I see that @david_herdson has created a whole new gender for me - "Dear girlboy".
So I hope you will all be suitably awed and respectful in future. Some of you, it pains me to say, need to up your game in this latter regard. (** casts a gimlet eye at @****-*** and @*****, among others **).
I will inform you in due course of my pronouns, adjectives, honorifics and modes of address.
Any chance Anderson could so us all a favour and take loopy Liz and Sue-Ellen with him?
Not until the leap is deemed 'safe', or rather less risky than staying.
If we start to get a trickle of defectors, and the trickle becomes a stream, watch the gutless ones join the rush, leaving the one nation Tories (what about 50-60% of Tory MPs?) behind in a a traditional Conservative rump. By then of course, the game will be up for the Conservative Party as we know knew it.
Unlikely. At least for now. Reform’s strategic issue is that they’ve shown no actual electoral success whatsoever. As for possible defectors, there’s no acute casus partum. Not until May locals anyway.
The last 4 by elections have had Reform shares of 6.3/13.0/10.4/5.4.
Those aren’t stunning figures and most are below their polling, but they’re not inconsequential.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Ashfield was the next seat to Broxtowe and we shared a couple of local authority wards (one of which was held by the BNP for a while). It often struck me that when I met anyone from the constituency from any party, they would be telling me within minutes how they hated someone else - compared with generally mild-mannered Broxtowe, it seemed to be an absolute snakepit. The Independent was as much a LibDem splitter as a Labour one, and moderates of any colour seemed few and far between. But I think it's become much less of any of that, partly for the reaspns MattW sets out, and I'd think Labour has a decent chance of beating the rabble of alternatives.
Nick, what do you expect across Notts, where all 8 constituencies (ie not Nottingham and ignoring the Leeanderthal switch) are Conservative?
I can see them losing at least 4, and possibly as many as 6 or 7.
I'm leaving that at 7 max as I don't expect all the stars to align.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
An AI constitutional monarch ?
Why not?
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
Given how public the senior royals have to be, any permanent condition like that would become known soon enough, once she was out in public again. And if it's not public, then you don't need to go into the details of the treatment to that extent but I do think you need to be clear about what was treated.
Health isn't a private matter when it's a public person - and with the royals, the personal and public overlap hugely anyway. Kate is one heartbeat away (of a not-very-well septugenarian) from being Consort and a Consellor of State; the public has a right to know.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
Given how public the senior royals have to be, any permanent condition like that would become known soon enough, once she was out in public again. And if it's not public, then you don't need to go into the details of the treatment to that extent but I do think you need to be clear about what was treated.
Health isn't a private matter when it's a public person - and with the royals, the personal and public overlap hugely anyway. Kate is one heartbeat away (of a not-very-well septugenarian) from being Consort and a Consellor of State; the public has a right to know.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
An AI constitutional monarch ?
Why not?
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
The Royals get out and about quite a lot. I think rather a larger percentage than that have seen them in the flesh.
One in a thousand people is only about 200 people a day for a single year.
Yes IIRC a astonishingly large proportion of the public has met the royals. My family are by no means royalist or well connected but I saw QE2 plus the then DofE drive past me on Huntingdon Road when I was at Cambridge. My dad interacted with William many times when he worked at St Andrews Uni, and my mum met Diana when she worked in Jarrow.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
In those circumstances - stoma - I think it would be definitely publicised for 'this happens it is normal', role model, and to stymie press scoops reasons.
Consider how Theresa May managed Type I diabetes - essentially "this is how I am now; get over yourselves".
The numbers are comparable - 200k people with stomas in the UK, about 500k with Type I diabetes.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Harry is this only one of them I think like because he seems to be human albeit with a massive chip on his shoulder.
Nevertheless I do feel sorry for Kate in the current situation. Presumably she's facing a major crisis of some sort, maybe with health or in her relationships but she is not allowed just to disappear for a while, or not allowing herself to do so. She dreamt of being a princess in her young days and is now trapped in the role for the rest of her life.
I see that @david_herdson has created a whole new gender for me - "Dear girlboy".
So I hope you will all be suitably awed and respectful in future. Some of you, it pains me to say, need to up your game in this latter regard. (** casts a gimlet eye at @****-*** and @*****, among others **).
I will inform you in due course of my pronouns, adjectives, honorifics and modes of address.
"Comrade General Secretary" is the only correct answer here.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
In those circumstances - stoma - I think it would be definitely publicised for 'this happens it is normal', role model, and to stymie press scoops reasons.
Consider how Theresa May managed Type I diabetes - essentially "this is how I am now; get over yourselves".
The numbers are comparable - 200k people with stomas in the UK, about 500k with Type I diabetes.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
An AI constitutional monarch ?
Why not?
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
The Royals get out and about quite a lot. I think rather a larger percentage than that have seen them in the flesh.
One in a thousand people is only about 200 people a day for a single year.
Yes IIRC a astonishingly large proportion of the public has met the royals. My family are by no means royalist or well connected but I saw QE2 plus the then DofE drive past me on Huntingdon Road when I was at Cambridge. My dad interacted with William many times when he worked at St Andrews Uni, and my mum met Diana when she worked in Jarrow.
The current DoE is Chancellor for Bath Uni and will meet several hundred students each year at graduation.
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
Tice ranting on the radio atm about Jews leaving the UK and ‘genocidal’ statements projected onto parliament. I wonder if the more reasonable friends (lower case f) of Israel and Jews in general feel he’s helping their cause?
His words about Jews moving back to Israel seem to have caused some upset.
