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Even Reform don’t want toxic Lee Anderson – politicalbetting.com

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  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,044

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    ... and also a cousin of some sort. 2nd cousin, once removed, I think.
  • WillGWillG Posts: 2,366

    WillG said:

    I know the media source is weak, but the underlying report seems credible.

    https://www.gbnews.com/politics/migrant-crisis-starmer-labour-policy

    Do Labour deny the policy changes they plan? After we finally limit the flow of immigration with Sunak's new limits, is Starmer going to open the flood gates again?

    We've not seen the flow of immigration limited yet. The Tories frequently promise things on immigration that don't happen. The flood gates are at a record level of openness under the Tories.

    I will be surprised if immigration in 2025 under a new Labour government isn't lower than 2023's figure.
    Yes, because 2023 was a spike because of Hong Kongers and Ukrainians. The new income thresholds aren't a promise, they have been enacted into policy and will come live in April. Labour will open the floodgates again and it will be worse every year. And it won't be skilled, educated Hong Kongers. It will be arranged brides from the Indian subcontinent.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,643
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    I've only just listened to this and had to stop after about 20 seconds due to spitting out tea and struggling to control myself in the office.

    Absolutely brilliant.
    Thanks. I am quite proud, even if the software made the music

    I did take time choosing the most ridiculous comment that would be the funniest, and which - in length - would fit the format of Suno AI

    People think that sounds real? I mean, it's funny, but it clearly doesn't know how to write a song. It is taking the "lyrics" provided and putting it over a melody that doesn't fit the lyrics, and has the wrong emphasis on the wrong words and syllables. This is what is supposed to be inextricable from person made music?
    Music is complicated.

    Leon, could you ask it to compose a march-strathspey-reel set? I shall offer an opinion on how it deals with the time signature changes.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    Mr. grss, who's the Roman Empress you mentioned?

    Elagabalus
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,417

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Agreed. I’ve suspected something significantly nastier than straightforward prostate cancer for a while; I’ve had that and recovered, and know several other elderly men who have done so. Equally I know a couple of men for whom it’s been, if not fatal yet, extremely nasty. The situation that would be worrying, on a human level, would be a secondary tumour in somewhere vital, or pancreatic cancer, which seems incurable.
    Friends of mine have died of that, and they’ve seemed ‘well’, and functioned reasonably normally, up until the last couple of weeks.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,174
    mwadams said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @nicholascecil

    Support for Tories in London hits just 17% with Labour ahead even among pensioners, exclusive new @YouGov poll for @MileEndInst @QMUL in @EveningStandard

    In Outer London, the Tories are on 19 per cent.

    Labour is ahead of the Tories in London among all age groups including those 65 and over, by 34% to 31% for the latter.
    For Londoners aged 18-to-24 the respective split is 65% to 13%, 25-to 49 it is 58% to 12%, and 50 to 64 it is 49% to 18%

    A difference of only 4% between inner and outer London ?!?

    I'm finding that difficult to believe tbh. Conservatives are much stronger in outer London.
    True, but... Maybe that should "were much stronger"?
    My question is about the gap from inner to outer London. I'd have thought that would still be > 4% even if they're going down everywhere.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    edited February 27
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    I've only just listened to this and had to stop after about 20 seconds due to spitting out tea and struggling to control myself in the office.

    Absolutely brilliant.
    Thanks. I am quite proud, even if the software made the music

    I did take time choosing the most ridiculous comment that would be the funniest, and which - in length - would fit the format of Suno AI

    People think that sounds real? I mean, it's funny, but it clearly doesn't know how to write a song. It is taking the "lyrics" provided and putting it over a melody that doesn't fit the lyrics, and has the wrong emphasis on the wrong words and syllables. This is what is supposed to be inextricable from person made music?
    No, it's not meant to be indistinguishable. I made it to be funny. Can you not read?

    I say downthread that AI music is now about where AI imagery was 18 months ago - remember those terrible videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti, or the OK but weird photos of people who, on examination, had six hands etc?

    AI music is there, but it is on the same exponential journey. Unless for some black swan reason the development suddenly stops, or we pull the plug, it will soon enough - two years? - become indistinguishable from human-made music, and then, like Sora, it will start to make actually beautiful things
  • 148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm


  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    isam said:

    .

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    That’s so needy it could have been written by Correct Horse Ninja
    I take things sincerely based on their moral value. The idea of hereditary monarchy is lower than dung. The only good act a monarch can take is abdication, the only thing I care about is when they're removed and their wealth - which has accumulated over years of privilege and violence - is redistributed back to the people it should belong to.

    I think Prince Regent Harry or Andrew would be pretty significant nails in the coffin of our monarchy, so I would indeed find that hilarious.
  • WillG said:

    WillG said:

    I know the media source is weak, but the underlying report seems credible.

    https://www.gbnews.com/politics/migrant-crisis-starmer-labour-policy

    Do Labour deny the policy changes they plan? After we finally limit the flow of immigration with Sunak's new limits, is Starmer going to open the flood gates again?

    We've not seen the flow of immigration limited yet. The Tories frequently promise things on immigration that don't happen. The flood gates are at a record level of openness under the Tories.

    I will be surprised if immigration in 2025 under a new Labour government isn't lower than 2023's figure.
    Yes, because 2023 was a spike because of Hong Kongers and Ukrainians. The new income thresholds aren't a promise, they have been enacted into policy and will come live in April. Labour will open the floodgates again and it will be worse every year. And it won't be skilled, educated Hong Kongers. It will be arranged brides from the Indian subcontinent.
    Which is what Vote Leave promised in 2016.

    Why do you hate democracy ?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,392
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Ask not for whom the bell tolls and all that? No man is an island?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,098
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    I've only just listened to this and had to stop after about 20 seconds due to spitting out tea and struggling to control myself in the office.

    Absolutely brilliant.
    Thanks. I am quite proud, even if the software made the music

    I did take time choosing the most ridiculous comment that would be the funniest, and which - in length - would fit the format of Suno AI

    People think that sounds real? I mean, it's funny, but it clearly doesn't know how to write a song. It is taking the "lyrics" provided and putting it over a melody that doesn't fit the lyrics, and has the wrong emphasis on the wrong words and syllables. This is what is supposed to be inextricable from person made music?
    Yes. If they served up that sort of fare of an evening on the outside terrace bar of a hotel in Tenerife, instead of a high quality live music act, the customer experience would be degraded immensely.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    There is a difference between not caring a jot - which is entirely fine, that's life - and actively wishing serious suffering and death on a named person, which you have just done. If I did that I would expect to get chastised and probably moderated, and rightly, but each to their own, you do you
  • The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    ... and also a cousin of some sort. 2nd cousin, once removed, I think.
    Err I didn't post that !!!!
  • Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Since the Queen is attending the same service from which the PoW withdrew, it is unlikely to be the King's health that is of immediate concern.
  • TresTres Posts: 2,694

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Ask not for whom the bell tolls and all that? No man is an island?
    plenty of children have died needlessly somewhere in the world already this morning, without disrupting our PB chat, why give a shit about one old man with a crown?
  • 148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    You seem to be a very unpleasant individual
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,213
    edited February 27

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm


    Very unpleasant and reveals a lack of pride and association with the country. Completely disregards that the wealth is not useable in the way that those not trapped in royal cages can: to make free choices what to do with it.

    I would loathe to be in the royal family; it is not something to be envied.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Agreed. I’ve suspected something significantly nastier than straightforward prostate cancer for a while; I’ve had that and recovered, and know several other elderly men who have done so. Equally I know a couple of men for whom it’s been, if not fatal yet, extremely nasty. The situation that would be worrying, on a human level, would be a secondary tumour in somewhere vital, or pancreatic cancer, which seems incurable.
    Friends of mine have died of that, and they’ve seemed ‘well’, and functioned reasonably normally, up until the last couple of weeks.
    I hope we're not on PB going to go down that path but survival rates for pancreatic cancer haven't shifted in over 50 years. It is, simply, a death sentence because it is near everything and is usually asymptomatic so is found while something else is being investigated and therefore is too advanced to be cured.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    148grss said:

    isam said:

    .

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    That’s so needy it could have been written by Correct Horse Ninja
    I take things sincerely based on their moral value. The idea of hereditary monarchy is lower than dung. The only good act a monarch can take is abdication, the only thing I care about is when they're removed and their wealth - which has accumulated over years of privilege and violence - is redistributed back to the people it should belong to.

    I think Prince Regent Harry or Andrew would be pretty significant nails in the coffin of our monarchy, so I would indeed find that hilarious.
    Well the moral value of cheering about someone suffering a serious illness, and justifying it on them being born into a privileged family must be pretty low.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    edited February 27
    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
  • Tres said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Ask not for whom the bell tolls and all that? No man is an island?
    plenty of children have died needlessly somewhere in the world already this morning, without disrupting our PB chat, why give a shit about one old man with a crown?
    Exactly! How will we know whether to care about his death if the BBC won't tell us if the King is Jewish or Palestinian?
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,742

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Apart from being rather an unpleasant post, it's well off the mark.

    Charles has been ahead of the curve on a number of issues, from his Princes Trust work to the environment to championing traditional skills - and has put his (Duchy's) money where his mouth is. Whatever his intellectual capacity (rather more than you give him credit for), his instincts have usually served him well. In a public leader, instinct always outranks intellect: you can always find clever advisors and officials to do the detail.

