize suborbital commercial spaceflight. But the Google Lunar X_Prize was a big failure, with no team making it to the Moon, even after it was extended. I don't think any team has still made it, five years after it ended.
I doubt anyone contributed to the Herculaneum prize for the money; it was because it was cool. I doubt Harrison did it solely for the money - though he was rightly aggrieved when he did not get it. For the prizes that individuals can contribute valuable insight to - as Casey Hander did with the scrolls - it is more about the challenge, and the money helps a) publicise and b) concentrate minds.
I am still in awe of this. I daresay some on here wonder why I'm often so upbeat, given everything that's going on in the UK and the world. It's partly because there are still people who do this sort of thing.
Couldn't agree more with the sentiment, JJ.
Do you listen to the science epiodes on 'In Our Time'. They are awe-inspiring, although I suspect your personal awe doesn't need much inspiration.
Yeah, I listen to IoT when I'm out running or walking. There's so much great podcast material out there on science alone, I've got thousands of hours recorded and ready to listen to.
There are lots of good history ones as well. As ever with life, too much to do, not enough time...
An entire side of the house with three windows so small even Rishi Sunak couldn’t burgle you
You’d honestly have trouble getting planning permission for this as a prison, due to deprivation of natural light. It looks like the wall of an abattoir. And we sell this as housing. Shameful. Shameful
Again, I'd certainly not say it's an attractive building. But having few or no windows on the side elevation of a house is hardly a new phenomenon in towns (even ignoring terraced housing which clearly can't have side windows except an end terrace which normally won't). This is partly structural, partly related to privacy.
The windows on the side of that one will almost definitely be a non-dining kitchen or a bathroom with obscured glass. Will the natural light be any good... well, we don't know - they could have french doors onto the garden, in which case it'd be pretty good.
Yes a lack of side-elevation windows is deliberate and universal in both new and old homes.
If you had a large window on a side-elevation and so did your neighbour, you'd be looking into each other's homes when you look out your window and through your neighbours. Who wants that?
We have large windows in two directions, none in one side (semi-detached so it'd be impossible) and small ones on the other side which is mainly the staircase and hallway anyway so only needs the small window for natural light.
Lee Anderson MP, former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party: "I'm pretty sure that coal 100 million years ago was trees and plants.. it was, well I would argue that's sustainable."
Coal was formed because there was nothing to digest the remnants of dead trees. They just accumulated in massive piles which eventually became coal. That wouldn't happen again as we now have wood-eating bacteria etc.
Isn't that slightly arguable in that peat is still being formed, very slowly, in boggy areas? I mean, Anderson is clearly completely wrong to call that "sustainable" just in the sense that the rate of renewal is massively less than the rate of consumption.
The rate of coal "production" is going to be much lower due to bacteria and funghi having evolved that "eat" dead trees. However, there will still be some, because most of those microorganisms need oxygen.
The other problem is that we've been digging up a lot of the recent (post ice age) peat to put in grow bags and plant pots.
Mostly this happens in Estonia & Ireland now rather than the UK as the damage has been done here.
Restoring peat bogs is difficult (but some of us are trying).
It's quite amazing to be up on the Peak District's tops and see helicopters with large bags slug underneath them, carrying materials to try to revegetate the eroded peat.
Really? Interesting. In other areas, notably Scotland., the more usual technique is damming the dikes, so as to give the sphagnum a chance to regrow in the newly more wet conditions.
Work is under way on a warehouse “monstrosity” at least 40ft high after a blundering Tory council consulted homeowners on the wrong street.
Residents in Corby, Northamptonshire, awoke to find the large metal frame of the industrial units being erected just yards from their back doors.
Many were blindsided and when they asked officials what had happened, it emerged that the council had got the road mixed up with another half a mile away.
North Northamptonshire council’s building planning officers had mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the 160,800 sq ft development.
The plans for the Earlstree 160 project, on the site of a former Weetabix factory, were approved by the council in November with construction works expected to be completed towards the end of this year.
The height of the industrial unit will be a minimum 40ft when built, with a pitched roof which extends higher, which will be more than double the height of many two-storey surrounding houses.
The industrial unit can’t be any uglier than those hideous little rabbit hutch new-builds next door. Look at them. I think I can see @BartholomewRoberts in the bathroom of the house on the left
When did we decide as a nation that we want to feel trapped in tiny rooms with no windows? Windows are good. Britain is a shit-hole and we’ve done it to ourselves
Tiny windows is another bonus from the bonkers energy efficiency regs for new builds. Going for tiny windows is almost certainly one of the easier ways to get the thermal loss values down to the required threshold.
The problem is not "houses should be energy efficient", though -- the problem is we let builders get away with satisfying the regs with the absolute cheapest and nastiest possible design. You could have bigger windows which met the regs, but they'd cost the builders more. And people will bid the terrible housing up to "as much as we can afford a mortgage for" because we aren't building enough.
Put it this way. In say the south of england for how many months do energy efficient homes really benefit you. At most a couple of months. Is it worth it. Why not build lighter and airier homes.
If you don't have efficiency regs then the builders build cheap houses with lousy insulation which cost a fortune to heat in winter and overheat in summer. Which is differently cheap and nasty, not any better.
Trump unanimously loses his appeal on presidential immunity in DC.
Next stop the Supreme Court. Hard to see any different outcome there.
Reading the opinion, it's a pretty comprehensive demolition of Trump's case. Trump has until Monday to seek review by the SC, but it's quite possible they turn him down. There is (IMO) almost no prospect of the court reversing the opinion, and for them to delay things by another three or four months by rehearing futile arguments, would further damage their credibility.
I don't see how the SC can run away from ruling on this matter. It is so fundamental to the role of the President under the Constitution that they HAVE to say the President is not a Monarch. They HAVE to say that the President cannot use Seal Team 6 to take out opponents. This is not about Trump; it is about the rule of law.
They could actually run away from ruling on this one, couldn't they? They have absolute discretion not to hear cases without any explanation, in which case the appealed ruling stands.
On the Colorado one, they couldn't really dodge it as Colorado were saying Trump was not constiutionally eligible to be President, but other states were saying he was. That has to be resolved in practical terms because Trump simply can't be eligible to be President in some states but not in others if the United States is to remain united.