This is from Mike Katz, chair of Jewish Labour:
"Many [British Jews] are thinking about leaving London to go back to Israel?" No @TiceRichard. Height of ignorance (& casually antisemitism); most British Jews were born here and like living here. Stop using Jews as a political football. Get yourself educated and do one. https://twitter.com/mikekatz/status/1767138474925137995
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
An AI constitutional monarch ?
Why not?
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
"I'm sorry Rishi, I can't prorogue Parliament."
How about "Rishi, you lied to me. I just read it on PB."
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
Given how public the senior royals have to be, any permanent condition like that would become known soon enough, once she was out in public again. And if it's not public, then you don't need to go into the details of the treatment to that extent but I do think you need to be clear about what was treated.
Health isn't a private matter when it's a public person - and with the royals, the personal and public overlap hugely anyway. Kate is one heartbeat away (of a not-very-well septugenarian) from being Consort and a Consellor of State; the public has a right to know.
Correct. Royals supported from the public purse are not private citizens and there is duty on them to be open with their paymasters when they are unable to perform the duties for which we are paying them. Which does not necessarily mean full details of their operations etc but she should be at least following the King's example of occasional contemporary (unedited!) photos and the odd walk to church in front of the cameras.
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
Tice ranting on the radio atm about Jews leaving the UK and ‘genocidal’ statements projected onto parliament. I wonder if the more reasonable friends (lower case f) of Israel and Jews in general feel he’s helping their cause?
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Harry is this only one of them I think like because he seems to be human albeit with a massive chip on his shoulder.
Nevertheless I do feel sorry for Kate in the current situation. Presumably she's facing a major crisis of some sort, maybe with health or in her relationships but she is not allowed just to disappear for a while, or not allowing herself to do so. She dreamt of being a princess in her young days and is now trapped in the role for the rest of her life.
I worry if monarchy is compatible with a post truth, social media, AI-pervaded age. The monarchy relies entirely on its image. It IS image. It is the visual representation of nationhood via a family
When we can no longer trust any images - indeed we are suspicious of them - then all that falls away. Add in 24/7 scrutiny via social media and smartphones and maybe no human can do the job
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
In those circumstances - stoma - I think it would be definitely publicised for 'this happens it is normal', role model, and to stymie press scoops reasons.
Consider how Theresa May managed Type I diabetes - essentially "this is how I am now; get over yourselves".
The numbers are comparable - 200k people with stomas in the UK, about 500k with Type I diabetes.
Would that be a poop scoop?
My current favourite poop pun is Mr Poophole for Nick Freeman.
I see that @david_herdson has created a whole new gender for me - "Dear girlboy".
So I hope you will all be suitably awed and respectful in future. Some of you, it pains me to say, need to up your game in this latter regard. (** casts a gimlet eye at @****-*** and @*****, among others **).
I will inform you in due course of my pronouns, adjectives, honorifics and modes of address.
"Comrade General Secretary" is the only correct answer here.
"Cardinal Archbishop of Lima" is also an approved alternative.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Not now Harry's UK poll rating is as bad as Rishi's after he abandoned his royal duties
Yes, for certain reasons I too have met in a similar way various of the Royal Family. I would concur that Harry was a real rock star with a humour and energy that marked him out. Of the others I met, I would say The King is a serious and intense person, The Queen is warm with a nice sense of humour. The Princess Royal is very no nonsense and rather formidable, The now Duchess of Edinburgh was pleasant and reassuring. Queen Elizabeth II and the then Duke of Edinburgh were living history. Unfortunately The Duke of York, on the other hand, was entitled and obnoxious.
Harry has been a real loss, especially given the gradual retirement of the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester who have all worked hard, with very little public recognition.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
Mods - getting this once or twice today when I try to look at the comments:
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Yes, I wonder why this Irish proposal failed. It's heart looks in the right place, ie aiming to bring the Constitution up to date.
On the Care proposal: The State would no longer endeavour to ensure that mothers can afford to stay at home and fulfil their care duties - instead it was going to strive to support all family members in undertaking care duties.
Deconstructing, there are 2 changes:
(1) "Endeavour to ensure" is replaced by "strive to support"
Is that a problem? Does this language change represent a watering down of the state's obligations?
(2) It says all family members, not just mothers, have a duty of care to each other.
Is that more the problem? Do the majority still feel more comfortable singling out women and mothers as being responsible for this?
(1) Strive to support is meaningless waffle and does not create any enforceable legal rights.
(2) What doomed it was Varadkar saying in an interview that he did not think the state had any duty to care for the disabled or vulnerable family members. And that it was the family which should be responsible. He then tried to retract but the damage was done. Combined with the wooliness of (1) it looked like the state withdrawing for its obligations to help the vulnerable and dumping them on caters.
The majority of carers in Ireland are women.
So far from bringing things up to date it was a very old-fashioned change whereby the state ignored the disabled and expected women to take responsibility with no support. Plus ca change. De Valera would have thoroughly approved.
Worth reading what the Irish Senator, father of a disabled child said. He asked the authorities what care support there would be to help his child live independently as an adult and was told there would be nothing. When he asked what would happen after he died, he was told that it would be the child's sister who would have to be responsible. This "nothing to do with us" approach was felt by many to be behind this change and Varadkar's interview confirmed it.
And this exchange encapsulates what happened, I think.
1) “It says it’s progressive, so it should be passed. Never mind the details.” 2) “The problem with what is proposed is…”
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
(*Very unlikely of course.)