    On the numbers thing, it's ironic that the royal family is both just about the largest it's ever been and also unusably small due to the number who are geriatric, children, or who can't or won't do the job.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    mwadams said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    To be honest, I don't like it when either side do that.
    When people cheer the deaths of people like Kissinger, they are doing so as a recognition of the role he played in the destruction of a good and humane society. I don't think Lizzie or Chaz fall into that category, but I do think the idea of monarchy is so repugnant that I cannot bring up an ounce of sympathy for them - they live a life so protected and comforted from the travails of life real people experience that they are, for all purposes, alien. It just so happens that the system that they all uphold that makes them so alien is also deeply corrupt, undemocratic and is based on the stolen wealth of generations across the world.

    When it comes to people in dire poverty, or seeking asylum, or as casualties of war - it is the exact opposite. The gross systems that the wealthy and powerful uphold are exactly the things that kill those people, and harm most people all over the world. I share more human experience with someone trying to cross the Channel to make it to England than I do with Chaz, and whilst I can't do much to end that persons misery the literal monarch could.

    So yeah - I do not care if he dies, or if all of those with a drop of magic special blood dropped dead tomorrow. If they renounce their claims and go off and live a life of a real human being, I have no qualms with them, and of course the kids aren't at fault - but at some point the entire charade does need to end and we should really stop pretending like the monarchy are important.
  • WillGWillG Posts: 2,366

    WillG said:

    WillG said:

    I know the media source is weak, but the underlying report seems credible.

    https://www.gbnews.com/politics/migrant-crisis-starmer-labour-policy

    Do Labour deny the policy changes they plan? After we finally limit the flow of immigration with Sunak's new limits, is Starmer going to open the flood gates again?

    We've not seen the flow of immigration limited yet. The Tories frequently promise things on immigration that don't happen. The flood gates are at a record level of openness under the Tories.

    I will be surprised if immigration in 2025 under a new Labour government isn't lower than 2023's figure.
    Yes, because 2023 was a spike because of Hong Kongers and Ukrainians. The new income thresholds aren't a promise, they have been enacted into policy and will come live in April. Labour will open the floodgates again and it will be worse every year. And it won't be skilled, educated Hong Kongers. It will be arranged brides from the Indian subcontinent.
    Which is what Vote Leave promised in 2016.

    Why do you hate democracy ?
    Leaving aside the fact that Vote Leave was a campaign on a single constitutional question, not a manifesto for government, that isn't what they argued for. They wanted more non-EU skilled migrants rather than unskilled EU migrants. Which is the correct policy.

    But what Starmer is going to open the flood gates on are the following:

    - Taking more of the dodgy Middle Eastern and African men living in illegal French camps.
    - More arranged brides and hosts of kids for low income care workers.
    - Keeping more of the failed asylum seekers that smuggle themselves into the country.

    This is exactly the sort of unproductive types that flooded the UK economy during Labour's last stint in power. Brexit successfully managed to shut one of the pathways for the unskilled here, but Starmer is now trying to re-open several others.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
  • Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM
  • Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,027
    edited February 27

    Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
    The Post Office will never be anywhere near as customer friendly and outstanding delivery service as Amazon and it is the customer that matters
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496
    geoffw said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    Genuinely brilliant! Its Milli Vanilli I feel sorry for.
    Isn’t it incredible? AI music is here

    It’s roughly where AI art was about 18 months ago. It will follow the same exponential trajectory

    It is the death of most human music

    But you will be able to create songs just for yourself, friends, birthdays, weddings, as cruel jokes, etc. So it’s not all bad
    Yes but that is half the point. Is AI an existential threat to the music industry or is it merely democratising it? You have twice [edit: 3x] had new songs created on this thread but how often did you phone Elton John to commission an original tune?
    Elton John will be fine. He’s about 100 years old and he’s made a billion quid

    It’s all the young people with genuine musical talent - musicians, singers, composers, arrangers - plus all the people surrounding that industry - who are now completely fucked

    Sure, a few might go on and become Taylor Swifts (if they are really good looking and have the charisma to play live and captivate a crowd) - but for the rest, it’s over

    Live music will be the last redoubt. Recorded music will be dominated by AI music - because it can be made for nothing. It will swamp Spotify

    Also some of it will be really good. Just not made by humans
    Music, art, etc. is not just some formula or maths puzzle that you can replicate - it is something personal and human. I listen to a song or see some art and I can see how a person tried to express themselves - and try to engage with that as another person. AI music may be able to make pretty patterns but (in my mind) it comes below even the wonder of beauty in nature, which is created without intent, because AI is so clearly a facsimile. No one will want to go to an AI concert, or put on AI music to feel a specific emotion, because AI music will not be able to produce that in the way a person can - not because of some innate magicness of humanity, but because part of what makes art art is experience. It would be like saying a parrot who can perfectly mimic the sounds of a great diva will one day perform operas on stage; no one would care. It will have a small following, for sure, but it will never supplant human made art.
    You won’t know the difference - unless it’s live and in front of your eyes

    A song will stream on your device and you’ll think “that’s good” and it will be composed and performed by AI and you’ll never know. Clever music companies may actually lie and pretend a human did it; again you won’t know

    You have to be really quite dim not to get this
    But at the point at which you DO know, the music completely loses appeal - because you now realise it is not authentic.

    I'm reminded of a thought experiment in philosophy.

    Imagine the place which is most special to you. Let's say it's a particular forest with a stream, wild flowers and undulations. This is your special place. Now imaging that a quarrying company buys the land and bulldozers it. Then, after extracting what it wants, the company restores your special place to EXACTLY as it was before, right down to every riffle of the stream, twigs on the trees and undulations. If you had visited this place before and after you would not notice any difference whatsoever.

    The question is : is this place still special to you?

    For me, and I would imagine, and hope, most people, the answer would be a resounding NO as you know it is no longer authentic.
    OMG the stupidity here

    What if the record company just doesn't tell you if it is AI or not? What then? if they get reactions like yours, they will just lie, and make up fake humans, they can do that too, with Midjourney and Sora, it will all be lies, they wil have packaged life stories told through a screen, and you will buy it BECAUSE YOU WON'T KNOW ANY BETTER

    This is basic extrapolation GCSE, yet apparently beyond the mental capabilities of 80% of PB
    And when they never go on tour, or never make a public appearance, I'm sure no one will question why... especially not the tabloids or the entire entertainment media business that exists to specifically report on that stuff.
    How many people have seen BTS live?

    I've no doubt right now there are coders in Korea creating perfect new all girl and all boy bands, entirely artificial, giving them back stories, and personalities, and voices, except these musicians won't need paying and won't do drugs and won't kill themselves (because they are just code and pixels) unless the record company decides they should, for the publicity

    No one will ever know the difference. And if they ever go on tour it will be like ABBA Voyage, as @TOPPING rightly notes

    Reality will become Artificial
    I hate to break it to you, but most new music has been made this way since the mid 2000s, long before AI. South Park did a pretty good parody of it a decade ago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-oHYTQyTEk

    Most new music is now so computer aided that making it entirely AI generated won't change much.

    Spotify has been filling its catalog with music created in bulk, mostly in ambient and chill "piano in the background" type music for years, because it's so easy and quick to produce.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/10/spotify-denies-filling-popular-playlists-with-fake-artists

    That will become easier and easier for more genres with AI tech.

    I find most new music from the last decade or so impossible to listen to simply because I know my way around a copy of Logic and it all sounds like shit to me...
    I'm actually the opposite. Music IS now so palpably and provably shit... partly for the reasons you say...

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-official-modern-music-is-bad/

    ... I am therefore hoping that this total takeover by AI, replacing us entirely, might actually make it BETTER
    A Schubert Lied would be nice. Really

    In the great scheme of things the modern music thing matters more about the wider culture than it does about music alone. The overwhelming majority of all supposedly artistic output in all forms is useless. Even in popular forms a Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra, early Beatles don't come along often. That the pleasant nice girl Taylor Swift is an interplanetary phenomenon says it all. (Fair play to her by the way, but she's better with the sound off).

    While we wait for cultural renewal, to have a back catalogue of greats of the quality we have from the Mass de Tournai to the death of Shostakovich is to need several lifetimes already.

    Let us know when AI produces a song as good as Die Taubenpost.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I didn't say I wanted anyone to do anything to them - just that I don't particularly care if they get well from their illness. It is widely known that Chaz and Wills are currently ill. I would find it funny if those illnesses were fatal and led to Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew. The deaths themselves are not inherently the source of humour - those I don't care about outside of my hatred of the monarchy as a system and their perpetuation of it - the funny part is when the clear next in line would have to be looked after either by a man that monarchists hate or by a well accepted nonce. Because that is funny.
  • twistedfirestopper3twistedfirestopper3 Posts: 2,421
    edited February 27

    Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
    The Post Office will never be anywhere near as customer friendly and outstanding delivery service as Amazon and it is the customer that matters
    No, it really isn't. Amazon becoming even more powerful is in no one's interest.
    And customer service isn't in Amazon's vocabulary. You want your important appointment from the hospital delivered by an Amazon driver? Better check behind your wheely bin if it's late- they've never found out how to operate our doorbell successfully.
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,742

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    ... and also a cousin of some sort. 2nd cousin, once removed, I think.
    No, much more distant than that. Their closest common ancestors (I think?) were Christian IX / Queen Louise of Denmark and Victoria / Albert of the UK, all of whom were gt-gt-grandparents of Constantine, and 4xgt-grandparents of William, making Constantine William's 5th cousin twice removed.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,779
    Mr. grss, Elagabalus was a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty.