In this case, though, there's no conflict that really needs resolving. It's not the case that Trump is immune from criminal prosecution on federal charges in some parts of the US but not in others - maybe if there was a prosecution in Idaho, they'd rule immunity applied, but there isn't so that's pure conjecture.
I think the Supreme Court will probably rule on this just on the importance of it, and because the justices are predominantly conservative and it buys Trump time (although they won't find for him as it is baseless). But I certainly don't rule out that they'd simply decline to take the case.
How many days is it before silence is taken to imply that they decline?
Or do they have to specifically say no?
I don't think there is a formal deadline, but declining to take a case is an active decision in the sense that they'd simply publish a denial of the writ of certiorari.
So what happens is the lower court has given the loser (Trump) has six days to file submit a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court. The respondent (the prosecutor) has a month to respond but would be much quicker as this is basically just re-filing arguments already made. The Supreme Court meets regularly when it's in session to decide which cases to hear and which not to bother with (this would be entirely behind closed doors - it's purely administrative as they don't have to take any cases and indeed don't with 95%+ of them). The convention - and Roberts as Chief Justice isn't going to change it now - is that if four or more justices want to hear it, it's heard. Otherwise, they'd simply announce a denial with no reasoning.
Normally, it takes the Supreme Court up to a month to go through that process. But they'll probably do it sooner - they won't want to be in a "will they, won't they" game.
Don't they? I can think quite a few of them would be much happier to drag things out as much as possible, but if convention is if four want to hear it it goes then that does sound like it should be enough to overcome the draggers.
The answer to that is that Roberts is Chief Justice and just isn't going to dick about. So essentially he'll run the administrative meeting and will say "right, you've all had a week to read the papers in this Trump matter... who wants to hear the case?" Either four of them do or not. It just isn't open to Thomas or Alito to say, "Maybe, ask us again in a couple of months". If their hands aren't up along with two others, Roberts will just get the denial issued post haste.
Whilst the Supreme Court is six conservative to three liberal, it is also at least seven essentially normal to no more than two fruitcakes. Roberts is king of the essentially normals, and has the gavel to runs the process. He'll run it basically down the line. In that, he has the support of all three liberals (obviously) and all three Trump appointees (ironically).
On the substance, the conservative justices will be under pressure, clearly. But, on immunity, I don't think there's a fig leaf available that will save Trump from at least a 7-2 loss if the case is taken. On eligibility, I think there is enough for him to win. It's a huge call to say Trump is, today, ineligible to be President. Not so much to say he isn't immune from criminal charges.
Yes, the mood music seems to be that ineligibility is pretty improbable, but its much safer for them (and seemingly pretty legally sound) to confirm that Presidents are not completely immune from criminal liability. I can believe a lot of the Supreme Court, but why put their names to that concept without being a total fruitcake?
I think people forget that, at least for Roberts, Kavanaugh, Coney-Barrett and Gorsuch, these are essentially highly capable legal minds with a conservative angle. They aren't ignorant of the political context, but are trying to get to the right answer from within their own perspective on the law.
None of the three Trump justices was nodded through by the Senate, but not because they were legally ignorant or fundamentally corrupt. Gorsuch had trouble as tit-for-tat over the blocking of Garland just before the 2016 election (and got a few Democrat votes). Kavanaugh's personal conduct many years before probably did make him an unsuitable choice, but he was and is an able lawyer. While Coney-Barrett had votes against simply based on the Garland precedent (put up just before an election).
On abortion, the Dobbs decision is highly controversial politically. But it isn't mad, legally, to argue that the 14th amendment doesn't provide a right to an abortion and that states can therefore restrict that right (although not the right to cross state lines). You can argue it the other way, but it's an interpretation of the law that is within a pretty standard conservative reading of the words as written, when they were written.
As I say, they aren't blind to the context. But that means they'll take the fig leaf available on eligibility. They won't, I think, make Presidents immune from criminal charges for all time to help out a here today and dead tomorrow presidential candidate.
Rishi Sunak has been accused of personally holding up a deal to end doctors’ strikes in England despite warnings from the health department and NHS England that waiting lists will continue to soar unless the industrial dispute is resolved.
Sources told the Guardian it had been made “abundantly and repeatedly” clear to the prime minister that there would be no progress on his pledge to drive down NHS waiting lists until a deal was struck.
One official said Sunak had been a “blocker” to progress during talks with both consultants and junior doctors at the end of last year because of concerns that a more generous offer would result in calls for higher pay deals across the health service, in particular for nurses.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
He’s been pumping this thing all day. He works for GB News. It’s what they do. “Good authority”????
A cabin panel that blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max 9 jet mid-flight appeared to be missing four key bolts, according to an initial report by the US safety regulator.
The bolts meant to hold the door plug in place were absent, the National Transportation Safety Board said. It released photographic evidence alongside the preliminary findings of its investigating on Tuesday.
Boeing has tried to reassure regulators, airlines and passengers following the dramatic incident during an Alaska Airlines flight, which prompted 171 Max 9 jets to be grounded for several weeks. The plane maker conceded last week it has “more work to do” as it tries to repair its reputation.
While the FAA later allowed Max 9 planes to return to service following inspections, it said it would not grant any production expansion of the wider Max program. On Monday the agency said 94% of the affected jets have now returned to the skies.
... words *not* discovered in the new Herculaneum scroll, as it's in Greek.
It's odd that high-class Romans used Greek in the same way high-class Brits use Latin.
I like to show off my talented tongue as I can speak English, Urdu, Punjabi, German, French, Latin, and Greek.
My absolute show off is when I swear in foreign languages, particularly French or Latin, it's like wiping your arse with silk.
New visitors to the Site should note that TSE is an excessively modest man, and therefore omitted to mention that he also speaks fluent Rubbish, but prefers not to flaunt it.
You mean rows of shitty terraces? Cheap and ugly ones are.
When I was studying civil engineering, we were told that, for houses with gardens, you can fit as many houses in with winding access roads as you can with straight streets. You just end up with odd-shaped gardens. To prove this, we had a series of paper-cut out rectangles (houses), and two boards; one with with a winding street layout and with straight lines. Each plot had to have a certain area. The winding street layout felt 'better' and more organic.
