Jesus effing Christ Paris is cold and grey. STILL. 12C with a sharp breeze and people looking irritable in winter coats and scarves. What a dump. I agree with this Spectator article
Day before yesterday I went to Mont St Michel for the first time. Of course I compared it to St Michael’s Mount (the latter was actually a monastic satellite of the former for a while). I know the Cornish one really well, I once took tea with Lord and Lady St Levan, in the castle, and found it very hard not to mention Edward St Aubyn and his *interesting backstory*. But I managed it
Anyway the French version is much more impressive in several ways - it’s a lot bigger. It’s more architecturally harmonious and beautiful. It is imposing in a way the Cornish one is not
On the other hand the Cornish version is properly surrounded by tidal waters, and it has an even more interesting history - it’s probably the isle of Ictis mentioned by classical scholars as the tin trading island of the Phoenicians - Cornwall’s tin industry is at least 3000 years old
More importantly the Cornish one has a ton of noom and the French one has about zero (after your first gobsmacked initial approach). Why? The trillions of tourists don’t help at all, but also the French one has that classic french noomlessness. Someone rubbed away the patina. There is no mad aristocratic family with a known history of incestuous father rapists living in one of the towers
Voila, c’est sans Noom
I find something noomy about all our western islands. That 'end of the earth' feeling.
Perhaps its the age of the land, particularly in the Hebrides, where it seems at first sight that it has been like this for billions of years and the ancient inhabitants have only just gone.
Of course, that ignores the not so romantic reason why they have only just gone.
I'm trying to think of the noomiest place in Yorkshire but am finding it tricky. Fountains Abbey has too many visitors and too many cakes, like Mont St Michel, magnificent though it is.
I quite like the empty moors, so Top Withens could be a valid choice, although the Brontes weren't quite long enough ago.
If only there was more left of Thornborough Henges...
Is Whitby in Yorkshire? That always looks Noomy to be, but I’ve not been
For me the noomiest place in Yorkshire must be Haworth and Heptonstall, for the Brontë House and Sylvia Plath’s grave. Three of the greatest female writers in history, all packed together in that satanically beautiful scenery, with the weird gritstone houses and the austere moors everywhere, and the cascading waters over crags
Top notch Noom
The grave in particular is decidedly noomy, Ted Hughes chose well. The anonymity of it makes it all better
Howarth's graveyard is a gloomy place, with a profusion of infants and young children listed on the old gravestones. It's also at the top of a hill, and it's speculated that the regular supply of new corpses polluted the local water supply. Average life expectancy was somewhere in the mid twenties.
And you mention Whitby without noting Bram Stoker's little story ?
The fact the Brontës’ talented brother drank himself to death in that pub only adds to the Noom. Also the poisonously tiny shoes of Charlotte Brontë in the house. And they all died so absurdly young
It’s bleak as fuck and I love it. Bleakness leading to beauty is a sure source of Noom
Plus you’ve got all the lesbians down at Hebden Bridge
World class nooming by Yorkshire there 👏
Noomiest in Yorkshire? All Saints North Street, York. Just yards off the tourist trail, step into an unbroken medieval culture in closeup, don't miss the Prick of Conscience window, 1420, if you are lucky in total solitude.
And Selby Abbey. Echoes of Durham but few if any people and surrounded by tat.
I think my vote would go to the Emley Moor Transmission mast. You can see it for miles.
That's more of a familiar landmark than 'noomy', though.
The nearby West Yorkshire Sculpture Park - on a bleak day - has a certain something about it.
Yeah that’s not noom. That’s just *impressive*
Way to not get the point
Not exactly. It's half a century old, and well on its way to becoming a technological relic. And if you get inside it, a definite sense of noom to standing inside the 1084 ft concrete tube.
NEW: Kate Forbes to give a statement later today. @SkyNews
She's not running
But is she standing?
It's looking like a stitch up. I don't think Swinney would have been singing her praises quite so loudly if he thought they were going to be in competition with each other. It also neatly differentiates Swinney from Yousaf as coming back to the centre with both himself and Forbes, people Yousaf didn't find a space for (not that they were exactly desperate).
Like Westminster, arguably even more so, there is a chronic lack of talent at Holyrood in all parties including the SNP. Forbes is not someone to waste.
Jesus effing Christ Paris is cold and grey. STILL. 12C with a sharp breeze and people looking irritable in winter coats and scarves. What a dump. I agree with this Spectator article
Judging by the wee portrait sketch the author has been somewhat ravaged by his Paris experience.
I know a spectator journalist. He says the cartoons are famously bad and something of an in joke
They're not completely terrible drawings, just terrible portraits. The worst is the one for Rasputin look-alike Alex Massie which makes him look like almost twice his age Howard Jacobson.
Jesus effing Christ Paris is cold and grey. STILL. 12C with a sharp breeze and people looking irritable in winter coats and scarves. What a dump. I agree with this Spectator article
Day before yesterday I went to Mont St Michel for the first time. Of course I compared it to St Michael’s Mount (the latter was actually a monastic satellite of the former for a while). I know the Cornish one really well, I once took tea with Lord and Lady St Levan, in the castle, and found it very hard not to mention Edward St Aubyn and his *interesting backstory*. But I managed it
Anyway the French version is much more impressive in several ways - it’s a lot bigger. It’s more architecturally harmonious and beautiful. It is imposing in a way the Cornish one is not
On the other hand the Cornish version is properly surrounded by tidal waters, and it has an even more interesting history - it’s probably the isle of Ictis mentioned by classical scholars as the tin trading island of the Phoenicians - Cornwall’s tin industry is at least 3000 years old
More importantly the Cornish one has a ton of noom and the French one has about zero (after your first gobsmacked initial approach). Why? The trillions of tourists don’t help at all, but also the French one has that classic french noomlessness. Someone rubbed away the patina. There is no mad aristocratic family with a known history of incestuous father rapists living in one of the towers
Voila, c’est sans Noom
I find something noomy about all our western islands. That 'end of the earth' feeling.
Perhaps its the age of the land, particularly in the Hebrides, where it seems at first sight that it has been like this for billions of years and the ancient inhabitants have only just gone.
Of course, that ignores the not so romantic reason why they have only just gone.
I'm trying to think of the noomiest place in Yorkshire but am finding it tricky. Fountains Abbey has too many visitors and too many cakes, like Mont St Michel, magnificent though it is.
I quite like the empty moors, so Top Withens could be a valid choice, although the Brontes weren't quite long enough ago.
If only there was more left of Thornborough Henges...
Is Whitby in Yorkshire? That always looks Noomy to be, but I’ve not been
For me the noomiest place in Yorkshire must be Haworth and Heptonstall, for the Brontë House and Sylvia Plath’s grave. Three of the greatest female writers in history, all packed together in that satanically beautiful scenery, with the weird gritstone houses and the austere moors everywhere, and the cascading waters over crags
Top notch Noom
The grave in particular is decidedly noomy, Ted Hughes chose well. The anonymity of it makes it all better
Howarth's graveyard is a gloomy place, with a profusion of infants and young children listed on the old gravestones. It's also at the top of a hill, and it's speculated that the regular supply of new corpses polluted the local water supply. Average life expectancy was somewhere in the mid twenties.
And you mention Whitby without noting Bram Stoker's little story ?
The fact the Brontës’ talented brother drank himself to death in that pub only adds to the Noom. Also the poisonously tiny shoes of Charlotte Brontë in the house. And they all died so absurdly young
It’s bleak as fuck and I love it. Bleakness leading to beauty is a sure source of Noom
Plus you’ve got all the lesbians down at Hebden Bridge
World class nooming by Yorkshire there 👏
Noomiest in Yorkshire? All Saints North Street, York. Just yards off the tourist trail, step into an unbroken medieval culture in closeup, don't miss the Prick of Conscience window, 1420, if you are lucky in total solitude.
