However, if you FORCE a puma to rape your wife, is that technically rape? The puma doesn’t WANT to rape your wife so there is no mens rea, your wife is only “raped” by the puma because you bullied the puma into doing the rape thing
Tricky. Perhaps @DavidL can enlighten us on the legal technicalities, he may have encountered a similar case in Dundee
The Puma isn't considered to be criminally responsible (but would probably be summarily destroyed regardless) but you would be considered to have committed the rape using the Puma as your means of doing so.
Anyway. I'm suddenly very glad you're divorced.
In Scots law it would not actually be rape because rape is the insertion of the male penis without consent. It would of course be bestiality. I don't recall a case with a puma. An Alsatian, on the other hand...
What kind of sentence could you expect? As the puma-bullier?
However, if you FORCE a puma to rape your wife, is that technically rape? The puma doesn’t WANT to rape your wife so there is no mens rea, your wife is only “raped” by the puma because you bullied the puma into doing the rape thing
Tricky. Perhaps @DavidL can enlighten us on the legal technicalities, he may have encountered a similar case in Dundee
The Puma isn't considered to be criminally responsible (but would probably be summarily destroyed regardless) but you would be considered to have committed the rape using the Puma as your means of doing so.
Anyway. I'm suddenly very glad you're divorced.
In Scots law it would not actually be rape because rape is the insertion of the male penis without consent. It would of course be bestiality. I don't recall a case with a puma. An Alsatian, on the other hand...
What kind of sentence could you expect? As the puma-bullier?
Asking for a friend
Probably depend on the degree of distress of the victim but you would be starting at about 7 years and go up from there. If I recall the Alsatian case correctly the accused got 9 years.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
However, if you FORCE a puma to rape your wife, is that technically rape? The puma doesn’t WANT to rape your wife so there is no mens rea, your wife is only “raped” by the puma because you bullied the puma into doing the rape thing
Tricky. Perhaps @DavidL can enlighten us on the legal technicalities, he may have encountered a similar case in Dundee
The Puma isn't considered to be criminally responsible (but would probably be summarily destroyed regardless) but you would be considered to have committed the rape using the Puma as your means of doing so.
Anyway. I'm suddenly very glad you're divorced.
In Scots law it would not actually be rape because rape is the insertion of the male penis without consent. It would of course be bestiality. I don't recall a case with a puma. An Alsatian, on the other hand...
What kind of sentence could you expect? As the puma-bullier?
Asking for a friend
Probably depend on the degree of distress of the victim but you would be starting at about 7 years and go up from there. If I recall the Alsatian case correctly the accused got 9 years.
If Sunak was going to be pushed, why wait? And calling an election you're going to get hammered in is an odd way of 'not being pushed', given that he would be pushed by both country and party.
Plus, she's completely wrong on the second point. If Sunak did call an election, MPs would rally to the flag; they wouldn't really have an option.
I fear you've fallen into the trap of thinking that anything tweeted by Dorries is even worthy of a response. It isn't.
The only slightly interesting question is whether she's stirring the pot at the behest of Boris.
I'd have thought so. Or at least what she guesses would be his behest even if he hasn't actually behested. Nadine Dorries has a Great Love for Boris. Such a love does not behave within rational parameters. It is wild. An unchained melody.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
It’s only graft if done in a vulgar style.
This is why some people want political parties to be solely funded from tax money, on a per vote basis.
Lord Ashcroft has published a poll. I missed it if it was shared here. Fieldwork 7-11th March, changes with 8-12th Feb CON 23% (-4) LAB 45% (+2) LDM 6% (-1) GRN 8% (nc) RFM 11% (+1)
The LibDem overall national share is meaningless in prediction terms.
A. If it were 6% in every seat they would get zero seats. cf Greens and Reform
B. If it were 50% in 50 seats and 5% in the other 600, then the average would still be around 6% but they would get about 50 seats.
The reality is nearer B than A.
No it wouldn't. In the case of B, that'd be about an 8.5% share, assuming a similar turnout across the two groups.
If the Lib Dems are on 50% in 50 seats then that alone is about 4% of the voters. They'd need to be on barely over 2% across the rest of the country to average 6% overall.
Of course, they wouldn't need to get 50% to win a seat: 40% will do in many cases. However, they will get 50%+ in quite a few because that's how the spread works. Likewise, there wouldn't be a cliff-edge where the LD share suddenly drops to deposit-losing level. There'll be near-misses and respectable results. All of which means that a 6% national share probably translates to 25 seats at most.
Lord Ashcroft has published a poll. I missed it if it was shared here. Fieldwork 7-11th March, changes with 8-12th Feb CON 23% (-4) LAB 45% (+2) LDM 6% (-1) GRN 8% (nc) RFM 11% (+1)
However, if you FORCE a puma to rape your wife, is that technically rape? The puma doesn’t WANT to rape your wife so there is no mens rea, your wife is only “raped” by the puma because you bullied the puma into doing the rape thing
Tricky. Perhaps @DavidL can enlighten us on the legal technicalities, he may have encountered a similar case in Dundee
The Puma isn't considered to be criminally responsible (but would probably be summarily destroyed regardless) but you would be considered to have committed the rape using the Puma as your means of doing so.
Anyway. I'm suddenly very glad you're divorced.
In Scots law it would not actually be rape because rape is the insertion of the male penis without consent. It would of course be bestiality. I don't recall a case with a puma. An Alsatian, on the other hand...
What kind of sentence could you expect? As the puma-bullier?
Asking for a friend
Probably depend on the degree of distress of the victim but you would be starting at about 7 years and go up from there. If I recall the Alsatian case correctly the accused got 9 years.
Ok. Got it
Changing my plans for the weekend now
There is a story, almost certainly apocryphal, when a posh Edinburgh advocate asked a Glasgow woman if a similar event was a rare experience, only to get the reply, "well you might think it was rare but it did nothing for me at all."
Perhaps the Tories are edging towards ditching Sunak and rolling the dice.
Anyone at big odds worthy of a quid? Someone who has charisma, could make a difference and scare Starmer.
Johnny Mercer?
A much more likely scenario is that a couple of the frontrunners do a deal so that they can present themselves as a fait accompli, and take over without a contest. Mordaunt & Badenoch, say.
However, if you FORCE a puma to rape your wife, is that technically rape? The puma doesn’t WANT to rape your wife so there is no mens rea, your wife is only “raped” by the puma because you bullied the puma into doing the rape thing
Tricky. Perhaps @DavidL can enlighten us on the legal technicalities, he may have encountered a similar case in Dundee
The Puma isn't considered to be criminally responsible (but would probably be summarily destroyed regardless) but you would be considered to have committed the rape using the Puma as your means of doing so.
Anyway. I'm suddenly very glad you're divorced.
In Scots law it would not actually be rape because rape is the insertion of the male penis without consent. It would of course be bestiality. I don't recall a case with a puma. An Alsatian, on the other hand...
What kind of sentence could you expect? As the puma-bullier?