Trump however needs to get credit for banning abortion from pro life evangelicals and Roman Catholics as he needs them to turn out heavily for him in swing states
I just popped in after resting post my pacemaker operation this morning, and I don't think I have read such a horrible comment in a long time
You mean rows of shitty terraces? Cheap and ugly ones are.
When I was studying civil engineering, we were told that, for houses with gardens, you can fit as many houses in with winding access roads as you can with straight streets. You just end up with odd-shaped gardens. To prove this, we had a series of paper-cut out rectangles (houses), and two boards; one with with a winding street layout and with straight lines. Each plot had to have a certain area. The winding street layout felt 'better' and more organic.
It surprised me as it's rather counter-intuitive.
Yeah the winding concept works really well and has been adopted in decent developments across the board it seems, precisely because it does work and is better.
Shit, cheap, terraces though typically run in straight lines still.
Also of course the LTN concept means that straight lines are less adoptable than they would have been in the past. In the past you could build grids of streets that all connected to each other and to arterial roads, but now estates tend to be LTNs with limited access points and can't be driven through to the other side, which makes straight line grids even less suitable.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
He’s been pumping this thing all day. He works for GB News. It’s what they do. “Good authority”????
What would be useful re PopCon would be a brief but clear summary of three things:
What are their core principles and beliefs - what is Conservatism? What are their central policies? How do they get from here to where they want to be, and make their central policies work, with regard to tax, spend, cuts, debt, and other awkward bits of reality?
We can all do generalised uplift, and wish lists. It's the other bits that are missing; not only with PopCon, but with politics generally.
You mean rows of shitty terraces? Cheap and ugly ones are.
When I was studying civil engineering, we were told that, for houses with gardens, you can fit as many houses in with winding access roads as you can with straight streets. You just end up with odd-shaped gardens. To prove this, we had a series of paper-cut out rectangles (houses), and two boards; one with with a winding street layout and with straight lines. Each plot had to have a certain area. The winding street layout felt 'better' and more organic.
It surprised me as it's rather counter-intuitive.
Yeah the winding concept works really well and has been adopted in decent developments across the board it seems, precisely because it does work and is better.
Shit, cheap, terraces though typically run in straight lines still.
Also of course the LTN concept means that straight lines are less adoptable than they would have been in the past. In the past you could build grids of streets that all connected to each other and to arterial roads, but now estates tend to be LTNs with limited access points and can't be driven through to the other side, which makes straight line grids even less suitable.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
He’s been pumping this thing all day. He works for GB News. It’s what they do. “Good authority”????
What would be useful re PopCon would be a brief but clear summary of three things:
What are their core principles and beliefs - what is Conservatism? What are their central policies? How do they get from here to where they want to be, and make their central policies work, with regard to tax, spend, cuts, debt, and other awkward bits of reality?
We can all do generalised uplift, and wish lists. It's the other bits that are missing; not only with PopCon, but with politics generally.
We had a pretty brief and clear summary of their central economic policies in September and October 2022 did we not? Certainly stuck in my mind.
You mean rows of shitty terraces? Cheap and ugly ones are.
When I was studying civil engineering, we were told that, for houses with gardens, you can fit as many houses in with winding access roads as you can with straight streets. You just end up with odd-shaped gardens. To prove this, we had a series of paper-cut out rectangles (houses), and two boards; one with with a winding street layout and with straight lines. Each plot had to have a certain area. The winding street layout felt 'better' and more organic.
It surprised me as it's rather counter-intuitive.
Yeah the winding concept works really well and has been adopted in decent developments across the board it seems, precisely because it does work and is better.
Shit, cheap, terraces though typically run in straight lines still.
Also of course the LTN concept means that straight lines are less adoptable than they would have been in the past. In the past you could build grids of streets that all connected to each other and to arterial roads, but now estates tend to be LTNs with limited access points and can't be driven through to the other side, which makes straight line grids even less suitable.
So nowhere like Notting Hill could be built now?
I don't know the area so looked it up on Google Maps, yeah it looks largely like a grid layout, that goes against the LTN concept that homes are built to nowadays.
Trump however needs to get credit for banning abortion from pro life evangelicals and Roman Catholics as he needs them to turn out heavily for him in swing states
I just popped in after resting post my pacemaker operation this morning, and I don't think I have read such a horrible comment in a long time
You mean rows of shitty terraces? Cheap and ugly ones are.
When I was studying civil engineering, we were told that, for houses with gardens, you can fit as many houses in with winding access roads as you can with straight streets. You just end up with odd-shaped gardens. To prove this, we had a series of paper-cut out rectangles (houses), and two boards; one with with a winding street layout and with straight lines. Each plot had to have a certain area. The winding street layout felt 'better' and more organic.
It surprised me as it's rather counter-intuitive.
Space-filling algorithm. There's a reason why your lungs aren't a grid.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
Free drinks? Well in that case Jacob...
Jacob’s creaky patter a feature of the event no doubt
So Gary Lineker is using twitter less because it is so toxic. He hasn't the brainpower to realise that if he stopped using it altogether it would be even less toxic. His tweets are the cause of a lot of tocixity as he deliberately stirs up trouble.
You mean rows of shitty terraces? Cheap and ugly ones are.
When I was studying civil engineering, we were told that, for houses with gardens, you can fit as many houses in with winding access roads as you can with straight streets. You just end up with odd-shaped gardens. To prove this, we had a series of paper-cut out rectangles (houses), and two boards; one with with a winding street layout and with straight lines. Each plot had to have a certain area. The winding street layout felt 'better' and more organic.
It surprised me as it's rather counter-intuitive.
Space-filling algorithm. There's a reason why your lungs aren't a grid.
I'd have thought that's because they're natural and expand, for which curves work well.
When playing Tetris to get as much in a space as possible, I'd have always thought that square edges are better. However I think winding works because gardens don't have to be squared off.
Trump however needs to get credit for banning abortion from pro life evangelicals and Roman Catholics as he needs them to turn out heavily for him in swing states
I just popped in after resting post my pacemaker operation this morning, and I don't think I have read such a horrible comment in a long time
Trump however needs to get credit for banning abortion from pro life evangelicals and Roman Catholics as he needs them to turn out heavily for him in swing states
I just popped in after resting post my pacemaker operation this morning, and I don't think I have read such a horrible comment in a long time
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
He’s been pumping this thing all day. He works for GB News. It’s what they do. “Good authority”????
