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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » 14 months to go and still no sign of a movement that could

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  • JackWJackW Posts: 14,787

    JackW said:

    I've just been invited to speak at IndyRef meeting the Scottish Parliament in April - a follow-up to one I did in Feb last year. Looking forward to it.

    Take your passport !!

    What exchange rate will I get for my hard-earned £s?

    Ensure you take plenty of hessian bags for the neeps and tatties.

  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,034

    isam said:

    If you allocate the leanings of the undecided you get

    60 Yes
    36 No
    4 DK

    or

    62.5 Yes
    37.5 No
    ANY NATS READING THAT - ROBD's got his Yes and No mixed up.
    I did no such thing ;-) I just read the wrong table. isam on the other hand.. tut tut *titter*
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,701
    SeanT said:

    One for (anyone but) the Nats: why are BetterTogether struggling for cash?

    Surely they've got a pool of all Tory/Labour/LibDem donors to draw upon, plus big UK business, CBI affiliates and not to mention David Bowie.

    They should be rolling in it. Yet they've (apparently) failed to raise even half their £7m target.

    Meanwhile, 'Yes' is seemingly lapping it up from a couple of euromillions winners.

    It's a bit odd, to say the least.

    Probably because most people believe Better Together don't really need the money. The unionists have the entire British government, all four UK-wide parties, most of the UK media, and most of Scottish big business, overtly or covertly working for the cause. How much is that worth? £50m?

    The perception may be unfair on BT, but it is there.
    Yes, it is a perception I shared, until now. Perhaps the fact this information is now out there will neuter this complacency.

  • RobD said:

    isam said:

    If you allocate the leanings of the undecided you get

    60 Yes
    36 No
    4 DK

    or

    62.5 Yes
    37.5 No
    ANY NATS READING THAT - ROBD's got his Yes and No mixed up.
    I did no such thing ;-) I just read the wrong table. isam on the other hand.. tut tut *titter*
    I'm sorry, I'll exile myself to Scotland for the next 2 and a bit days, as punishment.
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    Charles said:

    The most important news of today, if not the year so far.

    This evening at 7.30pm on BBC1

    The BBC is set to announce the UK's 2014 Eurovision entrant, with rumours strongly suggesting it will be newcomer Molly Smitten-Downes.

    This year's contestant was chosen through the BBC's Introducing strand, which champions undiscovered talent.

    It marks a break with the UK's recent choices, which have relied on veteran names such as Bonnie Tyler and Engelbert Humperdinck.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26414284

    With a name like Smitten-Downes it needs to be some tedious ballard ("Smitten Down By Love" etc etc)
    An Old Etonian post-op transsexual I suspect, Charles.

    After writing the manifesto, why not sing the song?

  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    RobD said:

    isam said:

    If you allocate the leanings of the undecided you get

    60 Yes
    36 No
    4 DK

    or

    62.5 Yes
    37.5 No
    ANY NATS READING THAT - ROBD's got his Yes and No mixed up.
    I did no such thing ;-) I just read the wrong table. isam on the other hand.. tut tut *titter*
    My apologies. As I said, not the first time I've made a mistake like that!
  • There must be a few thousand patriotric unionists, like me, in England/Wales (yet alone Scotland) willing to do their bit, surely?

    Depends what you mean by doing their bit. As a patriot myself, I would only ever consider donating to the Yes campaign.
  • SeanT said:

    SeanT said:


    Oh FFS. I give up. You honestly don't believe that Russian speakers in Ukraine (of which there are 8.3m - almost 20% of the population) might actually and simply just want to be citizens of a country three times richer

    The GDP per capita is an average figure, and we should all know how misleading averages can be.

    How do the median Ukrainian and Russian incomes compare, adjusted for purchasing power parity? What about the 20th percentile and the 80th? Such comparisons will tell us whether the Russian people are really more prosperous, or whether the figures you cite are distorted by a small number of Russians with extremely high incomes, pulling their national average up.

    Yes, of course, Ukraine is a famously equal country, I believe it ranks alongside Sweden. That's why the deposed president had his own zoo, an underground shooting range, and a mock Spanish galleon moored on his private lake.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-uprising-the-private-zoo-the-galleon-moored-on-a-private-lake-the-fleet-of-vintage-cars--ukrainians-left-openmouthed-at-the-opulence-of-yanukovychs-country-estate-9146886.html

    Sarcasm is no substitute for reliable statistics.

    Certainly, Ukraine doesn't have Swedish levels of equality, but neither does Russia. It's entirely probable that the mean GDP per capita for both countries is inflated, to differing degrees, by a small proportion of the population with extremely high incomes, which is why it would be more informative to compare medians, and the various percentiles.
  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,782

    One for (anyone but) the Nats: why are BetterTogether struggling for cash?

    Surely they've got a pool of all Tory/Labour/LibDem donors to draw upon, plus big UK business, CBI affiliates and not to mention David Bowie.

    They should be rolling in it. Yet they've (apparently) failed to raise even half their £7m target.

    Meanwhile, 'Yes' is seemingly lapping it up from a couple of euromillions winners.

    It's a bit odd, to say the least.

    I did a piece on that two years ago

    Lib Dems don't have any money, there's no marginals for the Tories to win in Scotland, pragmatism will rule the day.

    If the other two unionist parties are unwilling and unable to contribute much, then it may fall to Labour to make up the shortfall, but with a General Election on the horizon, they may be forced to choose between two unappealing choices, spend money trying to keep one of their traditional heartlands in the Union, from their general election funds, or try and win a general election without one of their traditional heartlands.

    http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2012/06/07/how-much-of-an-influence-will-money-have-on-the-independence-referendum/
    Sorry, TSE, I missed that post of yours. Your points make sense. I'm still not sure why more companies and private individuals aren't digging a little deeper though.