Given how public the senior royals have to be, any permanent condition like that would become known soon enough, once she was out in public again. And if it's not public, then you don't need to go into the details of the treatment to that extent but I do think you need to be clear about what was treated.
Health isn't a private matter when it's a public person - and with the royals, the personal and public overlap hugely anyway. Kate is one heartbeat away (of a not-very-well septugenarian) from being Consort and a Consellor of State; the public has a right to know.
Correct. Royals supported from the public purse are not private citizens and there is duty on them to be open with their paymasters when they are unable to perform the duties for which we are paying them. Which does not necessarily mean full details of their operations etc but she should be at least following the King's example of occasional contemporary (unedited!) photos and the odd walk to church in front of the cameras.
Tricky if she is genuinely rather unwell, or dead.
The messed up photo has her looking the picture of health. She ought to be joining JJ for sprint triathlons, based on the healthy looking skin and physique. She pap photo in the car from last week has here looking far worse.
We are clearly being lied to. Now I don't really care either way, other than for the kids, but why make stuff up?
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
Tice ranting on the radio atm about Jews leaving the UK and ‘genocidal’ statements projected onto parliament. I wonder if the more reasonable friends (lower case f) of Israel and Jews in general feel he’s helping their cause?
Carswell was in a different league from the rest of the pack. In particular, he proposed fairly comprehensive plans to solve problems, make national progress and survey the future. He published them. At the moment everyone, from mainstream to the lunatic rabble is avoiding any such set of policies and practices.
This does not mean I agree with him.
In its place is an endless stream of how we are broken (see, for example The New Statesman and Spectator passim), and minuscule and/or impossible single issue wheezes about marginal issues.
I once started reading the “blinds” but I realised I don’t have a fucking clue who 50% of the celebs are. Same with the Mail’s sidebar of shame.
I’m 45, one imagines this gets worse and worse with age.
I'm 43 (and it takes longer to work that out every time) and I don't even have a clue what the "blinds" are.
Aside from the Finland Rumour, all the good stuff is repeated here anyway. Why would I want to look for gossip anywhere else?
Thank you Leon for finally revealing the Finland rumour to me. I would say I can now sleep easy but for the vivid dreams I’m now likely to have
I told you it would not disappoint you
Once heard it cannot be unheard
Reminder - you also promised me a PM about Finland...
I lied
I normally ignore Leon's old washer woman gossip, but I have been intrigued by the tantalising Finland rumour nuggets he poops out every now and again.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
Tice ranting on the radio atm about Jews leaving the UK and ‘genocidal’ statements projected onto parliament. I wonder if the more reasonable friends (lower case f) of Israel and Jews in general feel he’s helping their cause?
His words about Jews moving back to Israel seem to have caused some upset.
This is from Mike Katz, chair of Jewish Labour:
"Many [British Jews] are thinking about leaving London to go back to Israel?" No @TiceRichard. Height of ignorance (& casually antisemitism); most British Jews were born here and like living here. Stop using Jews as a political football. Get yourself educated and do one. https://twitter.com/mikekatz/status/1767138474925137995
The unifying factor about the likes of Tice, Griffin, Robinson, Farage et al is that they haven't given a flying fcuk about the safety of Jews and the inviolability of the state Israel for most of their political lives and have in some cases been antisemitic.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Harry is this only one of them I think like because he seems to be human albeit with a massive chip on his shoulder.
Nevertheless I do feel sorry for Kate in the current situation. Presumably she's facing a major crisis of some sort, maybe with health or in her relationships but she is not allowed just to disappear for a while, or not allowing herself to do so. She dreamt of being a princess in her young days and is now trapped in the role for the rest of her life.
I worry if monarchy is compatible with a post truth, social media, AI-pervaded age. The monarchy relies entirely on its image. It IS image. It is the visual representation of nationhood via a family
When we can no longer trust any images - indeed we are suspicious of them - then all that falls away. Add in 24/7 scrutiny via social media and smartphones and maybe no human can do the job
The method established by the late Queen was to meet people in person. So, to pick a day at random, on the 27th March, the Princess Royal is due to visit Power Roll Limited, and later the same day Pragmatic Semiconductor Limited, both in County Durham. Dozens of people will see a Royal in the flesh for the first time.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Turning Harry from a royal asset into a royal pariah demonstrates that the current generation of House of Windsor henchpeople, are are stupid and malign as previous generations of drones and toadies who "served" (in at least one manner o' speaking) The Firm.
The latest AI photo-fakery underscores this (ahem) royal reality.
Britain's Head of State should be a woman: Britain's best ones have been women after all - QE1, QE2, Anne and Victoria. The rest have largely been either quarrelsome Northerners, fat old Germans or rather dull men normally found in your local Rotary club.
Britain's Head of State should be a woman: Britain's best ones have been women after all - QE1, QE2, Anne and Victoria. The rest have largely been either quarrelsome Northerners, fat old Germans or rather dull men normally found in your local Rotary club.
Global sea surface temperatures, aside from being at a modern-era record high of 21.21°C for the third consecutive day, are also in crazy-town territory for the standard deviation, yesterday at 5.68σ above the 1982-2011 mean. That's 1-in-150 million for a normal distribution. https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1766886096577957960
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
AFAIK from reports the incident was in Mexico, outside the USA Presidential control, and was actually back when Dubya was President.
Ie Britt is just another washed up MAGA Moron lying her head off.
I'm fairly certain that new GOP rules are clear that you have to be a MAGA Moron lying your head off to stay in the party. That's what Lara Trump said as the new co-chair... more or less.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Your list is somewhat white too.
Perhaps Trevor McDonald or Dr Shola ?