And Selby Abbey. Echoes of Durham but few if any people and surrounded by tat.
I think my vote would go to the Emley Moor Transmission mast. You can see it for miles.
That's more of a familiar landmark than 'noomy', though.
The nearby West Yorkshire Sculpture Park - on a bleak day - has a certain something about it.
Yeah that’s not noom. That’s just *impressive*
Way to not get the point
Not exactly. It's half a century old, and well on its way to becoming a technological relic. And if you get inside it, a definite sense of noom to standing inside the 1084 ft concrete tube.
So not to be rejected out of hand.
Ok fair enough. I don’t know it
And yes absolutely old industrial and technological shit can be full of noom
I recommend the insane nuclear bunker just north east of london
It’s fascinating and weird and also packs a decent punch of noom. The fact this tawdry little bunker was the place where a nuclear flattened UK wouid be administered. Sad and scary and funny and deeply unsettling. That’s a good recipe for noom
Jesus effing Christ Paris is cold and grey. STILL. 12C with a sharp breeze and people looking irritable in winter coats and scarves. What a dump. I agree with this Spectator article
Judging by the wee portrait sketch the author has been somewhat ravaged by his Paris experience.
I know a spectator journalist. He says the cartoons are famously bad and something of an in joke
Incidentally a few years ago I spotted a mistake with the Spectator website which meant you could read all the articles for free by clicking in a certain place. I sent an email to the editor Fraser Nelson about it; he replied personally, which I was impressed by, but I thought he might have given me a free subscription to say thanks, which he didn't. When it started happening again I couldn't be bothered to inform him about it. (I think they've fixed it now).
Inflation under 2%, strong 2024 growth bouncing us out of recession and on path to further tax cuts, and interest rate and mortgage cuts too? On the hustings Sunak told Truss she was wrong and he could do it right, and has proved it by completely reversing the damage she caused.
Hope you don't mind me snipping this paragraph out. You appear to be suffering from the same hopium as HY is.
Inflation? How about interest rates? How about mortgages - you say "cuts" to rates but they have just gone *up* again. And a cut from the peak is still an increase - mine didn't go up as much as it could have done, but do you think I should be greatful to the Tories that my Truss Tax is *only* £170 a month?
Why are the Tories sinking so quickly? Because having put taxes up to their highest level they are telling people there has been a tax cut. Having opened the door to soaring levels of migration they're claiming they have cut it. Having put the price of *everything* up a lot they're saying they cut inflation.
I know that hopium gets you lot driving forward with "we can sell this" but in the real world the only thing you are selling is the determination to absolutely destroy this government. You cannot lie to people's faces and insist that their lived experience actually isn't what they experience daily. It just proves to more and more of them that you are utterly disconnected from reality and sanity.
Don’t mind debating you on this and your “Hopia” rubbish. You seem deluded about what polls are telling you, how politics works, and what’s about to happen.
What am I forecasting that you disagree with? General Election result on 4th July 2024 is 39% Labour 33% Conservative, or similar combination with Con just 5 or 6 behind. And you can’t see how on earth we quickly go from here to there? Is this the question I must answer?
The polling what matters to whole electorate, showing Labour ahead on all measures, bin it. For recovery to 34% Tories will focus on what matters to voters still leaning to them - it doesn’t matter a jot for every extra badger shot, 68% want Tories out even more, if Cons move from 24% to 32% and beyond targetting swingback. Tories have shipped about 10% to Reform in only 18 months, these are clearly softish votes. What do these recent reform voters, and those 2019 Tory Don’t Knows often in Mikes and TSE headers, need to hear during a campaign to be tempted back?
Remember how polls moved in 2017 and 2019 in the campaign. Every GE becomes a “forced choice” because support for minor parties like Reforms manifesto of unicorns, comes under pressure. One candidate wins FPTP in large constituency’s, this usually reduces voter option to 2 candidates who can win the seat. Conservative or Starmer, or waste your vote nearly everywhere - love it or hate it, you can’t deny FPTP does do this. And Voters know how painful letting in a horrible government and PM they get stuck with for 5 years, most will use their vote wisely not chuck it away. When I see this smorgasbord polling “choose your preferred unicorn” I shout at the screen: that mountain of deliberately wasted votes just won’t happen! It never does in a UK GE, so why now?
Only “Forced choice” polling from now gives us more realistic GE prediction. The last forced choice poll I noted was by Delta earlier in March, Lab just 11 points ahead 42% to 31%. Tories already polling in 30’s now before start of campaigning, before two party emphasis and squeezing others gets serious. I want to see forced choice poll from every pollster, don’t you? If forced choice polls taken exactly same time as normal one is completely different, and all have Tories in the 30+%, you will instantly see I am right, too much full options polling like todays Yougov is clearly misleading us.
Although I am closer to the Conservatives views now living back in North Yorkshire with parents and not in London, I am not voting Conservative. I’m casting my votes for libdems. The only reason I am explaining these facts is because there is a big elephant staring you in the face - This particular election has potential to dramatically change once starting gun fired. And it’s so funny you refuse to acknowledge it’s there.
Mortgages have started ticking up, but this is due to profiteering being sold to us as “swap rates”, and just a blip in the big scheme of things when on 9th May BoE announce interest rate cut it will spark the downward fight on mortgage deals.
Rishi’s Economic Miracle coming to front pages and TV screens very soon, deal with it.
But not to people's bank balances.
Most people have fixed rate mortgages, so the main effect will be people's rates going from 1ish percent to fiveish percent. A hundred thousand a month experiencing that joy, irrespective of what the BoE do.
And we have plenty of experience to show us that when Rishi tells us things are good despite people's experience, he just becomes a bit more annoying.
Of course Rishi should go soon, if he wants to minimise the defeat. Thursday 13th June is the first date technically available.
But if that was the aim, he'd have been better advised to go today, and better still to go last May.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
Brooke Junior is resident on Paris and lives with his soon to be wife off the Place de la Republique. Her parents would largely go along with your analysis and blame Anne Hidalgo the mayor of Paris for the ongoing decline. Last time I was there it was massive prices for middling food and drink. The only thing of interest was watching the rebuilding of Notre Dame.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
UK New Medium Helicopter buy reduced to around 30 aircraft: Spirit AeroSystems Exec The comments are the second time in the span of 10 months that industrial officials have publicly revealed a reduced buy from a max of 44 helos is on the table.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/05/uk-new-medium-helicopter-buy-reduced-to-around-30-aircraft-spirit-aerosystems-exec/ ..The NMH ITN phase was first launched in February and is contested by Airbus’s H175M super-medium platform, Leonardo’s AW149 multirole helicopter and Lockheed Martin’s S-70M Black Hawk utility rotorcraft. Proposals are due to be evaluated through 2025 ahead of a production contract award in the same year. Spirit is part of the Airbus H175M supplier team for NMH, alongside Boeing, Babcock, Martin-Baker, and Pratt and Whitney Canada.
The UK MoD declined to comment on the exact number of aircraft it plans on procuring...
Bargain! We just spent c. £2m to send a volunteer to Rwanda, and are half a billion quid into that caper. Houchen has had us spend £500m cleaning up land sold to his mates for £97. All those dodgy PPE deals. Just had the Tories all your money and be done with it.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Get Police Scotland on the..er..case, definitely be solved by the end of the decade. Which decade is another question.
The reason this has gone on so long is that it means sending police officers, all expenses paid, to a holiday location. Strangely, they seem to go back each summer….
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
That’s going to create problems - from what I’ve heard there’s been a number of very dodgy batches going round cut with something very bad.
Which is exactly why the testing was a good idea. Cut the street value of dodgy stuff to zero. So the vaguely organised gangs started actually testing their product at each stage, themselves.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Dan Hodges noted this as a decent attack line from the Conservatives. I think I agree; even if there’s not much between them & the Tories on policy, what puts me off Labour is their tendency to piously nag at you in the manner of an old fashioned, authoritarian parent who has just read a book by James O’Brien
They called you a ‘bigot’ if you questioned whether women had a penis.