    I've donated £100 myself, and, I must admit, I feel a bit lonely. There must be a few thousand patriotric unionists, like me, in England/Wales (yet alone Scotland) willing to do their bit, surely?
    As someone outside Scotland, I don't think that it's right that I contribute to Better Together whatever my personal views - it is and should be a decision for Scotland and the Scottish people. In the same way I wouldn't donate to a US Presidential campaign (and arguably that has greater global impact)
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    SeanT said:

    Bloody hell. Is Putin actually gonna start shooting?

    I'm going to stock up on the 2010 Frescobaldi Laudamio extra virgin olive oil at Finchley Waitrose. This could get nasty.

    No to the shooting.

    But there may be other reasons to justify the virgin pressings.

  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,121
    Charles said:

    OGH..I do hope you will not be.. jetting in..jetting out..we will never hear the last of it ... please take the train

    Rest assured I've just booked my tickets on East Coast. First class return to Edinburgh from Bedfordshire - £89.

    First class, really... how terribly Tory of you...
    First Class = Snob Class
    Business = Spiv Class
    Economy/Standard = Steerage

    :)
  • SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,779
    SeanT said:

    Bloody hell. Is Putin actually gonna start shooting?

    I'm going to stock up on the 2010 Frescobaldi Laudamio extra virgin olive oil at Finchley Waitrose. This could get nasty.



    You still think Putin's justified?
  • TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    edited March 2014
    According to Interfax-Ukraine, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has given Ukrainian forces in the Crimea until 03:00 GMT Tuesday to surrender or face an all out assault .
  • SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

  • glwglw Posts: 9,954

    I see the Russian Black Sea Fleet has given Ukrainian forces in the Crimea until 03:00 GMT Tuesday to surrender or face an all out assault (Interfax-Ukraine).

    Ah more completely reasonable and understandable actions from the peace loving Russians.

    Anyone who still supports them at this point really is a prize berk.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,121
    edited March 2014

    SeanT said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @SeanT

    I think Western Ukranians look at Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and see countries that had GDP's per capita of less than $5,000 a decade ago, and now have incomes three times that level. They think: "we threw our lot in with the Russians for more than a decade and a fat lot of good it's done us, let's see if we can do what Latvia did".

    Western Ukrainians, yes. Russophones, no.
    Wasn’t Western Ukraine part of Poland until the “settlement” after WWII?
    The former Polish Oblasts (or provinces) were Lviv, Ivano Frankivsk, Ternopil, Volhynia and Rivne.

    Transcarpathia was actually Czechoslovak till 1938 then Hungarian during the War.

    Cernivtsi and the southern part of Odessa Oblast were Romanian 1919-1940 and again 1941-44.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_Ukraine
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    SeanT : google "fake olive oil" - it's probably turnip extract you are enjoying - mopped up by Sunblest..

  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    edited March 2014
    SeanT said:

    Encouraging news.

    @afneil 38s
    Russian Defence Ministry says Russian fleet given Ukrainian forces in Crimea until 0300 GMT on Tuesday to surrender or “face storm”.

    There clearly is a stand-off going on and tension is building. Earlier ITAR-TASS reports that the Ukrainian Navy had either changed sides or scarpered appear not to be the full story.

    A more up-to-date and nervous story has just appeared. It reports the Ukrainian Navy Base surrounded by the 'people of Crimea' etc. with a "choice" given to the Ukrainian sailors and their officers to join the 'Crimean' Navy or [unspecified].

    Here is a flavour of what Moscow wants us to hear:

    Admiral Sergei Gaiduk, the Ukrainian Navy commander, told journalists on Monday that the Ukrainian military would not allow weapons to be used and blood spilled in the Navy-controlled territories.

    “I am going to be absolutely open and sincere. We will do everything possible and the impossible to avert the bloodshed. I am appealing to journalists and the population and everybody who hears me. All of you should understand that the Ukrainian Navy is posing no threat to the people of Sevastopol or Crimea,” Gaiduk went on to say.

    He said that people serving in the Ukrainian Navy have parents, wives and children in Crimea.
    “As for the use of weapons, I have given a clear order to all naval commanders to do everything possible and even the impossible to prevent the use of weapons,” Admiral Gaiduk stressed.


    The bet on no shots remains but the odds are narrowing.
  • TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    SeanT said:

    Bloody hell. Is Putin actually gonna start shooting?

    I'm going to stock up on the 2010 Frescobaldi Laudamio extra virgin olive oil at Finchley Waitrose. This could get nasty.



    It depends on whether patriotic Ukrainians in the Crimea decide to shoot back, and their 1.1 million comrades with arms support them.

  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,672
    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,121
    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.
    @SeanT

    Eastern Ukraine is richer than the western parts?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ukrainian_salary_map.png
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,701
    Lennon - obviously, I disagree. As a unionist, I believe the UK is shared by us all (Scots/Welsh,N.Irish and English alike) and I would hate to see it broken up, which would affect all of us.

    I do not see Scotland as a foreign nation - and nor does the electoral commission - and I see the UK as our shared nation, so I am happy and pleased to donate to support the campaign for its continuance.

    I accept that, sadly IMHO, not all my fellow English will agree with me.
  • James Forsyth ‏@JGForsyth 33s

    Hear that William Hague’s people are angrily ticking off Tory MPs who’ve suggested that the Commons’ vote on Syria emboldened Putin
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,672
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    Mainland Chinese tourists are very unpopular in some other parts of Asia. On my recent jaunt to Bangkok I met high class hoteliers who just won't take Chinese bookings (not that they'd ever admit this openly).

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.