    And not a terribly nice chap. Calling him an empress is, most likely, buying into slurs against him by his enemies for whom 'effeminate' was a go-to insult. As well as imposing a 21st century cultural perspective on an entirely different time.

    If you want a vicious empress try Irene of the Eastern Romans.

    Still, if you want a reasonably long video about Elagabalus from someone better educated than me, you might find this interesting:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3Ek8bO8uk
  • Jayden Danns has played 34 minutes of senior football and has won more trophies than Harry Kane, who has played 49,320 minutes of senior football 😭😭😭

    https://x.com/lfclaurie/status/1761877040712573006?s=46

  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,078
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Because you make yourself look like a jerk?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    So we're not to wish death on eg Mad Vlad for example = "significant public figure/politician".

    You know it really would help if you could point me to these rules because I seem to have lost my copy.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677
    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I got 2 likes and zero moderation when I expressed a sincerely held desire for Johnson to die of Covid. You just have to do it with panache.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I didn't say I wanted anyone to do anything to them - just that I don't particularly care if they get well from their illness. It is widely known that Chaz and Wills are currently ill. I would find it funny if those illnesses were fatal and led to Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew. The deaths themselves are not inherently the source of humour - those I don't care about outside of my hatred of the monarchy as a system and their perpetuation of it - the funny part is when the clear next in line would have to be looked after either by a man that monarchists hate or by a well accepted nonce. Because that is funny.
    No, you said

    "Here's hoping that something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    You actively HOPED for them to have a serious illness, perhaps leading to their deaths

    All you have to do is stop being an arse, and withdraw, and apologise, instead of typing 9 paragraph screeds of distraction
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,417

    Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
    The Post Office will never be anywhere near as customer friendly and outstanding delivery service as Amazon and it is the customer that matters
    Personally I can’t stand Amazon, and nor can my wife. Buy something, and immediately one is bombarded with emails urging some other purchase, and/or to sign up for something or other.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,354
    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    I have a heart, so my hope is that William baulks at the prospect of becoming Monarch, and does a runner to join his brother. He clearly doesn't like being in the public eye.

    If the two brothers both removed themselves, and their children, from the succession, then the Commons would have to act to avoid a King Andrew, and once you make it clear to people that we've been choosing the Monarch for centuries, they might decide they want to play some part in the process directly.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    Mr. grss, Elagabalus was a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty.

    And not a terribly nice chap. Calling him an empress is, most likely, buying into slurs against him by his enemies for whom 'effeminate' was a go-to insult. As well as imposing a 21st century cultural perspective on an entirely different time.

    If you want a vicious empress try Irene of the Eastern Romans.

    Still, if you want a reasonably long video about Elagabalus from someone better educated than me, you might find this interesting:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3Ek8bO8uk

    I mean lots of historians instead take evidence seriously and sincerely - and our understanding of the past does change.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73o0MBSn7Cg
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,620
    edited February 27
    WillG said:

    WillG said:

    WillG said:

    I know the media source is weak, but the underlying report seems credible.

    https://www.gbnews.com/politics/migrant-crisis-starmer-labour-policy

    Do Labour deny the policy changes they plan? After we finally limit the flow of immigration with Sunak's new limits, is Starmer going to open the flood gates again?

    We've not seen the flow of immigration limited yet. The Tories frequently promise things on immigration that don't happen. The flood gates are at a record level of openness under the Tories.

    I will be surprised if immigration in 2025 under a new Labour government isn't lower than 2023's figure.
    Yes, because 2023 was a spike because of Hong Kongers and Ukrainians. The new income thresholds aren't a promise, they have been enacted into policy and will come live in April. Labour will open the floodgates again and it will be worse every year. And it won't be skilled, educated Hong Kongers. It will be arranged brides from the Indian subcontinent.
    Which is what Vote Leave promised in 2016.

    Why do you hate democracy ?
    Leaving aside the fact that Vote Leave was a campaign on a single constitutional question, not a manifesto for government, that isn't what they argued for. They wanted more non-EU skilled migrants rather than unskilled EU migrants. Which is the correct policy.

    But what Starmer is going to open the flood gates on are the following:

    - Taking more of the dodgy Middle Eastern and African men living in illegal French camps.
    - More arranged brides and hosts of kids for low income care workers.
    - Keeping more of the failed asylum seekers that smuggle themselves into the country.

    This is exactly the sort of unproductive types that flooded the UK economy during Labour's last stint in power. Brexit successfully managed to shut one of the pathways for the unskilled here, but Starmer is now trying to re-open several others.
    Fancy a bet.

    Starmer’s first term will see less legal and immigration than we’ve seen in the current Parliament.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,213
    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I got 2 likes and zero moderation when I expressed a sincerely held desire for Johnson to die of Covid. You just have to do it with panache.
    If CR is about and reading this thread he's going to explode.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    Cicero said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Because you make yourself look like a jerk?
    Right - because my self worth comes from the opinions of PBers. I find some of the conversation here interesting, although I find much more of it hugely confusing if somewhat enlightening on what and how right wingers think, but I don't really care if people here think I am a bad person for not caring if the king or the prince of wales die.
  • 148grss said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I didn't say I wanted anyone to do anything to them - just that I don't particularly care if they get well from their illness. It is widely known that Chaz and Wills are currently ill. I would find it funny if those illnesses were fatal and led to Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew. The deaths themselves are not inherently the source of humour - those I don't care about outside of my hatred of the monarchy as a system and their perpetuation of it - the funny part is when the clear next in line would have to be looked after either by a man that monarchists hate or by a well accepted nonce. Because that is funny.
    It would be funny if those deseases were fatal

    That is uncalled for

    Frankly I do not see how you think spreading this hatred is respectful to this site
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,417

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    I have a heart, so my hope is that William baulks at the prospect of becoming Monarch, and does a runner to join his brother. He clearly doesn't like being in the public eye.

    If the two brothers both removed themselves, and their children, from the succession, then the Commons would have to act to avoid a King Andrew, and once you make it clear to people that we've been choosing the Monarch for centuries, they might decide they want to play some part in the process directly.
    Edward IXth beckons?
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I didn't say I wanted anyone to do anything to them - just that I don't particularly care if they get well from their illness. It is widely known that Chaz and Wills are currently ill. I would find it funny if those illnesses were fatal and led to Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew. The deaths themselves are not inherently the source of humour - those I don't care about outside of my hatred of the monarchy as a system and their perpetuation of it - the funny part is when the clear next in line would have to be looked after either by a man that monarchists hate or by a well accepted nonce. Because that is funny.
    No, you said

    "Here's hoping that something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    You actively HOPED for them to have a serious illness, perhaps leading to their deaths

    All you have to do is stop being an arse, and withdraw, and apologise, instead of typing 9 paragraph screeds of distraction
    I hope they die for how funny it will be, not inherently because of them dying - that I am neutral on. And lol, no - I'm not withdrawing that. If they die, they die. I'll be laughing.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,779
    Mr. grss, apply that standard of critical thinking to history and you'd conclude Justinian was the Devil incarnate. Or that the Jews were to blame for the destruction of the Temple (a line Josephus writes before immediately recalling the assault by the legions who destroyed it).
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    I didn't say I wanted anyone to do anything to them - just that I don't particularly care if they get well from their illness. It is widely known that Chaz and Wills are currently ill. I would find it funny if those illnesses were fatal and led to Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew. The deaths themselves are not inherently the source of humour - those I don't care about outside of my hatred of the monarchy as a system and their perpetuation of it - the funny part is when the clear next in line would have to be looked after either by a man that monarchists hate or by a well accepted nonce. Because that is funny.
    It would be funny if those deseases were fatal

    That is uncalled for

    Frankly I do not see how you think spreading this hatred is respectful to this site
    The outcome of those diseases being fatal would be funny to me - yes.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    I have a heart, so my hope is that William baulks at the prospect of becoming Monarch, and does a runner to join his brother. He clearly doesn't like being in the public eye.

    If the two brothers both removed themselves, and their children, from the succession, then the Commons would have to act to avoid a King Andrew, and once you make it clear to people that we've been choosing the Monarch for centuries, they might decide they want to play some part in the process directly.
    I think I can agree with that in general - although I would personally argue we should demand democracy for our head of state rather than hope it turns up. But it is clear to me that Wills is not going to abdicate, otherwise he would have made it very clear already.
  • Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
    The Post Office will never be anywhere near as customer friendly and outstanding delivery service as Amazon and it is the customer that matters
    Personally I can’t stand Amazon, and nor can my wife. Buy something, and immediately one is bombarded with emails urging some other purchase, and/or to sign up for something or other.
    We spend considerable sums with Amazon and the service is outstanding

    Maybe because we are so active we do not receive e mails recommended other purchases but in the six weeks I couldn't drive before my pacemaker operation we virtually had a delivery every day of something or other
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,354

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    I have a heart, so my hope is that William baulks at the prospect of becoming Monarch, and does a runner to join his brother. He clearly doesn't like being in the public eye.

    If the two brothers both removed themselves, and their children, from the succession, then the Commons would have to act to avoid a King Andrew, and once you make it clear to people that we've been choosing the Monarch for centuries, they might decide they want to play some part in the process directly.
    Edward IXth beckons?
    They could do worse.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    I couldn't give a toss if someone wishes well or ill of anyone (including me).

    Unless it is inciting someone to do something or other which I believe is or could be illegal.

