I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
I think it's lovely to see some creativity and originality in children's names. Far nicer than facing a monotonous wall of Marks, Davids and Bens, surely.
Alan appears to be very rare these days. And a certain sit-com means no-one calls their child Derek or Rodney any more.
Steve, Paul, Andrew and David have virtually gone too. 50% of male Gen X. Joe and Tom were ubiquitous at the turn of the millennium. Not many in Primary now. It's just fashion.
Edit. Chris has gone too. Luke was another that rose from nowhere and fell again.
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
The overriding message of the Cass report seems to have passed her by completely.
...Despite the best intentions of everyone with a stake in this complex issue, the toxicity of the debate is exceptional. I have faced criticism for engaging with groups and individuals who take a social justice approach and advocate for gender affirmation, and have equally been criticised for involving groups and individuals who urge more caution. The knowledge and expertise of experienced clinicians who have reached different conclusions about the best approach to care are sometimes dismissed and invalidated.
There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour. This must stop.
Polarisation and stifling of debate do nothing to help the young people caught in the middle of a stormy social discourse, and in the long run will also hamper the research that is essential to finding the best way of supporting them to thrive..
All this talk of rational debate, informed by evidence, is putrid heresy.
Anyone who disagrees with me needs to be burnt at the stake. For the profit of all our souls.
They are criticised for talking to those who take "a more cautious approach" (than the affirmation model).
Huge assumption and has @BlancheLivermore misgendered poor old (young) Rhylee??
I may well have. I'm not familiar with the name; I've only seen Riley before, which I think is usually a boy's name
You clearly aren't an aficionado of Inside Out. Best kids movie of the last couple of decades.
Edit. Nor indeed Riley Reid. (Don't google at work!!).
According to Wikipedia, Riley is still mainly a boy's name, although a Google image search for Riley is 50/50 but a Bing image search for Riley is 100 per cent female (including Rachel Riley). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
I think it's lovely to see some creativity and originality in children's names. Far nicer than facing a monotonous wall of Marks, Davids and Bens, surely.
Alan appears to be very rare these days. And a certain sit-com means no-one calls their child Derek or Rodney any more.
Steve, Paul, Andrew and David have virtually gone too. 50% of male Gen X. Joe and Tom were ubiquitous at the turn of the millennium. Not many in Primary now. It's just fashion.
Surely Tom still exists widely? The Royal kids are at St. Thomas's so that might jolt peoples' attention.
OT I clicked through to the writeup in Reuters on Biden leading Trump by 4% and it's a masterpiece of both-sides-ism:
Both candidates carry significant liabilities ahead of what is expected to be a close race and the first U.S. presidential election rematch in nearly 70 years. Trump is due to appear in a Manhattan courtroom on April 15 for the start of the first of four pending criminal trials. The trial in Manhattan involves accusations Trump covered up a payment to an adult film actress before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for the actress' silence about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies any such encounter. The other trials involve charges Trump tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat or that he mishandled sensitive documents after leaving the presidency in 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Biden's liabilities include concerns about his age - 81 - as well as strong criticism from a slice of his Democratic Party over his support of Israel's war on Hamas militants.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
If others have a terrible argument, then let that show and defeat it.
If you need to prevent others from speaking then maybe your own views aren't as strong as they should be,
To take an extreme example: if someone came on PB with clear Nazi or fascist views, and talked about how Jews were evil, awful people who controlled the world, and derailed every thread onto that topic, refusing to debate what he writes:
You'd be okay with that?
Derailing every thread and refusing to debate is not good behaviour so can justify a banning no matter what their views are.
If someone came here with clear Nazi or fascist views and debated them in a genuine manner, then I would dislike their views but yes I'd have no problem with their being here.
However this is a private platform so it would be up to the site owners what they think.
But then you'd get them segueing between topics, as happens on here, so one minute it's a bit of vile racism or softhead conspiracy theory, the next it's their favourite Bond film and tips for the perfect poached egg. No, not for me. Rather not be 'challenged' like that. It's all downside because few people holding strong views of any hue, let alone hardcore stuff like white supremacy, are ever 'debated' out of them. Not even you at your most nuanced, deft and persuasive would stand a chance.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
I think it's lovely to see some creativity and originality in children's names. Far nicer than facing a monotonous wall of Marks, Davids and Bens, surely.
Alan appears to be very rare these days. And a certain sit-com means no-one calls their child Derek or Rodney any more.
Steve, Paul, Andrew and David have virtually gone too. 50% of male Gen X. Joe and Tom were ubiquitous at the turn of the millennium. Not many in Primary now. It's just fashion.
Edit. Chris has gone too. Luke was another that rose from nowhere and fell again.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
IRL I have a 2 very common names and a unique email address without a random number. Only got that as I got an invite to just gmail while it was still in Beta though, not an option for many nowadays.
Fares fair. The Paris transport company runs buses in London.
Doesn’t surprise me, it’s rained almost non-stop in the Seine’s watershed for the last several months. I assume they have similar sewage overflow issues as London.
Climate change is real, and we need to adapt. It seems that warmer wetter winters are our future. In Leics we have had hardly any frosts. The clay soil here is waterlogged. Better for planting rice than barley!
We’ve actually had a run of a few pretty dry winters (but warm). Until a few months ago large parts of Western Europe were in severe drought restrictions mainly because of winter deficits.
What is happening with a warmer climate though is more extremes, and rutty weather.
Record alert ! I do believe this is the earliest in the year we've breached we've passed an average of 8 Celsius for England (Central England data series) (Well since 1772 when the records began).
What - so it's currently unseasonably warm? Doesn't feel it here! Though I am aware that people's perceptions of what 'seasonable' is is way out from reality. What sticks in the memory is the periods of high pressure, in any season.
The last month to be below the 1961-1990 average in mean Central England Temperature was December 2022. Britain is certainly having an extended run of abnormally warm weather.
February 2024 was the second-warmest February in the entire record. Five of the monthly records are held by years since 2000. Won't be too long until all the records fall.
Fair enough. I'm extrapolating from 'what it feels like now' - and I am shivering. But March was warm, and last winter was warm, and Autumn was warm. It feels to me like last July/August was cold, but clearly not by historical standards. May and June was warm. Can't remember before that!
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
My son has, I think, a unique name. Unfortunately, I tried to register a gmail account for him of the form firstname.surname@gmail.com before he was 13 and got the address permanently banned. So now he has a random number tacked on too, despite the uniqueness of his name. Annoying.
Back on topic, listening to the people interviewed in Blackpool, the one thing that bound all of them together (even the Tory) was that the town is visibly crumbling all around them. Blackpool can't sustain chain shops despite tourist numbers, and when most of the shops are owned by non-UK companies there is little incentive to do anything other than leave them shuttered and hope values rise naturally.
Blackpool is unique in some ways and not in others. It has a real problem with former B&Bs that modern tourists don't want to stay in - what to do with them? Which is how so many have ended up filled with migrants and the very poorest, or left to rot.
The solution? Buy large numbers of empty buildings, bulldoze them, and build homes. Blackpool has a microclimate - you can drive down the M55 where there is drizzle in Preston and find Blackpool free of cloud. It has rail and motorway links, a small airport which could be reopened and a tourist industry. Its the kind of place that people could be drawn to, but it needs politicians with vision. And it has lacked them for a long long time.
I have little doubt that Labour will win the byelection, and then little will change. Unless we decide that we are going to modernise these places and reinvest in their next phase of development - rather than bemoaning that the old times have gone - then all of these decaying towns will just keep decaying.
Recognition of the need to change- that Mytown used to be famous for something and that something has died- is blooming difficult, though.
There must be examples of towns successfully reinventing themselves, but it's not a comfortable process.
Stockton-on-Tees is doing a great job. Steel and shipbuilding have long gone, but the old Teesside Development Corporation had the land redeveloped as houses and an office park - complete with a Durham University campus.
Go forward a few decades and the town was struggling - too much retail space. So the council have bought the 70s shopping mall and derelict hotel and has bulldozed them, to create a riverside park. The town theatre - a relatively big 4,000 seat one - was painstakingly restored and reopened, with a council-owned Hilton just round the corner.
The Tories hated all this of course - describing both the theatre and the hotel as "white elephants" as who will use them? Yet the theatre is booked out for a year at a time and the hotel needs a bigger car park. So it can be done, but you need council management who know how to get things done and political stability to get you through several rounds of elections. Had the Tories won, the plan was to halt the works and leave the town with more half-finished stuff which they would blame Labour for...
BIB (Bit In Bold) 1: Note the "Corporation": this had state involvement and functioned much better than the outsource-to-private-sector jobbies that are so fashionable.
BIB (Bit In Bold) 2: I think that's the best solution for places that can't be revived: knock them down and make a park out of it.
Bradford is taking a similar approach. The City Council recognised it had a) some very ugly buildings, and b) too many offices by some way. It's solution was to rationalise office uses into the attractive Victorian buildings (of which Bradford has many) and knock down the ugly 1960s buildings, leaving the spaces as public open space. A win-win - but something of a surprise that a council can, if it wants, do such a thing; why haven't other towns knocked down their ugly buildings and replaced them with public open space? It seems such an open goal, if it's possible to do.
There's a lot more wrong with Bradford than a few soulless office buildings.
The council has no money, either.
I'm sure that's true. But it's striking how relatively easily the city centre has been made more beautiful.
I also have a hospital appointment this am (though not as excruciating as MattW's I hope) and on checking my best route I see Glasgow or more precisely Bishopriggs has a Colston Rd. I wonder if it's named after the great man?
I believe so, yes.
However, there is no way to know for certain as Edward Colston, I've learnt from PB, has been "obliterated" from history.
I retracted that comment, which was over the top, but his name has certainly been removed from an awful lot of stuff in Bristol. If thats the will of the (majority of the) people then fine.
My bigger point is that I abhor judging people from the past with modern standards. How many of us on PB if we had lived in Colston's time, and had his lived experiences would have behaved the same way he did? You might cry that you would never be a slave trader, but we are all products of our time, our upbringing, the consensus beliefs of the world around us.
I was teasing you!