Then, a ‘flat-earther’ if you want to stop ULEZ.
Now you’re a ‘racist’ if you vote for Susan Hall.
Welcome to a society run by Labour. They’ll shame you until you do as you’re told.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
That’s going to create problems - from what I’ve heard there’s been a number of very dodgy batches going round cut with something very bad.
Utilitarianism is not the answer to every problem for government but sometimes it just hits you so hard in the face that you wonder those who rail against it were thinking.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Get Police Scotland on the..er..case, definitely be solved by the end of the decade. Which decade is another question.
The reason this has gone on so long is that it means sending police officers, all expenses paid, to a holiday location. Strangely, they seem to go back each summer….
In that case get pale, red haired Jock cops over, they'll hate it (unless they can find a Scottish bar).
Jesus effing Christ Paris is cold and grey. STILL. 12C with a sharp breeze and people looking irritable in winter coats and scarves. What a dump. I agree with this Spectator article
Judging by the wee portrait sketch the author has been somewhat ravaged by his Paris experience.
I know a spectator journalist. He says the cartoons are famously bad and something of an in joke
Incidentally a few years ago I spotted a mistake with the Spectator website which meant you could read all the articles for free by clicking in a certain place. I sent an email to the editor Fraser Nelson about it; he replied personally, which I was impressed by, but I thought he might have given me a free subscription to say thanks, which he didn't. When it started happening again I couldn't be bothered to inform him about it. (I think they've fixed it now).
It's the Flint Knapper's Gazette that has the really hard to crack paywall.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
Yes, of course it has. Why would the government not stop something that works?
To be fair, it always existed in a legal grey area and the front of house testing programmes in particular relied on the police looking the other way, which is why it never happened at festivals in London - the Met refused to cooperate.
(There's an ongoing argument between the DCMS, who are very keen on increased access to testing, and the Home Office who are against. Meanwhile, for enthusiastic home chemists, test kits are freely available on Amazon...)
Dan Hodges noted this as a decent attack line from the Conservatives. I think I agree; even if there’s not much between them & the Tories on policy, what puts me off Labour is their tendency to piously nag at you in the manner of an old fashioned, authoritarian parent who has just read a book by James O’Brien
They called you a ‘bigot’ if you questioned whether women had a penis.
Then, a ‘flat-earther’ if you want to stop ULEZ.
Now you’re a ‘racist’ if you vote for Susan Hall.
Welcome to a society run by Labour. They’ll shame you until you do as you’re told.
UK New Medium Helicopter buy reduced to around 30 aircraft: Spirit AeroSystems Exec The comments are the second time in the span of 10 months that industrial officials have publicly revealed a reduced buy from a max of 44 helos is on the table.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/05/uk-new-medium-helicopter-buy-reduced-to-around-30-aircraft-spirit-aerosystems-exec/ ..The NMH ITN phase was first launched in February and is contested by Airbus’s H175M super-medium platform, Leonardo’s AW149 multirole helicopter and Lockheed Martin’s S-70M Black Hawk utility rotorcraft. Proposals are due to be evaluated through 2025 ahead of a production contract award in the same year. Spirit is part of the Airbus H175M supplier team for NMH, alongside Boeing, Babcock, Martin-Baker, and Pratt and Whitney Canada.
The UK MoD declined to comment on the exact number of aircraft it plans on procuring...
That's not really what is happening. They have taken No.84 at Akrotiri and the BFB flight at Medicina Lines out of NMH and done a separate purchase for a 5 blade H145 model. As the whole point of NMH was to consolidate small fleets onto a single type I can only assume Leonardo will get the balance and the government didn't want the political fallout of disappointing Airbus. They also bought 5 x H135 to replace the AAC Gazelles but then decided that agile, 21st C. warfighting meant that it was better to replace the Gazelles with, er, nothing so the H135s sat in storage for a year until they off loaded them to Australia.
The tories are fucking clowns when it comes to defence procurement.
It's only the Police Commissioner here in Winchcombe. The fun will be down in nearby Gloucester, as fans of Stodge's excellent reports will know.
I had a postal vote which I hadn't sent in because I received precisely zero election literature,so didn't make my mind up until this morning. In previous elections this would simply have meant handing the envelope at the polling station but it seems now there has to be a short interview and some paperwork. The clerk explained this was to prevent fraud. I didn't belabour him with arguments about remedies for non-existent diseases.
He seemed like a nice guy, and we were done in a couple of minutes.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
That’s going to create problems - from what I’ve heard there’s been a number of very dodgy batches going round cut with something very bad.
Which is exactly why the testing was a good idea. Cut the street value of dodgy stuff to zero. So the vaguely organised gangs started actually testing their product at each stage, themselves.
Mexican crime lords apparently test stuff on captured enemies. You up the dose till they die and then dial it down two notches before going public with it.
Day before yesterday I went to Mont St Michel for the first time. Of course I compared it to St Michael’s Mount (the latter was actually a monastic satellite of the former for a while). I know the Cornish one really well, I once took tea with Lord and Lady St Levan, in the castle, and found it very hard not to mention Edward St Aubyn and his *interesting backstory*. But I managed it
Anyway the French version is much more impressive in several ways - it’s a lot bigger. It’s more architecturally harmonious and beautiful. It is imposing in a way the Cornish one is not
On the other hand the Cornish version is properly surrounded by tidal waters, and it has an even more interesting history - it’s probably the isle of Ictis mentioned by classical scholars as the tin trading island of the Phoenicians - Cornwall’s tin industry is at least 3000 years old
More importantly the Cornish one has a ton of noom and the French one has about zero (after your first gobsmacked initial approach). Why? The trillions of tourists don’t help at all, but also the French one has that classic french noomlessness. Someone rubbed away the patina. There is no mad aristocratic family with a known history of incestuous father rapists living in one of the towers
Voila, c’est sans Noom
I find something noomy about all our western islands. That 'end of the earth' feeling.
Perhaps its the age of the land, particularly in the Hebrides, where it seems at first sight that it has been like this for billions of years and the ancient inhabitants have only just gone.
Of course, that ignores the not so romantic reason why they have only just gone.
I'm trying to think of the noomiest place in Yorkshire but am finding it tricky. Fountains Abbey has too many visitors and too many cakes, like Mont St Michel, magnificent though it is.
I quite like the empty moors, so Top Withens could be a valid choice, although the Brontes weren't quite long enough ago.
If only there was more left of Thornborough Henges...
Is Whitby in Yorkshire? That always looks Noomy to be, but I’ve not been
For me the noomiest place in Yorkshire must be Haworth and Heptonstall, for the Brontë House and Sylvia Plath’s grave. Three of the greatest female writers in history, all packed together in that satanically beautiful scenery, with the weird gritstone houses and the austere moors everywhere, and the cascading waters over crags
Top notch Noom
The grave in particular is decidedly noomy, Ted Hughes chose well. The anonymity of it makes it all better
Howarth's graveyard is a gloomy place, with a profusion of infants and young children listed on the old gravestones. It's also at the top of a hill, and it's speculated that the regular supply of new corpses polluted the local water supply. Average life expectancy was somewhere in the mid twenties.
And you mention Whitby without noting Bram Stoker's little story ?
The fact the Brontës’ talented brother drank himself to death in that pub only adds to the Noom. Also the poisonously tiny shoes of Charlotte Brontë in the house. And they all died so absurdly young
It’s bleak as fuck and I love it. Bleakness leading to beauty is a sure source of Noom
Plus you’ve got all the lesbians down at Hebden Bridge
World class nooming by Yorkshire there 👏
Noomiest in Yorkshire? All Saints North Street, York. Just yards off the tourist trail, step into an unbroken medieval culture in closeup, don't miss the Prick of Conscience window, 1420, if you are lucky in total solitude.