    Will everyone pls get off their high horses about it all. If someone crosses The Line we have people here to address that.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    algarkirk said:

    geoffw said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    Genuinely brilliant! Its Milli Vanilli I feel sorry for.
    Isn’t it incredible? AI music is here

    It’s roughly where AI art was about 18 months ago. It will follow the same exponential trajectory

    It is the death of most human music

    But you will be able to create songs just for yourself, friends, birthdays, weddings, as cruel jokes, etc. So it’s not all bad
    Yes but that is half the point. Is AI an existential threat to the music industry or is it merely democratising it? You have twice [edit: 3x] had new songs created on this thread but how often did you phone Elton John to commission an original tune?
    Elton John will be fine. He’s about 100 years old and he’s made a billion quid

    It’s all the young people with genuine musical talent - musicians, singers, composers, arrangers - plus all the people surrounding that industry - who are now completely fucked

    Sure, a few might go on and become Taylor Swifts (if they are really good looking and have the charisma to play live and captivate a crowd) - but for the rest, it’s over

    Live music will be the last redoubt. Recorded music will be dominated by AI music - because it can be made for nothing. It will swamp Spotify

    Also some of it will be really good. Just not made by humans
    Music, art, etc. is not just some formula or maths puzzle that you can replicate - it is something personal and human. I listen to a song or see some art and I can see how a person tried to express themselves - and try to engage with that as another person. AI music may be able to make pretty patterns but (in my mind) it comes below even the wonder of beauty in nature, which is created without intent, because AI is so clearly a facsimile. No one will want to go to an AI concert, or put on AI music to feel a specific emotion, because AI music will not be able to produce that in the way a person can - not because of some innate magicness of humanity, but because part of what makes art art is experience. It would be like saying a parrot who can perfectly mimic the sounds of a great diva will one day perform operas on stage; no one would care. It will have a small following, for sure, but it will never supplant human made art.
    You won’t know the difference - unless it’s live and in front of your eyes

    A song will stream on your device and you’ll think “that’s good” and it will be composed and performed by AI and you’ll never know. Clever music companies may actually lie and pretend a human did it; again you won’t know

    You have to be really quite dim not to get this
    But at the point at which you DO know, the music completely loses appeal - because you now realise it is not authentic.

    I'm reminded of a thought experiment in philosophy.

    Imagine the place which is most special to you. Let's say it's a particular forest with a stream, wild flowers and undulations. This is your special place. Now imaging that a quarrying company buys the land and bulldozers it. Then, after extracting what it wants, the company restores your special place to EXACTLY as it was before, right down to every riffle of the stream, twigs on the trees and undulations. If you had visited this place before and after you would not notice any difference whatsoever.

    The question is : is this place still special to you?

    For me, and I would imagine, and hope, most people, the answer would be a resounding NO as you know it is no longer authentic.
    OMG the stupidity here

    What if the record company just doesn't tell you if it is AI or not? What then? if they get reactions like yours, they will just lie, and make up fake humans, they can do that too, with Midjourney and Sora, it will all be lies, they wil have packaged life stories told through a screen, and you will buy it BECAUSE YOU WON'T KNOW ANY BETTER

    This is basic extrapolation GCSE, yet apparently beyond the mental capabilities of 80% of PB
    And when they never go on tour, or never make a public appearance, I'm sure no one will question why... especially not the tabloids or the entire entertainment media business that exists to specifically report on that stuff.
    How many people have seen BTS live?

    I've no doubt right now there are coders in Korea creating perfect new all girl and all boy bands, entirely artificial, giving them back stories, and personalities, and voices, except these musicians won't need paying and won't do drugs and won't kill themselves (because they are just code and pixels) unless the record company decides they should, for the publicity

    No one will ever know the difference. And if they ever go on tour it will be like ABBA Voyage, as @TOPPING rightly notes

    Reality will become Artificial
    I hate to break it to you, but most new music has been made this way since the mid 2000s, long before AI. South Park did a pretty good parody of it a decade ago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-oHYTQyTEk

    Most new music is now so computer aided that making it entirely AI generated won't change much.

    Spotify has been filling its catalog with music created in bulk, mostly in ambient and chill "piano in the background" type music for years, because it's so easy and quick to produce.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/10/spotify-denies-filling-popular-playlists-with-fake-artists

    That will become easier and easier for more genres with AI tech.

    I find most new music from the last decade or so impossible to listen to simply because I know my way around a copy of Logic and it all sounds like shit to me...
    I'm actually the opposite. Music IS now so palpably and provably shit... partly for the reasons you say...

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-official-modern-music-is-bad/

    ... I am therefore hoping that this total takeover by AI, replacing us entirely, might actually make it BETTER
    A Schubert Lied would be nice. Really

    In the great scheme of things the modern music thing matters more about the wider culture than it does about music alone. The overwhelming majority of all supposedly artistic output in all forms is useless. Even in popular forms a Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra, early Beatles don't come along often. That the pleasant nice girl Taylor Swift is an interplanetary phenomenon says it all. (Fair play to her by the way, but she's better with the sound off).

    While we wait for cultural renewal, to have a back catalogue of greats of the quality we have from the Mass de Tournai to the death of Shostakovich is to need several lifetimes already.

    Let us know when AI produces a song as good as Die Taubenpost.
    This is further ino the realms of speculation, but very interesting to me

    I have no doubt that AI will produce art/music/videos as good as highly gifted humans. We can already see signs of that in Midjourney, Anthropic, Sora

    However, will it produce works of genius? Something like a Richard Strauss Last Song, or a superb Beatles track, or a poem as good as Byron, or a painting like Pollock or Rothko or Rubens....

    I don't know. The question may be unanswerable, as AI art may go off in directions we do not understand and for which we have no vocabulary (indeed this is quite likely in the end)

    But my guess - just a guess - is that yes, at some point, AI will produce works of absolute genius, by human standards, and it will be emotionally shattering for us, as a species
  • WillGWillG Posts: 2,366

    WillG said:

    WillG said:

    WillG said:

    I know the media source is weak, but the underlying report seems credible.

    https://www.gbnews.com/politics/migrant-crisis-starmer-labour-policy

    Do Labour deny the policy changes they plan? After we finally limit the flow of immigration with Sunak's new limits, is Starmer going to open the flood gates again?

    We've not seen the flow of immigration limited yet. The Tories frequently promise things on immigration that don't happen. The flood gates are at a record level of openness under the Tories.

    I will be surprised if immigration in 2025 under a new Labour government isn't lower than 2023's figure.
    Yes, because 2023 was a spike because of Hong Kongers and Ukrainians. The new income thresholds aren't a promise, they have been enacted into policy and will come live in April. Labour will open the floodgates again and it will be worse every year. And it won't be skilled, educated Hong Kongers. It will be arranged brides from the Indian subcontinent.
    Which is what Vote Leave promised in 2016.

    Why do you hate democracy ?
    Leaving aside the fact that Vote Leave was a campaign on a single constitutional question, not a manifesto for government, that isn't what they argued for. They wanted more non-EU skilled migrants rather than unskilled EU migrants. Which is the correct policy.

    But what Starmer is going to open the flood gates on are the following:

    - Taking more of the dodgy Middle Eastern and African men living in illegal French camps.
    - More arranged brides and hosts of kids for low income care workers.
    - Keeping more of the failed asylum seekers that smuggle themselves into the country.

    This is exactly the sort of unproductive types that flooded the UK economy during Labour's last stint in power. Brexit successfully managed to shut one of the pathways for the unskilled here, but Starmer is now trying to re-open several others.
    Fancy a bet.

    Starmer’s first term will see less legal and immigration than we’ve seen in the current Parliament.
    Entirely ignoring my actual points:

    1. That the controls are being put in place from April. And then Starmer will open the flood gates from that.

    2. That Starmer is opening routes for low skilled types, not educated Hong Kongers.

    Would you like to bet that Starmer's immigration numbers in his final year will be higher than the annualized numbers from April 2024 to the next General Election?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,220
    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    Not to mention that in a number of countries, “joking” threats/wishes for harm against politicians get treated like “joking” bomb threats - criminal investigation.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    Mr. grss, apply that standard of critical thinking to history and you'd conclude Justinian was the Devil incarnate. Or that the Jews were to blame for the destruction of the Temple (a line Josephus writes before immediately recalling the assault by the legions who destroyed it).

    I mean, I generally trust the method used by modern historians to look into things. If many historians sincerely say the evidence is there for a transgender Roman Empress, I haven't the specialism to disagree. Whereas many historians don't conclude Justinian was the Devil incarnate nor that the Jewish people were responsible for the destruction of their own Temple.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,412
    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I hope Charles comes out hale and hearty again. I'm not the biggest fan of his as a monarch so far, but he deserves the opportunity to distinguish himself as King and secure his legacy.