I would guess that very few of us on PB will be remembered in 300 years time, with streets or concert halls named after us. If someone 3 centuries for now is judging me, and condemns me for something that seems normal now… I don’t think I care, to be honest! It doesn’t affect me now. I hope people in 300 years are looking out for each other, not worrying about whether they’re hurting my feelings by renaming the Bondegezou Memorial Zero Gravity Skate Park.
Plenty of more local slave traders to name a Glasgow street after ...! On checking, the 'Wegian Colston is an old place name, not a street name in origin. Coltston Farm, before it all got built up. At a guess a contraction of Cauldstane = cold stone. But Coltpark is another very local name.
Huge assumption and has @BlancheLivermore misgendered poor old (young) Rhylee??
I may well have. I'm not familiar with the name; I've only seen Riley before, which I think is usually a boy's name
You clearly aren't an aficionado of Inside Out. Best kids movie of the last couple of decades.
Edit. Nor indeed Riley Reid. (Don't google at work!!).
According to Wikipedia, Riley is still mainly a boy's name, although a Google image search for Riley is 50/50 but a Bing image search for Riley is 100 per cent female (including Rachel Riley). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
Definitely don’t search for Riley Reid, she’s an, umm, actress, in rather specialist movies.
For that reason I would also avoid giving a child an alliterate name, as it helps to guard against commonality with stage names, which are way more likely to be alliterate than legal names, and also way more likely to be undesirable in future.
There’s going to be a whole bunch of ladies in the US and the UK who have Riley Reid as their legal name, and I can imagine many of them might have wanted to change it as a result of this actress - although potential employers are almost certainly not going to find their applicant in a Google search, and are likely to have the IT department wonder what the hell the HR department is up to!!
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
Yes all good stuff. I would say, on eyeballing it, that around 30-40% of these polled British Muslims hold values that don't necessarily coincide with those of a western liberal democracy.
What does q.03 mean when it says that 46% would vote for George Galloway's Workers Party. Is that prompted with no others mentioned?
Although it should be noted that plenty of Brits who are not Muslim hold values at odds with a western liberal democracy.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
I think it's lovely to see some creativity and originality in children's names. Far nicer than facing a monotonous wall of Marks, Davids and Bens, surely.
Alan appears to be very rare these days. And a certain sit-com means no-one calls their child Derek or Rodney any more.
Steve, Paul, Andrew and David have virtually gone too. 50% of male Gen X. Joe and Tom were ubiquitous at the turn of the millennium. Not many in Primary now. It's just fashion.
Edit. Chris has gone too. Luke was another that rose from nowhere and fell again.
Luke Perry 90210 imo.
Wasn't "Luke" specifically because dads wanted to say "Luke, I am your father"?
"Kevin" has risen and fallen with the popularity of Kevin Costner
"Victor Meldrew", the protagonist of the comedy series "One Foot In The Grave", was named because nobody with that forename-surname combination existed in the UK
This is a very significant strategic problem, particularly since wet, warm and stormy winters are now likely to become the norm here.
Some agricultural land may need to be surrendered to extended flood plain, the EA will need to improve defences and drainage, and the government will need to give more support to farmers.
Has any of this been thought through?
Recent tory Environment Secretaries have included O-Patz, Truss, Leadsom, Ada Shufflebottom and "Big" Steve Barclay so, no.
Owen Paterson was actually quite a good one. And he did understand it.
His big flaw was scepticism about climate change, but understanding the countryside wasn't one of them.
Hmmm. Some mutual contradictions in there. If you want to ‘understand the countryside’ you do need to have an understanding of climate change as the latter is impacting massively on the former. And any plan for the future has to take it into account.
Unfortunately the current Conservatives have a tendency to equate environment with farming. There are overlaps, of course, but the two are not synonymous.
As someone close to me works right at the top of Government on this I could have expressed it a lot more rudely.
Yes, you're quite brilliant.
You teach, you travel, you pen books, you write music, you have friends at the top of Government, you have Tory friends who agree with you, you have time to go out on the streets and hear what people are saying..
It's a wonder you have any time to yourself at all.
What's your problem? Whether @Heathener has that back story or not, who cares?
People can claim all sorts of things on an anonymous blog. There aren't many road sweepers or refuse collectors living in trailers in Weston-Super-Mare from what I can see on PB. We are all millionaires from the right side of the tracks, captains of industry posting 24/7. Maybe if any of us could be arsed, so to do, we might even question your back story, but as we aren't really interested we won't.
Just as a general point, if you are make some kind of appeal to authority based on personal/professional experience, then you should also expect that it will get scrutinised, even on an 'anonymous blog'.
Actually, I find Heathener's persona entirely credible. If one wanted a reasonably paid job in a hurry, and one where you could do as much overtime as you liked and then clear off for some walking or writing, the RM makes excellent sense - it's apparently desperate for staff almost anywhere and anywhen.
Maybe she does both: perhaps she squeezes in a round before assembly, or steps up to do it during the school holidays on a flexible contract to supplement her income.
It's bloody impressive. I certainly couldn't do it. Not around going to the opera, connecting with my friends in government, travelling abroad and going out onto the streets.
Apologies - muddled with Blanche Livermore. Can't think why. But the timings involved make Heathener's story still credible.
Fares fair. The Paris transport company runs buses in London.
Doesn’t surprise me, it’s rained almost non-stop in the Seine’s watershed for the last several months. I assume they have similar sewage overflow issues as London.
Climate change is real, and we need to adapt. It seems that warmer wetter winters are our future. In Leics we have had hardly any frosts. The clay soil here is waterlogged. Better for planting rice than barley!
We’ve actually had a run of a few pretty dry winters (but warm). Until a few months ago large parts of Western Europe were in severe drought restrictions mainly because of winter deficits.
What is happening with a warmer climate though is more extremes, and rutty weather.
Record alert ! I do believe this is the earliest in the year we've breached we've passed an average of 8 Celsius for England (Central England data series) (Well since 1772 when the records began).
What - so it's currently unseasonably warm? Doesn't feel it here! Though I am aware that people's perceptions of what 'seasonable' is is way out from reality. What sticks in the memory is the periods of high pressure, in any season.
The last month to be below the 1961-1990 average in mean Central England Temperature was December 2022. Britain is certainly having an extended run of abnormally warm weather.
February 2024 was the second-warmest February in the entire record. Five of the monthly records are held by years since 2000. Won't be too long until all the records fall.
Fair enough. I'm extrapolating from 'what it feels like now' - and I am shivering. But March was warm, and last winter was warm, and Autumn was warm. It feels to me like last July/August was cold, but clearly not by historical standards. May and June was warm. Can't remember before that!
September was disgustingly hot. An absolutely awful heatwave that went on for days and led to me attempting to sleep in the garden. Miserable.
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
The results on the Israel / Palestine conflict are horrific though.
Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 24 Hamas did not commit murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 39 Don’t know 38
Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 24 Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 49 Don’t know 27
Israel is a racist endeavour 72 Israel is not a racist endeavour 8 Don’t know 20
Those sort of numbers are seen only among muslims living in the West, and not among muslims living in the Middle East, which is potentially very worrying for Western governments.
I don't think Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish homeland and I think you can make a case for Israel being a racist endeavour, although I believe it's more nuanced than that.
Clearly Hamas committed horrific murder and rape in Israel on October 7th
Huge assumption and has @BlancheLivermore misgendered poor old (young) Rhylee??
I may well have. I'm not familiar with the name; I've only seen Riley before, which I think is usually a boy's name
You clearly aren't an aficionado of Inside Out. Best kids movie of the last couple of decades.
Edit. Nor indeed Riley Reid. (Don't google at work!!).
According to Wikipedia, Riley is still mainly a boy's name, although a Google image search for Riley is 50/50 but a Bing image search for Riley is 100 per cent female (including Rachel Riley). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
Definitely don’t search for Riley Reid, she’s an, umm, actress, in rather specialist movies.
For that reason I would also avoid giving a child an alliterate name, as it helps to guard against commonality with stage names, which are way more likely to be alliterate than legal names, and also way more likely to be undesirable in future.
There’s going to be a whole bunch of ladies in the US and the UK who have Riley Reid as their legal name, and I can imagine many of them might have wanted to change it as a result of this actress - although potential employers are almost certainly not going to find their applicant in a Google search, and are likely to have the IT department wonder what the hell the HR department is up to!!
One is always impressed with the specialist knowledge on PB. Every day is a learning day far beyond dreary old school.
Fares fair. The Paris transport company runs buses in London.
Doesn’t surprise me, it’s rained almost non-stop in the Seine’s watershed for the last several months. I assume they have similar sewage overflow issues as London.
Climate change is real, and we need to adapt. It seems that warmer wetter winters are our future. In Leics we have had hardly any frosts. The clay soil here is waterlogged. Better for planting rice than barley!
We’ve actually had a run of a few pretty dry winters (but warm). Until a few months ago large parts of Western Europe were in severe drought restrictions mainly because of winter deficits.
What is happening with a warmer climate though is more extremes, and rutty weather.
Record alert ! I do believe this is the earliest in the year we've breached we've passed an average of 8 Celsius for England (Central England data series) (Well since 1772 when the records began).
What - so it's currently unseasonably warm? Doesn't feel it here! Though I am aware that people's perceptions of what 'seasonable' is is way out from reality. What sticks in the memory is the periods of high pressure, in any season.
The last month to be below the 1961-1990 average in mean Central England Temperature was December 2022. Britain is certainly having an extended run of abnormally warm weather.
February 2024 was the second-warmest February in the entire record. Five of the monthly records are held by years since 2000. Won't be too long until all the records fall.
Fair enough. I'm extrapolating from 'what it feels like now' - and I am shivering. But March was warm, and last winter was warm, and Autumn was warm. It feels to me like last July/August was cold, but clearly not by historical standards. May and June was warm. Can't remember before that!
Yes. I wasn't arguing with you - shifting baseline syndrome is a real effect and interesting in its own right - but I was talking advantage to nerd out a bit.
Part of the effect is that the average for Central England is about 1.3C above the 1961-1990 average used as a baseline. So the month has to be pretty cold by today's standards to be below the average for the 60s, 70s and 80s.
And these differences are pretty small compared to the annual cycle 12.3C between the monthly average for September 2023 (17.0C +3.4) and January 2024 (4.7C +0.9).