    It's also because the Chinese just don't like other people very much. Their thing is the family: everyone else is not to be trusted and to be treated with total contempt. It is the only place I have been to where you get that so uniformly. They make no effort at all to hide their disdain - even in Hong Kong. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but not by much.

  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,962
    Good afternoon, everyone.

    3am deadline, eh? I wonder if they'll stick to it.
  • Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,069
    edited March 2014
    Hmm.... not sure even I'd buy this one and that's as a rampant mad contrarian investor...

    EPIC is UKRO....
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    FloridaJayhawk ‏@HouseCracka 23m

    NEO NAZI'S POUR INTO KIEV UKRAINE http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/the-swedish-neo-nazis-of-kiev.html … So the USA is going to fund the NEO NAZI'S? Right #UnitedBlue? #P2?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,701
    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited March 2014
    AveryLP said:


    Pork

    Nothing like a Cast Iron Pledge of Cammie's to make you Limp is there uncle of Seth O Logue?

    Channel 4 News ‏@Channel4News Feb 27

    Government's migration pledge "in tatters", as figures reveal net immigration of 200,000 - @C4Ciaran reports http://bit.ly/1cbHBty #c4news
  • old_labourold_labour Posts: 3,238
    Russian speakers tend to be persecuted in, erm, Russia itself.
    Socrates said:

    @SeanT

    Incidentally, what are the persecutions of the Russian-speakers? Were they shot down on the streets like Ukrainian-speakers were under Yanukovych? Were they beaten up by angry mobs, as Ukrainian-speakers have been in recent days in Donetsk and Sevastapol? Or was it something worse?

  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Pork keen to engage with thoughts on Ukranians but not polls - especially IM ones..
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited March 2014

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    Mainland Chinese tourists are very unpopular in some other parts of Asia. On my recent jaunt to Bangkok I met high class hoteliers who just won't take Chinese bookings (not that they'd ever admit this openly).

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.

    It's also because the Chinese just don't like other people very much. Their thing is the family: everyone else is not to be trusted and to be treated with total contempt. It is the only place I have been to where you get that so uniformly. They make no effort at all to hide their disdain - even in Hong Kong. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but not by much.

    Unless you speak Chinese. My Chinese is fluent (honours degree, years of working there, Chinese wife - with relatives in Beijing) and experience it differently. Once they realise you are not some foreign untermensch but can actually talk properly and can engage sensibly then they suddenly open up. Not great - but there it is.

    What REALLY upsets the more educated Chinese middle class is the glaring collapse in morals. The corruption, disdain for human life, and commie shittiness of public life pains them to a degree rarely commented on in the west. It is a world away from their cultural Confucian tradition of honour, service and respect. The people who most hate the spitting, loudmouthed, nouveau-loadsamoney, badly dressed, rich corrupt, XO swilling peasants who run the place are the educated Chinese themselves. Our class war is as nothing in comparison.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    Mick_Pork said:

    AveryLP said:


    Pork

    Nothing like a Cast Iron Pledge of Cammie's to make you Limp is there uncle of Seth O Logue?

    Channel 4 News ‏@Channel4News Feb 27

    Government's migration pledge "in tatters", as figures reveal net immigration of 200,000 - @C4Ciaran reports http://bit.ly/1cbHBty #c4news
    Seriously? Feb 27? When you pasted it a thousand times last week?
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Tom Pride ‏@ThomasPride Mar 2

    Cameron has allowed Russia to take over 20% of the UK's gas supplies. Good idea? http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-shows-folly-of-cameron-handing-over-20-of-uk-gas-supply-to-russia/
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    edited March 2014
    Mick_Pork said:

    AveryLP said:


    Pork

    Nothing like a Cast Iron Pledge of Cammie's to make you Limp is there uncle of Seth O Logue?

    Channel 4 News ‏@Channel4News Feb 27

    Government's migration pledge "in tatters", as figures reveal net immigration of 200,000 - @C4Ciaran reports http://bit.ly/1cbHBty #c4news
    Avery instructs Pork to sit and hands him a cup of coffee and the latest SIndy poll from Ipsos-MORI.

    "Take your time, Pork. We don't want you to get indigestion."

  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited March 2014
    TOPPING said:


    Seriously? Feb 27?

    Fair enough. Here's one from yesterday since you bizarrely seem to be implying it's a non-story with no lasting effects.

    Channel 4 News ‏@Channel4News Mar 2

    Former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox says @David_Cameron underestimates the threat from @UKIP - http://bit.ly/NJ4h8Y #c4news

    Liam Fox: Immigration policy a 'nonsense' gift to Ukip

    Former defence secretary Liam Fox labels David Cameron's pledge to cut net migration to tens of thousands as "statistical nonsense" and says the prime minister is underestimating the threat of Ukip.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,962
    F1: review of the teams here: http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/22058/9192860/what-weve-learnt-at-bahrain-test-two

    I hope Ladbrokes put up a top scoring team market. I'd like to see the odds on Williams for that.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    Patrick said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.

    It's also because the Chinese just don't like other people very much. Their thing is the family: everyone else is not to be trusted and to be treated with total contempt. It is the only place I have been to where you get that so uniformly. They make no effort at all to hide their disdain - even in Hong Kong. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but not by much.

    Unless you speak Chinese. My Chinese is fluent (honours degree, years of working there, Chinese wife - with relatives in Beijing) and experience it differently. Once they realise you are not some foreign untermensch but can actually talk properly and can engage sensibly then they suddenly open up. Not great - but there it is.