What would be useful re PopCon would be a brief but clear summary of three things:
What are their core principles and beliefs - what is Conservatism? What are their central policies? How do they get from here to where they want to be, and make their central policies work, with regard to tax, spend, cuts, debt, and other awkward bits of reality?
We can all do generalised uplift, and wish lists. It's the other bits that are missing; not only with PopCon, but with politics generally.
We had a pretty brief and clear summary of their central economic policies in September and October 2022 did we not? Certainly stuck in my mind.
An entire side of the house with three windows so small even Rishi Sunak couldn’t burgle you
You’d honestly have trouble getting planning permission for this as a prison, due to deprivation of natural light. It looks like the wall of an abattoir. And we sell this as housing. Shameful. Shameful
Again, I'd certainly not say it's an attractive building. But having few or no windows on the side elevation of a house is hardly a new phenomenon in towns (even ignoring terraced housing which clearly can't have side windows except an end terrace which normally won't). This is partly structural, partly related to privacy.
The windows on the side of that one will almost definitely be a non-dining kitchen or a bathroom with obscured glass. Will the natural light be any good... well, we don't know - they could have french doors onto the garden, in which case it'd be pretty good.
Yes a lack of side-elevation windows is deliberate and universal in both new and old homes.
If you had a large window on a side-elevation and so did your neighbour, you'd be looking into each other's homes when you look out your window and through your neighbours. Who wants that?
We have large windows in two directions, none in one side (semi-detached so it'd be impossible) and small ones on the other side which is mainly the staircase and hallway anyway so only needs the small window for natural light.
I don't think that's the problem. The problem is the total surface area that is windows appears abnormally low. It must be hell in winter in a place like that.
So Gary Lineker is using twitter less because it is so toxic. He hasn't the brainpower to realise that if he stopped using it altogether it would be even less toxic. His tweets are the cause of a lot of tocixity as he deliberately stirs up trouble.
TwiX is an absolute cesspool now. You think Linekar is the problem? OK, lets take off all the people like him and leave it to the conspiracy nutters, the alt-right, the lunatics etc etc.
Work is under way on a warehouse “monstrosity” at least 40ft high after a blundering Tory council consulted homeowners on the wrong street.
Residents in Corby, Northamptonshire, awoke to find the large metal frame of the industrial units being erected just yards from their back doors.
Many were blindsided and when they asked officials what had happened, it emerged that the council had got the road mixed up with another half a mile away.
North Northamptonshire council’s building planning officers had mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the 160,800 sq ft development.
The plans for the Earlstree 160 project, on the site of a former Weetabix factory, were approved by the council in November with construction works expected to be completed towards the end of this year.
The height of the industrial unit will be a minimum 40ft when built, with a pitched roof which extends higher, which will be more than double the height of many two-storey surrounding houses.
The industrial unit can’t be any uglier than those hideous little rabbit hutch new-builds next door. Look at them. I think I can see @BartholomewRoberts in the bathroom of the house on the left
When did we decide as a nation that we want to feel trapped in tiny rooms with no windows? Windows are good. Britain is a shit-hole and we’ve done it to ourselves
Tiny windows is another bonus from the bonkers energy efficiency regs for new builds. Going for tiny windows is almost certainly one of the easier ways to get the thermal loss values down to the required threshold.
But I don’t see new builds in other countries which are as hideous, cramped and windowless as in Britain. Even the worst American new housing - which can be really really bad - understands that humans like and require natural light
Why is it always just us? Why are we like this?
What an odd complaint.
My new build has a big bay window that runs almost the entire width of the living room. The kitchen/diner wall to the garden is more glass than anything else, with glass double doors and large windows. And upstairs there's loads of windows.
I get much more natural light in my new build house, than I ever got in my rented old, damp accommodation.
So presumably you approve of that new build design then? Or are you just a miserable old man who doesn't want people to have a home of their own?
Anyway, the solution is the same as always: liberate planning and let people decide. If people want bigger windows, then in a free market then people can choose bigger windows and firms that build homes with small windows will struggle to sell them. Competition works.
Amazingly, I agree with you. On the whole
And it’s good that you’ve got nice big windows. I don’t actually like to think of anyone having to suffer these tiny little rat-houses with no natural light. Ugh
They genuinely depress me
I remember a friend in Sheffield being gleefully told by a local Green councillor that they were planning to block off the tiny remaining windows she had at the back of her tiny flat. Because it was good for the environment.
I just assume 'the environment' exists in the abstract.
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
He’s been pumping this thing all day. He works for GB News. It’s what they do. “Good authority”????
What would be useful re PopCon would be a brief but clear summary of three things:
What are their core principles and beliefs - what is Conservatism? What are their central policies? How do they get from here to where they want to be, and make their central policies work, with regard to tax, spend, cuts, debt, and other awkward bits of reality?
We can all do generalised uplift, and wish lists. It's the other bits that are missing; not only with PopCon, but with politics generally.
We had a pretty brief and clear summary of their central economic policies in September and October 2022 did we not? Certainly stuck in my mind.
1. Kill the Queen. 2. ... 3. Profit!
She reportedly has quite a collection of underpants
Seems Liz Lettuce Truss has reminded us all how absolutely woeful she is at public speaking.
Just dreadful speech to the PopTarts mini conference.
I'm interested in this verdict, I thought her public speaking, especially her meter, had improved a lot listening to the speech. I admit she was starting from a low base. The speech had a bit of self-deprecating humour 'I don't get invited to many London dinner parties so I don't mind', seemed to be well-rehearsed, with very little looking down at notes, and generally the well-trodden theme was delivered competently. Where did you think she fell down?
Work is under way on a warehouse “monstrosity” at least 40ft high after a blundering Tory council consulted homeowners on the wrong street.
Residents in Corby, Northamptonshire, awoke to find the large metal frame of the industrial units being erected just yards from their back doors.
Many were blindsided and when they asked officials what had happened, it emerged that the council had got the road mixed up with another half a mile away.
North Northamptonshire council’s building planning officers had mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the 160,800 sq ft development.