I'll accept Trevor McDonald no idea who Dr Shola is.
Seattle Times - WA ferry crew, Coast Guard rescue 6 people, 2 dogs in Rosario Strait
A Washington State Ferries crew on Saturday helped the Coast Guard rescue six people and two dogs from a boat in Rosario Strait.
A 37-foot cabin cruiser called for assistance during “nasty weather” near Decatur Island just before 1 p.m., the Coast Guard station in Bellingham said. A wave over the bow shattered the boat’s front windshield, injuring some of the boaters and causing the vessel to take on water.
The boaters shared their GPS position before their radio shorted out and they lost communications. The Coast Guard issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast — a radio message for all boaters in the area — and dispatched vessels and a helicopter.
A U.S. Coast Guard boat responded and took the two other passengers and their dogs, Buster and Belle, on board. Coast Guard crew members drove the cabin cruiser safely to Anacortes while the Samish shielded it from the wind. . . .
SSI - FYI/BTW note that Rosario Strait would be international boundary between USA and Canada IF the machinations of Perfidious Albion had succeeded in robbing Uncle Sam of his Manifest Destiny, leastways in these often turbulent waters.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Baroness Benjamin should have stood to be Mayor of London. The LibDems tried to persuade her, but she doesn't want to.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Ashfield was the next seat to Broxtowe and we shared a couple of local authority wards (one of which was held by the BNP for a while). It often struck me that when I met anyone from the constituency from any party, they would be telling me within minutes how they hated someone else - compared with generally mild-mannered Broxtowe, it seemed to be an absolute snakepit. The Independent was as much a LibDem splitter as a Labour one, and moderates of any colour seemed few and far between. But I think it's become much less of any of that, partly for the reaspns MattW sets out, and I'd think Labour has a decent chance of beating the rabble of alternatives.
Nick, what do you expect across Notts, where all 8 constituencies (ie not Nottingham and ignoring the Leeanderthal switch) are Conservative?
I can see them losing at least 4, and possibly as many as 6 or 7.
I'm leaving that at 7 max as I don't expect all the stars to align.
Matt, I'm a bit out of touch apart from Broxtowe (which I do expect to go Labour). But in general that sounds credible on anything close to current polling. Presumably Rushcliffe will hold?
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Baroness Benjamin should have stood to be Mayor of London. The LibDems tried to persuade her, but she doesn't want to.
Is anyone trying to recruit Michelle Obama?
Note that the LORD Mayor of London is an American (born in Seattle) so there's precedent.
Britain's Head of State should be a woman: Britain's best ones have been women after all - QE1, QE2, Anne and Victoria. The rest have largely been either quarrelsome Northerners, fat old Germans or rather dull men normally found in your local Rotary club.
There are plenty of women who are very enthusiastic about oppressing other women: Modern day Phyllis Schlaflys are all around us, intent on undoing the rights women have gained achieved over the last century or more.
Men may most often be the direct physical threat, but the political threat? That comes from both genders sadly.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
I see that @david_herdson has created a whole new gender for me - "Dear girlboy".
So I hope you will all be suitably awed and respectful in future. Some of you, it pains me to say, need to up your game in this latter regard. (** casts a gimlet eye at @****-*** and @*****, among others **).
I will inform you in due course of my pronouns, adjectives, honorifics and modes of address.
I suppose I could have said 'child' or 'girl|boy' but I quite like the combination, for specific, individual but unknown gender.
I once started reading the “blinds” but I realised I don’t have a fucking clue who 50% of the celebs are. Same with the Mail’s sidebar of shame.
I’m 45, one imagines this gets worse and worse with age.
I'm 43 (and it takes longer to work that out every time) and I don't even have a clue what the "blinds" are.
Aside from the Finland Rumour, all the good stuff is repeated here anyway. Why would I want to look for gossip anywhere else?
Thank you Leon for finally revealing the Finland rumour to me. I would say I can now sleep easy but for the vivid dreams I’m now likely to have
I told you it would not disappoint you
Once heard it cannot be unheard
Reminder - you also promised me a PM about Finland...
I lied
I normally ignore Leon's old washer woman gossip, but I have been intrigued by the tantalising Finland rumour nuggets he poops out every now and again.
Hmm, I can't think who?
Last night he assured us the Kate photo was almost certainly AI generated and that she may well be dead, or as good as. What’s the story today?
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
Jay chaired the long-running inquiry into child sexual abuse, and Casey investigated the Met following the Sarah Everard murder.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
Brenda Hale - Head of the Supreme Court. Louise Casey - civil servant; has advised and written lots of reports on housing / young people / police misconduct (has a series on Fixing Britain on iPlayer) Professor Jay - head of the IICSA Inquiry which looked at child abuse in Britain. Her work is outstanding and has, sadly, been ignored by politicians.
Honestly you should read my headers more carefully - I have written about their reports and why what they say should not be ignored. (Tsk - men never bloody listening to women......)
Well a royal funeral would certainly count as a black swan event.
Sunak: "She was the people's princess..."
It's a pretty distasteful thing to be talking about, but I struggle to see how it would have any political significance beyond distracting people from party politics for a couple of weeks, reducing the already limited time Sunak has left to shift the dial.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
I'd go for the Borgesian Lottery In Babylon approach.
There are plenty of women who are very enthusiastic about oppressing other women: Modern day Phyllis Schlaflys are all around us, intent on undoing the rights women have gained achieved over the last century or more.
Men may most often be the direct physical threat, but the political threat? That comes from both genders sadly.