    What REALLY upsets the more educated Chinese middle class is the glaring collapse in morals. The corruption, disdain for human life, and commie shittiness of public life pains them to a degree rarely commented on in the west. It is a world away from their cultural Confucian tradition of honour, service and respect. The people who most hate the spitting, loudmouthed, nouveau-loadsamoney, badly dressed, rich corrupt, XO swilling peasants who run the place are the educated Chinese themselves. Our class war is as nothing in comparison.
    Yes.

    China especially the cities is so populous (and this applies to Hong Kong) that there Chinese people build a protective bubble which means they ignore everything and everyone outside. This can mean they appear rude.

    Once that protective bubble has been burst then Chinese people, like people from nations across the world on an individual level, are extremely friendly, generous and welcoming.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    AveryLP said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    AveryLP said:


    Pork

    Nothing like a Cast Iron Pledge of Cammie's to make you Limp is there uncle of Seth O Logue?

    Channel 4 News ‏@Channel4News Feb 27

    Government's migration pledge "in tatters", as figures reveal net immigration of 200,000 - @C4Ciaran reports http://bit.ly/1cbHBty #c4news
    Avery instructs Pork to sit and hands him a cup of coffee and the latest SIndy poll from Ipsos-MORI.

    "Take your time, Pork. We don't want you to get indigestion."

    Perhaps a yellow box will alert him to the latest piece of magic worked by the CoTE ?
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,536

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    Mick_Pork said:

    TOPPING said:


    Seriously? Feb 27?

    Fair enough. Here's one from yesterday since you bizarrely seem to be implying it's a non-story with no lasting effects.

    Channel 4 News ‏@Channel4News Mar 2

    Former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox says @David_Cameron underestimates the threat from @UKIP - http://bit.ly/NJ4h8Y #c4news

    Liam Fox: Immigration policy a 'nonsense' gift to Ukip

    Former defence secretary Liam Fox labels David Cameron's pledge to cut net migration to tens of thousands as "statistical nonsense" and says the prime minister is underestimating the threat of Ukip.
    Thanks Mick because it's the story of the day. Appreciate you keeping us up to date with developments.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,701
    Patrick said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    Mainland Chinese tourists are very unpopular in some other parts of Asia. On my recent jaunt to Bangkok I met high class hoteliers who just won't take Chinese bookings (not that they'd ever admit this openly).

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.

    It's also because the Chinese just don't like other people very much. Their thing is the family: everyone else is not to be trusted and to be treated with total contempt. It is the only place I have been to where you get that so uniformly. They make no effort at all to hide their disdain - even in Hong Kong. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but not by much.

    Unless you speak Chinese. My Chinese is fluent (honours degree, years of working there, Chinese wife - with relatives in Beijing) and experience it differently. Once they realise you are not some foreign untermensch but can actually talk properly and can engage sensibly then they suddenly open up. Not great - but there it is.

    What REALLY upsets the more educated Chinese middle class is the glaring collapse in morals. The corruption, disdain for human life, and commie shittiness of public life pains them to a degree rarely commented on in the west. It is a world away from their cultural Confucian tradition of honour, service and respect. The people who most hate the spitting, loudmouthed, nouveau-loadsamoney, badly dressed, rich corrupt, XO swilling peasants who run the place are the educated Chinese themselves. Our class war is as nothing in comparison.
    That's very impressive Patrick. I doubt I could ever master a language as complicated as Chinese. Hell, I struggle with French.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 42,151
    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Crap tip?
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    All in all, six published polls of referendum voting intention were conducted in February. On average they put Yes on 42% once the Don’t Knows are excluded. Between them they represent the best run of poll results for the Yes side since the final version of the referendum question was unveiled just over a year ago. But the Yes side still have a lot more ground to make up before the race will begin to look like a truly close contest. Plenty to play for in the next 200 days!

    http://blog.whatscotlandthinks.org/2014/03/200-days-to-go/

    Zed ‏@Colkitto 38m

    6 months before the 2011 election Ipsos Mori poll had the SNP at 31%. Actual result was 45.39% #justsayin #indyref

    Wings Over Scotland ‏@WingsScotland 4h

    The Ian Crombie several papers are mentioning over Better Together's "cash crisis" is the name we redacted here: http://wingsoverscotland.com/feeling-the-fear/

    :)
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,624
    Mick_Pork said:

    Tom Pride ‏@ThomasPride Mar 2

    Cameron has allowed Russia to take over 20% of the UK's gas supplies. Good idea? http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-shows-folly-of-cameron-handing-over-20-of-uk-gas-supply-to-russia/

    An irrelevancy. We have lots of LNG import capacity, some existing North Sea production, very high gas stocks, and pipelines across the channel and to Norway.

    In addition, we could delay the planned closure of old coal and nuclear plants if we chose.
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Hest ebooks ‏@Hest_ebooks

    Western media slowly realizing what's happening in Kiev: BBC: Ukraine: Far-right armed with bats patrol Kiev http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26394980 … #Ukraine
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @MSmithsonPB: Perhaps worth noting that at the 2011 Holyrood elections Ipsos-MORI was by some margin the most accurate pollster

    Nothing to see here. Move along...
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    Anorak said:

    That's 64% No v 36% Yes when undecideds are excluded. A seriously bad poll for the nationalists.
    Nothing is bad news for the nationalists, as we will no doubt hear soon. All part of a cunning plan to lull the Unionists into complacency, at which stage, BAM! Salmond rides forth in a flaming chariot pulled by 100 scottish wildcats and the referendum is all but won.

    Only a Westminster Unionist could possibly fail to see that.

    lol, chortle, tears of laughter, etc
    It appears I misread matters. Tartan-clad squirrels appear to be the order of the day.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,121
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    Mainland Chinese tourists are very unpopular in some other parts of Asia. On my recent jaunt to Bangkok I met high class hoteliers who just won't take Chinese bookings (not that they'd ever admit this openly).