The plans for the Earlstree 160 project, on the site of a former Weetabix factory, were approved by the council in November with construction works expected to be completed towards the end of this year.
The height of the industrial unit will be a minimum 40ft when built, with a pitched roof which extends higher, which will be more than double the height of many two-storey surrounding houses.
The industrial unit can’t be any uglier than those hideous little rabbit hutch new-builds next door. Look at them. I think I can see @BartholomewRoberts in the bathroom of the house on the left
When did we decide as a nation that we want to feel trapped in tiny rooms with no windows? Windows are good. Britain is a shit-hole and we’ve done it to ourselves
Tiny windows is another bonus from the bonkers energy efficiency regs for new builds. Going for tiny windows is almost certainly one of the easier ways to get the thermal loss values down to the required threshold.
But I don’t see new builds in other countries which are as hideous, cramped and windowless as in Britain. Even the worst American new housing - which can be really really bad - understands that humans like and require natural light
Why is it always just us? Why are we like this?
What an odd complaint.
My new build has a big bay window that runs almost the entire width of the living room. The kitchen/diner wall to the garden is more glass than anything else, with glass double doors and large windows. And upstairs there's loads of windows.
I get much more natural light in my new build house, than I ever got in my rented old, damp accommodation.
So presumably you approve of that new build design then? Or are you just a miserable old man who doesn't want people to have a home of their own?
Anyway, the solution is the same as always: liberate planning and let people decide. If people want bigger windows, then in a free market then people can choose bigger windows and firms that build homes with small windows will struggle to sell them. Competition works.
"Do you want a flat with combustible cladding, or safe cladding? The market needs to know! If you don't tell us you know there's only one way we'll find out..."
Somewhat related - I used to have a friend who did new builds and explained that he built them with a 20-year lifespan in mind. No matter what the paperwork said.
Work is under way on a warehouse “monstrosity” at least 40ft high after a blundering Tory council consulted homeowners on the wrong street.
Residents in Corby, Northamptonshire, awoke to find the large metal frame of the industrial units being erected just yards from their back doors.
Many were blindsided and when they asked officials what had happened, it emerged that the council had got the road mixed up with another half a mile away.
North Northamptonshire council’s building planning officers had mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the 160,800 sq ft development.
The plans for the Earlstree 160 project, on the site of a former Weetabix factory, were approved by the council in November with construction works expected to be completed towards the end of this year.
The height of the industrial unit will be a minimum 40ft when built, with a pitched roof which extends higher, which will be more than double the height of many two-storey surrounding houses.
The industrial unit can’t be any uglier than those hideous little rabbit hutch new-builds next door. Look at them. I think I can see @BartholomewRoberts in the bathroom of the house on the left
When did we decide as a nation that we want to feel trapped in tiny rooms with no windows? Windows are good. Britain is a shit-hole and we’ve done it to ourselves
Tiny windows is another bonus from the bonkers energy efficiency regs for new builds. Going for tiny windows is almost certainly one of the easier ways to get the thermal loss values down to the required threshold.
But I don’t see new builds in other countries which are as hideous, cramped and windowless as in Britain. Even the worst American new housing - which can be really really bad - understands that humans like and require natural light
Why is it always just us? Why are we like this?
What an odd complaint.
My new build has a big bay window that runs almost the entire width of the living room. The kitchen/diner wall to the garden is more glass than anything else, with glass double doors and large windows. And upstairs there's loads of windows.
I get much more natural light in my new build house, than I ever got in my rented old, damp accommodation.
So presumably you approve of that new build design then? Or are you just a miserable old man who doesn't want people to have a home of their own?
Anyway, the solution is the same as always: liberate planning and let people decide. If people want bigger windows, then in a free market then people can choose bigger windows and firms that build homes with small windows will struggle to sell them. Competition works.
Amazingly, I agree with you. On the whole
And it’s good that you’ve got nice big windows. I don’t actually like to think of anyone having to suffer these tiny little rat-houses with no natural light. Ugh
They genuinely depress me
I remember a friend in Sheffield being gleefully told by a local Green councillor that they were planning to block off the tiny remaining windows she had at the back of her tiny flat. Because it was good for the environment.
This only works if "the environment" are Weeping Angels.
An entire side of the house with three windows so small even Rishi Sunak couldn’t burgle you
You’d honestly have trouble getting planning permission for this as a prison, due to deprivation of natural light. It looks like the wall of an abattoir. And we sell this as housing. Shameful. Shameful
The vanilla/PB resize has made that so small I can hardly tell that's a house, never mind comment on the windows.
So Gary Lineker is using twitter less because it is so toxic. He hasn't the brainpower to realise that if he stopped using it altogether it would be even less toxic. His tweets are the cause of a lot of tocixity as he deliberately stirs up trouble.
TwiX is an absolute cesspool now. You think Linekar is the problem? OK, lets take off all the people like him and leave it to the conspiracy nutters, the alt-right, the lunatics etc etc.
That's wonderful news, and a tribute to the power of financial incentives.
There's quite a history of innovation arising from prizes. I take it you know the story of Longitude?
Yeah, Harrison and his clocks/watches.
Prizes are interesting: the DARPA Grand Challenge arguably set off the rush for autonomous cars; the X-Prize suborbital commercial spaceflight. But the Google Lunar X_Prize was a big failure, with no team making it to the Moon, even after it was extended. I don't think any team has still made it, five years after it ended.
I doubt anyone contributed to the Herculaneum prize for the money; it was because it was cool. I doubt Harrison did it solely for the money - though he was rightly aggrieved when he did not get it. For the prizes that individuals can contribute valuable insight to - as Casey Hander did with the scrolls - it is more about the challenge, and the money helps a) publicise and b) concentrate minds.
I am still in awe of this. I daresay some on here wonder why I'm often so upbeat, given everything that's going on in the UK and the world. It's partly because there are still people who do this sort of thing.
Couldn't agree more with the sentiment, JJ.
Do you listen to the science epiodes on 'In Our Time'. They are awe-inspiring, although I suspect your personal awe doesn't need much inspiration.
Yeah, I listen to IoT when I'm out running or walking. There's so much great podcast material out there on science alone, I've got thousands of hours recorded and ready to listen to.
There are lots of good history ones as well. As ever with life, too much to do, not enough time...