    There's a possibility of course that Kate could be having facelift.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Leon said:

    algarkirk said:

    geoffw said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    Genuinely brilliant! Its Milli Vanilli I feel sorry for.
    Isn’t it incredible? AI music is here

    It’s roughly where AI art was about 18 months ago. It will follow the same exponential trajectory

    It is the death of most human music

    But you will be able to create songs just for yourself, friends, birthdays, weddings, as cruel jokes, etc. So it’s not all bad
    Yes but that is half the point. Is AI an existential threat to the music industry or is it merely democratising it? You have twice [edit: 3x] had new songs created on this thread but how often did you phone Elton John to commission an original tune?
    Elton John will be fine. He’s about 100 years old and he’s made a billion quid

    It’s all the young people with genuine musical talent - musicians, singers, composers, arrangers - plus all the people surrounding that industry - who are now completely fucked

    Sure, a few might go on and become Taylor Swifts (if they are really good looking and have the charisma to play live and captivate a crowd) - but for the rest, it’s over

    Live music will be the last redoubt. Recorded music will be dominated by AI music - because it can be made for nothing. It will swamp Spotify

    Also some of it will be really good. Just not made by humans
    Music, art, etc. is not just some formula or maths puzzle that you can replicate - it is something personal and human. I listen to a song or see some art and I can see how a person tried to express themselves - and try to engage with that as another person. AI music may be able to make pretty patterns but (in my mind) it comes below even the wonder of beauty in nature, which is created without intent, because AI is so clearly a facsimile. No one will want to go to an AI concert, or put on AI music to feel a specific emotion, because AI music will not be able to produce that in the way a person can - not because of some innate magicness of humanity, but because part of what makes art art is experience. It would be like saying a parrot who can perfectly mimic the sounds of a great diva will one day perform operas on stage; no one would care. It will have a small following, for sure, but it will never supplant human made art.
    You won’t know the difference - unless it’s live and in front of your eyes

    A song will stream on your device and you’ll think “that’s good” and it will be composed and performed by AI and you’ll never know. Clever music companies may actually lie and pretend a human did it; again you won’t know

    You have to be really quite dim not to get this
    But at the point at which you DO know, the music completely loses appeal - because you now realise it is not authentic.

    I'm reminded of a thought experiment in philosophy.

    Imagine the place which is most special to you. Let's say it's a particular forest with a stream, wild flowers and undulations. This is your special place. Now imaging that a quarrying company buys the land and bulldozers it. Then, after extracting what it wants, the company restores your special place to EXACTLY as it was before, right down to every riffle of the stream, twigs on the trees and undulations. If you had visited this place before and after you would not notice any difference whatsoever.

    The question is : is this place still special to you?

    For me, and I would imagine, and hope, most people, the answer would be a resounding NO as you know it is no longer authentic.
    OMG the stupidity here

    What if the record company just doesn't tell you if it is AI or not? What then? if they get reactions like yours, they will just lie, and make up fake humans, they can do that too, with Midjourney and Sora, it will all be lies, they wil have packaged life stories told through a screen, and you will buy it BECAUSE YOU WON'T KNOW ANY BETTER

    This is basic extrapolation GCSE, yet apparently beyond the mental capabilities of 80% of PB
    And when they never go on tour, or never make a public appearance, I'm sure no one will question why... especially not the tabloids or the entire entertainment media business that exists to specifically report on that stuff.
    How many people have seen BTS live?

    I've no doubt right now there are coders in Korea creating perfect new all girl and all boy bands, entirely artificial, giving them back stories, and personalities, and voices, except these musicians won't need paying and won't do drugs and won't kill themselves (because they are just code and pixels) unless the record company decides they should, for the publicity

    No one will ever know the difference. And if they ever go on tour it will be like ABBA Voyage, as @TOPPING rightly notes

    Reality will become Artificial
    I hate to break it to you, but most new music has been made this way since the mid 2000s, long before AI. South Park did a pretty good parody of it a decade ago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-oHYTQyTEk

    Most new music is now so computer aided that making it entirely AI generated won't change much.

    Spotify has been filling its catalog with music created in bulk, mostly in ambient and chill "piano in the background" type music for years, because it's so easy and quick to produce.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/10/spotify-denies-filling-popular-playlists-with-fake-artists

    That will become easier and easier for more genres with AI tech.

    I find most new music from the last decade or so impossible to listen to simply because I know my way around a copy of Logic and it all sounds like shit to me...
    I'm actually the opposite. Music IS now so palpably and provably shit... partly for the reasons you say...

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-official-modern-music-is-bad/

    ... I am therefore hoping that this total takeover by AI, replacing us entirely, might actually make it BETTER
    A Schubert Lied would be nice. Really

    In the great scheme of things the modern music thing matters more about the wider culture than it does about music alone. The overwhelming majority of all supposedly artistic output in all forms is useless. Even in popular forms a Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra, early Beatles don't come along often. That the pleasant nice girl Taylor Swift is an interplanetary phenomenon says it all. (Fair play to her by the way, but she's better with the sound off).

    While we wait for cultural renewal, to have a back catalogue of greats of the quality we have from the Mass de Tournai to the death of Shostakovich is to need several lifetimes already.

    Let us know when AI produces a song as good as Die Taubenpost.
    This is further ino the realms of speculation, but very interesting to me

    I have no doubt that AI will produce art/music/videos as good as highly gifted humans. We can already see signs of that in Midjourney, Anthropic, Sora

    However, will it produce works of genius? Something like a Richard Strauss Last Song, or a superb Beatles track, or a poem as good as Byron, or a painting like Pollock or Rothko or Rubens....

    I don't know. The question may be unanswerable, as AI art may go off in directions we do not understand and for which we have no vocabulary (indeed this is quite likely in the end)

    But my guess - just a guess - is that yes, at some point, AI will produce works of absolute genius, by human standards, and it will be emotionally shattering for us, as a species
    Jesus fucking Christ you are an idiot.

    Who will be programming the AI to produce this great work? A human being.

    As I noted upthread, AI can't just crawl ashore for the first time and produce the St. Matthew Passion. A human has to tell it to do something. It is a means, not an end.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,213
    TOPPING said:

    I couldn't give a toss if someone wishes well or ill of anyone (including me).

    Unless it is inciting someone to do something or other which I believe is or could be illegal.

    Will everyone pls get off their high horses about it all. If someone crosses The Line we have people here to address that.

    Yes. As a liberal I tend to agree. Free speech without incitement - flushes out the character of the utterer.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    148grss said:

    Cicero said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Because you make yourself look like a jerk?
    Right - because my self worth comes from the opinions of PBers. I find some of the conversation here interesting, although I find much more of it hugely confusing if somewhat enlightening on what and how right wingers think, but I don't really care if people here think I am a bad person for not caring if the king or the prince of wales die.
    Nonetheless, you now look like a total jerk. So well done you
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950

    Tres said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Ask not for whom the bell tolls and all that? No man is an island?
    plenty of children have died needlessly somewhere in the world already this morning, without disrupting our PB chat, why give a shit about one old man with a crown?
    Exactly! How will we know whether to care about his death if the BBC won't tell us if the King is Jewish or Palestinian?
    It was often mentioned that HMQ was a descendant of Mohammed and I don't recall Jews ever being brought up, so Palestinian I guess.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    I've only just listened to this and had to stop after about 20 seconds due to spitting out tea and struggling to control myself in the office.

    Absolutely brilliant.
    Thanks. I am quite proud, even if the software made the music

    I did take time choosing the most ridiculous comment that would be the funniest, and which - in length - would fit the format of Suno AI

    There's quite a choice. @Dura_Ace posts might make a half-interesting sonnet, if you pieced them together sensibly and removed all the get-my-glossary jargon.
    I did a short version of a @Scott_xP comment

    It's not as funny as Rochdale's Lament but it shows the versatility of the medium

    "At Least I’m Not Talking ‘Bout Brexit"

    https://app.suno.ai/song/0ba9b285-999a-4c1a-8ba4-cf6e31ed1b9d/
    Client asked for some ideas about editing down a block of product descriptions for back of pack on a new brand. I looked at the text, thought "too long and repetitive" and fed it into ChatGPT. The AI edit is now the working version of the text...
    Every time you list something on ebay it asks if you want the AI description. Now they are not as I might write them, plus they are on average longer than a @148grss post ( :smile: ) but they certainly do the job.
    I have apologised for my lack of brevity before - I just like to make sure when I say things I explain why I believe the things I say to avoid confusion or doubt. That doesn't seem to help matters - but it's how my brain works. I can't just say x I feel the need to say x is because... :sweat_smile:
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,580

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    Not to mention that in a number of countries, “joking” threats/wishes for harm against politicians get treated like “joking” bomb threats - criminal investigation.
    That happened loads when Trump was president - and the Secret Service went through every one of them in person, a less-than-pleasant experience for those who said they wished him dead. One idiot said he was going to go get him personally, when he was visiting the guy’s town the following week - and he got detained until AF1 was wheels-up after the visit.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,220

    Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
    The Post Office will never be anywhere near as customer friendly and outstanding delivery service as Amazon and it is the customer that matters
    The reason that Amazon rose to its current prominence was the problem “tree” system they use to resolve customer issues.

    The idea is that every customer problem is resolved, in some way, within a period of time. So no one should be left hanging, vainly trying to find someone to help with the problem etc.

    This was quite unusual in much of retail at the time - many used the old “hope they get bored and go away” technique.

    And was implemented by some quite brutal staff policies - the metrics of customer problems resolved under/over time were used to deny staff pay rises, or fire them.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    I have a heart, so my hope is that William baulks at the prospect of becoming Monarch, and does a runner to join his brother. He clearly doesn't like being in the public eye.

    If the two brothers both removed themselves, and their children, from the succession, then the Commons would have to act to avoid a King Andrew, and once you make it clear to people that we've been choosing the Monarch for centuries, they might decide they want to play some part in the process directly.
    Added bonus of leaving William more time to solve the Middle East.

  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,417
    If the Queen is going to the shindig and Wiils has cried off, I assume it’s in UK. Is it; if not, where?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    148grss said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    I've only just listened to this and had to stop after about 20 seconds due to spitting out tea and struggling to control myself in the office.