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
An issue might aeise if the suppliers are on a centrally approved shortlist, though. Worth checking if that is the case.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
And the galling thing (as somebody working, bloody hard I might add for the last 27 years), is that the juicy local government contracts spliced up between friends of the party, friends of the member or minister (or the landlord of the local watering hole for that matter), are charged at vast rates for shoddy work done with little attention to the people it is done (tenants for example). The cost to local authorities of the contracting system is gargantuan for the rubbish services delivered and the money, taxpayers money used enables contractors to make substantial profit for that poor service, casually signed by ministries.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
We are also getting hotter. And moderately sunnier, but from a low base. But slightly rainier though in more intense bursts.
I know its weather and not climate but my god we could do with some sunshine in the UK right now. Feels like its been grey and overcast for months.
You’re not wrong, if you live in the South or Midlands.
This page shows just how wet and cloudy it’s been this winter, despite (or indeed contributing to) the unusual warmth.
*notices how much of Scotland has been actually sunnier and drier than usual, pace Glaswegist abuse on PB*
“Than usual” being an important qualifier here.
Actual sunshine hours for Scotland 138.4, vs 153.3 for England. Both abject of course, though not as bad as Wales’ 122.7. Duller even than 20mph zone discourse.
I just read your MetOffice link. So I’m not imagining it. The British climate is actually getting WORSE
lol
On the other hand I have only spent 2 days there since the end of December so I should perhaps not moan
And it is still nicer than northern Peru. Visit Britain should use that as a slogan
Year-on-year variance is not "changing climate" you hyperbolic buffoon, it is just weather which, as you may know, is rather variable in the UK.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
But the political row is about a racist statement, not a rake-off. Perhaps the real moral of this issue is that the public hasn't cottoned on to the corruption, but is more interested in the things that excite interest on social media (which is probably no more than stating the obvious).
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
An issue might aeise if the suppliers are on a centrally approved shortlist, though. Worth checking if that is the case.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
Yes. Or if the product has to conform to a centrally-directed set of requirements which just happens to invalidate most of the competition.
There are ways that malfeasance could still occur, but there's been no evidence presented for it, and the supposition of large central contracts in the earlier comment is, based on the Guardian's reporting, not correct.
I think we should be careful about making unfounded allegations.
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
It is deeply uncomfortable. It is also profoundly strange because I am 100 yards from the sea. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such intense heat right by the ocean. It should always be a cooling influence?
Fuck knows what it is like inland
Keep us posted on how you feel as the day goes on. Or maybe better, bottle it all up. FFS!
32C now; humidity 67%
Might possibly hit 42C along the coast. Unspeakable
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
But the political row is about a racist statement, not a rake-off. Perhaps the real moral of this issue is that the public hasn't cottoned on to the corruption, but is more interested in the things that excite interest on social media (which is probably no more than stating the obvious).
While we are on this do you have any evidence at all that any Minister was involved in the granting of those contracts by the NHS, or that public sector procurement policies were not complied with or that value for money was not in fact given?
The hypothesis that someone who is a supporter of the government + government contract = corruption is missing quite a few, important steps.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It is deeply uncomfortable. It is also profoundly strange because I am 100 yards from the sea. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such intense heat right by the ocean. It should always be a cooling influence?
Fuck knows what it is like inland
Keep us posted on how you feel as the day goes on. Or maybe better, bottle it all up. FFS!
32C now; humidity 67%
Might possibly hit 42C along the coast. Unspeakable
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
Lord Ashcroft has published a poll. I missed it if it was shared here. Fieldwork 7-11th March, changes with 8-12th Feb CON 23% (-4) LAB 45% (+2) LDM 6% (-1) GRN 8% (nc) RFM 11% (+1)
The LibDem overall national share is meaningless in prediction terms.
A. If it were 6% in every seat they would get zero seats. cf Greens and Reform
B. If it were 50% in 50 seats and 5% in the other 600, then the average would still be around 6% but they would get about 50 seats.
The reality is nearer B than A.
No it wouldn't. In the case of B, that'd be about an 8.5% share, assuming a similar turnout across the two groups.
If the Lib Dems are on 50% in 50 seats then that alone is about 4% of the voters. They'd need to be on barely over 2% across the rest of the country to average 6% overall.
Of course, they wouldn't need to get 50% to win a seat: 40% will do in many cases. However, they will get 50%+ in quite a few because that's how the spread works. Likewise, there wouldn't be a cliff-edge where the LD share suddenly drops to deposit-losing level. There'll be near-misses and respectable results. All of which means that a 6% national share probably translates to 25 seats at most.
If the Lib Dems score 6% in the actual election (which I don't believe for a minute, that would be below their 2015 score and indeed I think their worst in decades) then it could be a lot worse than 25 seats because the polling close to the election day would blindside voters and you could see tactical confusion in many LD targets.
The Ashcroft poll is out of kilter with others which put the party around 9%, lower than the 11-12% it was scoring for much of last year but more realistic. What I think will happen is that they will do very well in the May locals especially in their target areas where there are already many Lib Dem councillors, that will then give them a polling boost and come the election the final score will be around 11% but much more efficiently distributed than last time.
Key thing will be the Tory vote share. The lower they drop, the higher the Lib Dem seat count.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It’s software - which means it has a very high initial development cost which is then recovered from subsequent sales.
Now he may be making a lot of profit but the price has to be competitive with other offerings else people would change the software
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
The problem with something like this is product lock-in, which then means the vendor can charge what they like. See also Microsoft Office.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
We are also getting hotter. And moderately sunnier, but from a low base. But slightly rainier though in more intense bursts.
I know its weather and not climate but my god we could do with some sunshine in the UK right now. Feels like its been grey and overcast for months.
You’re not wrong, if you live in the South or Midlands.
This page shows just how wet and cloudy it’s been this winter, despite (or indeed contributing to) the unusual warmth.
*notices how much of Scotland has been actually sunnier and drier than usual, pace Glaswegist abuse on PB*
“Than usual” being an important qualifier here.
Actual sunshine hours for Scotland 138.4, vs 153.3 for England. Both abject of course, though not as bad as Wales’ 122.7. Duller even than 20mph zone discourse.
I just read your MetOffice link. So I’m not imagining it. The British climate is actually getting WORSE
lol
On the other hand I have only spent 2 days there since the end of December so I should perhaps not moan
And it is still nicer than northern Peru. Visit Britain should use that as a slogan
Year-on-year variance is not "changing climate" you hyperbolic buffoon, it is just weather which, as you may know, is rather variable in the UK.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
Read the link. British winters are getting rainier, which means even greyer
However, I am bored of dumping on my own country. Britain is in a rough place, and it needs dramatically new directions (which Starmer won't provide), but we have been in dire straits before. I hope and faintly believe we will somehow pull through
Or, as is highly plausible, AI will make politics and economics all irrelevant, anyway
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
Every Lidl helps, right enough.
What's with the demo? Does Lidl clean out their middle aisle every Friday afternoon and send the contents over to the IDF?
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
It is deeply uncomfortable. It is also profoundly strange because I am 100 yards from the sea. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such intense heat right by the ocean. It should always be a cooling influence?