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.

    It's also because the Chinese just don't like other people very much. Their thing is the family: everyone else is not to be trusted and to be treated with total contempt. It is the only place I have been to where you get that so uniformly. They make no effort at all to hide their disdain - even in Hong Kong. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but not by much.

    I've met loads of friendly and hospitable people in China. Mind you I've only been to the south - Yunnan, Guangzhou etc.

    Perhaps the warmer climate makes them nicer?

    Jeez another day with no work done. I am strrrrrrrruggling with this next thriller. GAH.
    Maybe you should consider Crimea as a possible setting?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 43,341
    Anorak said:

    Anorak said:

    That's 64% No v 36% Yes when undecideds are excluded. A seriously bad poll for the nationalists.
    Nothing is bad news for the nationalists, as we will no doubt hear soon. All part of a cunning plan to lull the Unionists into complacency, at which stage, BAM! Salmond rides forth in a flaming chariot pulled by 100 scottish wildcats and the referendum is all but won.

    Only a Westminster Unionist could possibly fail to see that.

    lol, chortle, tears of laughter, etc
    It appears I misread matters. Tartan-clad squirrels appear to be the order of the day.
    Red squirrels, not tartan ones.

  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,709
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    Mainland Chinese tourists are very unpopular in some other parts of Asia. On my recent jaunt to Bangkok I met high class hoteliers who just won't take Chinese bookings (not that they'd ever admit this openly).

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.
    The English-language BKK Press is of the opinion that the Chinese simply aren't coming, due to the political situation. Why beats me. Stay away from the few "lively" areas and everything's normal.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Crap tip?
    Perhaps he told him the chicken wasn't rubbery...

  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Greg Stone ‏@gm_stone Mar 2

    David Owen has been wrong about everything in politics since the merger. In that time he backed Major, Blair, and Iraq. #albatross

    *chortle*

    I seem to recall quite a few of the PB tories back Blair on Iraq too.

    Oops. :)
  • Ishmael_XIshmael_X Posts: 3,664
    Mick_Pork said:

    Hest ebooks ‏@Hest_ebooks

    Western media slowly realizing what's happening in Kiev: BBC: Ukraine: Far-right armed with bats patrol Kiev http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26394980 … #Ukraine

    Pandas armed with squirrels patrol Royal Mile.

  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    Carnyx said:

    Anorak said:

    Anorak said:

    That's 64% No v 36% Yes when undecideds are excluded. A seriously bad poll for the nationalists.
    Nothing is bad news for the nationalists, as we will no doubt hear soon. All part of a cunning plan to lull the Unionists into complacency, at which stage, BAM! Salmond rides forth in a flaming chariot pulled by 100 scottish wildcats and the referendum is all but won.

    Only a Westminster Unionist could possibly fail to see that.

    lol, chortle, tears of laughter, etc
    It appears I misread matters. Tartan-clad squirrels appear to be the order of the day.
    Red squirrels, not tartan ones.

    Ha. Nice.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,624
    In Venezuela, everyone is a mini George Soros. The official exchange rate is 6.3 Bolivars to the US Dollar. But you can happily get 87 in the fairly liquid black market.
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited March 2014
    On Topic: LOL

    Good chart from Electoral Calculus http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/polls.html showing polling trends since GE2010

    It's pretty good but you simply can't see the detail like you can here.

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png

    There you can clearly see last May's local election movement for the kippers, the tories and labour before and after polling day.

  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,701
    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Ha! I take it you gave him five stars on tripadvisor?
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Sean

    Was it at the Wong Kei in Wardour Street?

    Famous for two things:

    1. Best wind dried duck soup in the whole wide world;

    2. Worst and rudest service in same territory.

  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    TGOHF said:

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Crap tip?
    Perhaps he told him the chicken wasn't rubbery...

    Are you auditioning for the stand up gig at UKIPs bash to celebrate winning the Euros?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,624
    AveryLP said:

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Sean

    Was it at the Wong Kei in Wardour Street?

    Famous for two things:

    1. Best wind dried duck soup in the whole wide world;

    2. Worst and rudest service in same territory.

    They are deliberately rude. It's part of the 'charm'.
  • I'd also, at the risk of provoking a storm, point out there is a gulf between the northern and southern Chinese (and I definitely include the HongKies in 'southern'). The northern chinese are taller, calmer, quieter, politer, and just alot more civilised and alot nicer than their southern compatriots. Most Chinese in the UK are southerners, with alot from HongKong originally. I'd bet my last penny that a waiter who told you 'now fu<K off' was a short frognosed southern git. And obviously I'm hugely biased, but the northern chinese ladies are just delightful compared to their loud cantonese sisters.
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    Mick_Pork said:

    Greg Stone ‏@gm_stone Mar 2

    David Owen has been wrong about everything in politics since the merger. In that time he backed Major, Blair, and Iraq. #albatross

    *chortle*

    I seem to recall quite a few of the PB tories back Blair on Iraq too.

    Oops. :)

    Polly poll, Pork.

    Have you noticed?

  • TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    rcs1000 said:

    AveryLP said:

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Sean

    Was it at the Wong Kei in Wardour Street?

    Famous for two things:

    1. Best wind dried duck soup in the whole wide world;

    2. Worst and rudest service in same territory.

    They are deliberately rude. It's part of the 'charm'.
    Gentlemen, I'm afraid it's all change at your favourite Asian gourmet dining establishment.

    http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/24/rudest-restaurant-london-wong-kei
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,536
    AveryLP said:

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Sean

    Was it at the Wong Kei in Wardour Street?

    Famous for two things:

    1. Best wind dried duck soup in the whole wide world;

    2. Worst and rudest service in same territory.

    That's the one.