And Selby Abbey. Echoes of Durham but few if any people and surrounded by tat.
I think my vote would go to the Emley Moor Transmission mast. You can see it for miles.
That's more of a familiar landmark than 'noomy', though.
The nearby West Yorkshire Sculpture Park - on a bleak day - has a certain something about it.
Yeah that’s not noom. That’s just *impressive*
Way to not get the point
Neither noom there (as far as my understanding of noom as the ghosts of a place making something historically redolent and atmospheric in the mood of the Joy Division song), I was trying to think of something this way that fitted the idea - Emley is a landmark and it's sturdiness doesn't bear enough connection to those black and white pictures of the grainy fallen mast from days past. And it is in fields rather than on moorland. The redolence, such as it is from that fallen mast, perhaps better resides on its still standing sister tower atop Winter Hill.
And, yes, the Sculpture Park is also a bit too pastoral and only very lightly historical for such redolence.
So, I have to agree that the tightness of the upper Calder Valley lends itself best here to the places mentioned. Even the mere stone built towns, Todmorden, only 15000 souls, but so tight to the valley that it takes 5 miles and almost 15 minutes to drive through.
Get Police Scotland on the..er..case, definitely be solved by the end of the decade. Which decade is another question.
The reason this has gone on so long is that it means sending police officers, all expenses paid, to a holiday location. Strangely, they seem to go back each summer….
In that case get pale, red haired Jock cops over, they'll hate it (unless they can find a Scottish bar).
They get sent to deal with murders in Scandinavia in winter
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
FPT: Ms. Heathener, 'love' is a general term used in Yorkshire. It's not remotely sexist. It's used for men as well as women.
No. The comment was: 'When in a hole, luv.’
Totally unacceptable I’m afraid. Not, at any rate, if you still want this forum a) to attract women and b) to attract younger people.
But do you? That’s the question. Or would some of you rather it became an echo chamber for older (mostly white) men?
I ask that sincerely because I feel it’s the way this place is in danger of going.
If you (pl) want to attract a younger audience, with people from all walks of life - yes including transgendered people and other minority groups - then you seriously need to address the way you post things and how people are welcomed / treated.
Think on these things.
Let's have some context here. You are faking offence over a comment which was part of a string of posts which called out a racist trope you made about the PM and your racist trope was not only unacceptable but it united people across the political divide in their condemnation.
You were in a hole, you should have stopped digging, you should not have doubled down.
This forum should want to attract women and young people. It should not seek to attract racists.
To be honest I think an apology from @Heathener would be appropriate following her widely condemned and, as you say right across the political divide, for her uncalled for comments about Sunak
You can attack Sunak over many things but racism is not one
Yes, I agree with you. I think an apology would have just put it all to bed and moved on. But she just doubled down and went on the attack.
It unified posters across the political divide here in their condemnation. A rarity.
Heathener is a sanctimonious pain in the arse but we don't know that they are incorrect. People just want them cancelled for wrongthink.
I genuinely believe @Heathener might be a marvellous comic creation. The outright racism was a brilliant move, and now the sudden.effrontery at being called “my luv”? Superb
Also she actually used the word bricolage - in italics like that - and she claims to keep boiled water in a thermos
They is a genius sock puppet and I salute the puppeteer
You keep saying it, but the hard of thinking amongst us aren't picking it up. Or else they just don't want to lose their female leftie ally/love to hate her leftie bete noir (delete as required).
Asking Londoners . How much information have you had re the change in voting system and voter ID ?
It was mentioned in the information booklet that also had a page for each mayoral candidate. This should have been delivered to every London voter (although my office mate has just said he never got his). There has also been advertising, online and posters, and more, covering this.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
That’s going to create problems - from what I’ve heard there’s been a number of very dodgy batches going round cut with something very bad.
Which is exactly why the testing was a good idea. Cut the street value of dodgy stuff to zero. So the vaguely organised gangs started actually testing their product at each stage, themselves.
Mexican crime lords apparently test stuff on captured enemies. You up the dose till they die and then dial it down two notches before going public with it.
That's inefficient. You need a large enough sample of captives, give one subset a placebo, then divide the others into tranches with higher doses. This assumes no swapover.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
Brooke Junior is resident on Paris and lives with his soon to be wife off the Place de la Republique. Her parents would largely go along with your analysis and blame Anne Hidalgo the mayor of Paris for the ongoing decline. Last time I was there it was massive prices for middling food and drink. The only thing of interest was watching the rebuilding of Notre Dame.
Well, my sister and her French husband have a pied-a-terre apartment in the 4th, near the Place des Voges and the 3rd, 4th and the nearby 11th are extremely pleasant. I have certainly not seen any of the Hieronymus Bosch style antics that Napo-Leon Blownaparte describes.
I have certainly seen such things in London, but then I am a visitor there these days, and maybe I notice things a bit more than Leon does when he is staggering back after a night in the toilets of the Groucho.
Get Police Scotland on the..er..case, definitely be solved by the end of the decade. Which decade is another question.
The reason this has gone on so long is that it means sending police officers, all expenses paid, to a holiday location. Strangely, they seem to go back each summer….
To be fair the Police have eliminated all of the golf courses and restaurants on the Algarve from the investigation. So they have achieved something.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Bargain! We just spent c. £2m to send a volunteer to Rwanda, and are half a billion quid into that caper. Houchen has had us spend £500m cleaning up land sold to his mates for £97. All those dodgy PPE deals. Just had the Tories all your money and be done with it.
Probably the attitude in plenty of parts/areas that make these decisions
"Oh well, we've pissed up £20 Bn on HS2 - what's another 10 million quid here or there going to matter anyway"
UK New Medium Helicopter buy reduced to around 30 aircraft: Spirit AeroSystems Exec The comments are the second time in the span of 10 months that industrial officials have publicly revealed a reduced buy from a max of 44 helos is on the table.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/05/uk-new-medium-helicopter-buy-reduced-to-around-30-aircraft-spirit-aerosystems-exec/ ..The NMH ITN phase was first launched in February and is contested by Airbus’s H175M super-medium platform, Leonardo’s AW149 multirole helicopter and Lockheed Martin’s S-70M Black Hawk utility rotorcraft. Proposals are due to be evaluated through 2025 ahead of a production contract award in the same year. Spirit is part of the Airbus H175M supplier team for NMH, alongside Boeing, Babcock, Martin-Baker, and Pratt and Whitney Canada.
The UK MoD declined to comment on the exact number of aircraft it plans on procuring...
That's not really what is happening. They have taken No.84 at Akrotiri and the BFB flight at Medicina Lines out of NMH and done a separate purchase for a 5 blade H145 model. As the whole point of NMH was to consolidate small fleets onto a single type I can only assume Leonardo will get the balance and the government didn't want the political fallout of disappointing Airbus. They also bought 5 x H135 to replace the AAC Gazelles but then decided that agile, 21st C. warfighting meant that it was better to replace the Gazelles with, er, nothing so the H135s sat in storage for a year until they off loaded them to Australia.
The tories are fucking clowns when it comes to defence procurement.
In your extensive experience has any govt ever had a clue when it comes to defence procurement ?
Get Police Scotland on the..er..case, definitely be solved by the end of the decade. Which decade is another question.
The reason this has gone on so long is that it means sending police officers, all expenses paid, to a holiday location. Strangely, they seem to go back each summer….
To be fair the Police have eliminated all of the golf courses and restaurants on the Algarve from the investigation. So they have achieved something.