Fuck knows what it is like inland
Keep us posted on how you feel as the day goes on. Or maybe better, bottle it all up. FFS!
32C now; humidity 67%
Might possibly hit 42C along the coast. Unspeakable
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
Every Lidl helps, right enough.
What's with the demo? Does Lidl clean out their middle aisle every Friday afternoon and send the contents over to the IDF?
You think that there is a rational explanation for this?
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
Every Lidl helps, right enough.
What's with the demo? Does Lidl clean out their middle aisle every Friday afternoon and send the contents over to the IDF?
You think that there is a rational explanation for this?
Even an irrational explanation would be better then the complete blank I'm currently drawing.
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
Every Lidl helps, right enough.
What's with the demo? Does Lidl clean out their middle aisle every Friday afternoon and send the contents over to the IDF?
You think that there is a rational explanation for this?
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
We are also getting hotter. And moderately sunnier, but from a low base. But slightly rainier though in more intense bursts.
I know its weather and not climate but my god we could do with some sunshine in the UK right now. Feels like its been grey and overcast for months.
You’re not wrong, if you live in the South or Midlands.
This page shows just how wet and cloudy it’s been this winter, despite (or indeed contributing to) the unusual warmth.
*notices how much of Scotland has been actually sunnier and drier than usual, pace Glaswegist abuse on PB*
“Than usual” being an important qualifier here.
Actual sunshine hours for Scotland 138.4, vs 153.3 for England. Both abject of course, though not as bad as Wales’ 122.7. Duller even than 20mph zone discourse.
I just read your MetOffice link. So I’m not imagining it. The British climate is actually getting WORSE
lol
On the other hand I have only spent 2 days there since the end of December so I should perhaps not moan
And it is still nicer than northern Peru. Visit Britain should use that as a slogan
Year-on-year variance is not "changing climate" you hyperbolic buffoon, it is just weather which, as you may know, is rather variable in the UK.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
Read the link. British winters are getting rainier, which means even greyer
However, I am bored of dumping on my own country. Britain is in a rough place, and it needs dramatically new directions (which Starmer won't provide), but we have been in dire straits before. I hope and faintly believe we will somehow pull through
Or, as is highly plausible, AI will make politics and economics all irrelevant, anyway
It's actually been getting wetter but sunnier in winter, as predicted in the models. We've had a few record breaking sunny winters in recent years. And extremely sunny springs (relatively) which have been a nightmare for people with vineyards susceptible to late frosts.
The trouble is the UK baseline is so horrendous that it would take many decades of this trend to give us sunshine totals even remotely as decent as much of the rest of the world.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
Many businesses aim for a 40% margin.
True. But we are talking circa 50% margin. Which makes you question value for money, competition in that market, and what are the barriers to entry. In addition to the effectiveness of the “buyers” to negotiate a price. Plus I always find it a bit distasteful when folk providing to the public sector walk away with too much gold.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
An issue might arise if the suppliers are on a centrally approved shortlist, though. Worth checking if that is the case.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
Yes. Or if the product has to conform to a centrally-directed set of requirements which just happens to invalidate most of the competition.
There are ways that malfeasance could still occur, but there's been no evidence presented for it, and the supposition of large central contracts in the earlier comment is, based on the Guardian's reporting, not correct.
I think we should be careful about making unfounded allegations.
The Guardian report seems to suggest that Hester saw an opportunity to digitise patient records around a decade ago, and built a business on the back of that. Which is fair enough. And once entrenched, such systems are quite hard to change to an alternate provider.
Nonetheless, the spectacle of the sole shareholder of a company enjoying 50% net profit margins, which gets all of its revenues from the state, donating very large sums of money to the party in power, is not an edifying one.
I'd suggest that the problem lies more in allowing such large donations from individuals to political parties. But it's not the easiest of areas for reform. There's also the problem of government, in all its various forms, being piss poor at negotiating commercial contracts.
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
It's easy enough to find out the answer to that question.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
We are also getting hotter. And moderately sunnier, but from a low base. But slightly rainier though in more intense bursts.
I know its weather and not climate but my god we could do with some sunshine in the UK right now. Feels like its been grey and overcast for months.
You’re not wrong, if you live in the South or Midlands.
This page shows just how wet and cloudy it’s been this winter, despite (or indeed contributing to) the unusual warmth.
*notices how much of Scotland has been actually sunnier and drier than usual, pace Glaswegist abuse on PB*
“Than usual” being an important qualifier here.
Actual sunshine hours for Scotland 138.4, vs 153.3 for England. Both abject of course, though not as bad as Wales’ 122.7. Duller even than 20mph zone discourse.
I just read your MetOffice link. So I’m not imagining it. The British climate is actually getting WORSE
lol
On the other hand I have only spent 2 days there since the end of December so I should perhaps not moan
And it is still nicer than northern Peru. Visit Britain should use that as a slogan
Year-on-year variance is not "changing climate" you hyperbolic buffoon, it is just weather which, as you may know, is rather variable in the UK.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
Read the link. British winters are getting rainier, which means even greyer
However, I am bored of dumping on my own country. Britain is in a rough place, and it needs dramatically new directions (which Starmer won't provide), but we have been in dire straits before. I hope and faintly believe we will somehow pull through
Or, as is highly plausible, AI will make politics and economics all irrelevant, anyway
It's actually been getting wetter but sunnier in winter, as predicted in the models. We've had a few record breaking sunny winters in recent years. And extremely sunny springs (relatively) which have been a nightmare for people with vineyards susceptible to late frosts.
The trouble is the UK baseline is so horrendous that it would take many decades of this trend to give us sunshine totals even remotely as decent as much of the rest of the world.
Indeed
If you look at sunshine totals around the world, the British Isles (Ireland included) are quite exceptional outliers. In a bad way
eg annual sunshine hours in Nuuk, Greenland: 1400 annual sunshine hours in Glasgow, Scotland: 1200
Glasgow is drearier than GREENLAND, and about the same as Lima (1230), which, as we have noted, has one of the most depressing climates on earth. Britain as a whole gets about the same sun as the Aleutian islands
As someone who craves sunshine I give hourly thanks that my job allows me to seek it out, away from the UK
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
We were half way to getting rid of the Mark Anthonys
Have you seen this review of Zone of Interest? Solidified a few of my half finished thoughts on the film which is always helpful. Glazer seems to have annoyed quit a range of people..
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
We are also getting hotter. And moderately sunnier, but from a low base. But slightly rainier though in more intense bursts.
I know its weather and not climate but my god we could do with some sunshine in the UK right now. Feels like its been grey and overcast for months.
You’re not wrong, if you live in the South or Midlands.
This page shows just how wet and cloudy it’s been this winter, despite (or indeed contributing to) the unusual warmth.
*notices how much of Scotland has been actually sunnier and drier than usual, pace Glaswegist abuse on PB*
“Than usual” being an important qualifier here.
Actual sunshine hours for Scotland 138.4, vs 153.3 for England. Both abject of course, though not as bad as Wales’ 122.7. Duller even than 20mph zone discourse.