Back on topic, listening to the people interviewed in Blackpool, the one thing that bound all of them together (even the Tory) was that the town is visibly crumbling all around them. Blackpool can't sustain chain shops despite tourist numbers, and when most of the shops are owned by non-UK companies there is little incentive to do anything other than leave them shuttered and hope values rise naturally.
Blackpool is unique in some ways and not in others. It has a real problem with former B&Bs that modern tourists don't want to stay in - what to do with them? Which is how so many have ended up filled with migrants and the very poorest, or left to rot.
The solution? Buy large numbers of empty buildings, bulldoze them, and build homes. Blackpool has a microclimate - you can drive down the M55 where there is drizzle in Preston and find Blackpool free of cloud. It has rail and motorway links, a small airport which could be reopened and a tourist industry. Its the kind of place that people could be drawn to, but it needs politicians with vision. And it has lacked them for a long long time.
I have little doubt that Labour will win the byelection, and then little will change. Unless we decide that we are going to modernise these places and reinvest in their next phase of development - rather than bemoaning that the old times have gone - then all of these decaying towns will just keep decaying.
Recognition of the need to change- that Mytown used to be famous for something and that something has died- is blooming difficult, though.
There must be examples of towns successfully reinventing themselves, but it's not a comfortable process.
Stockton-on-Tees is doing a great job. Steel and shipbuilding have long gone, but the old Teesside Development Corporation had the land redeveloped as houses and an office park - complete with a Durham University campus.
Go forward a few decades and the town was struggling - too much retail space. So the council have bought the 70s shopping mall and derelict hotel and has bulldozed them, to create a riverside park. The town theatre - a relatively big 4,000 seat one - was painstakingly restored and reopened, with a council-owned Hilton just round the corner.
The Tories hated all this of course - describing both the theatre and the hotel as "white elephants" as who will use them? Yet the theatre is booked out for a year at a time and the hotel needs a bigger car park. So it can be done, but you need council management who know how to get things done and political stability to get you through several rounds of elections. Had the Tories won, the plan was to halt the works and leave the town with more half-finished stuff which they would blame Labour for...
BIB (Bit In Bold) 1: Note the "Corporation": this had state involvement and functioned much better than the outsource-to-private-sector jobbies that are so fashionable.
BIB (Bit In Bold) 2: I think that's the best solution for places that can't be revived: knock them down and make a park out of it.
Bradford is taking a similar approach. The City Council recognised it had a) some very ugly buildings, and b) too many offices by some way. It's solution was to rationalise office uses into the attractive Victorian buildings (of which Bradford has many) and knock down the ugly 1960s buildings, leaving the spaces as public open space. A win-win - but something of a surprise that a council can, if it wants, do such a thing; why haven't other towns knocked down their ugly buildings and replaced them with public open space? It seems such an open goal, if it's possible to do.
There's a lot more wrong with Bradford than a few soulless office buildings.
The council has no money, either.
I'm sure that's true. But it's striking how relatively easily the city centre has been made more beautiful.
With proper urban planning, and a decent rapid transit system (e.g. a tram) Bradford could be turned into an attractive suburb of a Greater Leeds. Sadly, we seem to lack the necessary imagination these days in the UK – the fact that Leeds has no rapid transit system is laughable frankly.
Fares fair. The Paris transport company runs buses in London.
Doesn’t surprise me, it’s rained almost non-stop in the Seine’s watershed for the last several months. I assume they have similar sewage overflow issues as London.
Climate change is real, and we need to adapt. It seems that warmer wetter winters are our future. In Leics we have had hardly any frosts. The clay soil here is waterlogged. Better for planting rice than barley!
We’ve actually had a run of a few pretty dry winters (but warm). Until a few months ago large parts of Western Europe were in severe drought restrictions mainly because of winter deficits.
What is happening with a warmer climate though is more extremes, and rutty weather.
Record alert ! I do believe this is the earliest in the year we've breached we've passed an average of 8 Celsius for England (Central England data series) (Well since 1772 when the records began).
What - so it's currently unseasonably warm? Doesn't feel it here! Though I am aware that people's perceptions of what 'seasonable' is is way out from reality. What sticks in the memory is the periods of high pressure, in any season.
The last month to be below the 1961-1990 average in mean Central England Temperature was December 2022. Britain is certainly having an extended run of abnormally warm weather.
February 2024 was the second-warmest February in the entire record. Five of the monthly records are held by years since 2000. Won't be too long until all the records fall.
Fair enough. I'm extrapolating from 'what it feels like now' - and I am shivering. But March was warm, and last winter was warm, and Autumn was warm. It feels to me like last July/August was cold, but clearly not by historical standards. May and June was warm. Can't remember before that!
Recent warm overall temps often arise through the overnights not being that low (i.e. lack of frosts) than warmer days etc
Huge assumption and has @BlancheLivermore misgendered poor old (young) Rhylee??
I may well have. I'm not familiar with the name; I've only seen Riley before, which I think is usually a boy's name
You clearly aren't an aficionado of Inside Out. Best kids movie of the last couple of decades.
Edit. Nor indeed Riley Reid. (Don't google at work!!).
According to Wikipedia, Riley is still mainly a boy's name, although a Google image search for Riley is 50/50 but a Bing image search for Riley is 100 per cent female (including Rachel Riley). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
Definitely don’t search for Riley Reid, she’s an, umm, actress, in rather specialist movies.
For that reason I would also avoid giving a child an alliterate name, as it helps to guard against commonality with stage names, which are way more likely to be alliterate than legal names, and also way more likely to be undesirable in future.
There’s going to be a whole bunch of ladies in the US and the UK who have Riley Reid as their legal name, and I can imagine many of them might have wanted to change it as a result of this actress - although potential employers are almost certainly not going to find their applicant in a Google search, and are likely to have the IT department wonder what the hell the HR department is up to!!
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
Yes all good stuff. I would say, on eyeballing it, that around 30-40% of these polled British Muslims hold values that don't necessarily coincide with those of a western liberal democracy.
What does q.03 mean when it says that 46% would vote for George Galloway's Workers Party. Is that prompted with no others mentioned?
Although it should be noted that plenty of Brits who are not Muslim hold values at odds with a western liberal democracy.
Huge assumption and has @BlancheLivermore misgendered poor old (young) Rhylee??
I may well have. I'm not familiar with the name; I've only seen Riley before, which I think is usually a boy's name
You clearly aren't an aficionado of Inside Out. Best kids movie of the last couple of decades.
Edit. Nor indeed Riley Reid. (Don't google at work!!).
According to Wikipedia, Riley is still mainly a boy's name, although a Google image search for Riley is 50/50 but a Bing image search for Riley is 100 per cent female (including Rachel Riley). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
Definitely don’t search for Riley Reid, she’s an, umm, actress, in rather specialist movies.
For that reason I would also avoid giving a child an alliterate name, as it helps to guard against commonality with stage names, which are way more likely to be alliterate than legal names, and also way more likely to be undesirable in future.
There’s going to be a whole bunch of ladies in the US and the UK who have Riley Reid as their legal name, and I can imagine many of them might have wanted to change it as a result of this actress - although potential employers are almost certainly not going to find their applicant in a Google search, and are likely to have the IT department wonder what the hell the HR department is up to!!
See also Theresa May and Teresa May...
Ah yes, I remember that one from back in the day, Teresa May being in the same ‘industry’ as Riley Reid.
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
The results on the Israel / Palestine conflict are horrific though.
Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 24 Hamas did not commit murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 39 Don’t know 38
Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 24 Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 49 Don’t know 27
Israel is a racist endeavour 72 Israel is not a racist endeavour 8 Don’t know 20
Those sort of numbers are seen only among muslims living in the West, and not among muslims living in the Middle East, which is potentially very worrying for Western governments.
I don't think Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish homeland and I think you can make a case for Israel being a racist endeavour, although I believe it's more nuanced than that.
Clearly Hamas committed horrific murder and rape in Israel on October 7th
But God gave the Jews the land. It says so in the Bible.
Although whether the distant ancestors of many of the present Israelis were among those listening to Moses is a matter of, I think, some doubt. Equally the distant ancestors of Hamas fighters might have been in the crowd.
Why would [presumably] Scottish Conservative voters switch to an English nationalist party, Reform? You would think they would want to preserve the Union.
Scottish UKIP/Reform voters are an underrepresented niche on PB. We need someone to come onto the board and say, this makes total sense.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
My son has, I think, a unique name. Unfortunately, I tried to register a gmail account for him of the form firstname.surname@gmail.com before he was 13 and got the address permanently banned. So now he has a random number tacked on too, despite the uniqueness of his name. Annoying.
Purchase the domain of your surname.
You can then use it with Gmail to create an email address of
Back on topic, listening to the people interviewed in Blackpool, the one thing that bound all of them together (even the Tory) was that the town is visibly crumbling all around them. Blackpool can't sustain chain shops despite tourist numbers, and when most of the shops are owned by non-UK companies there is little incentive to do anything other than leave them shuttered and hope values rise naturally.
Blackpool is unique in some ways and not in others. It has a real problem with former B&Bs that modern tourists don't want to stay in - what to do with them? Which is how so many have ended up filled with migrants and the very poorest, or left to rot.
The solution? Buy large numbers of empty buildings, bulldoze them, and build homes. Blackpool has a microclimate - you can drive down the M55 where there is drizzle in Preston and find Blackpool free of cloud. It has rail and motorway links, a small airport which could be reopened and a tourist industry. Its the kind of place that people could be drawn to, but it needs politicians with vision. And it has lacked them for a long long time.
I have little doubt that Labour will win the byelection, and then little will change. Unless we decide that we are going to modernise these places and reinvest in their next phase of development - rather than bemoaning that the old times have gone - then all of these decaying towns will just keep decaying.
Recognition of the need to change- that Mytown used to be famous for something and that something has died- is blooming difficult, though.
There must be examples of towns successfully reinventing themselves, but it's not a comfortable process.
Stockton-on-Tees is doing a great job. Steel and shipbuilding have long gone, but the old Teesside Development Corporation had the land redeveloped as houses and an office park - complete with a Durham University campus.