They've recreated the tapas 7 party many times to ensure an accurate understanding
UK New Medium Helicopter buy reduced to around 30 aircraft: Spirit AeroSystems Exec The comments are the second time in the span of 10 months that industrial officials have publicly revealed a reduced buy from a max of 44 helos is on the table.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/05/uk-new-medium-helicopter-buy-reduced-to-around-30-aircraft-spirit-aerosystems-exec/ ..The NMH ITN phase was first launched in February and is contested by Airbus’s H175M super-medium platform, Leonardo’s AW149 multirole helicopter and Lockheed Martin’s S-70M Black Hawk utility rotorcraft. Proposals are due to be evaluated through 2025 ahead of a production contract award in the same year. Spirit is part of the Airbus H175M supplier team for NMH, alongside Boeing, Babcock, Martin-Baker, and Pratt and Whitney Canada.
The UK MoD declined to comment on the exact number of aircraft it plans on procuring...
That's not really what is happening. They have taken No.84 at Akrotiri and the BFB flight at Medicina Lines out of NMH and done a separate purchase for a 5 blade H145 model. As the whole point of NMH was to consolidate small fleets onto a single type I can only assume Leonardo will get the balance and the government didn't want the political fallout of disappointing Airbus. They also bought 5 x H135 to replace the AAC Gazelles but then decided that agile, 21st C. warfighting meant that it was better to replace the Gazelles with, er, nothing so the H135s sat in storage for a year until they off loaded them to Australia.
The tories are fucking clowns when it comes to defence procurement.
Only because they've been in government for the last decade and a half; the previous lot were too.
Absent a fundamental overhaul of procurement, led by someone with at least half of a clue, nothing significant is likely to change.
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
My sneaking suspicion is that it's not even senior ScotGov cabinet she's angling for, but being the party's very prominent lead in plotting the road to Independence. I may well be wrong...
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Asking Londoners . How much information have you had re the change in voting system and voter ID ?
It was mentioned in the information booklet that also had a page for each mayoral candidate. This should have been delivered to every London voter (although my office mate has just said he never got his). There has also been advertising, online and posters, and more, covering this.
It was pretty useless though. Was along the lines of some TfL travelcards are acceptable - didn't say which....
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
Asking Londoners . How much information have you had re the change in voting system and voter ID ?
It was mentioned in the information booklet that also had a page for each mayoral candidate. This should have been delivered to every London voter (although my office mate has just said he never got his). There has also been advertising, online and posters, and more, covering this.
Although the campaign is rather poor, imho - showing the benefit of FPTP by crossing out a couple of letters in the phrase "my vote doesn't count".
I guess it's partly ironic, partly a case of malicious compliance. But it's not very helpful.
None of the candidates mentioned it on their page in the booklet. Nor was it mentioned in the only leaflet I received (from the Lib Dems).
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Forbes is the only one that might have delivered an indyref within the next decade. Are we presuming swinney will retire in 2026 giving Forbes a third go? Who knows, he might find he likes the job. She might get bored and do something else
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
That's more of a feel-melancholy song imo. Also a good example of how the vastness and diversity of America gives them such a songwriting advantage.
By the time I get to Crawley she'll be ... well whatever she'll be doing it doesn't work at all, does it.
America also has a big advantage for the road movie genre. You rarely see road movies set in the UK. You can get to the other end of the country quite easily. There's no real jeopardy about it. I remember one in which someone needed to get from London to Glasgow in 48 hours to claim an inheritance. It was very hard at any point to envisage him not doing so.
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
My sneaking suspicion is that it's not even senior ScotGov cabinet she's angling for, but being the party's very prominent lead in plotting the road to Independence. I may well be wrong...
I thought she knows the SNP are getting mullered at the Westminster election and it is better for Swinney to take the hit.
FPT: Ms. Heathener, 'love' is a general term used in Yorkshire. It's not remotely sexist. It's used for men as well as women.
No. The comment was: 'When in a hole, luv.’
Totally unacceptable I’m afraid. Not, at any rate, if you still want this forum a) to attract women and b) to attract younger people.
But do you? That’s the question. Or would some of you rather it became an echo chamber for older (mostly white) men?
I ask that sincerely because I feel it’s the way this place is in danger of going.
If you (pl) want to attract a younger audience, with people from all walks of life - yes including transgendered people and other minority groups - then you seriously need to address the way you post things and how people are welcomed / treated.
Think on these things.
Let's have some context here. You are faking offence over a comment which was part of a string of posts which called out a racist trope you made about the PM and your racist trope was not only unacceptable but it united people across the political divide in their condemnation.
You were in a hole, you should have stopped digging, you should not have doubled down.
This forum should want to attract women and young people. It should not seek to attract racists.
To be honest I think an apology from @Heathener would be appropriate following her widely condemned and, as you say right across the political divide, for her uncalled for comments about Sunak
You can attack Sunak over many things but racism is not one
Yes, I agree with you. I think an apology would have just put it all to bed and moved on. But she just doubled down and went on the attack.
It unified posters across the political divide here in their condemnation. A rarity.
Heathener is a sanctimonious pain in the arse but we don't know that they are incorrect. People just want them cancelled for wrongthink.
I genuinely believe @Heathener might be a marvellous comic creation. The outright racism was a brilliant move, and now the sudden.effrontery at being called “my luv”? Superb
Also she actually used the word bricolage - in italics like that - and she claims to keep boiled water in a thermos
They is a genius sock puppet and I salute the puppeteer
You keep saying it, but the hard of thinking amongst us aren't picking it up. Or else they just don't want to lose their female leftie ally/love to hate her leftie bete noir (delete as required).
I don't actually want to say that - nobody on PB is actually hard of thinking, or they wouldn't be here. We can all be daft in some areas for some reasons. Give me a maths test and watch me squirm.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
That's more of a feel-melancholy song imo. Also a good example of how the vastness and diversity of America gives them such a songwriting advantage.
By the time I get to Crawley she'll be ... well whatever she'll be doing it doesn't work at all, does it.
America also has a big advantage for the road movie genre. You rarely see road movies set in the UK. You can get to the other end of the country quite easily. There's no real jeopardy about it. I remember one in which someone needed to get from London to Glasgow in 48 hours to claim an inheritance. It was very hard at any point to envisage him not doing so.
Otoh there's the peril of London to Norwich in a day in Clockwise, perhaps the shittest movie ever made
I have actually been to that corner in “Winslow Arizona”. It’s on the historic Route 66
Quite nondescript in reality but that’s the point of the song. Something epiphanic happening in an anonymous place
He is desired by an attractive young woman who actually slows down to take a look at him. He gets a surge of self esteem and testosterone. He goes home and writes an immortal song
Today's Telegraph reports that, for the first time, a majority of British voters are in favour of a ban on smacking children.
Already banned in Scotland and Wales.
I sense that won't further inflame the already gammonous readers of the Tele.
Yewt another example of the many policies developed in Scotland, moaned and screamed about ad nauseam by PBScotchExperts, and then promptly adopted and their origins subjected to omerta when the "UK" Tories adopt them in the Homeland.
Bargain! We just spent c. £2m to send a volunteer to Rwanda, and are half a billion quid into that caper. Houchen has had us spend £500m cleaning up land sold to his mates for £97. All those dodgy PPE deals. Just had the Tories all your money and be done with it.
Bargain! We just spent c. £2m to send a volunteer to Rwanda, and are half a billion quid into that caper. Houchen has had us spend £500m cleaning up land sold to his mates for £97. All those dodgy PPE deals. Just had the Tories all your money and be done with it.
Probably the attitude in plenty of parts/areas that make these decisions
"Oh well, we've pissed up £20 Bn on HS2 - what's another 10 million quid here or there going to matter anyway"
You're all missing the point. It's quid (sic) pro quo for the DM for all its support. Think of the kilometrage of clickbaitry this will produce.
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Forbes is the only one that might have delivered an indyref within the next decade. Are we presuming swinney will retire in 2026 giving Forbes a third go? Who knows, he might find he likes the job. She might get bored and do something else
Indy drifts ever further away. Ah well
And yet the polling..