I just read your MetOffice link. So I’m not imagining it. The British climate is actually getting WORSE
lol
On the other hand I have only spent 2 days there since the end of December so I should perhaps not moan
And it is still nicer than northern Peru. Visit Britain should use that as a slogan
Year-on-year variance is not "changing climate" you hyperbolic buffoon, it is just weather which, as you may know, is rather variable in the UK.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
Read the link. British winters are getting rainier, which means even greyer
However, I am bored of dumping on my own country. Britain is in a rough place, and it needs dramatically new directions (which Starmer won't provide), but we have been in dire straits before. I hope and faintly believe we will somehow pull through
Or, as is highly plausible, AI will make politics and economics all irrelevant, anyway
It's actually been getting wetter but sunnier in winter, as predicted in the models. We've had a few record breaking sunny winters in recent years. And extremely sunny springs (relatively) which have been a nightmare for people with vineyards susceptible to late frosts.
The trouble is the UK baseline is so horrendous that it would take many decades of this trend to give us sunshine totals even remotely as decent as much of the rest of the world.
Indeed
If you look at sunshine totals around the world, the British Isles (Ireland included) are quite exceptional outliers. In a bad way
eg annual sunshine hours in Nuuk, Greenland: 1400 annual sunshine hours in Glasgow, Scotland: 1200
Glasgow is drearier than GREENLAND, and about the same as Lima (1230), which, as we have noted, has one of the most depressing climates on earth. Britain as a whole gets about the same sun as the Aleutian islands
As someone who craves sunshine I give hourly thanks that my job allows me to seek it out, away from the UK
But Greenland gets about 20-24 hours of sunlight per day in the summer, which isn't much use - indeed, is depressing in its own way. And, of course, close to zero for months in the winter, whether it's cloudy or clear.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It’s software - which means it has a very high initial development cost which is then recovered from
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
Many businesses aim for a 40% margin.
True. But we are talking circa 50% margin. Which makes you question value for money, competition in that market, and what are the barriers to entry. In addition to the effectiveness of the “buyers” to negotiate a price. Plus I always find it a bit distasteful when folk providing to the public sector walk away with too much gold.
The barrier for entry into the market are three fold
1) you need a product that is as good or better than TPPs 2) you need to sell that to the GP practices which won’t be cheap 3) you have the cost of getting the data out of the old system into the new one.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
An issue might arise if the suppliers are on a centrally approved shortlist, though. Worth checking if that is the case.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
Yes. Or if the product has to conform to a centrally-directed set of requirements which just happens to invalidate most of the competition.
There are ways that malfeasance could still occur, but there's been no evidence presented for it, and the supposition of large central contracts in the earlier comment is, based on the Guardian's reporting, not correct.
I think we should be careful about making unfounded allegations.
The Guardian report seems to suggest that Hester saw an opportunity to digitise patient records around a decade ago, and built a business on the back of that. Which is fair enough. And once entrenched, such systems are quite hard to change to an alternate provider.
Nonetheless, the spectacle of the sole shareholder of a company enjoying 50% net profit margins, which gets all of its revenues from the state, donating very large sums of money to the party in power, is not an edifying one.
I'd suggest that the problem lies more in allowing such large donations from individuals to political parties. But it's not the easiest of areas for reform. There's also the problem of government, in all its various forms, being piss poor at negotiating commercial contracts.
There should be a ceiling on donations from one individual.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
As someone who constantly travels the world, I can (happily) reassure you that most people do NOT live on a street similar to that street in the 2nd photo: ie on a dirt road, in a concrete shack, in a shitty town in the middle of an awful foggy desert. Northern Peru, as we have established, is unusually hideous
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
An issue might arise if the suppliers are on a centrally approved shortlist, though. Worth checking if that is the case.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
Yes. Or if the product has to conform to a centrally-directed set of requirements which just happens to invalidate most of the competition.
There are ways that malfeasance could still occur, but there's been no evidence presented for it, and the supposition of large central contracts in the earlier comment is, based on the Guardian's reporting, not correct.
I think we should be careful about making unfounded allegations.
The Guardian report seems to suggest that Hester saw an opportunity to digitise patient records around a decade ago, and built a business on the back of that. Which is fair enough. And once entrenched, such systems are quite hard to change to an alternate provider.
Nonetheless, the spectacle of the sole shareholder of a company enjoying 50% net profit margins, which gets all of its revenues from the state, donating very large sums of money to the party in power, is not an edifying one.
I'd suggest that the problem lies more in allowing such large donations from individuals to political parties. But it's not the easiest of areas for reform. There's also the problem of government, in all its various forms, being piss poor at negotiating commercial contracts.
There should be a ceiling on donations from one individual.
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
Have you ever tried to engage with them?
Going along and asking "What the fuck are you 'ere for, then?" or "D'you think they're secretly making Israeli warplanes behind the baked beans shelves?" might not be the best way of finding out, though.
Ten seconds' arduous work finding out about Lidl and the Schwarz Group might be helpful.
Former 🇷🇺 President Medvedev, the head of Russia’s ruling party, outlines Moscow’s “peace plan:” unconditional surrender of Ukraine, its dissolution as a subject of international law, reparations to Russia, full absorption into the Russian Federation. https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1768266069955780856
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
We are also getting hotter. And moderately sunnier, but from a low base. But slightly rainier though in more intense bursts.
I know its weather and not climate but my god we could do with some sunshine in the UK right now. Feels like its been grey and overcast for months.
You’re not wrong, if you live in the South or Midlands.
This page shows just how wet and cloudy it’s been this winter, despite (or indeed contributing to) the unusual warmth.
*notices how much of Scotland has been actually sunnier and drier than usual, pace Glaswegist abuse on PB*
“Than usual” being an important qualifier here.
Actual sunshine hours for Scotland 138.4, vs 153.3 for England. Both abject of course, though not as bad as Wales’ 122.7. Duller even than 20mph zone discourse.
I just read your MetOffice link. So I’m not imagining it. The British climate is actually getting WORSE
lol
On the other hand I have only spent 2 days there since the end of December so I should perhaps not moan
And it is still nicer than northern Peru. Visit Britain should use that as a slogan
Year-on-year variance is not "changing climate" you hyperbolic buffoon, it is just weather which, as you may know, is rather variable in the UK.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
Read the link. British winters are getting rainier, which means even greyer
However, I am bored of dumping on my own country. Britain is in a rough place, and it needs dramatically new directions (which Starmer won't provide), but we have been in dire straits before. I hope and faintly believe we will somehow pull through
Or, as is highly plausible, AI will make politics and economics all irrelevant, anyway
It's actually been getting wetter but sunnier in winter, as predicted in the models. We've had a few record breaking sunny winters in recent years. And extremely sunny springs (relatively) which have been a nightmare for people with vineyards susceptible to late frosts.
The trouble is the UK baseline is so horrendous that it would take many decades of this trend to give us sunshine totals even remotely as decent as much of the rest of the world.