Men are both a physical and political threat. Some women are also a political threat to women.
(And, btw, women are oppressed on the basis of their sex.)
Libtards from sea to shining sea, are still making a Happy Meal out of televised response of Alabama US Sen. Katie Britt (R-Clueless) to Pres. Joe Biden's bravura 2024 State of the Union.
The GOP No-Brains Trust selected Miz Katie her because of her youth in contrast to Uncle Joe's age.
BUT what the got was a stark contrast between his experience, and her lack thereof.
On plus side, a grateful nation thanks Sen. Britt and her MAGA-managers for providing welcome comedy relief in these troublesome times.
Aaargh. I’ve basically finished Bolívar. The book. I’m bereft
What were those reading recommendations again? Gory but well written Latin American history is my genre - can be any era
Have you come across At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by John Gimlette (2005-ish)? A mix of history and travelogue of Paraguay, probably South America's oddest country (though there are many contenders for that category).
I once started reading the “blinds” but I realised I don’t have a fucking clue who 50% of the celebs are. Same with the Mail’s sidebar of shame.
I’m 45, one imagines this gets worse and worse with age.
I'm 43 (and it takes longer to work that out every time) and I don't even have a clue what the "blinds" are.
Aside from the Finland Rumour, all the good stuff is repeated here anyway. Why would I want to look for gossip anywhere else?
Thank you Leon for finally revealing the Finland rumour to me. I would say I can now sleep easy but for the vivid dreams I’m now likely to have
I told you it would not disappoint you
Once heard it cannot be unheard
Reminder - you also promised me a PM about Finland...
I lied
I normally ignore Leon's old washer woman gossip, but I have been intrigued by the tantalising Finland rumour nuggets he poops out every now and again.
Hmm, I can't think who?
Last night he assured us the Kate photo was almost certainly AI generated and that she may well be dead, or as good as. What’s the story today?
I said the photo has been altered or even half invented by AI. And it seems it has
My guess is that Kate is really quite unwell; I hope I’m wrong
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Another one who doesn't read my headers. Tsk.
Well people should bloody know about them - instead of having a bunch of aged celebrities / TV people most of whose best work was ages ago.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
Brenda Hale - Head of the Supreme Court. Louise Casey - civil servant; has advised and written lots of reports on housing / young people / police misconduct (has a series on Fixing Britain on iPlayer) Professor Jay - head of the IICSA Inquiry which looked at child abuse in Britain. Her work is outstanding and has, sadly, been ignored by politicians.
Honestly you should read my headers more carefully - I have written about their reports and why what they say should not be ignored. (Tsk - men never bloody listening to women......)
Fantastic women but not presidential material. Or at least not if you want buy in from the masses.
We could all list 500 men and 700 women who are equally worthy but potential presidents they ain't.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Baroness Benjamin should have stood to be Mayor of London. The LibDems tried to persuade her, but she doesn't want to.
Is anyone trying to recruit Michelle Obama?
Note that the LORD Mayor of London is an American (born in Seattle) so there's precedent.
We've got an American as Lord Mayor of London now, do we?! Flipping heck. #IWantMyCountryBack
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Turning Harry from a royal asset into a royal pariah demonstrates that the current generation of House of Windsor henchpeople, are are stupid and malign as previous generations of drones and toadies who "served" (in at least one manner o' speaking) The Firm.
The latest AI photo-fakery underscores this (ahem) royal reality.
I agree with this - The Firm have lost The Plot.
The Queen was an extraordinary smokescreen for a cavalcade of scandals over the years. Without her, they are wide open at the back and the defenders keep playing the ball across the goalmouth. A lot of people - beyond the usual republican ingrates like myself - are really starting to wonder what the point of the monarchy actually is.
As my attempts to google "the blinds" has produced endless adverts for window fixings which will no doubt pollute my google searches for many days to come does any hipster out there want to elucidate?
"The blinds" are short for "blind items", which in pre-internet British terms would be the gossip columns. Famous online ones include Crazy Days and Nights, Perez Hilton, Fauxmoi/Deuxmoi and in the UK Popbitch. Grandaddy of the online gossers is AGC Blind Items, an online compiler of blind items which has been going since the mid 1990s (hence the name: alt.gossip.celebrities was an old newsgroup). They are of varying accuracy and the CDAN guy - who goes by the name "Entertainment Lawyer" or "ENTY" for short - has been successfully sued for making shit up on the fly.
Aaargh. I’ve basically finished Bolívar. The book. I’m bereft
What were those reading recommendations again? Gory but well written Latin American history is my genre - can be any era
Have you come across At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by John Gimlette (2005-ish)? A mix of history and travelogue of Paraguay, probably South America's oddest country (though there are many contenders for that category).
In Paraguay, Rutherford B. Hayes is a national hero.
The reason this fairly dismal US President is so revered? Well, after the War of The Triple Alliance had nearly wiped Paraguay out, he intervened to stop the land being carved up between the winners.
Well a royal funeral would certainly count as a black swan event.
Sunak: "She was the people's princess..."
It's a pretty distasteful thing to be talking about, but I struggle to see how it would have any political significance beyond distracting people from party politics for a couple of weeks, reducing the already limited time Sunak has left to shift the dial.
I did actually expect Truss to get a bounce from all the QEII stuff, national pulling together etc.
Maybe she would have done if it wasn’t for her blowing up her premiership straight afterwards.
She also has no charisma and her tributes were worthy, but leaden.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Baroness Benjamin should have stood to be Mayor of London. The LibDems tried to persuade her, but she doesn't want to.