  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    isam said:

    TGOHF said:

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Crap tip?
    Perhaps he told him the chicken wasn't rubbery...

    Are you auditioning for the stand up gig at UKIPs bash to celebrate winning the Euros?
    ".. then he asked if "you for coffee" ? . My mother in-law is so black .... "

  • SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    edited March 2014
    Sean_F said:

    AveryLP said:

    Sean_F said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    *like*

    On SeanTs point, some of the rich mainland Chinese visitors to the UK can be incredibly rude too. I've witnessed a few in some expensive London restaurants masticating with their jaws wide open, making a lot of noise, belching and shouting into cellphones - in the middle of the meal - whilst other horrified diners look on.

    Needless to say, the staff do nothing about it. They must tip well.
    I do remember being told "You finished, now f*ck off" by a Chinese waiter.

    Sean

    Was it at the Wong Kei in Wardour Street?

    Famous for two things:

    1. Best wind dried duck soup in the whole wide world;

    2. Worst and rudest service in same territory.

    That's the one.

    They've been known to move people mid-meal fairly regularly.

    Still not as bad as the Weiner Circle in Chicago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33zPlnhymCU
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,672
    Patrick said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Socrates said:

    SeanT said:

    However Russians are on average notably richer. I meet average Russians (not oligarchs) all the time when I am travelling - go to any Greek island, or Turkey, or Sharm el Sheikh, and there are millions of 'em in their shell suits. They can afford foreign holidays.

    While I know several very nice Russians in London, my experience of Russian tourists is that they are probably the most obnoxious I've ever witnessed.

    You haven't encountered the mainland Chinese then.

    Hint: take a spittoon.

    And a raincoat!

    Mainland Chinese tourists are very unpopular in some other parts of Asia. On my recent jaunt to Bangkok I met high class hoteliers who just won't take Chinese bookings (not that they'd ever admit this openly).

    The money they make from the Chinese is outweighed by the losses they incur as other nationalities move elsewhere.

    It's because the Chinese have no manners, of course - because they were all peasants 20 years ago. I'm sure they will get nicer as they get richer. I've heard that they've already stopped mixing Coke in their claret.

    It's also because the Chinese just don't like other people very much. Their thing is the family: everyone else is not to be trusted and to be treated with total contempt. It is the only place I have been to where you get that so uniformly. They make no effort at all to hide their disdain - even in Hong Kong. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but not by much.

    Unless you speak Chinese. My Chinese is fluent (honours degree, years of working there, Chinese wife - with relatives in Beijing) and experience it differently. Once they realise you are not some foreign untermensch but can actually talk properly and can engage sensibly then they suddenly open up. Not great - but there it is.

    What REALLY upsets the more educated Chinese middle class is the glaring collapse in morals. The corruption, disdain for human life, and commie shittiness of public life pains them to a degree rarely commented on in the west. It is a world away from their cultural Confucian tradition of honour, service and respect. The people who most hate the spitting, loudmouthed, nouveau-loadsamoney, badly dressed, rich corrupt, XO swilling peasants who run the place are the educated Chinese themselves. Our class war is as nothing in comparison.

    My Mandarin is non-existent, but I can do a good Beijing Rrr. If I want to cheer up the people in our HK office I try to say something in Cantonese. It cracks them up every time.

  • The food at Wong Kei sucks too. Diagonally opposite is Gerard's Corner. Much better. But then all the food in London's Chinatown is Cantonese. The food n Beijing is about 1,000 times nicer. I think the most amazing thing I've ever eaten was a bowl of bird's nest soup on the DongSanHuanLu in the embassy district. Sublime.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,469
    rcs1000 said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Tom Pride ‏@ThomasPride Mar 2

    Cameron has allowed Russia to take over 20% of the UK's gas supplies. Good idea? http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-shows-folly-of-cameron-handing-over-20-of-uk-gas-supply-to-russia/

    An irrelevancy. We have lots of LNG import capacity, some existing North Sea production, very high gas stocks, and pipelines across the channel and to Norway.

    In addition, we could delay the planned closure of old coal and nuclear plants if we chose.
    I'm not sure that's the case. It's engineering, not finance, and whilst 'delaying closure' sounds fine, in practice it would be much more difficult.

    If you are shutting down a plant such as Kingsnorth, it makes sense to either life-expire all your plant, reduce maintenance to allow it to work for only the hours allowed by the LCPD, or sell off the plant afterwards as happened with some of Didcot.

    Nuclear plants are a whole different story, and require a whole host of safety cases and regulatory approval. Whilst those sorts of things can be short-circuited in a crisis, there may be increased risk and it certainly plays into hands of the anti-nuke peeps.
    http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/themes/energy/nuclear-power/about-nuclear-power/the-future-of-nuclear/plant-life-extension

    However fortunately EDF / Babcock are already on the case. But if that is the case, these plants may already be factored in:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10637592/EDF-to-extend-nuclear-plants-life-by-10-years.html
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10637592/EDF-to-extend-nuclear-plants-life-by-10-years.html
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,962
    I'm not nearly as well-travelled as most here, but it does amuse me slightly that the only time I've ever had Peking duck was in Peking [well, Beijing, but still]. It was rather delicious.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,672
    Patrick said:

    The food at Wong Kei sucks too. Diagonally opposite is Gerard's Corner. Much better. But then all the food in London's Chinatown is Cantonese. The food n Beijing is about 1,000 times nicer. I think the most amazing thing I've ever eaten was a bowl of bird's nest soup on the DongSanHuanLu in the embassy district. Sublime.