Indeed
If you look at sunshine totals around the world, the British Isles (Ireland included) are quite exceptional outliers. In a bad way
eg annual sunshine hours in Nuuk, Greenland: 1400 annual sunshine hours in Glasgow, Scotland: 1200
Glasgow is drearier than GREENLAND, and about the same as Lima (1230), which, as we have noted, has one of the most depressing climates on earth. Britain as a whole gets about the same sun as the Aleutian islands
As someone who craves sunshine I give hourly thanks that my job allows me to seek it out, away from the UK
But Greenland gets about 20-24 hours of sunlight per day in the summer, which isn't much use - indeed, is depressing in its own way. And, of course, close to zero for months in the winter, whether it's cloudy or clear.
Well, yeah, I used Greenland to illustrate sunshine hours, not claiming it is a desirable place to live. Though, in all honesty, if I was given the stark choice of living in Wick or Ilulissat I'm not sure which I would select. It would perhaps be Wick, but only cause it is easier to escape Wick and go somewhere nicer (which kinda defeats the point)
If I was told "you have to live there and stay there all the time" I'd probably go for Ilulissat
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
Perhaps the Tories are edging towards ditching Sunak and rolling the dice.
Anyone at big odds worthy of a quid? Someone who has charisma, could make a difference and scare Starmer.
Johnny Mercer?
Oh lord. That’s aimed at the idea of that odious prat, not you. He’s also likely to lose his seat under the new boundary changes (86% Labour chance according to electoral calculus).
As a Labour voter this next time, there is one, and only one, person I fear at the helm of the tory party. And it’s not because I think Labour wouldn’t still win but because he would get some people to vote for the tories that no-one else can. Boris is also a born liar and thoroughly dishonest, which makes him dangerous to fight against.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
As someone who constantly travels the world, I can (happily) reassure you that most people do NOT live on a street similar to that street in the 2nd photo: ie on a dirt road, in a concrete shack, in a shitty town in the middle of an awful foggy desert. Northern Peru, as we have established, is unusually hideous
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
The overwhelming majority of Indian trains are terrible, though. Happily, my first train ride in India for twenty years was on the surprisingly clean and efficient Kochi Metro in December 2022.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It’s software - which means it has a very high initial development cost which is then recovered from subsequent sales.
Now he may be making a lot of profit but the price has to be competitive with other offerings else people would change the software
GPs are a slightly tricky market to sell into, because of the blurry lines of authority between PCT/CCGs (or whatever they're called this week), the individual practices, and the central GP IT Futures system.
That means that it's usually only either specialist providers or big consultancies who bother, so you'd expect margins to be higher than they might otherwise be in a more open market.
No evidence of wrongdoing in that, of course. It would be a different matter it could be shown that they were getting preferential access to GP IT Futures or something, and I'm sure people are already busy digging for any sort of evidence that might point in that direction...
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
An issue might arise if the suppliers are on a centrally approved shortlist, though. Worth checking if that is the case.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
Yes. Or if the product has to conform to a centrally-directed set of requirements which just happens to invalidate most of the competition.
There are ways that malfeasance could still occur, but there's been no evidence presented for it, and the supposition of large central contracts in the earlier comment is, based on the Guardian's reporting, not correct.
I think we should be careful about making unfounded allegations.
The Guardian report seems to suggest that Hester saw an opportunity to digitise patient records around a decade ago, and built a business on the back of that. Which is fair enough. And once entrenched, such systems are quite hard to change to an alternate provider.
Nonetheless, the spectacle of the sole shareholder of a company enjoying 50% net profit margins, which gets all of its revenues from the state, donating very large sums of money to the party in power, is not an edifying one.
I'd suggest that the problem lies more in allowing such large donations from individuals to political parties. But it's not the easiest of areas for reform. There's also the problem of government, in all its various forms, being piss poor at negotiating commercial contracts.
There should be a ceiling on donations from one individual.
Agreed. But it's not me you have to persuade.
Personally am semi-superannuated enough to recall the late US Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) whose main political trademark, was refusing (in his final statewide races for reelection) to accept ANY campaign contributions, and spent less than $200 of his own money in campaign expenditures.
AND from his wiki page:
Proxmire was noted for issuing his Golden Fleece Award, which was presented monthly between 1975 and 1988 to focus media attention on projects that he viewed as self-serving and wasteful of taxpayer dollars. Winners of the Golden Fleece Award included governmental organizations like the United States Department of Defense, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service.
The first Golden Fleece Award was awarded in 1975 to the National Science Foundation for funding an $84,000 study on why people fall in love. Other Golden Fleece awards over the years were awarded to the Justice Department for conducting a study on why prisoners wanted to get out of jail, the National Institute of Mental Health to study a Peruvian brothel ("The researchers said they made repeated visits in the interests of accuracy," reported The New York Times), and the Federal Aviation Administration for studying "the physical measurements of 432 airline stewardesses, paying special attention to the 'length of the buttocks.'"
SSI - Worth noting that Proxmire was as relentless - and amusing - a budget hawk during both Republican AND Democratic administrations.
Lord Ashcroft has published a poll. I missed it if it was shared here. Fieldwork 7-11th March, changes with 8-12th Feb CON 23% (-4) LAB 45% (+2) LDM 6% (-1) GRN 8% (nc) RFM 11% (+1)
The LibDem overall national share is meaningless in prediction terms.
A. If it were 6% in every seat they would get zero seats. cf Greens and Reform
B. If it were 50% in 50 seats and 5% in the other 600, then the average would still be around 6% but they would get about 50 seats.
The reality is nearer B than A.
Given that the Lib Dem share of the vote in that poll is about half of what it was in 2019, when the Lib Dems won just 11 seats, perhaps you need to provide some evidence to back up your clain.
Well, in 2019, the LibDems increased their number of votes from 2.4m to 3.7m - that's a jump of more than 50%. And their number of seats fell.
By contrast, in 2017, the LibDems lost both votes and vote share, yet increased their seats by 50%.
Go back to 1997 for the biggest example of this: the LDs dropped almost a million votes, and yet more than doubled their number of seats.
In Scotland, this has been taken to extremes. In terms of vote share, the LibDems were fourth by a long way, getting less than 10% of the vote. Despite getting half the number of votes as Labour, they got 4x as many seats.
The LibDem vote today is much more "spiky" than other parties. They will lose a lot of deposits in the next General Election, but because (a) the Conservative vote share is so far down, and (b) they have managed to establish themselves as the challenger in many seats, then they will likely make substantial gains.
(FWIW, I don't believe they'll get 6%. I think they'll get 10-13%, probably around 12%.)
Former 🇷🇺 President Medvedev, the head of Russia’s ruling party, outlines Moscow’s “peace plan:” unconditional surrender of Ukraine, its dissolution as a subject of international law, reparations to Russia, full absorption into the Russian Federation. https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1768266069955780856
Seems abundantly fair. I don't see why Zelenksky doesn't jump at this chance.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
As someone who constantly travels the world, I can (happily) reassure you that most people do NOT live on a street similar to that street in the 2nd photo: ie on a dirt road, in a concrete shack, in a shitty town in the middle of an awful foggy desert. Northern Peru, as we have established, is unusually hideous
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
Indeed: the gap between that median person's life and the average PBers has never been smaller, such has been the positives of globalisation. Said person won't live in fear of being unable to eat, they'll own a smartphone, and they'll eat the same kind of street food that is rhapsodised over by Clerkenwell hipsters.