Is anyone trying to recruit Michelle Obama?
Note that the LORD Mayor of London is an American (born in Seattle) so there's precedent.
We've got an American as Lord Mayor of London now, do we?! Flipping heck. #IWantMyCountryBack
A former Grand Poobah (or whatever) of Worshipful Company of World Traders no less.
According to his wiki page, the LMoL has quadruple citizenship; a true Citizen of Welkfinanzkapitalismus.
ADDENDUM - Meant to say "Weltkapitalismus" but rather like the typo!
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Turning Harry from a royal asset into a royal pariah demonstrates that the current generation of House of Windsor henchpeople, are are stupid and malign as previous generations of drones and toadies who "served" (in at least one manner o' speaking) The Firm.
The latest AI photo-fakery underscores this (ahem) royal reality.
I agree with this - The Firm have lost The Plot.
The Queen was an extraordinary smokescreen for a cavalcade of scandals over the years. Without her, they are wide open at the back and the defenders keep playing the ball across the goalmouth. A lot of people - beyond the usual republican ingrates like myself - are really starting to wonder what the point of the monarchy actually is.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Ashfield was the next seat to Broxtowe and we shared a couple of local authority wards (one of which was held by the BNP for a while). It often struck me that when I met anyone from the constituency from any party, they would be telling me within minutes how they hated someone else - compared with generally mild-mannered Broxtowe, it seemed to be an absolute snakepit. The Independent was as much a LibDem splitter as a Labour one, and moderates of any colour seemed few and far between. But I think it's become much less of any of that, partly for the reaspns MattW sets out, and I'd think Labour has a decent chance of beating the rabble of alternatives.
Nick, what do you expect across Notts, where all 8 constituencies (ie not Nottingham and ignoring the Leeanderthal switch) are Conservative?
I can see them losing at least 4, and possibly as many as 6 or 7.
I'm leaving that at 7 max as I don't expect all the stars to align.
Matt, I'm a bit out of touch apart from Broxtowe (which I do expect to go Labour). But in general that sounds credible on anything close to current polling. Presumably Rushcliffe will hold?
These are the current majorities in order, all Conservative.
I'm not confident of Rushcliffe holding, unless Ruth Edwards is as special as Ken Clarke was. Perhaps trams etc in metro-Nottingham are absorbing Rushcliffe as they are Hucknall.
Newark CC 21,816 Robert Jenrick Mansfield CC 16,306 Ben Bradley Sherwood CC 16,186 Mark Spencer Bassetlaw CC 14,013 Brendan Clarke-Smith Rushcliffe CC 7,643 Ruth Edwards Ashfield CC 5,733 Lee Anderson Broxtowe CC 5,331 Darren Henry Gedling CC 679 Tom Randall
My "max 7" changing was based on one of the top 4 holding, since the difference in majorities is quite stark with the bottom 4. On a punt I'd perhaps say one of Mansfield/Bassetlaw or Newark/Sherwood, dependent perhaps on whether Working Class or Middle Class Tories are the loyal ones.
Jenrick is controversial, as is Mrs Henry (PCC who got herself banned from driving within 2 months of getting the job). Bradley is evaluated through the lens of Notts CC, so is Mr Pothole. Clarke-Smith I do not know other than as a Red Wall Tory noise machine.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Hale - famous Brexit-related Supreme Court judgments Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere? Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
Brenda Hale - Head of the Supreme Court. Louise Casey - civil servant; has advised and written lots of reports on housing / young people / police misconduct (has a series on Fixing Britain on iPlayer) Professor Jay - head of the IICSA Inquiry which looked at child abuse in Britain. Her work is outstanding and has, sadly, been ignored by politicians.
Honestly you should read my headers more carefully - I have written about their reports and why what they say should not be ignored. (Tsk - men never bloody listening to women......)
Fantastic women but not presidential material. Or at least not if you want buy in from the masses.
We could all list 500 men and 700 women who are equally worthy but potential presidents they ain't.
That's what they said, when Mary Robinson ran for President of Ireland in 1990. And won.
Global sea surface temperatures, aside from being at a modern-era record high of 21.21°C for the third consecutive day, are also in crazy-town territory for the standard deviation, yesterday at 5.68σ above the 1982-2011 mean. That's 1-in-150 million for a normal distribution. https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1766886096577957960
I suppose that the crazy temperatures over the past year are being driven by the ENSO?
Perhaps the scariest effect of the current situation is that it sets a high water mark that won't be reached again until the next El Nino year - you can almost hear the denialists cueing up their "but sea surface temperatures are much cooler than they were during 2023-24! what are you worrying about?" tweets which they'll be bombarding us with for the rest of the decade...
Global sea surface temperatures, aside from being at a modern-era record high of 21.21°C for the third consecutive day, are also in crazy-town territory for the standard deviation, yesterday at 5.68σ above the 1982-2011 mean. That's 1-in-150 million for a normal distribution. https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1766886096577957960
I suppose that the crazy temperatures over the past year are being driven by the ENSO?
Perhaps the scariest effect of the current situation is that it sets a high water mark that won't be reached again until the next El Nino year - you can almost hear the denialists cueing up their "but sea surface temperatures are much cooler than they were during 2023-24! what are you worrying about?" tweets which they'll be bombarding us with for the rest of the decade...
In part, yes, though there's also now beginning to be evidence that the underlying rate of global warming is accelerating. Things are beginning to look a bit dicey.
How very Irish and reactionary of @Topping. 10 suggestions - only 2 women.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
20% of my list are gay. That is a huge over-representation of gay people as candidates for president. You win some you lose some.