Go forward a few decades and the town was struggling - too much retail space. So the council have bought the 70s shopping mall and derelict hotel and has bulldozed them, to create a riverside park. The town theatre - a relatively big 4,000 seat one - was painstakingly restored and reopened, with a council-owned Hilton just round the corner.
The Tories hated all this of course - describing both the theatre and the hotel as "white elephants" as who will use them? Yet the theatre is booked out for a year at a time and the hotel needs a bigger car park. So it can be done, but you need council management who know how to get things done and political stability to get you through several rounds of elections. Had the Tories won, the plan was to halt the works and leave the town with more half-finished stuff which they would blame Labour for...
BIB (Bit In Bold) 1: Note the "Corporation": this had state involvement and functioned much better than the outsource-to-private-sector jobbies that are so fashionable.
BIB (Bit In Bold) 2: I think that's the best solution for places that can't be revived: knock them down and make a park out of it.
Bradford is taking a similar approach. The City Council recognised it had a) some very ugly buildings, and b) too many offices by some way. It's solution was to rationalise office uses into the attractive Victorian buildings (of which Bradford has many) and knock down the ugly 1960s buildings, leaving the spaces as public open space. A win-win - but something of a surprise that a council can, if it wants, do such a thing; why haven't other towns knocked down their ugly buildings and replaced them with public open space? It seems such an open goal, if it's possible to do.
There's a lot more wrong with Bradford than a few soulless office buildings.
The council has no money, either.
I'm sure that's true. But it's striking how relatively easily the city centre has been made more beautiful.
My office in Bradford was in a beautiful wood panelled building. I worked for a company called Tanks and Drums, our head office was the Grade 2 listed Bowling House on Bowling Back Lane.This is what a Grade 2 listed building looks like in Bradford.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
My son has, I think, a unique name. Unfortunately, I tried to register a gmail account for him of the form firstname.surname@gmail.com before he was 13 and got the address permanently banned. So now he has a random number tacked on too, despite the uniqueness of his name. Annoying.
Purchase the domain of your surname.
You can then use it with Gmail to create an email address of
firstname@surname.com
In the early(ish) days of email one of the free providers had a range of domains for addresses including fullmoon.com
As a student, I was tickled to find that no one had claimed IAmAWolf@fullmoon.com and proceeded to use it for all all the companies I didn't want to give my real email address to.
I also have firstname.lastname@gmail.com, thanks to a friend's brother working at Google when it was rolled out invitation-only and not having an excessively common surname.
Huge assumption and has @BlancheLivermore misgendered poor old (young) Rhylee??
I may well have. I'm not familiar with the name; I've only seen Riley before, which I think is usually a boy's name
You clearly aren't an aficionado of Inside Out. Best kids movie of the last couple of decades.
Edit. Nor indeed Riley Reid. (Don't google at work!!).
According to Wikipedia, Riley is still mainly a boy's name, although a Google image search for Riley is 50/50 but a Bing image search for Riley is 100 per cent female (including Rachel Riley). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
Definitely don’t search for Riley Reid, she’s an, umm, actress, in rather specialist movies.
For that reason I would also avoid giving a child an alliterate name, as it helps to guard against commonality with stage names, which are way more likely to be alliterate than legal names, and also way more likely to be undesirable in future.
There’s going to be a whole bunch of ladies in the US and the UK who have Riley Reid as their legal name, and I can imagine many of them might have wanted to change it as a result of this actress - although potential employers are almost certainly not going to find their applicant in a Google search, and are likely to have the IT department wonder what the hell the HR department is up to!!
See also Theresa May and Teresa May...
Ah yes, I remember that one from back in the day, Teresa May being in the same ‘industry’ as Riley Reid.
I have a vague memory of Theresa's rise giving, er, 'rise' to Teresa's internet traffic too...
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
My son has, I think, a unique name. Unfortunately, I tried to register a gmail account for him of the form firstname.surname@gmail.com before he was 13 and got the address permanently banned. So now he has a random number tacked on too, despite the uniqueness of his name. Annoying.
Purchase the domain of your surname.
You can then use it with Gmail to create an email address of
firstname@surname.com
Even better, perhaps I could get ICANN to add our surname as a top level domain so he could be firstname@surname
Back on topic, listening to the people interviewed in Blackpool, the one thing that bound all of them together (even the Tory) was that the town is visibly crumbling all around them. Blackpool can't sustain chain shops despite tourist numbers, and when most of the shops are owned by non-UK companies there is little incentive to do anything other than leave them shuttered and hope values rise naturally.
Blackpool is unique in some ways and not in others. It has a real problem with former B&Bs that modern tourists don't want to stay in - what to do with them? Which is how so many have ended up filled with migrants and the very poorest, or left to rot.
The solution? Buy large numbers of empty buildings, bulldoze them, and build homes. Blackpool has a microclimate - you can drive down the M55 where there is drizzle in Preston and find Blackpool free of cloud. It has rail and motorway links, a small airport which could be reopened and a tourist industry. Its the kind of place that people could be drawn to, but it needs politicians with vision. And it has lacked them for a long long time.
I have little doubt that Labour will win the byelection, and then little will change. Unless we decide that we are going to modernise these places and reinvest in their next phase of development - rather than bemoaning that the old times have gone - then all of these decaying towns will just keep decaying.
Recognition of the need to change- that Mytown used to be famous for something and that something has died- is blooming difficult, though.
There must be examples of towns successfully reinventing themselves, but it's not a comfortable process.
Stockton-on-Tees is doing a great job. Steel and shipbuilding have long gone, but the old Teesside Development Corporation had the land redeveloped as houses and an office park - complete with a Durham University campus.
Go forward a few decades and the town was struggling - too much retail space. So the council have bought the 70s shopping mall and derelict hotel and has bulldozed them, to create a riverside park. The town theatre - a relatively big 4,000 seat one - was painstakingly restored and reopened, with a council-owned Hilton just round the corner.
The Tories hated all this of course - describing both the theatre and the hotel as "white elephants" as who will use them? Yet the theatre is booked out for a year at a time and the hotel needs a bigger car park. So it can be done, but you need council management who know how to get things done and political stability to get you through several rounds of elections. Had the Tories won, the plan was to halt the works and leave the town with more half-finished stuff which they would blame Labour for...
BIB (Bit In Bold) 1: Note the "Corporation": this had state involvement and functioned much better than the outsource-to-private-sector jobbies that are so fashionable.
BIB (Bit In Bold) 2: I think that's the best solution for places that can't be revived: knock them down and make a park out of it.
Bradford is taking a similar approach. The City Council recognised it had a) some very ugly buildings, and b) too many offices by some way. It's solution was to rationalise office uses into the attractive Victorian buildings (of which Bradford has many) and knock down the ugly 1960s buildings, leaving the spaces as public open space. A win-win - but something of a surprise that a council can, if it wants, do such a thing; why haven't other towns knocked down their ugly buildings and replaced them with public open space? It seems such an open goal, if it's possible to do.
There's a lot more wrong with Bradford than a few soulless office buildings.
The council has no money, either.
I'm sure that's true. But it's striking how relatively easily the city centre has been made more beautiful.
My office in Bradford was in a beautiful wood panelled building. I worked for a company called Tanks and Drums, our head office was the Grade 2 listed Bowling House on Bowling Back Lane.This is what a Grade 2 listed building looks like in Bradford.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Yeah, I taught a Jaxon last year and it was as expected.
Jaxonn Teller, main character in Sons of Anarchy. The telly has a lot to answer for.
Though there is comedy good in naming a child after a character before the series ends.
{a whole flock of children named Daenerys have entered the chat}
My wife had a toddler in her Kindy class called Khaleesi! A family from the US, parents working for multinationals in the UK, so not what you'd typically expect the child of millionaire parents in an expensive private school kindergarten class to be called!
Isn’t it some social media / celebrity trend to give your kid a ‘unique’ name?
I’d do precisely the opposite, I’d choose something as close to John Smith as possible, that’s basically un-Googleable. If the child then wishes to be a public figure as an adult they can choose a stage name, as was always the case until recently. IIRC the actors’ union still insists on unique names in their database, so there’s a dozen actors out their with John Smith as their legal name who are better known as something else.
We gave both our girls classic, but not extremely common, names. Names that have suited people in every generation.
We gave our girls Sri Lankan/Indian names. Combined with my Anglo Saxon surname it means they have, as far as I can see, completely unique names. My son we gave a then not too common (outside top 100) traditional British first name. As a result, his name isn't unique, especially as his first name has rocketed in popularity since then! I think my youngest plans to go by her first name only when she achieves showbiz fame, a la Zendaya.
Better still, they can have unique email addresses without tacking a random number on the end.
My son has, I think, a unique name. Unfortunately, I tried to register a gmail account for him of the form firstname.surname@gmail.com before he was 13 and got the address permanently banned. So now he has a random number tacked on too, despite the uniqueness of his name. Annoying.
I seem to remember Google doing an ad at some point with a dad registering his baby's name as a gmail address and sending him/her lots of emails with pics etc during childhood so he/she could read the 'diary' later. Somewhat saccharine, but would be funny if that violated their terms at the time.
Back on topic, listening to the people interviewed in Blackpool, the one thing that bound all of them together (even the Tory) was that the town is visibly crumbling all around them. Blackpool can't sustain chain shops despite tourist numbers, and when most of the shops are owned by non-UK companies there is little incentive to do anything other than leave them shuttered and hope values rise naturally.
Blackpool is unique in some ways and not in others. It has a real problem with former B&Bs that modern tourists don't want to stay in - what to do with them? Which is how so many have ended up filled with migrants and the very poorest, or left to rot.
The solution? Buy large numbers of empty buildings, bulldoze them, and build homes. Blackpool has a microclimate - you can drive down the M55 where there is drizzle in Preston and find Blackpool free of cloud. It has rail and motorway links, a small airport which could be reopened and a tourist industry. Its the kind of place that people could be drawn to, but it needs politicians with vision. And it has lacked them for a long long time.
I have little doubt that Labour will win the byelection, and then little will change. Unless we decide that we are going to modernise these places and reinvest in their next phase of development - rather than bemoaning that the old times have gone - then all of these decaying towns will just keep decaying.
Recognition of the need to change- that Mytown used to be famous for something and that something has died- is blooming difficult, though.