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It’s software - which means it has a very high initial development cost which is then recovered from subsequent sales.
Now he may be making a lot of profit but the price has to be competitive with other offerings else people would change the software
GPs are a slightly tricky market to sell into, because of the blurry lines of authority between PCT/CCGs (or whatever they're called this week), the individual practices, and the central GP IT Futures system.
That means that it's usually only either specialist providers or big consultancies who bother, so you'd expect margins to be higher than they might otherwise be in a more open market.
No evidence of wrongdoing in that, of course. It would be a different matter it could be shown that they were getting preferential access to GP IT Futures or something, and I'm sure people are already busy digging for any sort of evidence that might point in that direction...
The TPP sitn stinks. Massive corruption. They get the bonanza umbrella rights, and sluice large amounts into the Governing party. Something straight out of the worst excesses of communism.
TPP is one giant umbrella, which GP surgeries opt into so it’s not fair to state that it’s a series of mini contracts.
I’ve complained both to my GP surgery and TPP themselves. Not that it will do any good.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
As someone who constantly travels the world, I can (happily) reassure you that most people do NOT live on a street similar to that street in the 2nd photo: ie on a dirt road, in a concrete shack, in a shitty town in the middle of an awful foggy desert. Northern Peru, as we have established, is unusually hideous
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
Just to hang some numbers on that, the median personal income worldwide is now almost $10k. Rural Peru, median incomes are probably going to be in the $3k a year range.
Edit to add: I'm probably a bit high with my estimate for rural Peru. The CEIC has monthly median personal income in Lima as $550, so I'd be staggered if that kind of town was more than $150/month.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
As someone who constantly travels the world, I can (happily) reassure you that most people do NOT live on a street similar to that street in the 2nd photo: ie on a dirt road, in a concrete shack, in a shitty town in the middle of an awful foggy desert. Northern Peru, as we have established, is unusually hideous
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
Indeed: the gap between that median person's life and the average PBers has never been smaller, such has been the positives of globalisation. Said person won't live in fear of being unable to eat, they'll own a smartphone, and they'll eat the same kind of street food that is rhapsodised over by Clerkenwell hipsters.
Yes, exactly. Global average income is now about $10,000 a year
Not a vast amount, but certainly enough to get you a decent apartment, a smartphone, a fridge, a TV, probably a vehicle of some kind
The road outside will be paved, you will obviously have electricity and water, and some kind of healthcare. Your kids will go to school, you will occasionally eat out, you'll have the odd holiday, and so forth
There are still pockets of desperate poverty, and people living on dirt roads in concrete shacks in the shittiest parts of Peru, but they are not the average, not any more, Praise Be!
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
The Ashcroft and YouGov polls are very similar in the Lab/LD/Green vs Con/Ref. One is 59-34, the other 60-34 - dish it either way it's a swing of between 12.5% and 13% from December 2019.
The YouGov England sub sample is Labour 45%, Conservative 21%, Reform 15%, LD 10%, Green 7%.
The swing from Conservative to Labour is an eyewatering 19.5% while the swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat is 12%.
I like plenty of rain. Water is life. I'd much rather live in a place with a bit too much than a lot too little. And when the sun does come out after a wet and dismal winter, just think of the shining green. We are very, very lucky to live where we do.
“Two thirds of Britons (67%) believe it is likely that Israel has committed war crimes during their attack on Gaza since October. Just 10% think this is unlikely.” - @YouGov polling.
PB seems less convinced unless it's just the vocal ones.
So my take on climate change is this: everywhere in the world is going to get hotter and hotter… apart from the UK which will, uniquely, contrive to get greyer and rainier and even more dismal
Oh well. At least it should discourage the boat people
I agree. Our winters are getting warmer but wetter and more miserable and our summers warmer but cloudier. Still one of the most dismal climates for its latitude in the world is Lima which despite being in the Tropics manages to be under constant grey 8 months of the year.
Indeed. Lima manages to be climatically way more miserable than anywhere in the UK, which is quite a feat given its location. It always annoys me when I read history books or guide books that reference Lima and don’t mention this fairly notable affliction
Why the fuck did the Spanish build their capital there? The incans very sensibly chose sunny and refreshing Cusco
Possibly the worst “place” I have ever been - in terms of climate meeting geography - is the desert north of Lima. The Sechura. It’s a dismal grey sand desert, strewn with trash, and cursed with that same cruel and depressing climate - chilly grey cloud like Glasgow but without the chirpy locals
Also shit food and a history of urgent child sacrifice
One of the worst drives of my life was in the desert north of lima stuck with a mad driver driving like a maniac on a narrow road and swerving at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic. And yes its bleak and the locals are miserable.
I took this photo on a beach in deserty northern Peru as it seemed to summarise the whole place
However the little colonial towns do have a certain charm, under those sparkling blue skies
Very Quantum of Solace.
Imagine living on that street in the second photo. Wake up, put your head out of the door, hang yourself
Most people in the world live somewhere like that. It's Median Street, Planet Earth, 2024. Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc. Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America. And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
As someone who constantly travels the world, I can (happily) reassure you that most people do NOT live on a street similar to that street in the 2nd photo: ie on a dirt road, in a concrete shack, in a shitty town in the middle of an awful foggy desert. Northern Peru, as we have established, is unusually hideous
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
Just to hang some numbers on that, the median personal income worldwide is now almost $10k. Rural Peru, median incomes are probably going to be in the $3k a year range.
Edit to add: I'm probably a bit high with my estimate for rural Peru. The CEIC has monthly median personal income in Lima as $550, so I'd be staggered if that kind of town was more than $150/month.
Sounds about right
Subjectively speaking, the reason I TOOK that photo was because it was so dismally grim. The dirt road, the awful housing, the ugly weather, the utter desperation of it all, lost in a frigid desert
This was back in about 2012, but even then, that town stood out as being horrible. Nearly all towns in Peru have paved roads, for a start. Dirt roads are rare
So that street was and is not average for Peru and nor is it average for the world, and I have seen much of the world
Colombia is poor ($7k per capita) but I have yet to see a dirt road in a town
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
Absolute bampots, country is well and truly F**ked
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It’s software - which means it has a very high initial development cost which is then recovered from subsequent sales.
Now he may be making a lot of profit but the price has to be competitive with other offerings else people would change the software
GPs are a slightly tricky market to sell into, because of the blurry lines of authority between PCT/CCGs (or whatever they're called this week), the individual practices, and the central GP IT Futures system.
That means that it's usually only either specialist providers or big consultancies who bother, so you'd expect margins to be higher than they might otherwise be in a more open market.