    Absolutely brilliant.
    Thanks. I am quite proud, even if the software made the music

    I did take time choosing the most ridiculous comment that would be the funniest, and which - in length - would fit the format of Suno AI

    There's quite a choice. @Dura_Ace posts might make a half-interesting sonnet, if you pieced them together sensibly and removed all the get-my-glossary jargon.
    I did a short version of a @Scott_xP comment

    It's not as funny as Rochdale's Lament but it shows the versatility of the medium

    "At Least I’m Not Talking ‘Bout Brexit"

    https://app.suno.ai/song/0ba9b285-999a-4c1a-8ba4-cf6e31ed1b9d/
    Client asked for some ideas about editing down a block of product descriptions for back of pack on a new brand. I looked at the text, thought "too long and repetitive" and fed it into ChatGPT. The AI edit is now the working version of the text...
    Every time you list something on ebay it asks if you want the AI description. Now they are not as I might write them, plus they are on average longer than a @148grss post ( :smile: ) but they certainly do the job.
    I have apologised for my lack of brevity before - I just like to make sure when I say things I explain why I believe the things I say to avoid confusion or doubt. That doesn't seem to help matters - but it's how my brain works. I can't just say x I feel the need to say x is because... :sweat_smile:
    and eighthly...
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,354

    Alan Bates has just said to the select committee the Post Office is a dead duck and should be sold for a pound to Amazon and within a few years you would have one of the best networks in the world

    Make him PM

    More money for Big Tech? Sounds like a Tory PM.
    The Post Office will never be anywhere near as customer friendly and outstanding delivery service as Amazon and it is the customer that matters
    The reason that Amazon rose to its current prominence was the problem “tree” system they use to resolve customer issues.

    The idea is that every customer problem is resolved, in some way, within a period of time. So no one should be left hanging, vainly trying to find someone to help with the problem etc.

    This was quite unusual in much of retail at the time - many used the old “hope they get bored and go away” technique.

    And was implemented by some quite brutal staff policies - the metrics of customer problems resolved under/over time were used to deny staff pay rises, or fire them.
    This does not match my experience with Amazon Customer Service. They've been effing diabolical.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    algarkirk said:

    geoffw said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    Genuinely brilliant! Its Milli Vanilli I feel sorry for.
    Isn’t it incredible? AI music is here

    It’s roughly where AI art was about 18 months ago. It will follow the same exponential trajectory

    It is the death of most human music

    But you will be able to create songs just for yourself, friends, birthdays, weddings, as cruel jokes, etc. So it’s not all bad
    Yes but that is half the point. Is AI an existential threat to the music industry or is it merely democratising it? You have twice [edit: 3x] had new songs created on this thread but how often did you phone Elton John to commission an original tune?
    Elton John will be fine. He’s about 100 years old and he’s made a billion quid

    It’s all the young people with genuine musical talent - musicians, singers, composers, arrangers - plus all the people surrounding that industry - who are now completely fucked

    Sure, a few might go on and become Taylor Swifts (if they are really good looking and have the charisma to play live and captivate a crowd) - but for the rest, it’s over

    Live music will be the last redoubt. Recorded music will be dominated by AI music - because it can be made for nothing. It will swamp Spotify

    Also some of it will be really good. Just not made by humans
    Music, art, etc. is not just some formula or maths puzzle that you can replicate - it is something personal and human. I listen to a song or see some art and I can see how a person tried to express themselves - and try to engage with that as another person. AI music may be able to make pretty patterns but (in my mind) it comes below even the wonder of beauty in nature, which is created without intent, because AI is so clearly a facsimile. No one will want to go to an AI concert, or put on AI music to feel a specific emotion, because AI music will not be able to produce that in the way a person can - not because of some innate magicness of humanity, but because part of what makes art art is experience. It would be like saying a parrot who can perfectly mimic the sounds of a great diva will one day perform operas on stage; no one would care. It will have a small following, for sure, but it will never supplant human made art.
    You won’t know the difference - unless it’s live and in front of your eyes

    A song will stream on your device and you’ll think “that’s good” and it will be composed and performed by AI and you’ll never know. Clever music companies may actually lie and pretend a human did it; again you won’t know

    You have to be really quite dim not to get this
    But at the point at which you DO know, the music completely loses appeal - because you now realise it is not authentic.

    I'm reminded of a thought experiment in philosophy.

    Imagine the place which is most special to you. Let's say it's a particular forest with a stream, wild flowers and undulations. This is your special place. Now imaging that a quarrying company buys the land and bulldozers it. Then, after extracting what it wants, the company restores your special place to EXACTLY as it was before, right down to every riffle of the stream, twigs on the trees and undulations. If you had visited this place before and after you would not notice any difference whatsoever.

    The question is : is this place still special to you?

    For me, and I would imagine, and hope, most people, the answer would be a resounding NO as you know it is no longer authentic.
    OMG the stupidity here

    What if the record company just doesn't tell you if it is AI or not? What then? if they get reactions like yours, they will just lie, and make up fake humans, they can do that too, with Midjourney and Sora, it will all be lies, they wil have packaged life stories told through a screen, and you will buy it BECAUSE YOU WON'T KNOW ANY BETTER

    This is basic extrapolation GCSE, yet apparently beyond the mental capabilities of 80% of PB
    And when they never go on tour, or never make a public appearance, I'm sure no one will question why... especially not the tabloids or the entire entertainment media business that exists to specifically report on that stuff.
    How many people have seen BTS live?

    I've no doubt right now there are coders in Korea creating perfect new all girl and all boy bands, entirely artificial, giving them back stories, and personalities, and voices, except these musicians won't need paying and won't do drugs and won't kill themselves (because they are just code and pixels) unless the record company decides they should, for the publicity

    No one will ever know the difference. And if they ever go on tour it will be like ABBA Voyage, as @TOPPING rightly notes

    Reality will become Artificial
    I hate to break it to you, but most new music has been made this way since the mid 2000s, long before AI. South Park did a pretty good parody of it a decade ago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-oHYTQyTEk

    Most new music is now so computer aided that making it entirely AI generated won't change much.

    Spotify has been filling its catalog with music created in bulk, mostly in ambient and chill "piano in the background" type music for years, because it's so easy and quick to produce.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/10/spotify-denies-filling-popular-playlists-with-fake-artists

    That will become easier and easier for more genres with AI tech.

    I find most new music from the last decade or so impossible to listen to simply because I know my way around a copy of Logic and it all sounds like shit to me...
    I'm actually the opposite. Music IS now so palpably and provably shit... partly for the reasons you say...

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-official-modern-music-is-bad/

    ... I am therefore hoping that this total takeover by AI, replacing us entirely, might actually make it BETTER
    A Schubert Lied would be nice. Really

    In the great scheme of things the modern music thing matters more about the wider culture than it does about music alone. The overwhelming majority of all supposedly artistic output in all forms is useless. Even in popular forms a Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra, early Beatles don't come along often. That the pleasant nice girl Taylor Swift is an interplanetary phenomenon says it all. (Fair play to her by the way, but she's better with the sound off).

    While we wait for cultural renewal, to have a back catalogue of greats of the quality we have from the Mass de Tournai to the death of Shostakovich is to need several lifetimes already.

    Let us know when AI produces a song as good as Die Taubenpost.
    This is further ino the realms of speculation, but very interesting to me

    I have no doubt that AI will produce art/music/videos as good as highly gifted humans. We can already see signs of that in Midjourney, Anthropic, Sora

    However, will it produce works of genius? Something like a Richard Strauss Last Song, or a superb Beatles track, or a poem as good as Byron, or a painting like Pollock or Rothko or Rubens....

    I don't know. The question may be unanswerable, as AI art may go off in directions we do not understand and for which we have no vocabulary (indeed this is quite likely in the end)

    But my guess - just a guess - is that yes, at some point, AI will produce works of absolute genius, by human standards, and it will be emotionally shattering for us, as a species
    Jesus fucking Christ you are an idiot.

    Who will be programming the AI to produce this great work? A human being.

    As I noted upthread, AI can't just crawl ashore for the first time and produce the St. Matthew Passion. A human has to tell it to do something. It is a means, not an end.
    You fundamentally don't understand how these new Diffusion and Generative models are working. I can't be arsed to teach you

    Go do some reading
  • If the Queen is going to the shindig and Wiils has cried off, I assume it’s in UK. Is it; if not, where?

    Here is Sky's report

    https://news.sky.com/story/prince-of-wales-pulls-out-of-memorial-service-due-to-personal-matter-13081984
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,068

    If the Queen is going to the shindig and Wiils has cried off, I assume it’s in UK. Is it; if not, where?

    I think it's in Windsor: one of the castle's chapels. From memory, so apols if wrong
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,522
    148grss said:



    I hope they die for how funny it will be, not inherently because of them dying - that I am neutral on. And lol, no - I'm not withdrawing that. If they die, they die. I'll be laughing.

    I broadly sympathise with many of your posts, but I do think it's really unpleasant to say you enjoy the prospect of anyone's illness being fatal, even though I get that what you meant is that you'd be amused by the succession issue if that happened. Perhaps you could reword it?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    algarkirk said:

    geoffw said:

    Leon said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I see Lee Anderson is trotting out a free speech defence. He said on GBNews that we have free speech and he should be free to say what he thinks. Of course, he is free to say what he thinks. It’s just that what he said was (a) wrong, and (b) racist. Other people used their free speech to point this out.

    When will the right stop bleating about free speech, when what they want is consequence-free speech?

    I think Lee Anderson thought he was "licenced" to speak freely as a Tory to the Red Wall base in language they'd understand, and to some extent he was.