    There's a very good Taiwanese place in Chinatown called something like Leung's legend. That is top class. Not in Chinatown there's a brilliant Sechuan place in King's Cross that is well worth a visit. Last week in San Francisco I went to this place:

    http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g60713-d360106-Reviews-Yank_Sing_Stevenson_St-San_Francisco_California.html

    I go every time I am there. It is fantastic.

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046

    I'm not nearly as well-travelled as most here, but it does amuse me slightly that the only time I've ever had Peking duck was in Peking [well, Beijing, but still]. It was rather delicious.

    Broke my (greedy) heart when they actually threw the duck bit away and left the skin (delicious as it was).
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,962
    Mr. Topping, not quite the same but I do enjoy the skin of chicken.

    I'm not especially into food (beyond it's immense use at staving off starvation, of course), but the meatballs and goose were also really rather good. I couldn't manage much Chinese, though using chopsticks reasonably appeared to go down well.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,624

    rcs1000 said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Tom Pride ‏@ThomasPride Mar 2

    Cameron has allowed Russia to take over 20% of the UK's gas supplies. Good idea? http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-shows-folly-of-cameron-handing-over-20-of-uk-gas-supply-to-russia/

    An irrelevancy. We have lots of LNG import capacity, some existing North Sea production, very high gas stocks, and pipelines across the channel and to Norway.

    In addition, we could delay the planned closure of old coal and nuclear plants if we chose.
    I'm not sure that's the case. It's engineering, not finance, and whilst 'delaying closure' sounds fine, in practice it would be much more difficult.

    If you are shutting down a plant such as Kingsnorth, it makes sense to either life-expire all your plant, reduce maintenance to allow it to work for only the hours allowed by the LCPD, or sell off the plant afterwards as happened with some of Didcot.

    Nuclear plants are a whole different story, and require a whole host of safety cases and regulatory approval. Whilst those sorts of things can be short-circuited in a crisis, there may be increased risk and it certainly plays into hands of the anti-nuke peeps.
    http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/themes/energy/nuclear-power/about-nuclear-power/the-future-of-nuclear/plant-life-extension

    However fortunately EDF / Babcock are already on the case. But if that is the case, these plants may already be factored in:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10637592/EDF-to-extend-nuclear-plants-life-by-10-years.html
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10637592/EDF-to-extend-nuclear-plants-life-by-10-years.html
    I think most of the planned closures for this year could be delayed by three to six months without any great engineering problems...
  • AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    If you want good Peking duck, I can recommend HKK on Worship Street (the sister restaurant of Hakkasan).
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,469
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Tom Pride ‏@ThomasPride Mar 2

    Cameron has allowed Russia to take over 20% of the UK's gas supplies. Good idea? http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-shows-folly-of-cameron-handing-over-20-of-uk-gas-supply-to-russia/

    An irrelevancy. We have lots of LNG import capacity, some existing North Sea production, very high gas stocks, and pipelines across the channel and to Norway.

    In addition, we could delay the planned closure of old coal and nuclear plants if we chose.
    I'm not sure that's the case. It's engineering, not finance, and whilst 'delaying closure' sounds fine, in practice it would be much more difficult.

    If you are shutting down a plant such as Kingsnorth, it makes sense to either life-expire all your plant, reduce maintenance to allow it to work for only the hours allowed by the LCPD, or sell off the plant afterwards as happened with some of Didcot.

    Nuclear plants are a whole different story, and require a whole host of safety cases and regulatory approval. Whilst those sorts of things can be short-circuited in a crisis, there may be increased risk and it certainly plays into hands of the anti-nuke peeps.
    http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/themes/energy/nuclear-power/about-nuclear-power/the-future-of-nuclear/plant-life-extension

    However fortunately EDF / Babcock are already on the case. But if that is the case, these plants may already be factored in:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10637592/EDF-to-extend-nuclear-plants-life-by-10-years.html
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10637592/EDF-to-extend-nuclear-plants-life-by-10-years.html
    I think most of the planned closures for this year could be delayed by three to six months without any great engineering problems...
    Possibly, but I wouldn't say that a) it will be easy, or b) it will be cheap.

    If a piece of plant is life-expired, it is very difficult to get permission to continue using it.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    3am deadline, eh? I wonder if they'll stick to it.


    3am GMT - 5am EET. Presumably just before dawn
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,121
    Charles said:

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    3am deadline, eh? I wonder if they'll stick to it.


    3am GMT - 5am EET. Presumably just before dawn
    7am Moscow time, Comrade.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,624

    Possibly, but I wouldn't say that a) it will be easy, or b) it will be cheap.

    If a piece of plant is life-expired, it is very difficult to get permission to continue using it.

    Yes but don't forget that some of the coal stuff has simply been EOLed due to emissions standards. In the event of a geopolitical event which led to Europe not getting Russian gas, I find it hard to believe that continuing legislation could not be passed.
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    edited March 2014
    Charles said:

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    3am deadline, eh? I wonder if they'll stick to it.


    3am GMT - 5am EET. Presumably just before dawn
    Russians have denied story of 3:00 am deadline.

    Russia claims sole source for the story was within Ukrainian Defence Ministry and that it was simply misinformation.

  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    I was in Alishan, Taiwan a couple of years ago and it was obvious the local Taiwanese were getting a bit annoyed by the behaviour of the mainland Chinese tourists.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,469
    edited March 2014
    Charles said:

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    3am deadline, eh? I wonder if they'll stick to it.

    3am GMT - 5am EET. Presumably just before dawn
    It's a really dangerous game of bluff, isn't it?