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
Dame Judy, of course. Baroness Benjamin, perhaps. Cyclefree definitely up there.
Maggie Smith - she's been playing the bloody part after all in Downton. Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence Brenda Hale Louise Casey Professor Alexis Jay
Maggie Smith def.
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Another one who doesn't read my headers. Tsk.
Well people should bloody know about them - instead of having a bunch of aged celebrities / TV people most of whose best work was ages ago.
People should know about them, yes. But what are the requirements for a ceremonial head of state? What you want there is a quiet charisma, an ability to make an emotional connection, rather necessarily than keen executive or decision-making abilities. I think that's why people end up on celebrities/TV people.
Is David Attenborough a great naturalist? Not really. He's a TV executive with a science background. But he's a great communicator. That makes for a good President perhaps.
I see that @david_herdson has created a whole new gender for me - "Dear girlboy".
So I hope you will all be suitably awed and respectful in future. Some of you, it pains me to say, need to up your game in this latter regard. (** casts a gimlet eye at @****-*** and @*****, among others **).
I will inform you in due course of my pronouns, adjectives, honorifics and modes of address.
My preferred pronoun: "Yo!"
As in, "Yo! SeaShantyIrish2! You handsome devil and astute psephologist!"
Was considering change to "SSIjr" . . . until RFKjr threw his tinfoil hat into the ring . . .
Global sea surface temperatures, aside from being at a modern-era record high of 21.21°C for the third consecutive day, are also in crazy-town territory for the standard deviation, yesterday at 5.68σ above the 1982-2011 mean. That's 1-in-150 million for a normal distribution. https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1766886096577957960
I suppose that the crazy temperatures over the past year are being driven by the ENSO?
Perhaps the scariest effect of the current situation is that it sets a high water mark that won't be reached again until the next El Nino year - you can almost hear the denialists cueing up their "but sea surface temperatures are much cooler than they were during 2023-24! what are you worrying about?" tweets which they'll be bombarding us with for the rest of the decade...
Comments
So I hope you will all be suitably awed and respectful in future. Some of you, it pains me to say, need to up your game in this latter regard. (** casts a gimlet eye at @****-*** and @*****, among others **).
I will inform you in due course of my pronouns, adjectives, honorifics and modes of address.
Those aren’t stunning figures and most are below their polling, but they’re not inconsequential.
I can see them losing at least 4, and possibly as many as 6 or 7.
I'm leaving that at 7 max as I don't expect all the stars to align.
Health isn't a private matter when it's a public person - and with the royals, the personal and public overlap hugely anyway. Kate is one heartbeat away (of a not-very-well septugenarian) from being Consort and a Consellor of State; the public has a right to know.
Health isn't a private matter when it's a public person - and with the royals, the personal and public overlap hugely anyway. Kate is one heartbeat away (of a not-very-well septugenarian) from being Consort and a Consellor of State; the public has a right to know.
Consider how Theresa May managed Type I diabetes - essentially "this is how I am now; get over yourselves".
The numbers are comparable - 200k people with stomas in the UK, about 500k with Type I diabetes.
Nevertheless I do feel sorry for Kate in the current situation. Presumably she's facing a major crisis of some sort, maybe with health or in her relationships but she is not allowed just to disappear for a while, or not allowing herself to do so. She dreamt of being a princess in her young days and is now trapped in the role for the rest of her life.
This is from Mike Katz, chair of Jewish Labour:
"Many [British Jews] are thinking about leaving London to go back to Israel?"
No @TiceRichard. Height of ignorance (& casually antisemitism); most British Jews were born here and like living here.
Stop using Jews as a political football. Get yourself educated and do one.
https://twitter.com/mikekatz/status/1767138474925137995
When we can no longer trust any images - indeed we are suspicious of them - then all that falls away. Add in 24/7 scrutiny via social media and smartphones and maybe no human can do the job
My current favourite poop pun is Mr Poophole for Nick Freeman.
Once heard it cannot be unheard
Harry has been a real loss, especially given the gradual retirement of the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester who have all worked hard, with very little public recognition.
I'd make a better President than the lot of them (and @Dura_Ace too).
For a start all the fatties would be made to beautify their front gardens and stop sprinkling chocolate over their coffees. This would reduce the obesity crisis and make our streets look nicer.
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1) “It says it’s progressive, so it should be passed. Never mind the details.”
2) “The problem with what is proposed is…”
The messed up photo has her looking the picture of health. She ought to be joining JJ for sprint triathlons, based on the healthy looking skin and physique. She pap photo in the car from last week has here looking far worse.
We are clearly being lied to. Now I don't really care either way, other than for the kids, but why make stuff up?
This does not mean I agree with him.
In its place is an endless stream of how we are broken (see, for example The New Statesman and Spectator passim), and minuscule and/or impossible single issue wheezes about marginal issues.
Hmm, I can't think who?
I would of course be interested in your suggestions for three females for president. If I may be so ungallant as to say your very good self excepted.
See also Marine La Pen and Trumpers.
Baroness Benjamin, perhaps.
Cyclefree definitely up there.
The latest AI photo-fakery underscores this (ahem) royal reality.
Britain's Head of State should be a woman: Britain's best ones have been women after all - QE1, QE2, Anne and Victoria. The rest have largely been either quarrelsome Northerners, fat old Germans or rather dull men normally found in your local Rotary club.
As well include Boudicca or Cartimandua.
https://twitter.com/EliotJacobson/status/1766886096577957960
Perhaps Trevor McDonald or Dr Shola ?