There must be examples of towns successfully reinventing themselves, but it's not a comfortable process.
Stockton-on-Tees is doing a great job. Steel and shipbuilding have long gone, but the old Teesside Development Corporation had the land redeveloped as houses and an office park - complete with a Durham University campus.
Go forward a few decades and the town was struggling - too much retail space. So the council have bought the 70s shopping mall and derelict hotel and has bulldozed them, to create a riverside park. The town theatre - a relatively big 4,000 seat one - was painstakingly restored and reopened, with a council-owned Hilton just round the corner.
The Tories hated all this of course - describing both the theatre and the hotel as "white elephants" as who will use them? Yet the theatre is booked out for a year at a time and the hotel needs a bigger car park. So it can be done, but you need council management who know how to get things done and political stability to get you through several rounds of elections. Had the Tories won, the plan was to halt the works and leave the town with more half-finished stuff which they would blame Labour for...
BIB (Bit In Bold) 1: Note the "Corporation": this had state involvement and functioned much better than the outsource-to-private-sector jobbies that are so fashionable.
BIB (Bit In Bold) 2: I think that's the best solution for places that can't be revived: knock them down and make a park out of it.
Bradford is taking a similar approach. The City Council recognised it had a) some very ugly buildings, and b) too many offices by some way. It's solution was to rationalise office uses into the attractive Victorian buildings (of which Bradford has many) and knock down the ugly 1960s buildings, leaving the spaces as public open space. A win-win - but something of a surprise that a council can, if it wants, do such a thing; why haven't other towns knocked down their ugly buildings and replaced them with public open space? It seems such an open goal, if it's possible to do.
There's a lot more wrong with Bradford than a few soulless office buildings.
The council has no money, either.
I'm sure that's true. But it's striking how relatively easily the city centre has been made more beautiful.
My office in Bradford was in a beautiful wood panelled building. I worked for a company called Tanks and Drums, our head office was the Grade 2 listed Bowling House on Bowling Back Lane.This is what a Grade 2 listed building looks like in Bradford.
How unfortunate for the new owners. Buy an old building and it spontaneously combusts. And now they have to pay a demolition contractor to make it safe.
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
Cross Question with Iain Dale is a really good debate, would recommend people listen to it as it's actually a sensible and grown up conversation most of the time.
Back on topic, listening to the people interviewed in Blackpool, the one thing that bound all of them together (even the Tory) was that the town is visibly crumbling all around them. Blackpool can't sustain chain shops despite tourist numbers, and when most of the shops are owned by non-UK companies there is little incentive to do anything other than leave them shuttered and hope values rise naturally.
Blackpool is unique in some ways and not in others. It has a real problem with former B&Bs that modern tourists don't want to stay in - what to do with them? Which is how so many have ended up filled with migrants and the very poorest, or left to rot.
The solution? Buy large numbers of empty buildings, bulldoze them, and build homes. Blackpool has a microclimate - you can drive down the M55 where there is drizzle in Preston and find Blackpool free of cloud. It has rail and motorway links, a small airport which could be reopened and a tourist industry. Its the kind of place that people could be drawn to, but it needs politicians with vision. And it has lacked them for a long long time.
I have little doubt that Labour will win the byelection, and then little will change. Unless we decide that we are going to modernise these places and reinvest in their next phase of development - rather than bemoaning that the old times have gone - then all of these decaying towns will just keep decaying.
Recognition of the need to change- that Mytown used to be famous for something and that something has died- is blooming difficult, though.
There must be examples of towns successfully reinventing themselves, but it's not a comfortable process.
Stockton-on-Tees is doing a great job. Steel and shipbuilding have long gone, but the old Teesside Development Corporation had the land redeveloped as houses and an office park - complete with a Durham University campus.
Go forward a few decades and the town was struggling - too much retail space. So the council have bought the 70s shopping mall and derelict hotel and has bulldozed them, to create a riverside park. The town theatre - a relatively big 4,000 seat one - was painstakingly restored and reopened, with a council-owned Hilton just round the corner.
The Tories hated all this of course - describing both the theatre and the hotel as "white elephants" as who will use them? Yet the theatre is booked out for a year at a time and the hotel needs a bigger car park. So it can be done, but you need council management who know how to get things done and political stability to get you through several rounds of elections. Had the Tories won, the plan was to halt the works and leave the town with more half-finished stuff which they would blame Labour for...
BIB (Bit In Bold) 1: Note the "Corporation": this had state involvement and functioned much better than the outsource-to-private-sector jobbies that are so fashionable.
BIB (Bit In Bold) 2: I think that's the best solution for places that can't be revived: knock them down and make a park out of it.
Bradford is taking a similar approach. The City Council recognised it had a) some very ugly buildings, and b) too many offices by some way. It's solution was to rationalise office uses into the attractive Victorian buildings (of which Bradford has many) and knock down the ugly 1960s buildings, leaving the spaces as public open space. A win-win - but something of a surprise that a council can, if it wants, do such a thing; why haven't other towns knocked down their ugly buildings and replaced them with public open space? It seems such an open goal, if it's possible to do.
There's a lot more wrong with Bradford than a few soulless office buildings.
The council has no money, either.
I'm sure that's true. But it's striking how relatively easily the city centre has been made more beautiful.
My office in Bradford was in a beautiful wood panelled building. I worked for a company called Tanks and Drums, our head office was the Grade 2 listed Bowling House on Bowling Back Lane.This is what a Grade 2 listed building looks like in Bradford.
I alarmed that a few of you are aware of Riley Reid and posting about her on Eid.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
I did start with “Eid Mubarak”, before moving on several hours later to Riley Reid - although how a good Muslim such as yourself knows who she is, is a different question!
Have fun with your family, and Eid Mubarak to them 🌙
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
If others have a terrible argument, then let that show and defeat it.
If you need to prevent others from speaking then maybe your own views aren't as strong as they should be,
To take an extreme example: if someone came on PB with clear Nazi or fascist views, and talked about how Jews were evil, awful people who controlled the world, and derailed every thread onto that topic, refusing to debate what he writes:
You'd be okay with that?
Derailing every thread and refusing to debate is not good behaviour so can justify a banning no matter what their views are.
If someone came here with clear Nazi or fascist views and debated them in a genuine manner, then I would dislike their views but yes I'd have no problem with their being here.
However this is a private platform so it would be up to the site owners what they think.
There was a poster on PB who was fairly acclaimed for being very insightful on politics and betting; yet AIUI he got banned for very occasionally going off-reservation when it came to denying the holocaust. Was that banning correct? Should people be able to argue that the holocaust did not happen?
The fact this is a 'private' platform is pretty much irrelevant, given membership is very easy.
No-platforming is like free speech (and in fact, they are strongly related) - it's easy to take an absolute approach for free speech or against no-platforming, but that rapidly runs into issues and edge cases.
I alarmed that a few of you are aware of Riley Reid and posting about her on Eid.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
I did start with “Eid Mubarak”, before moving on several hours later to Riley Reid - although how a good Muslim such as yourself knows who she is, is a different question!
Have fun with your family, and Eid Mubarak to them 🌙
I became an expert in female porn star names when one of my friends realised if she married her then boyfriend then she would have the same name as the porn star Sophie Dee.
I alarmed that a few of you are aware of Riley Reid and posting about her on Eid.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
A miserable day for it, unfortunately. The local mosque is just up the road from me, and as I sit here I can see a steady stream of rather bedraggled folk making their way up and down the road in the pouring rain. I hope you are all enjoying the day despite the weather!
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
I have a friend who tried to do this by giving her surname as her son’s middle name. Sadly officialdom simply regards it as what it is: a middle name; and the result is that her son is named for his father in the traditional way.
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
If others have a terrible argument, then let that show and defeat it.
If you need to prevent others from speaking then maybe your own views aren't as strong as they should be,
To take an extreme example: if someone came on PB with clear Nazi or fascist views, and talked about how Jews were evil, awful people who controlled the world, and derailed every thread onto that topic, refusing to debate what he writes:
You'd be okay with that?
Derailing every thread and refusing to debate is not good behaviour so can justify a banning no matter what their views are.
If someone came here with clear Nazi or fascist views and debated them in a genuine manner, then I would dislike their views but yes I'd have no problem with their being here.
However this is a private platform so it would be up to the site owners what they think.
There was a poster on PB who was fairly acclaimed for being very insightful on politics and betting; yet AIUI he got banned for very occasionally going off-reservation when it came to denying the holocaust. Was that banning correct? Should people be able to argue that the holocaust did not happen?
The fact this is a 'private' platform is pretty much irrelevant, given membership is very easy.
No-platforming is like free speech (and in fact, they are strongly related) - it's easy to take an absolute approach for free speech or against no-platforming, but that rapidly runs into issues and edge cases.
He was goaded endlessly about it, tbf, which he couldn't resist responding to but I agree- it was something I simply ignored and his betting tips were very helpful, and profitable.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Gratuitous misspelling is a scourge of our age.
Miss Pelling taught me at infants school....
My daughters at primary school have a TA called Mr Wolf.
You can probably guess the question he's asked many times a day.
I once worked with a Sandy Balls. Quite possibly - although I never asked/checked - shortened by the person himself.
In my working life I used to meet up with a Philip Green.
Better than P. Brain, I suppose. At uni we had a Chinese girl called Lo Y Kew. Not great.
You're best off with a very common name in many ways. I could have had one if my mum was my dad - since her maiden name is Smith - but as it happened I got landed with a surname that's unusual and always has to be spelt out to people. You get used to it.
I alarmed that a few of you are aware of Riley Reid and posting about her on Eid.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
A miserable day for it, unfortunately. The local mosque is just up the road from me, and as I sit here I can see a steady stream of rather bedraggled folk making their way up and down the road in the pouring rain. I hope you are all enjoying the day despite the weather!
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
I haven't really come across that; most women who care about such things just keep their maiden names when marrying.
We did give our son his maternal family name as a middle name - although not double barreled. It seemed a nice way to honour that side of the family, and preserve the family name (they only have daughters...)
It also means he has four names: the first and fourth are English, and the middle two Turkish. Again, that seemed nice to us.