No evidence of wrongdoing in that, of course. It would be a different matter it could be shown that they were getting preferential access to GP IT Futures or something, and I'm sure people are already busy digging for any sort of evidence that might point in that direction...
ICB (Integrated Care Board) is the current name for the organisations formerly known as CCGs.
I have no input into primary care IT, but there is usually a connectivity and compatibility requirement set higher up in the tree than the individual GP practice.
If you ever wonder how we have more money going in and less coming out then look no further than contracts like these.
Brand new Lidl store opened this morning in Ilford North, next door to the B & Q along the A12. A few Pro-Palestine protesters in attendance (with even fewer police to keep an eye on them) around 11 am. But they were gone by lunch time.
What the fuck does Lidl have to do with Palestine? I do not understand these people.
Have you ever tried to engage with them?
Going along and asking "What the fuck are you 'ere for, then?" or "D'you think they're secretly making Israeli warplanes behind the baked beans shelves?" might not be the best way of finding out, though.
Ten seconds' arduous work finding out about Lidl and the Schwarz Group might be helpful.
Time they read the riot act , got the dogs and rammed these halfwits off the street with a few clatters and teh arse out of their breeks to remind them not to do it again
Hester made page one of private eye this week. His company has a profit margin of circa 50% and most (if not all) of its revenue is from the NHS. Funnily enough he has enough cash to punt to the party of Government.
Yes, and this illustrates why another PM would not help the Tories. It is quite incredible that the PM apparently sees nothing wrong with accepting money and even free helicopter ride from someone who has done so well out of contracts awarded by the public sector. There really has been nothing like this in British politics since the 18th century - government has become an exercise in ripping off the public for the personal enrichment of those on the inside track. And the public has rumbled them and is about to take revenge.
18th Century Britannia? Nah. This is Soviet Union gangsterism.
If this was a third world country It would get reported as graft. A large public sector contracts, large profits, followed by gracious donation to the boss class.
My understanding is that there are lots of small contracts, with individual GP practices, so this is actually quite unlikely to be a process with which ministers could interfere much.
Very different to the PPE situation.
Fair enough - although I wasn’t alleging graft my observation was more about how it would be reported were it happening elsewhere.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
It’s software - which means it has a very high initial development cost which is then recovered from subsequent sales.
Now he may be making a lot of profit but the price has to be competitive with other offerings else people would change the software
GPs are a slightly tricky market to sell into, because of the blurry lines of authority between PCT/CCGs (or whatever they're called this week), the individual practices, and the central GP IT Futures system.
That means that it's usually only either specialist providers or big consultancies who bother, so you'd expect margins to be higher than they might otherwise be in a more open market.
No evidence of wrongdoing in that, of course. It would be a different matter it could be shown that they were getting preferential access to GP IT Futures or something, and I'm sure people are already busy digging for any sort of evidence that might point in that direction...
The TPP sitn stinks. Massive corruption. They get the bonanza umbrella rights, and sluice large amounts into the Governing party. Something straight out of the worst excesses of communism.
TPP is one giant umbrella, which GP surgeries opt into so it’s not fair to state that it’s a series of mini contracts.
I’ve complained both to my GP surgery and TPP themselves. Not that it will do any good.
This is their main product for GPs: https://buyingcatalogue.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue-solutions/10052-002 - looks like a competitor for EMIS, which I know a bit more about... (EMIS is probably the market leader but there are also competitors such as Vision, so it's not like TPP have a monopoly)
I'd be wary of chasing too far down rabbit holes in search of easily-disproven corruption. The racism is more than enough to condemn Hester, and the Tories for taking his cash.
I like plenty of rain. Water is life. I'd much rather live in a place with a bit too much than a lot too little. And when the sun does come out after a wet and dismal winter, just think of the shining green. We are very, very lucky to live where we do.
Actually you’re right
I’m going to stop moaning about the British weather and get back to the office. After all, it’s just weather. I will cope!
Comments
Asking for a friend
Sad.
Anyone at big odds worthy of a quid? Someone who has charisma, could make a difference and scare Starmer.
Johnny Mercer?
Very different to the PPE situation.
Changing my plans for the weekend now
This is why some people want political parties to be solely funded from tax money, on a per vote basis.
If the Lib Dems are on 50% in 50 seats then that alone is about 4% of the voters. They'd need to be on barely over 2% across the rest of the country to average 6% overall.
Of course, they wouldn't need to get 50% to win a seat: 40% will do in many cases. However, they will get 50%+ in quite a few because that's how the spread works. Likewise, there wouldn't be a cliff-edge where the LD share suddenly drops to deposit-losing level. There'll be near-misses and respectable results. All of which means that a 6% national share probably translates to 25 seats at most.
Also: many public organizations require contractors to conform to certain practices, e.g. no slavery (modern style), etc.
As it is, most of today was absolutely glorious in north London. Raining now, but such is the way of spring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3jdbFOidds
Sob.
There are ways that malfeasance could still occur, but there's been no evidence presented for it, and the supposition of large central contracts in the earlier comment is, based on the Guardian's reporting, not correct.
I think we should be careful about making unfounded allegations.
"Who governs?"
Might possibly hit 42C along the coast. Unspeakable
https://x.com/ASKMeteo/status/1768277521223581916?s=20
I recall from my student days that a defining characteristic of nutters of left, right and religion was a personal hygiene problem.
The hypothesis that someone who is a supporter of the government + government contract = corruption is missing quite a few, important steps.
Mind he’s clearly doing good business given the reported margins, and the money is, ultimately, public money. So it shouldn’t be unreasonable to ask whether the GP practices are getting value for money.
The army was conducting a long distance run in full kit along a highway. I remember thinking that they were going to lose some soldiers.
The Ashcroft poll is out of kilter with others which put the party around 9%, lower than the 11-12% it was scoring for much of last year but more realistic. What I think will happen is that they will do very well in the May locals especially in their target areas where there are already many Lib Dem councillors, that will then give them a polling boost and come the election the final score will be around 11% but much more efficiently distributed than last time.
Key thing will be the Tory vote share. The lower they drop, the higher the Lib Dem seat count.
and some long races on soft/heavy, where the handicapper took some out the equation as it seems to me.
Now he may be making a lot of profit but the price has to be competitive with other offerings else people would change the software
However, I am bored of dumping on my own country. Britain is in a rough place, and it needs dramatically new directions (which Starmer won't provide), but we have been in dire straits before. I hope and faintly believe we will somehow pull through
Or, as is highly plausible, AI will make politics and economics all irrelevant, anyway
Utterly horrific. I remember arriving in a mud hut village under the Erte Ale volcano where it was still 40C at 6pm, as the sun went down
People actually LIVED there - and with no electricity that I could see. So no aircon and no electric fans?
The trouble is the UK baseline is so horrendous that it would take many decades of this trend to give us sunshine totals even remotely as decent as much of the rest of the world.
Most people have never stayed in a hotel, owned a car, held a year's income in a bank account, etc.
Yet suicide is more frequent in the USA and Canada than it is in Latin America.