    (Edit: if true, I've just seen Avery's comment below)
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    UKIP has been designated as a "major party" for the Euro elections by Ofcom:

    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/ukip-named-major-party-ofcom-european-elections
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    BBC — Russians are now denying they issued an ultimatum.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,121
    AndyJS said:

    UKIP has been designated as a "major party" for the Euro elections by Ofcom:

    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/ukip-named-major-party-ofcom-european-elections

    So the Tories were only a Major party from November 1990 to May 1997?

    (that was a joke by the way!)
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    edited March 2014

    Charles said:

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    3am deadline, eh? I wonder if they'll stick to it.

    3am GMT - 5am EET. Presumably just before dawn
    It's a really dangerous game of bluff, isn't it?

    (Edit: if true, I've just seen Avery's comment below)
    I am just quoting Russia sources, JJ.

    I am not endorsing them as being true.

    But the logic suggests that an ultimatum with the threat of military action is unlikely to be true at top strategic level. A threat may have been issued in the field but it is not being backed up in Moscow.

    Russia is the exact opposite of a 'lawless' country. Everything they do will be justified by reference to law and treaty. At present there is no need for Russia to issue ultimatums. They are not even officially present in the Crimea except within the terms of the Black Sea Port and Fleet Agreement. What is going on is officially and legally the actions of the government of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

    Now we in the West will say that's all very well but what about the spirit of the law and possibly conflicting international treaties etc? To the Russian that is irrelevant: what is lawful is what is permitted by the latest written order with its official stamp. If you can comply with such legal constraints you are free to operate entirely contrary to the original intent and spirit of the law.

    Totally unconnected with geo-politics, the Ukraine and military manoeuvres read this story to see what I mean at micro level:

    http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/717364

  • richardDoddrichardDodd Posts: 5,472
    When you issue an ultimatum and do not carry it out then it does tend to make you look like a prat
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 43,469
    Sort of on-topic whilst being way off-topic:

    Ukraine had some serious hardware ...
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572149/Stunning-images-huge-abandoned-tank-graveyard-Ukraine-machines-come-retirement-tensions-Russia-continue-escalate.html

    There are more tanks in that repair (or ore accurately disposal) yard than the UK has Challenger 2 tanks. Fortunately, most of our tanks work ...
  • Patrick said:

    I'd also, at the risk of provoking a storm, point out there is a gulf between the northern and southern Chinese (and I definitely include the HongKies in 'southern').

    They have also as a result perfected quite different styles of kung fu involving balletic high kicks.

    What would be the Chinese for Bwuce Lee's immortal line "My style? You can call it de ard a fighding widda ow fighding"?
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,962
    F1: Backed (tiny stakes) Massa and Bottas at 40 and 65 respectively for the title.

    The Williams has seemed to be quite fast. More importantly, it's been the most reliable car. It's not inconceivable one or both will get on the podium in Australia (Mercedes chewed up a few gearboxes in Bahrain).
  • MrJonesMrJones Posts: 3,523
    SeanT said:

    I've met loads of friendly and hospitable people in China. Mind you I've only been to the south - Yunnan, Guangzhou etc.

    Perhaps the warmer climate makes them nicer?

    Jeez another day with no work done. I am strrrrrrrruggling with this next thriller. GAH.

    If you made it about one of these "color" revolutions then it would count as research.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    edited March 2014
    TGOHF said:

    Pork keen to engage with thoughts on Ukranians but not polls - especially IM ones..

    I expect he's as keen on Russia Today as the SNP are.....

    http://www.leftfootforward.org/2014/02/why-are-the-snp-so-relaxed-about-dancing-to-the-kremlins-tune/comment-page-1/
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Apparently Boris hasn't ruled out returning as an MP next year.

    These are the seats available at the moment:

    Cannock Chase
    Erewash
    South Ribble
    Thanet S
    Hampshire NW
    Suffolk S
    Thirsk & Malton

    The only two that look suitable for him are Hampshire NW and Suffolk S.

  • MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,723
    Not sure if anyone follows the Wiki list of opinion polls but a shame that whoever compiles it has managed to make a complete mess of it in the last week.

    YouGov Sunday Times 21 Feb - missing
    Populus 23 Feb - missing
    Populus 28 Feb - data all wrong
    YouGov Sunday Times 28 Feb - data all wrong

    Don't know if anyone can fix this but if we are trying to follow trends it really would help if the data was compiled correctly.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    MikeL said:

    Not sure if anyone follows the Wiki list of opinion polls but a shame that whoever compiles it has managed to make a complete mess of it in the last week.

    YouGov Sunday Times 21 Feb - missing
    Populus 23 Feb - missing
    Populus 28 Feb - data all wrong
    YouGov Sunday Times 28 Feb - data all wrong

    Don't know if anyone can fix this but if we are trying to follow trends it really would help if the data was compiled correctly.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election

    The person who compiles it is a regular poster here on PB, although I can't remember their name.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,498
    Mick_Pork said:

    Tom Pride ‏@ThomasPride Mar 2

    Cameron has allowed Russia to take over 20% of the UK's gas supplies. Good idea? http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-shows-folly-of-cameron-handing-over-20-of-uk-gas-supply-to-russia/

    French and Chinese have nuclear so why not spread it about
  • BobaFettBobaFett Posts: 2,789
    Interesting data that Labour has the highest proportion of supporters who are in work, reflecting its name - and that it is the party of the working man. Ukip has the least.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bh0YnxPCAAAJdJh.jpg:large
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,567
    Maybe this is being too optimistic, but I wonder if we're seeing the peak of the crisis, at least for now. The West's comments seem focused on "not another inch beyond Crimea", while Medvedev is talking about building a bridge across the Straits of Kerch, which they wouldn't need if they were moving on to the rest of the eastern Ukraine. If nobody starts shooting, things may rest there for the forseeable future with much grumbling but no actual fighting. If.
This discussion has been closed.