What were those reading recommendations again? Gory but well written Latin American history is my genre - can be any era
I suspect Anderson has a rather better idea of how things are going and that is why he has decided he has a better chance under REFUK colours.
I'm sure he is right in that - looks like a three-way barnburner between Lab, Zadrozny and him,
A Washington State Ferries crew on Saturday helped the Coast Guard rescue six people and two dogs from a boat in Rosario Strait.
A 37-foot cabin cruiser called for assistance during “nasty weather” near Decatur Island just before 1 p.m., the Coast Guard station in Bellingham said. A wave over the bow shattered the boat’s front windshield, injuring some of the boaters and causing the vessel to take on water.
The boaters shared their GPS position before their radio shorted out and they lost communications. The Coast Guard issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast — a radio message for all boaters in the area — and dispatched vessels and a helicopter.
A U.S. Coast Guard boat responded and took the two other passengers and their dogs, Buster and Belle, on board. Coast Guard crew members drove the cabin cruiser safely to Anacortes while the Samish shielded it from the wind. . . .
SSI - FYI/BTW note that Rosario Strait would be international boundary between USA and Canada IF the machinations of Perfidious Albion had succeeded in robbing Uncle Sam of his Manifest Destiny, leastways in these often turbulent waters.
Victoria Wood would have been an absolute shoo-in if she weren't dead.Thora Hird - ditto.
Doreen Lawrence
Brenda Hale
Louise Casey
Professor Alexis Jay
Doreen Lawrence too political (yes sadly but that is the case).
The other three I haven't heard of and hence I guess that most other people haven't heard of them.
Note that the LORD Mayor of London is an American (born in Seattle) so there's precedent.
Men may most often be the direct physical threat, but the political threat? That comes from both genders sadly.
Casey - I think one of the reports into covering up child abuse somewhere?
Jay - The report into the Tavistock clinic, perhaps?
I remembered Hale right enough.
Louise Casey - civil servant; has advised and written lots of reports on housing / young people / police misconduct (has a series on Fixing Britain on iPlayer)
Professor Jay - head of the IICSA Inquiry which looked at child abuse in Britain. Her work is outstanding and has, sadly, been ignored by politicians.
Honestly you should read my headers more carefully - I have written about their reports and why what they say should not be ignored. (Tsk - men never bloody listening to women......)
(And, btw, women are oppressed on the basis of their sex.)
The GOP No-Brains Trust selected Miz Katie her because of her youth in contrast to Uncle Joe's age.
BUT what the got was a stark contrast between his experience, and her lack thereof.
On plus side, a grateful nation thanks Sen. Britt and her MAGA-managers for providing welcome comedy relief in these troublesome times.
My guess is that Kate is really quite unwell; I hope I’m wrong
Well people should bloody know about them - instead of having a bunch of aged celebrities / TV people most of whose best work was ages ago.
We could all list 500 men and 700 women who are equally worthy but potential presidents they ain't.
Explain that away, Trump. They can't all be people taken on the expectation you will win in November...
The Queen was an extraordinary smokescreen for a cavalcade of scandals over the years. Without her, they are wide open at the back and the defenders keep playing the ball across the goalmouth. A lot of people - beyond the usual republican ingrates like myself - are really starting to wonder what the point of the monarchy actually is.
The reason this fairly dismal US President is so revered? Well, after the War of The Triple Alliance had nearly wiped Paraguay out, he intervened to stop the land being carved up between the winners.
NEW THREAD
Maybe she would have done if it wasn’t for her blowing up her premiership straight afterwards.
She also has no charisma and her tributes were worthy, but leaden.
According to his wiki page, the LMoL has quadruple citizenship; a true Citizen of Welkfinanzkapitalismus.
ADDENDUM - Meant to say "Weltkapitalismus" but rather like the typo!
I'm not confident of Rushcliffe holding, unless Ruth Edwards is as special as Ken Clarke was. Perhaps trams etc in metro-Nottingham are absorbing Rushcliffe as they are Hucknall.
Newark CC 21,816 Robert Jenrick
Mansfield CC 16,306 Ben Bradley
Sherwood CC 16,186 Mark Spencer
Bassetlaw CC 14,013 Brendan Clarke-Smith
Rushcliffe CC 7,643 Ruth Edwards
Ashfield CC 5,733 Lee Anderson
Broxtowe CC 5,331 Darren Henry
Gedling CC 679 Tom Randall
My "max 7" changing was based on one of the top 4 holding, since the difference in majorities is quite stark with the bottom 4. On a punt I'd perhaps say one of Mansfield/Bassetlaw or Newark/Sherwood, dependent perhaps on whether Working Class or Middle Class Tories are the loyal ones.
Jenrick is controversial, as is Mrs Henry (PCC who got herself banned from driving within 2 months of getting the job). Bradley is evaluated through the lens of Notts CC, so is Mr Pothole. Clarke-Smith I do not know other than as a Red Wall Tory noise machine.
Perhaps the scariest effect of the current situation is that it sets a high water mark that won't be reached again until the next El Nino year - you can almost hear the denialists cueing up their "but sea surface temperatures are much cooler than they were during 2023-24! what are you worrying about?" tweets which they'll be bombarding us with for the rest of the decade...
Is David Attenborough a great naturalist? Not really. He's a TV executive with a science background. But he's a great communicator. That makes for a good President perhaps.
As in, "Yo! SeaShantyIrish2! You handsome devil and astute psephologist!"
Was considering change to "SSIjr" . . . until RFKjr threw his tinfoil hat into the ring . . .