I alarmed that a few of you are aware of Riley Reid and posting about her on Eid.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
I did start with “Eid Mubarak”, before moving on several hours later to Riley Reid - although how a good Muslim such as yourself knows who she is, is a different question!
Have fun with your family, and Eid Mubarak to them 🌙
I became an expert in female porn star names when one of my friends realised if she married her then boyfriend then she would have the same name as the porn star Sophie Dee.
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
I have a friend who tried to do this by giving her surname as her son’s middle name. Sadly officialdom simply regards it as what it is: a middle name; and the result is that her son is named for his father in the traditional way.
My son has an unusual(ish) name (Fox) and his mothers surname as one of his middle names, as although we are married, my wife has kept her name (professional/career).
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
I think it's lovely to see some creativity and originality in children's names. Far nicer than facing a monotonous wall of Marks, Davids and Bens, surely.
Alan appears to be very rare these days. And a certain sit-com means no-one calls their child Derek or Rodney any more.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
I think it's lovely to see some creativity and originality in children's names. Far nicer than facing a monotonous wall of Marks, Davids and Bens, surely.
Alan appears to be very rare these days. And a certain sit-com means no-one calls their child Derek or Rodney any more.
Any boy named Damian always seems to deserve the association with The Omen.
Rodney's son being named Damien too. Damien Derek Trotter. DDT. Most amusing.
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
If others have a terrible argument, then let that show and defeat it.
If you need to prevent others from speaking then maybe your own views aren't as strong as they should be,
To take an extreme example: if someone came on PB with clear Nazi or fascist views, and talked about how Jews were evil, awful people who controlled the world, and derailed every thread onto that topic, refusing to debate what he writes:
You'd be okay with that?
Is this genuine Fascist or Nazi views. Nowadays it seems to mean someone who disagrees with someone on social media. The terms are, almost, effectively redundant in some areas of debate as a consequence.
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
The results on the Israel / Palestine conflict are horrific though.
Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 24 Hamas did not commit murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 39 Don’t know 38
Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 24 Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 49 Don’t know 27
Israel is a racist endeavour 72 Israel is not a racist endeavour 8 Don’t know 20
Those sort of numbers are seen only among muslims living in the West, and not among muslims living in the Middle East, which is potentially very worrying for Western governments.
I don't think Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish homeland and I think you can make a case for Israel being a racist endeavour, although I believe it's more nuanced than that.
Clearly Hamas committed horrific murder and rape in Israel on October 7th
But God gave the Jews the land. It says so in the Bible.
Although whether the distant ancestors of many of the present Israelis were among those listening to Moses is a matter of, I think, some doubt. Equally the distant ancestors of Hamas fighters might have been in the crowd.
It's the "right to exist" phrasing I object to. No other country claims discrimination in favour of one its ethnicities as a right that needs to accepted by others, including those discriminated against. Not even the Islamic Republic of Iran requires this.
Countries should be for all the people living in them, where all ethnicities are protected. Including Jews.
My mother taught twins in the Seventies. Named Shaun and Sean (pronounced Seen).
My father in law taught Sean Bean in primary school. Apparently in older years some of the kids called him Seen Bean or Shaun Born depending on their mood.
I alarmed that a few of you are aware of Riley Reid and posting about her on Eid.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
I did start with “Eid Mubarak”, before moving on several hours later to Riley Reid - although how a good Muslim such as yourself knows who she is, is a different question!
Have fun with your family, and Eid Mubarak to them 🌙
I became an expert in female porn star names when one of my friends realised if she married her then boyfriend then she would have the same name as the porn star Sophie Dee.
She decided not to marry him.
One of my missus's middle-aged colleagues shares her (alliterative) name with a lady of similar thespian renown. She only discovered this recently, but she took it in her stride and finds it quite funny.
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
If others have a terrible argument, then let that show and defeat it.
If you need to prevent others from speaking then maybe your own views aren't as strong as they should be,
To take an extreme example: if someone came on PB with clear Nazi or fascist views, and talked about how Jews were evil, awful people who controlled the world, and derailed every thread onto that topic, refusing to debate what he writes:
You'd be okay with that?
Is this genuine Fascist or Nazi views. Nowadays it seems to mean someone who disagrees with someone on social media. The terms are, almost, effectively redundant in some areas of debate as a consequence.
Yes, they are terms that are thrown around too much (As an example, Russia's definition of 'Nazi' appears to be anyone who fights them...). But in this case, I meant genuine Nazi or fascist views.
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
I haven't really come across that; most women who care about such things just keep their maiden names when marrying.
We did give our son his maternal family name as a middle name - although not double barreled. It seemed a nice way to honour that side of the family, and preserve the family name (they only have daughters...)
My middle name is a leftover surname from a couple of generations back, though it also makes sense as a given name. It used to be quite common though, in the Victorian era at least to have an old surname as a middle name - crops up a lot in my family tree. Like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, though I have no idea if it is the case that Kingdom is an old surname in his case (or even whether that is really his middle name).
I've come across double barrelling as CR says though. I have only daughters, and I'm not bothered about seeing my own surname persist - I'd rather my daughters had the same names as their own family units if and when they marry. Makes their life mildly easier.
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
But it just creates problems for their children. No reason why the husband can't take his wife's name, or both of them switch to a completely different name, if they want to have a family name in common and avoid the patriarchal tradition.
Double-barrelled names are awkward and a form of cowardice really. The child has to make a choice what to do about it later.
What trivial nonsense, even in jest. Who cares less what shoes he wears? Samba “fans” should get an effing life.
What’s funny is that these Samba “fans” are offended because they believe that the PM, especially a Tory PM, shouldn’t be wearing Sambas because Sambas are “cool” and therefore for “cool people” without realising that they are totally mainstream and nobody who is really cool is wearing them as they’ve moved on to the next look already.
So the complainants are not stylish but are just following the herd and about as original as Chinese car designs.
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Gratuitous misspelling is a scourge of our age.
Miss Pelling taught me at infants school....
My daughters at primary school have a TA called Mr Wolf.
You can probably guess the question he's asked many times a day.
I once worked with a Sandy Balls. Quite possibly - although I never asked/checked - shortened by the person himself.
In my working life I used to meet up with a Philip Green.
Better than P. Brain, I suppose. At uni we had a Chinese girl called Lo Y Kew. Not great.
You're best off with a very common name in many ways. I could have had one if my mum was my dad - since her maiden name is Smith - but as it happened I got landed with a surname that's unusual and always has to be spelt out to people. You get used to it.
I used to know a girl called Aliki, pronounced 'a leaky'
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
If others have a terrible argument, then let that show and defeat it.
If you need to prevent others from speaking then maybe your own views aren't as strong as they should be,
To take an extreme example: if someone came on PB with clear Nazi or fascist views, and talked about how Jews were evil, awful people who controlled the world, and derailed every thread onto that topic, refusing to debate what he writes:
You'd be okay with that?
Derailing every thread and refusing to debate is not good behaviour so can justify a banning no matter what their views are.
If someone came here with clear Nazi or fascist views and debated them in a genuine manner, then I would dislike their views but yes I'd have no problem with their being here.
However this is a private platform so it would be up to the site owners what they think.
There was a poster on PB who was fairly acclaimed for being very insightful on politics and betting; yet AIUI he got banned for very occasionally going off-reservation when it came to denying the holocaust. Was that banning correct? Should people be able to argue that the holocaust did not happen?
The fact this is a 'private' platform is pretty much irrelevant, given membership is very easy.
No-platforming is like free speech (and in fact, they are strongly related) - it's easy to take an absolute approach for free speech or against no-platforming, but that rapidly runs into issues and edge cases.
He was goaded endlessly about it, tbf, which he couldn't resist responding to but I agree- it was something I simply ignored and his betting tips were very helpful, and profitable.
Er no. He was a raging antisemite and odious holocaust-denier. The fact that his swingback forecast worked one or twice in the late Noughties is irrelevant.
Back from hospital with a hole-in-the-back. Uncomfortable but manageable; interestingly they made me wait for 20 minutes afterwards to be sure I was fine, with a cup of tea and custard creams.
Accessing the hospital was total chaos with ASBO drivers causing havoc everywhere driving in circles and parking all over the pavements; I parked in Morrisons and did a mini-shop afterwards. The last time I was there one who "had to get my wife to an appointment" had totally blocked the main pedestrian access by parking across the drop-kerb rather than use a free parking space 20m further away, so everyone using a wheelchair or mobility scooter would have to go back 100m and wheel up the carriageway of the main driveway.
There is no easy / secure cycle or mobility aid storage either, which I would have used 12-14 times in the last 12 months. Time to write a letter, I think.
An interesting cashless experience on the way home.
My post-pain treat was to be a Domino's pizza-with-everything, but they don't take cash for some weird reason. The assistant knew it was a problem, as he offered to pay on his card if I had the exact amount.
I didn't have the exact amount, so went to the excellent chip shop down the road instead.
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
The results on the Israel / Palestine conflict are horrific though.
Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 24 Hamas did not commit murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 39 Don’t know 38
Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 24 Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 49 Don’t know 27
Israel is a racist endeavour 72 Israel is not a racist endeavour 8 Don’t know 20
Those sort of numbers are seen only among muslims living in the West, and not among muslims living in the Middle East, which is potentially very worrying for Western governments.
I'm afraid that Netanyahu is partly to blame for this, and a year ago the results would have been less striking. Now, only 57% of Brits in general support Israel's right to exist a a Jewish homeland and 46% think Israel is committing genocide. Only 62% believe that Hamas committed rape and murder, and only 27% lean to supporting Israel in general. Current Israeli policy is eroding sympathy, and although it's more marked among Muslims it's a general trend that ought to worry anyone who is basically sympathetic to the country (like me).
The other change in names is that whereas previously, a double-barrelled name might indicate membership of a particular social class, now it as likely indicates membership of another.
Nowadays it's more a sign of progressivism.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
I have a friend who tried to do this by giving her surname as her son’s middle name. Sadly officialdom simply regards it as what it is: a middle name; and the result is that her son is named for his father in the traditional way.
A friend of mine at uni had her mother's maiden name as a middle name and I thought that was an interesting compromise to avoid a double-barrelled surname but keep both names.