Pretty sure there's lots of clothes rending and cries of 'What do we have to fucking do?!' in the Union unit or whatever daft name they have for it that polling for Indy remains consistently close to 50-50.
USA is reclassifying marijuana. As PB is full of decadents who use drugs freely without regard for law I assume this will be of interest to some of you.
Classifying MJ with smack was insane. And led to ridiculous prison sentences for people with small amounts.
What we need is a structured legalisation approach - a controlled, legal supply chain. And actual science on the effects of various strengths.
The Netherlands ended deaths from E with testing, for example.
MAST testing also worked pretty successfully in the UK until 2023 - there wasn't a single death at a festival with on-site testing since the mid 2010s.
Get Police Scotland on the..er..case, definitely be solved by the end of the decade. Which decade is another question.
The reason this has gone on so long is that it means sending police officers, all expenses paid, to a holiday location. Strangely, they seem to go back each summer….
To be fair the Police have eliminated all of the golf courses and restaurants on the Algarve from the investigation. So they have achieved something.
Many beaches, bars and swimming pools have also been investigated in depth.
In a number of cases, police officers have paid on their own dime for families to join them. I presume to help with re-enacting the events of the fateful evening.
FPT: Ms. Heathener, 'love' is a general term used in Yorkshire. It's not remotely sexist. It's used for men as well as women.
No. The comment was: 'When in a hole, luv.’
Totally unacceptable I’m afraid. Not, at any rate, if you still want this forum a) to attract women and b) to attract younger people.
But do you? That’s the question. Or would some of you rather it became an echo chamber for older (mostly white) men?
I ask that sincerely because I feel it’s the way this place is in danger of going.
If you (pl) want to attract a younger audience, with people from all walks of life - yes including transgendered people and other minority groups - then you seriously need to address the way you post things and how people are welcomed / treated.
Think on these things.
Let's have some context here. You are faking offence over a comment which was part of a string of posts which called out a racist trope you made about the PM and your racist trope was not only unacceptable but it united people across the political divide in their condemnation.
You were in a hole, you should have stopped digging, you should not have doubled down.
This forum should want to attract women and young people. It should not seek to attract racists.
To be honest I think an apology from @Heathener would be appropriate following her widely condemned and, as you say right across the political divide, for her uncalled for comments about Sunak
You can attack Sunak over many things but racism is not one
Yes, I agree with you. I think an apology would have just put it all to bed and moved on. But she just doubled down and went on the attack.
It unified posters across the political divide here in their condemnation. A rarity.
Heathener is a sanctimonious pain in the arse but we don't know that they are incorrect. People just want them cancelled for wrongthink.
I genuinely believe @Heathener might be a marvellous comic creation. The outright racism was a brilliant move, and now the sudden.effrontery at being called “my luv”? Superb
Also she actually used the word bricolage - in italics like that - and she claims to keep boiled water in a thermos
They is a genius sock puppet and I salute the puppeteer
You keep saying it, but the hard of thinking amongst us aren't picking it up. Or else they just don't want to lose their female leftie ally/love to hate her leftie bete noir (delete as required).
I don't actually want to say that - nobody on PB is actually hard of thinking, or they wouldn't be here. We can all be daft in some areas for some reasons. Give me a maths test and watch me squirm.
That's how I feel when I'm expected to understand one of TSE's Shakespeare quotes!
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
My sneaking suspicion is that it's not even senior ScotGov cabinet she's angling for, but being the party's very prominent lead in plotting the road to Independence. I may well be wrong...
I think she wants to pick up the pieces in opposition. She wants to be dragged to the throne Palmerston style as 'l'inevitable'. That's a mark against her in my view. If you're in public service and you actually care, you should want to step in when things are going to shit, not wait till things are properly demolished so you have an easier time stepping over the corpses to become leader. I also don't think it's very sensible. You should strike whilst the iron is hot - who knows who could rise up in the meantime.
I have actually been to that corner in “Winslow Arizona”. It’s on the historic Route 66
Quite nondescript in reality but that’s the point of the song. Something epiphanic happening in an anonymous place
He is desired by an attractive young woman who actually slows down to take a look at him. He gets a surge of self esteem and testosterone. He goes home and writes an immortal song
I wrote a song in drama class at school aged about 13 about an old man in cowboy country who hadn't seen his son for 20 years called "The lanky son of a gun" (my sidekick/the son was the tall kid in class) and it only dawned on me about 20 years later that it was just the verses to "Take It Easy" with different words
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
That's more of a feel-melancholy song imo. Also a good example of how the vastness and diversity of America gives them such a songwriting advantage.
By the time I get to Crawley she'll be ... well whatever she'll be doing it doesn't work at all, does it.
America also has a big advantage for the road movie genre. You rarely see road movies set in the UK. You can get to the other end of the country quite easily. There's no real jeopardy about it. I remember one in which someone needed to get from London to Glasgow in 48 hours to claim an inheritance. It was very hard at any point to envisage him not doing so.
Once made it from central London to St Andrews in a tiny, tiny fraction of that time.
FPT: Ms. Heathener, 'love' is a general term used in Yorkshire. It's not remotely sexist. It's used for men as well as women.
No. The comment was: 'When in a hole, luv.’
Totally unacceptable I’m afraid. Not, at any rate, if you still want this forum a) to attract women and b) to attract younger people.
But do you? That’s the question. Or would some of you rather it became an echo chamber for older (mostly white) men?
I ask that sincerely because I feel it’s the way this place is in danger of going.
If you (pl) want to attract a younger audience, with people from all walks of life - yes including transgendered people and other minority groups - then you seriously need to address the way you post things and how people are welcomed / treated.
Think on these things.
Let's have some context here. You are faking offence over a comment which was part of a string of posts which called out a racist trope you made about the PM and your racist trope was not only unacceptable but it united people across the political divide in their condemnation.
You were in a hole, you should have stopped digging, you should not have doubled down.
This forum should want to attract women and young people. It should not seek to attract racists.
To be honest I think an apology from @Heathener would be appropriate following her widely condemned and, as you say right across the political divide, for her uncalled for comments about Sunak
You can attack Sunak over many things but racism is not one
Yes, I agree with you. I think an apology would have just put it all to bed and moved on. But she just doubled down and went on the attack.
It unified posters across the political divide here in their condemnation. A rarity.
Heathener is a sanctimonious pain in the arse but we don't know that they are incorrect. People just want them cancelled for wrongthink.
I genuinely believe @Heathener might be a marvellous comic creation. The outright racism was a brilliant move, and now the sudden.effrontery at being called “my luv”? Superb
Also she actually used the word bricolage - in italics like that - and she claims to keep boiled water in a thermos
They is a genius sock puppet and I salute the puppeteer
You keep saying it, but the hard of thinking amongst us aren't picking it up. Or else they just don't want to lose their female leftie ally/love to hate her leftie bete noir (delete as required).
I don't actually want to say that - nobody on PB is actually hard of thinking, or they wouldn't be here. We can all be daft in some areas for some reasons. Give me a maths test and watch me squirm.
That's how I feel when I'm expected to understand one of TSE's Shakespeare quotes!
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Forbes is the only one that might have delivered an indyref within the next decade. Are we presuming swinney will retire in 2026 giving Forbes a third go? Who knows, he might find he likes the job. She might get bored and do something else
Indy drifts ever further away. Ah well
And yet the polling..
Pretty sure there's lots of clothes rending and cries of 'What do we have to fucking do?!' in the Union unit or whatever daft name they have for it that polling for Indy remains consistently close to 50-50.