History is more my subject, but I am always impressed by how well the scientists explain their subjects.
Seems Liz Lettuce Truss has reminded us all how absolutely woeful she is at public speaking.
Just dreadful speech to the PopTarts mini conference.
I'm interested in this verdict, I thought her public speaking, especially her meter, had improved a lot listening to the speech. I admit she was starting from a low base. The speech had a bit of self-deprecating humour 'I don't get invited to many London dinner parties so I don't mind', seemed to be well-rehearsed, with very little looking down at notes, and generally the well-trodden theme was delivered competently. Where did you think she fell down?
When she tried to walk unaided? On past experience.
'2,086 people who were verified by CCHQ as being Conservative party members in 2022 answered a survey that was carried out across the UK from the 29th to 31st January 2024. The survey, almost three times bigger than the Conservative Home poll carried out each month which shows the most popular members of the Cabinet, has highlighted huge discontent in parts of the party as well as identifying who the Conservative Members want as leader.
When members were asked if they would vote Conservative with the following people as leader, Boris Johnson came top with 85.37 percent followed by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg on 69.51 percent and Suella Braverman on 65.38 percent. . Only 23.63% of members said they will vote Conservative at the next General Election if Rishi Sunak remains as leader.'
This looks like the type of voter who has gone from Tory to Reform rather than the median Tory member however
Seems Liz Lettuce Truss has reminded us all how absolutely woeful she is at public speaking.
Just dreadful speech to the PopTarts mini conference.
I'm interested in this verdict, I thought her public speaking, especially her meter, had improved a lot listening to the speech. I admit she was starting from a low base. The speech had a bit of self-deprecating humour 'I don't get invited to many London dinner parties so I don't mind', seemed to be well-rehearsed, with very little looking down at notes, and generally the well-trodden theme was delivered competently. Where did you think she fell down?
When she tried to walk unaided? On past experience.
Apologies, I thought we were sophisticated enough to offer informed opinions on on political happenings regardless of our ideological disposition.
An entire side of the house with three windows so small even Rishi Sunak couldn’t burgle you
You’d honestly have trouble getting planning permission for this as a prison, due to deprivation of natural light. It looks like the wall of an abattoir. And we sell this as housing. Shameful. Shameful
Again, I'd certainly not say it's an attractive building. But having few or no windows on the side elevation of a house is hardly a new phenomenon in towns (even ignoring terraced housing which clearly can't have side windows except an end terrace which normally won't). This is partly structural, partly related to privacy.
The windows on the side of that one will almost definitely be a non-dining kitchen or a bathroom with obscured glass. Will the natural light be any good... well, we don't know - they could have french doors onto the garden, in which case it'd be pretty good.
Yes a lack of side-elevation windows is deliberate and universal in both new and old homes.
If you had a large window on a side-elevation and so did your neighbour, you'd be looking into each other's homes when you look out your window and through your neighbours. Who wants that?
We have large windows in two directions, none in one side (semi-detached so it'd be impossible) and small ones on the other side which is mainly the staircase and hallway anyway so only needs the small window for natural light.
I don't think that's the problem. The problem is the total surface area that is windows appears abnormally low. It must be hell in winter in a place like that.
It's just the cheapest way to achieve decent energy efficiency. Typical profit maximisation from developers.
1) Land bank 2) Low density to further restrict supply 3) Sell crap at high prices
'2,086 people who were verified by CCHQ as being Conservative party members in 2022 answered a survey that was carried out across the UK from the 29th to 31st January 2024. The survey, almost three times bigger than the Conservative Home poll carried out each month which shows the most popular members of the Cabinet, has highlighted huge discontent in parts of the party as well as identifying who the Conservative Members want as leader.
When members were asked if they would vote Conservative with the following people as leader, Boris Johnson came top with 85.37 percent followed by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg on 69.51 percent and Suella Braverman on 65.38 percent. . Only 23.63% of members said they will vote Conservative at the next General Election if Rishi Sunak remains as leader.'
This looks like the type of voter who has gone from Tory to Reform rather than the median Tory member however
'2,086 people who were verified by CCHQ as being Conservative party members in 2022 answered a survey that was carried out across the UK from the 29th to 31st January 2024. The survey, almost three times bigger than the Conservative Home poll carried out each month which shows the most popular members of the Cabinet, has highlighted huge discontent in parts of the party as well as identifying who the Conservative Members want as leader.
When members were asked if they would vote Conservative with the following people as leader, Boris Johnson came top with 85.37 percent followed by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg on 69.51 percent and Suella Braverman on 65.38 percent. . Only 23.63% of members said they will vote Conservative at the next General Election if Rishi Sunak remains as leader.'
This looks like the type of voter who has gone from Tory to Reform rather than the median Tory member however
If the Conservative Party were to change leader now, which of the following would you support being Prime Minister to lead us into the next General Election? (Members were asked to choose their top 3). They received the following number of votes:
Boris Johnson - 1419 Suella Braverman - 891 Jacob Rees-Mogg - 721 Penny Mordaunt - 520 Kemi Badenoch - 518 Liz Truss - 301 Priti Patel - 286 Robert Jenrick - 220 David Cameron - 100 James Cleverly - 75
That's wonderful news, and a tribute to the power of financial incentives.
There's quite a history of innovation arising from prizes. I take it you know the story of Longitude?
Yeah, Harrison and his clocks/watches.
Prizes are interesting: the DARPA Grand Challenge arguably set off the rush for autonomous cars; the X-Prize suborbital commercial spaceflight. But the Google Lunar X_Prize was a big failure, with no team making it to the Moon, even after it was extended. I don't think any team has still made it, five years after it ended.
I doubt anyone contributed to the Herculaneum prize for the money; it was because it was cool. I doubt Harrison did it solely for the money - though he was rightly aggrieved when he did not get it. For the prizes that individuals can contribute valuable insight to - as Casey Hander did with the scrolls - it is more about the challenge, and the money helps a) publicise and b) concentrate minds.
I am still in awe of this. I daresay some on here wonder why I'm often so upbeat, given everything that's going on in the UK and the world. It's partly because there are still people who do this sort of thing.
Couldn't agree more with the sentiment, JJ.
Do you listen to the science epiodes on 'In Our Time'. They are awe-inspiring, although I suspect your personal awe doesn't need much inspiration.