I tried to give my daughter my surname as a middle name, but the interfering busybody at the register office wouldn't let us do it, as she insisted that if we later married she would then have my surname repeated (though there was zero chance of her mother or her taking my name in that circumstance).
.@wesstreeting glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass Report. I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS President, I was no-platformed, alongside 5 fascist groups, for 'transphobia'. I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused. Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me? How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.
The overriding message of the Cass report seems to have passed her by completely.
...Despite the best intentions of everyone with a stake in this complex issue, the toxicity of the debate is exceptional. I have faced criticism for engaging with groups and individuals who take a social justice approach and advocate for gender affirmation, and have equally been criticised for involving groups and individuals who urge more caution. The knowledge and expertise of experienced clinicians who have reached different conclusions about the best approach to care are sometimes dismissed and invalidated.
There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour. This must stop.
Polarisation and stifling of debate do nothing to help the young people caught in the middle of a stormy social discourse, and in the long run will also hamper the research that is essential to finding the best way of supporting them to thrive..
All this talk of rational debate, informed by evidence, is putrid heresy.
Anyone who disagrees with me needs to be burnt at the stake. For the profit of all our souls.
They are criticised for talking to those who take "a more cautious approach" (than the affirmation model).
That is pretty damning.
The Cass quote is this: .. have faced criticism for engaging with groups and individuals who take a social justice approach and advocate for gender affirmation, and have equally been criticised for involving groups and individuals who urge more caution...
Which is a polite way of saying that "I've been criticised by the extremes on both sides for paying any attention to their opponents".
I've read teachers on here discussing the dread caused by certain first names on new class registers
I've noticed two boys' names on envelopes recently that I think fit the bill: Jaxon and Rhylee
Gratuitous misspelling is a scourge of our age.
Miss Pelling taught me at infants school....
My daughters at primary school have a TA called Mr Wolf.
You can probably guess the question he's asked many times a day.
I once worked with a Sandy Balls. Quite possibly - although I never asked/checked - shortened by the person himself.
In my working life I used to meet up with a Philip Green.
Better than P. Brain, I suppose. At uni we had a Chinese girl called Lo Y Kew. Not great.
You're best off with a very common name in many ways. I could have had one if my mum was my dad - since her maiden name is Smith - but as it happened I got landed with a surname that's unusual and always has to be spelt out to people. You get used to it.
The Asian names are an interesting one. Many Asians living in other regions take a Western ‘stage name’ that they use at work.
I used to work (in IT) at a large hotel company in Dubai, where we had 190 nationalities on the payroll(!), and we’d often see people with names in our internal systems like “Ho Win Chi (Sophie)”.
What trivial nonsense, even in jest. Who cares less what shoes he wears? Samba “fans” should get an effing life.
What’s funny is that these Samba “fans” are offended because they believe that the PM, especially a Tory PM, shouldn’t be wearing Sambas because Sambas are “cool” and therefore for “cool people” without realising that they are totally mainstream and nobody who is really cool is wearing them as they’ve moved on to the next look already.
So the complainants are not stylish but are just following the herd and about as original as Chinese car designs.
I hope Sunak's apology is a piss take of these utter knob ends.
Back from hospital with a hole-in-the-back. Uncomfortable but manageable; interestingly they made me wait for 20 minutes afterwards to be sure I was fine, with a cup of tea and custard creams.
Accessing the hospital was total chaos with ASBO drivers causing havoc everywhere driving in circles and parking all over the pavements; I parked in Morrisons and did a mini-shop afterwards. The last time I was there one who "had to get my wife to an appointment" had totally blocked the main pedestrian access by parking across the drop-kerb rather than use a free parking space 20m further away, so everyone using a wheelchair or mobility scooter would have to go back 100m and wheel up the carriageway of the main driveway.
There is no easy / secure cycle or mobility aid storage either, which I would have used 12-14 times in the last 12 months. Time to write a letter, I think.
An interesting cashless experience on the way home.
My post-pain treat was to be a Domino's pizza-with-everything, but they don't take cash for some weird reason. The assistant knew it was a problem, as he offered to pay on his card if I had the exact amount.
I didn't have the exact amount, so went to the excellent chip shop down the road instead.
The penalties for obnoxious parking need reworking.
Some interesting reading. This is the conclusion of the only paper on puberty blockers regarded as "high quality" by the reviewers:
"Transgender adolescents show poorer psychological well-being before treatment but show similar or better psychological functioning compared with cisgender peers from the general population after the start of specialized transgender care involving puberty suppression."
x-sectional though - those treated versus those not - doesn't make it invalid but doesn't give information on longer term outcomes and there may be unmeasured differences between the intervention and non-intervention groups. It is though, from a skim, a rare fairly well done paper in this field.
I'd tend to go with the review conclusions: "There is a lack of high-quality research assessing puberty suppression in adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria/incongruence. No conclusions can be drawn about the impact on gender dysphoria, mental and psychosocial health or cognitive development."
Disclaimer: I know some of the authors on these and I have seen pre-submission drafts of some of the papers where I was asked for an opinion on stats/methods. However, I had no input to or sight of the puberty blocker paper before today.
Sure more work is needed, but if the best paper shows benefit, then stopping treatment may not be ethical.
No problem of enrolling all patients in audits, but research requires voluntary participation and opting out without adversely affecting treatment, so I am dubious about insisting that these blockers are only used in a research context.
Yes, it's a strange and far from ideal situation now. Ideally, the blockers would have been trialed (or at least followed up) when first provided, but we are where we are. I agree on the general point re research - I'd rather see providers mandated to take part in a research programme - infrastructure in place to collect baseline and follow-up data, mandatory invitation of all recipients to join research but preserving the individual opt-out withou affecting access. However, the experience (I am told, by someone who attempted this) with the GIDS and adult endocrine clinics is that they have been very hostile to research access to existing records, effectively blocking it. This may be due to a (possibly justified) hostility to the approach and pre-existing views within the Cass review, but it does raise the risk that clinics (or some clinicians) may encourage their patients to opt out or even - as some primary care providers did for national data opt-outs - do mass opt-outs without asking.
Not sure what the solution is, but I do share your concerns.
Aren't their systems in place for medical treatments that are still experimental - so that reporting data is mandatory?
Not universally. Where they exist, generally some clinicians with research interest set them up.
Also, define 'experimental' There are plenty of off-label (as they haven't been tested extensively in children) applications of medicines in the population I am interested in (not youth with gender dysphoria!) and no real means of assessing outcomes.
Generally, afaics as an educated / interested patient (I expect my clinicians to work with me in managing treatment) there seem to be well recognised ways of doing things.
Small research projects early, then larger projects to get firmer data from larger groups, then when treatment is approved for narrow or wide use (ie is effective and cost-effective) it will be given a framework by NICE after evaluation
Plus certain exceptions that get fast tracked - eg in response to a media or PR campaign.
Plus the system of use of non-NHS approved treatments being allowed privately under treatment of a fully qualified clinician.
I have only daughters, and I'm not bothered about seeing my own surname persist - I'd rather my daughters had the same names as their own family units if and when they marry. Makes their life mildly easier.
I'm not too bothered about the persisting the family name thing, but why the assumption that your daughters will change their name on marriage, rather than have their spouse take their name?
There are certainly some sensible policies coming from Labour, they're not "headline grabbers" as such but I think they seem good.
To credit the Tories, despite it going slowly BDUK for FTTP seems to be progressing well.
As I have said previously there are some in Labour who are pretty impressive. Reeves, Phillipson, Streeting and McFadden all seem to be pretty competent performers but also seem to have some good ideas too for when they come to power.
Reeves seems a safe pair of hands and if she can do something to help revive the British stock market without compelling all of our pension pots and ISA's to be saved into it then even better.
I then look at Annaliese Dodds and some of the other muppets and realise in some areas it is going to be an uphill struggle.
Looking at the JL Partners site I see a survey of attitudes of British Muslims to a range of issues which makes quite interesting reading, though it's easy to cherry-pick results that fit with preconceptions. Some things that many people wary about Muslim attitudes would find reassuring (e.g. they nearly all dislike ISIS and, perhaps more surprisingly, would oppose Christianity ceasing to be the official religion), some that are in line with the general public (e.g. sympathy for Palestinians) and some which may raise eyebrows (e.g. a plurality favour a more traditional role for women). Positive things to make following Islam easier (e.g. prayer spaces, an Islamic public holiday) get solid support, negative things like banning gay marriage much less so.
The results on the Israel / Palestine conflict are horrific though.
Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 24 Hamas did not commit murder and rape in Israel on October 7th 39 Don’t know 38
Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 24 Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish Homeland 49 Don’t know 27
Israel is a racist endeavour 72 Israel is not a racist endeavour 8 Don’t know 20
Those sort of numbers are seen only among muslims living in the West, and not among muslims living in the Middle East, which is potentially very worrying for Western governments.
I'm afraid that Netanyahu is partly to blame for this, and a year ago the results would have been less striking. Now, only 57% of Brits in general support Israel's right to exist a a Jewish homeland and 46% think Israel is committing genocide. Only 62% believe that Hamas committed rape and murder, and only 27% lean to supporting Israel in general. Current Israeli policy is eroding sympathy, and although it's more marked among Muslims it's a general trend that ought to worry anyone who is basically sympathetic to the country (like me).
And tbf, Israel is a racist endeavour, albeit for very good reasons. Jews are an ethnicity as well as a religion, and the State of Israel explicitly gives them rights denied other citizens.
There are certainly some sensible policies coming from Labour, they're not "headline grabbers" as such but I think they seem good.
To credit the Tories, despite it going slowly BDUK for FTTP seems to be progressing well.
As I have said previously there are some in Labour who are pretty impressive. Reeves, Phillipson, Streeting and McFadden all seem to be pretty competent performers but also seem to have some good ideas too for when they come to power.
I then look at Annaliese Dodds and some of the other muppets and realise in some areas it is going to be an uphill struggle.
What is the issue with Dodds? She got demoted, I think of her as incredibly "meh" but not actively a problem?
Wes Streeting is by far the most impressive, future leader.
My wife and daughter are en route to Paris. There has been some anxiety about this: - will the taxi to the station turn up? - will Avanti cheerfully cancel the train to London? - will they be confounded by passport control at St. Pancras?