Scots will always aspire. Who doesn’t “want to be independent”? But the one and only chance was 2014
Incidentally and controversial take: the one and only achievement of this terrible government 2010-2024 is Brexit. And yet that is an incredible achievement which dwarfs anything done since thatcher. Its closer to a revolution in profundity
We haven’t seen the benefit yet. We may not for another decade or more. But eventually we will, as Jacob Rees mogg ill-advisedly said: this will come good within 50 years
The EU is trapped inside itself. We are not. We will never return and we will one day relish and exploit the freedom
I get that this upsets ardent Remainers and europhiles but then they could have avoided all this by giving us a referendum earlier and by not constantly lying to the British people about the EU. Twats
We haven’t seen the benefit yet. We may not for another decade or more. But eventually we will, as Jacob Rees mogg ill-advisedly said: this will come good within 50 years
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Indeed. At one level you can see why she feels she has time. On the other hand, "events" could include the SNP being rolled up at the next two elections and she never gets the chance, which tbh is a lot more likely under Swinney.
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Forbes is the only one that might have delivered an indyref within the next decade. Are we presuming swinney will retire in 2026 giving Forbes a third go? Who knows, he might find he likes the job. She might get bored and do something else
Indy drifts ever further away. Ah well
And yet the polling..
Pretty sure there's lots of clothes rending and cries of 'What do we have to fucking do?!' in the Union unit or whatever daft name they have for it that polling for Indy remains consistently close to 50-50.
Scots will always aspire. Who doesn’t “want to be independent”? But the one and only chance was 2014
Incidentally and controversial take: the one and only achievement of this terrible government 2010-2024 is Brexit. And yet that is an incredible achievement which dwarfs anything done since thatcher. Its closer to a revolution in profundity
We haven’t seen the benefit yet. We may not for another decade or more. But eventually we will, as Jacob Rees mogg ill-advisedly said: this will come good within 50 years
The EU is trapped inside itself. We are not. We will never return and we will one day relish and exploit the freedom
I get that this upsets ardent Remainers and europhiles but then they could have avoided all this by giving us a referendum earlier and by not constantly lying to the British people about the EU. Twats
I'm old enough to remember someone opining on PB that artificial insemination or something of that name would make such political timescales irrelevant.
Or you just swap out the box with a preprepared one. Or the lorry that takes the boxes isn't the same lorry that arrives. Or you deliver the boxes into the bay thru one door and take the substitute boxes from another door.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
That's more of a feel-melancholy song imo. Also a good example of how the vastness and diversity of America gives them such a songwriting advantage.
By the time I get to Crawley she'll be ... well whatever she'll be doing it doesn't work at all, does it.
"I never thought it would happen with me & the girl from Clapham..."
I think the UK has decent songwriting scope. You have the Scottish Highlands, London, (think Baker Street, Waterloo Sunset). Sadly Wales and Cornwall haven't been successfully mined for pop songs.
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Forbes is the only one that might have delivered an indyref within the next decade. Are we presuming swinney will retire in 2026 giving Forbes a third go? Who knows, he might find he likes the job. She might get bored and do something else
Indy drifts ever further away. Ah well
And yet the polling..
Pretty sure there's lots of clothes rending and cries of 'What do we have to fucking do?!' in the Union unit or whatever daft name they have for it that polling for Indy remains consistently close to 50-50.
Fans of trends in opinion polls would note that the popularity of independence has risen at the same time as support for the SNP has fallen, in the wake of motorhomegate.
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
Brooke Junior is resident on Paris and lives with his soon to be wife off the Place de la Republique. Her parents would largely go along with your analysis and blame Anne Hidalgo the mayor of Paris for the ongoing decline. Last time I was there it was massive prices for middling food and drink. The only thing of interest was watching the rebuilding of Notre Dame.
Well, my sister and her French husband have a pied-a-terre apartment in the 4th, near the Place des Voges and the 3rd, 4th and the nearby 11th are extremely pleasant. I have certainly not seen any of the Hieronymus Bosch style antics that Napo-Leon Blownaparte describes.
I have certainly seen such things in London, but then I am a visitor there these days, and maybe I notice things a bit more than Leon does when he is staggering back after a night in the toilets of the Groucho.
Well Im off for the son's wedding at the end of June and shall take a trip in to Paris. Technically it should be nearing les couilles du chien as the Olympics are only a few weeks off. Last time I was there ( last year ) it had the air of fading grandure - grafitti, litter, dowdy buildings - but most of the main sites were about to be smartened up so should be a marked improvement,
I cant see the prices dropping though. Junior and wife coul have earned a fortune sub letting but have chosen to run a hotel for all their mates popping over from London for the games.
It's a bit disappointing that we have to wait so long for the London results. Saturday morning someone said?
Outlying ballot boxes issues, the ones from Harold Wood take many hours to arrive for example
Do it the German way. The polling station shuts, and the last shift of the polling station does the counting on site. Usually done and dusted between 30 and 60 minutes and the results are sent in electronically (previously by phone). Only then are the ballot papers are sent to a local electoral centre, where some random checking and checking of surprising results or very close results over the next few days.
It means that there are good reliable results available very quickly even if some of the fine tuning takes a couple of days.
Trump ally hits out at David Cameron for ‘lecturing’ US
https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-ally-hits-out-at-david-cameron-for-lecturing-us/ ..A leading ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a scathing criticism of U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron — and heaped praise on his would-be successor. Speaking to POLITICO’s podcast Power Play, Elbridge Colby, who is tipped to become national security adviser in a potential second Trump administration, hit out at what he described as Cameron’s “moralizing” and “lecturing” of U.S. politicians. In contrast, he spoke warmly of David Lammy, the U.K. opposition Labour Party’s lead on foreign affairs, saying: “Based on what I can see, David Lammy is far preferable to David Cameron, obviously. I mean absolutely.”..
Further thoughts on Paris. It really depends where you go. The left bank is generally much better. The 6th and 7th look fine. Even around Gare Montparnasse it looks civilised
It’s as soon as you cross the Seine and it’s anywhere in and around the 1st and 2nd, and of course, the Gare du Nord
I’m about 300m from the Opera and I just saw a guy lying flat out on the bare sidewalk, face down, apparently comatose. Fentanyl or Tranq I presume
You just didn’t see shit like that 20 years ago. Maybe even 5 years ago
It’s particularly noticeable in Paris BECAUSE it was once so pristine - and always beautiful. Now she’s like a model that got beaten up and lost three teeth and potentially an eye
I don't think it would be fent. Even our govt has the good sense to be monitoring the sewage for it and I am sure if the french found it the press would be full of omg le fent en Europe stories
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
That's more of a feel-melancholy song imo. Also a good example of how the vastness and diversity of America gives them such a songwriting advantage.
By the time I get to Crawley she'll be ... well whatever she'll be doing it doesn't work at all, does it.
"I never thought it would happen with me & the girl from Clapham..."
I think the UK has decent songwriting scope. You have the Scottish Highlands, London, (think Baker Street, Waterloo Sunset). Sadly Wales and Cornwall haven't been successfully mined for pop songs.
Cousin Jack by Show of Hands is a great Cornwall song
Kate Forbes won’t enter the race to succeed Humza Yousaf.
Praises Swinney.
Sound of an ALBAnian bagpipe deflating.
Forbes is the only one that might have delivered an indyref within the next decade. Are we presuming swinney will retire in 2026 giving Forbes a third go? Who knows, he might find he likes the job. She might get bored and do something else
Indy drifts ever further away. Ah well
And yet the polling..
Pretty sure there's lots of clothes rending and cries of 'What do we have to fucking do?!' in the Union unit or whatever daft name they have for it that polling for Indy remains consistently close to 50-50.
Scots will always aspire. Who doesn’t “want to be independent”? But the one and only chance was 2014
Incidentally and controversial take: the one and only achievement of this terrible government 2010-2024 is Brexit. And yet that is an incredible achievement which dwarfs anything done since thatcher. Its closer to a revolution in profundity
We haven’t seen the benefit yet. We may not for another decade or more. But eventually we will, as Jacob Rees mogg ill-advisedly said: this will come good within 50 years
The EU is trapped inside itself. We are not. We will never return and we will one day relish and exploit the freedom
I get that this upsets ardent Remainers and europhiles but then they could have avoided all this by giving us a referendum earlier and by not constantly lying to the British people about the EU. Twats
You were moaning the other day about the loss of freedom of movement which you liked . So the EU wasn’t all bad !