    The trouble was that what he said about Khan was slanderous: if he'd just said he thought Khan was far too tolerant of the Gaza protests and not doing enough, because he had some sympathy with them, then there'd have still been some howls of outrage but he wouldn't have been suspended.
    Both parts are true. They sent him off as the thickie to talk to the northern thickies. The ones with cloth caps and ferrets in their trousers. And when you live up north you think London is another country. There are plenty of northern towns that the WWC still think have been "taken over" by muslims and "Londonistan" is worse.

    Of course what 25p said was defamatory. So they had to suspend him. But the reported avalanche of "15p is right" messages received by doomed MPs shows that an awful lot of WWC voters think it wasn't defamatory and "someone had to say it".

    Free speech? Too many parochial bigots think they should be allowed to openly say the racist stupid defamatory stuff because its true innit? Its the loony left and woke remoaners who should be forced to shut up, not them.
    That’s powerfully put

    So powerful someone has ALREADY set it to the tune of an epic rock ballad. That’s incredible


    https://app.suno.ai/song/91270dcb-ef95-45f7-b6d2-acc5c3bb8a12
    Genuinely brilliant! Its Milli Vanilli I feel sorry for.
    Isn’t it incredible? AI music is here

    It’s roughly where AI art was about 18 months ago. It will follow the same exponential trajectory

    It is the death of most human music

    But you will be able to create songs just for yourself, friends, birthdays, weddings, as cruel jokes, etc. So it’s not all bad
    Yes but that is half the point. Is AI an existential threat to the music industry or is it merely democratising it? You have twice [edit: 3x] had new songs created on this thread but how often did you phone Elton John to commission an original tune?
    Elton John will be fine. He’s about 100 years old and he’s made a billion quid

    It’s all the young people with genuine musical talent - musicians, singers, composers, arrangers - plus all the people surrounding that industry - who are now completely fucked

    Sure, a few might go on and become Taylor Swifts (if they are really good looking and have the charisma to play live and captivate a crowd) - but for the rest, it’s over

    Live music will be the last redoubt. Recorded music will be dominated by AI music - because it can be made for nothing. It will swamp Spotify

    Also some of it will be really good. Just not made by humans
    Music, art, etc. is not just some formula or maths puzzle that you can replicate - it is something personal and human. I listen to a song or see some art and I can see how a person tried to express themselves - and try to engage with that as another person. AI music may be able to make pretty patterns but (in my mind) it comes below even the wonder of beauty in nature, which is created without intent, because AI is so clearly a facsimile. No one will want to go to an AI concert, or put on AI music to feel a specific emotion, because AI music will not be able to produce that in the way a person can - not because of some innate magicness of humanity, but because part of what makes art art is experience. It would be like saying a parrot who can perfectly mimic the sounds of a great diva will one day perform operas on stage; no one would care. It will have a small following, for sure, but it will never supplant human made art.
    You won’t know the difference - unless it’s live and in front of your eyes

    A song will stream on your device and you’ll think “that’s good” and it will be composed and performed by AI and you’ll never know. Clever music companies may actually lie and pretend a human did it; again you won’t know

    You have to be really quite dim not to get this
    But at the point at which you DO know, the music completely loses appeal - because you now realise it is not authentic.

    I'm reminded of a thought experiment in philosophy.

    Imagine the place which is most special to you. Let's say it's a particular forest with a stream, wild flowers and undulations. This is your special place. Now imaging that a quarrying company buys the land and bulldozers it. Then, after extracting what it wants, the company restores your special place to EXACTLY as it was before, right down to every riffle of the stream, twigs on the trees and undulations. If you had visited this place before and after you would not notice any difference whatsoever.

    The question is : is this place still special to you?

    For me, and I would imagine, and hope, most people, the answer would be a resounding NO as you know it is no longer authentic.
    OMG the stupidity here

    What if the record company just doesn't tell you if it is AI or not? What then? if they get reactions like yours, they will just lie, and make up fake humans, they can do that too, with Midjourney and Sora, it will all be lies, they wil have packaged life stories told through a screen, and you will buy it BECAUSE YOU WON'T KNOW ANY BETTER

    This is basic extrapolation GCSE, yet apparently beyond the mental capabilities of 80% of PB
    And when they never go on tour, or never make a public appearance, I'm sure no one will question why... especially not the tabloids or the entire entertainment media business that exists to specifically report on that stuff.
    How many people have seen BTS live?

    I've no doubt right now there are coders in Korea creating perfect new all girl and all boy bands, entirely artificial, giving them back stories, and personalities, and voices, except these musicians won't need paying and won't do drugs and won't kill themselves (because they are just code and pixels) unless the record company decides they should, for the publicity

    No one will ever know the difference. And if they ever go on tour it will be like ABBA Voyage, as @TOPPING rightly notes

    Reality will become Artificial
    I hate to break it to you, but most new music has been made this way since the mid 2000s, long before AI. South Park did a pretty good parody of it a decade ago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-oHYTQyTEk

    Most new music is now so computer aided that making it entirely AI generated won't change much.

    Spotify has been filling its catalog with music created in bulk, mostly in ambient and chill "piano in the background" type music for years, because it's so easy and quick to produce.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/10/spotify-denies-filling-popular-playlists-with-fake-artists

    That will become easier and easier for more genres with AI tech.

    I find most new music from the last decade or so impossible to listen to simply because I know my way around a copy of Logic and it all sounds like shit to me...
    I'm actually the opposite. Music IS now so palpably and provably shit... partly for the reasons you say...

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-official-modern-music-is-bad/

    ... I am therefore hoping that this total takeover by AI, replacing us entirely, might actually make it BETTER
    A Schubert Lied would be nice. Really

    In the great scheme of things the modern music thing matters more about the wider culture than it does about music alone. The overwhelming majority of all supposedly artistic output in all forms is useless. Even in popular forms a Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra, early Beatles don't come along often. That the pleasant nice girl Taylor Swift is an interplanetary phenomenon says it all. (Fair play to her by the way, but she's better with the sound off).

    While we wait for cultural renewal, to have a back catalogue of greats of the quality we have from the Mass de Tournai to the death of Shostakovich is to need several lifetimes already.

    Let us know when AI produces a song as good as Die Taubenpost.
    This is further ino the realms of speculation, but very interesting to me

    I have no doubt that AI will produce art/music/videos as good as highly gifted humans. We can already see signs of that in Midjourney, Anthropic, Sora

    However, will it produce works of genius? Something like a Richard Strauss Last Song, or a superb Beatles track, or a poem as good as Byron, or a painting like Pollock or Rothko or Rubens....

    I don't know. The question may be unanswerable, as AI art may go off in directions we do not understand and for which we have no vocabulary (indeed this is quite likely in the end)

    But my guess - just a guess - is that yes, at some point, AI will produce works of absolute genius, by human standards, and it will be emotionally shattering for us, as a species
    Jesus fucking Christ you are an idiot.

    Who will be programming the AI to produce this great work? A human being.

    As I noted upthread, AI can't just crawl ashore for the first time and produce the St. Matthew Passion. A human has to tell it to do something. It is a means, not an end.
    You fundamentally don't understand how these new Diffusion and Generative models are working. I can't be arsed to teach you

    Go do some reading
    Are they able to switch themselves on.
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    Nigelb said:

    He doesn't rule it in, either.

    Macron refuses to rule out putting troops on ground in Ukraine in call to galvanise Europe
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/french-president-emmanuel-macron-ukraine-french-ground-troops

    Macron has done precious little for Ukraine , apart from odd times trying to get self publicity.
    France was the largest arms exporter to Ukraine between 2014 and 2020, and it was Macron who put the most effort into attempting to avert the war by diplomacy.
    Yes happy when making money out of them and desperate not to see his lolly getting stopped. Done sweet FA recently but has at least stopped butt licking Putin.
    Wrong again. When its contribution to EU commitments is taken into account, France has contributed more aid to Ukraine than the UK has. But you just keep spouting your usual bollocks. The site wouldn't be the same without you.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/these-countries-have-committed-the-most-aid-to-ukraine
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,814

    If the Queen is going to the shindig and Wiils has cried off, I assume it’s in UK. Is it; if not, where?

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/prince-william-pulls-out-of-godfathers-memorial-service-over-personal-matter
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    I have a heart, so my hope is that William baulks at the prospect of becoming Monarch, and does a runner to join his brother. He clearly doesn't like being in the public eye.

    If the two brothers both removed themselves, and their children, from the succession, then the Commons would have to act to avoid a King Andrew, and once you make it clear to people that we've been choosing the Monarch for centuries, they might decide they want to play some part in the process directly.
    Added bonus of leaving William more time to solve the Middle East.

    I am not the most committed observer of the House of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha but I don't think One Pint Willy will bail on the big chair. He'll probably fret himself into early grave though which will, au moins, amuse me and 148.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,412
    Personal matter is quite strange language. One would think a decent white lie could be concocted if concealment were needed.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952

    148grss said:



    I hope they die for how funny it will be, not inherently because of them dying - that I am neutral on. And lol, no - I'm not withdrawing that. If they die, they die. I'll be laughing.

    I broadly sympathise with many of your posts, but I do think it's really unpleasant to say you enjoy the prospect of anyone's illness being fatal, even though I get that what you meant is that you'd be amused by the succession issue if that happened. Perhaps you could reword it?
    Why so? If you want to overthrow the system then you will need that system to break down and this might be a necessary leg of that process.

    It is perfectly legitimate to be anti-monarchist and therefore the deaths of (several) monarchs and likely monarchs is likewise a legitimate aim.