So she left plenty of slack in her schedule.
The first apparent hitch was a text at 5.30am to say their train to London had been cancelled. After a minor amount of faffing, she was able to rebook onto the earlier train at no cost, and rebook her taxi for 20 minutes earlier. On getting up again at 7, the cancelled train had been uncancelled. But as we were up it didn't seem worth rescheduling the taxi. Then, however, at five minutes past the due time for the taxi, there was still no sign of it. Wife phones the taxi company, who are in a panic - because it was Eid, most of the taxi drivers had at the last minute declined to work. (Are all taxi drivers Muslim, or is it just a Greater Manchester thing)? Anyway, drama was shortlived: a dodgy-looking Wolverhampton-registered taxi turned up only eight minutes late - well within the amount of slack for the day and no later than you would normally expect a taxi. They were well in time for the train they had originally intended to get, which got them to London on time. Short hop from Euston to St. Pancras, and straight to passport control, as we had been warned that since Brexit, queues take at least 90 minutes and sometimes up to three hours. But they were through in ten minutes, leaving them two hours to kill before their train to Paris. No complaint about this from me, wife or daughter - we are much happier being early with time to kill. So the journey up to the point of actually leaving London has gone surprisingly well, despite threatening not to at every turn. It hardly seems credible that three consecutive parts of the journey (taxi, London train, passports) have gone smoothly. We expect disaster at every turn, and indeed those operating the systems appear to expect it, but it hasn't yet materialised.
Criticism of Sunak's shoes is bizarre. He's done so many bad things, this is a totally irrelevant issue and pointless. Leave the man alone, he can where what he wants.
What trivial nonsense, even in jest. Who cares less what shoes he wears? Samba “fans” should get an effing life.
What’s funny is that these Samba “fans” are offended because they believe that the PM, especially a Tory PM, shouldn’t be wearing Sambas because Sambas are “cool” and therefore for “cool people” without realising that they are totally mainstream and nobody who is really cool is wearing them as they’ve moved on to the next look already.
So the complainants are not stylish but are just following the herd and about as original as Chinese car designs.
Comments
50% of male Gen X.
Joe and Tom were ubiquitous at the turn of the millennium. Not many in Primary now.
It's just fashion.
Edit. Chris has gone too.
Luke was another that rose from nowhere and fell again.
That is pretty damning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_(given_name)
Where did that come from? Wasn't aware it existed as a given name 25 years ago.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_Williams
https://maps.nls.uk/view/74955649
For that reason I would also avoid giving a child an alliterate name, as it helps to guard against commonality with stage names, which are way more likely to be alliterate than legal names, and also way more likely to be undesirable in future.
There’s going to be a whole bunch of ladies in the US and the UK who have Riley Reid as their legal name, and I can imagine many of them might have wanted to change it as a result of this actress - although potential employers are almost certainly not going to find their applicant in a Google search, and are likely to have the IT department wonder what the hell the HR department is up to!!
Might knock the popularity of the name a bit!
Clearly Hamas committed horrific murder and rape in Israel on October 7th
You can probably guess the question he's asked many times a day.
Part of the effect is that the average for Central England is about 1.3C above the 1961-1990 average used as a baseline. So the month has to be pretty cold by today's standards to be below the average for the 60s, 70s and 80s.
And these differences are pretty small compared to the annual cycle 12.3C between the monthly average for September 2023 (17.0C +3.4) and January 2024 (4.7C +0.9).
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_info_mean2023.html
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_info_mean.html
That covers everything from Cuddles to Thresher.
Although whether the distant ancestors of many of the present Israelis were among those listening to Moses is a matter of, I think, some doubt.
Equally the distant ancestors of Hamas fighters might have been in the crowd.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24243480.scots-labour-candidate-wilma-brown-called-racist-tweets/?ref=ebbn&nid=1457&u=f140ec39d500193051a33e140c12bd95&date=100424
You can then use it with Gmail to create an email address of
firstname@surname.com
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/historic-building-dating-back-to-1830s-at-risk-of-collapse-after-arson-attack-could-be-demolished-3213563
As a student, I was tickled to find that no one had claimed IAmAWolf@fullmoon.com and proceeded to use it for all all the companies I didn't want to give my real email address to.
I also have firstname.lastname@gmail.com, thanks to a friend's brother working at Google when it was rolled out invitation-only and not having an excessively common surname.
I was specifically enjoined from naming my boys Luke.
Also never hire somebody called Chardonnay.
Thoughts and prayers for me.
Not only was I forced to attend a mosque this morning my mother is hosting several families for an Eid party today.
I have to be an actual good Muslim today.
Lots of elite females now want to combine their maiden names with their partners surname as a statement of equality.
Have fun with your family, and Eid Mubarak to them 🌙
The fact this is a 'private' platform is pretty much irrelevant, given membership is very easy.
No-platforming is like free speech (and in fact, they are strongly related) - it's easy to take an absolute approach for free speech or against no-platforming, but that rapidly runs into issues and edge cases.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-apology-adidas-sambas-uncool-trainers-b1150511.html
She decided not to marry him.
You're best off with a very common name in many ways. I could have had one if my mum was my dad - since her maiden name is Smith - but as it happened I got landed with a surname that's unusual and always has to be spelt out to people. You get used to it.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/met-police-london-quit-leave-recruitment-survey-mark-rowley-b1150531.html
They can't all be bad apples.
We did give our son his maternal family name as a middle name - although not double barreled. It seemed a nice way to honour that side of the family, and preserve the family name (they only have daughters...)
It also means he has four names: the first and fourth are English, and the middle two Turkish. Again, that seemed nice to us.
Countries should be for all the people living in them, where all ethnicities are protected. Including Jews.
I've come across double barrelling as CR says though. I have only daughters, and I'm not bothered about seeing my own surname persist - I'd rather my daughters had the same names as their own family units if and when they marry. Makes their life mildly easier.
Double-barrelled names are awkward and a form of cowardice really. The child has to make a choice what to do about it later.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/labour-promise-to-replace-business-rates-with-property-taxes/ar-BB1llHQ1?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=8e83f7fc4e014585849a711a7fe58e37&ei=18
So the complainants are not stylish but are just following the herd and about as original as Chinese car designs.
Aliki Braine
To credit the Tories, despite it going slowly BDUK for FTTP seems to be progressing well.
Accessing the hospital was total chaos with ASBO drivers causing havoc everywhere driving in circles and parking all over the pavements; I parked in Morrisons and did a mini-shop afterwards. The last time I was there one who "had to get my wife to an appointment" had totally blocked the main pedestrian access by parking across the drop-kerb rather than use a free parking space 20m further away, so everyone using a wheelchair or mobility scooter would have to go back 100m and wheel up the carriageway of the main driveway.
There is no easy / secure cycle or mobility aid storage either, which I would have used 12-14 times in the last 12 months. Time to write a letter, I think.
An interesting cashless experience on the way home.
My post-pain treat was to be a Domino's pizza-with-everything, but they don't take cash for some weird reason. The assistant knew it was a problem, as he offered to pay on his card if I had the exact amount.
I didn't have the exact amount, so went to the excellent chip shop down the road instead.
I tried to give my daughter my surname as a middle name, but the interfering busybody at the register office wouldn't let us do it, as she insisted that if we later married she would then have my surname repeated (though there was zero chance of her mother or her taking my name in that circumstance).
.. have faced criticism for engaging with groups and individuals who take a social justice approach and advocate for gender affirmation, and have equally been criticised for involving groups and individuals who urge more caution...
Which is a polite way of saying that "I've been criticised by the extremes on both sides for paying any attention to their opponents".
I used to work (in IT) at a large hotel company in Dubai, where we had 190 nationalities on the payroll(!), and we’d often see people with names in our internal systems like “Ho Win Chi (Sophie)”.
Perhaps try this
https://youtu.be/5325_KHII3s?si=vlc0XSSlvcSm9-4c
Before moving to more drastic measures.
Small research projects early, then larger projects to get firmer data from larger groups, then when treatment is approved for narrow or wide use (ie is effective and cost-effective) it will be given a framework by NICE after evaluation
Plus certain exceptions that get fast tracked - eg in response to a media or PR campaign.
Plus the system of use of non-NHS approved treatments being allowed privately under treatment of a fully qualified clinician.
Reeves seems a safe pair of hands and if she can do something to help revive the British stock market without compelling all of our pension pots and ISA's to be saved into it then even better.
I then look at Annaliese Dodds and some of the other muppets and realise in some areas it is going to be an uphill struggle.
Wes Streeting is by far the most impressive, future leader.
My wife and daughter are en route to Paris. There has been some anxiety about this:
- will the taxi to the station turn up?
- will Avanti cheerfully cancel the train to London?
- will they be confounded by passport control at St. Pancras?
So she left plenty of slack in her schedule.
The first apparent hitch was a text at 5.30am to say their train to London had been cancelled. After a minor amount of faffing, she was able to rebook onto the earlier train at no cost, and rebook her taxi for 20 minutes earlier. On getting up again at 7, the cancelled train had been uncancelled. But as we were up it didn't seem worth rescheduling the taxi. Then, however, at five minutes past the due time for the taxi, there was still no sign of it. Wife phones the taxi company, who are in a panic - because it was Eid, most of the taxi drivers had at the last minute declined to work. (Are all taxi drivers Muslim, or is it just a Greater Manchester thing)? Anyway, drama was shortlived: a dodgy-looking Wolverhampton-registered taxi turned up only eight minutes late - well within the amount of slack for the day and no later than you would normally expect a taxi. They were well in time for the train they had originally intended to get, which got them to London on time. Short hop from Euston to St. Pancras, and straight to passport control, as we had been warned that since Brexit, queues take at least 90 minutes and sometimes up to three hours. But they were through in ten minutes, leaving them two hours to kill before their train to Paris. No complaint about this from me, wife or daughter - we are much happier being early with time to kill.
So the journey up to the point of actually leaving London has gone surprisingly well, despite threatening not to at every turn. It hardly seems credible that three consecutive parts of the journey (taxi, London train, passports) have gone smoothly. We expect disaster at every turn, and indeed those operating the systems appear to expect it, but it hasn't yet materialised.