Comments
It's half a century old, and well on its way to becoming a technological relic. And if you get inside it, a definite sense of noom to standing inside the 1084 ft concrete tube.
So not to be rejected out of hand.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68934480
The worst is the one for Rasputin look-alike Alex Massie which makes him look like almost twice his age Howard Jacobson.
And yes absolutely old industrial and technological shit can be full of noom
I recommend the insane nuclear bunker just north east of london
https://secretnuclearbunker.com/
It’s fascinating and weird and also packs a decent punch of noom. The fact this tawdry little bunker was the place where a nuclear flattened UK wouid be administered. Sad and scary and funny and deeply unsettling. That’s a good recipe for noom
Most people have fixed rate mortgages, so the main effect will be people's rates going from 1ish percent to fiveish percent. A hundred thousand a month experiencing that joy, irrespective of what the BoE do.
And we have plenty of experience to show us that when Rishi tells us things are good despite people's experience, he just becomes a bit more annoying.
Of course Rishi should go soon, if he wants to minimise the defeat. Thursday 13th June is the first date technically available.
But if that was the aim, he'd have been better advised to go today, and better still to go last May.
Since then, the Home Office have clamped down on the practice: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-65952012
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13372083/madeleine-mccann-disappearance-investigation-grant.html
The comments are the second time in the span of 10 months that industrial officials have publicly revealed a reduced buy from a max of 44 helos is on the table.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/05/uk-new-medium-helicopter-buy-reduced-to-around-30-aircraft-spirit-aerosystems-exec/
..The NMH ITN phase was first launched in February and is contested by Airbus’s H175M super-medium platform, Leonardo’s AW149 multirole helicopter and Lockheed Martin’s S-70M Black Hawk utility rotorcraft. Proposals are due to be evaluated through 2025 ahead of a production contract award in the same year. Spirit is part of the Airbus H175M supplier team for NMH, alongside Boeing, Babcock, Martin-Baker, and Pratt and Whitney Canada.
The UK MoD declined to comment on the exact number of aircraft it plans on procuring...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/refugees-are-welcome-here-protesters-in-peckham-block-coach-from-taking-asylum-seekers-to-bibby-stockholm-barge/ar-AA1o1XPr?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=363a56c792c841e2bd422d08ef345ab2&ei=20
Excellent piece on what the us drug problem looks like in phoenix Arizona (doubly sad because phoenix Arizona features in the most feel good song ever written)
https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/walking-phoenix
They called you a ‘bigot’ if you questioned whether women had a penis.
Then, a ‘flat-earther’ if you want to stop ULEZ.
Now you’re a ‘racist’ if you vote for Susan Hall.
Welcome to a society run by Labour. They’ll shame you until you do as you’re told.
https://x.com/clairecoutinho/status/1785963177613680817?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Let us know if you find a way in.
The Home Office have now issued a single licence to a testing provider in Bristol, attached to a harm reduction chairty. It comes with all sorts of caveats - testing is linked to an in-person consultation, and samples aren't returned to the user. But it's better than absolutely nothing: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/26/uk-first-regular-drug-testing-service-open-bristol-the-loop
(There's an ongoing argument between the DCMS, who are very keen on increased access to testing, and the Home Office who are against. Meanwhile, for enthusiastic home chemists, test kits are freely available on Amazon...)
The tories are fucking clowns when it comes to defence procurement.
It's only the Police Commissioner here in Winchcombe. The fun will be down in nearby Gloucester, as fans of Stodge's excellent reports will know.
I had a postal vote which I hadn't sent in because I received precisely zero election literature,so didn't make my mind up until this morning. In previous elections this would simply have meant handing the envelope at the polling station but it seems now there has to be a short interview and some paperwork. The clerk explained this was to prevent fraud. I didn't belabour him with arguments about remedies for non-existent diseases.
He seemed like a nice guy, and we were done in a couple of minutes.
And, yes, the Sculpture Park is also a bit too pastoral and only very lightly historical for such redolence.
So, I have to agree that the tightness of the upper Calder Valley lends itself best here to the places mentioned. Even the mere stone built towns, Todmorden, only 15000 souls, but so tight to the valley that it takes 5 miles and almost 15 minutes to drive through.
Documentary here - https://youtu.be/I-OOpZitfd0?si=aiJcZoc1SM9bRgMB
That's more of a feel-melancholy song imo. Also a good example of how the vastness and diversity of America gives them such a songwriting advantage.
By the time I get to Crawley she'll be ... well whatever she'll be doing it doesn't work at all, does it.
Not as punchy, admittedly.
I have certainly seen such things in London, but then I am a visitor there these days, and maybe I notice things a bit more than Leon does when he is staggering back after a night in the toilets of the Groucho.
Praises Swinney.
Sadly, there was no girl in a flat-bed Ford who slowed down to take a look at him, Mind you, he is married and was travelling with his wife.
"Oh well, we've pissed up £20 Bn on HS2 - what's another 10 million quid here or there going to matter anyway"
Absent a fundamental overhaul of procurement, led by someone with at least half of a clue, nothing significant is likely to change.
I guess it's partly ironic, partly a case of malicious compliance. But it's not very helpful.
None of the candidates mentioned it on their page in the booklet. Nor was it mentioned in the only leaflet I received (from the Lib Dems).
Indy drifts ever further away. Ah well
Quite nondescript in reality but that’s the point of the song. Something epiphanic happening in an anonymous place
He is desired by an attractive young woman who actually slows down to take a look at him. He gets a surge of self esteem and testosterone. He goes home and writes an immortal song
Pretty sure there's lots of clothes rending and cries of 'What do we have to fucking do?!' in the Union unit or whatever daft name they have for it that polling for Indy remains consistently close to 50-50.
In a number of cases, police officers have paid on their own dime for families to join them. I presume to help with re-enacting the events of the fateful evening.
Incidentally and controversial take: the one and only achievement of this terrible government 2010-2024 is Brexit. And yet that is an incredible achievement which dwarfs anything done since thatcher. Its closer to a revolution in profundity
We haven’t seen the benefit yet. We may not for another decade or more. But eventually we will, as Jacob Rees mogg ill-advisedly said: this will come good within 50 years
The EU is trapped inside itself. We are not. We will never return and we will one day relish and exploit the freedom
I get that this upsets ardent Remainers and europhiles but then they could have avoided all this by giving us a referendum earlier and by not constantly lying to the British people about the EU. Twats
Maybe in 50 years your kids will forgive you
Or you just swap out the box with a preprepared one. Or the lorry that takes the boxes isn't the same lorry that arrives. Or you deliver the boxes into the bay thru one door and take the substitute boxes from another door.
Pause.
I am a Bad Person.
I cant see the prices dropping though. Junior and wife coul have earned a fortune sub letting but have chosen to run a hotel for all their mates popping over from London for the games.
It means that there are good reliable results available very quickly even if some of the fine tuning takes a couple of days.
https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-ally-hits-out-at-david-cameron-for-lecturing-us/
..A leading ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a scathing criticism of U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron — and heaped praise on his would-be successor.
Speaking to POLITICO’s podcast Power Play, Elbridge Colby, who is tipped to become national security adviser in a potential second Trump administration, hit out at what he described as Cameron’s “moralizing” and “lecturing” of U.S. politicians.
In contrast, he spoke warmly of David Lammy, the U.K. opposition Labour Party’s lead on foreign affairs, saying: “Based on what I can see, David Lammy is far preferable to David Cameron, obviously. I mean absolutely.”..
I'm not sure Lammy will enjoy the compliment.