And the curious thing: that's with "Latin America" defined as Hispanophone and Lusophone America. There is a single country in South America that tops USA and Canada for self-topping: Guyana.
And once entrenched, such systems are quite hard to change to an alternate provider.
Nonetheless, the spectacle of the sole shareholder of a company enjoying 50% net profit margins, which gets all of its revenues from the state, donating very large sums of money to the party in power, is not an edifying one.
I'd suggest that the problem lies more in allowing such large donations from individuals to political parties. But it's not the easiest of areas for reform.
There's also the problem of government, in all its various forms, being piss poor at negotiating commercial contracts.
If you look at sunshine totals around the world, the British Isles (Ireland included) are quite exceptional outliers. In a bad way
eg
annual sunshine hours in Nuuk, Greenland: 1400
annual sunshine hours in Glasgow, Scotland: 1200
Glasgow is drearier than GREENLAND, and about the same as Lima (1230), which, as we have noted, has one of the most depressing climates on earth. Britain as a whole gets about the same sun as the Aleutian islands
As someone who craves sunshine I give hourly thanks that my job allows me to seek it out, away from the UK
Glazer seems to have annoyed quit a range of people..
https://x.com/hering_david/status/1764646648527962309?s=46&t=fJymV-V84rexmlQMLXHHJQ
Guardian
1) you need a product that is as good or better than TPPs
2) you need to sell that to the GP practices which won’t be cheap
3) you have the cost of getting the data out of the old system into the new one.
All of that means setting up is hard work
The global median person probably lives in a concrete apartment in a large city in India or China. Not beautiful, but not terrible
Says it all, I think.
But it's not me you have to persuade.
Ten seconds' arduous work finding out about Lidl and the Schwarz Group might be helpful.
Former 🇷🇺 President Medvedev, the head of Russia’s ruling party, outlines Moscow’s “peace plan:” unconditional surrender of Ukraine, its dissolution as a subject of international law, reparations to Russia, full absorption into the Russian Federation.
https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1768266069955780856
If you were a good advisor, would you want "Advisor to Rishi Sunak, March 2024 - December 2024" on your CV?
If I was told "you have to live there and stay there all the time" I'd probably go for Ilulissat
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/11/358880/supermarket-in-france-mislabels-israeli-products-as-moroccan-to-dodge-boycott
As a Labour voter this next time, there is one, and only one, person I fear at the helm of the tory party. And it’s not because I think Labour wouldn’t still win but because he would get some people to vote for the tories that no-one else can. Boris is also a born liar and thoroughly dishonest, which makes him dangerous to fight against.
Thankfully he doesn’t want the job back for now.
Sam Freedman
@Samfr
·
1h
The campaign when we get there is going to make Theresa May in 2017 look like JFK.
https://twitter.com/Samfr
That means that it's usually only either specialist providers or big consultancies who bother, so you'd expect margins to be higher than they might otherwise be in a more open market.
No evidence of wrongdoing in that, of course. It would be a different matter it could be shown that they were getting preferential access to GP IT Futures or something, and I'm sure people are already busy digging for any sort of evidence that might point in that direction...
AND from his wiki page:
Proxmire was noted for issuing his Golden Fleece Award, which was presented monthly between 1975 and 1988 to focus media attention on projects that he viewed as self-serving and wasteful of taxpayer dollars. Winners of the Golden Fleece Award included governmental organizations like the United States Department of Defense, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service.
The first Golden Fleece Award was awarded in 1975 to the National Science Foundation for funding an $84,000 study on why people fall in love. Other Golden Fleece awards over the years were awarded to the Justice Department for conducting a study on why prisoners wanted to get out of jail, the National Institute of Mental Health to study a Peruvian brothel ("The researchers said they made repeated visits in the interests of accuracy," reported The New York Times), and the Federal Aviation Administration for studying "the physical measurements of 432 airline stewardesses, paying special attention to the 'length of the buttocks.'"
SSI - Worth noting that Proxmire was as relentless - and amusing - a budget hawk during both Republican AND Democratic administrations.
By contrast, in 2017, the LibDems lost both votes and vote share, yet increased their seats by 50%.
Go back to 1997 for the biggest example of this: the LDs dropped almost a million votes, and yet more than doubled their number of seats.
In Scotland, this has been taken to extremes. In terms of vote share, the LibDems were fourth by a long way, getting less than 10% of the vote. Despite getting half the number of votes as Labour, they got 4x as many seats.
The LibDem vote today is much more "spiky" than other parties. They will lose a lot of deposits in the next General Election, but because (a) the Conservative vote share is so far down, and (b) they have managed to establish themselves as the challenger in many seats, then they will likely make substantial gains.
(FWIW, I don't believe they'll get 6%. I think they'll get 10-13%, probably around 12%.)
I can’t think of a worse leader in my lifetime when put under pressure by journalists. Anyone?
TPP is one giant umbrella, which GP surgeries opt into so it’s not fair to state that it’s a series of mini contracts.
I’ve complained both to my GP surgery and TPP themselves. Not that it will do any good.
Edit to add: I'm probably a bit high with my estimate for rural Peru. The CEIC has monthly median personal income in Lima as $550, so I'd be staggered if that kind of town was more than $150/month.
Not a vast amount, but certainly enough to get you a decent apartment, a smartphone, a fridge, a TV, probably a vehicle of some kind
The road outside will be paved, you will obviously have electricity and water, and some kind of healthcare. Your kids will go to school, you will occasionally eat out, you'll have the odd holiday, and so forth
There are still pockets of desperate poverty, and people living on dirt roads in concrete shacks in the shittiest parts of Peru, but they are not the average, not any more, Praise Be!
The YouGov England sub sample is Labour 45%, Conservative 21%, Reform 15%, LD 10%, Green 7%.
The swing from Conservative to Labour is an eyewatering 19.5% while the swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat is 12%.
@YouGov polling.
PB seems less convinced unless it's just the vocal ones.
Subjectively speaking, the reason I TOOK that photo was because it was so dismally grim. The dirt road, the awful housing, the ugly weather, the utter desperation of it all, lost in a frigid desert
This was back in about 2012, but even then, that town stood out as being horrible. Nearly all towns in Peru have paved roads, for a start. Dirt roads are rare
So that street was and is not average for Peru and nor is it average for the world, and I have seen much of the world
Colombia is poor ($7k per capita) but I have yet to see a dirt road in a town
I have no input into primary care IT, but there is usually a connectivity and compatibility requirement set higher up in the tree than the individual GP practice.
If you ever wonder how we have more money going in and less coming out then look no further than contracts like these.
It's under GP IT Futures, so there should be a fairly comprehensive paper trail of their dealings with DHSC if there's any hint of dodgy goings-on. Looks like Jolyon has had a dig into them, but doesn't seem to have found much: https://goodlawproject.org/government-gives-tory-donor-137m-in-hidden-payments/
I'd be wary of chasing too far down rabbit holes in search of easily-disproven corruption. The racism is more than enough to condemn Hester, and the Tories for taking his cash.
I’m going to stop moaning about the British weather and get back to the office. After all, it’s just weather. I will cope!