    Revolutions (or even sometimes evolutions) aren't always charming and lovely.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,417
    Carnyx said:

    If the Queen is going to the shindig and Wiils has cried off, I assume it’s in UK. Is it; if not, where?

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/prince-william-pulls-out-of-godfathers-memorial-service-over-personal-matter
    Thanks. I probably saw the headline, thought ‘royalty’ and moved on.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    Looking past the fact that 148grss seems to be the type of borderline maniac loner/future serial killer that makes this site an embarrassment to be on, is Prince William actually ill?
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118

    148grss said:



    I hope they die for how funny it will be, not inherently because of them dying - that I am neutral on. And lol, no - I'm not withdrawing that. If they die, they die. I'll be laughing.

    I broadly sympathise with many of your posts, but I do think it's really unpleasant to say you enjoy the prospect of anyone's illness being fatal, even though I get that what you meant is that you'd be amused by the succession issue if that happened. Perhaps you could reword it?
    Brings to mind that Little Britain sketch with Ann & the social worker
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407
    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Cicero said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    You are wishing serious ill-health and death on fairly blameless human beings. Chas and Wills are not Vlad Putin

    That crosses a line and you should apologise and withdraw, before you get moderated
    Lol, no. I don't care if monarchs croak, why should I?
    Because you make yourself look like a jerk?
    Right - because my self worth comes from the opinions of PBers. I find some of the conversation here interesting, although I find much more of it hugely confusing if somewhat enlightening on what and how right wingers think, but I don't really care if people here think I am a bad person for not caring if the king or the prince of wales die.
    Nonetheless, you now look like a total jerk. So well done you
    I would say he's a deeply unpleasant individual, but I think that'd be unfair: he hasn't grown up yet.

    He gives every impression of being a precocious teenager who read some Marx at the age of fifteen, topped up by a sprinkling of Chomsky in Sixth Form, and has since set his philosophy by it to the point it's defined his identity.

    He been able to indulge in this ever since because he lives the life of a fairly typical privileged bien pensant left-winger - living in a house provided gratis by his Dad, and working in a cosseted academic bubble - so he's never had to revisit his assumptions, and simply proclaims them ever more loudly and angrily when they are challenged, usually with a lot of turgid verbiage.

    One sort of feels sorry for him, really.
  • isam said:

    Looking past the fact that 148grss seems to be the type of borderline maniac loner/future serial killer that makes this site an embarrassment to be on, is Prince William actually ill?

    If we rule out the borderline manics then there'd be noone left!
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494

    nico679 said:

    That LBC clip with the illegal immigration minister is comedy gold and a total car crash at the same time .

    Nope. You are wrong on this one. The line the Conservatives are sticking to is brilliant and disciplined politics from them.

    killing the damaging nature story off so the narrative moves on. The story needs more oxygen, and the Tory’s are brilliantly starving it of Oxygen.

    If you answer the question, what was wrong, it will give the story oxygen. It’s important to note firstly Anderson does not have significant support amongst Tories, that idea is just bigged up by very transparent media spin, a lot “apparently” complaining to their MPs (just what mates he has MPs) not even Tories in their life.

    More importantly conceding Anderson’s comment was racist will open Suella Braverman up to the same charge and suspension as the racist conspiracy theory Braverman pushed against Starmer is IDENTICAL to Anderson’s on Khan. And how on earth you suspend Braverman without it properly kicking off. And if they concede it is islamabophic in any way the media latch on to the bigger picture just conceded about about Islamophobia in the Conservative party, which Sunak has to avoid as he’s calling a General Election in two weeks time.

    What you saw as comedy gold, is actually fantastic politics by tge government, shutting a far more electorally damaging narrative down by depriving it of oxygen.
    The joy of politics is that you and I can see the same thing and genuinely reach the completely opposite conclusion.
    With you being wrong. If you think that crazy interview is more electorally damaging than what happens if they actually answer the question.

    This story is dying in front of you, Dale, by being denied further oxygen in a Tory masterclass of strategy and discipline
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155

    148grss said:



    I hope they die for how funny it will be, not inherently because of them dying - that I am neutral on. And lol, no - I'm not withdrawing that. If they die, they die. I'll be laughing.

    I broadly sympathise with many of your posts, but I do think it's really unpleasant to say you enjoy the prospect of anyone's illness being fatal, even though I get that what you meant is that you'd be amused by the succession issue if that happened. Perhaps you could reword it?
    No? I think the outcomes of their deaths would be hilarious. I am not going to wish for the health and longevity of the king or his heir. I don't sing the national anthem, in part, for that reason - I'm not going to retract something I am not at all sorry about.
  • AlsoLeiAlsoLei Posts: 1,457

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    Couldn't possibly have been a hysterectomy - if done laparoscopically, that's day surgery or overnight at most. Even with open surgery, she'd have been home in four or five days.

    But Catherine was in hospital for 13 days!

    The most likely things which could explain a stay of that length are a bowel resection with major complications, or a liver transplant.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,044
    The polling has been pretty flat since October.

    The Tories' worst ever London Mayoral election performance was 42%, and that was the first one when Livingstone stood as an independent and Dobson was the Labour candidate. So 24% would be massive disaster.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,767
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/27/can-i-now-send-the-funds-secrets-of-the-conservative-money-machine

    This is a long but entertaining read on how the Tories get funded. Tldr; these people need to be out of power for a generation.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,220
    Sandpit said:

    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    148grss said:

    148grss said:

    Leon said:

    Royals in crisis ?

    The Prince of Wales has pulled out of a memorial service due to a personal matter, Kensington Palace has said.

    William had been due to attend a memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece at Windsor Castle.

    Kensington Palace would not elaborate further but said the Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well.

    The Prince of Wales called the Greek royal family who are attending the service to let them know he was unable to attend.

    The late King Constantine of Greece, who died in January last year, was William's godfather.

    I'm not convinced that the King's cancer is trivial - I think it might be rather serious. No evidence, just a gut feel.

    No idea of what was wrong with Catherine (hysterectomy would be likely?) but its concerning that her recovery seems a bit slow.
    I fear you could be right

    The fact he was reported as weeping at the "get well" letters is concerning. We can't afford to lose more royals. Eeek
    I've never liked the chap. He's always struck me as profoundly thick, and I've had a story related from a colleague who knew one of his tutors who said the same. But he had to wait an age for his 'turn', and only got it with loss of his mother, and may well be about to go too, so he has my sympathies.

    But you know, there are plenty more Royals. Wills and Kat knocked out an heir and two spares, and there is always Andrew...
    Well, there are a few people I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't shrug off the news that they had a horrible form of terminal cancer. It's a terrible fate for them and devastating for their families.

    No-one deserves that. Not your worst enemy.

    I wish him a full recovery.
    Same, he’s a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle etc.
    Whose had enormous wealth and privilege his whole life - I don't know him neither do I particularly need to care what kind of bum cancer he does or doesn't have that will shuffle him off this mortal coil like everyone else.

    I find it funny that the whole "well you have to remember they're a human being" argument gets trotted out when people with immense wealth or power are dying and some people aren't arse licking on their way out, but when people are homeless or are fleeing a country and just trying to survive or are being bombed to death that is met by a mere shrug. People crossing the channel are husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters etc. but on any day here you can probably find someone who would cheer their boat sinking and demand them to be flogged if they did make it to our soil.

    Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills, so we enter the funniest timeline of King George and Prince Regent Harry or Prince Regent Andrew.
    What a horrible attitude - I have no great love for the royal family but I do not wish them harm

    I wish they didn't exist - I don't know if that's the same as harm, but I do not care if they live or die and if they all died that would be a sure fire way of us not having a royal family any more.
    But that isn't what you said. Wishing they didn't exist as an institution, and therefore as "the monarch" and the "prince of Wales" is entirely fair.

    But you did not say that. You said "Here's hoping something is seriously wrong with Chaz and Wills"

    Which absolutely crosses the PB line, to my mind
    Where exactly is this line. Could you sketch it out for us so we can be aware of it in future posts.

    TIA.
    Don't be disingenuous

    This site quite successfully polices itself, and one of the unwritten rules is that you do not wish death or serious harm to other PB-ers or significant public figures/politicians

    Otherwise the place would soon turn into a sewer where we are all hoping that Keir Starmer gets REDACTED REDACTED

    I know this coz I've been moderated for it, after some drunken rant where I went over the top. The moderation was justified, and I apologised to the forum, and you all gracioiusly accepted it
    Not to mention that in a number of countries, “joking” threats/wishes for harm against politicians get treated like “joking” bomb threats - criminal investigation.
    That happened loads when Trump was president - and the Secret Service went through every one of them in person, a less-than-pleasant experience for those who said they wished him dead. One idiot said he was going to go get him personally, when he was visiting the guy’s town the following week - and he got detained until AF1 was wheels-up after the visit.
    The internet version of tracking such threats started under Clinton.

    IIRC, a BNP type turd from the U.K. found himself told to fuck off when he tried to enter the US - due to some death threats against Clinton on USENET, the Secret Service had black flagged him.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,044

    Mr. grss, who's the Roman Empress you mentioned?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus presumably
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 4,155
    isam said:

    Looking past the fact that 148grss seems to be the type of borderline maniac loner/future serial killer that makes this site an embarrassment to be on, is Prince William actually ill?

    Me, a republican, who cares not for the life of the monarch: potential stochastic terrorist.

    Posters here, calling immigration an invasion and often going off on wild right wing rants, including literally asking me to solve our disagreements with a fist fight: the reputable norms of PB.
This discussion has been closed.