Yeah, I listen to IoT when I'm out running or walking. There's so much great podcast material out there on science alone, I've got thousands of hours recorded and ready to listen to.
There are lots of good history ones as well. As ever with life, too much to do, not enough time...
History is more my subject, but I am always impressed by how well the scientists explain their subjects.
I'm going to be controversial here: anyone who classifies themselves as an 'expert' isn't really expert if they cannot explain their subject to a ten-year old, a GCSE student, and a degree-level student. Obviously the amount of detail would be different, but if a historian bores a primary school kid whilst talking about (say) Roman history, then they don't have a firm grasp of their topic.
Has anyone here got the Dyson or Apple headphones? I refuse to believe they could possibly be worth double the price of my $450 Bose NC700s.
I wasn’t aware that Dyson made them until seeing that tweet. Presumably they have a vacuum function to clean your ear canal.
If I’m paying $900 for them, they’d better be good at sucking something.
They are a rare commercial dud from Dyson.
If you’re going up against Bose, Sony, and Apple, not to mention the off-brand noice-cancellers which are getting a lot better, you sure as hell want to make sure you have clearly the best product if you’re looking for such a massive premium. What were they thinking?
I really don't know.
It seems like they thought "well, we're all going to be wearing masks for ever due to Covid, so let's be the first to integrate one into a pair of headphones."
Also, they forgot that there's a reason why Sony and Bose make their headphones as light as possible: it's because it's uncomfortable wandering around wearing headphones that weight the best part of a kilo.
It sounds like Apple have also forgotten that lesson based on your comments about their goggles.
According to this forum the only alternative is Trump. You pays your money, you takes your choice.
I don’t really follow US politics at all, but seeing this I don’t think I’d trust Biden to get the fish & chips on a Friday without forgetting what he’d gone out for.
According to this forum the only alternative is Trump. You pays your money, you takes your choice.
I don’t really follow US politics at all, but seeing this I don’t think I’d trust Biden to get the fish & chips on a Friday without forgetting what he’d gone out for.
It seems like a confusion between suppliers as to whether this hole in the side of the plane was a door or not, it being a door on some planes but not on others - but opening and closing a door requires no paperwork, whereas opening and closing this plug should need to be documented and cross-checked.
Looks like the whole 737 programme is about to be shut down, after way too many modifications to what’s a 50-year-old type certificate.
'2,086 people who were verified by CCHQ as being Conservative party members in 2022 answered a survey that was carried out across the UK from the 29th to 31st January 2024. The survey, almost three times bigger than the Conservative Home poll carried out each month which shows the most popular members of the Cabinet, has highlighted huge discontent in parts of the party as well as identifying who the Conservative Members want as leader.
When members were asked if they would vote Conservative with the following people as leader, Boris Johnson came top with 85.37 percent followed by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg on 69.51 percent and Suella Braverman on 65.38 percent. . Only 23.63% of members said they will vote Conservative at the next General Election if Rishi Sunak remains as leader.'
This looks like the type of voter who has gone from Tory to Reform rather than the median Tory member however
If the Conservative Party were to change leader now, which of the following would you support being Prime Minister to lead us into the next General Election? (Members were asked to choose their top 3). They received the following number of votes:
Boris Johnson - 1419 Suella Braverman - 891 Jacob Rees-Mogg - 721 Penny Mordaunt - 520 Kemi Badenoch - 518 Liz Truss - 301 Priti Patel - 286 Robert Jenrick - 220 David Cameron - 100 James Cleverly - 75
Look at that list and suddenly it occurs to you: It could be terminal. They could end up with about 7 seats. This is the end. Starmer, Streeting, Reeves look like giant statesmen, Churchill, Gladstone, Jenkins by comparison. This bunch of decent folk our thin hope of sanity.
Comments
I'm sure 6 of the Supreme Court want Trump to be President again (maybe 5), and might even be willing to fudge things a bit to indirectly aid that outcome if they could (as the three liberal justices would the other way), but the court still seems to have slightly more sense of history than the day to day politicians, and what they can get away with to advance their political goals.
Hence so many businesspeople are supporting Labour's 28billion plan, not Truss's tax cuts plan.
I was reading a sci-fi novel the other week and the bad guys were these anti-AI, anti-genetic manipulation types, and it was a good thing the book made sure to have them be called literal nazis and perform some brutal atrocities for no reason, as otherwise I had difficulty rooting against them.
It is destined to be the best stadium in non-league football the way things are going.
White Elephants all the way.
@christopherhope
·
20m
NEW I am told on good authority that after the launch of PopCon today 70 donors and supporters gathered for drinks at Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg's house nearby.
There were 30 Conservative MPs at the party - far more than the dozen or so who were at the launch ...
Do you listen to the science epiodes on 'In Our Time'. They are awe-inspiring, although I suspect your personal awe doesn't need much inspiration.
The windows on the side of that one will almost definitely be a non-dining kitchen or a bathroom with obscured glass. Will the natural light be any good... well, we don't know - they could have french doors onto the garden, in which case it'd be pretty good.
My new build has a big bay window that runs almost the entire width of the living room. The kitchen/diner wall to the garden is more glass than anything else, with glass double doors and large windows. And upstairs there's loads of windows.
I get much more natural light in my new build house, than I ever got in my rented old, damp accommodation.
So presumably you approve of that new build design then? Or are you just a miserable old man who doesn't want people to have a home of their own?
Anyway, the solution is the same as always: liberate planning and let people decide. If people want bigger windows, then in a free market then people can choose bigger windows and firms that build homes with small windows will struggle to sell them. Competition works.
And it’s good that you’ve got nice big windows. I don’t actually like to think of anyone having to suffer these tiny little rat-houses with no natural light. Ugh
They genuinely depress me
Drinking and plotting is their day job.
There are lots of good history ones as well. As ever with life, too much to do, not enough time...
If you had a large window on a side-elevation and so did your neighbour, you'd be looking into each other's homes when you look out your window and through your neighbours. Who wants that?
We have large windows in two directions, none in one side (semi-detached so it'd be impossible) and small ones on the other side which is mainly the staircase and hallway anyway so only needs the small window for natural light.
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2010/05/12/helicopter-drop-for-critical-moss-in-moorland-trail
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/helicopters-called-in-to-help-in-restoration-of-peat-moors-1869097
Incidentally, I've also seen paving slabs ('traditionally' old floor slabs from mills) being taken up, slung under helicopters.
https://x.com/metrouk/status/1754904432272085434?s=61
None of the three Trump justices was nodded through by the Senate, but not because they were legally ignorant or fundamentally corrupt. Gorsuch had trouble as tit-for-tat over the blocking of Garland just before the 2016 election (and got a few Democrat votes). Kavanaugh's personal conduct many years before probably did make him an unsuitable choice, but he was and is an able lawyer. While Coney-Barrett had votes against simply based on the Garland precedent (put up just before an election).
On abortion, the Dobbs decision is highly controversial politically. But it isn't mad, legally, to argue that the 14th amendment doesn't provide a right to an abortion and that states can therefore restrict that right (although not the right to cross state lines). You can argue it the other way, but it's an interpretation of the law that is within a pretty standard conservative reading of the words as written, when they were written.
As I say, they aren't blind to the context. But that means they'll take the fig leaf available on eligibility. They won't, I think, make Presidents immune from criminal charges for all time to help out a here today and dead tomorrow presidential candidate.
Sources told the Guardian it had been made “abundantly and repeatedly” clear to the prime minister that there would be no progress on his pledge to drive down NHS waiting lists until a deal was struck.
One official said Sunak had been a “blocker” to progress during talks with both consultants and junior doctors at the end of last year because of concerns that a more generous offer would result in calls for higher pay deals across the health service, in particular for nurses.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/06/rishi-sunak-accused-of-personally-holding-up-deal-to-end-doctors-strikes
The bolts meant to hold the door plug in place were absent, the National Transportation Safety Board said. It released photographic evidence alongside the preliminary findings of its investigating on Tuesday.
Boeing has tried to reassure regulators, airlines and passengers following the dramatic incident during an Alaska Airlines flight, which prompted 171 Max 9 jets to be grounded for several weeks. The plane maker conceded last week it has “more work to do” as it tries to repair its reputation.
While the FAA later allowed Max 9 planes to return to service following inspections, it said it would not grant any production expansion of the wider Max program. On Monday the agency said 94% of the affected jets have now returned to the skies.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/06/faa-regulation-boeing-blowout?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
I'm probably a bit late to this but...
Seems Liz Lettuce Truss has reminded us all how absolutely woeful she is at public speaking.
Just dreadful speech to the PopTarts mini conference.
It surprised me as it's rather counter-intuitive.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68220627
Back to resting
Shit, cheap, terraces though typically run in straight lines still.
Also of course the LTN concept means that straight lines are less adoptable than they would have been in the past. In the past you could build grids of streets that all connected to each other and to arterial roads, but now estates tend to be LTNs with limited access points and can't be driven through to the other side, which makes straight line grids even less suitable.
What are their core principles and beliefs - what is Conservatism?
What are their central policies?
How do they get from here to where they want to be, and make their central policies work, with regard to tax, spend, cuts, debt, and other awkward bits of reality?
We can all do generalised uplift, and wish lists. It's the other bits that are missing; not only with PopCon, but with politics generally.
There is no word for just how fucked Boeing is.
At least with de Havilland the problems were confined to one specific thing on one type.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/problem-found-boeing-737-max-041338282.html
🔥 Mark Littlewood, the former IEA boss spearheading the Popular Conservatives, was asked by @SophyRidgeSky if Liz Truss is popular.
He replied: "I don't think she's popular as a person."
He also described her time as PM as "a diabolical failure".
When playing Tetris to get as much in a space as possible, I'd have always thought that square edges are better. However I think winding works because gardens don't have to be squared off.
However, tired and sore and resting for the next few days
2. ...
3. Profit!
'Yes.'
'Well, there we have it ladies and gentlemen. Conclusive I'm sure you'll agree.'
And see if it is less toxic.
https://x.com/stone_skynews/status/1754942128382267674
I just assume 'the environment' exists in the abstract.
‘Can you think of a similarly brilliant strategist and politician who you would consider your equal?’
Somewhat related - I used to have a friend who did new builds and explained that he built them with a 20-year lifespan in mind. No matter what the paperwork said.
R
U
S
S
The survey, almost three times bigger than the Conservative Home poll carried out each month which shows the most popular members of the Cabinet, has highlighted huge discontent in parts of the party as well as identifying who the Conservative Members want as leader.
When members were asked if they would vote Conservative with the following people as leader, Boris Johnson came top with 85.37 percent followed by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg on 69.51 percent and Suella Braverman on 65.38 percent. . Only 23.63% of members said they will vote Conservative at the next General Election if Rishi Sunak remains as leader.'
This looks like the type of voter who has gone from Tory to Reform rather than the median Tory member however
https://conservativepost.co.uk/conservative-party-members-are-on-strike-and-57-wont-vote-tory-with-rishi-as-leader/
1) Land bank
2) Low density to further restrict supply
3) Sell crap at high prices
Yes 92%.
Possibly, but who's going to sue?
It would mean proving you'd been libelled, which would mean admitting you were a diabolical failure.
So even though it is unkind to diabolical failures, it's not really important.
Boris Johnson - 1419
Suella Braverman - 891
Jacob Rees-Mogg - 721
Penny Mordaunt - 520
Kemi Badenoch - 518
Liz Truss - 301
Priti Patel - 286
Robert Jenrick - 220
David Cameron - 100
James Cleverly - 75
https://x.com/stone_skynews/status/1754942128382267674?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
R
U
S
S
There is only one.
There're series of this on YouTube, with experts doing this sort of thing. Like this one on gravity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcUey-DVYjk
Wired did a fair few:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLibNZv5Zd0dyCoQ6f4pdXUFnpAIlKgm3N
Biden is a flawed candidate, sure. But the Republicans have decided to fall in behind someone worse.
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-harris
It seems like a confusion between suppliers as to whether this hole in the side of the plane was a door or not, it being a door on some planes but not on others - but opening and closing a door requires no paperwork, whereas opening and closing this plug should need to be documented and cross-checked.
Looks like the whole 737 programme is about to be shut down, after way too many modifications to what’s a 50-year-old type certificate.
Time for a reboot William.